The NPR Public Radio Satellite System says its ContentDepot project is a step closer to eventual completion. According to Pete Loewenstein of NPR Distribution, NPR’s portion of the testing for the new public radio distribution system has been completed.
“The final phase of user acceptance testing begins on March 2, 2006, and is expected to conclude in thirty days,” said Loewenstein in a statement. “That puts the full launch of the ContentDepot on track for late May/early June 2006.”
Twenty-five beta test stations received ContentDepot equipment in January and have been providing data back to NPR Distribution, allowing it to tweak the transmission protocols before launch.
ContentDepot equipment shipments to the remaining 400+ PRSS-interconnected stations begin March 6 and continue throughout April. The standard ContentDepot equipment complement will include two storage receivers for pre-recorded programming and two streaming decoders with four stereo outputs for live programming, according to NPR Distribution.
Stations that were eligible for basic automation systems received them from ENCO Systems, Inc., last summer, he noted and asked that stations that plan to use an existing automation system contact those vendors to confirm ContentDepot compliance.
The existing SOSS/Comstream and ContentDepot systems will run in parallel for at least 90 days, and stations will have until the end of August to make the full transition.
ContentDepot Equipment Shipments Begin in March
ContentDepot Equipment Shipments Begin in March