Platform for EBIF™ authoring and playout to be shown at CableLabs® Winter Conference
SAVANNAH, GA - (February 4, 2010): Ligos Corporation, a leading provider in solutions for advanced television, has announced that it will demonstrate its ETV Mosaic system at next week’s annual CableLabs® Winter Conference as part of the EBIF™ Ecosystem area. ETV Mosaic is a visual EBIF authoring and playout system that provides tools to create and deliver sophisticated interactive content to subscribers, and is aimed at multichannel operators, content owners and solution providers adopting the EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) CableLabs Project specification for interactive applications.
ETV Mosaic’s graphical environment enables designers to create dynamic interactive content using a workflow similar to composing presentation slides. The system provides all of the required functions – video and graphics input, compositing, encoding, authoring, ETV carousel and stream output – into a single, compact server platform. In addition to a visually rich output video stream, the system generates the corresponding interactive EBIF application for use with the industry’s leading ETV User Agents and with standards for content definition (CoDF), advanced advertising and messaging (SaFI).
Using ETV Mosaic, content developers can build and deploy applications for video-rich program guides, polling applications, commerce, advanced advertising, RFI, VOD and premium channel promotion, customer care and billing, and TV Everywhere initiatives. Ligos will be showing a number of these interactive applications at the Denver conference next week.
ETV Mosaic is the latest groundbreaking product from Ligos Corporation, whose mission is to extend standards-based video processing technology in order to deliver highly personalized video services over open platforms. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Savannah, GA, Ligos has been a leading provider in solutions that enable the delivery of digital video and advanced television experiences. ETV Mosaic is available now, and multichannel operators and content providers are invited to visit us at the conference or contact us through our website at http://www.ligos.com, or by phone 1-912-236-8993 for more information.
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Cable industry’s first EBIF program guide enhancement ships to major U.S. cable operator for 2010 deployment
SAVANNAH, GA - (January 12, 2010): Ligos Corporation has announced that it finished 2009 by closing a deal with one of the nation’s largest cable operators for a set of Ligos’ EBIF-based ETV Mosaic systems. EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) is a standard for interactive television applications, and ETV Mosaic enables the creation and delivery of interactive presentations for program guides and much more on EBIF-enabled systems. The design win represents a significant affirmation of Ligos’ ETV initiatives, set to expand throughout 2010 as EBIF and other industry-standard interactive platforms expand across tens of millions of set-top boxes this year.
ETV Mosaic produces an enhanced visual program guide with multiple navigable thumbnails of live video channels. With their remote control, the subscriber at home can navigate and highlight individual tiles and hear the accompanying audio, and can tune to that channel. Ligos’ ETV Mosaic system integrates all of the required functions – stream input, compositing, metadata, encoding, EBIF, ETV carousel and stream output – into a single, compact server platform. Since 2006, Ligos has led the industry in providing the next-generation “digital mosaic experience” for multichannel operators worldwide with its Mosaic product. This video-rich interface has increasingly become a must-have feature to create portals featuring news, sports, movies and Video on Demand, as well as special event programming such as playoffs and the Olympics. And with its support for dynamic content scheduling and advertising, Ligos Mosaic has provided operators the opportunity to generate new revenue streams.
ETV Mosaic, however, is even more flexible and powerful than its predecessor, free of the limited support provided by guide middleware. With the ETV Mosaic, operators can implement custom layouts enhanced with interactivity that goes beyond visual guide channels. With features such as scrolling text crawls and the ability to utilize external data resources through the product’s API, ETV Mosaic is an advanced presentation engine for the delivery of fully-featured interactive television applications. The system automatically generates the corresponding audiovisual and navigational EBIF dataset which is compatible with leading EBIF User Agents as well as industry-standard interfaces for addressable advertising and messaging. In addition, ETV Mosaic’s unique integrated ETV carousel allows the system to function in a standalone capacity, thus reducing overall cost and complexity for multichannel operators.
For content providers, ETV Mosaic’s integrated EBIF authoring provides the tools needed to deliver sophisticated interactive content to viewers and potential customer subscribers. The system’s graphical environment lets designers create content in a fashion similar to – and as easy as – composing presentation slides. Through its multiple module support, and by seamlessly combining pre-rendered graphic elements with less complex EBIF elements, content is optimized to load quickly and function smoothly across both new and legacy STB platforms. And ETV Mosaic supports the standard specifications for ETV content definition and delivery, meaning content can be created and packaged in-house, and delivered to any carousel system at the headend.
ETV Mosaic is available now, and multichannel operators and content providers are invited to contact us through our website at http://www.ligos.com, or by phone 1-912-236-8993 for more information on features and pricing.
