Cable One Advertising turns to MediaXtreme MX1 for classified channel scheduling, playback

The Gulfport, MS, -based business relies on the Keywest Technology MediaCreator software and MX1 hardware for scheduling and playback of classified ads on Coast Channel 13.

Each week, Laura Landry touches the lives of Cable One subscribers in a personal and meaningful way.

Among her many duties, Mrs. Landry, a photo producer for Cable One Advertising in Gulfport, MS, creates and schedules the birthday greetings, graduation announcements, anniversary wishes, memorial tributes and other personal messages and business classifieds that appear on Cable One’s Coast TV 13 from headends in Biloxi, Long Beach and Pascagoula along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“Mostly, my day consists of creating, scheduling and updating ads,” said Mrs. Landry. “Through MediaCreator, I schedule ads, set them up and send them to the three headends.”

MediaCreator, the software application that supports the Keywest Technology MediaXtreme MX1, gives Mrs. Landry the ability to drive the classified advertising presentation to 108,000 Cable One subscribers easily and efficiently.

Fifty to 60 times a week, she creates ads for individuals and businesses, such as local realtors and used car dealerships, and schedules them for playback on Coast TV 13.

Most are 15-second spots with a static graphic background, images, text and logos with audio. Occasionally, Mrs. Landry uses the MediaXtreme’s picture-in-picture capability to insert a video commercial in a quadrant of the screen. Playback of all graphics, video and audio is scheduled and controlled with the MediaCreator software.

Anyone advertising on Coast Channel 13, works directly with Mrs. Landry. Often she sells the time, shows customers graphic templates of what’s possible, creates their ads in Adobe Photoshop and schedules them with MediaCreator for playback from the MediaXtreme MX1s at each of the headends. As new ads are booked and created, she manipulates the playback schedule so they can be inserted.

“I have to update the schedules periodically throughout the day, and it is an immediate turnaround,” she explained. “As soon as the ad is scheduled it will show.”

Creation and playback
The MediaXtreme MX1 is a powerful media creation and playback tool designed for cable operators, educators, government agencies and broadcasters who wish to produce video presentations of material that looks as good as a network newscast.

At the heart of the MX-1 is MediaCreator, a full-featured CG and scheduling application that handles all fonts, graphics and effects in 32-bit color depth to produce a high-resolution true-color page that equals the best of what’s seen on TV. The MX1 relies on powerful digital processing to let users key video over a background screen, integrate video picture-in-picture effects, import data, produce text crawls and display logos.

At Cable One Advertising, the MX1’s video keyer is used to superimpose a Coast Channel 13 logo on screen to brand the cable channel. It’s also exploring the use of the character crawl feature to open new revenue streams. “We are talking to local theaters right now about using the (MX1) crawl for show times and movie listings,” she explained.

When it comes to scheduling and playback, the MX1 is fast, flexible and easy to use, according to Mrs. Landry. “Before we had the MediaXtreme, scheduling took a while, and sending schedules to each headend took a good amount of time –as much as a minute to send each image,” she recalled. “But with the MediaXtreme, the process is much faster. I can have the schedule and ad sent within a minute or two, and that’s when I send it to our farthest system (headend).”

The MediaXtreme MX1 is a 24/7 player that allows user to schedule playback of events and update that schedule as needed without interrupting what’s on-air. Viewers never detect schedule changes happening in the background as new events are scheduled and old ones replaced. This off-line editing lets users change any aspect of a schedule, including data, fonts, graphics or entire pages, by logging into the MediaXtreme player through a serial port, modem or Ethernet connection.

Cable One in Mississippi began using the MediaXtreme MX1 about 18 months ago. Since then, the cable operator has relied on it produce what Mrs. Landry describes as “clear and crisp” classified ads.

Learning how to use it to schedule ad playback was quick and easy. “We got it hooked up and had a real quick (training) session in the office,” she recalled. “We started using the MediaXtreme that day, and within a week I was completely comfortable with it. Later, (Keywest Technology trainer and technical support manager) Rich Liston came in and held a training seminar.”

During the training, Liston tailored his lesson to the topics of prime interest to Cable One: creating schedules, sending schedules and ads to the headends and general system setup.

Fade to Black
The power of classified advertising on cable TV shouldn’t be underestimated, according to Mrs. Landry. “We tell our prospects that using it (Coast TV 13) is very affordable advertising and that the way this works is constant repetition,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of clients who have been on it for years, and they are there because it works. Advertising on Coast TV 13 is very affordable. We’ve found that the realtors and car dealers say they build personal recognition in the community.”

Mrs. Landry, who recently purchased a classified herself to congratulate a niece upon her graduation, can attest to power of being seen on Coast TV 13.

“That ad is on right now, and so many people say, ‘I saw Jill on TV,’” she said. “And the realtors like that personal recognition as well. They love walking into a restaurant and being told that they were seen on TV. It feeds their ego.”

With a tool like the MediaXtreme on the job, it’s a sure bet that Coast TV 13 will be building many businesses and egos along the Gulf Coast for the foreseeable future. “The MediaXtreme makes us more efficient,” said Landry. “It let’s us turnaround ads a lot quicker and delivers a completely clean look that’s very good overall.”