Recent Work

Wells will leverage his extensive entrepreneurial and sales background, along with his past experience with GeoBroadcast Solutions’ game-changing technologies, to help radio stations empower their businesses

CHICAGO, March 4, 2019 — GeoBroadcast Solutions has appointed Harvey Wells as Director of Sales Development and Marketing, effective immediately. Wells is responsible for the continued roll-out of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ patented MaxxCasting technology, and will help introduce the company’s patented, game-changing ZoneCasting technology to a broader audience.

MaxxCasting is now live in several medium-to-major markets around the United States, and was most recently deployed atWXLO(FM) in Boston. MaxxCasting leverages Single Frequency Network (SFN) architectures to optimize a radio station’ssignal strength within its FCC-allocated contour, allowing greater numbers of potential listeners and Nielsen Personal People Meter encoding. In the case of WXLO, it is estimated that more than one million people will hear a much clearer signal than before the MaxxCasting system was turned on.

ZoneCasting, pending FCC approval, will allow a radio station to divide its signal based on a market’s geography. ZoneCasting, for the first time, will allow a radio station on its single frequency to air different news, traffic, weather, public service announcements and advertisements based on where a listener is located.

A native of Chicago, Wells’ impressive career has spanned programming, sales and senior management for some of the broadcast industry’s largest corporations (CBS, Infinity and Westinghouse), as well as in entrepreneurial environments. Most recently, Wells was General Manager for five radio stations owned by Mid-West Family Broadcasting in Springfield,Illinois. He has spent most of his career in Chicago, along with a four-year stint in Southern California.

Wells brings additional value to his new role beyond his vast industry experience, given his long-standing relationship with GeoBroadcast Solutions and its technology.

“I spent several months working with the GeoBroadcast Solutions team in the earliest development stages of MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting technology,” said Wells. “It’s amazing to see how far these products have come. MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting have the ability to literally change the relationship that radio stations have with their three major consumers:listeners, advertisers and the communities they serve. These technologies promise to be game-changers for our industry, and amplify the power of local radio for generations to come.”

GeoBroadcast Solutions CTO Bill Hieatt added, “With successful MaxxCasting deployments delivering real-world results and ZoneCasting in FCC approval, it was time to bring someone onboard with both experience and passion for both technologies. Several years ago, Harvey actually was involved in an early form of ZoneCasting in the Chicago area, but it took three radio stations to do it. Our new technology will allow a single radio station to do what it took Harvey three stations to do. He is the perfect person to help us build on MaxxCasting’s strong momentum, and officially launch ZoneCasting once approved.”

About GeoBroadcast Solutions

GeoBroadcast Solutions, LLC (GBS) offers proprietary products and solutions to enhance radio station coverage areas to maximize both coverage and revenue as well as the ability to zone audio (pending FCC approval) and RBDS/RDS. The company hold two patents for new Single Frequency Network techniques (MaxxCasting and ZoneCasting) that have been developed to improve coverage. GeoBroadcast Solutions’ charter is to innovate and bring to market technologies that help radio broadcasters maximize their signal and grow revenues. MaxxCasting expands the coverage area of FM signals. ZoneCasting, pending FCC approval, will provide technology to geographically target radio advertisements, news, weather and other important local information. These competitive innovations give broadcasters tools to compete in the face of innovations internet and cellular message distribution. GBS partners with GatesAir for transmission and IP distribution equipment.

Two-day exhibition outlines the company’s collaborative signage vision, and marks the public debut of new SaaS-based Carousel Cloud platform

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, March 4, 2019 – Carousel Digital Signage will come to Digital Signage Expo later this month with a renewed message for its broad customer base: embrace collaboration and keep your content fresh to ensure a true return on investment.

“Digital signage is no longer a novel technology that sells itself through a “wow factor”, said JJ Parker, CEO of Carousel Digital Signage. “Deployments fail and ROIs fade when organizations fail to leverage the true communications power that digital signage offers. Our latest Carousel innovations give end users new flexible and easy to use tools that invite collaboration, and help businesses keep their content and messaging up to date. This is especially important in the corporate and education markets where Carousel Digital Signage brings especially strong value.”

At its Digital Signage Expo booth (2627), Carousel Digital Signage will demonstrate its Carousel Cloud platform for the first time, alongside its on-premise solutions. Carousel Cloud is the digital signage pioneer’s new subscription-based SaaS platform for organizations seekingan off-premise, hosted digital signage service with limitless scalability. Carousel Cloud brings the standard benefits of any cloud service, eliminating the expense and maintenance associated with traditional hardware servers in favor of a lightweight, software-defined architecture that is centralized within an offsite IT infrastructure.

