MediaScrape scores big break into U.S. market; talks begin with CBC

MediaScrape, the Montreal-based online TV news network, has clinched a deal with PBS that will provide the U.S. public broadcaster with high definition videos from 28 global broadcast partners.Initially scheduled to air on PBS’ Channel 13 in New York City, the videos will eventually be available on PBS affiliate stations across the U.S, reaching an estimated two to three million people and garnering MediaScrape $1 million in revenues over the next 18 months. The videos, mostly news clips from MediaScrape’s partners, will air on World Focus, a new PBS channel that seeks to address the dearth of international news reporting brought about by funding cuts to newsrooms across North America. In an interview with Canadian Communications Reports, MediaScrape CEO Tyler Cavell says the deal took six months to negotiate and was made possible because of PBS’ determination to be a leader in embracing high definition format.Signed six weeks ago, the deal was made public this week as both partners undertook testing and execution of the material from MediaScrape’s partners. The official launch will be next week on October 13. Cavell says the deal is not only about reaching a new audience in the U.S., but that it offers a new opportunity to sell the MediaScrape brand and innovative technology to a new market. The HD videos are made possible through a software called DigiScrape, which compresses video for easy streaming without compromising quality. “Yes we will get into millions of homes through the affiliates, yes we get paid. But what this is really about is the ability to sell this DigiScrape technology to TV stations across North America.” Recently named by Red Herring magazine as one of Canada’s top innovative companies, MediaScrape has partner agreements with several news agencies, a move that allows the online broadcaster to offer its clients repackaged video news that can be searched by region, broadcaster or through Google Maps. The company also has revenue-sharing agreements with big broadcasters such as the BBC, CBC, and Fox News, as well as public broadcasters in India and Europe. Asked whether MediaScrape plans to provide content to broadcasters in Canada, Cavell says the only broadcaster that has been willing to explore what his company has to offer is the CBC. Both parties are currently in discussions. However, he says private broadcasters here have yet to warm to MediaScrape’s content. He attributes part of this reluctance to the slow pace of analog-to-digital transition in Canada. “It appears the public broadcasters have more flexibility to take risks in the analog-to-digital transition,” he says, noting that DigiScrape enables broadcasters to accelerate the transition to digital. “If we can provide digital formulated video to the CBC in a month or next week and help them work with their teams to broadcast that, then we have jump-started the process.” Cavell, who wrote a master’s thesis on the analog-to-digital transition, and was later recommended by the dean of his faculty to work as a researcher on the topic with the Federal Communications Commission, says Canada is way behind in making the switch. “In fact we are in a Third World status in terms of the digital transition. Countries in Asia are way ahead of us and frankly the U.S. is also quite behind from a world perspective.”

MediaScrape scores big break into U.S. market; talks begin with CBC

News | 10/09/2008 5:43 pm EDT

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