Tightrope Media Systems has expanded its Cablecast VIO Stream multi-platform video server with an integrated suite of solutions to help government entities bring video of their public meetings to constituents via the web, mobile, social media, and OTT platforms. New capabilities including automated closed captioning and integration with Cloud Driven Solutions’ AgendaLink augment existing VIO Stream functionality for municipalities including VOD chaptering and turnkey web content portals.
Tightrope will demonstrate VIO Stream’s new municipality-focused media enhancements at the 2022 NAB Show (April 24-27) in the Cablecast suite at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel.
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“Many government access television channels rely on our Cablecast broadcast automation system to reach modern digital viewing platforms, but multi-platform media distribution is just as critical for cities and towns that don’t have a dedicated cable channel,” said Steve Israelsky, president of Tightrope’s Cablecast Community Media division. “Providing live and on-demand video of public meetings is important for transparency, but popular consumer video sharing platforms aren’t viable options because of uncontrollable advertising insertion, third-party content recommendations, or content rights sharing requirements. VIO Stream provides municipalities with a comprehensive solution for their media distribution needs, and we’re excited to expand its functionality for even greater efficiency and accessibility.”
VIO Stream’s new automated captioning capabilities help local governments comply with accessibility legislation and improve content viewing for constituents with disabilities. Users can effortlessly add closed captions for all viewing platforms to both live and file-based content, with intelligent speech-to-text conversion performed in the cloud under a usage-based billing model.
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VIO Stream’s VOD chaptering feature lets users add index markers within long-form videos that let viewers jump directly to topics of interest. A new partnership between Tightrope and Cloud Driven Solutions (CDS) will significantly speed the creation of index markers and enhance viewer experiences by connecting the chapters to agendas published through CDS’ AgendaLink.
AgendaLink delivers a modern approach catering to city needs for overseeing meetings, agenda items, simplifying their processes from a project management perspective, and providing transparent information to their citizens with ease. The solution expands even further to include abilities for controlling audio/video/broadcast equipment in all their meeting spaces.
The forthcoming integration will allow users to import AgendaLink-generated meetings into Cablecast VIO Stream and assign agenda item names to VOD chapters while creating index markers during or after meetings. Changes to the meeting order can also be pushed back to AgendaLink from VIO Stream. Citizens can view the chaptered video through the municipality’s VIO Stream powered web content portal, OTT, and mobile apps, or on the municipality’s own website through AgendaLink’s citizen-facing functionality.
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“We’re excited to partner with CDS to integrate municipalities’ agenda creation and video distribution workflows,” said Israelsky. “Linking chapter markers directly to agenda items rather than naming them manually will make the process much faster and easier for municipal staff, which in turn helps our government customers improve information access for their citizens.”
“Cablecast VIO Stream is the perfect companion to AgendaLink, offering a comprehensive media solution for getting live and on-demand civic meeting content out to the public on the web, mobile, and OTT devices,” said AJ Thompson, founder of Cloud Driven Solutions. “Tightrope shares our passion for helping cities and towns better serve their communities, and we look forward to streamlining workflows for our mutual customers.”
Automated closed captioning is available immediately for VIO Stream and also offered in the Cablecast broadcast automation software for customers with cable access channels. AgendaLink integration will be available for Cablecast VIO Stream, Cablecast FLEX and Cablecast VIO video servers in an upcoming software upgrade, expected to be released in Q2.
