Sony Pictures Digital is using the Avid ActiveTM ContentManager to power its next-generation Internet content delivery service and to distribute digital video over the Web. Sony Pictures Digital is currently using the Avid Active ContentManager for its SoapCity DownloadTM service, which launched on February 26, 2003, and is exploring opportunities to extend its use of Avid's solution into future service offerings. Avid Active ContentManager systems automate the process for collecting digital content from multiple sources and distributing it across numerous channels, including wireless devices, interactive television, and the Internet.
"Avid Active ContentManager is an integral part of our digital distribution infrastructure," said Steve Banfield, senior vice president, Technology of Sony Pictures Digital. "It delivers the functionality we are looking for in a content management system, and its open architecture, scalability, and application program interface make complex content integration efficient and manageable."
"We're pleased to work with a world-class organization like Sony Pictures Digital in its pursuit to break new ground in digital content management and delivery," said David Krall, president and CEO of Avid. "Avid Active ContentManager significantly streamlines the management and delivery of vast amounts of digital content, making it the perfect solution for Sony Pictures Digital's new broadcast-quality video-on-demand service. We're looking forward to the role our technology will play as they continue to explore new ways of delivering dynamic media content and services to their customers."
The Avid Active ContentManager supports the digital distribution platform for SoapCity Download, the Sony Pictures Digital service that delivers full-length, commercially uninterrupted soap opera episodes to broadband computer users. SoapCity Download offers a VCR-like experience, enabling viewers to stop, start, fast-forward, rewind and pause episodes.
As an enterprise-class content management system designed to deliver text, video and other dynamic content to multiple outlets, the Avid Active ContentManager technology is based on JavaTM standards. The solution provides the flexibility of an open architecture to allow the quick management and deployment of content. This type of automated functionality enables media production professionals, such as Sony Pictures Digital, to significantly reduce the time it takes to deliver content to a range of outlets, including wireless devices, interactive television, and the Internet.
About SoapCity
SoapCity, The Soap Opera Capital of the World®, located at www.soapcity.com and AOL Keyword: "SoapCity", is Sony Pictures Digital's exclusive soap opera destination and the premier soap content provider to AOL and Yahoo! TV. With over 3.4 million unique users a month, the site provides extensive, exclusive coverage updated daily, for all daytime dramas. In addition, the SoapCity Network includes official websites for top soap talent, as well for the shows The Young and the Restless, Days of our Lives, As the World Turns, Guiding Light and The Bold and the Beautiful. SoapCity is driven by a fan-based community eager to connect with their favorite shows. With daily updates, up-to-the-minute news, fashion and style reviews, and its e-commerce destination, The SoapCity Store, SoapCity has emerged as the number one soap opera entertainment hub.
