Syncbak, a 15 year-old provider of streaming tech for local broadcast stations has rebranded itself, adopting the name of its streaming service launched in February. 

The new name, Zeam Media, reflects the company’s desire to rebrand itself as a media and advertising company, it told TV Tech sister brand B&C. Its Zeam streaming service provides local programming from 300 local stations in markets from about 80% of the U.S. The company is financially backed by Gray Television, NAB, Morgan Murphy Media and Brian Brady. 

“We want to be a media company that has a tool that connects every broadcaster, every viewer and every creator, Found and CEO Jack Perry told B+C. “We’re adding more and more viewers every day through our direct-to-consumer campaign, but we’re also connecting advertisers.”

Perry added that Zeam's focus remains on local, adding that “that’s going to be the highest paid ad.”

 Syncbak has announced the launch of an all-new streaming platform called “Zeam.” The new Zeam OTT offering features content from nearly 300 stations and 30 groups including Gray, the NAB, CBS, News Press & Gazette, Hearst and Morgan Murphy. At launch, Zeam will have station representation that covers nearly 80% of DMAs. 

Syncbak is backed by Gray, CBS, News Press & Gazette, Hearst and Morgan Murphy. 

To market the new platform Zeam also reported it is investing in a massive eight figure marketing campaign. The centerpiece will be a Super Bowl ad starring John Stamos.  The spot will air during the broadcast in around 100 markets and be customized with local callouts.

“As viewers and the industry continue to migrate to streaming, local television stations need to find a way to build a sustainable business that helps them not just survive but thrive in the streaming age,” said Jack Perry, the CEO and founder of Syncbak. “That’s why we are launching Zeam, which not only serves as a master connector between stations, advertisers and viewers, but will also redefine what a successful model for local OTT looks like by breaking down the biggest obstacles local stations face in streaming – cost and complexity.”

Zeam is designed to help local stations be able to drive meaningful streaming revenue by seamlessly distributing their content to a national audience, facilitate national and local ad sales through Syncbak’s proprietary advertising technology, and provide training to stations to best enable them to create Zeam exclusive content that can generate even more revenue opportunities. For advertisers, Zeam provides a seamless onramp for them to connect with viewers who matter to them. With more than 5 billion advertising unit avails, Zeam will boast one of the largest ad inventories and first-party data pools in streaming.

“Under Jack Perry’s leadership, Syncbak has a long-established reputation for being the champion of local content that the industry needs and deserves,” said Pat LaPlatney, co-CEO & president of Gray TV. “With the launch of Zeam, we are taking this to a whole new level, providing a platform that will benefit not just local station groups and advertisers, but also viewers themselves.” 

Accompanying the debut of Zeam is the launch of Zeam360, a mobile production studio in the form of a Zeam-branded van, which is also the first-ever, 24/7 livestream mobile channel. 

As part of the launch, Zeam360 is embarking on a barnstorming tour, stopping at nearly 30 local broadcast stations en route to the Super Bowl to help local broadcast stations learn about the possibilities of OTT while also creating compelling hyperlocal content for viewers. Zeam360 will continue on the road, visiting local broadcasters post-Super Bowl, as well. In addition, Zeam has established a new studio in Times Square to host local, independent creators and provide a platform for them to reach a broad base of viewers. The studio will also serve as a billboard to promote the power of local to thousands who pass through Times Square daily, Syncbak reported

NEW YORK—Syncbak announced today that VUit, its free, ad-supported national hyperlocal news streaming service has reached new carriage agreements with six broadcast groups that will result in 18 new stations and five new markets joining the platform.

The new agreements include: 

• Weigel Broadcasting Co. (WCIU, Chicago; WBND, South Bend, Ind. and WDJT and WYTU, Milwaukee)
• Capitol Broadcasting Company (WRAL and WRAZ, Raleigh, N.C. and WILM, Wilmington, Del.)
• Lockwood Broadcast Group (WSKY, Norfolk, Va., a new market for VUit; WCAV, Charlottesville, Va; WDFX, Dothan, Ala.; WPGX, Panama City, Fla., and WTNZ, Knoxville, Tenn.)
• Marquee Broadcasting (WMDT, Salisbury, Md., a new market for VUit; WNKY, Bowling Green, Ky., and WSWG, Albany, Ga.)
• Fort Myers Broadcasting Company (WINK, Ft. Myers, Fla., a new market for VUit)
• Sunbeam Television (WHDH, Boston, and WSVN, Miami)

The addition of the new stations to VUit’s current availability in more than 160 markets nationwide now means that local news and content from approximately 250 stations—with coverage from nearly 80% of the top DMAs—are available on the VUit platform. The new deals further bolster VUit’s list of local station group partners that includes: Gray Television, Cox, Hearst Television, Heritage Broadcasting, Morgan Murphy Media, News-Press and Gazette Company, as well as leading independent local stations such as WFMZ-TV in Philadelphia and KTSF in San Francisco.

