tms_1 26/02/2014 20:07 Page 2
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
As much as the linear
TV schedule may
appear to be set,
changes are
surprisingly
common. Live sports
often go overtime,
and major news
events can pre-empt
scheduled content.
Supporting 'near-tolive' guides across large systems – particularly
those that have a large footprint of set-top
boxes – will require pay-TV providers to build
strong APIs into their systems.
Separate from this, there is the challenge of
catching up. Some operators in Europe were
slower than others in recognising the need to
focus on the user experience. These players
are now moving fast to add richer data,
images, broader content, online video
discovery and content recommendation
features, but there is still a gap to be bridged.
Q. What are the strengths of the
combined EPGS/TMS and how will you
leverage those strengths to provide
compelling solutions to pay-TV
providers?
A. EPG Systems was founded as a technology
company and is the market’s leading platform
for ingesting TV schedules and programme
data. With fewer than 10 employees we have
handled 2,500+ channels in a rapid
production environment. We have also
developed the technology needed to support
the 'near-to-live' paradigm for entertainment
guides.
TMS has nearly 50 years of experience
focusing on content creation and editorial
expertise. The company today manages
comprehensive datasets that represent more
than 1.6 million TV shows and 500,000
movies, with active links to 500,000+ online
video assets and more than 23,000 linear
schedules.
As a combined entity, we’re leveraging
technology to enable an even higher degree of
editorial expertise. This approach has yielded
a product roadmap that includes some
compelling new offerings for our customers:
most notably, increased geographic coverage,
enhanced sports data, expanded image sets
and new capabilities for analytics and
research.
Q. How is the market in Europe
different than in other regions?
A. The biggest difference is the multilingual
landscape. Unlike other regions, Europe
contains a large variety of native languages,
and the relative population for any specific
language can be small. For example, we have
only six million Danish speakers. As a result,
companies like TMS and our customers are
faced with a challenging set of economics to
meet the need of supplying localised data for
multiple small audiences and use cases.
Cultural distinctions among different
European markets are also important. As we
continue to expand in the region, we’ve made
a conscious effort to understand how the
different markets function, what content is
popular in specific geographies, and how
consumers vary in their discovery and
About TMS
TMS is an
international
leader in
entertainment
information.
As part of its On® Entertainment
product line the company provides
industry leading TV, movie and
celebrity metadata that fuels the
most exciting entertainment
guides and applications on the
planet. TMS data reaches millions
of consumers in 40 countries
through clients including
Microsoft, Yahoo!, TiVo, Time
Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV,
IMDb, Virgin Media UK, Com Hem,
DIRECTV Latin America and
Cablevision Mexico. In addition,
this comprehensive metadata is
used extensively for media
measurement and analysis. For
more information about TMS visit
TribuneMediaServices.com.
consumption
behaviours.
Q. How has TMS
adapted to these
market
differences?
A. Most notably,
they bought my
company! TMS has
been operating in
Europe for several
years; however, the company’s physical
presence in the region has been limited. Now
we have ad