An Orlando-based technology company touting “one free app to search, watch and stream everything” is in the midst of promoting a new-to-market offering for programming partners that it says “leverages cutting-edge advancements” in both broadcast and streaming technologies.
Known as Broadcast-Enabled Streaming Television or “BEST” Channels, the initiative from FreeCast brings content providers the ability deliver “a high-quality, unified viewing experience” across both over-the-air and digital streaming platforms.
What’s fueling FreeCast’s offering to consumers and programming partners?
“While consumers have embraced streaming FAST channels, their growth has slowed as the market has become saturated,” the company asserts. “Meanwhile, the new broadcast standard, ATSC 3.0, has been underutilized despite its ability to integrate advanced features into free over-the-air channels. For local broadcast TV stations, diginets, FAST channel providers, and other small programmers, navigating the transition from traditional TV to a new era in media, embracing BEST Channels could be a compelling solution.”
FreeCast also laments how “the major broadcast networks and leading media companies have invested billions in building proprietary streaming platforms, often with mixed results, and many smaller content creators lack the resources to follow suit.”
FreeCast recently entered the Caribbean market and is now seeking to grow stateside. Company CEO William Mobley commented, “The media industry has gotten expensive to compete in, and that’s not good for anyone. One of our missions at FreeCast is to reduce some of those barriers. That’s why we’ve invested in technology that other media businesses can easily plug in to. With BEST Channels, we’ve seen how this can work in a region dominated by small programmers, so now we’re ready to take what we’ve learned and roll it out more widely, both in the United States and beyond.”
