The Ohio Broadcast Educational Media Commission (BEMC) has revolutionized its public broadcasting capabilities through a comprehensive implementation since 2016 of Cinegy’s software-defined television solutions. The commission recently expanded its channel count to nearly 60, showcasing the platform’s exceptional scalability and flexibility in supporting public television across the state. This substantial growth represents a dramatic evolution from their previous operations, enabling them to meet increasing demands while maintaining efficiency and cost-effectiveness. A recent expansion saw an additional 8 channels being deployed.

The BEMC Mission

BEMC supports public education broadcasting services across Ohio, providing leadership and programs for public television, school video technology, state government broadcasting, and radio reading services. The commission’s mandate requires delivering high-quality content while working within state budget constraints – a challenge that demanded innovative solutions. Their commitment to public service necessitated a system that could handle complex workflows while remaining adaptable to changing needs and technologies.

Transformative Technology Implementation

The commission deploys a comprehensive suite of Cinegy solutions including:

• Cinegy Air: Powers multi-channel playout across nearly 60 channels, with built-in encoding capabilities that have dramatically reduced hardware costs. The system handles complex playout requirements including Nielsen watermarking and integrated encoding, all while maintaining broadcast-quality standards.
• Cinegy Archive: Serves as the secure hub for media asset management, enabling centralized control and sharing of content throughout the facility. The archive system manages extensive media libraries while providing instant access to content when needed.
• Cinegy Desktop: Facilitates collaborative workflows, allowing broadcast operations staff as well as the scheduling team and content producers to access and edit content from anywhere, supporting remote work capabilities and improving production efficiency.
• Cinegy Capture: Handles real-time ingest across multiple formats, creating both high-resolution and proxy versions simultaneously, streamlining the content acquisition process.

Technical Innovation in Action

The implementation leverages advanced IP multicast workflows, delivering significant advantages over traditional baseband solutions. At its core, the system enables unified multicast signal distribution across Ohio from a single source, while incorporating sophisticated features such as built-in Nielsen watermarking capabilities and integrated encoding functionality. The encoding capabilities of the playout engine within Cinegy Air  have been particularly transformative, delivering substantial cost savings compared to BEMC’s previous method of purchasing standalone hardware network encoders. The system’s architecture allows for seamless redundancy and disaster recovery, ensuring continuous operation even in challenging circumstances.

For monitoring purposes, the multicast IP infrastructure has proven exceptionally flexible, allowing BEMC to establish monitoring points anywhere on their network simply by connecting a network cable. This capability has dramatically improved their ability to monitor and maintain broadcast quality across their extensive channel lineup. The integration eliminates the need for standalone hardware encoders, while providing comprehensive monitoring and redundancy options that adapt to varying operational needs.

“The Cinegy platform has enabled us to modernize and profoundly expand our level of service,” says Josh Sorden of Ohio BEMC. “We now offer 24/7/365 JMC support to Ohio’s public broadcasters at a scale that would have been impossible to achieve with our previous infrastructure. The system’s flexibility allows us to accommodate new requirements and opportunities without the traditional overhead of additional hardware purchases.”

Workflow Revolution

Prior to Cinegy, BEMC specialized in long-term storage and scheduled delivery of broadcast media. The new platform has transformed their capabilities through seamless integration of the digital archive environment with asset management. The system has proven particularly effective at handling the complexities of multi-channel playout while maintaining consistent quality across all outputs. Overnight maintenance requirements have been significantly reduced through automated processes and improved system stability.

The platform’s architecture has enabled BEMC to achieve substantial hardware cost savings through consolidated functionality and improved resource utilization. Their disaster recovery capabilities have been enhanced through redundant systems and automated failover processes, ensuring continuous operation for their critical broadcast services. The storage infrastructure has been optimized to handle both high-resolution broadcast content and proxy files efficiently, enabling faster access to media assets while maintaining robust backup protocols.

The most dramatic improvement has been in service expansion capabilities. “When new opportunities arise, we simply plug in a network cable rather than purchasing additional legacy equipment,” notes Sorden. “This has fundamentally changed our approach to growth and innovation, allowing us to respond quickly to new requirements while maintaining cost efficiency.”

Cultural Transformation

The impact extends beyond technical improvements. BEMC has experienced a fundamental shift in its operational culture, moving from a reactive to proactive approach in handling new service opportunities. The team now approaches challenges with confidence, knowing they have the technical flexibility to implement creative solutions. Response times to broadcaster requirements have improved significantly, while resource utilization has become more efficient through automated workflows and streamlined processes. The reduced technical barriers have encouraged innovation across departments, leading to improved collaboration and more effective content delivery.

Strategic Partnership

“Working with the Ohio BEMC exemplifies how our software-defined television solutions can help public broadcasters maximize their resources while expanding their service capabilities,” says Daniella Weigner, Managing Director of Cinegy. “Their success in leveraging our platform to create a more efficient, flexible, and future-ready broadcast infrastructure demonstrates the transformative potential of our technology in the public broadcasting sector. The commission’s innovative approach to implementing our solutions shows how public broadcasters can achieve significant growth while maintaining operational efficiency.”

Future Vision

BEMC continues to explore new capabilities within the Cinegy ecosystem, with a particular focus on expanding automated workflows and optimizing storage management. The commission’s technical team is actively working to enhance integration between broadcast systems while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to new technologies and requirements. Their commitment to continuous improvement drives regular evaluations of workflow efficiency and system performance, ensuring they maximize the value of their Cinegy implementation.

The commission’s successful implementation serves as a model for other public broadcasting organizations seeking to modernize their operations while maintaining cost-effectiveness. Through strategic use of Cinegy’s software-defined television solutions, BEMC has created a robust, scalable foundation that will support Ohio’s public broadcasting needs well into the future, while maintaining the agility to adapt to evolving broadcast technologies and audience expectations.

Systems integration and design was carried out by long-time Cinegy partner, HA Design based in Springfield, VA.