Beyond enabling VUit to grow the selection of hyper-local programming available on the platform, the deals also help this diverse roster of stations to increase audiences and grow advertising revenue opportunities well beyond their local markets, the company said. VUit says its platform “creates new digital growth opportunities for local stations and empowers them to create a custom and unique viewing experience for audiences anytime, anywhere, on any device.”

Jack Perry, CEO of Syncbak, VUit’s parent company, said, “These new deals are the latest example underscoring VUit’s position as the leading streaming destination for local news and cultural content that has appeal on a national scale. The value we offer to stations in scaling their streaming audience and digital revenue is unparalleled. As we continue to expand, we remain laser-focused on our bigger mission and vision: helping every station and station group thrive in the streaming landscape.”

NEW YORK —Syncbak has appointed broadcast and streaming technology executive Mike Fass as vice president of broadcast services.

In his new role Fass will work directly with Syncbak CEO Jack Perry and CTO Steve Maher on a plan for developing both OTT and ATSC 3.0 technologies to enhance viewer experience and further synergize broadcasters, advertisers and viewers. Fass will report to Maher. 

The company said Fass joins Syncbak as their streaming platform VUit continues to expand, featuring local news and content from nearly 250 local stations, covering 76% of the DMAs in the United States, through carriage deals and agreements with many of the nation’s local news station groups.  

Perry said, “Syncbak and VUit has one of the deepest benches of technology talent within the industry and we are looking forward to having Mike as part of our team to grow this brain trust even further. He has been an incredible architect of solutions that have helped so many local broadcasters build their OTT capabilities, expand their supporting technologies, and scale to new heights.”

Fass has spent time at Gray Television as vice president of broadcast operations, as well as at MTV Networks’ Network Operations Center and at WOWT in Omaha as director of technology. In 2019, Fass was honored by Broadcasting & Cable with a Technology Leadership Award.

Syncbak-owned VUit, which launched in 2020, has been doubling down on helping hyperlocal broadcasters bring their content to national audiences through the power of OTT. The platform carries newscasts and feature content from nearly 250 local stations.  The company said VUit has seen its viewership minutes triple in the past year, as viewers have turned to the platform with an increased appetite for a true local lens and perspective in major news and cultural events.  

NEW YORK—VUit, launched in September by parent company, Syncbak, has hired Kevin Dunaway as vice president of Affiliate Relations and Content Development. In his new role, Dunaway will report to Syncbak founder and CEO Jack Perry.

Dunaway will educate local broadcast stations about OTT innovation and how to push the envelope in filming and delivery of local content to audiences across the nation. His duties include the development of VUit’s in-house production efforts that serve as proof-of-concept for stations as they are developing their own OTT lineup. VUit’s “Studio 39” in the heart of NYC, home to VUit’s NYC Live street cam, acts as a central hub for this innovation.

In a press release Perry said, “Kevin has an amazing talent for understanding the kinds of hyperlocal content that will work well on OTT and well beyond the origin market. He’s done incredible work with us as a partner station, and we look forward to seeing how he works with other local broadcast partners to innovate in the OTT space as he takes on this new role with VUit.”

Dunaway has more than 20 years of broadcast television experience having started out as a television news producer at the CBS affiliate in Traverse City in 1998, becoming the News Director in 2000. In 2016, he began his new role as VP, GM and GSM at the company.

“Innovating in OTT with live, locally produced programming on VUit has been my passion for the past two years,” said Dunaway. “I’m excited to bring my broadcast experience and perspective to the team at Syncbak. We will continue to demonstrate how easy it is for stations to reach viewers across the nation while enabling advertisers to follow the viewer regardless of what they are watching, whether it be a VUit exclusive production out of Studio 39 or the 6 p.m. news in their local market.”

MARION, Iowa—VUit has appointed Chris Brooks as executive vice president of programming and business development. VUit, launched in September by parent company Syncbak, is a new free, ad-supported national streaming service. Brooks’ appointment comes as the service continues to gain momentum, with viewership increasing by 90 percent since launch, an average of 30 percent growth each month. He will report directly to Jack Perry, founder and CEO of Syncbak.

