Forbidden Tech expands partnership with TownNews network

Cloud video platform technology company Forbidden Technologies announced on Monday that TownNews.com has “significantly expanded” its partnership with Forbidden’s Blackbird technology in the US market.

The AIM-traded firm said Blackbird Forte would be used extensively by one of TownNews.com's major partners to deliver news content across multiple platforms to towns and cities in 11 states across the US.

At the heart of the integration was Blackbird, which the board said it believed to be the only codec specifically designed for manipulating video in the cloud.

It said Blackbird gave TownNews.com's partner the ability to rapidly access, navigate and manipulate content independent of location.

They could then deliver stories with “unprecedented control” using Blackbird Forte's browser-based enrichment, editorial and publishing tools.

Forbidden said it had agreed a “significant six-digit two-year deal” with TownNews.com for the licensing of Blackbird for use in its media broadcast infrastructure.

TownNews.com provides more than 1,700 newspaper, broadcast and magazine publications in the US with web, print, mobile and social media services and solutions.

“This expansion of Forbidden and TownNews.com's partnership is a very exciting development for both companies,” said Forbidden Technologies chief executive Ian McDonough.

“This rollout is the first true execution of Forbidden's OEM strategy for Blackbird.”

McDonough said Blackbird would be a “key part” of the infrastructure across US news channels in 11 states.

“This is a key step in taking Blackbird deployment to a whole new scale.

“Our recent fundraising allows us to execute and support partnerships of this size to a world class standard.”