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Bannister Lake to Present Webinar Focusing on Streaming and Real-Time Data Aggregation and Management

Bannister Lake is pleased to announce today that it will be host a 30-minute product education webinar that will specifically look at real-time data and streaming. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, June 30 at 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific. The webinar will examine Chameleon’s unique capabilities and how they apply to the ever-expanding world of streaming media.  

Chameleon is a multi-module, web-based, real-time data management solution, popular in the broadcast, OTT, and signage sectors. As more and more broadcasters, content and event producers, venue managers and digital signage operators turn to streaming, the integration of real-time data has become a critical editorial component. Bannister Lake has developed a number of specific solutions that support HTML5, NDI and compliment Tricaster, OBS and Vmix workflows.

Webinar attendees will learn how Chameleon powers real-time tickers, full frame graphics, and branding elements for streaming applications incorporating up-to-the-second news and information content. To illustrate this, the webinar will examine a recent use case where Chameleon powers real-time graphic insertion into multiple OTT news channels simultaneously.  

Chameleon creates exciting new opportunities for streaming including the production of election coverage. Chameleon’s powerful election results capabilities allows web-based media organizations to track and analyze incoming results, and produce spectacular graphics populated with real-time data. The product’s RESTful API allows data to be redistributed to

social media channels, mobile applications, webpages or to on-set displays. Chameleon can also power fully automated streamed information channels containing news headlines, weather, financial data, emergency alerts and more. 

Real-time data provides producers, engineers, and management working in streaming media with unprecedented ways to tell stories, leverage automation, and expand their reach. Please join Bannister Lake to learn more about these exciting opportunities. To register for the webinar please visit https://bannisterlake.com/webinar-registration/

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Bannister Lake to Be Represented by US-Based Sales Organization, Media Technology Group

Bannister Lake announced today that the company has entered into a nonexclusive representation agreement with Akron, Ohio-based broadcast sales organization Media Technology Group (MTG). MTG will showcase Bannister Lake’s Chameleon product to the broadcast industry and participate in co-marketing ventures.

Chameleon is an industry-leading software solution used to manage real-time data and populate graphic templates for news tickers, election results, financial data, wagering, and other applications. The same product also drives on-air branding by leveraging real-time data to power snipes, bugs, promos, and “coming up next” boards. Chameleon’s RESTful API allows data to be reformatted and strategically distributed to broadcast graphic engines, HTML5, online, and mobile applications.

“We are thrilled to be working with Bannister Lake,” said Rich Hajdu, president of Media Technology Group. “We recognize the broadcast and media industries’ demand for real-time content. Bannister Lake provides a solution that not only makes it easy for video users to leverage real-time data for news and information channels, but also provides broadcasters with a path to new revenues that is extremely attractive.”

MTG is a full-service sales and support organization targeting video and media users in multiple areas including broadcast, corporate, government, education, and houses of worship. MTG specializes in providing innovative products that elegantly solve specific workflow and production problems. The company selects products from the best global partners with a common theme: rock-solid software, intuitive operation, and powerful features that streamline repetitive tasks. MTG products are to bring high performance and reliability to top-tier facilities.

“Media Technology Group offers us an additional way to get our innovative products and services in front of decision-makers. Their industry knowledge and product experience are unparalleled, and we look forward to working together,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake.

As the news cycle continues to accelerate and audiences rely heavily on vital news and information content, real-time data has become an essential part of the editorial mix. Chameleon leverages real-time data to enhance storytelling, improve production workflows, and create exciting new business opportunities in broadcast, streaming, and digital signage.

For more information about the Media Technology Group, please visit https://mediatgrp.com .

More information about Bannister Lake’s solutions is available at www.bannisterlake.com.

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Bannister Lake to Launch Webinar Series Focusing on Its Chameleon Real-Time Data Aggregation and Management Solution

Bannister Lake is pleased to announce today that it will be presenting a series of casual, 30-minute Chameleon product education webinars over a three-week period beginning on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Each Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific, Bannister Lake will showcase Chameleon’s unique feature set directed at broadcast, web, and digital signage professionals.

