Cisneros Media Overcomes Regional Bandwidth Challenges with Signiant’s Media Shuttle
Spanish Language TV Content Powerhouse Quickly and Easily Transfers Massive Telenovela, Sports & Talk Show Video Files from Latin America to the US
Burlington, MA (Novmeber 14, 2013)– Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that its customer Cisneros Media, the corporate division that encompasses the Cisneros’ global media and entertainment businesses, achieved dramatic time savings and productivity improvements by implementing Media Shuttle™ as its corporate-wide file transfer solution.
Content produced by Cisneros, owner of Venezuela’s market-leading TV network Venevision and the third largest Spanish language media company in the world, is increasingly popular with American television networks that serve the nation’s 50 million Spanish-speaking residents. Cisneros regularly faces the unique challenge of delivering time-sensitive episodic television content from Caracas to Miami over Venezuelan networks that are limited to 15 Mbps. With Signiant’s Media Shuttle, the company has been able to implement end-to-end file-based workflows that rely on the fast, secure movement of digital assets – even if the content must pass through low-bandwidth networks in Latin America.
“We tested a number of products on the market, but Media Shuttle was the only one that consistently delivered our massive files despite the country-specific limited bandwidth circumstances we face every day,” said Ely Garcia, Chief Technology Officer of Cisneros. “Since September we’ve deployed Media Shuttle throughout our broadcast production and pay TV distribution workflows to routinely move large files several times each day. And we are now about to implement it for distribution of our entire catalog of content including telenovelas and talk shows, and for the delivery of Pay-TV content to our playout provider. Signiant has been an exceptional partner to us. The amazing thing about Media Shuttle is that even with all its power and security, it’s still an absolute breeze to use.”
One example of how Cisneros has benefitted from this solution is with the production of their tele-series “Los Secretos de Lucia,” an action-packed series filmed on locations in Venezuela and South Florida. Cisneros’ broadcast production team in Caracas used Media Shuttle to send 25 GB to 50 GB files several times daily to Miami in just several hours. In the past, they struggled with the unreliability of FTP – where transfers would drop mid-stream without warning, undetected until 12 hours later – or settle for 2-day shipments of physical media. Now they simply “Shuttle it” by sending a link to their post house and production partners – who then drag and drop their files from the Media Shuttle Portal.
Cisneros also used Media Shuttle to transfer completed 50GB weekly episodes of “Todo por la Corona,” a reality TV show about Miss Venezuela produced in partnership with Venevision, each night at 5 pm in Caracas for receipt in Miami early each morning – in time to be delivered by noon. The team also has “Shuttled” weekly episodes of the soccer program “Inside Football,” each file being approximately 26GB.
“Swift global content transfer of large video files is no longer just a nice to have – it’s absolutely mission critical for broadcasters because if you can’t move it, you can’t use it,” said Rick Clarkson, Vice President of Product Management at Signiant. “We’re delighted, and frankly not surprised that Media Shuttle proved to be rock-solid in reliability for Cisneros despite low-bandwidth issues in certain geographies. And we’re honored to serve as a partner to its impressive growth as Spanish language content options expand around the world.”
ABOUT CISNEROS MEDIA: Cisneros Media, a corporate division of Cisneros, incorporates broadcast television, Pay-TV, production, content distribution, music, and beauty pageant companies. The holding company encompasses Venevision, the leading broadcaster and content producer in Venezuela; Venevision Plus, VmasTV and VePlusTV, the organization’s cable networks throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Miss Venezuela Organization, which holds a record six Miss World and Miss Universe titles. Cisneros Media also includes such global business as Venevision International, the worldwide distributor of entertainment content with more than 35 years in the industry; Venevision Studios, the largest independent producer of Spanish-language programming in the United States; and Venevision Music, which operates two record labels, VeneMusic and Siente Music, a music publishing company, Venevision International Publishing, and a concert producer and promoter, VeneShow.
