Edgeware to acquire subtitling firm Cavena

Edgeware has agreed to acquire Swedish subtitling company Cavena Image Products for SEK 8 million (€780,500), in a move that will add subtitling automation to its over-the-top technology offering.

Edgeware said that integrating subtitling technology into its ‘origin’ solution will enable broadcasters to offer personalised advertising, cross-device support, and now also automate the subtitling process.

Cavena has been supplying solutions to the broadcasting market for more than 20 years and its customers include Sky, Canal+ and HBO Asia. Its technology uses optical character recognition to convert subtitles from image to text formats, which is designed to provide higher quality experience for OTT viewers.

“Our growing numbers of broadcaster customers are demanding the highest quality from their OTT services. We already work alongside Cavena’s systems in some of our largest deployments, such as myTV SUPER in Hong Kong,” said Karl Thedéen, CEO at Edgeware.

“It makes sense for us to offer a more integrated solution to those broadcasters, and to further enhance our origin solution, which is generating a lot of interest. It also gives us the opportunity to introduce our respective technologies to each other’s customers.”

Cavena managing director, Henrik Moberg, said: “Subtitling is an important part of today’s TV services, enhancing the accessibility of valuable content. As more TV is watched online, our customers and prospects need to optimise subtitling to offer a high quality OTT experience. Working with Edgeware will allow us to integrate our technology into a broader origin solution that has been purpose-built for today’s online TV delivery.”

Edgeware will acquire 100% of Cavena’s shares on a cash and debt free basis. It said the acquisition will only have a minor impact on Edgeware’s 2019 forecasted revenues and profitability but will have more strategic impact over the longer term, enabling Edgeware to offer a broader set of products to broadcasters and content owners.