Importantly, Carousel Cloud’s architecture accommodates more users from more locations, helping organizations become more collaborative, keeping playlists fresh and dynamic. “We believe this will help our customers build a winning strategy around content development and audience engagement, and deliver real value to the broader organization.”

Carousel Digital Signage’s embrace of Apple TV devices for content playout will continue to be a key focus. Parker notes that K-12 school districts have been the quickest to adopt the technology, due to familiarity of the device and a non-intrusive profile. For added value, a Carousel Player app, available through app stores or mobile device management (MDM) software, quickly turns Apple TV devices into enterprise-grade media players.

While offering value for both cloud and on-premise deployments, the low price point of using Apple TV devices as media players is further enhanced through Carousel Cloud’s cost-efficient subscription model.

“Whether deployed in the cloud or on-premise, Carousel Digital Signage will help our customers deliver content that is always up-to-date for classrooms, conference rooms, and common areas, with exceptional ease of use and management,” said Parker. “With our cloud solution and the Apple TV as a media player, we’ve made significant strides in making the technology disappear from the classroom and the corporate environment. Instead, we’re putting the focus on how to effectively use your digital signage network to support your educational, business and even experiential initiatives.”

Digital Signage Expo takes place March 27-28 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

About Carousel Digital Signage

Carousel is Digital Signage Content Management Software that is easy to use, scalable, and reliable. With a deep feature set and strong technology partnerships Carousel gives you the most value in digital signage. Carousel Digital Signage is a division of Tightrope Media Systems. You can reach the Carousel team at (866) 866-4118, or visit www.carouselsignage.com.

Vision Analytics preserves video distribution quality, viewer engagement, and brand value through advanced analytics

MELBOURNE, Florida, March 4, 2019 — With infinite video entertainment options available, media delivery quality assurance innovator Qligent now offers a powerful cloud-based solution to monitor the quality of viewer engagement and protect media brand value across multiple delivery platforms. Vision Analytics harnesses the power of data mining, machine learning, and predictive data analytics to help its customers quickly address quality issues and take corrective action. Vision Analytics makes its North American debut in booth N4215 at the 2019 NAB Show, taking place April 8-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Vision Analytics samples video content globally across any content distribution channel and monitors the viewer’s quality of experience on any platform, network, channel, or app at any given moment—uniquely out to the last mile. Following the mining and analysis of these massive data sets, Vision Analytics gives broadcasters, MVPDs and other content owners a valuable assessment of the health of theirmedia operations, ranging from broad visibility to granular, in-depth reporting.

“While content can be king, viewers will quickly grow frustrated and move on to alternative content if they experience problems finding, accessing, or watching a particular show,” said Ted Korte, CTO, Qligent. “Viewers are truly in control today, and if their viewing experience falls short of expectations, there are many other networks, platforms, programs, and services to choose from. Subscriber churn or audience erosion is costly and difficult to rectify.”

Vision Analytics not only monitors network performance in real-time, but leverages machine learning and other predictive data sciencetechnologies to provide a heads-up about conditions that, left unchecked, could sour viewers on the broadcaster or service provider’s media brand.

“A broadcaster or MVPD can take corrective action to prevent quality of experience issues when armed with a rich data toolset that delivers insight into real-time performance and trends,” said Korte, “Vision Analytics puts the power back in the hands of our customers. These problems can be prevented from happening in the first place when it’s made clear that trouble is brewing.”

Verifiable Datasets

Vision Analytics is designed to handle the “4 Vs” of big data: velocity, volume, variety and veracity. Its engines leverage scalable cloud processing to manage a nearly limitless number of static, dynamic or event-based datasets. All findings are presented on a user-friendly dashboard and reports that summarizes key performance indicators (KPIs), key quality indicators (KQIs), and other vital criteria pertaining to multiplatform content distribution across creation, delivery, and consumption.

“In the field, we understand that each situation is unique and will require integration and development,” said Korte. “This is simplified by leveraging Qligent’s scalable cloud-based network, customizable third-party data adaptors, last-mile and virtual end-user probes.”

Qligent’s unique deployment of probes creates an end-to-end, controlled data mining environment to produce trusted and secondary opinion datasets within Vision Analytics. The analytics engines are never thrown off by variables, such as operator error, viewer disinterest,or user hardware malfunction. This assures that the integrity and variety of the data is maintained. With a reliable data set, users can develop a host of analysis results, visualizations, and reports to suit unique business needs.

“Data that shows that some viewers abruptly stopped watching a certain show can be misleading,” Korte said. “Did they suffer technical difficulties, or did they just get interrupted or leave for the grocery store? Vision Analytics works only with clean datasets that are devoid of anomalies or suspicions. That eliminates any possibility of a misleading analysis.”