At VUit, Brooks will initially focus on expanding VUit’s content library to build out the platform’s hyper-local, affiliate driven content, as well as VUit’s originals. He also will collaborate with the UX team to maximize discovery and advertising opportunities as well as construct the VUit content product road map.

Syncbak CEO Perry said, “Chris is a seasoned television executive with deep experience and an ability to hone in on hyperlocal while also thinking global. As we continue to build out VUit, we believe that his expertise in programming, sales and acquisitions, as well as his strategic mindset, will be an incredible asset to the team.”

Previously Brooks was executive vice president and head of network distribution for the CW; and, earlier in his career, held senior positions at CBS and Paramount Television.

Anticipating the potential appeal of hyperlocal live content to a national audience, VUit carries more than 200 local TV channels along with a range of curated feature channels across politics, sports, food, business, entertainment and culture. VUit is now available on all major streaming platforms and devices, including mobile and desktop web, iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, AppleTV, and more.

WASHINGTON—Earlier this month, Syncbak, a developer of technology for live local OTT, announced the launch of VUit, an OTT platform for local broadcasters that provides a free,  ad-supported national streaming service built in partnership with local television station groups, including Gray Television, Meredith and others. 

TV Technology recently sat down with Syncbak founder Jack Perry and Mike Braun, senior vice president of digital media for Gray TV, a major investor in Syncbak, to discuss how VUit could change the OTT landscape for local broadcasters.  

TV Technology: Jack, how did this come together, can you kind of give us the genesis of this?

Jack Perry: Yeah, I think it really came together last winter. [Gray CEO] Hilton Howell and the executive leadership team of Gray invited me to give a talk to all of their general managers in Miami. Mike and I have a shared vision that there is a ton of opportunity in the OTT space for local and hyperlocal and giving their viewers something more to watch.

Five minutes after the talk about what the future could look like for OTT we're on a roll and ready to go and the leadership team at Gray said, “we like this we want to go.” And so we developed VUit.

Mike Braun: Like Jack said, we've been talking about what the future holds for not only OTT, but local broadcasting in general, and from Gray’s perspective, we always felt Jack and his team saw the vision, usually before anybody else. That meeting just sort of brought it all together, but it was multiple years of planning to get to this stage. We needed to be ready to go to that next level, to make sure that we as broadcasters were ready, but we wanted to make sure our audience was ready for it as well, and we feel that time is right now.

TVT: So when you say this was “years in the making,” you're talking about the concept and then Jack helped bring it to reality?

MB: Yeah, absolutely. Gray and Syncbak have been working together now since 2013, so it's evolved quite a bit. It started with finding the tech partner for us to be able to bring our live streams to multiple platforms. That work started all the way back then and to me VUit has just become sort of the “cherry on top” of everything else that we've done, and it starts a whole new roadmap for us.

TVT: Jack, would you say that this kind of is like the logical evolution of SyncBak and what you originally intended it for?

JP: Yes, it really is getting back to the original vision of connecting every broadcaster to every viewer and we're very proud to power, live on many of the MVPDs. We’re equally as proud to have the ability to give broadcasters really a “sandbox,” if you will, to experiment and get their viewers something else to watch, but you're absolutely right, this is the realization of the original vision for Syncbak.

TVT: When I was reviewing VUit, the first thing that came to mind was “this is to local television like what iHeartRadio or TuneIn is for radio.”

JP: I think it is. We’re aggregating the content and giving viewers the ability to watch unique programming from across the country, but perhaps most important is it’s connecting in advertisers as well, who have really needed an on ramp to OTT for a long time. This gives the kind of level playing field for the smaller advertiser, it gives them the ability to get out and reach a viewer. If they're watching a dirt track race in Cadillac Mich., they can put their ad into that, if they're watching a snowmobile race or if they're watching a local parade or they're watching the news, now the local advertiser knows how to find the viewers and that really is kind of the essence of the deal—it is connecting broadcasters to viewers, and then advertisers into the mix as well.

TVT: Were there changes in FCC rules over the years that helped spur this along?

JP: Well you know when I originally started Syncbak I went to Capitol Hill and said “I'm going to be the first cable company that uses the internet in a private way.” And Congress kind of looked at me and said “well why don't we just let the free market work that out.” 

So that's what really caused the whole notion. I don't know if it's as much as what's happening with the FCC as much as it's the technology enabling the local broadcaster to really create special and unique offerings to reach viewers. I think that's more the driver. The proof is in the pudding when you start running advertisements, and revenue is going up and the small advertisers are able to get into the mix. That's what's driving it, the technology and the ability to monetize viewing.

