diff --git a/controllers/serveController.js b/controllers/serveController.js
index 2a309ea0..19579be0 100644
--- a/controllers/serveController.js
+++ b/controllers/serveController.js
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 const db = require('../models');
 const logger = require('winston');
 
-const DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL = 'https://spee.ch/assets/img/video_thumb_default.png';
 const NO_CHANNEL = 'NO_CHANNEL';
 const NO_CLAIM = 'NO_CLAIM';
 const NO_FILE = 'NO_FILE';
 
+function addUrlInformation (claim, channelName, longChannelClaimId, shortChannelClaimId, name, fileExtension) {
+  claim['showUrlLong'] = `/${channelName}:${longChannelClaimId}/${name}`;
+  claim['directUrlLong'] = `/${channelName}:${longChannelClaimId}/${name}.${fileExtension}`;
+  claim['showUrlShort'] = `/${channelName}:${shortChannelClaimId}/${name}`;
+  claim['directUrlShort'] = `/${channelName}:${shortChannelClaimId}/${name}.${fileExtension}`;
+  return claim;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   getClaimId (channelName, channelClaimId, name, claimId) {
     if (channelName) {
@@ -53,35 +60,29 @@ module.exports = {
         });
     });
   },
-  getChannelContents (channelName, channelClaimId) {
+  getChannelInfoAndContent (channelName, channelClaimId) { // note: move down to model layer?
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-      db.Certificate.getLongChannelId(channelName, channelClaimId)  // 1. get the long channel Id
-        .then(longChannelClaimId => {  // 2. get all claims for that channel
+      // 1. get the long channel Id (make sure channel exists)
+      db.Certificate.getLongChannelId(channelName, channelClaimId)
+        .then(longChannelClaimId => {
           if (!longChannelClaimId) {
             return [null, null, null];
           }
+          // 2. get the short ID and all claims for that channel
           return Promise.all([longChannelClaimId, db.Certificate.getShortChannelIdFromLongChannelId(longChannelClaimId, channelName), db.Claim.getAllChannelClaims(longChannelClaimId)]);
         })
-        .then(([longChannelClaimId, shortChannelClaimId, channelClaimsArray]) => {  // 4. add extra data not available from Claim table
+        .then(([longChannelClaimId, shortChannelClaimId, channelClaimsArray]) => {
           if (!longChannelClaimId) {
             return resolve(NO_CHANNEL);
           }
+          // 3. add url information to each claim
           if (channelClaimsArray) {
-            channelClaimsArray.forEach(element => {
-              const fileExtenstion = element.contentType.substring(element.contentType.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
-              element['showUrlLong'] = `/${channelName}:${longChannelClaimId}/${element.name}`;
-              element['directUrlLong'] = `/${channelName}:${longChannelClaimId}/${element.name}.${fileExtenstion}`;
-              element['showUrlShort'] = `/${channelName}:${shortChannelClaimId}/${element.name}`;
-              element['directUrlShort'] = `/${channelName}:${shortChannelClaimId}/${element.name}.${fileExtenstion}`;
-              element['thumbnail'] = module.exports.chooseThumbnail(element, DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL);
+            channelClaimsArray.forEach(claim => {
+              return addUrlInformation(claim);
             });
           }
-          resolve({
-            channelName,
-            longChannelClaimId,
-            shortChannelClaimId,
-            claims: channelClaimsArray,
-          });
+          // 4. return all the channel information and contents
+          resolve({ channelName, longChannelClaimId, shortChannelClaimId, claims: channelClaimsArray });
         })
         .catch(error => {
           reject(error);
@@ -97,38 +98,4 @@ module.exports = {
         return file.dataValues;
       });
   },
-  getClaimRecord (claimId, name) {
-    return db.Claim.findOne({where: {claimId, name}})
-        .then(claim => {
-          if (!claim) {
-            throw new Error('no record found in Claim table');
-          }
-          claim.dataValues.thumbnail = module.exports.chooseThumbnail(claim.dataValues, DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL);
-          claim.dataValues.fileExt = module.exports.determineFileExtensionFromContentType(claim.dataValues.contentType);
-          return claim.dataValues;
-        });
-  },
-  determineFileExtensionFromContentType (contentType) {
-    switch (contentType) {
-      case 'image/jpeg':
-        return 'jpeg';
-      case 'image/jpg':
-        return 'jpg';
-      case 'image/png':
-        return 'png';
-      case 'image/gif':
-        return 'gif';
-      case 'video/mp4':
-        return 'mp4';
-      default:
-        logger.info('showing unknown file type as image/jpeg');
-        return 'jpeg';
-    }
-  },
-  chooseThumbnail (claimInfo, defaultThumbnail) {
-    if (!claimInfo.thumbnail || claimInfo.thumbnail.trim() === '') {
-      return defaultThumbnail;
-    }
-    return claimInfo.thumbnail;
-  },
 };
diff --git a/models/claim.js b/models/claim.js
index dcb2a876..092b0e01 100644
--- a/models/claim.js
+++ b/models/claim.js
@@ -1,5 +1,30 @@
 const logger = require('winston');
 const { returnShortId } = require('../helpers/sequelizeHelpers.js');
+const DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL = 'https://spee.ch/assets/img/video_thumb_default.png';
+
+function determineFileExtensionFromContentType (contentType) {
+  switch (contentType) {
+    case 'image/jpeg':
+    case 'image/jpg':
+      return 'jpg';
+    case 'image/png':
+      return 'png';
+    case 'image/gif':
+      return 'gif';
+    case 'video/mp4':
+      return 'mp4';
+    default:
+      logger.info('setting unknown file type as file extension jpg');
+      return 'jpg';
+  }
+};
+
+function determineThumbnail (storedThumbnail, defaultThumbnail) {
+  if (storedThumbnail === '') {
+    return defaultThumbnail;
+  }
+  return storedThumbnail;
+};
 
