ThePlatform

This article is about web media delivery software company. For other uses, see The Platform.

thePlatform

Type of business	Subsidiary
Founded	2000
Dissolved	2016
Headquarters	Seattle, Washington , USA
Owner	Comcast (from 2006)
Key people	Ian Blaine (CEO)
Industry	Video on demand services
Employees	190
URL	www.theplatform.com

thePlatform was a Seattle, Washington based online video publishing company that was acquired by Comcast in 2006.^[1] The company worked with digital media companies to manage and publish video and audio. It was absorbed into the newly formed Comcast Technology Solutions division in October 2016.^[2]

Products

thePlatform's mpx is a video management system, providing publishing tools targeting PCs, mobile phones, and TVs. mpx Essentials is a service marketed towards businesses with smaller video libraries.^[3][4] The mpx Dev Kit provides tools for enhancing video management systems and offers a video player design canvas.

History

thePlatform was founded in 2000 by Ian Blaine, Andrew Olson, Alan Ramaley, Andy Sodt, Rahul Sonnad, and Brad Chodos-Irvine. Previously, in 1998, Blaine and Sodt founded an online personal information management company, Uniplanet, which was acquired by NBCi in 1999.

Purchase by Comcast

In June 2006, Comcast purchased the Seattle-based software company thePlatform. This represented Comcast's entry into a new line of business, selling software to allow companies to manage their Internet (and IP-based) media publishing efforts. In 2014, co-founder Ian Blaine was replaced as CEO by Marty Roberts and Jamie Miller were appointed as co-CEOs.^[5][6] After operating as essentially a standalone unit for almost a decade, thePlatform came under the direction of Comcast Wholesale in 2015.^[7] In 2016, it was absorbed into Comcast Technology Solutions.

Internet TV partnerships

Customers of thePlatform include Verizon Wireless, BBC Worldwide,^[8] CNBC, MSNBC, CBS Sports, AP, NBC Local, and HiT Entertainment.

See also

• Content management system

References

1. "Comcast buys Seattle's thePlatform: Digital media firm will stay here". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 27 June 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
2. "New Comcast Technology Solutions™ Division Unites the Broadcast Expertise of Comcast Wholesale™ with the Digital Technologies of thePlatform® and THIS TECHNOLOGY™ to Power Every Screen | Comcast Technology Solutions". Comcast Technology Solutions. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
3. "thePlatform Goes Mid-Market, Introduces mpx Essentials To Compete With Brightcove And Ooyala". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
4. "Comcast's ThePlatform Overhauls Video System With 'MPX'". Multichannel. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
5. Spangler, Todd (8 May 2014). "Comcast Replaces Ian Blaine as CEO of ThePlatform Online-Video Unit". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
6. "ThePlatform co-founder Ian Blaine to step down after 14 years, new co-CEOs named". GeekWire. 2014-05-08. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
7. O'Neill, Jim (13 October 2015). "thePlatform realigns under Comcast Wholesale". VIDEOMIND. Ooyala. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
8. Whitney, Daisy (26 June 2007). "BBC Puts YouTube Channel on thePlatform". TVWeek. Archived from the original on December 18, 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2017.

External links

• thePlatform
• Comcast