Bitcentral

About Bitcentral

Founded in 2000 by Fred Fourcher, Bitcentral has established itself as a key provider of software solutions for the media and broadcast industries. Fourcher, who now serves as Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, initially led the company to build nationwide news distribution networks for major players like CBS Newspath and NBC News Channel. His entrepreneurial journey started even earlier, in 1987, with Miralite Communications, which focused on satellite networks for content distribution. In March 2024, Sam Kamel, a seasoned executive with experience at Netscape, Microsoft, and Fox, took the helm as CEO, bringing a wealth of knowledge in digital media and strategic growth. The company has a history of strategic expansion, notably through the acquisitions of Fission Software in 2015, a provider of master control automation, and Powr.tv in 2022, a direct-to-consumer video publishing platform.

Bitcentral operates by providing media companies with software to produce, manage, distribute, and monetize video content. Its client base includes over 1,000 media organizations, ranging from broadcast television stations like Fox and Hearst to digital publishers. The company's business model is centered on selling access to its software suites, which are designed to create more efficient media workflows and open up new revenue streams for its customers. This is achieved through an end-to-end video workflow that lowers engineering costs and improves the time-to-market for content.

The company's product portfolio is built around three core offerings. Core News™ is a comprehensive news production platform widely used in the U.S. that covers the entire content lifecycle, from ingest and editing to final playout. For master control and playout, Central Control® offers a flexible toolset to automate and manage the complexities of broadcasting operations. Addressing the shift to digital consumption, the ViewNexa® suite (which integrated the former FUEL platform and Powr.tv acquisition) provides a unified workflow for managing and distributing video content across various digital platforms, including OTT, mobile, and web. This suite enables features like the creation of FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) channels, dynamic ad insertion, and provides white-label applications for major platforms like Roku, Amazon FireTV, and AppleTV.