- The acquisition aims to expand BCE’s portfolio with live and on-demand streaming services, as well as enhancing its production capabilities
Luxembourg, 14 January 2019 – BCE today announced that it has fully acquired Freecaster, an online video service provider specialised in production and streaming of high-quality content. The transaction closed on 1 January 2019 with Raymond Dulieu remaining the CEO of Freecaster.
With this acquisition, BCE strengthens its production capabilities and furthermore expands its footprint in the live and on-demand streaming of content. Frédéric Lemaire, Chief Executive Officer of BCE, says: “At BCE we have already developed advanced online video solutions for the market. These will be complemented by the know-how and recent developments of Freecaster which allow us to strengthen our offers and accelerate the development of our non-linear portfolio. Since May 2018, BCE has successfully collaborated with Freecaster in live-streaming of events such as The Spot (the international sport innovations event) and the Montreux Volley Masters. I am looking forward to taking our collaboration to the next level and offering even more targeted and high-tech solutions to our clients.”
Raymond Dulieu, Chief Executive Officer of Freecaster, adds: “Over the past 15 years Freecaster has grown from being the leading global extreme sports video platform to becoming a live 4K video production and streaming service provider to fashion houses, music festivals and broadcasters. Integrating within BCE will reinforce the company from a managerial, financial and technical point of view. It will also allow Freecaster to further offer its customers the high-end support and level of customisation they have enjoyed to date whilst also adding new services as part of BCE’s technical portfolio.”
Freecaster’s services span across the entire video value chain from production to world-wide streaming via a proprietary online video platform. Since its foundation in 2004, Freecaster has developed as a specialist in online video services for both live and on-demand high-quality content serving customers such as TV and radio broadcasters, brands, event organisers and sport and cultural events. Among Freecaster’s customers are the Belgian Public Broadcaster RTBF as well fashion houses (LVMH group and others), music festivals (Tomorrowland), international institutions (European Commission, Bundesrat – the German Federal Council) and sports championships (FIM Motocross World Championship – MXGP).
