Platform Communications Client News

NextRadioTV Turns To Exterity To Provide Tight, Unified Communications Across The Group

Edinburgh – 12 September, 2019Exterity, a leading provider of IP video, digital signage and guest experience technologies, announces today that it has been selected to provide the TV distribution network infrastructure for the new Paris headquarters of a leading French media company, NextRadioTV, as well as for the office of a new regional channel in Lyon. Exterity delivered the end-to-end solution, which enables unified communications across the group, in partnership with Canal Cable, a well-known system integrator with 30 years’ experience in AV/IT and multiple Exterity references, including Sanofi, RTE, government and stadium organisations across France.

NextRadioTV, which owns channels that include RMC Découverte, RMC Story, RMC Sport and BFM TV – France’s premier 24-hour news channel – as well as movie and cooking channels, is relocating its headquarters and in the process will be upgrading its operations from COFDM to IP to facilitate the broadcasting of internal enterprise content. Exterity’s AvediaPlayer media players have also been installed in Lyon for the newly launched NextRadioTV channel called BFM Lyon, which will be served by the Paris headquarters.

The French media group was looking for a new system that would enable staff to view all of the group’s TV channels, production from its studios, as well as competitors’ channels. The system needed to easily aggregate content towards multiple end-point devices including conventional screens through set-top boxes, Smart TVs, and PCs. The company also required a new system that could deliver engaging communications in common areas via digital signage displays.

David Grimal, Technical Delivery Manager, NextRadioTV, said: “The move to our new headquarters was a great opportunity for us to internally update and modernise our deployed technologies. The Exterity solution is so reliable and stable; in a very short amount of time, the NextRadioTV team was operational with the new system thanks to its user-friendly interface. We look forward to continuing to work with Exterity and taking advantage of the company’s exciting roadmap – we have already seen benefits of its solutions’ upgrade packages.”

NextRadioTV have deployed Exterity’s ArtioSign digital signage solution in the main hall of the company’s new headquarters, which will act as the primary internal communication tool. Exterity’s AvediaServer, with 8TB storage, is equipped with ArtioGuest Middleware. Canal Cable also installed 510 of Exterity media players, 221 Desktop Players and Smart TVs, for a total of 800+ endpoints.

Pascal Maldonado, Project Manager, Canal Cable, added: “It is very important to us to carry out vigorous and robust testing of solutions before they are even considered for our customers’ use. For IPTV and digital signage technologies, Exterity was the clear choice because of the flexibility of its systems, the ease of use, implementation and maintenance.”

Exterity’s set-top boxes enable users to easily create groups of outputs and assign content to the right endpoint using a simple PC browser: the Smart Control app on AvediaServer provides users with easy and quick management of the system, including changes on the fly from any location within the premises.

Myriam Calaber, Europe and Mediterranean Sales Director for Exterity, said: “In this connected era, it is only natural that organisations such as NextRadioTV take advantage of IP-based technology as they establish new facilities such as their headquarters. The result is a tight, end-to-end, fully integrated solution that will make its internal processes smoother and quicker – giving the company the ability to quickly and easily manage and access information, whether that is its own rolling content, signage communicating internal messages, or alerts to news a competitor has broadcast.”

Exterity has a global presence with customers in a wide range of industry sectors, including corporate & finance, education, hospitality, and stadiums & venues. Customers include BBC, ITV, Omroep GelderlandPhoenix TV BeijingRTL, Thomson Reuters, BNP Paribas, and a number of stadiums and venues such as Okada Manila Casino & ResortElbphilharmonieLord’s Cricket GroundParisLongchamp and Goodwood.