Singapore MediaCo Using Digital TV To Drive Digital OOH Bus Stop Network

August 3, 2012 by Dave Haynes

A Singapore media company is using what seems to be a pretty unique way to get content running Digital OOH screens at bus stops there.

MediaCorp, described as Singapore’s leading media company, is using data channels in the country’s DVB-T digital television broadcasting system to deliver content. Instead of cellular broadband or hard-wired copper, the company is moving the data over the air, much like a digital TV channel.

The first phase of the project, says a news release, has already been completed, covering bus stops in Singapore’s Orchard Road and the central business district. A second phase will be completed shortly, adding more bus shelters and bringing a shopping centre into the system.

MediaCorp is using the Harris digital signage solution as its platform.

“When we won the contract from LTA in Singapore for bus–stop shelters, our business plan included digital signage along the busiest/high traffic sites,” says Thomas Ang, vice president, out of home media. “We wanted to get the system up and running quickly, and Harris’s ability to deliver a complete package — including the ability to transmit the content over the air, saves us the need to lay new data infrastructure. This means that we could deliver our modern and creative solutions to advertisers, and be able to inform and engage audiences as quickly as possible.”

This post in WiseGeek will explain what DVB-T is all about, but in a nutshell it is video and data distribution by aerial antennas, relaying the signal to receivers that are either addressable to have some means of knowing what to pick up from signals and playback. The signal itself is MPEG-2 video.