MB: We're now allowing our viewers to decide where is local. With us and the OTT space in general, the viewer is now deciding what's local to them. And that's the key I think about this whole thing is, we're not limited anymore to certain channels and TV grids. This allows us to have multiple channels live at all times on VUit. And it could be channels that are there forever, but it also could be what we call “pop up channels,” which become local not only in your market, but they become local for anyone that is interested in that event.

TVT: How, if any will this impact the relationship between the local station and the network when the networks themselves have launched their own OTT services?

MB: Here's the thing with that—there's going to be a lot of players in the space, there's going to be our peers in local broadcasting, and then there's going to be the national networks. 

The OTT space is very big, and there's a lot of room for all of us to be in that field. I think the important part for us and local broadcasting is to focus on what we do best and not really worry too much about what the others around us are doing. There's nobody that's going to do live and local better than we will, in our marketplace. So that's where our focus is, regardless of what the national networks are doing. 

We know what our viewers are looking for, and that's the way I think we have to look at it. Sure, anytime there's new programming in the space it's going to impact you in some manner, but that's why I think we really need to stay focused and stay the course on live and local. 

TVT: Mike, how has Gray weathered the events of the past six months? Have there been any layoffs at your stations? And if stations are making cuts, how is that going to help you in your efforts to ramp up your local live production for VUit?

MB: At Gray, we are not downsizing our staffs. We did not do any furloughs and I'm very proud of that. I believe we are the leaders in the broadcast space, not only because of the markets we're in and how we lead in those markets, but because of our leadership and our people. I'm very proud of the fact that our senior leaders have made it very clear that they are giving back and believing in our people. 

We are doing things differently due to the pandemic. After 20 years in the business, I can't believe  how many Zoom meetings that we're having, and I never thought I wouldn't be traveling as much as I have in years past and that's not just me personally, but also as a company. 

The thing that concerns me the most is our local advertiser. We only exist in our communities because of the strength of our advertising. And I think this is what separates us at times from national news networks. For our advertisers, they live in the same communities that we live in, right? We don't get to go in after a big event and then leave. So we're always mindful of that. 

But to answer your question about investing in new local programming beyond news to fill the grid in viewing. Absolutely, you know, I don't think there's ever a cap on programming. That's what makes it very interesting here. We can have multiple programs going without the need for millions in viewership. What I mean by that is, at primetime, it's all about the ratings, how many viewers do we have sitting watching any of the networks at any given time during let's say 7-9 p.m., on a night right? When it comes to VUit, we can have thousands of programs going with just thousands of people watching what they are interested in. At that moment, and together accurately, we are talking about millions, it just it's a much different model than it is on the linear side.

JP: For years viewers have become accustomed to seeing 16 minutes of avails per hour. If we translate that into the OTT space where 15 second ad spots are dominant, 16 minutes is approximately 64 15-second ads running per hour. We're testing a lot of things here, we're not sure if 16 is the optimal maybe it's 10 but when you're taking a live broadcast the ad paths are part of the ad pods. If you take 16 minutes worth of advertising-supported programming, just for one viewer watching one hour, that one viewer is worth $3.20 per hour. 

So, you look at somebody with the scale of Gray Television. One viewer watching one hour, generating $3.20 of gross revenue and you then move that against what the whole U.S. would be for them, it doesn't take long to build a massive, massive revenue machine that is serving its community and communities, outside with really great programming.

My point is, what Gray had an opportunity here with getting behind VUit and really deepening their relationship with us is they now have access to their own ‘Bamtech’ [now “Disney Streaming Services”]. We’re on the clock now, we're going to be doing the Super Bowl in February, but  we've done it before, we're doing it again and every time CBS has it, we’ve got to pull 208 signals out of the affiliates pointed to the cloud and hand them off to Hulu and Fubo and others so we have the ability to scale.

But most importantly is we have the ability to keep costs very, very low. So if you might see on VUit that one of the channels we have that runs 24/7 is something called “Prospect Meadows” [a Marion, Iowa-based sports complex] during the day when there's no games going on there it's, you know, you're just watching the corn grow over the top of a baseball field.

Our costs are so low that if one viewer tunes in and watches that and we queue up 16 minutes of ads, we've just generated somewhere between $1 and $3 per hour, off of that view or watching the corn grow. And our net income on that I can tell you is in the neighborhood of 99 cents off of that $1.

