Unified Video Technologies OTT Service Enables RJR Communications To Stream Linear And VOD Content

Premier Jamaican Television Provider Chooses uVOD White-Label Solution to Deliver Content to Expats in North America and Europe

Miami, FL - Unified Video Technologies (UNIV), a provider of complete media ecosystems and software services for broadcasters, enterprises and the entertainment industry, announced that RJR Communications, parent company of Television Jamaica, the country’s top free-to-air television station, has chosen the uVOD OTT managed service to create Jamaica’s first OTT service. uVOD will allow RJR to deliver channels and content to paid subscribers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Jamaica.

RJR’s uVOD video-on-demand (VOD) and linear streaming solution will provide a taste of home for more than three million Jamaicans living abroad, who will enjoy a familiar Netflix-like experience with the added advantage of live-TV viewing. For $14.99 per month they will be able to access a complete library of the channel’s Jamaica-oriented content for viewing on-demand via iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, and the RJR-branded uVOD Web Portal.

The solution streams all RJR television stations – TVJ, TVJ Sports Network, Jamaica News Network (JNN), and Reggae Entertainment TV (RE TV) -- live for viewing 24/7 on mobile devices or browsers. Pay-per-view events will also be available for mainstream events such as sports and concerts produced by RJR. A user-friendly front-end interface makes it simple to choose movies and television shows as well as live channels, and to manage user accounts across all devices.

“Jamaicans worldwide maintain close ties with friends and families back home, and keep up with news, TV programs, films and events that are happening in Jamaica,” said RJR Managing Director Gary Allen. “We are thrilled to have found an OTT solution that enables us to roll out one element of our Go Global strategy in such a short period of time; and deliver RJR live and on-demand programming to our loyal viewers overseas using a SaaS OPEX model. We have been extremely pleased with the advanced capital projects that UNIV has completed for RJR and eagerly anticipate integrating the uVOD managed service in our offerings. We are committed to being at the forefront of technology not only in Jamaica but in the Caribbean region overall to keep our viewers engaged and loyal to our media companies. This partnership will also offer new portals to our local content producers, who are in search of avenues outside of Jamaica to monetize their content.”

uVOD includes customer relationship management (CRM) services such as a customer support hotline, help desk and technical support. UNIV also manages all digital rights and provides a robust content delivery network (CDN) for efficient, fail-safe content delivery. The Content Management System (CMS) will manage owned and third-party local Jamaican movies and programming. Due to the integrated services provided by UNIV within its uVOD solution, RJR Communications Group will be free from storage, streaming and CDN costs; and from maintaining in-house technical support staff.

“UNIV is committed to helping RJR make the most of their digital assets by empowering them to deliver on-demand and linear content to viewers everywhere, at any time and on any screen,” said Ariel Matzkin, CTO of UNIV. “Our operator-grade platform uses adaptive bit rate streaming to ensure that RJR programming is streamed to each viewer at the bit rate that is optimal for the available bandwidth, so that every viewing experience is excellent. We are proud that uVOD enables RJR to offer its subscribers a seamless end-to-end user experience via a branded web portal, mobile viewing and billing that is fully integrated with RJR back office applications.”