Tightrope Media Systems Announces Relaunch Of PEFMedia.org

Tightrope Media Systems, developers of the Cablecast Community Media station automation, playout, and publishing platform, has announced the imminent relaunch of the PEGMedia.org local access television media exchange site.

Bringing the core functionality and vision of PEGMedia to a modern technical foundation with an overhauled user interface, the redesigned site provides significant usability and efficiency enhancements that make it easier for channel programmers and producers to find and upload compelling content.

Tightrope will showcase the new PEGMedia.org at the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) 2022 Annual Conference from June 28 to 30 in Chicago.

PEGMedia.org is a content sharing site for the PEG (Public, Educational, and Government) television community. Founded in 2007 by Robert Nichols to allow stations in his home state of Maine to exchange content, it quickly expanded to serve stations and content producers across the United States. Tightrope took over operation and development of PEGMedia.org in 2021.

PEG stations and independent producers who wish to air their content anywhere in the country can upload programming to PEGMedia.org. Participating stations can then download and air the shows locally on their channels. Programs can be uploaded for free, while nominal download fees – less than $1 per show – cover only the costs of site bandwidth and storage. While Tightrope offers its own Cablecast automation and playout platform, PEGMedia.org is available to all community broadcasters regardless of which hardware and software solutions they are using.

"Community media organizations need reliable, ongoing sources of content to keep their channels fresh and engaging for their audiences," said Steve Israelsky, President, Cablecast Community Media. "There is a broad range of high-quality content out there that has relevance and interest beyond the local area that it was created in, and PEGMedia.org provides the opportunity to bring it to other regions. We want to make it as easy and inexpensive as possible to exchange content not only for our Cablecast customers, but for the entire PEG community at large. We're pleased to enhance this service with these significant updates."

The most visible difference in the new PEGMedia.org site is its completely redesigned user interface. Replacing the text-heavy design of the original offering, the new interface offers an intuitive, graphical, thumbnail-driven dashboard while eliminating time-consuming manual steps. Stations can easily see collections of the most recent uploads; the most popular programs; and shows or episodes specifically relevant to their state. Users can then easily drill down to discover and download other episodes of the same shows.

The new PEGMedia.org also makes it faster and simpler for stations and content producers to contribute their content. The site's new cloud-based ingest pipeline combines with automated background processing to maximize efficiency and enable seamless scalability as the site grows. PEGMedia.org’s discussion forums have also been enhanced to better facilitate collaboration between the site's users and sharing of ideas about PEG content.

"Over a thousand stations and programmers are participating on PEGMedia.org, and with the relaunch making it even easier for users to find and submit content, that footprint will continue to grow," added Israelsky. "Uploading content is free and is a great way for stations and producers to gain recognition for their work, grow their audience, expand their reach, and help strengthen the industry. We encourage the entire PEG community to upload content that is of value to stations across the country."

The new PEGMedia.org site is slated to go live the week of June 27.

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