So, because we have the scale, because we have the technology, we offer Gray the ability to experiment and do all kinds of different things and not have to worry about the cost and the complexity of going OTT. The reason Disney took Bamtech in house was to control the costs and control the complexity and to speed their time to market when they came up with new initiatives. And with Gray strengthening their relationship with us and getting behind VUit, it puts them in that exact same position as Disney.

TVT: Will the programming that local stations produce be exclusive to VUit, or will they also be able to show it on the local linear feed?

JP: The broadcasters have made significant investments in their news apps on their websites and they can put whatever programming to those that they want, it's all VUit-powered programming. Are we going to open it up to others? Probably not because one thing that broadcasters know is exclusivity, and they understand it, they can go to their local advertiser and say, “I'm the only game in town.” But we're not going to tell viewers that are accustomed to using websites and news apps, “hey you can't, you got to go here for now.” That wouldn't be the spirit of broadcasting so we let them pick their device, pick their destination but it'll all be VUit-powered. That’s the best way to think about it.

MB: One of the reasons this really excites us from the advertising perspective is that we're not limited to having to be a set standard across the platform. Each channel that we have on VUit, we can change on the fly, we can have a channel where we want ad pods at a certain length, and then realize by that afternoon that maybe that’s not working, we need to either scale back or scale up the changes literally instantly, there's no delay, there's no waiting. 

We're not limited to what “standards” are on the linear side. 

TVT: Mike, how are your member stations promoting VUit?

MB: Our stations are mentioning it at the end of their newscasts, “to stay with our digital channel, head over to VUit.” They’re also running 15 and 30-second ads. And that was really a big part of this launch, is with Gray and Heritage, and Morgan Murphy and Meredith and their stations saying, “Hey, we're on VUit!” Who better to tell the viewers to tune in than the local broadcasters?

TVT: Where does ATSC 3.0 fit into this?

JP: If there's a way to integrate with ATSC 3.0, we'll do that. 

TVT: Including 4K?

JP: Yes, it's always a math problem. But of course, we can solve that.

TVT: Your new platform AdSync is also  going to play an important role in VUit. Can you  elaborate?

JP: AdSync is pretty simple. We start out by embedding into the station, we get hooks into traffic and automation and when we see the ad pod coming, we pull out the over-the-air ads and we put in the highest-paying ads from our dynamic ad insertion, and who will have the ads—which is what AdSync manages.

AdSync was a big part of why we're doing this with Gray because it works. The idea is that, in real time, we find the highest-paying possible ad, but let me put one caveat on that.

We tap into all of the ad networks, we are embedded with the stations to work on their ads, but the most important piece of AdSync is that it gives the local broadcaster the ability to sell ads locally that are then put into AdSync and then become central to the local viewers experience, and those are the highest paying possible ads. 

NEW YORK—Syncbak has created what it believes can be a centralized national streaming service of local television stations called VUit (pronounced “view it”). The goal of this free, ad-supported streaming service is to be “the Netflix of live, local and free.”

Having officially launched on Sept. 1, VUit features more than 200 TV stations owned by Gray Television, Meredith Corporation, Cowles Media Company, Heritage Broadcasting Group and Morgan Murphy Media, offering more than a reported 3 million hours of live programming annually that includes local, regional and special interest programming produced by the partner TV stations, as well as thousands of “VUit Originals.”

Each participating station has committed to produce and stream at least 12 live events a year exclusively known as VUit Originals, which will range from sports to concerts, cultural events to news specials.

“With VUit, we are turning the traditional network concept on its head,” said Jack Perry, CEO and founder of Syncbak. “Broadcast networks are built top down with the national feed as the core lens to the world. Meanwhile, VUit is grassroots up, enabling viewers to see what is happening in every community. … The way we see it, VUit is the perfect complement to binge culture. After you binge, you come to VUit to enjoy the best of local news, sports and culture from anywhere you want.”

In addition to station specific channels, VUit will feature themed channels, like “Politics Uncut,” using Syncbak’s autobuild technology and programmed and populated with content from participating stations. There will also be investments in original content that covers topics like business, food and music videos.

On the business side, stations’ local ad sales teams can work together to promote VUit Originals and sell against them locally with Syncbak’s live dynamic ad insertion technology adSync.

Syncbak says that Gray Television has made an investment in the company to assist its execution for widespread distribution and adoption of VUit.

VUit comes after Syncbak had a previous proof-of-concept local news OTT platform, SBTV.

VUit is now available on major streaming platforms and devices, including iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and more.

For more information, visit www.syncbak.com/vuit.  