If required, Vision Analytics can also automatically tap into the MVPD’s existing systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) system or Business and Operations Support Systems (BSS/OSS), among other enterprise solutions. For example, Vision Analytics can automatically open a trouble ticket, append a note in a CRM record, send out customer service alerts, or deposit “predictive tickets” outlining potential faults. Such advanced warnings will empower users to make corrective actions that prevent a poor quality of experiencefor their customers.

“Vision Analytics demonstrated that a 2-3% service improvement delivers a 6% percent increase in concurrent active users, a 10% percent increase in viewing duration, a 90% decrease in repeat complaint calls,” said Korte. “These are only some of the many statistics that prove the power of big data in addressing the customer churn challenge.”

ABOUT Qligent

Qligent architects complete monitoring, visualization and delivery analytics solutions for broadcasters, content distributors, ad agencies, regulators and network operators. Based in Melbourne, Florida, Qligent’s software-defined approach provides an open, vendor-agnostic platform to monitor performance, integrity and compliance of multiple signals, streams and systems across enterprises of any size. Its solutions provide the same consistent quality of content and service across multiple delivery platforms simultaneously.

Demonstrations to include North American debut of customer-empowering As-Run schedule correlation tools for faster and easier identification of issues

MELBOURNE, Florida, March 14, 2019 — Continuing to help broadcasters and service providers easily meet regulatory requirements and expanding audience expectations, media delivery quality assurance innovator Qligent will highlight the expanding compliance recording and analysis capabilities in its Vision monitoring system in booth N4215 at the 2019 NAB Show. Intelligently aggregating extensive data from multiple points in the content delivery chain, Vision’s compliance capabilities provide customers with deeper insights that allow them to more quickly identify and address the root cause of both legal and revenue-impacting issues.

Qligent’s cloud-based Vision solution provides comprehensive, holistic monitoring and analysis of four quality management pillars that impact the viewer experience: compliance errors (regulatory and SLA considerations), objective errors (QoS), subjective errors (QoE) and programmatic errors (intended presentation to the viewer). Vision’s unique distributed data collection approach uses software-based virtual and IoT probes to monitor live and on-demand content across varying platforms – including OTA, satellite, cable and OTT– at multiple points ranging from the origin facility to the last mile. This enables verification that content is in compliance not only when it leaves the headend, but also when it reaches consumers in their homes or on the go.

“Customers’ compliance requirements are evolving, as they combine live and linear channels to capture the first impression with on-demand distribution on new platforms to create a one-to-one relationship with each viewer,” said Ted Korte, CTO of Qligent. “Addressing this trend requires a unified compliance management system which can combine file-based, stream, and VOD analysis in a single tool. The Vision platform provides flexible compliance recording, logging and analysis far superior to traditional purpose-built boxes, supplemented by QoS, QoE and programmatic checks for more realistic and complete verification.”

Vision’s compliance tools enable operators to record at high or low resolution, store transport streams, and capture PCAP network traffic at multiple points in the delivery path. Recordings can be retained locally or in the cloud on customer-specified storage for any desired duration. In addition to regulatory requirements such as Closed Captions, Emergency Alerts (EAS) and commercial loudness, Qligent Vision can automatically check secondary events and attributes such as the timing of Digital Program Insertion (DPI) triggers as well as the presence of Nielsen watermarks, logo bugs and more.

“Vision gives broadcasters and service operators a flexible toolset to create their own definition of compliance,” explained Korte. “We can verify anything they are trying to deliver to their audiences, and do so in multiple ways in multiple locations, all the way out into the field.”

Adding a powerful new dimension to Vision’s rich compliance analysis capability is the optional As-Run module. Making its North American debut at the NAB Show, the new option enables operators to visually correlate compliance events and anomalies against an imported program schedule. The module overlays additional columns of monitored compliance characteristics – such as QoE issues, audio loudness and SCTE triggers – alongside the playlist, enabling deeper analysis than would be possible in isolation while helping differentiate legal compliance violations from audience-impacting but non-regulatory issues.

“For example, an abrupt audio loudness spike within a program may be annoying, but is not a violation of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act,” said Korte. “If it occurs at the start of a commercial break, however, that is a violation. By correlating the detected loudness against the program schedule, customers can conclusively and automatically monitor CALM compliance. This is just one example of how the As-Run option makes it easier for broadcasters and service providers to manage by exception, helping them detect and remedy anomalies more rapidly.”

Automated alert notifications and reporting bolster monitoring by exception while minimizing effort. In addition to enhancing automated compliance checking, the As-Run option also offers greater control of manual verification tasks. An enhanced clip player allows frame-accurate review for precise correlation against captured data properties and events, while integrated search functionality helps users quickly locate specific shows, commercials, IDs or secondary events for further validation, reporting, export, repurposing or affidavit requirements.

