Telenet and Media Distillery partner to improve timeshifted viewing experience

Telenet and Media Distillery close partnership to improve timeshifted viewing experience

AMSTERDAM and MECHELEN — Telenet and Media Distillery are announcing an innovative partnership at the IBC trade show, using artificial intelligence to improve the television viewing experience for users of digital video recorders and replay services.

Media Distillery provides a smart solution to the apparently simply problem of accurately identifying when programmes actually start. This is a particular pain point for viewers using digital video recorders or replay services, since the time advertised in electronic programme guides rarely corresponds to the actual start time. It may differ by many minutes or even entirely miss the start of the programme.

Using real-time analysis across multiple channels, EPG Correction™ from Media Distillery provides automatic adjustments to update the actual start time of television programmes as they are broadcast, so that users can go straight to the start of a recorded programme.

The award-winning Media Distillery systems use Deep Content Understanding™ to identify and label features in audiovisual media automatically, enabling television and video service providers to enhance the presentation of programmes and improve the viewing experience for their customers.

Telenet, the Belgian communications company majority owned by Liberty Global, is rolling out the Media Distillery technology in phases across over 100 television channels between now and the end of the year. It will provide an improved experience for up to 1.8 million video customers.

“Inaccurate start times are a real problem for our customers,” says Dimme Pleysier, the Senior Product Manager for Entertainment at Telenet. “With the Media Distillery solution we can consistently provide a better playback experience across all the channels we deliver, without requiring complex technical integrations with multiple broadcasters.”

“This is great example of how Media Distillery technology can deliver practical solutions for service providers and enhance the viewing experience for their customers,” says Roland Sars, the CEO of Media Distillery. “Using artificial intelligence we can identify various audiovisual features to add value and improve the ways in which viewers can navigate programmes to provide a more compelling user experience.”

EPG Correction™ is just one application of the Media Distillery tools. Other uses include identifying title and credit sequences and extracting relevant images. The same technologies can also be used for continuous media monitoring and brand recognition.