Portugal’s Nowo taps Elemental for new TV service

Nowo CMO José Henriques presenting Nowo TV in March

Portuguese cable and telecom operator Nowo has tapped video technology outfit AWS Elemental to provide video processing for a unified headend for its recently revamped TV service.

Nowo launched a new OTT TV-based service, Nowo TV earlier this year using AWS Elemental Live, AWS Elemental Server and AWS Elemental Conductor software for live and file-based video transcoding.

Nowo, previously known as Cabovisão, offers a package of 70 TV channels accessible through set-top boxes, the web and iOS and Android devices, and plans to launch an additional 30 channels later this year.

The service includes live streaming , video-on-demand catch-up and startover TV, with a cloud DVR service to be offered in the near future.

Nowo initially launched its new TV offering in March, with the operator’s new box equipped with four tuners and the ability to connect a USB storage device. The company is offering a combined TV and internet offering for €29.99 a month.

Nowo TV’s infrastructure was provided by VP Media Solutions. AWS Elemental Live software encodes video signals from satellite and broadcast sources into multiple adaptive bitrate outputs across the 70 channels Nowo provides, with Elemental Conductor software managing the encoder deployment for system redundancy and uninterrupted service delivery. AWS Elemental Server software transcodes files to the Nowo vault, creating on-demand assets for delivery to TVs, computers and mobile devices.

Androme provided its Nebula user interface for the service, with content security being supplied by castLabs. Other technology partners involved in the project include CDN specialist Broadpeak.

When we defined our OTT strategy, we insisted on a state-of-the-art viewing experience, backed by a resilient video workflow that assures outstanding quality of service without overburdening our staff. With AWS Elemental video processing software, our workflow is highly efficient to operate, while giving us the flexibility to continuously enhance our services and stay ahead of evolving standards, consumer preferences and device technologies,” said Nowo CTO Ana Maria Teixeira.

“Nowo has quickly established a strong position in the Portuguese OTT market by delivering a rich and diverse array of content and an outstanding media experience for subscribers,” said John Nemeth, Vice President, EMEA, AWS Elemental. “We’re pleased to see AWS Elemental processing solutions playing such a critical part in enabling NOWO’s success in multiscreen video now and in the future.”