DATE: 2/9/2006

CONTACT: Rowland Alston, (864) 773-5561; Ralston@clemson.edu

WRITER: Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343, ext. 241; tlollis@clemson.edu

Clemson, FTC make video streaming available for MIG

SUMTER – Fans of the S.C. ETV program “Making It Grow!” can now catch the telecast anywhere, anytime as long as they have access to a computer and the Internet.

Thanks to funds from Clemson University and support from Farmers Telephone Cooperative’s Diversified Services division, MIG! is available through video streaming on the www.MIG.org website. The popular ETV program offers expert advice on plants in and around the home and highlights interesting places and products around the state.

“The latest technology makes it possible for Clemson University to get our information out to the state and beyond at each person’s convenience,” said Rowland Alston, special assistant to the Clemson University vice president and host of MIG!

“You can be in Beijing, China and watch the program just like you were sitting in Columbia,” he said.

Clemson contributed approximately $13,000, which enabled WRJA-TV, ETV’s S.C. Channel affiliate in Sumter, to purchase a Dell Precision computer and software for encoding programs that can be archived on a Dell PowerEdge 2850 server, according to Kevin Jordan, engineer manager for WRJA.

“We can store as many as 1,000 hour-long programs on the server at one time,” he said. “The program can be viewed live using the video-streaming feed and the program is archived at the same time. It’s available in the archive within 10-15 minutes after broadcast.”

Viewing the streamed version of MIG! requires Windows Media Player 9 or later. Anyone who needs to download the software can click on a link on the MIG! website that takes the viewer to a Microsoft site.

MIG! airs on all ETV stations in South Carolina on Tuesday nights at 7.

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