Case Study: Serving the Public by Serving Flash Video

Flash Democracy
TVW has worked hard to remain on the cutting edge of internet technology. In 2000, it upgraded its online offerings from Real to Windows Media. While Windows Media streaming served its purpose, it also exposed accessibility issues. Because the Windows Player is not natively in the browser it requires a download. TVW felt this obstacle denied many less technical viewers the benefit of TVW’s content. In 2006, TVW began to experiment with Flash, starting with progressive download for on-demand content, with the goal of democratizing the accessibility to its programming through this consumer-friendly, browser-based technology.

While progressive download got TVW part of the way to its goal, content security issues and the absence of live streaming support prompted the search for a better solution.

"Flash reaches the broadest possible audience," says Freeman. "We couldn’t ignore that—it makes our coverage of the political process easily accessible to virtually anyone." Freeman envisioned a single solution that would let TVW deliver both on-demand and live content in Flash and bring the content interactivity that progressive download simply couldn’t achieve.

TVW’s streaming needs led the network to evaluate other streaming solutions. Its conclusion from a 15-day pilot was that many solutions were unduly expensive, and they fell short of expectations in performance and flexibility. After learning about Wowza Media Server Pro, the innovative Flash streaming server software that had already won several industry awards and racked up an impressive list of global customers, the TVW team was immediately impressed.

"Wowza Pro worked right out of the box. What was more impressive, it streamed live feeds uninterrupted in our 15-day pilot. Not a single hiccup," says Freeman.

Wowza Pro performed equally well in other tests, including a showcase of its integral Live Stream Repeater functionality that assures TVW of being able to meet demand for large-scale live political events that attract thousands of simultaneous viewers. Other benchmarks revealed Wowza’s unique approach to on-demand navigation, which allows site visitors to skip to the content they’re looking for with the same ease as pressing the fast-forward or rewind buttons on their DVD players.

Still another key deciding factor was Wowza’s commitment to security. Wowza Pro’s ready-to-deploy SecureToken anti-ripping technology offered a perfect solution for making sure that none of TVW’s programming would end up as YouTube political parodies anytime soon.

A Model for Public Affairs Broadcasters
TVW’s commitment to Wowza goes well beyond its immediate challenges of delivering real-time coverage of the 2008 election. "Wowza has given us a scalable platform that will serve us well into the future," says Freeman. "It also lets us make the past of the political process widely available. Along with new content, we also plan to stream archival materials from our library of [more than] 60,000 hours of programming, which will be converted to Flash." TVW expects to complete this full conversion of the archives sometime in 2009.

"Wowza has enabled us to deliver on our mandate like never before," he continued. "We know that with Wowza on our side we can engage the citizens with the immediacy we always dreamed of and let them look back, for example, to see how a particular candidate or elected official voted on an issue."

Other public affairs broadcasters face similar challenges, and Freeman believes that TVW’s experience can prove valuable to other NAPAN members. "Our deployment will hopefully provide a case study on how technology can advance the public good," adds Freeman. "We are confident that we will achieve this goal, while continuing to faithfully and honorably serve the citizens of Washington state."