Data broadcasting firm WavePhore, Inc., announced today that
it is adding streaming audio and video support to its WaveTop service.
Integration of streaming technology will enable a wide range of multimedia
services on WaveTop including live video, audio and other rich “TV-like”
content, the company stated.
WaveTop’s broadcast service is distributed nationally to TV-tuner
board-enabled PC’s via the unused portion of television signals from 264
PBS member stations around the country.
It reportedly reaches the top 100
U.S. markets, representing over 85 percent of all U.S. households. The service provides channels featuring news, sports, financial, entertainment,
technology and family resources.
“This is a major step forward for WaveTop,” said Patrick Gilbert, Sr. vice
president and CTO of WaveTop. “By adding streaming video and audio to
WaveTop, we are giving our viewers and content providers a taste of Digital
Television, using existing infrastructure.
“It represents a great
opportunity for content providers as everything they build now will
transition seamlessly to our future DTV network. Effectively, WaveTop is
the first nationwide terrestrial digital broadcaster in the country.”
WaveTop’s streaming implementation supports the industry standard IP
Multicast protocol. Development tools for qualified streaming application
and content developers are now available for WaveTop 1.0 software, and an
updated WaveTop 2.0 is scheduled for release later this year.
In addition, WaveTop also introduced a new virtual network adapter dubbed
“Null-net.” It is designed to enable existing streaming products, both
servers and players, such as Microsoft’s NetShow and Real Network’s Real
Media systems to operate on WaveTop’s broadcast network without any
modification.
