BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, January 29, 2018 – Pioneering SaaS-based streaming solutions provider StreamGuys today announced SGrecast 2.0, a significant upgrade to the company's cloud-based live stream repurposing, rebroadcasting and podcast management system. Building on its proven foundation for recording radio broadcasters’ live streams and transforming them into revenue-expanding side channels and podcasts, version 2.0 adds powerful new tools to further streamline content creation and management. The new release will be showcased at the 2018 NAB Show (April 9-12, Las Vegas), where StreamGuys will co-exhibit with technology partner ENCO in booth N3824.
“As radio broadcasters continue to expand their footprint in the podcast space and repurpose a greater percentage of their live content, improvements to their content creation and management workflows can deliver significant savings in cost and effort,” said Jason Osburn, executive vice president, StreamGuys. “While SGrecast 2.0 brings new efficiencies to customers both large and small, many of its features will be particularly valuable to enterprise-level broadcasters with 24/7 live content to process and multiple operators using the platform.”
Foremost among these new features are AudioLoggers, which enable repurposing of content on-the-fly while it is being recorded. Complementing SGrecast’s existing ability to archive content based on pre-determined schedules, AudioLoggers record streams 24/7 and automatically segment the recordings based on specific metadata in the stream, changes in stream metadata, or user-configured time intervals. For example, the AudioLogger feature can leverage metadata changes to distinguish between different programs and songs, or to detect ads within a show and create segments around them. Producers can then use SGrecast’s visual publishing interface to join related segments together, graphically place markers for dynamic ad insertion, and publish the combined result for rebroadcasting or podcasting.
“AudioLoggers make it easier for users to produce ad-free versions of content from live broadcasts, into which fresh commercials or sponsorship messages can be inserted as the media is repurposed,” explained Osburn. “They also free users from depending exclusively on a schedule, giving them more flexibility if actual on-air timing diverges from expectations as may happen with live shows.”
SGrecast 2.0’s side channel workflow enhancements include the separation of recording and rebroadcasting functionality, enabling changes to one aspect’s schedule or configuration even while the other is active. A side channel’s recording settings can be edited while its rebroadcast is live, or conversely its rebroadcast parameters can be modified without waiting for recording to complete.
Augmenting SGrecast’s feature-rich media players for podcasts and podcast episodes, SGrecast 2.0 allows users to create embeddable archive and single-file players for any on-demand media in the system directly from the content management interface. Podcast management workflow improvements make it easier for users to create new podcasts without needing to immediately add content, and simplify the addition of episodes to existing podcasts. Meanwhile, an updated dashboard provides unified access to both recorded and uploaded content in a single place.
Giving customers greater control of how their staff members interact with the system, SGrecast 2.0 enables administrators to define user roles and permissions. Granular authorization for key SGrecast features enables user accounts to be restricted to specific tasks, while operators’ user experience can be customized based on their role.
“Broadcasters may have different users responsible for uploading content than those who are allowed to edit it, particularly in larger media organizations,” said Osburn. “SGrecast 2.0 offers the enterprise-class access control these customers require, limiting each user to just the content and functions they need.”
Available immediately and already in production at top-tier broadcasters, SGrecast 2.0 is one of many powerful tools in StreamGuys’ end-to-end SaaS suite for producing, managing, monetizing, and delivering live and on-demand streaming media. SGrecast combines seamlessly with StreamGuys’ targeted advertising ecosystem, podcast hosting service and robust, cloud-based delivery infrastructure to form a comprehensive streaming and podcasting solution spanning content creation through distribution.
About StreamGuys, Inc. In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets for enterprise-level broadcast media organizations. The company brings together the industry’s best price-to-performance ratio, a robust and reliable network, and an infinitely scalable cloud-based platform for clients of any size to process, deliver, monetize and playout professional streaming content. StreamGuys supports many of the world’s largest Podcasts, global TV and radio broadcasters, video and audio production companies, houses of worship, retail and hospitality businesses, government organizations, medical and healthcare services, and live venues for sports and entertainment. The company excels in developing and deploying technologies for business growth and revenue generation, including dynamic ad insertion, Alexa skills, mobile streaming and detailed business and data analytics.