ClassicalTV

ClassicalTV, a website offering streamed performing arts TV and programmes to a worldwide audience, has launched with site design, user testing and build by Cimex.

Served by the world’s largest library of broadcast content covering classical music, opera, ballet, musicals, classical theatre or dance, ClassicalTV offers its audience entertainment and special pay-per-view events from prestigious venues around the world including the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Audiovisual access to the performing arts has, up until now, been limited to occasional appearances on television. With more and more audiences choosing to view programmes through the internet, the timing couldn’t be better for ClassicalTV to make its debut at www.classicaltv.com, with the potential to be to the web what Classic FM is to radio.

Creating a website design that both visually and physically communicates the strength of the ClassicalTV concept, as well as pulling together streamed content from a complex database and live feeds, was an exciting challenge for the teams at Cimex.

‘ClassicalTV brings a very high quality resource to everyone through the internet. Because of the breadth of audience we were targeting, and the diversity of the classical repertoire, we had to ensure that usability was at the heart of our design. Some users may well be using a streamed video site for the first time, so we were determined to make their experience an extremely positive one,’ says Tom Dolan, Consultant at Cimex.

The importance of ClassicalTV in the world of classical music has been demonstrated recently with the site having secured exclusive rights from Sky Arts to stream live Jonathan Miller’s highly acclaimed ENO production of La Boheme, staged at the Royal Opera House. With ClassicalTV able to attract such prestigious broadcasts the choice of digital partner for the site build was critical.

‘We had worked with Cimex in the past and knew they would understand the potential of ClassicalTV,’ explains Derek Nelson, CEO at ClassicalTV. ‘Their expertise has created a format and structure for our site that gives us the level of functionality and expression of our brand for a successful launch and a site that allows us to develop in the future.’

ClassicalTV will develop interesting and engaging news content over the coming months to support programming which will undoubtedly make it the destination site for viewers who are serious about the performing arts.

Published: 07 May 2009

Tags: Consulting & strategy, Customer insight, Design & enhancement, Support & hosting, Technical systems