“We have designed Vision’s compliance features with three key goals in mind: providing flexible recording from more points in the delivery path, automating compliance verification as much as possible, and making any remaining manual tasks as simple as we can,” said Korte.“We look forward to showing NAB Show visitors how our latest advances make these goals a reality, giving customers the most comprehensive validation possible across all of their distribution channels.”

ABOUT Qligent

Qligent architects complete monitoring, visualization and delivery analytics solutions for broadcasters, content distributors, ad agencies, regulators and network operators. Based in Melbourne, Florida, Qligent’s software-defined approach provides an open, vendor-agnostic platform to monitor performance, integrity and compliance of multiple signals, streams and systems across enterprises of any size. Its solutions provide the same consistent quality of content and service across multiple delivery platforms simultaneously.

Industry veteran will cover seven states in the Southeast US territory, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands

CINCINNATI, March 13, 2019 — GatesAir, a global leader in wireless, over-the-air content delivery solutions for radio and TV broadcasters, has strengthened its North American sales team with the appointment of Charles Sotto as Regional Sales Manager for the Southeast U.S. territory, effective immediately. Covering seven states plus Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Sotto brings three decades of industry and entrepreneurial experience to his new role, including sales and business development roles with Sony and Harris, the company from which GatesAir was born. Sotto will be based in Florida and report to Mark Goins, Senior Director, North American Sales.

Sotto joins GatesAir at a time of active business growth for the company in the United States, driven largely by the GatesAir’s market-leading share of TV spectrum repack business. Sotto sees a wealth of opportunities to help TV and radio broadcasters reduce their utility costs and maintenance activities with GatesAir’s high-efficiency transmitter designs. He is also bullish about helping GatesAir customers transition their audio contribution and distribution systems, including studio-to-transmitter links (STL), to IP as broadcasters migrate from T1 and other more expensive circuit-based links.

“The broadcast industry has made significant progress in going green and reducing its collective carbon footprint, and GatesAir has been a pioneer in this movement for transmission systems,” said Sotto. “I see tremendous opportunity to help new and current GatesAir customerstransition to our more electrically-efficient Maxiva TV and Flexiva radio transmitters, reducing operating costs and labor associated with maintaining the infrastructure. Furthermore, the Intraplex range of intelligent networking solutions has matured to serve some very diverse and interesting applications at a time when broadcasters are more comfortable using IP as a primary transport method. The innovative entrepreneurship driving GatesAir also very much strengthens the future vision of the company. It’s an exciting time to rejoin GatesAir family.”

Sotto spent several years with Harris Broadcast in the early 2000s as National Accounts Manager for Broadcast Systems and Special Markets, where he focused on complex projects for large commercial and government customers. Prior to joining Harris Broadcast, he spent 10 years at Sony as a Major Account Manager in Los Angeles focusing on studio, post-product and broadcast accounts. He was directly involved in many large-scale and technically intricate projects while at Sony, including the launch of DIRECTV as a direct-to-home satellite provider in the United States, Latin America and Japan.

“Charles brings a rare mix of customer relationship skills and technical expertise that will benefit both GatesAir and our customer base throughout his region,” said Goins. “Broadcast is a service-driven industry, and his human touch will play a big role in his success, particularly in the Southeast where we will continue to see robust and exciting business opportunities for years to come. We are proud to welcome Charles to the GatesAir team.”

About GatesAir   

GatesAir, Inc., a portfolio company of The Gores Group, provides complete solutions for over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, leveraging wireless spectrum to maximize performance for multichannel, mission-critical services. Powering over-the-air networks worldwide with unparalleled reliability for nearly 100 years, GatesAir’s turnkey solutions enable broadcasters to create, transport and transmit radio and TV content.  With customers in more than 185 countries, the company leads the industry in innovation and design breakthroughs, improving efficiency and reducing total cost of ownership with all products designed and assembled in the USA. Visit www.gatesair.com for more information, Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gatesair, and follow us on Twitter at @GatesAir.

About The Gores Group

The Gores Group, founded in 1987 by Alec Gores, is a global investment firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm’s operating experience and flexible capital base. The firm combines the operational expertise and detailed due diligence capabilities of a strategic buyer with the seasoned M&A team of a traditional financial buyer. Over its 30-year history, The Gores Group has become a leading investor having demonstrated a reliable track record of creating value in its portfolio companies alongside management. Headquartered in Los Angeles, The Gores Group maintains offices in Boulder, CO, and London. For more information, please visit http://www.gores.com.