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Amagi Builds the Infrastructure Behind Streaming's Future
Most television viewers know the services they watch, whether it’s Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV or the growing number of free, ad-supported streaming channels available through their smart TVs. What they probably don’t know is how much technology is working behind the scenes to make all that programming available.
That’s where Amagi comes in.
Amagi isn’t a television network or a streaming service. It’s a technology company that provides much of the infrastructure that makes modern television distribution possible. Its cloud-based platform helps broadcasters, studios and media companies create and operate TV channels, deliver live programming, distribute content across streaming platforms and insert targeted advertising into the shows we watch.
That includes everything from traditional broadcast and pay TV to FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channels, the linear-style services that offer viewers hundreds of channels without a subscription. Amagi also helps content owners navigate the increasingly complicated business of delivering programming to different platforms, each with its own technical requirements, languages and metadata standards.
The company’s larger ambition is to bring these operations together in a unified Media Industry Cloud, using automation and artificial intelligence to simplify the process.
I spoke with Amagi co-founder Srini KA, Director and President of Global Business, about the company’s role in the streaming ecosystem, the growth of FAST TV and how AI is changing the business of television.
You can read the entire too-long-for-a-newsletter interview on Forbes. And here is an excerpt that gives you a sense of what to expect:
Rick Ellis: You mentioned advertising insertion earlier, and that's a huge part of the business. It's also a frustrating part of the experience for a lot of people.
If I understand correctly, you're able to insert ads dynamically depending on the program. You can also target them demographically, delivering different advertisements to particular geographic areas or audiences.
Can you walk me through how that works?
Srini KA: Absolutely, Rick. The entire process is dynamic.
Let's say you're opening an app on your Vizio TV or watching a service like WatchFree+. Based on the content you're viewing and your location, and depending on the level of targeting available, we may also have information about the demographics of your household.
That information is sent to a backend ad server, which determines which advertisement is most valuable for you and which one an advertiser is willing to pay to deliver.
An auction then takes place in the backend. Depending on the algorithm being used, we select the highest bidder or the appropriate winning bid, and that advertisement is streamed to you.
What's also happening now is that the ad itself can become personalized. It's not simply an advertisement selected for a particular audience. It can be an ad that's relevant to you based on what you've watched, the content you're viewing or your interests.
At a broader level, it's a real-time auction. Every time you open an app and watch content, an auction takes place for the advertising opportunity.
Typically, about four seconds before an ad break, we initiate the process. We send out information indicating that we need an advertisement for Rick. That request goes through a backend system involving different agencies, demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply-side platforms (SSPs). They return an ad, which we then stitch into the stream.
The process is seamless, without buffering or interruptions. From the viewer's perspective, it simply looks like a normal commercial break.
Rick Ellis: I don't think most people understand what's happening behind the scenes when they're watching their favorite episode of The Beverly Hillbillies or whatever happens to be on.
Srini KA: There's an enormous amount of computing involved. We're talking about billions of operations. On a monthly basis, we probably capture a trillion different events.
There's a tremendous amount of processing happening every second you're watching a program. The system is constantly analyzing information to determine what's appropriate for you.
I am fascinated learning about these companies that most people - even those in the industry - might not be familiar with. And these are also the types of extensive interviews you won’t find in the trades, which is too bad. Because how streaming works is as important as where you can see your favorite show.
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Salon, One Of The Internet’s Original Digital Publications, Shuts Down After 31 Years
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For a generation of readers, Salon was part of what made the early internet exciting. Before social media feeds became the primary way many people discovered news and commentary, the online magazine offered something different: a place for strong opinions, provocative journalism and conversations that didn't always fit comfortably into traditional media.
That chapter came to an end Thursday, when Salon announced it was ceasing publication after 31 years.
In a farewell message posted on its website, the publication thanked the journalists, editors, contributors and readers who helped build the site. But the explanation for the closure was less celebratory. Salon said the economics of independent digital journalism had changed and that its publishing model was no longer sustainable.
Salon was founded in the wake of a strike at the San Francisco Examiner when one of the newspaper’s editors, David Talbot, started exploring the publishing potential of the internet.
When it launched in November 1995, the internet was still finding its identity as a publishing platform. Its founders saw an opportunity to create a publication with a distinctive voice, one that could bring journalism and readers together without the limitations of traditional print outlets.
