CBS Broadcasting · 1990
CBS Eyetext Platform
Real-time data platform powering broadcast captioning for one of America’s largest networks.
Project Overview
Pioneering teletext system for national broadcast. Engineered a real-time data platform that processed live broadcast feeds, delivering captioning and information overlays to millions of viewers across the CBS network.
The Challenge
CBS needed a system capable of processing live broadcast data in real time with zero tolerance for latency or errors. The platform had to handle simultaneous feeds across the national network while maintaining perfect synchronization between video and text overlays. Any downtime or delay would be immediately visible to millions of viewers.
Our Solution
We engineered a fault-tolerant data pipeline that ingested live broadcast signals, processed them in real time, and delivered synchronized captioning overlays. The system included redundant processing nodes, automated failover, and a monitoring dashboard that gave operators instant visibility into pipeline health. Custom compression algorithms minimized bandwidth while maintaining text clarity.
Key Metrics
<100ms
Latency
Real-time delivery
National
Reach
Millions of viewers
99.99%
Uptime
Zero on-air failures
The Results
The platform operated reliably at national broadcast scale, delivering captioning to millions of CBS viewers without a single on-air failure during its operational period. Processing latency was kept under 100ms, and the system became the foundation for CBS’s next-generation broadcast data infrastructure.
The Eyetext platform set a new standard for broadcast data delivery. The engineering behind it was years ahead of the industry.
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