NEW YORK—The sky isn’t the limit with the latest OTT channel that will be available on Syncbak’s SBTV, it’ll be the base. Morgan Murphy Media is producing a 24/7 drone channel that will be available on the OTT platform for viewers nationwide.

The footage will be accumulated from Morgan Murphy affiliate stations, which includes Spokane, Wash.-based KXLY’s “Air 4 Adventures” program featuring drone footage of local attractions, extreme sports and nature reserves. SBTV automatically ingests and formats the content into a custom, 24/7 ad-supported channel.

“Taking our drone footage OTT in a live, always-on channel required no additional time or effort on the part of our station,” said Brian Burns, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Morgan Murphy Media. He says more stations’ drone footage will be available through the channel soon.

LOS ANGELES—The story behind the tech strategy at the heart of CBS All Access is really a tale of playing to one’s strengths and circumventing one’s limitations to find success in the mobile and over-the-top world.

That was the main takeaway from an update on the four-year-old service delivered by Bob Seidel, CBS vice president of engineering and advanced technology at the SMPTE 2018 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.

OVERCOMING RESTRICTIONS

The network’s strengths are well-known: a powerful programming lineup, a deep content library of shows with some 10,000 episodes, a well-respected news organization, world-class sports coverage and a lineup of daytime programming and specials that is watched by millions. Add to that several popular new series, such as “Star Trek Discovery,” that are only available to CBS All Access subscribers.

However, delivering CBS content to mobile and over-the-top devices came with a set of restrictions that limited how the network could go about launching its service, said Seidel.

“The main problem and challenges broadcasters are faced with today delivering to mobile and over-the-top devices is that a license is granted by the network to affiliate stations to broadcast content to their DMA,” he said. “Therefore, we had to develop technology that would ‘geo-fence’ the signal to just the DMA they were authorized to distribute in.”

Another significant limitation was the record of failure broadcasters worldwide have experienced “independent of the technology or the modulation selected” when it comes to broadcasting a signal from their antennas to mobile devices, said Seidel.

The failures include TV Globo in Brazil with a COFDM service, Qualcomm MediaFlo and Dyle in the United States –the former using DVB-H and the latter using ATSC M/H—and others in Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Hungary, he said.

“These unsuccessful attempts led CBS to develop All Access,” he said. “We wanted to make sure we could deliver our linear broadcast content as well as library content to hundreds of millions of existing devices,” said Seidel, adding that the network wanted to do this on all wireless networks, including 3G, 4G, LTE, eventually 5G, and via 400,000 U.S. wireless hotspots.

[Read: CBS All Access Going Global]

There were other limitations as well, such as the “very high” capital costs associated with mobile TV for broadcasters and the aversion of cellular carriers to including mobile TV receivers in their handsets, he explained.

FOLLOWING THE VIEWER

Against this backdrop, CBS developed its mobile and OTT service with the goals of monetizing its content, enabling third-party audience measurement via Nielsen on all screens without leakage and providing a revenue share for its affiliates that contributed local news to the service geo-fenced by DMA.

CBS selected Syncbak as its All Access geo-fencing technology. Once Syncbak verifies the market in which a device is located it connects users to the CBS station in that market. If they should happen to be traveling, the connection will shift to the market All Access viewers have entered; however, an element of hysteresis is built in to prevent viewers driving between two cities from being switched away from a sporting event, he said.

CBS All Access begins in the master control of its affiliates and O&Os where Nielsen audio watermarking is added, which ultimately will allow the network and station to know exactly how many viewers are watching the service, said Seidel.

Next, a feed of the signal leaving master control is bridged off to the Syncbak transcoder, which converts MPEG-2 video to MPEG-4, AC-3 audio to AAC and the audio watermark to an ID3 tag –the packaging format used by iTunes to indicate song title, author and other information, he explained.

Rather than iTunes-related info, CBS inserts source identification, date, time and distributor codes. “We had to develop a method to deliver a sidecar data signal that would give us access to the Nielsen data,” he said.

Once past the station’s firewall, the transcoded stream is sent on to the Syncbak data center where geo-location is done, to match the correct station feed to the DMA where the user device is located. The data center can locate a phone or other device using GPS data, triangulation of cell towers or Wi-Fi hotspots, he added.

The authorized signal is then handed off to one of several content delivery networks for delivery to CBS All Access customers. The network uses load balancing software to make sure the best performing CDN is selected and to give subscribers the best possible viewing experience, said Seidel.

When the signal reaches the device, the CBS All Access application uses the Nielsen software development kit to access the ID3 tag and return the data to the ratings agency for accurate audience measurement.

