hubee

Hubee has a range of tools and expertise to preserve, add value and manage your audiovisual content in a totally digital world.

PRESERVING :

Optimise management of your archives with

• Installation of a tailor-made video archive management architecture
• Digitisation and transcoding of your content
• Dynamic and perpetual backup with recuperation of all existing data
• Real time access to your archives (indexing, trailers, sequencing, image by image, etc.)
• Hosting and maintenance of your video platform
• Training for staff in managing tools and platform

ADDING VALUE :

Develop a new source of revenue by

• Legal clearing for adapting distribution to the digital format
• Securing your content (DRM)
• Secured extranet for consultation
• Portal for online ordering and paying for archives and rushes
• Tool for editing a DVD on-demand

MANAGING :

Optimise management of your audiovisual assets with

• DMS (Data Manager System): metadata, rights management, export (XML) to third-party platforms (Web, IPTV, mobile), statistics, etc.
• VMS (Video Manager System): video resources, transcoding, delivery to the CDNs (Content Delivery Networks), etc.
• CMS (Content Manager System): editorialising, publishing, sales, distribution, etc.

The solution for viewing and maximising the value of your film and programme catalogue.

Hubee has developed Screenby, a viewing platform enabling permanent, secure and flexible access to your entire catalogue. Created with a new technology, on the basis of low cost and open-ended pooling, this platform adapts to your current website or replaces it.

A tool designed for and with buyers !

You thereby allow your new content or back catalogue to be viewed, both easily and remotely, in a manner expected by programme buyers. Screenby makes it possible to administer the entire platform easily with complete autonomy, while enabling it to communicate with your website or your programme database (highlighted content, available rights, new items, validation of new purchaser accounts, etc.).

Screenby is also an ideal tool for involving your partners (channels, co-producers, collaborators) in every stage of the production of a new programme, in a centralised, modern and secure manner. All stakeholders in a co-production can connect and participate in the preparation of a project or new production, while avoiding the costly and tedious to-ing and fro-ing of materials and DVDs. All your online communication (e-mails, comments, chats) is visible, centralised and saved.



4 key advantages :

• Easy : integrates with ease with your website
• Efficient : accelerates and stimulates dialogue between your team and buyers
• Comprehensive : offers unique secure tools to buyers: alerts, playlists, note taking, sharing, rights and availability, etc.
• Profitable : a modest investment cost for quick profitability and savings on prospecting costs.

Lastly, Screenby means :

• The creation of your platform at a highly competitive price. Platform access charges, style guide for your colours, video storage space.
• Reduced operating costs (several customised packages) including hosting, maintenance, video storage and distribution, technical support and licence fees.
• Better than an investment : a reduction in costs! The investment in your own Screenby platform will very quickly become profitable through the savings made with regards to the sending of technical material for the buyers.
• A flexible offering resulting in a tailor-made solution. Several options are offered in order to tailor the solution to perfectly meet your needs: migration of your data, synchronisation with your website,…

Hubee develops platforms for distributing video content over the Internet for all types of applications: VOD, Catch-up TV, Web TV…

Our team is definitely the most experienced in the development of VOD platforms, either as generic labels or for third parties.
To date, we have developed more than 20 VOD platforms either for the Web or for operators (IPTV and cable).

Our experience leads us to draw one conclusion: your distribution issue is not unique! Other audiovisual players have the same needs and are looking for the same tools (Back Office, functions, interfaces, means of payment, security, etc.).

And it is this that has led us to design pooled, industrialised, shared solutions so as to offer comprehensive, tried and perfectly adapted applications! One further detail to note: at highly competitive costs…

Hubee proposes to support you in adapting your digital distribution across all screens with a view to:

• Optimising your content’s presence
• Reaching clients wherever they are
• Opening up your offering to mobile opportunities
• Developing a multi-screen coverage
• Extending your product offering (in-store, applications, widgets, Barker channels, etc.)

With the development of these new means of distribution and growing consumer demand for the so-called “new media” applications, Hubee today offers content publishers flexible and scalable turnkey tools.

Our solutions and platforms are based on developments that have been pooled and widely tried. Building on an already developed “system core”, we adapt our applications (back office, CMS, and so forth) to your particular specifications in order to provide you with a customised, tailor-made solution at a highly competitive price.

