What it is: nABLE Media Management System from nCUBE, an on-demand content rights and distribution management application for cable operators. nABLE is an umbrella term that encompasses nCUBE’s Headquarters application for local video-on-demand business management and MMS, the new product that manages video content rights and distribution from acquisition to delivery to the home. It will be available in the third quarter.
What it does: MMS manages content, contracts and work flow relating to video-on-demand. “Let’s say a TV series comes out [on demand] and you have to manage that content and contracts,” said Jay Schiller, senior VP of strategy and product manager for nCube. “That contract may be in different stages. And then there are regional rules, and different prices apply to different regions, and you may want to create a weekend special package, like three weekends for the price of one, and how you are going to market and sell the content.” MMS helps operators manage all those aspects of the VOD business and tracks the rights that apply to different areas and activity. It allows operators to apply the rights they negotiate with studios for on-demand content and to determine how that content is managed throughout the enterprise, he said.
Features and benefits: MMS includes marketing and reporting tools to tailor on-demand content lineups per market. It tracks content play data to ensure that contractual obligations are fulfilled and royalties and statistics are reported accurately. It can reside on any video server platform. Financial reporting tools delineate how the content performed, the amount of revenue generated in certain regions and who watched it where.
“Operators and content aggregators need a way to manage contractual information. Contracts are defined nationally but played out locally. In different markets different prices apply. Adult rules are different in different regions and different content does better in different regions. Christian content may do better in the South, and independent films may do better in San Francisco. You may want to adjust the mix and optimize and fine-tune the service based on your region, Mr. Schiller said.”