Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Simon Frusher

By on May 16, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Corporate Communications, Live Event Webcasting

Simon Frusher TalkPoint smallSimon Frusher is a specialist in online video events – what this means and how to best ensure messaging is received and understood.  Here he talks about his panel session at Streaming Forum and his thoughts on the general trends in the industry.

 

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role.

In 2010, I joined TalkPoint to run the EMEA operation in London, but I’ve been in the visual communication industry since 1989 and producing live webcasts for the last 16 years.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

This year, I’m leading a great panel discussing corporate webcasting trends and how effective the medium is to an organisation’s culture and reputation. Since I’ve been in this business for over 20 years, I look forward to sharing my experiences and insight with the Streaming Media audience.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

We have a wide-ranging client base across a number of sectors with different needs from locked-down security to taking a video feed from a CEO’s desktop. Our webcasting technology provides the ideal solution to suit our clients’ needs from fully-managed events through to self service options-the end game always being the same-quality and reliability.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

Delivery to mobile devices and the move to self-service webcasting technology is definitely still on the rise, even though that’s been standard for TalkPoint for a few years now. More clients having a diversity of video acquisition end points is another major trend in streaming media.

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

I enjoy providing the webcasting technology that enables our clients to reach audiences that they would have previously been unable to communicate with due to geographic location and the speed of delivering an impactful message.

 

Simon will be moderating the session  (Tuesday 18 June 2013 16.00-17.00). The rest of the panel consists of: 

Matthew Misik, Head of Audio Visual, The Royal College of Surgeons of England — UK
Peter Rugg, AV Consultant, UBS — UK
Nevil Bounds, Sales Director, Feltech — UK
Chris Lloyd, Technical Director, 27partners — UK
Kevin McLoughlin, Audio Visual Manager, One Wimpole Street, The Home of the Royal Society of Medicine and Chandos House – UK 

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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Jason Thibeault

By on May 14, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Content Delivery, Video Infrastructure
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Jason Thibeault, Sr. Director, Marketing Strategy, Limelight Networks, USA

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role.

I am currently the Sr. Director, Marketing Strategy at Limelight Networks and responsible for much of the way Limelight is positioned in the market. Although a deep technologist at heart (ex CTO, CIO, founder of multiple startups, long-time software engineer and architect) I am also a storyteller. Schooled as a professional writer, time spent as a journalist, author of multiple books, my love is storytelling. The great thing about the digital world is that it transforms storytelling. They aren’t just words anymore (or just video). Magical combinations of mediums can come together to create vibrant and interactive experiences. When you bring that to the business world you realize that everyone, even organizations, are trying to tell a story and it’s how we engage with each other. This really is where I spend my time.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

I will be sitting on a panel talking about the future of the CDN. The CDN is really fascinating. As a market and a service it’s changing. It’s evolving because we are all realizing that delivery is just one component of getting that story to our audiences. I am fascinated by this evolution of CDNs from just dumb pipes to intelligent networks that can help organizations tailor content delivery into contextually-relevant experiences for their audience. That’s powerful.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

Our clients are struggling with digital marketing, with engaging with their audiences, with their digital presence. Many of the systems they use to manage and publish websites, to manage and publish videos, to store objects, to deliver them, are all disconnected. That makes it really hard to tell a consistent story across all devices anywhere in the world so that they can maximize engagement (which is what they want as engagement leads to intimacy leads to conversion). We help them wipe away some of that complexity (let’s be honest, we aren’t a silver bullet for a problem this big) by making it easier to create, manage, and deliver an awesome digital presence through a single, cloud-based platform of integrated tools for their website, video, storage, delivery/performance, and analytics.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

I see streaming media getting more personalized and more interactive. Obviously video is going to dominate content over the next five years. The data trajectory is incredible. But, just as websites transformed to dynamic, contextual experiences, so too will video. It can’t be just dumb. Discovery has to be smarter, it has to be linked to who I am, what I like, where I’ve been. This will require a lot of real-time data from both the player and the evolution of the CDN but the cloud resources are there now (i.e., Hadoop clusters and elastic computing) to acquire and process it. It’s just a matter of time before the content owners and the technologists begin to integrate that into the video experiences they have been building.

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

Working with amazing clients, companies that are trying to reshape the way we tell, interact, and experience stories. Whether it’s stories about their company, or stories from the big screen, or stories about their customers, these organizations are transforming the web with their digital content and I get to be at the center of it all as part of Limelight.

The panel session, The Future of CDNs, is on Wednesday 19 June, 10.30 – 11.30.

