London, UK – 13th June 2012: Yospace, a content distribution innovator which has developed from its mobile origins to create new streaming solutions for non-linear, linear and live delivery, was a first-time exhibitor at IBC2011. Its content replacement technology was seen by leading UK broadcaster ITV, who decided to enter into a proof of concept trial working with its Snell Morpheus automation system – and now that project has made it to the shortlist for the IBC2012 Innovation Awards.

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The IBC Innovation Awards recognise significant partnerships to achieve a real creative, commercial or technical advance. To be a finalist a project has to show collaboration between the user, the principle supplier and other technology partners. Of the vast number of proposals submitted to the IBC judging panel, the ITV Yospace and Snell project is one of just four which made it to the finals in the content delivery category.The Yospace content replacement system is unique in that it delivers to the consumer seamless content with no freezes or buffering delays caused by the receiving device having to switch between different sources of media. The solution comprises of an encoding element and a streaming element. The encoding element interfaces tightly with Morpheus automation to determine the frame accurate boundaries of replacement programming events using its Second Screen Service. The information can be tailored to the end application, and be structured at an event (programme or commercial) level or at greater resolutions for triggers within a programme if required. The timing information sent from Morpheus also includes a mechanism for the end-to-end system latency to be catered for.The streaming element switches between the standard broadcast output and the potentially tailored replacement content for each user consuming a stream. Because the Yospace streaming is a cloud service, broadcasters do not need to be concerned with scaling the number of simultaneous users and in the granularity of the content tailoring. It is perfectly possible to deliver different content streams to each individual user if required by the broadcaster.“This is a really exciting achievement for us,” said David Springall, CTO of Yospace. “We worked closely with ITV to demonstrate that we really could deliver what we said: an online or mobile experience that looks to the user exactly the same as the smooth and seamless transmission they are used to in broadcast television, but at the same time, with content that can be tailored by demographic or by individual. This was a great demonstration of the potential next steps in commercial multi-platform delivery, and we are all delighted that the IBC judges have recognised the importance of this innovation.”Matthew Hogg, Principal Analyst at ITV said: “We saw Yospace at IBC last year and immediately recognised the potential for this technology to support multi-platform delivery, alongside Snell our existing playout technology provider. Yospace and Snell proved to be great partners to work with - getting the system up and running quickly and effectively. We are delighted to be the first UK broadcaster to have proven the concepts of the underlying technologies in partnership with Yospace and Snell. We are now continuing to explore the potential for developing these as real-life systems.”While the shortlist of finalists for the IBC2012 Innovation Awards were announced at the beginning of June, the nominees will not know who will take home the trophies until the awards ceremony itself, held on Sunday evening 9 September as part of IBC.Yospace is exhibiting at IBC on stand no. 14.342.

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About Yospace

Founded in 1999, Yospace is a veteran of the mobile & multimedia industry. It provides a highly innovative platform allowing broadcasters, digital publishers, applications developers and mobile operators to rapidly and affordably deliver and monetise cross platform video services.With the growing convergence of traditional broadcast with cross platform media consumption, Yospace is now a major player in content distribution. It entered the market in 2005, delivering user-generated content to mobiles, first through the breakthrough SeeMeTV community on the UK network 3. Today it provides streaming services and advertising replacement technology to broadcasters looking to retain audience loyalty and build revenues by making content available on all connected platforms and devices. Yospace provides its solutions in the cloud as software as a service model. This allows it to provide highly scalable solutions giving its clients flexibility without being locked in to heavy costs.The company was acquired by Emap in 2007, and subsequently Emap was acquired by Bauer Media. Following a management led buy back In March 2009 Yospace now operates as a highly agile independent company.The company’s customers include Thomson Reuters, Canadian Broadcasting, BBC, Vodafone Group, CBS Interactive, and Hearst Television.Further information can be found at www.yospace.com

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About Snell

Snell is a leading innovator in digital media technology, providing broadcasters and global media companies with a comprehensive range of solutions to create, manage, and streamline the distribution of content for today's multi-screen world. Specializing in TV Everywhere, Broadcast Infrastructure, and Live Production applications, Snell provides the necessary tools to transition seamlessly and cost-effectively to HDTV, stereoscopic 3D, and 3Gbps operations, while enabling broadcasters to monetize and deliver their media assets across multiple distribution platforms. Headquartered in the U.K., Snell serves more than 2,000 broadcasters, post facilities, and global media companies in more than 100 countries through its worldwide team of sales and support personnel.More information is available at www.snellgroup.com.

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About ITV plc

ITV is the largest commercial television network in the UK. It is the home of popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, major sport, landmark factual series and independent news. It operates a family of channels including ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV which are broadcast free-to-air on Freeview, digital satellite (Sky/Freesat) and cable. ITV is also focused on delivering across multiple platforms including itv.com, video on demand on cable television and other ‘closed’ platforms, mobile devices and games consoles. ITV Studios produces and sells programmes and formats in the UK and worldwide, and comprises of ITV’s UK and international production operations, international distribution, home entertainment, publishing, merchandising and licensing.