The US National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has made a strategic investment in Avail Media, a Virginia-based provider of managed content aggregation services for IPTV deployments, intended to to enable NRTC members to access quality programming from Hollywood, network providers and independent producers, as well as help Avail Media deliver a robust IPTV transport platform.

As part of the same transaction, Avail Media has also completed a merger with TVN Entertainment, provider of an end-to-end solution for licensing, managing, distributing and marketing video-on-demand content.  The combined company is expected to become a major provider of end-to-end content aggregation, management and distribution offerings.

“Our combined platform provides comprehensive distribution capabilities for today’s content and is poised to deliver the future of digital media services,” said Ramu Potarazu, CEO of the newly combined company.   “Whether it is delivering video to the television screen today, or to the PC and mobile device tomorrow, we share a common goal of helping deliver the emerging new services that consumers want.  Our partnership with NRTC means that rural America will be among the first to benefit from these new services."

NRTC will become a major shareholder in the newly combined company thanks to its recent investment, and will acquire a seat on their board of directors.