The panel consists of:

Moderator: Dom Robinson, Co-Founder, Director. id3as & Contributing Editor, StreamingMedia.com, id3as, UK

Panellists: Jason Thibeault, Sr. Director, Marketing Strategy, Limelight Networks, USA, Stef van der Ziel, CEO, Jet-Stream, The Netherlands, Miles McWilliams, Head of Global Sales – IP Transit & CDN, Deutsche Telekom, UK, Mike Smith, Solutions Engineer, Edge Comuting & CDN Services, Mirror Image Internet, UK, and James Fletcher, Marketing Director, CDN.net,UK.

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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Chris Dabbs

By on May 13, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Live Event Webcasting, Media & Entertainment
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Chris Dabbs, Group Account Director, Streaming Tank, UK

Chris Dabbs is the Chief Executive Office and Global Operations Director of the leading Live and On-Demand video streaming company Streaming Tank.  He was also voted as one of the world’s 10 most influential people in Streaming by Streaming Media Magazine. Here he talks a little bit about himself and his case study presentation at Streaming Forum 2013.

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role. 

In 2003, I founded Creative Tank, a full service digital agency for agencies, along with my business partner, James Wilkinson.  In 2005, live streaming became a major new innovation within the agency, so Streaming Tank was formed as an offshoot.

Then in 2006, after several major live streaming successes, including The Who World Tour (featured on the front cover of Streaming Media Magazine in November 2006), live streaming became the main offering of the agency.

Streaming Tank and Creative Tank then flipped, with Streaming Tank becoming the major agency. Since then, Streaming Tank has been the driving force on some of the most challenging and interesting live streams ever undertaken. It is now a major partner with YouTube Live, Google+, Yahoo and Twitter, to name just a few.  It is also the streaming agency of choice with the majority of major agencies around the world, and the streaming company behind a large number of sectors, including music, fashion, and sport.

Its focus has always been on delivering what the client wants, not what technology is available.  The global player in creative live streaming.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject? 

I’ll discuss how Top Shop teamed up with Streaming Tank, Google, Facebook, and Twitter to deliver a unique event, streamed to millions of new users. This will include how the pre-event promotion created a fan base, how the event happened—including the technologies that were deployed—and the results of the promotion.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them? 

Reaching a viewer base in a crowded market is difficult, but social media is coming to the rescue.  The tools are available; the trick is how to use them correctly to build communities around an event and fix on trending.  This not only improves viewing figures but also brand retention.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

Streaming to all platforms is now becoming easier, and the raise in financing of content is growing.  For example, last year 34% of WPP companies’ revenue was in  digital, with 30% of the media industry now investing in digital with a focus on streaming. However the largest move will be mobile, with a massive 4 billion views per month and tablets overtaking PC sales.

We’re also seeing general broadcast content is making a huge move.  Smart TV’s will soon be replaced by dumb TVs, as web-based televisions deliver content from multiple sources. This will enable a large range of content to be delivered to users, but as always, content is king.  The technology does not matter but the content does, and it is that content that users will interact with.

This is all linking with social media and second screening.  With 80% of tweets about what is currently happening live, this reflects directly over to streaming.  A 4% increase in tweets leads to a 1% increase in media ratings.

Increased opportunities for using streaming with social networks will enable brands and events to have a conversation with their audience and have their audience have a conversation with them.

Finally, the streaming business is not about what device people use—that is just the size of the screen.  Users want their content to be transferable to whatever device is appropriate for them at that time.

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

Life is always fun, a challenge is better!

Chris’s case study presentation, The Future of  the Fashion Show – The  Live Streaming Social  Networking Experience, will be on Tuesday 18 June at 11.45 – 12.30.

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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Steffan Aquarone

By on May 9, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Corporate Communications, Media & Entertainment
Steffan Aquarone is a film producer and technology entrepreneur, and  co-founder of mobile money platform Droplet. Steff speaks internationally on innovation, entrepreneurship and digital marketing. Here he talks about what his presentation at this year’s Streaming Forum will include:

 

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role. 

