Blackbird and TownNews expand to 75 US news stations

Posted: 09/09/2021

9 September 2021, Moline, Illinois and London – Blackbird plc (AIM:BIRD; OTCQX:BBRDF), the developer and seller of the market-leading cloud native video editing platform, Blackbird, announces today that Blackbird is now being used by a total of 75 US TV stations for digital news production following TownNews’ latest deployment. This is the sixth expansion of Blackbird by TownNews since the partnership began in 2018.

Production teams at the 75 US TV stations use Blackbird remotely to rapidly access, edit and publish news content fast to social and web platforms. When paired with TownNews’ Field59 VMS, the latest news stories can be delivered to viewers with unbeatable speed and control using Blackbird’s browser-based, easy-to-use and carbon efficient cloud native video editing platform. US TV stations using Blackbird span 35 states.

Over 350 local TV stations in the US produce approximately six hours of news content per day with the industry generating nearly $31 billion in revenues annually. With an estimated 43% of US adults sourcing their news from websites and social media, millions of viewers in the US now consume content through the Blackbird and TownNews’ Field59 VMS platform.

Derek Gebler, Vice President of Broadcast and Video for TownNews, said: “The team at Blackbird has been a tremendous partner with us in providing the digital video workflow tools we know our broadcast television customers value and expect. I look forward to our continued collaboration.”

Blackbird CEO, Ian McDonough, commented: “Blackbird and TownNews have really built an incredible partnership which continues to expand at pace. We started in 2018 with two stations and now have 75. It’s an excellent combined solution and demonstrates perfectly how two companies can work together for the customer’s benefit.”

Blackbird drives awareness, monetization and efficiencies for brands in the sports, news, entertainment and enterprise sectors.  Customers include Univision, IMG, Deltatre, Sky News Arabia, EVS, A+E Networks, BT, NHL, Eleven Sports, Cheddar News, Riot Games, the U.S Department of State and 75 local US news stations with TownNews.