Local advertisers in Orange County, Calif., now have a spot on Cox
Communications Inc.'s digital-TV tier thanks to cutting-edge ad-insertion
technology.
The Atlanta-based MSO announced Wednesday that it has opened its digital
channels to local advertisers in the county just south of Los Angeles.
Using a scheme developed by the Society of Cable Telecommunications
Engineers, Cox can now insert local ads into as many as six digital channels.
Plans are to widen the local ad-insertion system to eight more markets this
year.
The SCTE-developed 'DVS 253' system allows Cox to receive a multiplexed
digital signal carrying several programming options, to choose the right cable
network, to insert the right local ad and then to transmit it to the customer in
real time.
Cox has been testing a hybrid system in Phoenix that used analog cue tones to
guide the digital ad insertions. But the new system uses an all-digital
process.
'This innovative new practice allows us to insert programming -- whether it
be advertising, public-service announcements or other content -- onto channels
that were previously inaccessible to local advertisers,' said Billy Farina,
Cox's vice president of advertising sales, in a release.
'Many of our digital tier channels appeal to a specific viewing audience,
allowing for more targeted advertising by our local advertisers,' he added.
The Orange County ad-insertion system is powered by Terayon Communication
Systems Inc.'s 'CherryPicker 7000 Ad Splicer' and SeaChange International Inc.'s
'Transport Streams Insertion System.'
