BlackArrow Provides VOD Ad Insertion Technology for Comcast On Demand Service

BlackArrow, a leading worldwide provider of advanced advertising solutions for New Television platforms, announced that its video-on-demand (VOD) ad insertion platform has gone live in Jacksonville, Florida with Comcast Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. Comcast has chosen BlackArrow’s Advanced Advertising System to lead its ad insertion technology for its On Demand programming.

BlackArrow’s Advanced Advertising System gives programmers and cable operators a real-time, multiplatform campaign management and decision system for offering more timely and relevant ads in their On Demand sessions. Traditionally, advertising campaigns in video-on-demand content have had limited effectiveness due to the static nature of the ads being encoded directly into the VOD stream. In the Jacksonville market, Comcast is inserting standard 15- and 30-second promotional spots as well as newly introduced 20-second spots designed to drive tune-in for upcoming shows and specials on PBS KIDS Sprout and FEARnet in a dynamic environment.

Diana Kerekes, vice president of Video Content for Comcast, said, “The ability to update VOD advertising will help us offer feature parity with traditional linear and Internet-based advertising systems. We’re pleased to be working with a technology leader like BlackArrow as we look for ways to offer our programming partners expanded opportunities to monetize their content offerings.”

“Comcast has led the industry in creating new opportunities to reach consumers in the on-demand marketplace, and we’re excited to be working with them,” said Dean Denhart, chief executive officer, BlackArrow. “By combining BlackArrow’s expertise in advanced VOD advertising platforms with Comcast’s VOD leadership, we hope to expand the business model significantly for on-demand advertising.”

MediaMesh from Digital Rapids Wins STAR Award at IBC 2009

Digital Rapids -- the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and web content to wider audiences -- announced that the company's new MediaMesh content distribution system is the recipient of a 2009 STAR (Superior Technology Award Recipient) Award given by the editorial staff of TV Technology Europe magazine at the 2009 IBC convention.

The STAR Award (Superior Technology Award Recipient) is designed to celebrate and showcase the preeminent technological innovations available to the broadcast industry. TV Technology Europe's editor reviewed a variety of products, examined the technical applications and their overall contribution to the industry, and then chose 25 winners.

"STAR awards are given to interesting new products that help a user save money or accomplish a task in an easier way," said Mark Hallinger, Editor of TV Technology Europe. "The products selected help advance the industry -- some were chosen because of technical novelty or innovation, some because they filled an important gap in the production or transmission chain, and some because they were just cool products."

"Reducing costs, streamlining operations and broadening distribution reach were themes that we heard repeatedly from content providers throughout the IBC show, and are all objectives that MediaMesh was designed to help our customers achieve," said Brick Eksten, President of Digital Rapids Corporation. "We're pleased that TV Technology Europe has recognized the benefits of MediaMesh, and honored to receive this award."

MediaMesh combines a robust, scalable delivery framework with full-featured, flexible receiving appliances, providing efficient distribution of digital media between content providers, contributors, aggregators and distribution partners. Enabling delivery of HD, SD and Digital Cinema content over terrestrial IP networks and satellite, MediaMesh significantly lowers delivery costs while streamlining the tapeless delivery of content ranging from ad spots and promos to syndicated series and long-form features. MediaMesh RX receiving appliances provide powerful functionality at the endpoints of the digital distribution chain, with integrated review, inventory management, transcoding, re-packaging and playout.

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