Our VOD platform back offices and administration tools allow you to administer entire audiovisual sites, rich in a variety of functions:

• marketing (creation of events, festivals, special operations, pricing policies, gifts, goodies, promotional codes, viral marketing, etc.)
• editorial (top sellers, favourites, numerous themes, genres, news items, collections, series, special features, segmentation)
• means of payment (Carte Bleue, PayPal, Audiotel, SMS+, stored Carte Bleue information, OneClick, etc.)
• business model (pay per use, subscription, prepayment, weekend package, free, advertising, bundled, bonus code, etc.)
• means of distribution (Streaming, EST / download, Flash, DivX, Silverlight, on demand DVD, published DVDs, etc.)
• innovative services (Advanced search, alerts, selections, mapping, sponsorship, recommendation, similar programmes, other customers’ purchases, etc.)
• statistics and CRM (top sellers, geo-localisation, segmentation, data consolidation, etc.)

A back office is simply a reflection and the application of what can be done in terms of portal administration (Web, IPTV or mobile).
Our tools result from more than seven years experience in VOD during which our teams focused on designing and developing video distribution and sales platforms for a variety of demanding clients, each with their own business-oriented specificities and rules.

Our tools are thus designed to be robust, ergonomic, logical, and user-friendly for non-specialists, intended to manage the entire administration of the distribution platform (from rights management to publication in the media, management of the marketing, technical and editorial aspects and distribution to partners or the general public).

Designed and adapted to multiple uses in the very diverse content worlds (documentaries, film, short youth and adult programmes, archives, , TV special reports, etc.)

Contact us and come and learn about all our achievements and our authoritative VOD solutions …

With more than 14 million regular users today, catch-up TV (or replay TV) is no longer a new viewing method but rather an everyday practice of the general public.

Instigated by the major French channels such as M6, France Television or Arte, catch-up TV today represents tens of millions of videos viewed each month across all media (Web/IPTV/Smart TV/tablets and mobile phones).

Catch-up TV is an integral part of Hubee’s DNA. In June 2010, on behalf of Free, Hubee launched the Freebox Replay platform which, for the first time, grouped the catch-up television offering of more than 35 channels on a single portal, thus making this a unique product in Europe.

Hubee has since developed more than 15 catch-up TV platforms for telecoms operators (Free, Bouygues Telecom), manufacturers (Samsung) and television channels (M6, CNN, Gulli, etc.).

Services & Solutions :

Hubee possesses all the technology and expertise necessary for catch-up TV. These have been harnessed in its service platform, RewindHub, which provides, amongst others :

• Simplified management of the catch-up TV platform, access to channels and content
• A consultation interface, with automated editorial functions which intuitively enhance the platform
• A content aggregation engine used today by more than 40 television channels, which allows programmes to be published in both closed (ISP) and open (via Internet on connected TV or WebTV) networks
• User back offices (administrators, publishers, users) which make it possible to monitor the publication, editorialisation, viewing and usage statistics associated with the platform use
• Comprehensive management of video content viewing and production, from transmission, transcoding and delivery to a CDN and/or an ISP
• An advertising platform, AdHubee, which allows television channels / sales reps / ad servers to monetise their TV Replay service over all TV environments (ISP/connected TV) in pre/mid/post-roll and interactive formats

Aside from the RewindHub platform, Hubee also develops tailor-made platforms for third parties, from design to integration on Web/mobile/tablet/TV devices, providing notably :

• Advice on the product strategy of your catch-up TV platform
• Design and ergonomics of interfaces and the user experience
• Design/development of back office, front office, HMI and integration with third party systems (channel administrators, partners, pooling of IT systems resources)
• Monetisation of audiences (free/paying link, advertising and sponsoring)
• Hosting in high-availability environments, video distribution

The majority of audiovisual groups and television channels use and pass through the RewindHub platform.

Hubee also works for television channels looking to develop their own catch-up TV platforms, such as M6 (M6Replay & W9Replay), Turner (TCM, Boomerang, Boing, CNN) and MTV (MTV, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Jr, GameOne).

Today, the consumer electronics market is experiencing major upheaval with the arrival of connected peripherals (TV, Blu-Ray, Home Cinema, etc.) and, more generally, the advent of the Internet in television.