My background is as a film producer and more recently technology entrepreneur in my role as co-founder of mobile money platform Droplet.  Prior to graduation I co-founded a Top 50 UK corporate film production company and worked with accounts including John Lewis, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, News Corporation, Vodafone, Land Rover and American Express on all aspects of their online video strategy.  Since then I’ve been working as a consultant in the online video sector in both creative and technology businesses.  I write Econsultancy’s annual Online Video Best Practice report, and write regularly on the future of video on the web.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

The session is going to present two case studies (Droplet and AGCO) and describe in detail how they were successful. The rules for online video success are still being written and I always think case studies are the best way to understand what’s worked for others.  I’ve brought a start-up success story from Droplet, and invited my friend Lee Kemp from Vermillion Films to present a case study of a larger, global business.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

One of the biggest problems is there are so many technologies and tactics to choose from.  Often suppliers invent language just to sell a product!  Taking things back to basics and thinking about what audiences will find useful, interesting or entertaining is rewarding challenge.  If you produce content people want to watch, you can wrangle the technology side to focus on how to find them.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

For a start, I think the word ‘streaming’ has all but disappeared from the vocabulary of the brand marketers that are using online video to achieve return on investment.  Video is now part of content, and most brands have realised that good content is what travels furthest on the web and achieves the greatest results.  This year we’re seeing more brands invest in the idea of Brand Entertainment – where instead of broadcasters, it’s household names who are conjuring up the latest factual and entertainment content for online audiences.

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

I get huge enjoyment working with talented creative people within brands.  Many organisations have almost everything they need in-house to make this sort of thing happen, they just need a bit of facilitation.

Steffan and Lee’s case study presentations will take place on Tuesday 18 June 2013 2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Duncan Burbidge

By on May 7, 2013 in Sports
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Duncan Burbidge, CEO, Stream UK

Duncan Burbidge co-founded Stream UK in 2001 and has grown it into the UK’s largest independent streaming media company. Here he tells us a little bit about himself and what he will talk about at Streaming Forum 2013.

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role.

I was one of two founders of StreamUK way back in 2001, before that I worked in Management Consultancy on projects like the collapse of ex-Soviet steel mining.  I’m married with four children, play chess and run for Highgate Harriers.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

I’m discussing what it means to make online video preferred to traditional television.  Although the boundaries are already blurred, the question brings into focus how additional information should be presented to the user.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

The proliferation of devices is the key challenge.  We have a policy to support 99.9% of all devices that view popular websites.  By tracking those and plotting results we are able to predict not only which devices we need to ready ourselves for, but which devices (and browsers) we can safely remove from our testing process.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

The inclusion of visualised data within the player and the use of this data to index the video.  Everyone wants to efficiently view the video and the parts of that video that are most relevant to them, properly integrated data helps them do just that. 

What’s the do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

Working with some very smart people and being able to make decisions that give direction to the growth of our company.  We’re now nearly 50 people, debt-free, cash-flow funded and privately owned. I’m very proud of that.

Duncan will be moderating the session  which will take place Wednesday 19 June 2013 1.30-2.15pm. The panel also includes Simon Banoub, Marketing Director, Opta Sports, UK, Howard Kitto, Group Chief  Technology Officer, Perform Group, UK and Simon Nixon, Client Services Director, Aqueduct, UK.

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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Michael Lantz

By on May 2, 2013 in Conference Sessions, Media & Entertainment, Video Infrastructure
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Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo

Will 2013 be the year of “TV Everywhere?” We think so, and so does Accedo’s Michael Lantz, who will explore the topic at Streaming Forum in London in June. Here, Michael discusses what he plans to speak about as well as current trends in the industry:

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role

I am Accedo’s CEO and one of its founders. Over the past 9 years we have championed the concept of the TV app and why the TV is loved and cherished by consumers and how media companies and operators can create compelling next generation consumer offerings. In my current role, I have the pleasure of working with Accedo’s wide range of products, including a number of new solutions launched over the past couple of years. I’m involved both in the product innovation as well as in the sales process, where I’m meeting customers and partners daily to discuss their requirements and roadmaps.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Forum? Why have you chosen this subject?

I will be speaking about Integrating TV Everywhere Services. This is a truly exciting area right now, and I think 2013 will be the year of TV Everywhere, largely due to the shifting consumer viewing habits. Consumers are expecting access to the content they choose when and where they want it. Pay TV Operators and Media Companies are competing for digital viewership and are looking for new revenue opportunities, as well as improving brand and service loyalty. Most major pay TV operators have or are planning to roll out services on OTT devices, and suddenly consumers will have the choice of multiple providers of premium content via a plethora of TV and mobile devices. Over the coming 5-6 years, this will radically change the TV industry as we know it, increase competition and change the way we consume TV.

