Scala announced today that it has acquired the SignChannel division of Thinking Screen Media. SignChannel is a new category of self-service digital signage service that is both low cost and easy to use, Scala says on its website.
SignChannel is an advertising-free, subscription-based service that allows subscribers to add commercial content like weather, stock, news or sports updates to their own promotional content.
“No one today has a digital signage offering for small business owners to deploy and manage themselves. SignChannel is the first,” Scala CEO Gerard Bucas said in the announcement. “By leveraging low-cost media players such as wireless photo frames and Scala’s template capability, a small to medium business owner can easily set up their own digital signage network, create compelling content and manage their playlists through a simple Web interface. Coupled with SignChannel’s built-in media content, it is so innovative that we feel it truly presents a new paradigm in our industry.”
“Scala has been a great help to us in the last year to get our SignChannel service started. Their server side software enabled us to bring a wide variety of professionally designed templates for a variety of vertical markets to the existing lineup of more than 500 media channels of news, weather, sports, stocks and local information for our service,” said Alan Phillips, CEO, Thinking Screen Media. “Now, Scala will be able to take SignChannel to the next level by leveraging its presence in the global digital signage marketplace.”
With Scala’s substantial investment, Thinking Screen Media will continue to develop their award-winning, consumer-focused and advertising-supported FrameChannel platform, according to the announcement. FrameChannel is available on more than 20 connected devices, including the iPad. FrameChannel, which contains advertising supported content, differs from SignChannel, which is an advertising-free, subscription-based service.
“Other traditional digital signage systems, including Scala’s award-winning Scala 5 software, need a reseller or system integrator to install the system, a graphic designer to create content and an IT person to manage the network” said Jeff Porter, executive vice president, Scala. “With SignChannel, you have an affordable do-it-yourself SaaS solution for small- and medium-sized businesses.”
Source link: Scala acquires SignChannel from Thinking Screen Media