Quick COVID Q&A: Steve Israelsky, President, Cablecast Community Media

Q: How has COVID-19 impacted the PEG market over past year?

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A: I think that it illuminated how essential community media can be. People couldn’t attend city council meetings – they weren’t holding them in person. Some municipalities were already televising them, but all of a sudden everyone needed to. We saw our business increase because of that need. At the beginning of the pandemic, we released Cablecast RTMP to allow users to take feeds from Zoom or Teams or other meeting platforms directly to air.  

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Q: Did COVID-19 only impact meeting coverage?

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A: Actually, other programming changed, too. Studio production shifted to at-home production. Suddenly, it became acceptable to televise something that came from a webcam instead of a studio camera. And when that becomes acceptable, it opens up a world of other programming. I think in many places it also expanded the amount of programming produced. For example, something that seems universal is local exercise classes for senior citizens. Now all those are televised; almost every PEG facility has some kind of senior exercise program.  

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Q: How did COVID-19 affect the PEG market’s technology needs?

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A: The pandemic gave PEG a kick in the pants, forcing them to adopt these newer technologies that were primarily used for social media. Cablecast supports all of them. Our web-based software allows you to control your system from anywhere using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. You can schedule programming and even override your schedule to stay with a live program that’s running long. We also added the ability to upload a file from anywhere. We added that early in the pandemic, so that someone who isn’t at the facility doesn’t need to go to the facility to add files. This remote workflow has proven very helpful. At this point, you can do absolutely everything remotely.

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