Webcasting Service

What is Webcasting

The word webcast is derived from “web” and “broadcast”. It's use has varied since the early 1990's as the nature of the medium came into public use.

Webcasting is sending audio and / or video live over the Internet. In essence, webcasting can be thought of as broadcasting over the Internet. The generally accepted use of the term webcast is the transmission of linear audio or video content over the Internet.

A webcast uses streaming media technology to take a single content source and distribute it to many simultaneous listeners or viewers. The largest “webcasters” include existing radio and TV stations that “simulcast” their output, as well as a multitude of Internet only “stations”. The term webcasting is usually reserved for referring to non-interactive linear streams or live events. Rights and licensing bodies offer specific “webcasting licenses” to those wishing to carry out Internet broadcasting using copyright material (webcast licensing is the responsibility of the client, Design Web Studio can offer help and guidance on licensing).

Webcasting is also used extensively in the commercial sector for investor relations presentations such as Annual General Meetings, in E-learning to transmit seminars (please see our Web Conferencing and Web Seminar Service for more details), and for related communication activities.

The ability to webcast using cheap / accessible technology has allowed independent media to flourish. There are many notable independent shows that broadcast regularly online. Often produced by average citizens in their homes they cover many interests and topics, from the mundane to the bizarre. Webcasts relating to computers, technology, and news are particularly popular and many new shows are added regularly.

Webcasting Licensing
If you want to broadcast on the Internet, you'll need the right licences. It's easy to produce the audio / media files, and to sound just as good as other Internet radio / IPTV stations but you need to ensure that you have the right licences. Internet radio / IPTV broadcasters that have music and film as part of their programming need to have licences from the owners of the copyright in both the recordings that they play and in the underlying songs and films.

You will probably need to have at least two licences, and for some situations you may need to have additional ones. The MCPS-PRS Joint Online Licence (at www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk) covers most audio-only usage of music online, including streaming (individual and webcasts), as well as downloads. Royalty Rates are 12% of the gross revenue. A fixed part of this payment is due in advance.

The PPL'S Webcasting Licence (at www.ppluk.com) charge per track, for any internet radio channel. PPL will also have a “dubbing fee” for the right to copy a copyrighted work to your hard-drive for subsequent broadcast by your playout system. This is currently included in the webcasting licence above.

In addition, the MCPS-PRS TV and Radio Advertisement Licencing will be required if you are producing your own adverts, you will need to be aware that there are extra fees for this type of music use even with “library music”.

If you require help and advice about webcasting licences you can email the MCOS-PRS at onlinelicensing@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk or the PPL at internet.radio@ppluk.com.

Internet radio
Internet radio is listening to audio broadcasts via the Internet. There are more than 4,000 broadcasts available on the Internet that can be streamed and played by a software media player in the computer or in a stand-alone Internet radio with the software built in. The broadcasts come from a myriad of different organisations as well as traditional radio stations.

Internet radio may be streamed in real-time along with regular AM, FM and DAB over-the-air broadcasts, or it may be a recording of a previous broadcast. In the latter case, the broadcast can be streamed at any time from the beginning.

IPTV
IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) also called "TV over IP" delivers scheduled TV programs and video-on-demand via the IP protocol and digital streaming techniques used to watch video on the Internet. In order to receive and decode the images in real-time, the user requires either an IPTV set-top box or a computer and software-based media player.

IPTV enables a data-voice-video "triple play" service to be based entirely on IP because Internet access, voice over IP (VoIP) and IPTV, all use the same IP packet format. To compete with cable TV, the telephone companies have taken the lead with IPTV over DSL and broadband lines. Rather than tune into one of many video channels being transmitted simultaneously over cable TV, IPTV users request a particular channel, which is routed to the user like every resource on the Internet.

There are a multitude of IPTV stations that deliver their content only via the Internet. Although there are paid subscriptions to some services, most are free. In addition, many TV broadcasters send their video over the air and to the Internet simultaneously.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Webcasting

The advantages with webcasting is that you can listen and watch in almost real time with only a slight delay of a few seconds. Also publishers and artists can protect their copyright and monitor distribution.

The disadvantage with webcasting is that your internet connection must be fast enough to receive the data in almost real-time, where with downloads you are not constrained to a time limit. The quality of the recording may also be affected by heavy internet traffic, this can cause skips or breaks in the music. Another major disadvantage is that you have to be constantly connected to the internet to receive webcasts which can be costly for users who pay per minute.

