Who We Partner With
Private Digital Signage Network Software for Multi-Site Operators
Whether your screens inform staff or sell airtime, run the whole private signage network from one place. See every player, push every playlist and fill open slots through Hivestack and Vistar.
One platform for every kind of private signage network
Some operators run screens that inform: corporate campuses, retail chains, clinics. Others run screens that sell airtime. Plenty run both. firmChannel handles either kind on the same platform, the same players and the same team.
| Communications networks | Advertising networks |
|---|---|
| Corporate, retail, healthcare, campus | Venues, transit, retail media, hospitality |
| Schedules, groups and permissions per location | Programmatic demand through Hivestack and Vistar |
| Proof-of-playback for internal compliance | Proof-of-playback for advertisers |
Every client is its own enterprise
On firmChannel, each client gets a dedicated instance, its own private database and its own sign-in. Clients never share a database. It's the default, not an upgrade.
The separate sign-ins are deliberate. If one set of credentials ever leaks, it reaches one client, not your whole book of business. Your team signs in to the client it's working on, and the client's IT team gets an answer to the isolation question before they finish asking it.
Add sites without adding headcount
Tag your media once and tag-based playlists fill themselves, so new content reaches the right screens at every location. Groups and locations keep hundreds of screens in order, and the REST API handles players, playlists, schedules, groups and data feeds for anything your team would rather script. Frost & Sullivan reported that screens under management on firmChannel grew 32.7% in 2024, and in its 2025 Frost Radar, firmChannel was the top-rated Canadian platform and among the top three globally.
Know a player is down before your client does
At a few hundred screens, the hard part isn't content. It's knowing which screens went dark overnight.
A health dashboard shows the status of every player in the fleet, and every player has a detail page with its schedule laid out on a calendar. Remote commands let you restart it, grab a screenshot, or turn the display on or off without a truck roll. Offline alerts go to the technician email you set for each player, so the right person hears about it first.
If a site loses its connection, the screens keep playing cached content. Supported players can also run on 4G or 5G cellular, with failover when the primary network drops, and a built-in connectivity test helps on awkward sites. On the Enterprise edition, the platform's AI health monitoring flags anomalies across the fleet and filters out false alarms, so your team chases real problems.
Sell the inventory you're not using
Empty slots on a public-facing screen are money left on the table. firmChannel's native Hivestack and Vistar integrations fill open inventory with programmatic campaigns. Proof-of-playback reports show every play by screen and time, exported to CSV, which is the evidence advertisers and agencies ask for.
Directories, wayfinding and alerts on the same platform
Malls, campuses and transit hubs need more than an ad loop. Run the directory and wayfinding on the same platform: multi-floor routes, accessibility modes, 16 languages, phone handoff by QR code, and WCAG 2.2 AA conformance for the wayfinding application.
When something happens on site, emergency alerts from public alert (CAP) feeds take priority by severity and can be opted out per location, with automatic translation into 22 or more languages on the Enterprise edition. They're included in the Enterprise edition, and a paid add-on on Standard.
Bidding on a venue contract?
Venue owners put screen networks out to tender. Send us the RFP.
We'll help with the technical and security sections, price the hardware and software with you, and join the presentation if you want us there. Landlord IT checklists will look familiar: we've already answered security questionnaires for hospitals and banks.
Security your venue owners will ask about
- SOC 2 Type II (independent audit, a clean audit opinion, no exceptions noted), with the report sent to the venue owner under NDA
- the full report from our annual third-party penetration test
- hosting on AWS in Canada and the US, with each client's data staying in its own country
- a separate sign-in for every client enterprise, so one leaked password can't reach the rest
Work with us your way
Some operators want the platform and nothing else. Others want help rolling out a hundred sites. Use us for as little as the software or as much as a turnkey rollout, including installation and content creation. Either way, you're assigned a channel manager, the platform can carry your brand instead of ours, and we never sell firmChannel direct to your clients. We don't publish partner margins, but we'll help you build every quote.
How we get your team ready
Your operations team learns player management, scheduling, groups, alerts and reporting in live sessions with our Customer Success team. The training video library inside the platform covers the rest whenever you add staff, and our Customer Success team backs your technicians from 9 AM to 9 PM ET on weekdays (excluding statutory holidays). None of it costs extra.
Questions to ask your current platform
| Question | firmChannel | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Is each of my clients its own enterprise, with a private database? | Yes, every client, by default. Clients never share a database | Isolation is the first question a venue owner's IT team asks |
| If one of my logins leaks, how many clients are exposed? | One. Every client enterprise has its own sign-in, by design | A single all-clients console is one stolen password away from every client |
| Do your features work the same on every player you support? | Yes. The same CMS features run on every supported player. Display control is native on Samsung Tizen and LG webOS, and over RS-232 on other commercial displays | You can pick hardware to suit each site's budget |
| What happens to the screens if the connection drops? | They keep playing cached content | A dark screen is a refund to an advertiser |
| Do you integrate natively with Hivestack and Vistar? | Yes, both | Programmatic demand fills the slots you can't sell direct |
| Will you help me answer a venue RFP? | Yes, technical, security and pricing sections | Venue tenders are won on the paperwork |
| Do you offer wayfinding, and does it meet WCAG 2.2 AA? | Yes, with a written conformance statement | Venue owners like one operator for screens, directories and wayfinding |
FAQ
Questions operators ask
Which programmatic platforms do you work with?
Hivestack and Vistar, both natively.
Are our clients kept separate?
Yes. Each client is its own enterprise, with a dedicated instance and a private database.
Why isn't there one login for all our clients?
Security. Each client enterprise has its own sign-in, so a leaked password can only ever reach one client. Your team signs in to the client it's working on.
Is there an API?
Yes. The REST API covers players, playlists, schedules, groups, locations, media and data feeds, with key-based authentication.
What if a site has no reliable internet?
The screens keep playing cached content, and supported players can run on 4G or 5G cellular.
Can we prove what played?
Yes. Proof-of-playback reports show every play by screen and time, and export to CSV.
Bring your network over
Running a network now, or bidding on one? Book a network review. Your channel manager will go through your sites, players and revenue model with you and show you how it would run on firmChannel.