Chameleon is a multi-module, web-based, real-time data management solution popular in the broadcast, OTT, and signage sectors. It is used to create custom news tickers, launch automated information channels, track and visualize election results, manage snipes and branding elements, and much more.

The product also includes Chameleon Designer, a powerful template design and data connection tool. Chameleon Designer serves as a unique, single solution to build projects that can be simultaneously used on NDI, SDI, or web platforms.

The first webinar, kicking off on May 5, will focus on tickers and introduce Chameleon’s data ingestion workflow, content management features, and integration of sponsorships. The session is designed for news producers, station management, as well as engineers looking to integrate more timely news content into their programming while generating new revenue opportunities. 

The second webinar, on Tuesday May 12, will center on Chameleon’s enhanced election production capabilities. The webinar will discuss the product’s ability to ingest real-time election results and provide election producers with the ability to track and filter results, make race calls, and quickly create graphic playlists for air. There will also be a look at the product’s RESTful API, where users can distribute customized election data to various devices and endpoints, including mobile devices, websites, augmented reality systems, and social media.

The third webinar, being held on Tuesday May 19, will feature Chameleon’s on-air branding capabilities. This session will explore how the product is used for managing and scheduling promotional snipes, bugs, and full-frame “coming up” billboards. The webinar will also include information about automation, asset management, and advertising campaigns.

“With the cancellation of NAB and the public, now more than ever, depending on news and information that is constantly being updated, we felt that reaching out directly through these focused webinars was important,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “This is a great opportunity to learn more about Chameleon and how it can best serve audiences.”

Real-time data provides producers, engineers, and management with unprecedented ways to tell stories, leverage automation, and expand reach into new platforms. Please join Bannister Lake to learn more about these exciting opportunities.

To register for any or all of these webinars please visit https://bannisterlake.com/webinar-registration.

Webinar Schedule:

Tuesday, May 5, at 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific: Chameleon Tickers

Tuesday, May 12, 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific: Chameleon Elections

Tuesday, May 19, 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific: Chameleon Branding 

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Bannister Lake’s Chameleon Powers Real-Time Data for Global News OTT Channels

Bannister Lake announced today that its Chameleon real-time data management product is being used to support the Global Television Network’s new OTT initiatives. Chameleon is used to control and customize a variety of news, weather, and financial data feeds as well as to manage advertising and promotional content. Global News has launched one national and four regional OTT streams providing viewers with live, 24/7 news and information.

Bannister Lake provided Global Television with a suite of software products, including its Chameleon Web Player, that renders national and localized ticker content for each channel. Also included is the Chameleon Branding Player that displays ads for each channel while generating as-run logs. The project represents revolutionary new approaches that are more efficient and cost-effective when rendering HTML5 graphics for overlay in streams. Instead of rendering graphics using traditional graphic engines, costing tens of thousands of dollars, rendering is performed by inexpensive Raspberry Pi 4 computers.

The Global Television Network is a long-time client of Bannister Lake and uses Chameleon in a wide variety of ways to extend its editorial and business reach. The product is used daily to control and populate data-driven graphics for local morning shows and as an aggregator and distributor of news content for the network’s digital signage initiatives. Bannister Lake also provides Global with an industry-leading election solution that allows producers to track real-time results, make race calls, build graphic playlists, and distribute custom election data to any endpoint.

“Having Bannister Lake contribute to our OTT project just made sense,” said Gerry Belec, national director, news technology and operations, Global News. “The Chameleon product has the flexibility and reliability we required to add real-time data to our streaming news channels.”

Bannister Lake’s Chameleon product is used extensively throughout the broadcast television market and is used by a handful of American OTT clients. The recent work with Global Television represents the company’s first move into the Canadian streaming sector. 

“We’re always excited to work with Global and explore new ways our solutions can be used to reach Canadians,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “Moving into Canadian OTT represents an important new market opportunity as the media landscape continues to evolve.”

Global Television’s OTT news channels are available through the network’s Global TV app and are currently available on Amazon Prime.