Many service stacks defining video resolutions, MPEG-4 data rates and AAC data rates are available to match device type and size. For the hearing impaired, all closed captioning data is transcoded and made available on the service, he added.

AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Equipping local stations for CBS All Access has been simple and straightforward. All that is required is a 1RU Syncbak device that takes in a station’s ASI signal and delivers back to the Syncbak data center IP packets. A second such unit is installed for redundancy, and two different delivery paths out of the station are in place to bypass any problem, such as a firewall issue or rebuffering, he said.

CBS, which monitors all 200 stations’ All Access service from New York City and Los Angeles, provides each station with its own signal from the CDN for monitoring, he added.

Beyond mobile devices, CBS All Access supports a wide range of OTT devices, such as Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation, said Seidel.

In the four years since its launch, CBS All Access has developed into a service that meets all of the network’s business needs. “It’s preserving the existing business requirements that we have for our local affiliates,” said Seidel. “It is providing a real-time live linear viewing capability across the board. It’s measured by Nielsen, so we are getting accreditation.”

CBS All Access is also helping the network, its owned stations and affiliates lower the average age of its viewers by reaching a younger audience on the devices they like to use, he added.

Following the presentation, one conference attendee asked Seidel whether CBS All Access might someday make use of some of the capabilities of ATSC 3.0. However, Seidel avoided mentioning the Next-Gen TV standard in his reply.

NEW YORK--SpotX has inked a deal with Syncbak to connect its digital advertising platform to Synkbak’s AdSync proprietary dynamic ad insertion (DAI) solution. Syncbak is also leveraging SpotX for its programmatic ad decisioning layer and ad serving technology.

“At Syncbak, we want to help local broadcasters monetize and make their content available to their viewers on any platform,” said Dean Mandel, vice president, Revenue at Syncbak. “SpotX industry-leading video monetization solutions allow us to present a whole new revenue stream to our users, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them.”

Launched in May 2018, SBTV and its affiliate destinations allow viewers to stream live and on-demand local TV station content on any device. The SimpleSync platform lets local stations stream their content to any vMVPD, their own sites and apps, and Syncbak's direct to consumer app. SBTV is available on Apple TV, Roku, iOS, Android and the web.

[Read: Syncbak To Conduct 'First Ever' Live OTT Broadcast Using Local Dynamic Ad Insertion]

As a result of the partnership, SpotX is connecting advertisers directly to Syncbak’s premium, local, live, and on-demand video inventory which runs across the SBTV website, the SBTV app (web or mobile), linear TV stations, and Syncbak publisher websites and apps. Syncbak will also retain the ability to execute direct deals with linear advertisers.

“This is a massive opportunity for advertisers because when they access Syncbak inventory through SpotX, they will have the ability to reach two different audience segments simultaneously, viewers watching traditional linear TV and those tuning in via OTT,” said Benjamin Abbatiello, vice president, audience and distribution management at SpotX. “Syncbak has really been a pioneer in the OTT space, and we’re excited to help its content owners and creators earn more revenue.”

NEW YORK–Syncbak, a provider of OTT technology to the broadcast industry, will be conducting what it says is the first ever live straight to OTT broadcast using dynamic ad insertion on the local level. The test will take place at 10 p.m. EST, May 16 from Syncbak’s New York Media Center. The live stream, featuring comedian Michael Somerville in front of an audience of executives from broadcast groups, local stations and ad networks, will be available to viewers in all 210 DMAs across the U.S. on Syncbak’s SBTV app or at Syncbak TV.

The “broadcast” is designed to demonstrate Syncbak’s newly launched SBTV platform, which enables local broadcasters to quickly and easily build OTT channels. SBTV also includes an app that delivers these local broadcast OTT streams live or on demand on mobile devices.

Syncbak’s SimpleSync platform—which is now delivering about 600 channels, powering more than 7.5 million hours of live local programming on services such as CBS All Access, Hulu, fuboTV, and hundreds of local station apps and websites—serves as the backbone for SBTV. Syncbak says its OTT platform is currently being deployed by approximately 55 station groups in 196 DMAs, covering 99 percent of the U.S.

Jack Perry, president of Syncbak, says tonight’s test is a “slightly different twist” on the company’s technology. “We have almost 600 stations on our platform doing the live linear straight broadcast,” he said, “but this is where we are using our technology to take content—which is live but isn’t necessarily being broadcast over the air, so it’s going straight to over the top.”

Perry added that monetization via DAI doesn’t stop with the live performance. “It instantly becomes a DVR-ed asset in the cloud,” he said. “So the minute the show is over, it’s available for on-demand viewing, also using our dynamic ad insertion platform to monetize it.”

