MINNEAPOLIS—A new software upgrade is coming for Tightrope Media Systems’ Cablecast Community Media broadcast automation, playout and publishing platform with the launch of Cablecast 6.6. The platform’s new features are designed to automate repetitive scheduling tasks and simplify the day-to-day programming operations for broadcasters.
One of these new features is the Gap Filler tool, which fills breaks between shows with content beyond the channel’s community bulletin board. Programmers can click on a gap in the schedule and select a saved search made up of short-form content, Gap Filler will then automatically calculate and schedule appropriate clips from that search to fill any gaps. Additional options include defining intro and outro messages and “Do Not Allow Repeats.”
An Auto-Scheduler feature automatically populates recurring time slots. Users can define recurring time slots indefinitely into the future and set the Auto-Scheduler to populate them with the most recent show from a specified project. Programmers can also intentionally repeat a single show across all recurring slots and can flexibly override automatically-scheduled entries.
These new features utilize this version of Cablecast’s new allowable date range parameters. Start and/or end dates can be set for each show with any scheduling done by the automatic system outside of those dates will be denied, and if it is scheduled manually a warning message will appear.
Tightrope Media Systems will roll out the latest version of Cablecast at the end of February. The company is also expected to demonstrate Cablecast 6.6 at its suite in the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel during the 2019 NAB Show.
