Could I Run a TV Station on Linux?

JesusQuintana asks: "I'm working with a low-power television station to update their playback system. Currently they're using tape and I've been tasked to move them to computerized playback (MPEG-2, etc.) There are proprietary solutions (very expensive) and there are companies that bundle software with Windows and standard x86 hardware. Overall, they are generally unimpressive and won't sell the software without bundling it with their own hardware. (They won't let us buy our own storage.) We have the expertise to build our own infrastructure (NAS, redundancy, etc.), but really just need the equivalent of iTunes for high quality video. There are lots of other pieces needed to complete the work-flow (such as encoding the media), which could be accomplished on Mac or Windows or even Linux. But what about playback? We need something that will play back these files at their scheduled times (perhaps scheduling cron jobs to change playlists) to broadcast quality hardware (SDI or YUV video). Could we run a TV station on Linux?"

Comments

I've been wondering the same thing

[drewzhrodague]

I have been wondering the same thing. I was expecting to be a little more elaborate, and generating the content in realtime. OTherwise, I would think that things like geekradio might be modified to fit commercials, show snippets, station announcement, etc.

The real question in doing a TV station, is how to get a license for the LPTV station? THe FCC website talks about having to check the website for when the application window is active, and they only allow license applications when they think it is convenient for them.

Also, you need a place to put the antenna, nevermind the equipment costs. Can I stick an antenna on my house? Can I use this old dead tree? I haven't been able to find out that sort of thing just yet. FCC and the City of Pittsburgh obfuscate their rules and regulations, it is a bit hard to figure out some of these things.