Twofour

Twofour was founded 1988 and has grown to become one of the largest independent media groups in the UK employing over 330 people. [Broadcast Magazine March 2007] [Televisual Magazine May 2007] .

It is currently the largest UK independent supplier of content to Sky One, predominately due to its production of "Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old?", Sky's peak time quiz show. [Broadcast Magazine March 2008] As well as broadcast content, Twofour is one of the few organisations that has invested equally in corporate communications and digital delivery.

With headquarters in Plymouth and offices in [London [ and Washington the company comprises five companies Twofour Communications, Twofour Broadcast , Twofour Digital, Digital Bridge and HMC Interactive.

Twofour Broadcast

Twofour Broadcast supplies programming to the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five,Living, British Sky Broadcasting, Discovery Channel and a variety of other UK and international channels. The company has been traditionally associated with factual entertainment and lifestyle programming. For example one of its earliest commissions was "Collectors' Lot" for Channel 4, however Twofour has recently moved into drama, comedy and quiz shows.

Modern hits include "The Hotel Inspector" (Five),"Through Hell and High Water" which won a Royal Television Society award for best daytime programme [Royal Television Society 13th March 2007 [http://www.rts.org.uk/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=5726 Link to website] ] (BBC One/Discovery), "Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? (UK)" (Sky One) and (ITV) and The Exposed documentary series on Living.

Twofour Communications

Twofour Communications is in the top 10 of UK producers of corporate content [Number 7 - Broadcast Magazine March 2007] . An award winning interactive agency it is a leading producer of video based solutions, especially for the public sector and education clients. It produces broadcast quality content, which is distributed over a range of multimedia platforms including websites, intranets, CD-ROM, DVD, mobile devices and Internet video streaming. It is emerging as a leading supplier of broadband / webtv content, and bespoke video rich communication portals. Major clients include AOL, the European Parliament, Houses of Parliament, the Department for Education and Skills, British Heart Foundation,Volkswagen Group and the British Army. In January 2007 it was awarded the contract to design the European Parliament's WebTV solution, which will eventually broadcast scheduled content in 22 languages throughout Europe and in partnership with the CfBT Education Trust it will be managing the provision of Gifted and Talented education nationwide. [ CfBT Education Trust 16th April 2007 [http://www.cfbt.com Link to website] ]

Its Convergence TV division specialises in producing content specifically for mobile devices and wap portals. It has produced mobishows including Soccer Addicts and a series on the 2006 Ashes, which won the international webcasting association award for best mobile streaming.

Digital Bridge, a provider of IPTV solutions to the public sector, and brand experience company HMC Interactive have also both recently become part of the Twofour Group.

Twofour Digital

Twofour Digital works in close conjunction with Twofour Communcations, and Twofour Broadcast, it is a specialist web and application design agency and technical services company. It provides technical solutions for the television and online industries offering a full range of production services from digital cameras, non-linear editing suites, 3D graphics, encoding, webTV, DRM through to website design and webcasting. Major clients include the BBC for whom it has developed a number of bespoke web applications, including the CBBC social networking site MyCBBC. In 2007 Twofour Digital acquired the webcasting specialist consultancy firm Makeni, who provide webcasting to a number of high profile clients including the Greater London Authority as well as extensive experience in
Digital Rights Management.

Twofour developed the platform for EuroparlTV, the official web TV platform for the European Parliament which was launched in 2008.

Digital Bridge

Digital Bridge is an IPTV specialist company which merged with Twofour in July 2007. It was previously wholly owned by Shoreditch Trust. It provides digital set-top boxes to enable users to access IPTV and digital TV channels.

HMC Interactive

HMC Interactive is an award winning experiential marketing company which merged with the group in July 2007. HMC uses the latest emerging technology to build physical and virtual experiences, such as Chocolate Rain at Cadbury World.

References

External links

* [http://www.twofour.co.uk Twofour company website]
* [http://www.twofourdigital.com Twofour Digital Website]
* [http://www.hmcinteractive.co.uk HMC Interactive company website]