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Minerva Networks and YBVR Partner to Deliver AI‑Generated Immersive Multi‑View Highlights

Integration of Minerva Smart Highlights with YBVR’s Xtadium app debuts in top‑tier European soccer, giving fans dynamic, multi‑angle recaps within seconds.

San Jose, CA — August 22, 2025 — Minerva Networks, a leading provider of advanced video delivery solutions, and YBVR, creators of the Xtadium immersive streaming platform, today announced a strategic integration that brings AI‑powered, multi‑view sports highlights to fans worldwide. By combining Minerva’s Smart Highlights™ engine with YBVR’s Xtadium app, the two companies enable rights holders to deliver real‑time, immersive recaps that let viewers seamlessly switch between camera angles and relive key moments in rich detail.

The first deployment took place during the final match of a top European soccer club’s 2024‑25 season and successfully generated instant highlight packages minutes after the game ended. Viewers watching through Xtadium could jump to any goal, shot, or save and choose from up to six synchronized camera perspectives, all curated automatically by Minerva’s AI and delivered through the YBVR client technology. Thanks to the combined technologies, rights holders benefit from lower production costs and expanded engagement metrics without additional on‑site crews.

“With Smart Highlights, we use AI to distill the essence of a live match in near‑real time,” said Fabrizio Capobianco, Chief Innovation Officer at Minerva Networks. “Partnering with YBVR means those highlights are not only fast but truly immersive, putting fans in control of the viewpoint.”

“Xtadium’s mission is to make every fan feel like they have the best seat in the house,” added Alex Borthwick, Head of Sports at YBVR. “Integrating Minerva’s technology lets us deliver that promise for every crucial moment, starting with football and expanding to other sports soon.”

Following the successful soccer pilot, Minerva and YBVR plan to showcase the integration later this year and will demonstrate the joint solution at IBC 2025 in Amsterdam. Interested parties can request a private demo from representatives of either company during the exhibition. The companies are actively engaging broadcasters, clubs, and streaming platforms interested in offering immersive highlight experiences across web, mobile, VR, and connected‑TV environments.

About Minerva Networks

Minerva Networks delivers next‑generation video solutions that empower service providers and content owners to offer engaging television experiences on any device. Its award‑winning Minerva Smart Highlights platform uses advanced AI and machine learning to create personalized highlight reels in real time. Founded in 1992, Minerva is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices worldwide. Learn more at MinervaNertworks.com.

About YBVR

YBVR is a technology company redefining the way fans experience sports and entertainment through XR. Its Xtadium and CultVRe platforms stream live and on‑demand events in immersive 180° and 360° formats, giving viewers unprecedented control over camera angles and data overlays. YBVR is based in Madrid, Spain, and Silicon Valley. Visit ybvr.com for more information.

Media Contacts

Minerva Networks: marketing@minervanetworks.com
+1-800-806-9594
YBVR: press@ybvr.com

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WISI Completes ABR Receive Integration with Minerva for Com Net, Inc. (CNI) Customers

VANCOUVER, BC, March 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — WISI, a global leader in telecommunications solutions, has integrated its ABR Receiver with Minerva Networks, providing an innovative solution for video operators. This integration enables Com Net, Inc. (CNI) customers to streamline operations and reduce headend infrastructure by using WISI’s Inca IP Video Platform to seamlessly convert ABR streams to transport streams for efficient distribution to hospitality sites.

As a key provider of hosted services, CNI delivers transcoded, packaged, and encrypted video streams, eliminating the need for operators to manage complex headend equipment. Video streams from CNI are encrypted with Google Widevine, managed by Minerva Networks’ service management platform.

“WISI’s solution empowers our customers to embrace ABR technology while maintaining the flexibility needed to serve hospitality sites effectively,” said Aaron Holtz, CEO at CNI.

“The Inca platform, with its integrated ABR receiver, delivers unmatched flexibility and scalability for operators,” said Sharen Sandhu, VP of Product at WISI America. “Our solution ensures seamless conversion of ABR streams into IP transport stream for existing business customers, reducing costs and complexity.”

WISI’s ABR receiver, part of the Inca IP Video Platform, ingests MPEG-DASH streams, decrypts Widevine content, and outputs an IP transport stream that can serve end devices directly or be modulated to QAM or Analog for broader device compatibility. This solution allows operators to distribute high-quality video content across existing and future hospitality infrastructures without significant hardware changes.

