This post was written for my client Streemfire GmbH and appeared initially on their blog:

In my last blog post I wrote about the TV channel metaphor inherent to the Streemfire service. A quick Google roundtrip unveils, that the term “channel” in conjunction with online video is very common. However, most of these so-called “channels” are solely simple webpages, carrying multiple videos.

The Streemfire TV channel is different from such a “channel page” approach.

Here are the properties of the Streemfire TV channel:

• a Streemfire TV channel consists of one or many videos or still images or the combination of both
• a Streemfire TV channel plays back as a whole – all content elements contained within the channel are played out in a seamless line-up, resulting in a linear program structure
• the channel playout autostarts, when the channel is loaded and loops back to the start after playing through its full length
• player controls let you start and stop the channel playout and switch to fullscreen display
• each element in the sequence of videos or images can be furnished with a graphical theme and nicely rendered text overlays
• optionally you can add a dedicated channel sound track or alternate between the channel sound and the video sound on playout
• optionally you can add a channel logo to personalize the channel
• you can put the channel on-air or off-air as a whole or put individual elements of the channel on-air or off-air.
• manage a channel without interrupting its playout – you can edit all channel elements at any time, including the addition or deletion of channel elements or a change of the playback order
• every channel can be played out through all Streemfire play out channels, including the embedded player for webpages, the Streemfire Facebook player, the Streemfire mobile app and the Streemfire desktop player
• Streemfire channels can be shared amongst a users Facebook friends on an invitation basis
• per default each Streemfire channel comes along with an alpha-numerical channel code, which acts as a key to access the channel through the desktop player
• each channel can carry SD or HD video, according to the Streemfire plan purchased by its user

In the essence, Streemfire allows you to “program” and conveniently manage the play of multiple videos in a series, mixed and merged with still images, text overlays, your personal logo and a dedicated channel soundtrack. That is, what we call a channel.