If you’re a programmer without a social-media strategy, you’re definitely in the minority. And if you do have one, speed is the name of the game.

Thanks to the consumer growth of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, networks must find new ways to engage with their audiences on those social networking platforms, and likewise assemble videos into snack-sized pieces and clips that can be sent out at a rapid pace — sometimes soon after they appear live on the air.

In addition to getting a digital team focused on that, the technical challenge has been the creation of an underlying workflow that makes it easy to ingest TV content and then package and send those on-demand snippets, as well as digital live feeds for offerings such as Facebook Live and Periscope, to various social media channels.

A company that’s been keying on this need and trend is Grabyo, which is already working with some programmers and digital-focused services and brands such as Univision, Buzzfeed, Universal Music, Major League Soccer, beIN sports, Big Ten Network, USA Rugby, BT Sport, the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga, as well as top-flight soccer clubs FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC.

Related: Univision, Facebook Partner on Soccer Streaming

Though many networks and stations already deliver video to their own apps and websites, there can still be a disconnect between the TV and digital side of the house. Grabyo tries to solve this with a cloud-based platform that can work between those operational silos.

“This gives [our partners] a pure digital workflow … for social channels and even their own websites and apps,” Mike Kelley, president of Grabyo Americas, said. “This gives that power to create digital-first broadcasts for the digital team and their own workflow that works in high-speed digital time.”

Grabyo is already integrated with Facebook and Facebook Live and Twitter’s video offerings, as well as with YouTube. Grabyo said its system can also be used to edit video content in square and vertical formats to optimize that content for Instagram or Snapchat. For Instagram, clients can publish directly via the Grabyo Mobile app; for Snapchat, users can download from Grabyo and publish that content, as there is currently no third-party integration available on that platform yet.

Much of Grabyo’s recent handiwork has been happening with Univision, which leveraged Facebook Live following the Mexico City earthquake, and did the same for its coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. Univision is also working with Grabyo to generate news clips that, they claim, have been generating more than 50 million views per month, and reaching more than 300 million users on Facebook.

Making It Snappy
Though Grabyo isn’t alone in the market, M&A action in that sector has apparently worked to its advantage. A startup called SnappyTV used a cloud-based platform to support similar kinds of services, and was acquired by Twitter in 2014. TechCrunch and others reported over the summer that Twitter was winding down SnappyTV and integrating some of SnappyTV’s features into a service called Media Studio. In fact, Univision had worked with SnappyTV for projects that included video highlights from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Kelley said such shifts in the market are making the phone ring at Grabyo. “People are realizing how complex this space is and how challenging it is,” he said, noting that many content companies aren’t interested in taking on the technical challenge of creating video-focused workflows for critical social media distribution on their own.

While 2D digital video has been the big focus in recent years, Kelley said the next frontier for Grabyo’s platform and its content partners is virtual reality and 360-degree video, noting the embrace of those formats by Facebook and YouTube.

The National Basketball Association  expanded its content partnership with Twitter that features live programming and more video to Twitter, Vine and Periscope, the league announced Tuesday. 

The NBA and Twitter will deliver a free live stream of a new weekly NBA pregame show with elements that were created specifically to drive Twitter conversation, said network officials.

 Ahead of the 2016-17 season, the NBA will announce an additional to-be-determined show that will also stream exclusively on Twitter.

“We’re excited about bringing live content to Twitter, which has proven to be an ideal destination for real-time sports conversations,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a statement.  “We’ve seen technology bring fans closer to our game, teams and players in ways we could have only imagined a decade ago. This expanded partnership will help feed our fans’ growing demand for the NBA by more deeply integrating the league across Twitter’s many platforms.”

I am probably not breaking news here, but I rely on C-SPAN for a lot of my access to the workings — or more often dysfunctionings — of Congress.

That means I rely on cable operators around the country who fund the channel — make that channels and website.

It is, in a word, indispensable.

It is also often taken for granted, for which C-SPAN has only itself to blame. Because it is so pervasive and so professionally run, the access it provides to our sausage-makers has come to feel like an entitlement, or at least a constitutional right.

Last week, Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) introduced what he called a “simple change” to House rules that would ensure the next congressional sit-in does not have to rely on Periscope or Facebook video streams to get out.

Actually, many were still relying on C-SPAN during the House sit-in last month, when the cameras were turned off, but social media lit up and the network was there to tap into it.

Bera said he figured most viewers assumed C-SPAN was part of the “public domain,” adding: “We ought to give control of those cameras back over to the media and the public, and have independent control.”

C-SPAN has long sought to be able to use its own cameras rather than have to take the feed from House cameras controlled by the Speaker. I agree, and this seems a good time for Congress to consider it.

Members of Congress will be going off to campaign for re-election in a week or so. When they get back, perhaps they can make that a parting gift to the nation.

But also noteworthy was Bera’s comment that most people probably thought C-SPAN was the public’s domain. Of course, that is just what it has become, thanks to the investment of the cable industry.

Taking an enterprise angle on a market made popular by consumer-focused services such as Periscope, a startup called Stre.am said it has optimized its mobile live streaming app for business customers.

Early on, its new live video service platform has netted deals with partners that include The Volvo Car Open, Vainglory (a mobile multi-player game), Arsenic Magazine, and Charleston Battery of the United Soccer League.

Stre.am has also been working with the Jacksonville Jaguars, which is using the platform to boost in-stadium fan engagement by letting fans upload videos to a control room that selects them for display on EverBank Field’s jumbotron.

