Video on Demand

Video on Demand (VOD) lets viewers watch your content whenever it's convenient for them — not just when it airs. Instead of catching a show at its scheduled broadcast time, your audience can play it back on their own schedule.

For community media stations, VOD is one of the most effective ways to keep your programming accessible. Council meetings, local events, and public interest programming all have a longer shelf life when they're available on demand.

How VOD Works in Cablecast

When a show is VOD-enabled, Cablecast processes the associated video file and makes it available for on-demand playback. The show's metadata — title, description, thumbnail, and any custom fields — carries over from the Show Record, so there's no need to re-enter information when you publish or share the content.

VOD is managed from two places:

The Show Record — where you enable VOD, manage chapters, and configure secondary audio settings for an individual show. The Internet Video tab in the Show Record also gives you access to embed links, transcoding controls, and logs. For a full overview of what's available in the Show Record, see Feature Overview: Show Record Redesign.

The Internet Video tab of a Cablecast Show Record, showing VOD enabled with a video preview on the left and the Chapters tab open on the right, listing six chapter entries with Edit, Delete, and Link options.

Internet Video > Video on Demand — where you can browse all VOD-enabled shows across your system and manage them in one place.

The Video on Demand index in Cablecast, showing the Complete tab selected and a paginated list of VOD-enabled shows identified by Show ID and title.

Enabling VOD on a Show

To make a show available on demand, open the Show Record and go to the Internet Video tab. From there, you can enable VOD for that show. Once enabled, Cablecast will process the file and make it available for playback.

The Internet Video tab of a Cablecast Show Record with the VOD Enabled toggle switched off, and a red arrow pointing to the toggle. The video preview area displays a "Disabled" message indicating VOD is not enabled for this show.

Note: VOD processing requires a video file to be associated with the Show Record. Live events do not have a file attached until after the event records, so VOD for live content becomes available once the recording is complete.

Managing VOD Content

Once a show is VOD-enabled, the Internet Video tab in the Show Record gives you tools to manage it. These same options are also available by navigating to Internet Video > Video on Demand and selecting the show from there.

*The TRMS Video On Demand section of a Cablecast Show Record with VOD enabled, showing a video preview on the left and the Chapters tab on the right with six chapter entries listed. The Chapters, Smart Summary, Embed, and Log tabs are visible alongside a Retranscode button.*

Chapters — Add navigable chapter markers so viewers can jump to specific points in a video. This is especially useful for long meetings or multi-segment programs. See VOD Chaptering Feature Overview for full instructions.
Embed links — Generate a link to embed the VOD player on a third-party website. See Embedding Video on Third-Party Websites for more.
Secondary audio settings — Configure alternate audio tracks if your content includes multiple audio programs. Access these settings by clicking the Settings gear icon next to the VOD Enabled toggle in the Show Record. Audio labels are customizable, so if you're using audio descriptions, you can label the secondary track as "Audio Descriptions" or another identifier that's meaningful to your viewers. Note that secondary audio settings are only available from the Show Record, not from Internet Video > Video on Demand.

The TRMS Video On Demand section of a Cablecast Show Record showing the VOD Enabled toggle switched on and the Settings button highlighted with a red rectangle.

The Secondary Audio Settings dialog in Cablecast, showing Secondary Audio Mode set to Enabled, with Advanced Settings fields for Primary Audio Language, Primary Audio Label, Secondary Audio Language, and Secondary Audio Label. The Secondary Audio Label field contains "English (w/AD)."

Publishing settings — Control when a VOD becomes publicly visible. You can publish immediately, schedule a specific date and time, or hold publication until a MediaScribe Narrate audio description track is ready and the VOD has been re-transcoded. The hold option is useful if you want to ensure audio descriptions are available to viewers from the moment the VOD goes live. See How Cablecast and MediaScribe Narrate Work Together for more information.

The Publishing and Audio Sidecars sections of a Cablecast Show Record. The Publishing section is highlighted with a red rectangle, showing Publish Timing options for Publish Immediately or Schedule a Date, and a toggle to hold publication until audio descriptions are ready. A MediaScribe Audio Description sidecar is shown below with a status of Ready.

Retranscode — If a VOD file needs to be reprocessed, you can trigger retranscoding from this tab. This is useful if the original video file was updated or replaced after the VOD was generated, or if the file was trimmed in the Reel editor after the VOD was initially processed.

The Chapters tab of a Cablecast VOD, showing six chapter entries with position timestamps and titles, and a red arrow pointing to the Retranscode button in the upper right.

Logs — Review processing history and troubleshoot any issues with a specific VOD file.

Adding Supporting Documents

If your VOD content is tied to a public meeting, you can attach a PDF agenda to the Show Record and display it alongside the video on your Internet Channel. This gives viewers context before or while they watch. See How to Add a PDF Agenda to a VOD on Your Internet Channel for setup instructions.

A Cablecast Internet Channel VOD page for a city council meeting, showing a PDF agenda displayed on the left alongside a video player on the right with Details, Schedule, and Downloads tabs below it.

Delivering VOD to Your Audience

There are two common ways to make VOD content available to viewers.

Cablecast Internet Channels are turnkey public websites that automatically surface your VOD content alongside your schedule and live stream. Once a show is processed and VOD-enabled, it appears on your Internet Channel without any additional publishing steps. How it's organized and displayed — including which show fields are visible to viewers — is controlled through your Internet Channel settings. See Customizing Cablecast Internet Channels for details on layout and display options. You can also add pre-roll messaging to your VOD content — see Internet Channel Pre-Rolls for more information.

Third-party websites are also an option. If your organization already has its own website, the recommended approach is to use the Cablecast API, which can automatically pull VOD content into your site as new shows are processed. API documentation is available directly in Cablecast under Tools > Developer Tools > RESTful API. Alternatively, you can embed individual videos manually using the embed links generated in the Show Record — though this needs to be done on a show-by-show basis. See Embedding Video on Third-Party Websites for more on the embedding approach.