More TV stations going digital
Video storage provider SeaChange says it will provide digital broadcasting technology to Blue Ridge Television, a group of public television stations in Virginia.
The deal underscores a trend in which TV stations are using digital technology to archive and broadcast video to viewers.
Many Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations across the country broadcast programs suited for high-definition TV sets. Commercial stations are using these technologies to manage their extensive video libraries and to cut costs.
"Some of it is driven by digital television transition, and some of it is driven by the need for better operations and better systems," said Murray Arenson, an equity analyst at Morgan Keegan who covers SeaChange. Arenson said stations are also using digital video servers to consolidate their broadcasting systems onto one system.
Under its agreement, SeaChange will sell Blue Ridge stations its Broadcast MediaCluster servers, which store, manage and transmit digitized video. The servers--whose architecture consists of 16 disk drives--have the capacity to store and handle nearly 8,200 hours of video.
SeaChange produces the hardware and software to run these servers. The company also produces systems for subscription video on demand and for serving advertisements on cable networks.