SBTV is comprised of three components:

The SimpleSync OTT Platform allows local TV stations to broadcast any content over-the-top to any vMVPD, as well as power their station websites and news apps with the SBTV platform. Any station in the U.S. can elect to be carried on the SBTV app at no cost, thereby instantly creating an always-on channel, through SBTV, with hyperlocal content such as live newscasts, locally-produced programming, syndicated shows, and more.

With the Cloud Syndication Marketplace, content owners can syndicate and license their programming for OTT delivery – live, on-demand or both – through local television stations that participate on SBTV. In addition, stations with original programming can be placed into the marketplace for it to be syndicated in markets where the broadcaster currently does not have a station.

adSync: Syncbak’s DAI technology automatically manages local and national advertising spots based on the location of the viewer. When the originating local station has exclusive rights to the programming, it can sell ads against that inventory, providing the station with an additional revenue stream.

“We’re very excited about the possibilities for our live local programming,” said Julia Campbell, Vice President of Media Systems, Gray Television. “With SBTV this past March, our station KTUU in Anchorage, Alaska was able to carry the Iditarod dogsled race live locally and build an audience nationwide.”

[Read: Gray TV Invests $3 Million In Syncbak]

“SBTV gives our stations the tools we need to deliver our own, unique, hyperlocal OTT channels,” said Brian Brady, CEO of Northwest Broadcasting. “And, since Syncbak is the leader in providing linear feeds to the vMVPDs, I know every one of my stations is ready for subscription OTT as well.”

For the SBTV launch, Syncbak has seeded the Cloud Syndication Marketplace with a dozen shows, each with a handful of seasons. The first show placed into the marketplace, the James Beard Award-winning food series food.Curated, which airs in New York City, was immediately syndicated in every DMA where SBTV has a local affiliate.

“I'm excited about the possibilities this technology presents,” said Liza de Guia, creator and executive producer of food. Curated. “SBTV enables my series to organically expand its reach to places that want more engaging food programming. The potential for my brand is limitless, and connecting with local programming partners just got easier. Plus, if these partners want to attract more local lifestyle advertisers and I want more viewers, SBTV can help make this happen. It's a win-win.”

Syncbak has opened the Cloud Syndication Marketplace to any content owner with live or on-demand programming wishing to syndicate for OTT on a local level.

Perry says Syncbak’s experience in providing local broadcasts over OTT has provided the company, the expertise required to pull off such a test. “We’ve handled some of the biggest events for hundreds of stations, like the Grammys,” he said. “We think the next great frontier in live streaming is in live local niche programming.”

ATLANTA—Gray Television announced that it has made a $3 million strategic equity investment in Syncbak, a technology company that replicates over-the-air broadcasts for live and on-deman delivery over-the-top of the Internet. In addition, Gray’s chief digital and technology officer, Jason Effinger, has joined Syncbak’s board of directors.

Broadcasters use Syncbak’s end-to-end platform for live stream transcoding, cloud-based rights resolution, cloud-based DVR, device filtering, geo-location services, content management, stream monitoring and dynamic ad insertion. Syncbak’s technology is currently deployed in more than 180 television stations across 150 markets, representing 51 broadcast groups and all major networks, including CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC and The CW.

Additional strategic investors of Syncbak include CBS, which uses Syncbak for CBS All Access; the National Association of Broadcasters, and the Consumer Technology Association (formerly, the Consumer Electronics Association). Media technology entrepreneur Jack Perry founded Syncbak in 2009.

“From its founding, Syncbak has impressed us with its technology, its understanding of local broadcast operations, and its rapid adoption across the industry. Going forward, we now can participate even more meaningfully in the evolution of local broadcasting with the best team out there,” said Gray CEO Hilton Howell. 

Here is Syncbak CEO Jack Perry: “Gray was the first major television station group to deploy our platform across all of its stations back in 2013. Gray’s forward-thinking approach was instrumental in helping us create a solution that is as simple to deploy in New York as it is in Glendive, Mont.”

And Sam Matheny, executive vice president and chief technology officer for the NAB: “We are delighted to see a major broadcaster like Gray invest in Syncbak. It speaks volumes as to how far Syncbak has come since the NAB provided early stage funding for the concept in 2010 via our FastRoad program, Syncbak has done an outstanding job in meeting industry needs, and their success and adoption by broadcasters validates the early stage investment strategy we continue today with PILOT as we continue to foster innovation to benefit our members.”