(April 7, 2004) Washington, DC--BT Broadcast Services (BTBS), the broadcast and media solutions arm of BT, and Pathfire, a supplier of digital content distribution and management solutions, have announced the launch of BT Mediarelay, a new transatlantic video file transfer (VFT) service.
BT Mediarelay will offer a cost-effective alternative to distributing broadcast content via videotapes or by linear satellite services. Using a simple drag-and-drop PC interface to queue files for transfer, BT Mediarelay requires no technical knowledge to operate and streamlines the process of transferring content, giving complete control to users.
The new service will allow BTBS's European and global customer base to connect to over 1,000 Pathfire-enabled broadcast television stations in the U.S.
Paul Claydon, head of new product development at BT Broadcast Services, said, "Pathfire's solutions are already widely deployed in the U.S., creating enormous efficiencies for its users. By offering a transatlantic service, we are seeking to extend this capability, while laying the foundations for new commercial and production opportunities throughout the television, film and advertising industries. We already have a lot of interest from international broadcasters and content owners, keen to take advantage of a service that makes sending and receiving video content as simple as using email."
A subsequent development phase will include a local server allowing, for example, a news broadcaster to operate a 48-hour archive of recent news reports for on-demand retrieval. Users taking content will be able to browse the local server, then dub off the video file to tape or direct to an editing or play-to-air server. Content owners utilizing the system in this way can instantly see what is popular, enabling them to tailor output and, consequently, increase the value of their service to broadcasters.
BT Broadcast Services
www.bt.com/broadcast
Pathfire
www.pathfire.com
