| thePlatform | |
| Company Type: | Subsidiary |
| Foundation: | 2000 |
| Dissolved: | 2016 |
| Location City: | Seattle, Washington |
| Owner: | Comcast (from 2006) |
| Location Country: | USA |
| Key People: | Ian Blaine (CEO) |
| Num Employees: | 190 |
| Industry: | Video on demand services |
thePlatform was a Seattle, Washington based online video publishing company that was acquired by Comcast in 2006.[1] The company worked with digital media companies to manage and publish video and audio. It was absorbed into the newly formed Comcast Technology Solutions division in October 2016.[2]
thePlatform's mpx is a video management system, providing publishing tools targeting PCs, mobile phones, and TVs. mpx Essentials is a service marketed towards businesses with smaller video libraries.[3] [4] The mpx Dev Kit provides tools for enhancing video management systems and offers a video player design canvas.
thePlatform was founded in 2000 by Ian Blaine, Andrew Olson, Alan Ramaley, Andy Sodt, Rahul Sonnad, and Brad Chodos-Irvine. Previously, in 1998, Blaine and Sodt founded an online personal information management company, Uniplanet, which was acquired by NBCi in 1999.
In June 2006, Comcast purchased the Seattle-based software company thePlatform. This represented Comcast's entry into a new line of business, selling software to allow companies to manage their Internet (and IP-based) media publishing efforts. In 2014, co-founder Ian Blaine was replaced as CEO by Marty Roberts and Jamie Miller were appointed as co-CEOs.[5] [6] After operating as essentially a standalone unit for almost a decade, thePlatform came under the direction of Comcast Wholesale in 2015.[7] In 2016, it was absorbed into Comcast Technology Solutions.
Customers of thePlatform include Verizon Wireless, BBC Worldwide,[8] CNBC, MSNBC, CBS Sports, AP, NBC Local, and HiT Entertainment.