Even if France has a head start in usage terms thanks to ADSL boxes, many players are positioning themselves to operate in a market that will increasingly focus on “internet services” (VOD, catch-up/Replay TV, practical services).

Since 2008, some players – such as Philips and Samsung – were already providing connectable televisions, along with associated services. However, 2011 is the real start of connected TV, in the sense that this subject has moved beyond the conference table to make a real impact on the general public in supermarkets; with tens of services available and accessible via the remote control.

At the end of 2011, there will be approximately three million connected televisions in France. In addition, more than nine million operator set-top boxes can benefit from the audiovisual offering and will also very shortly welcome interactive applications and products from the Apps stores. Not to mention the enhancement of television channels which are going to increasingly embellish their streaming and programmes with new services thanks to the HbbTV standard.

Since the dawn of this (r)evolution in 2009, Hubee has positioned itself as one of the principal players in the design and development of interactive services for television, whether it be with partners in the media or Internet or with manufacturers, forging special technical and marketing relationships (Samsung, LG, Philips, Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic, etc.)

Services & Solution

Building on this experience, Hubee has created its own development platform, HubTV, which provides a uniquely designed service and implements its rollout, either step-by-step or simultaneously, to major manufacturers.

Developed over a period of two years, the HubTV platform relies upon and exploits a Web technology mix ((HTML5, Javascipt, CSS, PHP, HTTP, Streaming, etc.) as well as proprietary components developed by Hubee, such as unique account management or intelligent navigation, the management of third-party functionalities like multi-DRM (protection of content by Microsoft DRM10, PlayReady, DivX, Marlin and shortly UltraViolet), payment (OneClick Carte Bleue payment, PayPal, w-HA), and social networks (Facebook Connect, Twitter).

Hubee’s experience in the world of interactive services, in addition to its detailed knowledge of the different market players, allows us to design and build the most complex and innovative interactive applications according to your objectives and constraints, and this within schedule and budget thus in line with your expectations.

In touch with the technical and commercial issues of manufacturers and publishers, Hubee supports you in your rollout over connected TVs:

• Advice on the rollout strategy and optimisation of your presence as a brand or service for the general public
• Design and development of unique innovative services for the usages of both today and tomorrow (Social TV, convergent use with smart phones, tablets, T-commerce, integration of an advanced recommendation engine, etc.)
• Development of interactive services and enhancement of your television streaming in HBBTV
• Optimised rollout of your service to all manufacturers so as to reach the largest audience and the maximum number of potential users
• Listing among the various offers of connected TV manufacturers and setting-up of marketing agreements so as to increase the visibility of your service and your brand.

Our references

Amongst the clients that have already trusted us with their business, there is a wide spectrum of application typologies:

VOD broadcasters and publishers such as France Télévision, MTV, Gulli, I-Cinema, BFMTV, GameOne, FilmoTV, etc.

Pure Media Players from the Web such as AuFeminin TV, Marmiton, Jeuxvideo.com, MaTVPratique, Neopodia, etc.

Traditional media groups such as Le Figaro, Marianne, Closer, AutoPlus, Les Echos, and La Tribune
Service publishers such as CoachClub, ChronoResto, Tokup, and MyFox

Hubee designs and produces applications for manufacturers and operators, like SmartReplay for example (Samsung’s catch-up TV portal) and SmartPro (a Samsung Smart TV demonstration application intended for points of sale and supermarkets).

Each day, the Web is increasingly turning to…video !

The medium of video considerably strengthens your message and the impact of your communication. The number of players continues to increase in pages on the Web, as they propose institutional messages, product demonstrations, the rebroadcasting of corporate events or public relations operations, and multiplying the number of interviews, client case studies and Web documentaries in order to better inform consumers and clients.

Every day, written content on the Web, often long and rarely read, is replaced by more inviting video messages, adapted to this means of viewing which already incites consumers to watch on average more than three and a half hours of audiovisual programming per day !

A study by Forbes reveals that 60% of professionals prefer to watch a video before reading the text on the same page, and 22% claim to generally prefer watching more video rather than reading this same text.
65% of professionals who surf the web claim to have visited a website after having watched an associated video ! (source : Forbes insights)

The arrival of connected TV has accelerated this trend and has forced companies and brands, traditional media and institutions to seize and run with this new media which was previously only used by television channels.

