Hamburg, Germany, 27th June, 2024 – NetRange MMH GmbH (‘NetRange‘),an ACCESS company, a global leader in Smart TV solutions, today announced a new partnership with OKAST, a leading provider of premium FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels. This collaboration enriches NetRange’s Smart TV offering by adding OKAST’s diverse portfolio of premium FAST channels that resonate with local audiences’ values and cultures. For OKAST, this widens its customer base to include the 35 million TVs (existing in market global TV population plus forecast sales for 2024) from OEM device manufacturers and brands that build consumer content offerings from the NetRange App Store.
“By integrating OKAST’s premium FAST channels into our Smart TV solution, we not only extend the reach of OKAST’s premium FAST channels, but also enhance the content offering for our customers globally,” said Michi Uematsu, CEO, ACCESS CO., LTD.”
NetRange’s turnkey technology for FAST TV, including platform integration, TV player integration, backend management, and platform management, enables precise targeting of channels by country. This means that OKAST can now effectively target and reach new addressable audiences and widens the FAST offering for our global customers.”
“Partnering with NetRange enables us to leverage its robust Smart TV ecosystem, reaching a broader audience without the hassle of multiple technical integrations,” said Cédric Monnier, CEO and co-founder of OKAST. “Through the NetRange App Store simple integration process, we can now port our FAST channels once and deploy them across multiple TV brands seamlessly.”
This new collaboration is a key aspect of the bold strategy of the European group FAST4EU, established by OKAST, to build a European network aimed at the FAST market. OKAST intends to expand its range of channels to provide tailored content to local viewers in each region, showcasing the richness and excellence of European programming that aligns with their preferences and cultural identity.
About NetRange
NetRange, an ACCESS CO., LTD. company (Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market, Index, 4813), is the global pioneer of white labelled, licensed App Store provider for Smart TVs, Set Top Boxes, Automotive platforms, and other connected devices such as smart projectors.
NetRange is the One-Stop-Center for Smart TV Brands/ODMs, Chipset vendors, and operators for accessing the licensed contents, covering content agreements, providing backend services and running DRM certification processes. The NetRange solution is integrated on more than 300 partners worldwide including Mediatek, Hisense VIDAA O.S., Arçelik, TCL MOKA, Skyworth Digital, Sharp, Loewe and Changhong. Its fully featured Smart TV Appstore includes local and global premium VoD stores, FAST channels, cloud games, live sports, the latest music, and lifestyle apps.
In addition, NetRange also leverages its content relationships and broadcast technology expertise to provide the Twine4Car Automotive platform solution, a connected car infotainment platform, and VISNOS, a client-based Smart TV OS that significantly reduces the hardware cost for TV manufacturers by enabling Smart TV features through devices with low-powered CPUs. Please visit www.netrange.com for more information.
About M.E.I Group (OKAST)
Founded in 2013 by industry veterans (formerly Canal +, France Television, NewsCorp, Ubisoft, Irdeto, Viaccess), M.E.I. Group builds the OKAST.TV cloud solution for key industry players (TV channel, producer, pure web player, etc.).
A turnkey solution, OKAST.tv makes it easy to deploy a streaming and live audio/video platform (xVOD), a FAST channel, and to monetize audio, video, and live catalogs. It provides everything from streaming architecture, platform, and design to TV and mobile applications, as well as complete management of payment systems, advertising, and management software including content management, user CRM, and analytics.
OKAST.TV publishes, through its clients, over 500 OTT platforms and premium FAST channels worldwide. Its clients include the SECOM group, Mediawan, Endemol France, TV Monaco, INA, THEMA, RCS Media, Qwest TV, SIC (Impresa), Good!Movies, Allindi, IDance Music, MAIF, Accenture, Secrets d’Histoire, Le Media TV, Le Figaro Live, Ciné Prime, Kinostar, Unifrance, Folxn, etc.
The company was incubated by TF1 and Audiens and already counts among its clients major American, European, and Chinese media, companies, agencies, brands, TV, web, cinema, and advertising content producers.
About FAST4EU
OKAST, SECOM Group, Kinostar have joined forces to launch the European FAST4EU Consortium. Co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA, the consortium’s objective is to accelerate the development of the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) model in Europe and to provide a technological and content approach adapted to the European market with the capacity to expand internationally. The channel launch support program welcomes all European players, whether broadcasters, producers, or distributors of content.
Media contacts:
Platform Communications for NetRange
David Bramley / Azhar Uddin
+44 (0)20 3832 3690/3691 or +44 (0) 7711 239 062
access@platformcomms.com
OKAST
press@okast.tv
