Larchmont-Mamaroneck Community Television Enhances Quality with Tightrope Media Systems

Striving to provide better-quality viewing experiences to its audience, Larchmont-Mamaroneck Community Television (LMCTV) has upgraded its video playout capabilities and online offerings with Cablecast HD video servers and streaming solutions from Tightrope Media Systems.

Headquartered in the Town of Mamaroneck, New York, LMCTV produces close to one thousand (1000) hours of programming each year for its three television channels local public access, municipal government, and an education and import channel that offers viewers high school concerts, graduations, meetings, and a robust Varsity Sports program covering over 80 games annually. In addition to this educational content, the latter channel also includes shows from neighboring stations and producers. Each channel features its own tailored bulletin board between daily programming, displaying show schedules, community announcements, social media feeds and more.

Building on eight years of satisfaction using Cablecast automation and playout systems for its channels and Tightropes Carousel Digital Signage Software for its bulletin boards, LMCTV recently enhanced and expanded its Cablecast deployment as it moved towards HD distribution. Supplied by integrator DNR Laboratories, Cablecast SX2HD and Cablecast SXHD LE multi-format video servers power HD playout for the three channels, while a Cablecast Live streaming server and the Cablecast Reflect cloud-based delivery service provide high-quality, bandwidth-efficient HD streams to a virtually unlimited number of online and mobile viewers.

While our channels on Cablevision and Verizon are limited to standard-definition video, we wanted to deliver a higher-quality service to our viewership, said Matt Sullivan, chief operating officer at LMCTV. By offering live HD streams through our website, we can at least bring our viewers HD on their computers and tablets as a start, and were fully ready for HD television distribution whenever our carriers allow it. Cablecast gives us a sure-fire way to know were delivering the best possible product to our audience.

LMCTVs live online streams are a significant facet of its connection to its viewership, and the seamless integration of the Cablecast system simplifies their creation. The ease of use of Cablecast Live and Cablecast Reflect is a big benefit for us, Sullivan said. We dont need to take any extra steps to stream online. Whatever content we are playing on our Cablecast systems is automatically available in HD on our website for viewing on multiple devices, expanding our reach both within and beyond our community.

The tight integration between Cablecast and Carousel brings similar operational efficiencies to LMCTVs bulletin board service. In a cable access environment, each staff member often has to do more than one job, so its important that the systems work seamlessly together to make things easier for us, said Sharon Latimer-Mosley, bulletin board manager at LMCTV. Carousel bulletins such as program schedules and meeting calendars can be updated automatically, saving us time and effort, while the systems reporting tools let us provide detailed information to community contributors about the delivery of their messages.

LMCTV on-air programmer Stephen Aluisa also cited Cablecasts ease of use as a key benefit. With Tightropes software updates over the years, theyve continued to make the system simpler and more efficient to operate, he noted. The recently-added ability to operate Cablecast remotely from a mobile device has also been a big advantage, making last-minute schedule changes less stressful when youre in the field or unable to get to the office.

Like its original Cablecast installation, the recent upgrades have met LMCTVs goals. The Cablecast system has done everything weve asked it to do, summarized Sullivan. The upgrade has also given us the flexibility to take in any video file, in any HD or SD format, directly from our studio or producers. Its definitely made everyone at LMCTVs life easier, and at the same time enabled us to provide our viewers with a significantly better online experience in HD.

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