Over the years, Salon developed a reputation for its politically progressive perspective, expanding its coverage from cultural criticism and commentary into politics, technology and breaking news. It also became a launching pad for a number of journalists who would go on to prominent careers.
Among those who worked for the publication were Glenn Greenwald, Joan Walsh and Michelle Goldberg. Steve Kornacki, now familiar to NBC News viewers as the network's election-night data analyst, and CNN anchor Jake Tapper also worked for the site early in his career as a Washington correspondent.
And on a side note, one of the people who just lost their job was Melanie McFarland, who was the Senior Culture Critic for Salon, where she's written about TV, film and popular culture since 2016. She just launched a Patreon, if you are interested in continuing to follow her always excellent work.
Salon helped demonstrate that an online publication could compete in a fast-moving news environment. Its coverage of Princess Diana's death in 1997 was an early example of the possibilities of digital journalism, at a time when many traditional media organizations were still figuring out what the internet meant for their businesses.
But the digital landscape that once gave Salon an advantage eventually became much more crowded. Slate arrived in 1996, established newspapers and magazines expanded their online operations, and social media fundamentally changed how audiences encountered journalism.
Salon also experienced its share of financial ups and downs. In August 2019, the publication was sold for $5 million to entrepreneurs Chris Richmond and Drew Schoentrup. Four years later, in November 2023, it was acquired by Find.co, a Malta-based company that describes itself as a performance marketing ecosystem for cryptocurrency brands. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The closure comes amid broader pressures on digital publishers, including changes in search traffic, the dominance of large technology platforms and the growing influence of artificial intelligence. Salon did not identify any one of those developments as the specific reason for its decision, instead pointing to the economics of independent publishing.
There is also the question of what happens to Salon's extensive archive. Its collection represents more than three decades of political reporting, essays, criticism and cultural commentary. The archive was reported to remain accessible for now.
Salon helped define what independent digital journalism could look like. Its closure is another reminder that a publication's influence and historical importance don't necessarily translate into a sustainable business model.
Tweet Of The Day
Odds & Sods
I am not a huge fan of swag, but I am jealous that I didn’t make the cut to receive the mini-refrigerator filled with food that CBS sent out to some influencers.
In this revealing conversation on Forward, award-winning journalists Charles M. Blow and Joy-Ann Reid discuss Reid’s unexpected firing from MSNBC and the growing influence of politics and corporate interests on American journalism. Reid shares surprising details surrounding her departure and questions whether her outspoken criticism of Donald Trump and coverage of Gaza played a role.
The series Unaccustomed Earth premieres Thursday, December 17th on Netflix. Here is a first look at the trailer. Here is the official logline: “When a wife and mother who sacrificed her first love to honor her father’s wishes gets a life-changing cancer diagnosis, she moves her family from India back to the one place where she truly felt at home - Cambridge, Massachusetts.”
Philo has added Bravo to its programming tier, which is a big boost to this budget-priced entertainment-centric live TV service. The agreement will also bring a selection of NBCU FAST channels to the service. Philo, which carries more than 70 linear channels focused on entertainment and lifestyle programming, offers a $25-a-month subscription plan as well as a $33 tier that includes HBO Max, AMC+, Discovery+ and All Reality.
The New York Times Company reports it is in exclusive talks to acquire the beloved cinephile social media platform Letterboxd.
LIV Golf is winding down its operations and will not follow through with a “LIV 2.0” of the league.
Season two of Prime Video’s college soap Off Campus will premiere
Delta Air Lines has launched a new subscription marketplace tied to its loyalty program that allows frequent fliers to score complementary subscriptions to streaming video apps and newspapers.
As It Turns Out, Sometimes Winning ‘America’s Got Talent’ Actually Matters
I have never particularly been a fan of America’s Got Talent. The judges tend to annoy me, and overall, the show feels more like a talent show that has been produced by a fairly inept AI model. It sorta looks like a talent show, but it never quite feels real or in any way a celebration of real talent.
