Southfield, MI, and Bayside, CA, April 13, 2017 – ENCO Systems and StreamGuys announced today that Bahamas-based ILTV Studios has launched a new, online visual radio channel, powered by ENCO’s comprehensive automation platform and StreamGuys’ cloud-based streaming media delivery service.
Owned by Bahamas lottery retailer and gaming lounge operator Island Luck, ILTV Studios first deployed ENCO’s MOM (Media Operations Manager) solution to automate its cable television channel. Complementing this traditional TV distribution, ILTV’s new online offering uses the ENCO Visual Radio platform and StreamGuys’ robust content delivery infrastructure to bring original programming – including new talk show “The Real Deal” hosted by well-known Bahamian media personality Ortland H. Bodie Jr. – and music videos to web, OTT and mobile audiences.
“With mobile data pricing very inexpensive in the Bahamas, mobile users watch a lot of video, and put a high importance on visual accompaniment even for audio-centric entertainment,” said Karlyle Harris, Digital Media Specialist at ILTV Studios. “ENCO’s Visual Radio solution provides a fully-automated workflow for producing the complete multimedia experiences consumers crave, while StreamGuys’ content delivery network gives us a reliable distribution architecture that can flexibly scale with us as our operations and audience grow.”
ENCO’s Visual Radio system automates not only the playout of pre-recorded audio, video and graphics, but also the complete live talk show production. For recorded content, ENCO’s renowned DAD software drives the online channel’s automation, triggering visual actions based on its audio playlist. The Visual Radio engine plays out the corresponding video clip, displays graphics, switches to a live camera source or initiates commands as defined by the playlist event.
For the live program, which typically features up to four on-stage participants, the ENCO system automatically switches between multiple live video camera sources based on who is speaking at any given time. ILTV uses three remotely-controlled PTZ cameras, each of which can have four pan/tilt/zoom presets in the Visual Radio software – effectively enabling 12 distinct camera shots.
The resulting video and post-fader mix from the audio console are combined into an SDI signal and routed to a Matrox Monarch HDX encoder, which encodes the content into streams at multiple bit rates and sends them to the StreamGuys SaaS platform for live distribution to consumers. The StreamGuys service automatically transforms the separate streams into the HLS format for live adaptive bit rate delivery to web and mobile audiences. StreamGuys’ SGmon analytics tool provides Island Luck with peak concurrent viewer statistics, enabling them to make informed decisions about scaling their offerings while providing valuable data for future advertising sales initiatives.
ILTV plans to take further advantage of the tight integration between ENCO’s and StreamGuys’ solutions in the future, including dynamic, targeted advertising replacement and automatically repurposing live streams into podcasts with StreamGuys’ SGrecast service.
“We’re excited to be powering ILTV’s new visual radio offering,” said Ken Frommert, general manager of ENCO. “This project is a great example of how our partnership with StreamGuys enables unified workflows that seamlessly bridge traditional, online and mobile distribution while providing ‘one-stop shopping’ for our customers.”
“We’re proud to provide streaming delivery for ILTV, and look forward to working closely with them and ENCO on future expansions,” said Jason Osburn, executive vice president, StreamGuys. “Our flexibility and scalability are ideal for emerging media organizations like ILTV, and by bringing streaming and automation workflows closer together, we and ENCO are enabling new business opportunities for our customers while simplifying operations.”
ENCO and StreamGuys will showcase their integration in the ENCO booth (N2024) at the 2017 NAB Show, taking place April 24-27 in Las Vegas.
About ENCO
Founded in 1983, ENCO Systems is a world leader in playout and automation system solutions for demanding radio and television organizations. ENCO is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan USA and retains a worldwide distribution network. For more information, please visit: www.enco.com.
About StreamGuys, Inc.
In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets for enterprise-level broadcast media organizations. The company brings together the industry’s best price-to-performance ratio, a robust and reliable network, and an infinitely scalable cloud-based platform for clients of any size to process, deliver, monetize and playout professional streaming content. StreamGuys supports many of the world’s largest Podcasts, global TV and radio broadcasters, video and audio production companies, houses of worship, retail and hospitality businesses, government organizations, medical and healthcare services, and live venues for sports and entertainment. The company excels in developing and deploying technologies for business growth and revenue generation, including dynamic ad insertion, mobile streaming and detailed business and data analytics.
