LAS VEGAS—“Think of it as Lego blocks in the cloud,” said Dr. Kumar Ramaswamy, co-founder of igolgi, as he introduced iBeam—a workflow architecture that shifts every part of a low-power TV plant into an IP data-center core. With more than 600 LPTV encoders already running as pure software on off-the-shelf servers, Ramaswamy argued that the future of small-station operations is “one server, many channels—and no dust-filled racks at the tower”
Why iBeam matters
- Central hub, infinite spokes. At a Farmington Hills, MI hub, igolgi is already multiplexing 90 channels, then moving the entire MPTS over the public internet via SRT to transmitters nationwide—a model that scales “from two stations to two hundred,” he said 00004.
- Station-in-a-box economics. The same x86 or GPU server handles encoding, statistical muxing, captioning, station-ID bugs and logo insertions—all monitored end-to-end by a return SRT feed that shows “what came in, what went out, and what actually aired”
- MPEG-4 now, ATSC 3.0 later. By converting every sub-channel except the primary to H.264 at half the bitrate of MPEG-2—yet better picture quality—operators can jump from four services to a dozen or more today, then swap servers and licenses for 3.0 “in two days” when the business case arrives .
- Programmatic ad revenue on tap. iBeam’s API hooks already integrate with demand-side ad platforms, fire SCTE-35 markers and report impressions automatically, turning each new channel into fresh inventory
- AI on the roadmap. With GPUs already in the chassis, Ramaswamy said the team is training models for “intelligent ad-break detection” to boost fill-rates without manual QC
Key take-aways for ATBA members
- Centralize to monetize. Hosting ingest, playout and ad insertion in a colo or shared data center cuts truck rolls and lets small groups “behave like national networks” while still serving hyper-local audiences.
- Leverage commodity gear. Servers from Supermicro, Dell or HPE become broadcast appliances once iBeam software loads; hardware becomes a “throw-away” cost as compute density grows each year
- Exploit MPEG-4 headroom. Most TVs shipped after 2012 decode H.264 just fine; moving now increases channel count and ad pods without waiting for 3.0.
- Build for OTT parity. The same mezzanine files and live feeds used on-air can simultaneously feed FAST channels, YouTube or other OTT outlets—“no second encoding farm required”
“If you’re still backhauling SDI, ask yourself why,” Ramaswamy challenged. “Google, Netflix and every cloud platform are all-IP. Low-power TV should be, too.”
With its mix of software agility, centralized management and built-in monetization hooks, iBeam positions LPTV licensees to squeeze maximum value out of ATSC 1.0 today—and pivot painlessly to 3.0 (or even 5G Broadcast) tomorrow. For stations watching pennies but dreaming big, that might be the workflow blueprint they’ve been waiting for!