Tomorrow, “To video or not to video”…will be the question !

We are convinced that tomorrow, if a website is not intelligently and effectively focused on video, then the website will not exist or will not be visited.

The Web will experience a proliferation of Web TV, forcing companies and brands to innovate, to publish their own Web TV, to produce or assemble their own content in order to better impact their consumers whom they will have to consider as audiences and partners.
The websites that we know today, made up of numerous pages of text interspersed with photos and incorporating a player offering a video pretext, will evolve considerably.

Within five to ten years, websites will become veritable content channels, broadcasting numerous videos via a full screen interface, in which interactivity, information, browsing and value-added services will be offered superimposed on the screen or provided directly through video.

The combination of content (message), audience (target) and technology (distribution platform) will become a strategic choice for brands and companies in terms of communication, marketing and sales.

Through a strategic partnership with Flumotion – the leading Spanish video content distributor – Hubee is able to offer a wide range of technical and operational solutions for managing the development of your Web TV.

Flumotion

We simplify matters and support you throughout your video distribution issues. Thanks to our significant experience we guide you, step-by-step, through the jungle of technical choices, distribution formats and the multitude of screens and viewing devices, through the many technical gestures and the complex implementation operations.

The alliance of Hubee and Flumotion forms one of the most credible and experienced European players, capable of offering all the services and tools necessary to successfully develop an online video content distribution strategy.

In October 2011, Flumotion was voted by Streaming Media magazine as one of the “One Hundred Companies that Matter Most in Online Video” in the world. It also received the award for “Best Webcast Platform” in the magazine’s European Readers’ Choice Awards. This recognition by Streaming Media magazine showcases the indisputable performance of this live and on-demand streaming platform, as well as the solutions that we propose to implement for your content.

We will provide you access to integrated and modular solutions :

• content acquisition and management (live, direct or on-demand)
• multi-format encoding and transcoding based on our own technology
• a multi-platform distribution network (or CDN) based on Flumotion’s own infrastructure
• a customisable advanced Web TV multimedia player
• tools for analysing and monetising your content
• viral and social functionalities to control distribution of your content

The Flumotion solution implemented in France by Hubee is already used by dozens of companies, media groups and brands throughout Europe.

Web TV applications are numerous and extremely varied, covering the most diverse sectors:
television channels, radio stations, press groups, online gaming or betting sites, tourism, distribution and e-retailers, brands, banks, local institutions and authorities, education, telecoms operators.

Do not hesitate to contact us so that we may present to you the comprehensive solution that is Flumotion

The increase and development in new screens (PCs, tablets & smart phones) gives rise to new usages that impact the viewing of audiovisual programmes and the manner in which more and more people watch television.

This phenomenon of convergence between mobile screens and the television world constitutes a growing demand from our clients (television channels, VOD platforms and telecoms operators). This is a key focus of Hubee in our development of innovation projects in 2011-2012 and is an increasingly important element in the products and services that we develop.

In terms of advice and the development of applications or services, here are four examples of usage upon which we are focusing.

1- Mobile television

A growing number of TV viewers watch television on alternative screens.

In fact, more than 20% of French people have already watched a live programme on their computer, tablet or smart phone. This figure reaches 40% when it is a question of the younger generation under 25 years of age who watch television even more frequently on these new vehicles (source: Mediamétrie – Sept 2011).

Solution : Hubee helps the channels or entertainment providers to distribute their content to these new screens by adapting the user experience, ergonomics and technical development to the specific features of this type of viewing.
We are convinced that more and more TV programmes will be developed for interactive applications with a view to recruiting and building loyalty among new audiences both on tablets and connected TVs. This is an example of the type of application that we can offer you.

2- The second screen

Social TV is already a reality and will, without a doubt, represent a groundswell trend in the televisual experience over the next ten years.

79% of young persons surf Facebook whilst watching television.
42% of adults surfing social networks whilst watching the television, do so in order to comment on the programme they are watching.
22% of Internet users in the UK are fans of their favourite television programmes on Facebook and this proportion rises to 57% for 18-24 year olds. (Source: Yougov-Deloitte UK study).

