Time Warner Cable Launches VOD and Interactive Television Services to Myrtle Beach Hotels With SeaChange Platform
Tuesday March 21, 11:03 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Time Warner Cable Launches VOD and Interactive Television Services to Myrtle Beach Hotels With SeaChange Platform
Fourth Time Warner Cable System Establishes Hotel Business with SeaChange's GuestServe Network
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2000-- This month Time Warner Cable of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina launches interactive television service starting with four hotels, comprising 1,500 guest rooms, with the installation of a GuestServe Network system from SeaChange International, Inc. (Nasdaq:SEAC - news). Time Warner's new business for providing Myrtle Beach hotels with video-on-demand (VOD) movies, high-speed Internet access and computer games is a benefit of the cable operator's nearly $18 million investment in local system upgrades to bring digital cable and new services to the community.
Myrtle Beach is the fourth market where Time Warner Cable has used SeaChange's GuestServe Network interactive service platform to establish a business that turns hotel rooms into new cable subscribers and increases room revenues for hotel operators with the best available guest services over television. Currently, Time Warner Cable's hotel networks in Honolulu and Kona, Hawaii and Manhattan serve over 7,000 guest rooms.
``The work we've done on our local infrastructure enables us to provide services well beyond the bounds of basic cable. With our interactive hotel business, we will help local hotels generate higher revenues per-room while greatly enhancing the guest experience,' said Mary Anne Jacobs, director of marketing and public affairs, Time Warner Cable. ``With SeaChange, Time Warner Cable has entered this business with the most competent and experienced interactive television provider. The VOD aspect of this is very exciting. Our experience in hotel VOD will certainly become relevant to future residential VOD opportunities.'
With its two-way cable headend infrastructure, Time Warner Cable manages the guest service to hotels from its own operations. Unlike other services that use satellite feeds or tape-based systems on hotel premises, hotels gain premium services at higher per-room revenues without incurring capital costs for on-site equipment and ongoing maintenance. Further, with SeaChange's patented MediaCluster video server technology, the GuestServe Network provides a cost-effective means to store large selections of digitized movies and easily scales to support the addition of new hotels on the network.
SeaChange's GuestServe network comprises the technology and creative services for establishing a business in interactive cable television for hotels - from content acquisition and MPEG-2 encoding, to superior video server technology and hotel room set-top boxes. The service is state of the art: first-run movies in digital quality, Internet access through the TV, 32-bit PC-based games, Folio Review, Room Service, interactive hotel tours, and multi-language options (audio and on-screen text).
For turnkey support of the hotel business, SeaChange's content licensing experts provide movies and PC games through the company's relationships with film studios. SeaChange's creative development team designs screens and menus for a uniform appearance and easy navigation across guest services.
About SeaChange
Serving more than 27,000 television channels for broadcast and cable television companies worldwide, SeaChange International, Inc. (www.schange.com) is the leading provider of MPEG-2 digital video systems. SeaChange's products, incorporating the Company's patented software and hardware technologies, automate the management and distribution of video streams including advertisements, movies, news updates and other broadcast-quality video programming requiring precise execution. Founded in 1993, SeaChange is headquartered in Maynard, Mass.
MediaCluster is a registered trademark of SeaChange International, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective companies.
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Contact:
SeaChange International
John Coulbourn
978-897-0100 x3098
johnc@schange.com |