However, establishing, delivering, and maintaining a premium TV Everywhere offering can be time consuming, costly and complex in a fragmented world of devices that are constantly changing. There is also a growing trend for personalization of the TV experience, where everybody is looking to own the customer. However, as I will discuss during my session, it is possible to easily integrate these types of services to enable fast and efficient roll out of multiplatform TV application offerings.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

We see more and more media companies deploying applications on TV to increase usage and reach new consumers. Over the past couple of years, the main challenge has been about launching attractive applications with great functionality. Now, we increasingly see challenges like monetization, distribution and maintainability, which are all addressed by Accedo solutions. For monetization we have an attractive advertising solution AdMediate that helps international media companies use modern advertising solution in their TV apps. For distribution, we have established a network of attractive distribution partners in the major pay TV operators we’re working with. These platforms offer app capabilities, which are very attractive new distribution channels for app providers. Finally, for maintainability, we offer our AppView management platform to increase maintenance synergies and control over applications.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

We increasingly see dual screen offerings, where the navigation and browsing takes places on a tablet or a mobile phone device and the viewing takes place on a TV. This adds a significant complexity in terms of device connection and media security but we see a number of solutions appearing on the market, including the Accedo Connect solution from us. We believe that the user experience for a dual screen watching experience will continue to evolve over the coming years.

What do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

It is truly inspiring to be at the forefront of a growing industry, which is being dramatically revolutionised with new technologies. Every day, I’m amazed with the innovation I see from companies working in this industry and I can’t wait to see what lies around the corner.

Michael’s talk will take place on Wednesday 19 June 2013 1.30-2.15 pm:  Integrating TV Everywhere Services 
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Meet our Streaming Forum Speaker: Simon Crofts

By on May 2, 2013 in Corporate Communications, Media & Entertainment, Sports

Simon CroftsWith Streaming Forum fast approaching—on 18-19 June at Park Plaza Victoria in London, we’ll be taking the opportunity to introduce you to some of our speakers here on the Streaming Media Europe blog. First up is Simon Crofts, Creative Director at ST16.

Tell us a little about you, your background and your current role.

I’ve worked on cross platform projects for an impressive list of B2B and B2C clients all over the world, including global change comms projects, TV/cinema commercials, promo films and viral/social media projects. I even had afternoon tea with Prince Edward before directing a project for him.

I started in corporate communications at EDS.

Over the last 12 years I have helped build one of the most successful production companies in the UK (Televisual Corporate Top 50 No. 23, 2013).

In my current role as Creative Director at ST16, I pride myself in developing strategy and creative that as well as achieving millions of views, goes beyond that. Understanding the audience and objectives, cleverly targeting and engaging them and then embedding key messages into the content, creating measurable ROI, like more web traffic or increased sales. The results I have achieved for clients shows that the approach works, with hugely successful, measurable returns on campaigns.

I’ve won a number of awards for my work, conceiving, writing and directing the Royal Television Society Award winning ‘Speed Dating’ (with over 16 millions views online) and IVCA/New York Festivals Gold winning ‘Steamed Up’ social media campaigns.

I am a Governor (and have guest lectured) at Staffordshire University and judge for the New York Film & Television Festival.

What will you be talking about at Streaming Media Europe? Why have you chosen this subject?

I will be talking about social/viral video—about how to mitigate the risk associated with the approach and achieve measurable results beyond views or ‘likes’. I will use the NHS Dentist campaign we worked on as a case study to demonstrate the process and incredible results to can achieve if you execute a campaign properly.

Name some key challenges faced by your clients, and tell us how you are overcoming them?

How do you make new, interesting and successful content? How do you make it stand out from the massive amount of video being added on an hourly basis?

Our research, creative process and seeding strategies generate ideas that work incredibly well with the target audience and spread very quickly. Making sure the client understands how important each of these stages are and not just going with their ‘great idea’ is the first step toward success.

What do you see as major trends in streaming media?  

It’s ever growing. Social video is still in its infancy. We will continue to strive for exciting and engaging content but the technology will continue to develop and offer us new ways to deliver that creative.

What do you enjoy the most about your job in this industry?

Every day is different. I’ve had the opportunity to work all over the world across most sectors, learning new things about hundreds of different types of business.

I love the fact that all our projects present new challenges… How do you make going to the dentist sexy? Can you use viral for internal communication? Can we save people’s lives with social video? Can you sell a product with viral? Those are the kind of questions we love to get asked.

Wednesday 19 June 2013 11.45am-12.30pm: B202: Case Study: Viral Video – Myth or Magic?