Minerva’s service management platform further enhances this offering by enabling operators and hospitality providers to fine-tune and encrypt services to meet specific client needs, securing content delivery and optimizing user experience. Its customizable capabilities ensure flexibility in adjusting offerings based on demand and technical requirements.

“This integration provides video operators with a streamlined, cost-effective way to serve hospitality customers, offering a tailored and secure solution that adapts to their unique needs,” said Randy Osborne, SVP of WW Sales at Minerva Networks.

About WISI

WISI employs 600 people worldwide in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and China. In addition, WISI works with more than 100 partners in all major international markets.

Nine decades ago, the high-tech company’s successful path began as one of the world’s pioneers in radio frequency and broadband technology. Today, new media are driving the rapidly increasing demand for broadband services. Modern broadband networks must be intelligent, robust, and scalable transport solutions. This is our business. As an innovator and technology integrator for key communications sectors, we are committed to innovation, now and in the future. For more information about WISI Communications, visit wisigroup.com.

About Minerva Networks

As a pioneer in the beginning of video streaming, our mission has been to revolutionize video entertainment. Today, our innovation and focus are to seamlessly integrate intelligence into every aspect of the user experience, operations, and monetization. Minerva’s Intelligent Video Entertainment (IVE) framework harnesses the power of AI to deliver a highly personalized and dynamic user experience while maximizing advertising revenue. IVE transforms the way users discover, consume, enrich, and share their favorite content, and empowers operators to promote and monetize their video services effectively. For more information about Minerva Networks Communications, visit MinervaNertworks.com.

About CNI

CNI was formed by a group of Ohio independent telephone companies to provide advanced telecommunications services to the ILEC market in an economical manner. Over the years, CNI has expanded its service offering to meet the demands of the nation’s ever-changing broadband environment. With over 30 years of experience, CNI is a world-class wholesale provider of operations support solutions to video, Internet, and VoIP providers. CNI also operates an extensive regional fiber optic network located in Ohio, Indian, and Michigan under the CNI Fiber brand. For more information about CNI, visit cniteam.com.

Minerva’s Award Winning AI Companion Now Supports Contentwise to Enable Interactive Personal Recommendations

This integration infuses a decades long technological partnership with new AI innovations designed to create ever more engaging personalized experiences

Minerva, a leader in video entertainment technology, is excited to announce the integration of its AI Companion with the Contentwise content discovery and recommendations platform. This integration marks a new milestone in a decades-long collaboration dedicated to delivering personalized and engaging experiences for users.

Minerva’s AI Companion

Minerva’s award winning AI Companion is at the forefront of the rapidly evolving Pay TV and video entertainment landscape. As traditional providers transform into content super aggregators and grow their reliance on new ad revenue business models, interactive personalized recommendations are critical to keep users engaged and extend their viewing time.

The AI Companion acts as a real-time entertainment assistant, offering an interactive and personalized content exploration experience. Seamlessly integrated across live broadcasts, including sports, on-demand series, and FAST channel content, it enhances viewer engagement in real-time.

With the ability to respond to natural language prompts, the AI Companion adapts to the content and preloads topics of interest. As users interact, it suggests follow-up prompts, allowing for a deeper dive into the viewing experience with minimal effort. Simple clicks unlock information and insights, transforming passive watching into an active, enriching journey.

By adapting to individual preferences and the context of the program, the AI Companion creates a unique, tailored interaction for each user. It bridges the gap between traditional viewing and interactive content exploration, making the TV experience more informative, engaging, and personalized than ever before.

ContentWise UX Engine integration

Leveraging its 20 years of experience developing and optimizing AI-powered algorithms for media content, and building on top of its recent advances in LLM technology applied to semantic content discovery and search, ContentWise has worked with Minerva to integrate its content recommendation engine, ContentWise UX Engine, into Minerva’s AI Companion.

This collaboration vastly expands the range of use cases for AI Companion’s customers. It incorporates the ability for viewers to prompt the companion for content suggestions, to uncover semantically-relevant connections among content items in the catalog and to tweak recommendations in real time as the user interacts with the chatbot.

