ORLANDO, Fla.—Orange TV, the government access station of Orange County, Fla. has installed a new master and redundant playout system from PlayBox Neo. PlayBox is working with Brian Ross, President of systems integration firm, Enlighten Digital, on the installation.

“2024 started with a bang, particularly in terms of our technology’s selection by government access stations,” says Van Duke, Director of U.S. Operations, PlayBox Neo. “The Orange TV system is large scale, complete with broadcast channel management, ingest, routing control, production recording, scheduling, and playout. They produce a lot of original, local programing; record live feeds; and cover local council meetings and press conferences. We’re thrilled they’ve entrusted our technology to meet their rather extensive playout and ingestion needs and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

Orange TV will deploy the latest version of the PlayBox Neo-20 Channel-in-a-Box server solution, including: the AirBox Neo-20 playout, TitleBox Neo-20, a 4K UHD/HD CG with multiple SDI outputs of HD and SD to feed different headends; and Capture Suite for control of 4- multiple live ingest channels through a single interface.

PlayBox Neo solutions are based on modular products and services which can be easily customized to provide the exact capability needed for any scale of channel playout management - from ingest and scheduling right through to transmission. At the heart of the PlayBox Neo line up is AirBox Neo-20, a universal playout and IP streaming solution.

WASHINGTON—In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a cable access TV station has the right to restrict programming and does not represent local government as a “state actor.”

In “Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck,” two producers from the New York City cable access TV station claimed that the station violated their First Amendment rights when they restricted access to the station after it aired their program, a show the station afterwards termed “unfavorable.”

The producers argued that the move violated their right to free speech, claiming that, even though the station was a private entity, it was representing the local government. Speaking for the majority, Justice Kavanaugh ruled that public access stations are not, in fact “state actors” under existing precedent and merely by the fact that it allows the public to express their opinions on the air.

Jurist.org has the story.