Cable Show 2009: Midcontinent Hikes VOD Capacity
Centralized SeaChange Platform Serves MSO's Systems In Dakotas, Minnesota
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/2/2009 2:40:54 PM
Complete Cable Show 2009 Coverage From Multichannel News
Midcontinent Communications, a cable television operator serving areas of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, is more than quadrupling its video-on-demand capacity and plans to increase the amount of HD VOD titles it offers using software and systems from SeaChange International.
Midcontinent increased the capacity of its five SeaChange server systems from 2,500 to 11,000 hours each.
"We recognized that adding HD content in general and particularly HD VOD could not only help differentiate us from competitive satellite operators, but also generate additional revenues," Midcontinent corporate engineering manager Tom Heier said.
The VOD systems service 18 headends across almost 200,000 square miles in Midcontinent's footprint and can deliver more than 8,500 simultaneous video streams. SeaChange's Axiom On Demand software is running at Midcontinent's master digital headend in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Midcontinent has more than 240,000 customers, including around 100,000 digital cable subscribers. According to Heier, the MSO has been serving more than 1 million video streams per month.