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Bannister Lake To Provide Covid-19 Data Through Its Community Aggregation Service

Bannister Lake announced today that as a public service offering, it is making authoritative COVID-19 data available to its customers via its built-in Community data aggregation service. Community collects data from credible public sources such as the World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins and ingests it directly into Bannister Lake’s Chameleon data aggregation and management solution. In addition, the company has developed a world map-based web widget populated with the same COVID-19 data illustrating the extent of the outbreak. Recognizing that as the virus spreads, reliable data is essential for audiences to understand the rapidly changing situation and to respond accordingly, Bannister Lake is making the data and widget available as a public service.

“At a time like this, real-time data from trustworthy sources is the only way audiences can keep up with news about the global pandemic,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “We understand the vital role media organizations play at this time. We want to do our part by supporting their communications efforts with immediate availability of our data and widgets free of charge.”

Within Chameleon, users can manage and integrate local, national and international news, closings, alerts, financial data and other topical content to create a complete view of the COVID-19 situation. This content can then be outputted as tickers, L-Bars, data-populated graphics or fully automated information channels. Chameleon’s RESTful API can be used to strategically distribute data to different broadcast graphic engines, digital signage systems, or as HTML5 for online and mobile distribution.

Media organizations can further query and edit COVID-19 related data to create a variety of custom visualizations including geographically focused datasets, charts, tables, and indicators. Users can schedule the playback of specific data to target particular markets or platforms with data content that may be especially important to that audience. Bannister Lake will continue to develop data parsers incorporating data from reliable sources to ensure that media organizations and their audiences have access to the most up-to-date and accurate content. Customers interested in integrating the data or requiring technical support can email info@bannisterlake.com.

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Bannister Lake Introduces Major Enhancements to Its Chameleon Election Module for the 2020 Election Cycle

Bannister Lake announced today that its industry-leading data aggregation and management product, Chameleon, will now include additional election-specific capabilities. The new enhancements will allow broadcasters, station groups, streaming news services, and online media companies to launch election coverage with full editorial, data, and graphics support. Sophisticated election systems have historically been custom built by network news departments and are out of reach for many media companies. Bannister Lake’s Chameleon election solution provides any media outlet with the ability to professionally cover elections and ingest automated AP Elections or Decision Desk HQ data or enter results manually.

The new election module features customizable race tracking and filtering functionality, allowing producers to focus on specific races of interest. Editorial teams can use Chameleon to follow races based on star candidates, close results, geography, or other criteria. Producers can also create pre-built collections of races to have them readily available for air. As a web-based system, Chameleon can support an unlimited number of users, allowing producers and reporting teams to have access to results and functionality from anywhere.

Within the election module, producers can quickly create graphic playlists populated with real-time results based on the races they are following and display them immediately. Chameleon also allows production teams to add candidate headshots, customize the UI to zero-in on specific races or groups of races, and switch to manual results should the data feeds be interrupted.

“Elections are all about getting results on air quickly and accurately,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “The new Chameleon election module will ensure that any broadcaster or media company can win over audiences, on any platform, with great data-driven graphics and analysis.”

In addition to managing graphics for broadcast, election producers can leverage Chameleon’s API to distribute results data to a wide variety of graphic engines including NDI, SDI, and HTML 5. Subsets of data can be strategically distributed to on-set touchscreens, augmented reality systems, web widgets, or mobile applications. This important feature allows clients to extend election coverage to social media, websites, and interactive applications. 

Be sure to visit Bannister Lake at the 2020 NAB Show, Booth SL4711.

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Bannister Lake to Showcase Data Management Innovations at NAB Show Driving Election Coverage, Tickers, On-Air Branding, and Infochannels

At the 2020 NAB Show, Canadian real-time data solutions provider Bannister Lake will be focusing on its industry-leading data aggregation and management solution Chameleon and how the product adds value to a wide variety of broadcast, OTT, and digital signage applications.

