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SeaChange Truck Is Philly Bound

At nearly 80 feet in length, the SeaChange Digital Television Truck looks like something out of Dennis Weaver's worst nightmares. Tricked out with a 20-seat multimedia theater and a full digital cable head-end, the monster truck will serve as the mobile centerpiece for the VOD leader's 2003 Digital Television Experience Tour.

James Kelso won't actually be driving the truck - he's more of a mountain bike kind of guy - but as SeaChange's VP/GM of broadband systems, he'll play a key role in bringing a full demo of the company's software and systems to operators, content providers and network facilities across the country.

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"Our first stop is Philadelphia," Kelso says, invoking both Comcast's VOD-friendly system and the upcoming SCTE show. "We think we're going to be a very conspicuous presence on the floor...and we're looking forward to showing off everything we've been working on since last year's show."

Tucked in among all the gear in the trailer space will be SeaChange's Digital Transcoder, an ad insertion software package that enables ops to insert targeted local advertising in select digital systems.

"We've already deployed Digital Transcoder in Time Warner's Houston and San Antonio divisions," Kelso says. In these markets, Time Warner now can insert digitally on 52 networks, up from 40.

The transcoder was also launched in Time Warner's New York City division in the second quarter of 2003.

As ad traffic continues to increase with the introduction of digital cable tier avails - the average insertion scheme slots tens of thousands of ads into analog channels each week - automation becomes a necessity. And in sprawling service areas, where DMAs can change drastically in the space of a few city blocks, the demand for specially tailored local ads is self-evident.

That's where the Digital Transcoder comes into play. Within the framework of traditional automated analog spot insertion, each spot is encoded for scheduled playback, in formats ranging from MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 to HD (480i, 720p and 1080i).

Once the spots are initialized, the transcoder automatically applies the relevant encoding parameters (file type, bit rate, audio and metadata) to each insertion point.

Murray Arenson, a media analyst with Morgan Keenan, says that this kind of digital ad insertion initiative could allow cable operators to maximize every nanosecond of the broadcast day while helping to make targeted, personalized advertising a reality.

"It's early in the game, but DPI [digital programming insertion] should in part take care of the local ad problem," Arenson says. "Anything that adds inventory is going to give you a greater share of the dollars."

Those dollars should go a long way toward getting ops in the truck, Kelso says. "It's hard to argue with the revenue opportunity."

Technology Industry

SeaChange Truck Is Philly Bound

Cable World, May 5, 2003

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