Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), a cable television broadcaster owned by media conglomerate Time Warner, joined the series A round for US-based online video delivery specialist iStreamPlanet on Tuesday. The round, led by corporate venturing unit Intel Capital, has now raised $9m.
Intel Capital invested $7m in iStreamPlanet in May last year as part of a series A round which iStreamPlanet still expects to reach $11m. The funding followed the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, where Intel collaborated with iStreamPlanet, among other companies, to provide video broadcasting services for the games.
iStreamPlanet’s meeting with TBS occurred in a similar fashion, the two having worked together on several events including the 2010 NASCAR Coca Cola 400. iStreamPlanet’s service covers all aspects of event video coverage including content creation, security, monetisation and delivery.
The funds will be used by iStreamPlanet to accelerate product development and to expand its strategic partners.
Brooks Tobey, senior vice president of platforms and systems for TBS’s Audience and Multiplatform Technology division, said: "iStreamPlanet is leading the way in live video workflow solutions so that networks such as ours can capitalise on the programming investments we have made. We are pleased to continue our partnership with them in order to deliver the highest quality experience to our viewers."
In addition to the funding, iStreamPlanet has hired Chris Carper from Microsoft as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. Carper held a number of business related roles in his 16 years at Microsoft, and was most recently responsible for the business development of media and entertainment for Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform.