Anew company aimed at revolutionizing the distribution of news content is using Telestream's Internet-based delivery system to jump-start its business.
New York-based TheNewsMarket.com operates a Web site that brokers news content to broadcast users. It launched at the Sydney Olympics using Telestream's ClipMailPro and ClipExpress IP (Internet Protocol) transmission system. The Telestream equipment was used by more than 100 broadcasters in 23 countries to preview and download video clips from VISA, Coca-Cola, Adidas and the Australian Tourist Commission, according to CEO Shoba Purushothaman.
TheNewsMarket.com, which will complete beta testing by the end of the year, has signed a joint sales and marketing agreement with Nevada City, Calif.-based Telestream to promote ClipMail technology. It will continue to use Telestream as one of its intake and delivery methods, and Telestream customers will receive preferential pricing from TheNewsMarket.com.
"The agreement we have is to work with the entire network," says Purushothaman. "Telestream has been populating post houses and newsrooms for a while, and lot of them offer ClipMail on a walk-in basis. And in Europe, where there are a lot of independent producers, a lot of people already have ClipMail or are getting it."
TheNewsMarket.com allows users to preview content at two low-resolution rates: 40 kilobits per second or 300 kilobits per second. If they want a clip, they pay a fee and download MPEG-2 video that is encoded at up to 10 Mb/s.
Although TheNewsMarket.com was founded on the premise that emerging broadband connections will support broadcast video delivery, "the big question has been when can people distribute broadcast quality over the Web," says Purushothaman, a former
Wall Street Journal
reporter and public relations executive. But the company has been pleased with Telestream's transfer times over T1 connections, particularly since most clips are less than 90 seconds.
In the "best-case scenario," she says, a one-minute clip takes five to six minutes to download. "ClipMail Pro is a very simple communications tool they can go out and buy off the shelf today."