Minerva AI Companion interfaces natively with ContentWise UX Engine, and thanks to its integration APIs, it offers operators a turn-key solution for LLM-enhanced and content-optimized chat service they can integrate with minimal effort.

“To start, Minerva’s AI Companion offers an out-of-box ‘Watch Next’ button which calls Contentwise to retrieve a personalized set of live and on demand content recommendations,” says Fabrizio Capobianco, Chief Innovation Officer of Minerva. “AI presents the best content suggestion to play, plus a series of buttons to pick a genre, or program length or preferred actor the viewer can use to refine the recommendation.”

“We’ve taken an already powerful integration with Minerva and taken it to the next level,” says Alessandro Vacca, COO at ContentWise “Traditional approaches to recommendations, though personal, also tend to be static. UX Engine with AI Companion enables a new level of personalized interactivity. No two viewers are the same, and so shouldn’t their chatbots be.”

See AI Companion with UX Engine at IBC

Minerva and ContentWise have made the viewer experience more personal, more human, and much more engaging which results in more users watching more content more often. This is an especially critical combination as a larger share of operator revenues shift to ad-supported business models where engagement and watch time are key audience performance indicators.

Join us for a live demonstration of this groundbreaking integration at the Contentwise booth at IBC Show 2024 (Hall 5 Stand 5.55). Experience firsthand how Minerva and Contentwise show how operators can use AI to create a smarter, more engaging experience.

Minerva Networks Launches FAST+, an Innovative AI-powered Streaming Service for Broadband Operators

Available now, FAST+ allows operators to offer a free differentiated video service to all broadband subscribers.

Minerva Networks is unveiling FAST+, an innovative streaming service with integrated AI designed to transform the entertainment experience for broadband subscribers.

Minerva’s FAST+ service includes more than 80 Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels, providing a diverse range of content to cater to all tastes and preferences. This service can be made available for free to all broadband subscribers to add value to the broadband service and improve retention. Operators may also add local channels such as high school sports, community events, commercial services, and traffic and weather cams. Local content is a unique advantage operators have over generic FAST channel offerings and helps drive usage and retention.

A standout feature of FAST+ is Minerva’s award winning AI Companion. Winner of two industry awards, this intelligent assistant helps users discover content and enriches the viewing experience. Using the one-click AI suggested prompts or voice input, users can explore information about their favorite shows or topics of interest. To facilitate continued engagement, the AI Companion personalizes the experience by suggesting new prompts with each response. Each interaction is unique, keeping users engaged and watching longer, enhancing retention and boosting advertising revenue. The AI Companion works with all types of content, including premium TV programs and on-demand content.

“Operators face challenges with stiff broadband competition and rising costs of content. Our new FAST+ service and AI capabilities provide marketing teams with a differentiated free video service to bundle with broadband. The service is also a great prospecting and conversion tool to drive broadband subscribers to adopt premium pay TV,” says Randy Osborne, VP of Sales at Minerva. “FAST+ is a win-win-win-win for operators, consumers, content owners and advertisers.”

In addition to delivering compelling content, FAST+ presents an opportunity for new income sources for operators through a share of ad revenue.

Available now, Minerva’s FAST+ service with AI is set to redefine the streaming landscape, offering unparalleled value and convenience.

About Minerva
Minerva offers best-of-breed service management platforms powering video services for more than 300 operators worldwide serving millions of subscribers.
Visit www.minervanetworks.com

Minerva Announces FAST+ Service for Broadband Only Subscribers

More news from Minerva. Today we announced FAST+, a service that brings a bouquet of FAST channels to our customers. FAST+ opens the opportunity for operators to deliver a free video service to broadband only customers to add value to reduce churn and as a way to promote their premium TV services. Freemium TV is rapidly becoming a must have offer for video entertainment. See the full press release below and follow this link for more information.

Today, Minerva Networks is proud to unveil its innovative FAST+ service, a fully hosted and managed cloud service that will offer dozens of Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV (FAST) channels. This new service enables Minerva customers to deliver a free streaming experience for broadband subscribers and use it to upsell to their premium TV service.

