How often do you switch channels?

MagicINFO offers a lot of ways to schedule content to always be spot on with your message. Scheduling itself gives endless options in setting dates and times for publishing. Also, playlists and each separate content item have options of their own as well. When you need to work with different content items published at certain times, it can feel like you are the operator of the national railway company. Making sure all trains are right on time. 

Channels is another option to add to the list of features that you can use for planning your content; an option that's not quite often used but is in fact a really strong feature within MagicINFO. And this one can make your scheduling life perhaps less complex.

What is it, and why is it there? 

Easy said: the channels feature the same as a TV broadcast channel. You can give each channel a different playlist and add up to 9 channels to a single schedule. This allows you to switch channels with the remote control, quick control, or even to use an event trigger and change channels when the event conditions are satisfied. Because you can only send one schedule to the device, this option gives the freedom to create multiple programs (upfront) in one schedule instead of having the difficulty of planning all your playlists in one schedule, hoping there's no black screen left somewhere. 

3 reasons why it's worth discovering the channel feature in MagicINFO.

1. Manually switch to other content

When you use playlists and schedules, the playlist is set to switch automatically at a certain date and time. With the channel option, you can switch your content manually. We like to have it all automated but in some cases, that's just not smart to do. 

2. Give the power to the location instead of the content manager

Channels can be used to prepare various playlists, let's say a Christmas playlist or a specific marketing campaign, and somebody (say local offices) can decide for themselves which presentation they want to show.

3. In case of emergency

It's possible to use API calls to control the channels on display. This makes it possible to show emergency content on certain channels that will be shown when there is something wrong. For example, a fire alarm calls the API to automatically switch the screens to a channel playing content with emergency routes and instructions.

Curious about how to set up a channel for yourself? Have a look at this video tutorial on YouTube. 

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