Business Wire | March 3, 2020
Combination of Firstlight and Quickplay establishes leading OTT content delivery and user engagement platform powered by artificial intelligence
André Christensen to lead combined company
TORONTO, ONTARIO& LOS ANGELES, CA – Highview Capital, LLC (“Highview”) today announced that it has partnered with Firstlight Media (“Firstlight”), a proprietary user engagement platform that enables OTT video and entertainment providers to optimize their user experience and drive increased monetization of their content, to acquire Quickplay from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T). As part of the transaction, Firstlight will merge with Quickplay, the leading provider of managed solutions for distributing video content to IP-connected devices.
Firstlight’s Founder & CEO André Christensen, whose previous leadership roles include serving as Quickplay’s Chief Operating Officer and AT&T’s Head of Product Development, will be CEO of the combined business. The new company, which will continue to operate under the Firstlight name and brand, will be uniquely positioned as a leading provider of managed content delivery services and integrated user engagement software for OTT video distribution platforms.
Under Christensen’s leadership, Firstlight will have the opportunity to partner with a broad universe of entertainment companies, ranging from TV providers and media companies to premium cable networks, sports leagues, independent studios and niche players, to provide an end-to-end service for optimizing each step of the OTT video delivery process— including collection, management, distribution, video consumption and user engagement.
The ever-evolving content landscape is creating strong and increasing consumer demand for streaming video content – and content providers need to deliver a seamless viewing experience to keep their audiences engaged,” said Christensen. “With Quickplay’s best-in-class content delivery capabilities and Firstlight’s next-generation, AI-driven personalization and engagement software, the combined company will offer its customers a true carrier grade, tried and tested, “one stop shop” solution suite for OTT premium video delivery. We are thrilled to bring Quickplay’s talented team of video engineers on board and look forward to working together to deepen relationships with our existing customers and expand our reach with new customers.”
Firstlight serves an industry facing a major inflection point with the proliferation of digital entertainment,” said Ryan McCarthy, Co-Founder of Highview. “We are excited to leverage our industry expertise, operational resources and corporate carveout experience to bring two category leaders together and help Firstlight meaningfully grow its customer base.”
The combination of Firstlight and Quickplay creates significant opportunity to capitalize on the evolving consumer demands reshaping the entertainment landscape,” said Steve Russell, Principal at Highview. “The Highview team has known André for years, and we are thrilled to partner with this outstanding management team to accelerate future growth.”
Firstlight Media is a Toronto-based software company focused on using artificial intelligence to drive user engagement and monetization for Tier 1 operators across the technology and media landscapes. Founded by a team with deep OTT video expertise and a strong track record of building successful B2B businesses, Firstlight is poised to capture the next wave of growth in OTT entertainment services. For more information, visit firstlight.ai.
Backed by over 16 years of experience, Quickplay is the global expert in powering TV to any device. The company’s managed services leverage cloud economics and an open platform to integrate best-of-breed partners so its customers can focus on growing their business. With facilities and operations teams in Toronto, San Diego, and Chennai, Quickplay enables hundreds of millions of viewers around the globe to fast forward to a next generation of TV with over 1,100 live channels, 4,000 live events each year, and 2 million securely managed premium content assets.
Highview Capital, LLC is an opportunistic private equity investment vehicle headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with over $500 million in assets under management providing transformational equity. Highview leverages its creative vision and expertise to partner with management teams of leading middle-market businesses undergoing periods of transformation, including growth, expansion, or performance improvement. For more information, visit www.highviewcapital.com.