New Era of Streaming

Unlike most premium TV content that comes with geo-restrictions and must-carry requirements, FAST channels come without any such limitations. Without the need to deal with content contracts or build out infrastructure, operators can quickly deploy a video service that appeals to broadband only subscribers and enriches the content library of premium TV subscribers. Users have access to FAST content from any device from anywhere in the world. Minerva’s FAST+ service also allows operators to add any number of free local channels to the bundle, providing unparalleled choice and flexibility.

“The Minerva FAST+ service creates an opportunity for operators to offer a free video service that improves retention and customer satisfaction for both broadband and pay TV subscribers,” says Randy Osborne, Senior VP of Sales for Minerva. “With ad revenue sharing, operators have virtually no incremental set-up, operating or infrastructure costs. FAST+ provides an effective way to differentiate broadband services, while also enhancing the value of premium pay TV services.”

Minerva will configure the FAST+ service and incorporate any additional free channels an operator might want to include in the base package. Existing pay TV subscribers will automatically see new channels in the EPG and the UI/UX will be updated to highlight the FAST+ content. The service is also available to broadband operators that do not currently offer a premium TV service but want the retention benefits a video package can bring.

Availability and Rollout

The Minerva FAST+ service is available now for operators in the United States and Canada with global expansion beginning in Q3.

About Minerva Networks

Minerva Networks is a leading provider of advanced entertainment delivery solutions. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, Minerva empowers service providers worldwide to offer state-of-the-art digital entertainment services to their subscribers. For more information on FAST+, visit our website.

Minerva AI Companion Revolutionizes the TV Viewing Experience

We’re proud to share our news about our new AI Companion. Minerva will be demonstrating this innovative new capability at both the Broadcast Asia and Cabsat shows later this month. You can catch up on the news reading the press release below. Learn more and get link to a video demo here.

Access real time stats for major sports events and general information on any topic

Minerva Networks today announced their new groundbreaking AI Companion for linear, on demand and FAST content. Seamlessly integrated into the full-screen TV viewing experience, it transforms the way viewers engage with their favorite programs. Whether you’re watching live sports, binging on-demand series, or exploring FAST channel content, the AI Companion enhances the viewing experience by providing interactive, personalized content-related exploration.

Minerva’s AI Companion is designed to understand and anticipate your interests and curate prompts related to the content you are watching. With each interaction, the AI suggests follow-up prompts, allowing you to dive deeper into your viewing journey with just a simple click.

Gateway to Knowledge
The Minerva AI Companion works with all types of content and is particularly adept at enhancing programs or FAST channels that feature topics on special interests, social trends or historical subjects. Discover more about the important people, places, and events that shaped our world or influenced popular culture. Any program becomes a jumping off point for a journey of discovery and adventure. Using program metadata as a starting point, Minerva’s AI Companion develops a set of four prompts tailored for that program. From there, the user can select a prompt or enter their own and with each choice, the AI Companion offers a new set of options for exploration. It is not just about what you watch; it is about the personalized journey you create.

Sports Enthusiasts Rejoice
For sports fans, Minerva’s AI Companion is a game-changer. Get real-time sports statistics, game summaries, and standings for major sports leagues. Whether it’s the thrill of a live match or the strategy behind team formations, the AI Companion brings a new dimension to sports viewership.

Open APIs Ready for Integration
Minerva’s AI Companion includes a set of open APIs for third parties to incorporate the feature into their own client applications. Minerva’s design approach removes complexity from the integration and relies only on simple client side APIs to engage the AI Companion. Tools to monitor and throttle AI requests to manage costs and provide flexible monetization options make the service easily adaptable to any business model.

Intentional Viewing Creates New Ad Opportunities
With Minerva’s AI Companion, consumers are “leaning in” to their viewing experience. They are engaged. They are interested. They are watching! Such information is particularly valuable for advertisers. As the advertising industry moves to streaming and targeted ads, the AI Companion can provide more information about the user’s level of engagement. Also, each interaction creates additional opportunities for new ad impressions, particularly clickable ads that allow further exploration without taking the user out of the TV viewing context.

With Minerva’s AI Companion – every program becomes an opportunity to learn, explore, and connect with your passions.

About Minerva
Minerva Networks is a leading provider of advanced entertainment delivery solutions. With a commitment to innovation and excellence, Minerva empowers service providers worldwide to offer state-of-the-art digital entertainment services to their subscribers. For more information visit their website.