Starfish Technologies, a pioneer in transport streaming processing, has supplied its patented transport stream processing technology to Levira, based in Tallinn, Estonia. Among the applications is the ability to splice content, such as targeted commercials, into live streams without the need to decode and recode.
Levira operates one of the largest playout centres in northern Europe. It runs a terrestrial network in Estonia and provides delivery services to global channels to markets across the Baltic States and Scandinavia, and as far as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. As part of its Tallinn TV Tower, it also offers an advanced and highly secure data centre.
As part of its continuing investment programme, Levira is upgrading its core infrastructure to be able to carry out as much video processing as possible within the encoded broadcast stream domain, to achieve maximum efficiency and flexibility. Included in this is the ability to regionalise and localise services by providing advertising insertion directly in the encoded transport stream, thanks to advanced technology from Starfish.
“Our goal, across all our business activities, is to provide agile solutions based on innovation, continuity and creativity,” said Martti Kinkar, Head of Development and Innovation at Levira. “The flexible, reliable technology from Starfish fits well into our goals, enabling us to tailor our services precisely to the needs of each client and across all geographies.”
Starfish provides market leading technology and rich functionality without leaving the encoded transport stream domain, simplifying architectures and streamlining workflows. Typical applications include replacing and switching live content, adding and removing advertising insertion markers, processing parental control markers and adding station logos.
All this functionality is implemented in software running on COTS hardware, with multiple services running on the same server, saving rack space as well as simplifying implementation.
“Our transport stream processing products have proved very effective at every level from large multi-channel broadcasters to energetic independent facilities like Levira,” said Peter Blatchford, CMO at Starfish. “This is an incredibly exciting time in the industry as we witness the growth of OTT streaming services, and traditional broadcast distribution transitions to HD and Ultra HD resolution on traditional linear channels. We are delighted to provide Levira with our technology, helping them expand their existing facilities and grow their business”.
