Charting the Evolution of a Tech Trailblazer in Entertainment and Broadcasting!
Innovation is not about saying, ‘I have a good idea.’ It’s about asking, ‘What does the world need that nobody else can do?’ It’s a responsibility. In the dynamic world of media and technology, one man has consistently posed this critical question, reshaping the landscape of streaming services.
Eudald Domenech, the CEO and Service Architect of TVUP Streaming Media, is a visionary whose journey through the realms of internet entrepreneurship, broadcasting, and content distribution has left an indelible mark on the industry. His odyssey began in 1993 with the founding of Servicom, marking the establishment of the first commercial internet connection between the US and Spain. Recognized as Spain’s first internet entrepreneur, he later co-founded ISP World Online in the Netherlands, expanding his influence globally.
Venturing into web directories and virtual communities with Telepolis, Eudald’s journey evolved with the founding of Techfoundries, exploring IT, home automation, cloud desktops, and content distribution. His relentless pursuit of innovation led to the restructuring of Techfoundries, paving the way for future ventures.
In 2017, he founded TVUP Streaming Media, setting the stage for a transformative period in the streaming industry. With the launch of Tivify during the pandemic, the company rapidly gained traction in Spain and expanded globally with Mundo Go in Chile and Simple TV in Venezuela.
TVUP’s groundbreaking technology, TV-as-a-Service (TVaaS), is empowering operators and platforms in the transition from broadcast to streaming. The Channel Store (TCS), another brainchild of Eudald, revolutionizes content ingestion and delivery, offering advanced services like program restart, pause, recording, and catch-up.
Beyond technology, his vision extends to content monetization through the TCS Ad Network, specializing in connected TV (CTV). This holistic approach ensures that TVUP doesn’t just provide streaming solutions but actively shapes the future of television.
Join us as we unravel the visionary mind behind TVUP Streaming Media, where every challenge is an opportunity and every innovation a responsibility!
Can you tell us about the inspiration and story behind TVUP Streaming Media?
Broadcasting is obsolete, streaming is the future. 200 billion in TV advertising and 150 billion in payTV subscriptions will move from the hands of broadcasters and telcos to streaming platforms. Advertisers prefer to invest in digital advertising and consumers are canceling their subscriptions with operators to switch to the cheaper streaming TV platforms.
What insights from restructuring InOutTV in 2012 influenced the launch of TotalChannel and later the creation of TVUP Streaming Media?
InOutTV was hardware plus services, a very capital-intensive business. Totalchannel moved everything to the cloud, but at that time consumers did not have enough bandwidth to support HD video. TVUP has managed to bring the whole value chain together at a time when all consumers have multiple advanced devices and enough cheap bandwidth to support even 4K video.
Could you elaborate on the challenges and lessons learned during TotalChannel’s acquisition by Mediapro?
Having to sell your company to an industrialist when it is ready to “fly” but you run out of money is a very hard lesson for an entrepreneur. To undertake, to innovate, to create new business models, it is important to be able to count on honest partners willing to help find the necessary resources to consolidate the project.
What inspired the creation of CBM Consulting with a focus on the OTT sector, and how has your role evolved to meet industry demands?
The sale of Totalchannel led to this period with CBM Consulting. It was only a year and a half, but it served to design a new generation of streaming platform that will solve all the problems identified in InOutTV and Totalchannel.
How did your collaboration with Google and involvement in Agile TV in 2016 impact the direction of your projects?
Agile TV was the first platform to use this design on Google’s Android TV ecosystem. This is where I met Francisco Sáez, with whom we later co-founded TVUP.
What motivated the shift towards a free streaming platform and the introduction of Tivify Pro under a B2B2C model during the pandemic?
In 2018, TV Up Streaming Media began offering pay TV solutions to local operators. During the pandemic, we launched Tivify as a freemium TV platform, motivated by the stagnation of the B2B business model.
Can you delve into the motivation behind TVUP’s development of TV-as-a-Service (TVaaS) and The Channel Store (TCS)?
Once we had built and tested our solid platform, and found great user acceptance, we saw that the first-tier technology vendors were selling their product at astronomical prices. We packaged our technology and proposed to the market to license the entire platform, not just the technology. This allowed us to reduce the time to market to less than six months at up to five times less cost to the operator.
On the other hand, to properly monetize Tivify, we had to develop The Channel Store, TCS, as an ad network specialized in CTV (connected TV) advertising. TCS now manages 150 million ad requests per month in Europe and the Americas and is integrated into almost all platforms that program FAST channels.
What challenges and opportunities did you encounter in the international expansion of Tivify with Mundo Go in Chile and Simple TV in Venezuela?
Doing business in Latin America is always challenging. Both customers are owned by North American companies, and this has made the relationship much easier as we are able to invoice in euros and dollars. The level of expertise of both teams, both technical and business, has also helped a lot. The opportunity lies in the fact that they have both started the migration of users from cable and satellite to streaming, which means moving practically three million users from one model to the other over the next few years.
How do you see the future evolution of Internet, TV, PVR, OTT, Android TV, Advertising, Second Screen, Startups, and Innovation shaping the industry?
TV is the last major Internet disruption in the media industry. We have seen it with newspapers, music, video, now it is TV’s turn.
The fragmentation of the offer is a big problem for the consumption of audiovisual entertainment for the users, the consolidation of the “super-aggregators” is essential to fix that problem. Personally, I have a sense of déjà vu at this moment. Tivify, as a super aggregator, will help users enjoy all their entertainment sources, just as Telepolis helped them enjoy the best of the web in the 90s.
Please give us a few testimonials from your clients and awards or recognition that accurately highlight your achievements in the corporate niche.
“We needed to quickly reach the market with a state-of-the-art user interface without sacrificing service or functionality. TVUP was the perfect solution for our needs considering their extensive know-how, flexibility to adjust to local conditions, and previous experience with Tivify in Spain. We look forward to extending our partnership with additional services that will continue to enrich the experience of our customers.” – Renato Motta, CEO Latam Streaming Services
“With MundoGo! Mundo customers obtain the best experience possible today in terms of television consumption, taking advantage of the excellent features of our fiber. TVUP has been a fundamental piece to achieve this achievement.” – Enrique Coulembier, CEO Mundo Pacífico.
