Crosspoint: an unstoppable evolution at the crossroads between broadcast and OTT platforms

Two years after the European specialist ES Broadcast decided to rely on Crosspoint’s potential and experience, the distributor, service provider and integrator is facing a present marked by the convergence of technologies, a renewed role in the Spanish industry and the commitment to accompany each customer in achieving their objectives, from planning, execution and after-sales support.

Founded in 1993, Crosspoint has faced the new challenges of the media sector throughout its three decades of existence. Initially focused on providing the broadcasting industry with the technologies that redefined television in Spain, the company has undergone a profound transformation over the last five years. This has been marked, as it should be, by the evolution of the market and technology, but also by profound structural changes.

The most important of these was the acquisition of the company by ES Broadcast, a global group that brought its experience, synergies and resources at the right time: a subtle but crucial shift in the company’s operational and strategic focus. Crosspoint’s role as a value-added distributor – backed by major brands such as Grass Valley, Riedel Communications e ainda Ross Video – has been joined by a renewed ambition to help customers meet each of their technological and operational challenges. The same applies to Crossmedia, Crosspoint’s digital division focused on the OTT universe. It deploys solutions that are prepared for current and future challenges, developed by relevant partners such as Fastly, Conviva e ainda Brightcove, among others.

As Victor Garcia, Crosspoint’s CEO, explains, “In addition to having all the knowledge and mastery of the solutions of the brands we distribute and accompanying the customer in the pre-sales phase, we focus on their implementation and after-sales support. To achieve this, we invest in equipment to provide the best support service, we continue to certify ourselves and send our staff to the brands’ headquarters to be at the forefront of knowledge, and we expand our portfolio to improve the offer we make to each of our customers.”

A refurbished office for a new phase

To move forward in this new phase of transformation, the Crosspoint team decided to redesign its headquarters, opting for a new location and configuration of space. The aim was to create a space that was more open and closer to the company’s current operations, encouraging reflection, analysis and collaboration.

The large, bright office is structured around a central room where Crosspoint’s professionals can work together on their many projects. The office is also divided into additional, equally multidisciplinary rooms where one-to-one meetings or group training sessions can be held.

From its new headquarters in the Legazpi district of Madrid, Crosspoint’s new office looks to the future without losing sight of a legacy of great projects and professionals who have left an indelible mark on the audiovisual industry. One of them is Ricardo Cuenca, former technical director, who sadly passed away last April, and who enjoyed the admiration and respect of the entire profession, as well as the fondness of all those who knew him.

García comments in this regard: “It occurred to us that the best way to honour him was to name the meeting room, the brightest and most prominent point of the new office, after him. Moreover, being the great conversationalist and arguer that he was, we understood that a meeting room, where ideas, arguments and reflections are confronted, was the most appropriate place to pay tribute to him. He was a true pillar of the company and is still very much with us.”

Crosspoint’s quest for innovation

Crosspoint’s evolution is inextricably linked to that of the broadcasting world itself. Broadcasters’ needs are changing, and new technological developments make it possible to envisage a convergent, de-localised future with scalable business models that need to be addressed across the board to reap their full benefits. In this respect, Crosspoint is moving forward in leaps and bounds on several fronts, but without losing sight of the fact that the needs of the customer and their support in the short, medium and long term continue to guide its day-to-day operations.

As Ricardo Casanova, sales director, explains, the company is ready to tackle the various opportunities in the broadcast universe. The implementation of cloud projects, Software as a Service (SaaS) business models, the transition to PI infrastructure models and the consolidation of UHD environments are beginning to occupy a large part of project teams’ agendas, and Crosspoint is ready to put its knowledge and engineering teams at the service of each challenge.

“As part of our vocation as a high value-added distributor, based on long-term relationships of trust, we offer our customers a pre-sale focused on their needs and, if they allow us, the co-creation of their projects,” explains Casanova, who is in charge of a team of professionals who offer the industry a “deep knowledge of the solutions we distribute” as well as “the ability to carry out in-house developments that offer new specifications and complete the integration of new products with those that the customer may already have in their home”. “This differentiates us and adds great value to the ‘out of the box’ products,” Casanova points out.

In terms of cutting-edge platforms, Crosspoint is a certified partner of Grass Valley’s GV-AMPP, “the most advanced and complete broadcast ecosystem on the market,” based on software applications that, as Casanova points out, “we have already implemented and manage for top-level clients.” The company has also integrated Riedel’s “intuitive and innovative” SimplyLive live production and media ingest solutions to meet the production needs of its customers.