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Streaming Forum 2013: Chairman’s Picks

By on April 23, 2013 in Conference Sessions, General Conference Information

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Eric Schumacher

Eric Schumacher, Programme Director, Streaming Forum
Editor, Streaming Media Magazine

 

The thing I like best about the Streaming Forum is that we’ve tagged each of our 30 sessions with one of eight “Focus Areas,” so attendees can easily identify the panels and presentations that are most relevant to them and their business.

But I have to admit that I’m especially excited about a few sessions in particular:

• HBO Europe—A Broadcaster’s Guide to the TV Everywhere Universe

HBO GO has been one of the biggest success stories in the emerging OTT market, but that doesn’t mean that the deployment in Europe was an easy one. This session will offer great lessons for any organisation hoping to launch or expand its OTT offering in the European market.

• The Future of the Fashion Show—The Live Streaming Social Networking Experience

2013 is shaping up to be the year that live webcasting really comes into its own, with interactivity and social network integration a crucial part of that success. In this case study, attendees will find out how Topshop, Google, and Streaming Tank put together a multi-platform, interactive live web event to create “the world’s most viewed catwalk.”

• How to Choose a Cloud Encoder

Jan Ozer’s how-to sessions on encoding are always some of our best -attended, and this year we’ve got four of them. In this one, he’ll walk attendees through the pros and cons of choosing a cloud encoding service and present case studies of companies that have made the switch.

• MPEG-DASH & HEVC: New Standards Enabling Ultra-High Quality Video Services

We’ve got three sessions relating to MPEG-DASH, but this one is especially exciting because it brings together engineers and researchers who’ve helped build and advance the standards, from bitmovin, Qualcomm, CISCO, Fraunhofer/HHI, and Orange.

• Watching Sport Online: Better Than TV?

In a discussion featuring companies that have worked with major sport organisations including Manchester City FC and the Women’s Tennis Association, panellists will discuss and debate the important role of data and viewer interaction to create truly immersive fan experiences.

• Successful Models for Webcasts and Webinars for Education and Training

There are plenty of technologies that make it easy to create webcasts and webinars—but simply having the right technology is only one piece of the puzzle. What’s interesting about this presentation is that it digs deeper into helping attendees learn what makes for successful online learning events in both academic and corporate environments.

Read our full programme here

Register for the conference here

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Adoption of New Media Technology: Western Europe leads the way

By on February 21, 2013 in Industry News, Media & Entertainment, Uncategorized

Western Europe is setting the pace when it comes to the adoption of new media technology, accounting for all of the Top 5 international markets in 2012, according to a new study.

The New Media Forecasts Report from ZenithOptimedia tracks the adoption of IPTV, smartphones and tablets in the top 19 digital markets in the world. In 2012, Norway ranked first, followed by France, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

Norway’s first place was driven by high take-up of smartphones and tablets.

Across all the markets analysed, smartphones were the most prevalent device, but smartphone penetration varied widely between countries, ranging from 73% in Sweden to 18% in Brazil. IPTV was the slowest growing of the three technologies and also had the widest range of adoption.

Looking ahead, the report forecasts that the Netherlands will claim top spot by 2015, driven by its extremently rapid uptake of IPTV which is forecast to be in 91% of Dutch households in two years.

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Streaming Forum Speakers Wanted: Sport and Education Verticals

By on February 21, 2013 in Uncategorized

The program for Streaming Forum 2013 is coming together nicely, but we still need your help. We’re looking specifically for sessions and presenters that can address the growing applications for online video in education and the ever-expanding sport market. In particular, we’re looking for how-to sessions and innovative case studies that can help our attendees understand best practices and new approaches to solving the specific challenges faced in those verticals.

We’re also still looking for speakers who can present sessions or help us fill out panel discussions in the following areas:

  • Formats, Protocols, and Standards
  • Encoding and Transcoding
  • Live Event Webcasting
  • Online Video Delivery Infrastructure
  • Corporate Communications
  • Media & Entertainment
  • Social Video & Second Screen

You can make your submissions via our online submission form, or feel free to reach out to me directly at erics@streamingmedia.com. Streaming Forum 2013 will be at the Park Plaza Victoria London on 18-19 June, and we’re looking to have the program completed by the end of the first week of March.

The Streaming Forum event is a “re-boot” of our Streaming Media Europe events; we’ve moved it out of the busy autumn conference season, relocated to a more central location in London, and put more emphasis on high-level networking and learning. Previous events have included speakers from YouTube, Samsung, BBC, Dailymotion, Red Bee Media, Channel 4, Xstream, Vimond, MTV Oy, Virgin Media, and Deutsche Telekom.

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