 module.exports = (sequelize, { STRING, BOOLEAN, INTEGER, TEXT, DECIMAL }) => {
   const Claim = sequelize.define(
@@ -187,12 +212,17 @@ module.exports = (sequelize, { STRING, BOOLEAN, INTEGER, TEXT, DECIMAL }) => {
           where: { certificateId: channelClaimId },
           order: [['height', 'ASC']],
         })
-        .then(result => {
-          switch (result.length) {
+        .then(channelClaimsArray => {
+          switch (channelClaimsArray.length) {
             case 0:
               return resolve(null);
             default:
-              return resolve(result);
+              channelClaimsArray.forEach(claim => {
+                claim['fileExt'] = determineFileExtensionFromContentType(claim.contentType);
+                claim['thumbnail'] = determineThumbnail(claim.thumbnail, DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL);
+                return claim;
+              });
+              return resolve(channelClaimsArray);
           }
         })
         .catch(error => {
@@ -313,6 +343,8 @@ module.exports = (sequelize, { STRING, BOOLEAN, INTEGER, TEXT, DECIMAL }) => {
           };
           switch (result.length) {
             case 1:
+              result[0].dataValues.thumbnail = determineThumbnail(result[0].dataValues.thumbnail, DEFAULT_THUMBNAIL);
+              result[0].dataValues.fileExt = determineFileExtensionFromContentType(result[0].dataValues.contentType);
               return resolve(result[0]);
             default:
               logger.warn(`more than one entry matches that name (${name}) and claimID (${claimId})`);
diff --git a/routes/serve-routes.js b/routes/serve-routes.js
index 42a6104b..c501c872 100644
--- a/routes/serve-routes.js
+++ b/routes/serve-routes.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const logger = require('winston');
-const { getClaimId, getChannelContents, getLocalFileRecord, getClaimRecord } = require('../controllers/serveController.js');
+const { getClaimId, getChannelInfoAndContent, getLocalFileRecord } = require('../controllers/serveController.js');
 const serveHelpers = require('../helpers/serveHelpers.js');
 const { handleRequestError } = require('../helpers/errorHandlers.js');
 const db = require('../models');
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ function returnOptionsForChannelPageRendering (result, query) {
   return options;
 }
 
-function sendChannelContentsToClient (result, query, res) {
+function sendChannelInfoAndContentToClient (result, query, res) {
   if (result === NO_CHANNEL) {              // (a) no channel found
     res.status(200).render('noChannel');
   } else {                                  // (b) channel found
@@ -134,9 +134,9 @@ function showChannelPageToClient (uri, originalUrl, ip, query, res) {
   let channelClaimId = returnChannelIdFromUri(uri);
   logger.debug('channel Id =', channelClaimId);
   // 1. retrieve the channel contents
-  getChannelContents(channelName, channelClaimId)
+  getChannelInfoAndContent(channelName, channelClaimId)
     .then(result => {
-      sendChannelContentsToClient(result, query, res);
+      sendChannelInfoAndContentToClient(result, query, res);
     })
     .catch(error => {
       handleRequestError('serve', originalUrl, ip, error, res);
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ function determineName (uri) {
 
 function showAssetToClient (claimId, name, res) {
   return Promise
-      .all([getClaimRecord(claimId, name), db.Claim.getShortClaimIdFromLongClaimId(claimId, name)])
+      .all([db.Claim.resolveClaim(name, claimId), db.Claim.getShortClaimIdFromLongClaimId(claimId, name)])
       .then(([claimInfo, shortClaimId]) => {
         logger.debug('claimInfo:', claimInfo);
         logger.debug('shortClaimId:', shortClaimId);
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ function showAssetToClient (claimId, name, res) {
 
 function showPlainAssetToClient (claimId, name, res) {
   return Promise
-      .all([getClaimRecord(claimId, name), db.Claim.getShortClaimIdFromLongClaimId(claimId, name)])
+      .all([db.Claim.resolveClaim(claimId, name), db.Claim.getShortClaimIdFromLongClaimId(claimId, name)])
       .then(([claimInfo, shortClaimId]) => {
         logger.debug('claimInfo:', claimInfo);
         logger.debug('shortClaimId:', shortClaimId);