Arqiva to migrate Hearst Networks to cloud-based Video On Demand (VOD) platform

Arqiva will continue to deliver VOD assets across 40+ Pay TV and OTT platforms across EMEA from mid-2025

31 March 2025, London, UK – Arqiva, the leading media services and communications infrastructure operator, has secured a deal with Hearst Networks to migrate the global broadcaster’s services to its fully cloud-based VOD processing platform, as part of a landmark extension to the two companies’ existing VOD partnership.

The new contract will see Arqiva continue to deliver VOD assets across 40+ Pay TV and OTT platforms across EMEA from mid-2025 for Hearst Networks. 

The new platform has been developed by Arqiva’s skilled engineers, following years of working alongside Hearst Networks and other global broadcasters on VOD services. 

Arqiva's experience of delivering assets tailored for the diverse technical requirements of over 40 Pay TV and OTT platform operators, including Amazon Prime Channels and Apple TV, has actively facilitated deployment.

The highly skilled in-house team of software engineers at Arqiva created the new platform, which provides:

• Multi-tenanted capabilities orchestrated by in-house software development teams

• Highly scalable packaging and processing platform

• Live view visibility of processes and delivery, providing transparency of the processing and packaging solution in real time

• Tight integration with Qlik SaaS for reporting and billing management, enabling automated reporting and dashboards, also updated in real time

• Adaptor based approach to Input and Output, to enable processing efficiency

• Cross functional capabilities with integration to future services built in

• Security and resilience built in from the ground up

Our partnership with Arqiva has extended over many years, and in that time, the demands and scale of our VOD distribution activity have grown year-on-year, becoming a key strategic focus for our business. Arqiva has evolved and innovated to offer Hearst Networks an integrated cloud platform that combines the agility of software with a trusted managed service for the heart of our business - our content, our partners and our audience.

Matt Westrup, CTO Hearst Networks EMEA

We are proud of our long-standing partnership with Hearst Networks for the delivery of VOD across EMEA and are delighted to have extended our relationship. 

Working closely and collaboratively with partners helps us to innovate and create new propositions that meet the evolving needs of the broadcast industry. This extension is an important milestone for Arqiva as a proof point for our expanding software development capabilities, building upon our long-standing heritage in broadcast engineering and managed services.

Gaurav Jandwani, Executive Director Media & Broadcast, Arqiva

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About Hearst Networks EMEA

Hearst Networks EMEA, a subsidiary of Hearst, owns and operates premium factual entertainment brands The HISTORY® Channel, Crime+Investigation®, BLAZE®, and COSMO across the UK, Nordics, Benelux, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Germany, Italy, and Spain. 

At Hearst Networks EMEA, we share stories that matter and inspire and entertain viewers with hit franchises (The Curse of Oak Island, The First 48 and History’s Greatest Mysteries), and original commissions (The Hunt for Baltic Gold, Nameless Monsters, and The Royal Kill List). For more information, please visit: hearstnetworks.com.