In addition to sharing and leaving recommendations concerning a programme, real time dialogue via Twitter appears to be exponential.

In September 2011, France Télévision recorded more than 85,000 followers, a 160% increase in just one year! (source: NPA)

Solution : One of the priorities of our technical and R&D team is the development of solutions and expertise focusing on the use of Social TV on a second screen (smart phone or tablet) or during a TV programme broadcast in synchronised interaction with clickable events on a mobile device.

The same applies for the viewing of a TV broadcast (programme, film, talk show) enhanced by interactive services (voting, e-commerce, access to additional information, statistics, and so on) either via HbbTV or Widget TV, or through parallel information transmitted synchronously to a tablet screen (iOS or Android).

3- The intelligent tablet-remote control

Using a smart phone or tablet as a remote control for a connected TV or a set-top box opens up innumerable possibilities and compensates for the absence of a keyboard and mouse during interactive browsing.

Two examples, amongst others, illustrate the evolution of the traditional remote control and the field of applications allowing for intelligent TV viewing and interaction with the set-top box:

Free with the Freemote and the Freebox control (see screen shots (1) and (2) opposite)
These different applications notably allow you:

• to use the smart phone as a virtual remote control
• to access the programme guide
• to programme a recording
• to send photos from your iPad to the set-top box
• to have a virtual keyboard for the Web browser

Samsung TV Remote (see screen shot (3) opposite)

With a Samsung smart phone or a Galaxy Tab, using a free Android application, the TV viewer can take control remotely of their Wi-Fi equipped television.
This application enables the TV viewer to change channels, control the volume, browse through the menus and even switch between different sources (DVD player, home cinema amplifier, game console, etc.).

Solution : The major advantage of this “virtual remote” application is that it allows the user to browse and type using the smart phone’s virtual keyboard. These apps are destined to be developed by every manufacturer and operator. They allow you to enhance the traditional television experience with improved interactivity and to design optimised dialogue, sharing and transaction functions (searching, recommending, chatting, purchasing through the television, etc.).

This is one of the major key areas for our teams of developers as they aim to combine perfect ergonomics for browsing, user-friendliness (for the general public), and compatibility /adaptability with the different SDKs of manufacturers of consumer electronic appliances and set-top boxes.

4- VOD Tablet

The tablet, the mobile tool par excellence, even when it is used in the home (in 60% of cases), is becoming an important screen for viewing films via VOD or audiovisual programmes via catch-up.

63% of French users claim to watch videos on their tablet (source: Les Echos/Fullsix – Sept 2011)
 When compared to today’s experience of viewing on connected TV, using a tablet to view a VOD service allows for more control when browsing, a faster search within a voluminous film catalogue and a simpler connection and transaction with the service.

Solution : As the French specialist in VOD and catch-up TV, Hubee currently proposes to help all of our clients in rolling out their non-linear offering by developing and adapting their VOD service or catch-up TV to the new screens associated with smart phones and especially tablets (running Android and iOS).

We are certainly one of the most advanced companies, notably in terms of distribution, secure streaming (DRM) and online payment, all issues that still pose real problems on this type of device.

Hubee, preferred partner of Smart TV or set-top box operators and manufacturers

Hubee selects, negotiates and aggregates your VOD, catch-up, information, leisure and e-commerce services in order to enhance your platform or set-top box. Hubee acts as an aggregator of your Apps Store in order to select the most relevant services, adapted to each screen type, and helps publishers to adapt their service to meet the ergonomic and technological standards of your set-top box or connected TV.

While working with Philips Europe (connected TVs) to create the first interactive service portal, Frédéric Pie and his team put together, as early as 2009/2010, a network of more than 180 Internet services to be carried and directly accessible on televisions via a set-top box.

Regarding the development of a film or audiovisual offering, Hubee’s teams are at the heart of the audiovisual ecosytem and offer you more than seven years’ experience in content aggregation. Our clients and partners include television producers, film and audiovisual catalogue distributors and television content providers.
If you want to create or aggregate a bouquet of channels, VOD content and interactive services, Hubee can provide you access to a network of:

• more than 300 entertainment producers and distributors
• some 30 audiovisual channels or groups
• more than 20 VOD platforms
• major film studios (American and French)
• the major French and European Internet companies and portals.