So it’s not surprising that I hadn’t paid much attention to this year’s winner, Nene Royal, a 16-year-old musician from Phuket, Thailand. She won the show on September 27th, in an evening that included
If you want a sense of her impressive talent, below is her first appearance on the show. For the first minute or two, she is demure and looks slightly frightened by the size of the crowd. But then she straps on a guitar and just rips through a jaw-dropping version of The Cranberries hit “Zombie” that has the audience on their feet and singing along before it’s over:
The newsletter Zapatto’s Jam has been covering her extensively and it has become one of those rare Kelly Clarkson-type explosions of public interest:
The judges were visibly in shock: commercial talent shows never feature stuff like this! The audience went wild, and AGT had no choice — they just buckled in for the ride. By the end of Nene’s run on the show (five stage performances and some backstage jams that were recorded and published), she was bigger than the show.
Total views to date of her performances across platforms have roughly tripled anything AGT had seen over the same period in its 21 seasons. Linkin Park and The Warning — one legacy rock royalty, the other the hottest of a new generation of bands — both traveled to L.A. to perform with her.
Here are Linkin Park and Nene performing “The Emptiness Machine”, just before the winner was announced. Nene didn’t know until they arrived that she was going to perform with them, and they only had a single three-minute run-through before going on stage.
It is staggering to watch her in that performance. She looks as if she has played with the band for ten years and you can see some moments when members of the band are looking at her and thinking “What the F*&*?”
But that win was just the beginning:
On 13 Oct, she opened for one of the biggest metal bands in the world, Avenged Sevenfold, at their arena show in Singapore. Again, A7X approached her to do it. For her opening set, she was alone on the stage, with backing tracks — her first time ever in front of a whole arena.
Just before their set, A7X told her they would like her to join them on stage for one or two songs. They asked which of their songs she already knew. As they started their set, she had around 45 minutes backstage to prepare. They never actually rehearsed together.
Then they invited her on.
The unofficial footage of those performances show someone completely in her element, owning the moment. She is essentially jamming with some of her lifelong idols, and having a blast. She even takes the first guitar solo.
Nene Royal might not be part of the cultural discussion in the United States, but she is already building a massive following overseas. And she is being welcomed by the metal rock community, who see her as the next generation of the music.
It’s interesting to see how many female-driven bands and performers in Asia have embraced guitar rock - particularly metal rock. It’s a genre that might be struggling in the U.S., but it’s found a home globally.
ICYMI: Just Posted On TooMuchTV And Forbes
Here is a rundown of other stories recently posted on TooMuchTV.com and Forbes:
In a November 5th letter, Sen. Richard Blumenthal renewed his demands for documents related to what he describes as President Donald Trump's efforts to "erode and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press."
There’s something wonderfully ridiculous about Black Doves. Imagine a world where an apparently respectable politician’s wife moonlights as an international spy, her best friend is a professional assassin with a rather complicated emotional life, and the people responsible for keeping everything running smoothly are an assortment of cold-blooded killers who seem to have an unlimited supply of ammunition and an unusually healthy appreciation for sarcasm.
Penske Media Corporation isn't ready to accept defeat in its legal battle with Google over the technology company's use of publisher content in artificial intelligence-powered search results. The media conglomerate has formally appealed the dismissal of its antitrust lawsuit against Google and parent company Alphabet, taking the dispute to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The appeal follows a September ruling by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who dismissed Penske's amended complaint and rejected its central arguments that Google was using its dominance in online search to compel publishers to provide content for its AI products without compensation.
Welcome to The Remarried Empress, Disney+ and Hulu’s ambitious new Korean fantasy romance that combines royal intrigue, magical creatures, lavish costumes and enough romantic backstabbing to keep the palace gossip department busy for months.
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 2026:
Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook Series Premiere (Apple TV)
Campus Drivers Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Chocolate For Christmas (UP tv)
Devil’s Crest Series Premiere (Prime Video)
It Gets Worse Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Merry Memories (Hallmark)
New Group (Shudder)
Possible Love (Netflix)
The 12 Dates Of Christmas (Hulu)
Under Siege Series Premiere (Netflix)
Unprotected: Murder In Galicia (Netflix)
Wolves Up Close With Bertie Gregory (NatGeo)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2026:
Cue The Laughs Series Premiere (IFC)
Hollywood Unplugged (Hallmark)
Karen Kingsbury's The Christmas Ring (Great American Family)
Paradise With You (Lifetime)