Learn the core concepts
Learn the handful of ideas — content types, access, plans, feeds, taxonomy and switches — that every other guide in these docs builds on.
On this page
Read this once before you build anything. MediaCore2 uses a few words in a precise way, and knowing them saves you from creating the wrong thing — an on-demand video when you needed an event, or a zero-price plan when a switch would have done the job.
The Studio, the site and the apps
Your staff work in the Studio. Your audience uses your public site and your apps. Everything you publish in the Studio appears on the site and in the apps together — there’s no separate app catalogue to maintain, and switching a module off in the Studio changes what the apps show without an app update.
Content types
| Type | Use it for | Where you create it |
|---|---|---|
| Event | Anything that happens live at a set time: a game, a service, a concert, a graduation. | Studio → Content → Events |
| On-demand title | A recorded video or audio title people play whenever they like, including titles in several parts. | Studio → Content → On-Demand |
| Show | A series organised into seasons and episodes. | Studio → Content → Shows |
| Live channel | A channel that’s always in your line-up, fed live or by a 24/7 playlist. | Studio → Feed Console → Manage Channels |
| Radio station | A live audio stream with now-playing information. | Studio → Radio → Stations |
| Article | News, features and announcements, optionally behind a paywall. | Studio → Content → Blog & Articles |
| Product | Merchandise sold in your store. | Studio → Shop → Products |
| Page | Fixed pages such as About, Terms and Privacy, or a contact form. | Studio → Library → Pages |
Access: who can watch
Browsing is always open. Listings, event pages and article headlines never hide, so they can be shared and found by search engines. The decision happens at the play button — or at the article body — and each event carries one of four access models:
| Access model | Who gets in |
|---|---|
| Free | Anyone. If Require sign-in to watch is switched on for your site, they sign in first. |
| Subscription | Viewers with any active plan, or only the specific plans you name. |
| Pay-per-event | Viewers who buy a ticket for this event. The ticket lasts for the access window you set. |
| Hybrid | Subscribers get in free; everyone else can buy a ticket. |
Tickets belong to events. Articles use three levels: free, any active subscriber, or one named plan. When someone is blocked, they’re told why and shown the one button that fixes it — sign in, subscribe or buy.
Plans and payments
A subscription plan is what viewers buy for ongoing access: a price, a billing period, a device limit and extras such as ad-free viewing. A season pass is a plan with fixed start and end dates that every buyer shares. Viewers can hold several plans at once and keep each until its own period ends. Money goes to your own Stripe, PayPal or Square account; renewing plans run on Stripe or Square, and PayPal takes one-time payments.
Feeds, channels and playouts
A feed is a live source coming into the platform: an encoder push, an SRT feed, an automated camera or a review camera. You attach feeds to events and live channels. A playout turns a playlist of recordings into a channel that runs around the clock. You manage them under Feed Console and Playout.
Taxonomy
Genres, conferences, groups, teams and cast & crew are shared labels. Create a team once and tag events, videos and articles with it; the team’s public page then fills itself with everything tagged. Sports-only labels hide when your platform isn’t set up as a sports platform.
The homepage is assembled, not coded
Your homepage is built from sliders (the hero at the top), sections (rows of content), a carousel of partner logos and popups. A section can fill itself — the newest events, only what’s live right now, one team — or hold items you pick by hand. You arrange all of it under Studio → Home.
Switches, roles, add-ons and your clock
- Feature switches turn whole modules on or off for your platform. Off hides; it never deletes.
- Roles are job descriptions you create, such as Game Day Producer, by ticking permissions. Each staff member sees only the Studio sections their role allows.
- Add-ons are optional capabilities — Clip, Reels, Forms and more — that you install from System → Plugins with the unlock code you received.
- Site timezone is your platform’s clock. Every schedule, countdown and report is read against it.