Without losing sight of its acknowledged strength in cameras, high-end consoles and other production equipment and infrastructure, Crosspoint is also focusing on promoting graphics and robotics solutions, particularly from Ross Video. “Both lines complement our portfolio perfectly,” says Casanova, who also highlights the company’s role as a distributor of Cânone lenses and PTZ cameras. “We can also offer software-based native IP/UHD processing solutions running on Arkona-Manifold FPGA accelerator boards. On top of all this, we can add buy-back and supply options for used and ex-demo equipment, with access to a large stock of what is often almost brand new equipment,” he explains.

Crossmedia, the ambitious digital arm of Crosspoint

Created in response to the challenges of digital convergence in television, Crossmedia, the digital division of Crosspoint dedicated to the OTT world, has consolidated its position in the market by supporting companies in their digital transformation journeys. Aware of the changes in viewers’ consumption habits, where applications coexist with more traditional channels, the Crossmedia team has accumulated a deep background that allows it to position itself as one of the most experienced companies in the Spanish ecosystem.

Content distribution, application development, implementation of AI tools or CDN management require in-depth knowledge to accompany the user throughout their journey. This specific path, including the monitoring of their activities or the personalisation of their experience, is a large part of the purpose of a Crossmedia that observes how this know-how also benefits numerous content owners outside the media sector: from sports clubs to cultural organisations.

“Launching an OTT service for a broadcaster is not only a technological challenge, but also an internal challenge to adapt the available resources and to be able to assemble a new puzzle. And at Crossmedia, we are specialists in each of the pieces that make up this mosaic.”

All of these players need a detailed service that allows them to reach their full potential, and the Crossmedia division, led by Jorge Frías, continues to move forward with the firm intention of turning challenges into opportunities in this dynamic and opportunity-rich sector: “It is a reality that televisions have become applications, and this fact has a great impact on the way content is distributed, consumed and interacted with. Launching an OTT service for a broadcaster is not only a technological challenge, but also an internal challenge to adapt the available resources and to be able to assemble a new puzzle. And at Crossmedia, we are specialists in each of the pieces that make up this mosaic.”

For Frías, the main value of Crossmedia is that it specialises in integrating OTT platforms for broadcasters and other content owners with an “agnostic spirit“. This approach overcomes the main challenge of this OTT world: addressing a highly fragmented ecosystem in terms of the number and type of devices on which these applications are deployed, while continuing to work on personalising the user experience.

“To this end, many of the solutions we implement for our clients are based on the use of AI, which is emerging as the true global disruptor for the coming years. For this reason, it is essential to reflect on the transformative power of artificial intelligence, its application in our sector and the regulatory challenges it poses to the industry as a whole,” says Frías.

A promising future built around two great universes

The dual nature of Crosspoint, from the transformation of more traditional broadcasting to the many opportunities that have emerged in the digital sphere with the emergence of OTTs channeled through Crossmedia, represents a source of shared knowledge typical of two converging universes. In today’s broadcasting environment, both sides feed off each other, sharing everything from business models to technological developments.

“This knowledge of both worlds allows us to approach projects in a very holistic way. We support each other across departments to choose the most appropriate path for the client. In a very modest way, we dare to say that this is a highly differentiated value proposition in the market,” says Víctor García, who also highlights the company’s efforts in the field of cybersecurity: “In this sense, we have also made great efforts to obtain certifications such as the National Security Scheme, which allows us to face current projects with all the necessary solvency.”

As the audiovisual industry changes, Crosspoint continues to evolve. Technology structures the progress of the medium, but it is in-depth knowledge, customised attention, guidance e ainda experience that can turn an idea into a fully transformative reality.

With this philosophy as the backbone of its business, Crosspoint is confident that it is on the right track to continue to accompany each client in each project. Examples of this are the major challenges it has taken on recently: the development of the recommendation system for RTVE Play, the upgrade of Mediaset Spain’s news set, the supply of video scoreboard graphics equipment for the renovation of a major football club’s stadium, or the supply of routing, intercom and video mixing systems for RTVE’s latest mobile units.

In order to continue to help the industry achieve each of its objectives, Crosspoint has recently recruited great professionals such as David Medina, with extensive and recognised experience in the commercial sector with various manufacturers and broadcast integrators, who joins as Sales Manager for Large Accounts, or Jordi Mangas, with extensive knowledge of the industry and media technology, who together with Jorge Polvorinos, also with extensive professional experience gained in the UK, will head the Pre-Sales & Technology department for the broadcast sector. Raquel Serrano, with a remarkable background in the audiovisual and streaming sector, also joins Crossmedia to manage the ambitious digital projects that Crossmedia is undertaking.

All of them are part of a young but highly capable and experienced team, made up of other pillars of the company such as César Rojas, Daniel Villar and Marga Maristegui. They are respectively in charge of engineering and support, digital technical management and administration.

As the audiovisual industry changes, Crosspoint continues to evolve. Technology structures the progress of the medium, but it is in-depth knowledge, customised attention, guidance e ainda experience that can turn an idea into a fully transformative reality.