Overcast Media

Overcast Media Inc. was a digital media technology company based in Seattle, Washington. Overcast Media partnered with other media companies to help them add user generated content on top of existing video assets. Their service enabled anyone to add their own commentary to television shows, sporting events and movies, while respecting the intellectual property rights of the underlying television show. They had a variety of sponsors, including Yeti and Royal Opera House.

Technology
Overcast Media developed a synchronization technology which allowed authors to create commentary over one video source (ex. a digital recording) and allowed consumers to view the commentary in sync with a different video source (ex. a show acquired through Amazon Unbox). This process is called overcasting. Additionally, their synchronization technology worked with many Flash-based players formerly used online. Overcasting handles timing variations found across different sources and file formats. Features included live streaming, storage, transcription, security, editing tools and more.

Availability & Closing
Overcast Media shut down shortly after December 31st, 2020, following Adobe's discontinuation of Flash Player. The Flash-based player was previously available on their own site and on partner sites such as RiffTrax's. Shortly before closing, the client-side software was available only to partners. The service was previously able to be accessed on the Overcast Media homepage. Currently, the domain of overcastmedia.com is defunct and for sale. Users are no longer allowed to access the Flash-based player previously available for Mac, Linux, Windows and Vista. The client-side components were only available for Windows and Vista.