iWorld
Trace to launch its new OTT service Trace Play in Arkena
MUMBAI: Arkena has announced that they have been selected to deliver an end to end OTT platform for Trace, the international multicultural TV network. To offer its fans and communities their favorite unlimited on-demand content, Trace is launching Trace Play, a new SVOD service.
Trace audiences will be able to watch a broad range of original and curated content related to urban and black culture on any screen via web and mobile apps on iOS and Android. To support TRACE in its multiscreen development strategy, Arkena is providing the complete end-to-end platform covering the content management, back-office and delivery for both live and on-demand content.
“Scalability is a key factor for our operations, especially as we plan to extend our OTT SVOD offering while addressing alternate business models such as IPTV,” says Trace CEO Olivier Laouchez.
Arkena live head-end services will streamline live content preparation and distribution from around 10 live channels, increasing security thanks to multi-DRM management. The OTT platform will be powered by Arkena OTT Service Manager (OSM), the company’s open and cloud-based video distribution solution. OSM is a future proof solution boasting a vast array of turnkey components including content, metadata, offers and device management. The on-demand workflow based on Harmony, Arkena content management system, will process more than 4 000 hours of content. Arkena is partnering with Cleeng, the leading video e-commerce platform for global brands including IMG, Elisa/Fanseat, Cirque du Soleil, Cox, Setanta, Dailymotion, for payment and subscribers management, and Dotscreen, one of Europe’s leading multiscreen agency for advanced video apps, for user interfaces and front-end applications.
“Arkena OTT solutions have proved to be easily and cost-effectively scalable to enable new channels, devices and customers on a single and reliable platform. We are confident that Arkena longstanding expertise and outstanding service quality will help us meet our new challenge head on”. “OTT is an important part of Trace interactive television strategy and we are proud that our advanced platform was selected to help Trace open up a world of live and on-demand content to its existing and new subscribers,” said Arkena CEO Aymeric de Cardes.
Arkena will be demonstrating its end to end cloud based OTT platform at TV Connect Booth 46, from 26 April to 28 2016 in London.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
