By Peter J. Brown
When it comes to satellite links, customer satisfaction is assured whenever the link in question performs above and beyond the call of duty. When it comes to innovative broadcasting, efficient content delivery to multiple venues is the name of the game. Add a dazzling array of new display options, and you can see immediately why more satellite service providers are making substantial inroads with global retail and entertainment players.
The pursuit of new revenue streams and the desire to aggressively push brands all across the map are driving big and small ventures into a satellite-friendly mode. Digital cinema and digital signage opportunities are shaping up fast as robust and highly profitable business models are proliferating.
A Sign Of The Times
The rules are changing as high-bandwidth networking takes hold. Satellite transmissions and content distribution have always been an ideal fit, but today there is a growing need to leverage existing infrastructure by putting multiple forms of content over the same network, often flowing to different destinations.
"In addition to the transmission and distribution of content to our clients, we are involved in the acquisition and re-purposing of client assets into high-impact digital signage," says Rick Hutcheson, senior vice president, marketing at Atlanta-based Convergent Media Systems Corp. "We are also leveraging the infrastructure that delivers digital signage by delivering corporate communications and distance learning on the same high-bandwidth network. Additionally, the networks can be further leveraged for frame relay back- up and corporate security."
In early January, Convergent Media Systems and Sony Business Solutions Systems Company, a division of Sony Electronics Inc., announced their agreement to jointly market digital signage products and services to corporate, retail and government end users.
"The point is that today's best innovative broadcasting services are putting their clients in complete command of their content," says Joe Amor, vice president and general manager of NC-based Microspace. Microspace has been working with StagePost, a new age media and marketing firm that uses Microspace's Velocity satellite service in its new Excelevision system. This platform is akin to point-of-purchase digital signage on steroids, thanks to motion-activated kiosk displays, among other things.
"Excelevision delivers real-time marketing, training and corporate communication content via satellite to retail and banking locations such as Flagstar Bancorp," says Amor. "The flexibility of transmitting video information in the Internet protocol (IP) gives content managers a huge amount of power over the message they are delivering to their clients."
At Flagstar's branch locations, Excelevision delivers information to customer-facing units, which allow employees to sell additional services to existing customers, while monitors in back offices train new employees and run human resource applications.
"The beauty of this IP technology is that a server can receive content at one location and then move it around for various applications, giving us a distribution system that works for all of our key audiences' needs," says Lynn Bennett, president and founder of StagePost.
Because Microspace offers Velocity as either a full-time or on-demand channel using a fixed pricing model, and because Microspace operates on a shared platform basis in its Network Control Center (NCC), costs are much reduced.
"These factors have been successful in reducing the barriers to satellite delivery adoption for smaller customers because it makes their return on investment (ROI) more cost- effective and scalable as they build from a handful to hundreds of sites," says Amor.
While leveraging existing links makes sense, it alone does not address the problems associated with digital signage in general, according to David Hershberg, chief executive officer at NY-based Globecomm Systems Inc. The equipment costs and the lifespan of large screens for digital signage are a factor. That said, he agrees that digital signage overlays on BTV links are a growing trend.
"I believe that many business television (BTV) platforms will be used for digital signage when not used for corporate trading or business. The video will be provided on an Ethernet, and stored and played out to the screens in the store," says Hershberg. "The major advantage we offer is a combination of digital TV and IP content delivery. We have our own product including a server and DVB receiver. We also provide all the equipment install and service."
When it comes to innovative broadcasting, Globecomm Systems has been rolling out a steady stream of hybrid solutions for a number of clients, including hybrid BTV, combined direct-to-home (DTH)/one-way Internet services on the same DVB carrier, and feeds for hybrid terrestrial pay-per-view channel packages with one-way Internet on a single UHF channel. Despite this track record in multi-purpose digital satellite-based networking, Hershberg sees the immediate challenges associated with providing the innovative broadcast services as outlined here.
"If we do not have saturated or close to full transponder, the cost is not competitive. It is a chicken and egg problem," says Hershberg, adding at the same time that they fit well with his company's model of providing a complete range of satcom products and services.
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