Fox Extends European Playout Deal With Chello

A leading advanced playout and content management company, Chello DMC, has won a five year contract with Fox International Channels Europe, the multimedia company owned by Fox Entertainment Group dedicated to the production and distribution of Pay-TV channels and digital content, to provide playout services for a bouquet of its European linear TV channels.
Under the multi-year contract, Chello DMC will deliver a suite of playout services for 12 FIC linear TV channels in Europe, all of them grouped under the National Geographic brand, managing multiple language and subtitle tracks.
Chello DMC will handle traffic, ingest, scheduling, advanced playout including cue tone insertion, watermarking and dynamic graphics and signal delivery over cable and satellite.
Chello DMC already delivers 11 FIC channels as a mixture of SD, HD, simulcast and opt-out services, 13 language tracks and eight subtitle tracks to eight European territories.
As part of the contract, the current HD and SD FIC feeds for the Benelux region will be replaced with a HD simulcast. Two additional services are to be launched in 2011.
FIC began working with Chello DMC in 2004 and in that time has extended its reach across Europe with the introduction of numerous localized channels. FOX International Channels (FIC) develops, produces and distributes 350+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, factual, sports and movie channels across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, in 35 languages. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high-definition extensions reach over 390 million subscribing households worldwide.
Robin Kroes, Vice President, Commercial, Operations and Corporate Development at Chello DMC said: "We have worked with FIC for the distribution of the National Geographic Channels for more than seven years and are proud to deliver a host of broadcast services including 12 feeds for the channel across Europe.
"We look forward to working with them in a renewed partnership, deploying the latest technologies that enable the broadcaster to get the best return from their content across multiple territories and platforms."
Julio Sobral, SVP Operations FIC Europe, said: "Chello DMC provides us with first-rate technical broadcast expertise and playout services. Managing a dozen of our multi-lingual, multi-territory channel feeds, Chello DMC maximises both our audiences and revenues across Europe. At the forefront of these services, they are the ideal broadcast services partner as we continue to grow our brand in Europe."
(BMcC/GK)