Tightrope Media Systems Helps Surry County Drive Communication

With a Cablecast playout and streaming solution from Tightrope Media Systems, a mostly rural county in North Carolina is ahead of the broadcasting curve of many other counties and municipalities.

Surry County includes four incorporated municipalities: Mount Airy, Elkin, Dobson, and Pilot Mountain. The area is home to more than 71,000 residents, though its numbers can swell significantly during business hours because of its shopping options and other amenities.

Surry on the Go, the county's government channel, went live in November 2022, and the county added two new channels last fall. The main channel is available in HD on Surry Communications cable and in SD on Spectrum/Charter cable. Programming includes a mix of meetings and original content, as well as programming from the local public school systems and Surry Community College. The three-channel system is anchored by Cablecast VIO Lite and Vio Lite Omni video servers.

Through Cablecast REFLECT, all three channels are available via streaming on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, as well as Android and Apple devices. Surry on the Go has its own branded app that supports live streaming and VOD for all three channels.

It's a big step up from streaming county commissioner meetings on YouTube, which was how Surry County provided video coverage of governmental affairs before launching its own channels. "Surry on the Go was launched for more than government meeting coverage. The goal was to create a hub for residents to find local news and information," said Lee White, sales representative for Clark Powell, the AV integrator that designed and deployed the Cablecast system for Surry County.

Nathan Walls, PIO, works with the four municipalities and countywide departments to produce video news releases (VNRs) on topics like property tax deadlines that are shared on Surry on the Go. Walls said he has received plenty of positive feedback from residents and county commissioners on the channels.

As a former newspaper reporter, Walls understands that the public’s media habits are changing. "We're in an era where newspaper circulations are dwindling, and there’s a lot of misinformation shared on social media," he explained. "Surry on the Go exists to fill the local news void and keep residents properly informed."

Walls acknowledged that local governments are often slow to adapt to how the public wants to consume information. For example, he recalled hearing about a proposed tax increase in another county, which someone learned about by reading it on the ballot when they went to vote. "That would not happen in Surry County," he said, "because we have Surry on the Go."

According to Warren Baker, post production specialist at Clark Powell, Cablecast was "the best game in town" for Surry County. "We've had loyal Cablecast customers for a while. The other solutions that are out there are not very fully featured. When it came to launching their own multi-platform video distribution, Surry County wanted a lot, and I think Cablecast gave that to them out of the gate."

Ease of scheduling was one of the most important features for Surry on the Go, which is operated by only a small staff and a few interns. Walls appreciates using a single GUI to manage their cable playout and live streams. "There's only one interface for all of our platforms," Baker added, "and that makes it super simple. It’s a very low-maintenance system."

ClarkPowell provides a lot of support for Surry on the Go, and in turn receives a lot of support from Tightrope. "At ClarkPowell, we strive for a working relationship with our different manufacturers," said White. "Because support is not only important to us, it's really important to our customers."

The Cablecast ecosystem makes it simple for government video organisations to improve their video workflows. Tightrope will showcase its Cablecast channel playout automation and streaming solutions for municipalities next month at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Booth W2615.

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