Sunbelt Communications Selects Critical Media's Syndicaster Platform to Radically Simplify Getting Content Off-the-Air and onto the Web Within Seconds of Broadcast

Sunbelt Communications Selects Critical Media's Syndicaster Platform to Radically Simplify Getting Content Off-the-Air and onto the Web Within Seconds of Broadcast

Syndicaster Enables Mid-Stream Clip Creation on One Unified Platform for all Station Group Properties Along With Immediate Placement into Online Distribution to Thousands of Reputable Websites

NOTE: Critical Media CEO, Sean Morgan presenting at noon CEO Showcase and available at breakout session for interviews immediately following, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street.

NEW YORK, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- AlwaysOn Conference -- Critical Media, a real-time broadcast search, syndication and information services company today announced that Sunbelt Communications has signed an agreement to utilize its new Syndicaster platform for clip creation, distribution and immediate monetization of video online. Syndicaster (www.syndicaster.tv) is the only completely web-based solution for making broadcast video and audio fully searchable in near real-time. Because Syndicaster creates clips that are on par with text search and syndication standards, it effectively catapults audio and video assets from a browseable to a fully discoverable medium, enabling full-blown viral distribution online.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080123/NYW116LOGO )

Under the new agreement, Sunbelt television stations can now quickly create video clips, add titles, edit the fully keyword-searchable transcripts and publish their video online, on their sites and on thousands of carefully selected vertical sites, all within 60 seconds of airtime. As an option, Sunbelt stations can take advantage of Syndicaster's editorial team, outsourcing clip creation for a nominal per clip fee or under a monthly fixed fee. The outsourced service segments the broadcaster's entire newscast into discrete video assets including Title, Summary, Category Meta Tagging as well as the full text transcript, providing a truly dynamic end user experience at relevant websites, enhanced by up-to-minute video news segments while the news broadcast is still in midstream.

Whether broadcasters outsource or manage their own clip creation, Syndicaster dynamically publishes clips within seconds of airtime for "first- in-market" coverage on the broadcaster's website, while also offering monetization of broadcast news beyond the broadcaster's website and local market, generating incremental revenues on thousands of reputable vertical websites, without cannibalizing broadcasters' core, local audience. At all times, broadcasters retain full control over which vertical websites have access to their syndicated content. Significantly, Syndicaster also frees broadcasters from their dependence on legacy solutions that require personnel to be on location at hardware/software stations; each carrying per seat renewal licenses, and often other fees for clip creation and distribution. Requiring no hardware, no software, but rather, simply a free user name and password to Syndicaster, in-house or outsourced editors can login from anywhere, create fully searchable video clips midstream, download and immediately publish them to their station or station group's web site as well as to Critical Media's ad-supported video syndication platform, ClipSyndicate, (www.clipsyndicate.com) enabling rapid and wide distribution of fully searchable broadcast media assets, in multiple formats, in near real-time.

"In our business we live and die by first-to-market coverage; we took a very serious look at all solutions currently available on the market and none of them came even close to the speed and easy of use of Syndicaster. We can now get our video online within seconds of airtime ... No hardware to purchase and maintain, no software licensing fees, a vertical video distribution model; simple, fast and efficient. Finally something that makes sense," says Gene Hogsett, Sunbelt Digital Media's Director of Digital Media and New Technology. "The service integrates seamlessly into the core CMS applications already in use by Sunbelt stations. Within moments of creating and syndicating the clip on the Syndicaster platform, the media asset is ready for integration into our existing CMS infrastructure," continued Hogsett.

Ion Puspurica, former WorldNow veteran and now Executive Vice President and GM of Critical Media's Broadcaster Services Group said, "Syndicaster is ideal for Sunbelt because it is a unified application, allowing a station group to manage all its stations under one platform, driving huge cost efficiencies and distribution opportunities on a station group-wide basis. With Syndicaster, a station group can have one username and password and assign one clip editor who has real time access to the live news broadcasts of all of their stations. Now, instead of each station operating as a silo, the station group can leverage one feed of video news content from all of their stations in real-time."

About Sunbelt Communications Company

Sunbelt Communications Company, established in 1979, owns and operates 16 NBC and FOX affiliate television stations in five western states. Sunbelt distinguishes itself in all markets with a strong local news presence and takes a serious interest in the communities in which it's located, particularly in the support of area colleges.

About Syndicaster

Syndicaster is marketed by the Broadcaster Services Group, a division of Critical Media, Inc., a company at the forefront of real-time broadcast video search, syndication and information services. By leveraging its massive real- time content acquisition and digitization infrastructure, Critical Media is focused on helping television and radio broadcasters and content owners generate incremental online revenues and extend their brand across thousands of carefully selected interactive properties serving targeted, highly desirable audiences. By so doing, the Company believes it has created the definitive platform for advancing the utilization of professionally generated broadcast and video media assets online. Every day, Critical Media digitizes and monetizes over 13,000 hours of broadcast content on 4 continents, making every minute of content keyword searchable within 60 seconds of airtime. More information on Critical Media can be found at www.critical-media.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080123/NYW116LOGO
AP Archive:

http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Critical Media

CONTACT: Ion Puspurica, EVP and GM, of Critical Media Broadcaster
Services Group, +1-212-400-8894, or Anne Andiorio of Critical Media,
+1-212-398-1141 ext. 166

Web site:

http://www.critical-media.com/
http://www.syndicaster.tv/
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/

-------
Profile: intent