Bannister Lake will be highlighting Chameleon’s enhanced election module ready for the 2020 U.S. election cycle. Media companies can take advantage of Chameleon’s new election features to produce real-time election coverage on any screen. Chameleon reads election results from both the Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ, allowing media to report on up ballot and down ballot races as well as the primaries and caucuses.

Bannister Lake will also be highlighting Chameleon’s ability to fully manage and visualize both live data feeds and on-air branding content for enhancing news productions, sponsorships, and promotions. Broadcasters in any market, using any output device, can integrate, moderate, and customize multiple live data feeds into graphic templates and provide their audiences with real-time news, weather, sports, social media, financial, and fully customized data. In addition, the product’s branding module can fully control sponsor’s snipes, bugs, and other promotional graphic content triggered by the broadcaster’s traffic system.

Automated infochannels will also be in the spotlight at the 2020 NAB Show. Chameleon serves as the foundation to ingest, manage, and visualize an unlimited number of data feeds that can be rendered to any graphics engine, HTML 5, or NDI. Broadcasters can quickly launch infochannels made up of real-time news, weather, sports, financial, event calendars, and other relevant content. To enhance the offering, Bannister Lake has recently added transit and car sharing data to make the channels especially important to local audiences.

As legal sports wagering continues to grow across the U.S., Bannister Lake will be featuring wagering channels covering horse racing, fantasy sports, and other events. Chameleon has become an essential tool to aggregate, manage, and display both sports statistics and betting data. Bannister Lake works with media companies that require a robust solution that can read data from a wide variety of sources and can integrate that data into the on-air presentation.   

The 2020 NAB Show will also spotlight in-venue, real-time data solutions for arenas and stadiums. More and more venues are realizing that real-time data plays an integral role in delivering content that adds a deeper and more entertaining fan experience. Venues appreciate that advertising- and sponsor-related content has more impact if real-time, game-relevant, insightful data could be tied to the presentation. Chameleon is used to ingest real-time statistical data from the leagues, allowing fans to view carefully parsed live game and league statistics combined with game action. Venues are also turning to Chameleon to develop innovative use cases for real-time data and sponsorships, including graphically visualizing wait times at exit gates and concessions, charity lotteries, and corporate communications solutions.

Be sure to visit Bannister Lake at the 2020 NAB Show, Booth SL4711.

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Bannister Lake Announces Partnership With Multimode Transit and Mobility Data Provider Roadify Transit

Bannister Lake announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Brooklyn-based data aggregator and distributor, Roadify Transit. Roadify specializes in capturing live multimode transit and mobility data from transit authorities, bike share programs, in addition to car and ride share services from around the world. Bannister Lake has developed and implemented a data parser for Roadify data that ingests schedule and real-time transit data directly into its industry-leading Chameleon data aggregation and management solution.

Within Chameleon, users will be able to strategically customize Roadify location-based data with other real-time data feeds, and use BLADE, the product’s RESTful API, to strategically distribute data to specific endpoints for visualization. By targeting and extending transit and mobility data to online, mobile, OTT, and web widgets, Chameleon users will be able to create new data products that reach more viewers and generate new revenue.

The addition of Roadify data will allow Chameleon clients to be able to create location-specific live transit displays ideal for arenas, public events, and corporate campuses. The data can also be used by broadcast users to provide viewers with up-to-the-second mass transit information informing commuters of service alerts and on-time status. The combination of Roadify data and Chameleon software will provide a complete view of multiple area transit and mobility system conditions while supporting sponsorships, advertising, and other supplementary editorial content such as school closings, events calendars, local news, and traffic.

“Reliable, consistent transit information that includes car and bike sharing is critical to commuters,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “Managing that data through Chameleon and making it readily available to any screen, anywhere, is an important public service, and we are thrilled to be working with Roadify to fulfill this mandate.”

“As transit and mobility options proliferate, Bannister Lake will make it easy for riders to find out what’s going on around them right now, simply by looking up at a display,” said Scott Kolber, CEO, Roadify. “We’re especially excited that Bannister Lake will be making RoadifyTV, our new integrated data selection and deployment tool, available through Chameleon. RoadifyTV is specifically focused on digital signage services, and Bannister Lake will be among the first wave of our partners to use it.”

