Current is the industry’s first Emmy-award winning interactive news and information network produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. Co-founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, the Current network is a pioneer of a nontraditional television model that incorporates both online and broadcast elements into its programming.Approximately one-third of Current’s on-air broadcast consists of user-generated content, submitted via short-form, non-fiction video “pods.” Each pod, which runs between two and 12 minutes in length, is created and submitted by viewers in more than 51 million households spanning the U.S., U.K., and Ireland via the Current website. Current editors evaluate contributed content to produce 50 unique pods per week, and post another 50-100 pieces of Current-created content.

As the first news and entertainment network to be completely tapeless, Current relies on a carrier class 10 gigabit Ethernet network to ensure network availability. With large video files traveling over its network each day, the company needed a reliable and secure digital media distribution solution that could accelerate both transmission and ingestion of this content with minimal latency. Signiant had the only digital media distribution solution that could meet those requirements.

All content on the Current network is shot via Current editors or Current viewers, uploaded digitally and subsequently edited in a file-based workflow through Signiant Media Exchange, part of Signiant’s Content Distribution Management software. Current has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London, and content is often edited simultaneously by more than 100 editors across geographic locations.

Prior to deploying Signiant, Current relied on regular network speeds to upload and distribute content throughout its network, which could take several hours. And then editors would spend more time reviewing and editing news footage for use on the air. With Signiant, Current is able to ingest content 50 times faster, therefore trimming the time it takes to get up-to-the-minute news and information to its viewers that helps them to stay, well… current.

Challenge:

• Capture content from anywhere in the world contributed by viewers in more than 51 million households over the public Internet
• Evaluate a vast array of submitted content each day of various lengths, sizes, and formats
• Require security, reliability, and speed
• Minimal IT resources
• Minimal administrative personnel

Solution:

• Utilization of Signiant Content Distribution Management software to ingest user generated content
• Signiant Media Exchange implemented on website to allow uploads
• Utilization of Signiant file-based workflow capabilities to efficiently edit submitted content across disparate locations

Results:

• Users can quickly, reliably, and securely upload content in minutes, vs. what could previously take hours using regular network speeds
• Current can easily identify high-priority news items for editing
• Agent-less, WAN-accelerated, secure uploads and downloads
• Compatible with all web sites, current applications and systems
• Ability to produce 50 unique video “pods” per week
• Content can be edited simultaneously by more than 100 editors across geographic locations with file-based workflow
• Current is able to ingest content from the field 50 times faster than prior to using Signiant