Appear and Planetcast’s integrated approach helps broadcasters and streamers to manage and distribute content across all platforms, and deliver premium live content from ground to cloud.
Appear and Planetcast have formed a strategic collaboration for the scalable delivery of fast, high-quality media distribution services.
Appear specialises in media processing and delivery technology, and Planetcast is a media services provider. Their collaboration brings together Appear’s contribution and distribution technology with Planetcast’s robust cloud-first platform, NexC. The result is an integrated approach for broadcasters and streamers to manage and distribute content across all platforms, as well as support for media organisations who need to deliver premium live content from ground to cloud.
The two companies will demonstrate these developments at BroadcastAsia 2025 in Singapore, 29–31 May, showing how their partnership addresses the evolving needs of the region’s media landscape to encourage operational efficiency, flexible deployment and scalability.
Reducing Complexity
The partnership is based on the shared goal to reduce complexity in media workflows. The Appear X Platform focusses on efficient contribution and compression, while Planetcast supports cloud-native playout, OTT and FAST distribution and IP-based delivery. Through this integration, users can optimise their infrastructure for the dynamic demands of the APAC and M&E markets.
Planetcast’s NexC platform simplifies the content supply chain with an integrated, single-UI architecture that combines scheduling, playout, post-production, OTT and FAST distribution. Users can deliver to customers and monetise content quickly across multiple regions.
“Our vision at Appear is to prepare media organisations to move fast, operate efficiently and deliver high-quality experiences across platforms, especially in live sports where ground-to-cloud workflows are critical,” said Shakunt Malhotra, Vice President APAC at Appear. “Planetcast shares this vision, and together we’re aiming to help customers in the region scale rapidly and monetise content with ease.”
Sports Experiences at Scale
As a proof of the partnership’s value, Planetcast recently announced a contract with beIN Asia Pacific, serving 16 linear HD sports channels running 24/7 across Southeast Asia and Australia, plus disaster recovery backed by six additional channel feeds, integrating live events with pre-recorded material and multi-layered graphics. All channels will be delivered via 10 connection points – fibre and IP-over-internet – spread throughout the region.
To enable this service, Planetcast used Appear’s dense X20 device, deploying 36 complete decoders built into a compact 2RU chassis. These decoders support demodulation, BISS decryption, HEVC and AVC decoding, as well as 8 stereo audio pairs and Dolby decoding, all of which are essential for high-quality, reliable playout.
As part of the full ground-to-cloud workflow, the X20 decoders bridge signals between live venue feeds and Planetcast’s cloud-based playout ecosystem. The set-up means that beIN can achieve the performance and flexibility needed for premium sports broadcasting at scale.
The Appear decoders will be directly integrated into Planetcast’s playout automation and monitoring system, precisely aligning with its cloud infrastructure for fast, low-latency delivery. This takes advantage of the strength and interoperability of the X Platform, which Appear continues to develop for density, efficiency and flexibility in live media operations.
Low-Latency Multiplatform Distribution
This deployment shows how the two companies make it possible for broadcasters to control the quality and scale of sports experiences. As well as NexC, the integration also uses Planetcast’s Cloud.X Turbo, optimised for playout and multiplatform distribution at ultra-low latency, and Recaster managed IP delivery service that uses public internet to deliver broadcast quality video streams.
“Planetcast builds agile, scalable services designed for today’s complex broadcast and streaming operations,” said Venugopal Iyengar, Chief Operating Officer – Digital, Planetcast. “Our collaboration with Appear will further extend the application of our systems by enhancing their contribution and distribution capabilities. We’re excited to bring this demonstration to BroadcastAsia and show how together we can help media companies grow across APAC and beyond.” www.appear.net
