James City County Makes the Leap to HD with Tightrope Media Systems Cablecast FlexEasy-to-use, feature-rich automation software and flexible multi-format servers deliver significant operational efficiencies while enabling regions first high-definition PEG channels ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, October 4, 2016 - This summer, James City County, Virginia became the first locality in the Hampton Roads area to offer its public, education and government (PEG) programming to television audiences in high definition. Powering playout for the community broadcasters new HD channels are Cablecast Flex multi-format video servers and Cablecast Broadcast Automation software from Tightrope Media Systems (TRMS).
We were eager to move to HD to offer a better television experience for our viewership, said Randall Hisle, chief video engineer for James City County. Other than our PEG content, all of the channels on our local cable system were already HD, so we needed to upgrade to meet our viewers quality expectations. Most of our recent production equipment and infrastructure was HD-ready, so when Cox Communications allowed us to start transmitting in HD, upgrading our Cablecast playout platform was the final piece of the puzzle.
A joint venture of James City County and the City of Williamsburg, the television studio and headend at the James City County Community Video Center host production and playout for four separately-programmed channels. Three of the channels - the county and citys jointly-run community and education stations, plus James City County TV, the countys government station - are now distributed in both HD and SD, while the fourth, the citys distinct government channel, is available exclusively to Williamsburg residents in SD.
Cablecast gives us room to grow, whether on television or with dedicated channels for video displays in public spaces.
Supplied by reseller Whitlock Group, two Cablecast Flex 4 servers provide playout for the four channels plus dual simultaneous recording capabilities, while offering two additional, configurable input or output channels for future expansion. The Cablecast Flex 4 servers give us the flexibility to run the countys new HD channels and citys SD-only channel all from the same platform, said Hisle. They also give us room to grow, whether on television or with dedicated channels for video displays in public spaces. The servers integrated up/down conversion has also been handy in our transition, letting us easily blend existing SD content into our HD channels.
The HD deployment gives James City County the same rich functionality and operational benefits that it enjoyed for years with the countys SD Cablecast system, starting with the softwares easy-to-use, web interface. Before Cablecast, it was a huge challenge for our small team at the Community Video Center to take care of all of the programming needs for everyone we served, explained Hisle. Cablecast lets us distribute that effort to the schools, city and various departments to do their own programming and scheduling. They can access Cablecast via the web, and its easy enough for them to operate themselves. It creates a lot of freedom for each of the channels to do their own thing, while taking a lot of the workload off of us.
Cablecast lets us distribute the programming work to other departments. They can access Cablecast via the web, and its easy enough for them to operate themselves.
James City County also uses Tightropes Carousel Digital Signage Software to manage the bulletin boards related to each of the countys three channels, and Hisle praises the seamless workflow between it and Cablecast. Their tight integration lets Carousel automatically create bulletins from the Cablecast schedule and announce upcoming programs, he elaborated. Its another great example of how well Tightrope understands and addresses the unique needs of community TV broadcasters. Cablecast and Carousel allow our very small staff to easily manage our multiple channels and bulletin boards in a unified manner, delivering operational efficiencies while letting us combine our video and bulletins together into a great-looking result.
Overall, the new HD Cablecast deployment continues to impress Hisle as much as when the station chose Cablecast eight years ago. When we first discovered Cablecast, it blew us away, as we couldnt find anything else that could do what it did, he recounted. While weve been completely satisfied, due diligence and our procurement processes required me to research multiple vendors products for our HD upgrade project. Theres still nothing else like Cablecast, and theres still nobody else out there bringing PEG stations the benefits that Tightrope does.
About Tightrope Media Systems
Founded in 1997, Tightrope Media Systems is the pioneer of web-centric digital signage and broadcast automation systems. It provides station automation, video servers, Internet video on demand, live streaming, the Carousel Digital Signage system, and ZEPLAY, a multi-channel instant replay machine for stadiums, arenas and Outside Broadcast vehicles. Tightropes award winning systems are used throughout the world. You can reach Tightrope Media Systems at (866) 866-4118 or visit them on the web at http://www.trms.com.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
02/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Hollywood blockbusters The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbie and Oppenheimer make their Irish TV debut
Tune into the classics such as Love Actual...
02/12/2025
Showcasing fresh Irish storytelling and emerging talent Storyland 2025 signals a fantastic time for Irish drama
RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
James City County Makes the Leap to HD with Tightrope Media Systems Cablecast FlexEasy-to-use, feature-rich automation software and flexible multi-format servers deliver significant operational efficiencies while enabling regions first high-definition PEG channels ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, October 4, 2016 - This summer, James City County, Virginia became the first locality in the Hampton Roads area to offer its public, education and government (PEG) programming to television audiences in high definition. Powering playout for the community broadcasters new HD channels are Cablecast Flex multi-format video servers and Cablecast Broadcast Automation software from Tightrope Media Systems (TRMS). 
