Johannesburg - On-demand solutions
provider, Discover Digital International (DDI), on Monday completed its
acquisition of Turkish firm IKOB Interactive content management solution
(CMS) and source code, in a multi-million dollar deal to support its aggressive
international growth strategy.
DDI said it provides
broadcasters, telco operators and sports organisations with completed over the
top (OTT) video on demand (VOD) and Linear TV managed solutions.
DID International Managing
Director, Stephen Watson said “We realised a year or so ago that if we simply
continued the model in which we license all components of a VOD and linear TV
solution we will be nothing but a licensing management entity and not build any
of our own IP.
Watson said in order to expand
their business globally they were very focused on finding a highly scalable,
user friendly content management solution. They evaluated platforms around the
world and settled on IKON’s content management solution as a world-class
product built by a team with extensive VOD experience.
“We agreed to acquire the
software and the source code from them in what was our first multi-million
dollar acquisition. We have now concluded a 12-month skills transfer and
technology handover process, up skilling a team of young developers to continue
to evolve the product”.
“We’re taking the years of
experience IKON Interactive has in managing and supporting subscription
services for millions of subscribers and building on their well thought out,
user-friendly solution that gives you the flexibility to change packages,
manage metadata and customise user interfaces simply and effectively. Our
experience has been that with many other services, such changes have been
complex and costly to implement,” said Watson.
Watson said IKON
Interactive’s platform delivers a world class product but maintains a ‘keep it simple’
approach.
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“We’re incredibly excited
because it’s IP we can build on and continue to own. It will enable us to have
greater flexibility on our own commercial offerings to customers, telco
operators and broadcasters and strengthens our position squarely in the VOD
technology service provider space”.
“Given that our business and
development overheads in both Mauritius and Africa tend to be much lower than
those in Europe and the USA, we are now well positioned to be very aggressive
on pricing in hard currency markets across customisation, integration and
management of this technology for broadcasters and operators,” said Watson.
Chief Operating Officer of
IKON Interactive, Tolga Guney, said “DDI has a proven track record and a thorough
understanding of the commercial, operational and technology requirements of
this fast-paced tech sector. It is well positioned to take this product to the
next level, leveraging further integration and development cost advantages”.
As the subscription on
demand (SVOD) and Linear TV markets continue to gain momentum, technology
savings would become more important to operators to free up more funds for
investment in content.