| 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 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.34 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.56 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.
References
References
- "Comcast buys Seattle's thePlatform: Digital media firm will stay here". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 27 June 2006. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- "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.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - "thePlatform Goes Mid-Market, Introduces mpx Essentials To Compete With Brightcove And Ooyala". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
- "Comcast's ThePlatform Overhauls Video System With 'MPX'". Multichannel. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
- Spangler, Todd (8 May 2014). "Comcast Replaces Ian Blaine as CEO of ThePlatform Online-Video Unit". Variety. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- "ThePlatform co-founder Ian Blaine to step down after 14 years, new co-CEOs named". GeekWire. 2014-05-08. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
- O'Neill, Jim (13 October 2015). "thePlatform realigns under Comcast Wholesale". VIDEOMIND. Ooyala. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- Whitney, Daisy (26 June 2007). "BBC Puts YouTube Channel on thePlatform". TVWeek. Archived from the original on December 18, 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2017.