Bannister Lake provides both broadcasters and digital signage operators with exciting new opportunities to present data and graphics in innovative ways that leverage automation, data query, and business rules. As a real-time data expert with strong development skills in database, APIs, and applications, Bannister Lake designs, builds, and implements solutions that leverage editorially relevant data sources to engage audiences and attract advertising revenue.

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Bannister Lake Integrates MPEG-DASH Streaming Protocol Into Chameleon Data Aggregation Workflow

Bannister Lake announced today that MPEG dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) video content is now fully supported through its flagship Chameleon data management product. Responding to high market demand for the integration of the popular streaming format, Bannister Lake has added DASH playback support in the Chameleon Web Server and has integrated the streaming standard as a media material within its design tool, Chameleon Designer. Utilizing Chameleon Designer, users can build sophisticated graphic templates that incorporate multiple real-time and static data sources.

The combination of DASH and Chameleon helps ensure that over-the-top (OTT) operators can take full advantage of the streaming standard’s ability to adapt to changing network conditions while providing superior quality playback and simultaneously displaying timely, real-time data content. As the broadcast industry moves toward streaming and new distribution models that include multiple devices, the incorporation of the DASH streaming protocol into television technology solutions has become an industry priority. DASH has quickly become a favored international standard and is widely supported on virtually all platforms.

“At Bannister Lake we see the integration of the DASH live streaming protocol as an important development milestone for our Chameleon product,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “Streaming content has become an important part of the broadcast business, and we are well positioned to support this growing market.”

OTT is quickly gaining traction with viewers, and by combining real-time and static data content with live streamed content, network operators can generate new storytelling and business opportunities. Using Chameleon, producers can create exciting news, financial, sports, and weather offerings that combine a highly advanced adaptive live streaming solution with best-in-class data management, aggregation, and visualization.

With the inclusion of DASH, Chameleon can support multiple concurrent streams of live or pre-recorded content, allowing OTT operators to switch between different streams. This feature provides enormous flexibility for media organizations to quickly and affordably launch multiple national, regional, and localized versions of streamed services. 

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Bannister Lake and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Extend Real-Time Data to Fuel Fan Engagement

MLSE VIP suite screen displaying game data aggregated and managed by Bannister Lake’s Chameleon

Bannister Lake announced today that long-time client Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) has enhanced its real-time data offerings to sports fans using Bannister Lake’s data management solution. Real-time NBA, NHL, and MLSE-generated in-house data is now being displayed in all the suites located in Scotiabank Arena.

Screens in the suites display real-time game statistics providing fans with a deeper understanding of the game and allowing them to track the performance of their favorite teams and players. MLSE ingests the data directly from the leagues, aggregates and manages the content through Chameleon, and then distributes it to the venue’s signage system. Fans are exposed to targeted advertising along with game statistics populated within an overlaid L-Bar graphic.

“Bannister Lake now helps our venue effectively manage real-time data content and make it readily available in Scotiabank Arena,” said David August, director of venue technology, MLSE. “Chameleon makes it easy to ingest, aggregate, and customize all kinds of data feeds without the need to write custom code.”

MLSE displays real-time sports data using Chameleon in multiple locations within Scotiabank Arena. End-zone screens located at either end of the venue display game scores from around the NBA and NHL, and the main scoreboard screen displays specific team and player stats based on game action.

MLSE uses Chameleon’s built-in RESTful API to reformat data and make it available to multiple digital signage platforms and graphics engines used to render data content. Chameleon allows MLSE staff to direct specific content to specific endpoints, granting them unlimited possibilities to customize the presentation.

“MLSE is another great example of a client who has fully embraced Chameleon and sees the incredible value of real-time data for impacting audiences,” said Georg Hentsch, president, Bannister Lake. “We are excited to push the boundaries with MLSE and work together on new data applications.”

MLSE is currently testing new data use cases powered by Chameleon including corporate digital signage and entry-gate wait times.