Newsmax has launched a new cloud TV service using technology from Kaltura, the companies said.

The service delivers news content to consumers on streaming over-the-top devices including Apple TV, Roku, Android and iOS.

“We are excited to extend the reach of our content to our audience on any device they choose, with an optimal viewing experience,” stated Andy Biggers, senior VP of distribution at Newsmax TV. “Kaltura’s TV Platform provides us with the ultimate flexibility to evolve Newsmax TV over time, and gain insight from the invaluable data collected via the platform.”

The new cloud service includes a live channel and a collection of VOD content.

“We are excited to have been selected by Newsmax as its Cloud TV partner of choice,” said Nuno Sanches, general manager, media and telecom, for Kaltura.

“News and current events content are extremely time sensitive and always on, therefore our robust TV Platform with its proven track record supporting some of the world’s largest Cloud TV services with many live channels running across multiple time zones at any given time, is best positioned to power services of this kind. We look forward to working closely with Newsmax as the service continues to evolve,” said Sanches.

The Kaltura TV Platform features personalized multi-screen access to linear, VOD and time-shifted TV, as well as third-party content.

“OTT is no longer an afterthought or experiment that select broadcasters, media companies and service providers are dabbling in - it’s the future of TV, and the obvious move for forward-looking companies, like Newsmax, that want to remain relevant to today’s consumers,” Sanches said.

Arris and (in a roundabout way) Charter Communications are supplying some technology that’s helping to drive a new locally-focused video offering from Sling TV, Dish Network's OTT-TV service for cord-cutters.

Cue the Bill Murray: It's another example of strange bedfellows and "coopetition" in the rapidly-shifting pay TV landscape.  

ActiveVideo, the cloud video company acquired last year for $135 million via an Arris-Charter J.V., is enabling an app from The Weather Channel for Sling TV that delivers hundreds of unique weather programs that are being distributed over IP, Bruce McClelland, president of Network & Cloud and Global Services at Arris, said Wednesday at the company’s Investor Day in New York.

McClelland didn’t offer up much additional technical detail, but the offering likely uses ActiveVideo’s Cloud TV technology, which is also underpinning a next-gen video offering from Charter that features a new cloud-based UI. 

As for the service being enabled at Sling TV, it certainly ties into Local Now (the image above comes from RokuGuid.com) , a new, currently ad-free channel from The Weather Channel that provides current, localized news, weather, sports and traffic updates on a local level, and localizes those feeds based on the Sling TV customer’s IP address.

Sling TV recently extended its Local Now service to Roku devices, complementing existing support on other platforms such as the Amazon Fire TV, Android mobile devices, Android TV products, the Google Chromecast and Web browsers. Support for Local Now on other platforms, such as the Xbox One, iPhones, iPads and the Channel Master DVR+ product are on deck.