KSPS Transitions to High Definition with SeaChange Broadcast Platform

Public Broadcaster Expands Operation to HD Using SeaChange Broadcast Systems

SeaChange International’s (NASDAQ: SEAC) broadcast play-to-air platform is delivering all of the high- and standard-definition programming for Spokane, Wash.-based Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate, KSPS-TV. In addition to its primary channels, the SeaChange platform supports play-out for Washington State University’s KWSU-TV as well as several other local cable public access channels out of the KSPS facility.

KSPS chose to add HD capabilities to its existing SeaChange platform largely due to the reliability of its current system and PBS’s pending file format standardization. “SeaChange’s RAID squared technology and system design give us the redundancy we require to support playout of the various channels originating from our facility,” said Bob Wyatt, director of engineering, KSPS. “In addition, if PBS does standardize on the NGIS MXF format, our SeaChange codecs will allow us to play those files out natively.”

KSPS uses SeaChange’s Broadcast MediaLibrary/MediaClient (BML/MCL) for its play-to-air applications in conjunction with Harris automation. The five-node system delivers 24 terabytes at 10 Mbps, allowing more than 5,300 hours of SD material to be housed in online storage.

Deployed in over 100 television operations worldwide, the BML/MCL architecture has revolutionized broadcast operations economics and performance. The platform consists of MediaLibrary servers; MediaClient software codecs; and best-of-breed third-party content prep tools, all of which enable television operators to store and exchange video files in a standard MXF format without losing any generation through the entire workflow.

More than 40 PBS affiliates nationwide are running SeaChange broadcast systems, representing one of the company’s single-largest installed customer bases.
SeaChange’s range of proven content storage, streaming and management solutions, including its latest Broadcast MediaLibrary/Broadcast MediaClient play-to-air storage system and SD/HD software codecs, will be on display during NAB2008 booth SU12011, April 14-17 in Las Vegas.