Integrating YouTube on set-top boxes is not a new thing for cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors. Though providing integrated access to that content at the set-top can help to keep viewers engaged on the MVPD’s platform, the operator isn’t getting much in the way of payback.

Frequency, the Internet video startup that’s backed by Liberty Global, aims to change that game a bit as it continues to shift its original direct-to-consumer business to one that licenses OTT content and delivers it to via a platform for MVPDs that are looking to stitch their traditional video services to content sourced from the over-the-top world.

“We’re unbundling YouTube,” Ian Aaron, a veteran of the pay TV and digital media industries and now Frequency’s new president, explained, noting that the Los Angeles-based company is forging direct licenses with YouTube creators and other digital publishers that rely on YouTube.

“We're looking to expand our distribution. Just about every MVPD and mobile operator is looking at integrating this real-time web content,” he said. “Today when YouTube is on an operator's platform...the operator doesn't monetize [that content]. Because we're doing these licenses directly with the top MCNs and digital brands and digital networks and publishers, the operators can monetize…We’re bringing that traditional model back for the content that’s really a priority for millennials and others.”

Frequency has a deal in place with Liberty Global, which has already shown an eagerness to integrate YouTube and other OTT apps on set-tops, as well as another yet-to-be named MVPD.

Once a license is in place, Frequency’s platform ingests and transcodes that content and enhances the metadata so that operators can allow for that content to be searched alongside its traditional content. The idea is to integrate that not just at the set-top box but also the MVPD’s web services and TV Everywhere apps.

Among the angles Frequency is touting is the notion of “augmented” TV. By way of example, if a consumer happened to be watching a movie, the system would be smart enough to pull up related content associated with that title, such as trailers, studio promotions and interviews. 

Pay TV and digital media industry vet Ian Aaron has been named president of Frequency, an Internet video company that recently landed an $11 million round of funding from a group that included Liberty Global.

In his new role, Aaron will head up global distribution, content licensing and business development for the Los Angeles-based cloud-based internet video service, which aggregates and distributes content from a wide range of producers and integrates them with several platforms via a single license.

Frequency, which is working with MVPDs to integrate OTT fare with set-top boxes, allows partners to generate “personalized channels” that tap into social media and other data that can uncover their interests and provide offerings that expand and enhance traditional TV platforms. “We can look at a show you’re watching on TV — VOD or live — and automatically discover programming related to what you’re watching,” Blair Harrison, Frequency’s founder and CEO, said in a recent interview (subscription required).

Aaron is late of several companies in the telecom, media and tech sectors, including Gemstar TV Guide International (now part of  Rovi), where he was president; and was CEO of TVN Entertainment (now Vubiquity).  He was also CEO of ConnecTV, a startup that was focused on social TV apps, a director at datacasting specialist Dotcast, and was a top exec at SoftNet Systems, a broadband pioneer that once ran a subsidiary called ISP Channel that, in its heyday, provided turn-key cable modem services to MSOs.

“Ian has been an advisor to Frequency since we started the company six years ago,” Harrison said in a statement. “He brings a unique breadth of experience to us, having built and run businesses from TV to digital media. His leadership is going to be invaluable to us as we continue our rapid global expansion.”

“Frequency has built a comprehensive video platform that has been validated by some of the top MVPDs and mobile operators,” said Aaron. “With the increase in popularity and quality of content from multi-channel and digital networks, we have a unique opportunity to integrate a format of programming into the current TV bundle that attracts a new and younger audience.”