The platform for digital signage, Scala, has acquired the SignChannel division (www.signchannel.com) of Thinking Screen Media. Scala says that SignChannel is a new category of "self-service digital signage" that is both low cost and easy to use.
“No one today has a digital signage offering for small business owners to deploy and manage themselves. SignChannel is the first,” said Gerard Bucas, Chief Executive Officer, Scala. “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”.
SignChannel is an advertising-free, subscription-based service. It lets subscribers supplement their own promotional content with captivating commercial content such as weather, stock, news or sports updates.
“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.”
“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 also continue to develop their award-winning, consumer-focused FrameChannel platform (www.framechannel.com), which is supported by advertising. FrameChannel is available on more than 20 connected devices, including the iPad. Unlike FrameChannel, which contains advertising supported content, SignChannel is an advertising-free, subscription-based service.
