TORONTO — Like Minded Entertainment founder, filmmaker and actor Mark Kassen announced Monday during the Toronto International Film Festival that his Hollywood-based production company has completed the acquisition and integration of Montreal-based media distribution technology company Vantrix Technology into its Like Minded portfolio. The result is the formation of two new entities — Like Minded Media Ventures and Like Minded Labs.
Vantrix is a pioneer and global leader in next-generation media processing and 360-degree camera systems. Since 2004, Vantrix technology has been embedded in most major wireless service providers and media distribution systems. It processes, optimizes and distributes pictures, video and OTT services for most major telecom companies around the world, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Bell Canada, Vidéotron, O2 and Vodaphone.
Like Minded Media Ventures (LMMV) will build upon Vantrix’s current technology to empower actors, musicians and sports figures with the ability to create their own purpose-built, end-to-end distribution systems for both recorded content and live event streaming, Like Minded Entertainment said in a news release.
Working with artists’ current content outlets and social media channels, LMMV will be able to provide the technological power and cost-effective bandwidth for artists to create and distribute high-quality, short-form, long-form and 360-degree content directly to their audiences at the same level as the largest media organizations and OTTs in the industry, LMMV said in the news release.
Initial LMMV projects include a 360-degree streaming platform for the Rogers Cup tennis tournament and the Chris Evans non-partisan civic engagement website “A Starting Point”.
“Formally bringing Vantrix into the Like Minded family joins together some of the best minds in filmmaking, engineering and technology, allowing us to serve as a bridge to these industries, and give our fellow storytellers the same level of tools and technology as the largest telecom, OTT and media companies in the world,” LMMV founder Kassen said in the news release. “Approaching our work as humanitarians we believe that the more tools we have to break down the barriers to collaboration and distribution, the more we can create a closer global community.”
Jean Mayrand will continue to serve as CEO of Vantrix and its new technology incubator Like Minded Labs, co-financed by RBC and based in Montreal. Sal Alvarez will continue as Head of Production for Like Minded Entertainment. Technology pioneer and Kassen’s Like Minded partner Joe Kiani will join the boards of all Like Minded entities.
“For the past 15 years, Vantrix has quietly been home to the innovative technology behind the platforms people all over the world use to consume content,” Mayrand said in the news release. “We are all excited to now utilize our partnership with Mark and his LME team to empower both the content creators and users directly, giving them a better, faster, richer and more integrated experience.”
More information about LMMV can be found here.
