URC TV comes to iOS and Android with Simplestream's OTT service

The OTT solution Simplestream, which allows television operators to deploy video on demand channels in a simple way, has been chosen by URC TV, the sports streaming service created by the RTÉ y United Rugby Championship to optimize your new stage on iOS and Android.

Founded in 2021, URC TV was conceived to promote the launch of the United Rugby Championship, a global club rugby league consisting of 16 teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. The scope of the project URC TV included the creation of a flexible infrastructure to migrate multiple components to a single service, such as authentication or content distribution workflows both live and on demand. To help continue growing this service, Simplestream has deployed his Media Manager patented (the backend modular to manage content for distribution) and App Platform, a powerful framework for app development and premium content distribution across multiple devices.

The integration of various sources for subscriber authentication offered by Simplestream has been key for URC TV will combine user data from multiple touchpoints, ensuring a frictionless experience for the end user. This process was achieved by integrating with existing URC backends, including Fanscore, which counts users who log in to both services simultaneously. On the other hand, Simplestream also integrated with URC TV existing content providers, including migrating from current CMS providers and developing new ingest workflows, to ingesting content from existing APIs. Ashley Reynolds-Horne, technical director of Simplestream, adds that the “launch also brought new improvements in terms of branding and frontend customization, to allow the client to offer their fans a first-class experience and improve the visual identity of the brand itself.”

Tom Lister, Marketing Director of the United Rugby Championship, believes that “the Simplestream platform has provided an ideal foundation for URC TV to continue innovating and offering a top quality product to our fans.”