About Ligos Corporation
Since 1997, Ligos has been a leading provider in solutions that enable the delivery of digital video and advanced television experiences. The company’s expertise spans multiple platforms and networks, and their products have revolutionized the digital home, professional video production and networked video industries. Ligos’ unique set of proficiencies in video processing enables the personalized video offerings of tomorrow by extending the capabilities of today’s standards and platforms. With diverse partners such as Intel, Microsoft, Sony, SeaChange and Rovi Corporation, Ligos has made a worldwide impact on how the industry delivers content to consumer subscribers, and how they interact with it.
World’s most widely deployed solution for video-rich program guides now coming to the EBIF Platform
SAVANNAH, GA - (July 7, 2009): Ligos Corporation today announced the ETV/EBIF version of its award-winning Mosaic interactive program guide system. Based on the most widely deployed solution of its kind worldwide, Ligos’ new ETV Mosaic is aimed at multichannel operators and solution providers who are adopting CableLabs’ EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) standard for interactive applications and those seeking best-of-breed applications in which to showcase this next-generation platform.
Displayed to the subscriber as a tiled “video montage”, a Mosaic channel shows multiple thumbnails of high-quality live video streams on a single TV screen. The viewer uses their remote control to navigate and highlight individual tiles and hear the accompanying audio, and can directly tune to that channel if something captures their interest. MSOs currently use Mosaic to group similar programming such as News, Sports, Children’s, Special Event and VOD, and to incorporate advertising and service promotions to generate new revenue streams.
“Our new ETV Mosaic makes it possible for more providers to deliver this viewing experience to their subscribers,” said Mark Koziol, CEO of Ligos Corporation. “This is only the first of our plans for the EBIF platform. Further out we foresee incorporating personalized data feeds to further enhance Mosaic channels, and we’re planning other compelling applications that will add value to the ETV experience for both providers and their subscribers.”
Until now, Mosaic has primarily been integrated with the leading program guides of providers such as Macrovision, Microsoft and Cisco Systems. Ligos’ ETV Mosaic now opens this same video-rich experience to the 15 million EBIF-enabled subscriber set-top boxes planned for 2009, a number projected to double next year. Further, the ETV Mosaic application has been highly optimized for those STBs in order to load quickly and to be compatible with both of the industry’s leading ETV User Agents from BIAP Inc. and TVWorks.
ETV Mosaic integrates all of the required functions – stream input, compositing, metadata, encoding, EBIF and stream output – into a single, compact server platform. An easy to use graphical design environment is provided to create dynamic channel layouts, and removes the complexity of the EBIF specification by automatically generating all of the audiovisual and navigational requirements of the resulting output channel. ETV Mosaic is currently finishing qualification within one of the nation’s largest cable operators, and will be available to other providers shortly. Multichannel operators and solution providers interested in the ETV Mosaic are invited to contact us by phone at 912-236-8993 ext. 101, or through our website at http://www.ligos.com.
Screen capture of an example EBIF-based VOD Barker Channel featuring 8 titles, context sensitive program data and a large central promo tile, generated with Ligos’ ETV Mosaic.Screen capture of an example EBIF-based VOD Barker Channel featuring 8 titles, context sensitive program data and a large central promo tile, generated with Ligos’ ETV Mosaic.
About Ligos Corporation
Since 1997, Ligos has been a leading provider in solutions that enable the delivery of digital video and advanced television experiences. The company’s expertise spans multiple platforms and networks, and their products have revolutionized the digital home, professional video production and networked video industries. Ligos’ unique set of proficiencies in video processing enables the personalized video offerings of tomorrow by extending the capabilities of today’s standards and platforms. For more information on Ligos Corporation and Mosaic products, visit its website at http://www.ligos.com.
Mexico’s premier digital cable company launches world’s most extensive deployment of video-rich guide channels utilizing Ligos MediaRig Mosaic
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - (November 18, 2008): Ligos Corporation, a leading worldwide provider of platforms for advanced video processing, has announced that Ligos MediaRig® Mosaic systems have been selected by Cablevision® Mexico for its major deployment of digital mosaic channels. Cablevisión, S.A. de C.V. (CABLEVISION) is Mexico’s largest digital cable operator, and their rollout of multi-channel mosaics is the largest worldwide to date. Mosaic is Ligos’ enhanced program guide system that not only provides a next-generation navigation experience to cable subscribers today, but an advertising-based ROI opportunity for cable operators as well.
“Cablevision strives to remain ahead of the curve when it comes to deploying the latest innovations to our digital cable subscribers,” said Jean Paul Broc Haro, CEO of Cablevisión. “Having evaluated a number of options, we found MediaRig Mosaic to be the most versatile and reliable solution to bring this cutting-edge viewing experience to our subscribers. Further, Ligos provided exemplary support and features that allowed us to easily implement a key enhancement – dynamic advertising – for our digital mosaic channels.”
