AMSTERDAM, January 21, 2016—UniversCiné, French independent film platform, has selected Unified Streaming, leading provider of cross-platform video-streaming technologies, to create a valuable platform with the intention to transmit and broadcast cinematographic culture. Viewers can watch more than 4000 independent films ranging from classics to contemporary success of independent cinema

Founded in France in 2001, UniversCiné is an initiative of independent film producers and –distributors. Their initial goal was to raise attention for independent film through a VoD service offering the latest titles, classics and less well-known films. As well as some directors’ interviews, articles, reviews, factsheets and festival information in order to enrich the users’ experience.

“A key strategic focus at UniversCiné is to use advanced technologies to be future proof and offer our customers video anywhere, anytime.” says Benjamin Henseler-Campana, CTO of UniversCiné. ​“There are various advantages like: no need for re-packaging or re-encoding, no need for extra storage and quick time-to-market with which we are ready to compete in today’s fast moving OTT industry.”

To be able to provide their viewers with the best quality, UniversCiné selected Unified Streaming’s software because it provides advanced functionality to do on-the-fly packaging to all formats and platforms including DRM protection. Even in HD, if needed. So it detects on what device or platform you are watching and it searches the highest bitrate, so you will always get the best quality and speed possible. To address older and some android devices, progressive download of MP4 can be selected, making it possible to start watching before the download is completed. And because it all happens on-the-fly, it eliminates massive storage needs. Now you just need one file, unlike before.

“UniversCiné is a great reference and shows how our software can be used for creating an efficient and feature rich video-on-demand platform.” says Simon Westbroek, VP Global Sales at Unified Streaming. ​“An important requirement for UniversCiné is offering viewers: download-to-own. Unified Origin makes it possible to stream from a single file all adaptive bitrate formats including the format required for download-to-one.“

About Le Meilleur du Cinéma — UniversCine

The LMC/​UniversCiné company was founded in 2001 by 34 independent film producers, sales agents and distributors, who decided to develop a common approach to Video on Demand publishing and distribution, enabling rights holders to control the way their films are presented on digital media.

The company operates several business units including:

• VoD publishing via ​“UniversCiné”, a VoD platform dedicated to independent cinema, and available across several devices including web, IPTV, connected TVs, tablets and Smartphones;
• Aggregator and international trader of VoD rights: LMC is responsible with the distribution of films for major VoD platforms and services on the web, on IPTV and on other devices;
• A supplier of technical and marketing services, and VoD platform operator for third party companies, in particular for many institutional organisations including Institut Français, TV5Monde, Médiathèque Numérique, BnF, and for companies such as METROPOLITAN FILMEXPORT group for whom it operates the digital platform and ​‘Cinémas à la demande’; and
• DVD publishing through Blaq Out.

LMC/​UniversCiné is a founding member of the EUROVOD federation, a network of 14 European VoD platforms dedicated to independent cinema.

About Unified Streaming

Unified Streaming is a leading provider of cross-platform video streaming technologies. Dedicated to help companies to create and execute smart video streaming technologies. Our products are in operation around the world with customers ranging from broadcast networks and online content distributors to small companies and webcasters. The ease of use and reliability of our solutions allow customers to shorten their time-to-market. Our solutions fit into existing frameworks (Apache, IIS, Lighttpd, Nginx) thus allowing for greater return on existing investment and reducing delivery cost significantly. Streaming from one encode simultaneously to multiple players and devices boosts time to market and reaches the broadest audience possible.