Tag Archive for: Icareus Video Cloud

Jessica Glad

Say Hello to Home Cine! A Fresh Take on Streaming, Powered by Icareus

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Helsinki, April 24, 2025 – Finland has welcomed a new streaming service for movies and TV series: Kotikino (eng. Home Cine), launched in April by Finnish company Nordic Content Distribution Ltd.. The service is built on the Icareus Video Cloud OTT solution.

Nordic Content Distribution (NCD) introduced its first streaming service Kirjastokino, aimed at public libraries, already back in 2019. It quickly gained widespread popularity and is now available in over 100 Finnish municipalities. However, the streaming landscape has changed. Many viewers feel that digital services have become too similar and often fail to offer anything truly interesting to watch. One reason for this is that most streaming decisions are made outside of Europe, leading to increasingly homogenized content and service models – leaving many films and genres out of reach.

Home Cine’s mission is to highlight and provide access to high-quality European movie and TV-series content.

“We’ve noticed that this kind of content easily falls into limbo while major international platforms take time to decide on their acquisitions. In addition, we plan to focus on other underserved genres, such as children’s films, anime, horror, and sci-fi, which also tend to be overlooked in many streaming services,” says the team behind the service.

At launch, Home Cine offers around 2,000 films, plus TV series and episodes. The catalog will expand weekly with new titles, meaning the service is constantly evolving.

One key advantage compared to many other platforms is that Home Cine offers both a monthly subscription and a rental model for individual films.

The platform is built using Icareus OTT platform, solution packed with versatile features that enable full management of the video service, including:

  • Uploading and migrating movies and TV series via a user interface or API integration
  • Video preparation, transcoding, categorization, and metadata management
  • Monetization through paid content packages and optionally advertisements
  • End-user registration and account management
  • Global content delivery via a robust CDN
  • End-user interfaces and video apps for various platforms
  • Analytics and reporting tools

In addition to the video platform, Icareus designed and developed Home Cine apps for iOS and Android. Smart TV applications will be released in the next phase of the service.

With Icareus Video Cloud handling the technical side, NCD can focus on content and building customer relationships instead of platform maintenance and development.

Home Cine is available on web at https://kotikino.fi and as mobile apps in app stores under the name Kotikino.

Nordic Content Distribution Oy is a Finnish company founded in 2019. It develops and operates the Kotikino (eng. Home Cine) and Kirjastokino (eng. Library Cine) streaming services. The company is privately owned, and its team has over 50 years of combined experience in the video and media industry across various companies and services. Read more: https://kotikino.fi tai https://www.linkedin.com/company/nordic-content-distribution/

Icareus Ltd is a growing and profitable Finnish company providing SaaS video cloud services. Our company serves customers from over 60 countries. Icareus OTT solution is a turnkey white-label video cloud solution for media, TV and content owners. It offers versatile tools for the production, management, publication and (optionally) commercialization of live streaming, videos and events.
More information: https://icareus.com/products/white-label-ott-platform/

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Jessica Glad

Terveyskylä.fi Gets a Makeover: HUS Adopts Icareus Video Cloud

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Helsinki, 18.06.2024 – The Terveyskylä.fi service ecosystem, developed and maintained through collaboration by Finland’s university hospitals, has successfully transitioned to the Icareus Video Cloud. This nationwide service will now have its media content managed and distributed via the Icareus Video Cloud. As part of this transition, more than 260 hours of video and audio content, along with over 4,000 media files, have found a new home.

Terveyskylä.fi has established itself as a key digital health service platform in Finland, offering a wide range of content such as the Terveyskylä Houses, Omapolku services, and various mobile and online applications. Video and audio files play a crucial role in these services and are actively utilized.

Icareus Video Cloud met the needs of HUS (and Terveyskylä) by providing a comprehensive solution for editing, subtitling, managing, and publishing video and audio media across various services and platforms.

Icareus CEO, Toni Leiponen, commented on the delivery:

“We are very pleased to offer even more comprehensive online video services to Terveyskylä, whose content is produced by experienced professionals in eServices. For years, we have been providing video solutions for the New Children's Hospital, and it's great that our service now also covers Terveyskylä’s video services. We’re proud to contribute to the well-being of society.”
Toni Leiponen
CEO, Icareus

Thanks to Icareus Video Cloud, Terveyskylä’s digital video services are now accessible to a broader audience, meeting the WCAG 2.1 AA-level accessibility requirements.

During the extensive implementation, Icareus Video Cloud was tailored to meet HUS’s needs, and existing media content was smoothly migrated to the new system. Video embeds and links were also updated.

Soile Tammelin, Product Manager for HUS eHealth Development Services, commented on the start of the collaboration between Terveyskylä and Icareus:

“Instructional videos for patients, training videos for professionals, and video-based peer stories are an important part of Terveyskylä’s content. I am delighted that, through excellent collaboration with Icareus, we have been able to release accessible versions of our videos in more languages. The Icareus project team has worked weekly on building and developing the services.”
Soile Tammelin
Soile Tammelin
Product Manager, HUS

Training was conducted in two phases, first for key users and then for general users, ensuring all user groups can make the most of the new software service.

The partnership with Icareus enabled a smooth and rapid implementation, ensuring an improved video user experience for Terveyskylä.fi.

Terveyskylä’s services are developed in collaboration with Finland’s university hospitals, with the Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) providing ICT services. In addition to university hospitals, the service ecosystem is also utilized by several well-being areas, where Terveyskylä forms an integral part of their service chains.

Founded in 2001, Icareus Ltd is a growing, profitable Finnish company that offers SaaS video cloud services. We serve customers in over 60 countries. Our main product, the customizable Icareus Video Cloud service, enables organizations to launch professional video services. It is suitable for both internal and external use in various contexts, such as content services, virtual and hybrid events, communication, marketing, and training—easily and affordably from the cloud, accessible on all devices.

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