MediaRig Mosaic is a Ligos system for multichannel operators seeking a compact, high-quality solution able to provide video-rich IPG channels to their subscribers, even on an install-base of DCT-2000 class STBs. Using a tiled “video montage” layout, a mosaic channel shows multiple thumbnails of high-quality live video streams on a single TV screen. The viewer uses the arrow buttons on their remote control to navigate and highlight individual tiles and hear the accompanying audio, and can directly tune to that channel if something captures their interest. With MediaRig Mosaic, operators can group content together and create audience-specific portals for News, Sports, Family, and Premium content, and even incorporate advertising and service promotions into the presentation. Cablevisión’s large-scale implementation includes a master mosaic channel that links to subcategories of more mosaics, which also feature interactive advertising for programming and additional provider services.
“This rollout represents the latest of many successes for our Mosaic within the Latin American cable market alone. We couldn’t be more pleased to see an industry leader such as Cablevisión in Mexico City really push the concept with such an innovative approach,” said Mark Koziol, CEO of Ligos Corporation. “Over the past year we’ve found great interest from multichannel operators worldwide in rolling out these new interfaces, and I think they’re pleasantly surprised by both MediaRig Mosaic’s capabilities and how easily it has integrated into their existing infrastructure.”
Unlike other approaches, a single compact MediaRig Mosaic system replaces the stack of equipment that might otherwise be required to generate a single guide channel. Mosaic is compatible with a wide variety of industry EPG middleware solutions including i-Guide ™ and Passport(R) Interactive from Macrovision(R), Microsoft(R) Foundation, SARA, MDN 3.0 and ETV/EBIF. As a result, MediaRig Mosaic has become the most widely-deployed solution for these enhanced program guides, and is distinguished by its video quality, flexibility and Ligos’ highly-rated service and support. Multichannel and middleware providers interested in MediaRig Mosaic are invited to contact us through our website at http://www.ligos.com, by phone at 888-464-8765 (toll free) ext. 101 or 415-249-0100 ext.101.
About CABLEVISION® S.A. de C.V.
Currently, CABLEVISION (BMV: CABLE) is the largest Digital MSO in Mexico. This cable company, 51% of which is owned by Grupo Televisa, the largest Spanish-spoken communication enterprise, has a subscriber base of more than 550 thousand for Digital Cable TV and over 150 thousand for High Speed Internet in Mexico City and its Metropolitan Area. Founded more than 40 years ago, CABLEVISION(R) has become the leader in entertainment and communication services, providing the latest convergent technology solutions. This grants its subscribers the freedom to enjoy, in a single account and with important savings, their famous Digital TV service, a reliable High Speed Internet connection, and most recently, an attractive Digital Voice Service (Double or Triple Play bundle portfolio). CABLEVISION was the first company to provide Mexico City residents with innovative services often available to only the most advanced countries in the world. Now CABLEVISION is proudly the only cable company on the planet which is 100% digital, and the first Multi-Channel Provider (cable or satellite) in the country to offer the TiVo(R) Service. Furthermore, CABLEVISION is the only Cable Operator in the country that quotes in the Mexican stock-market. Its next-generation hybrid network consists of more than 11,000 km of coaxial cable and optical fiber, covering more than 1.5 million households in Mexico City. Through this network, CABLEVISION is able to distribute high quality content with more than 245 channels, unique services such as next generation interactivity (with CABLEVISION On Demand and mosaic), 1080i high definition, and value-added features such as broadband internet connection, digital video recording and many other premiums for its subscribers. http://www.cablevision.net.mx
About Ligos Corporation
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Ligos Corporation is a leading worldwide provider of proven alternatives for cost-effective digital video processing. Ligos specializes in flexible solutions for the repurposing of digital video, optimized for distribution, device and content. By combining its MediaRig video processing software with today’s powerful, inexpensive multi-core platforms, Ligos can replicate, consolidate and enhance the features of many existing products, and provide a single, rapidly deployable device at a significant reduction in cost to those in the broadcast industry. For more information on Ligos Corporation and MediaRig Mosaic, visit its website at http://www.ligos.com.
Cable operators are invited to visit the Macrovision Solutions Corporation booth #915 at The Cable Show to be held in New Orleans at the Morial Convention Center on May 18-20, where they will be demonstrating how Ligos’ MediaRig Mosaic product enables Video Rich Navigation with TV Guide’s i-Guide(tm) IPG.
Macrovision Solutions Corporation Press Release
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