“Big Brother” TV Series and Jerry Lewis Telethon Are Two Recent RBN Clients Who Depend on Niagara for High-Performance Streaming
PLANO, Texas -- Dec. 4, 2007 -- ViewCast Corporation (OTCBB: VCST), a leading global provider of audio and video encoding communication products, today announced that Real Broadcast Networks (RBN) is using ViewCast‘s Niagara® PowerStream Pro encoders to deliver state-of-the-art video streaming solutions to RBN customers. In a recent example, Niagara encoders provided high-quality and high-availability online streaming for the “24/7 Live Feed” feature of the popular “Big Brother” reality TV series. The encoders were also in action during the Labor Day weekend‘s Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon, establishing a new benchmark for image quality of the production‘s live streaming video.
A division of RealNetworks, Inc., RBN offers a wide range of online content distribution solutions that enable customers to stream content over the Internet. RBN has installed the Niagara encoders at its network operations center in Seattle, where it acquires content from the Internet, fiber, and satellite and streams via the Internet to worldwide locations. For example, “Big Brother” came from Los Angeles via fiber and the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon came via satellite from Las Vegas, and both were made available to viewers worldwide over the Internet.
As a joint venture partner for the eighth season of “Big Brother,” RBN used the Niagara encoders to provide the 24/7 Live Feed service that streams video of the activities in the “Big Brother” house from the program‘s Web site. During the taping of the series from July 5 to Sept. 16, subscribers were able to log on around the clock and watch continuous, live streams from the cameras installed in the house. Niagara encoders enabled five streaming choices: a quad view that showed four camera views in one screen or the ability to view each of the screens individually. Now that “Big Brother 8” has completed its airing, subscribers can still log onto the site and view archived streams from the production.
“The ‘Big Brother‘ program is a prime example of why the Niagara encoders are such a critical component of our operations,” said John Houde, network administrator for RBN Broadcast Technology Operations/Engineering. “During the live streaming, the combined up-time for all of the encoders was 99.9 percent and two of them experienced 100 percent up-time -- and the improved image meant that we were able to deliver a higher-quality viewing experience for our audience. For Webcasters that require extreme dependability in intense-use applications, there is simply no better choice for encoding and streaming technology than ViewCast.”
“Our Niagara line of encoders is tailor-made for companies such as RBN, whose customers tend to be high-visibility productions that demand top levels of performance and quality in a streaming media application,” said Gary J. Klembara, senior vice president of ViewCast. “We look forward to seeing what RBN has in store for future customer engagements using ViewCast Niagara encoders.”
# # #
About RealNetworks, Inc.
RealNetworks, Inc. delivers digital entertainment services to consumers via PC, portable music player, home entertainment system, or mobile phone. Real created the streaming media category in 1995 and has continued to lead the market with pioneering products and services, including: RealPlayer®, the first mainstream media player to enable one-click downloading and recording of Internet video; the award-winning Rhapsody® digital music service, which delivers more than one billion songs per year; RealArcade®, one of the largest casual games destinations on the Web; and a variety of mobile entertainment services, such as ringback tones, offered to consumers through leading wireless carriers around the world. RealNetworks‘ corporate information is located at www.realnetworks.com/company.
About ViewCast Corporation
ViewCast is the pioneer of industry-leading audiovisual hardware and software for processing and managing live and on-demand content for broadcast over the Internet, corporate or mobile networks to computers, handheld mobile devices, and IPTV set-top boxes. The company‘s products include the legendary Osprey® media capture cards, state-of-the-art Niagara® streaming encoders, and management/control software that enable entities such as broadcasters, businesses, and government, educational, and religious organizations to readily expand their audience reach. ViewCast works with many strategic providers of networks, equipment, software, and services for Internet and mobile applications to further advance this growing technology. For more information, visit www.viewcast.com.
ViewCast, Osprey, Niagara, Niagara SCX, GoStream, SimulStream and EZStream are trademarks or registered trademarks of ViewCast Corporation or its subsidiaries.
All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements in this release contain "forward-looking" information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which reflects the company's current judgment on certain issues, such as competitive advantages, anticipating technical needs, and product performance. Because such statements apply to future events, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially. Important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially include, without limitation, the ability of the company to develop and market new products as technology evolves and increased competition in the Company‘s markets. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to ViewCast or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements set forth above. ViewCast does not intend or undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date on which the forward-looking statements are made. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the company's forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's reports on Form 10-KSB and 10-QSB on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
