Cox Media relies on MX1 to launch Tourism and Convention Channel

The Keywest Technology MediaXtreme MX1 gives the Las Vegas cable ad sales team a way to create and schedule promotions, ads and information targeted at 37 hotels that conventioneers frequent.

Conventioneers traveling to Las Vegas can keep abreast of the latest convention-related news and industry events by tuning in to Cox Media’s newly launched Tourism and Convention Channel (TCC).

Available in 37 Las Vegas hotels –with a total of 75,000 rooms- TCC offers those attending conventions the chance to catch-up on convention keynotes, seminars and events that they’ve missed from the comfort of their own hotel rooms.

TCC debuted in mid April when more than 100,000 broadcasters from around the world descended upon Las Vegas for the 2005 edition of the National Association of Broadcasters convention. “We knew NAB was here,” said Cox Media Sales and Marketing Manager Todd Blickenstaff. “We wanted to showcase the service and put out a welcoming crawl message to the broadcasters on the Tourism and Convention Channel.”

However, the broadcast convention, while large, does not scratch the surface of the convention market TCC looks to serve. Consider this: Las Vegas is the No. 1 convention destination in the United States, and perhaps the world. Last year, there were more than 22,000 conventions held in Las Vegas that attracted more than 5.7 million conventioneers. Conventions brought about $6.8 billion to the local economy, and with new mega hotel-casino complexes, such as the $2.3 billion Wynn Hotel, opening on a regular basis, there seems to be no end in sight.

Programming, Partners and Technology
Fueling the Tourism and Convention Channel is a unique blend of programming and technology. Programming comes from Cox Media partners, such as The History Channel, under a special arrangement with content owner A&E Networks.

“We wanted to look to our network partners that we already had in place, such as A&E Networks, which also owns History Channel,” said Blickenstaff. “They have an incredible library of programming that is produced about southern Nevada and specifically Las Vegas, such as The Building of Hoover Dam, Area 51 and Las Vegas – The Power and The Money.”

“If you are visiting Las Vegas, you might turn the channel on when you are getting ready to go to the convention or getting ready to go out, and you might be interested in watching the programming for a few minutes. And we know it is already working because people have called us about getting copies of those programs. So, that promotes tourism in southern Nevada and Las Vegas.”

Partner-supplied programming is edited into an eight-hour block that rotates three times per day. When a convention’s management team contracts with TCC, video footage and reports shot during a convention -as well as coverage of major events like keynote addresses and seminars- can be updated daily and shown in a looped format on the channel. This allows tradeshows and their exhibitors to extend their presence beyond the convention floor.

At the heart of TCC is a Keywest Technology MediaXtreme MX1. With the MX1, Cox Medias creates and schedules playback of graphics and text crawls that are a mix of local news, convention updates and promotions. The MX1 also sizes and inserts video from Cox Media’s SeaChange video server with its video picture-in-picture functionality to create the familiar “L” shaped screen presentation used as a basic TCC look.

The MediaXtreme MX1
The Keywest Technology MediaXtreme MX1 is a powerful media creation and playback tool designed for cable operators, educators, government agencies and broadcasters. The MX1 lets users simply and quickly create and schedule events like video inserts, graphic presentation, text crawls and dynamic data streams that drive changing graphics for time and temperature display. The end result is an on-screen presence that looks every bit as good as something seen on a network newscast.

At the core 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. 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 Cox Media in Las Vegas, a composite video feed from the cable system’s SeaChange video server is fed into the MX1, where it’s sized with the MediaXtreme’s video picture-in-picture card. Lower-third text crawls and graphics are also added with the MX1.

According to Cox Media Technical Operations Manager Vince Tarantino, two schedules are created for the Tourism and Convention Channel. The first is generated with the MediaCreator software to schedule text crawls and graphics, while video playback is scheduled from the SeaChange video server. Together, the schedules give Cox Media complete control over what is played out and when it appears.

Putting the brake on rolling trucks
The Tourism and Convention Channel is rooted in another Cox Communications enterprise, Hospitality Network. The Hospitality Network offers a variety of services, such as broadband Internet service, cable television and video on demand to hotels in major destinations. Before TCC came into existence, one of Hospitality Network’s offerings, a barker channel used to promote pay-per-view movies, occasionally doubled as a convention-promotion channel.

About 18-months ago, the Hospitality Network asked Cox Media to take the channel over to market and program it properly to managers of conventions visiting Las Vegas. With fiber run to the hotels and automated video playback, Cox Media recognized it had the makings of powerful communications vehicle to reach convention attendees in their hotel rooms.

“When the Hospitality Network ran the channel, they would have to burn a DVD and run it around to the various hotels,” said Blickenstaff. “This was not their business focus, and they wanted to turn this over to us.

“We don’t have to roll trucks out to every one of those locations and turn the channel on for those wanting to use it, which is what was happening when Hospitality Network was programming the channel. They would have a convention call them and they’d roll trucks.

“We can play it from our master control and use the MediaXtreme to overlay a crawl, our logo, the time and temperature and different convention information. That’s really where the main revenue stream of the project is going to come from.”

Fade To Black
While TCC has only been up and running briefly, Blickenstaff foresees a bright future for Cox Media with the channel. “It’s just a matter of educating these conventions that TCC is available when they come to town –letting them know that they can tap into this,” he said.

According to Blickenstaff, the Keywest Technology MediaXtreme MX1 will play a big part in making the channel successful. “Convention managers can supply us with a Beta (tape) of their programming, and we can turn around and put it into 37 hotels with a total of more than 75,000 local rooms. For companies that come to tradeshows and don’t have video, the MX1 crawl feature allows us to offer an alternative way to show their ads, and information, helping them generate revenue.”