What we do for you

We will install your pre-recorded stream onto your server and present it on your website in as many streaming formats as possible.

We will also submit your broadcast to various webcasting related sites and search engines.

If you require a live stream please see our Web Conferencing / Web Seminar Service or speak to our designers who will help you to decide what is valuable and relevant to your business.

Please note: This service does not include the filming and recording of your audio / media broadcast. If you require this service, please speak to our designers who can help you in sourcing audio / media broadcast recording companies.

What We Need From You

All we need from you is a copy of your broadcast and the choice of service you require (eg. Internet Radio or IPTV).

The Products

RealMedia and RealAudio
RealMedia is the most widely adopted webcasting format on the Internet. It's popularity is due in large part to the fact that it was the first streaming technology on the market. But it's popular also because of RealNetworks' laser focus on ease of use, deployment of a wide palette of developer tools, continuous support for the latest multimedia technologies, and support for both Windows and Unix platforms. RealMedia is the format of choice for professionals who want advanced controls for serving, tracking, and managing large numbers of audio streams. RealNetworks has been a trailblazer in making advanced server features, which were once accessible only to those with advanced programming skills, available to the public.

Windows Media Technologies
Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies includes a comprehensive suite of authoring tools and streaming services for delivering audio, video, animation, and other multimedia over the Internet. Windows Media comes with a complete set of tools for encoding and authoring streaming content including Windows Media T.A.G. Author, a utility for arranging media elements along a timeline. Windows Media presentations are played back with the Windows Media Player, which plays most local and streamed media file types including Advanced Streaming Format (Windows' native file format), MPEG, WAV, AVI, QuickTime, and RealAudio / RealVideo. Since Media Player is distributed with Windows, it has widespread distribution.

Windows Media allows for better playback over machines running Windows. To enable smooth multimedia playback over the Internet and avoid the problematic issue of cumbersome plug-in downloads altogether, Microsoft is moving towards integrating Windows Media Player, along with Internet Explorer, directly into the Windows operating system.

Windows Media wraps all media elements into one Active Streaming File (ASF), Microsoft's proprietary streaming media format. According to Microsoft, with ASF any object can be placed into an ASF data stream, including audio and video, scripts, ActiveX controls, and HTML.

QuickTime
Apple Computer's QuickTime enables the delivery and playback of video, audio, animation, 3-D, and panoramic images for Macintosh and Windows. QuickTime is also the leading video production platform for both Windows and Macintosh. Most multimedia on computers begins with or involves QuickTime. Accordingly, the QuickTime technology is a natural for high-quality audio and video playback over the Internet. Similar to Windows Media, QuickTime does not charge licensing fees for the number of simultaneous streams served. QuickTime can be streamed from the Mac OS X Server, the Darwin Streaming Media Server, and RealNetworks' RealServer 8.0.

One of the keys to the success of the QuickTime technology and plug-in is that it can handle all types of media elements. For those of you trying to design for the greatest number of users and the least number of plug-ins, this can be a significant benefit.

In addition to playing MP3 content, QuickTime supports Timecode tracks as well as MIDI standards, including the Roland Sound Canvas and GS format extensions. QuickTime also supports key standards for web streaming, including HTTP, RTP, and RTSP. Plus, QuickTime supports every major file format for images, including JPEG, BMP, PICT, PNG, and GIF. QuickTime also features built-in support for digital video, including MiniDV, DVCPro, and DVCam camcorder formats, as well as support for AVI, AVR, MPEG-1, and OpenDML.

Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is the solution for full-scale, high-impact web multimedia with short sound effects and loops. Flash's bandwidth friendly vector animation is ideally suited for web content delivery. Flash encodes embedded soundtracks in MP3 format that allows for better streaming and higher quality audio playback.

Flash is also tightly integrated with RealMedia. You can combine a Flash animation with a RealAudio soundtrack using the RealDeveloper tools to encode a RealFlash presentation. RealFlash allows linear playback from within the RealMedia architecture taking advantage of RealMedia's advanced bandwidth negotiation for streaming audio and video and Flash's streamlined vector graphics for interactive animation.

WEBCASTING COSTS £120.