Stre.am hopes to stand out with from platforms like Facebook Live and Periscope with respect to enterprises with a device-agnostic (including mobile devices and GoPro cameras), white-label strategy that can quickly add live streaming to its partners’ arsenals and to embed that capability into their own web sites and apps, explained Will Jamieson, Stre.am’s chief marketing officer.

Jamieson, an exec who was also on the founding team at Yik Yak (a location-based social network), said Stre.am’s approach, which will be shown at NAB, allows brands and media companies to aggregate content to their own digital properties, and control how it’s being used and distributed.  Under the model, partners go live using Stre.am's general app alongside access to a backend, Web-powered console that allows for customization and control. 

Early on, Strea.am will give the product away to build up use-cases, but is in the process of introducing a business model that sells the product on bandwidth usage and feature sets.

Among other early use cases, The Volvo Car Open is using Stre.am Enterprise to broadcast live video from outer tournament tennis courts, including practice courts.

Stre.am was founded in 2014 and launched a product the following year that was consumer focused. The Charleston, S.C.-based company has about 15 employees and is in the process of raising an “A” round.

Periscope, the Twitter-owned mobile live streaming platform, announced Tuesday that it has integrated its platform directly into the popular social network, providing a way for users to watch and share Periscope broadcasts without leaving the Twitter app.

Under the previous method, when a Periscope broadcast is shared on Twitter, users had to tap tap the link to open the Periscope app. Those links are being replaced by the broadcast itself, “autoplaying right within the Tweet,” Periscope noted.  “And when you tap the video, it goes full-screen and shows Periscope comments and hearts from other viewers. You don’t need the Periscope app or even a Periscope account.”

The hope is that Periscope users can use the integration to build larger Twitter audiences.

The integration is being rolled out first on Twitter “over the next few days.”  Periscope has not announced when it will extend that to Android and Web browsers, but said those platforms are  on its to-do list.

Periscope said it has enabled 100 million broadcasts since launching the app in May.

Several programmers have been using Periscope to heighten their engagement with viewers.

Taking full advantage of new and emerging digital platforms, Fox Sports said it will “quadcast” daily show, Outkick the Show, by streaming it simultaneously on Facebook, Perisope, YouTube and the Fox Sports GO  app, all without requiring viewers to have a pay TV subscription.

Outkick the Show, hosted by Fox Sports College Football Insider Clay Travis, is offered live each weekday at noon ET, and features his take on the day’s sports headlines, interviews and Q&A with viewers. Following those live broadcasts, the show, an extension of Travis’s Outkick the Coverage blog, can also be downloaded for free as a podcast via iTunes.

In a one-man-band type of setup, Travis streams the show using three iPhone 6s and an iPad Mini attached to a modified tripod. That approach, Fox Sports said, will enable Travis to take Outkick the Show’ on the road to “several major sporting events” in 2016.

“At one point you needed a physical radio station with a large antenna to speak to the masses,” Travis said in a statement. “Now you don't. All I need to reach the masses is a Wi-Fi signal. Basically I want to make consuming ‘Outkick the Show’ as fun and easy as possible. And I think this is the answer. If you have a Wi-Fi connection or a phone, you'll have access to ‘Outkick the Show.’”

After a debut in May that limited access to X1 subs, Comcast said all customers can now tap into Xfinity Share, the company’s new live streaming app that shares some similarities with Meerkat and Periscope.

The move vastly broadens the availability of Xfinity Share, which uses  WebRTC, an open Internet standard that supports real-time communication via Web browsers.

Update: All Comcast subs can now use Xfinity Share on mobile devices  (the app is offered on iOS and Android, and the new 3.0 version enables users to record live streams), and they can use the platform to send photos or videos to the TV, though the latter group will need Comcast's  X1 service (with a DVR) to watch the stream or receive photos and videos on the TV. Xfinity Share currently lets customers share content on a one-to-one basis, but has plans to let customers send content to up to five people at the same time. 

“Starting today, every Xfinity customer - video, Internet, voice, and home - can use Xfinity Share to live stream and send photos and videos to a TV,” Patti Loyack, vice president of communications at Comcast Cable, said  in this blog post. “They can also use the app to send or receive live streams, photos, and videos on a mobile device. To watch live streams or receive photos and videos from Xfinity Share on the TV, consumers will still need to have X1 DVR capable set-top boxes.”

While Xfinity Share shares mobile traits with Periscope and Meerkat, Comcast bills it as the first live streaming app that lets users deliver that content directly to the TV.

Loyack noted that the spring debut limited access to a smaller subset of customers so Comcast could learn how people were using it.

“So far, our data has shown a huge uptick in Xfinity Share usage on weekends and holidays when people are more likely to share big events – weddings, vacations, and graduations – that deserve to be viewed on the big screen. Plus, the majority of people who tried Xfinity Share are repeat users,” she noted.  “By expanding the number of eligible users to the millions, we can’t wait to see how people will use it next. We’re also working on adding new features that will make the overall Xfinity Share experience even better.”

Comcast hasn’t released more detailed usage figures. According to Google Play, the Xfinity Share app has been installed between 50,000 and 100,000 times. 

Periscope, Twitter’s new live streaming app, was in a bit of hot water with HBO after some of Periscope's users live-streamed the premium network’s April 12 season five premiere of Game Of Thrones, which is already wearing the crown of world’s most pirated TV show.

"We are aware of Periscope and have sent take down notices,” HBO said, in a statement. “In general, we feel developers should have tools which proactively prevent mass copyright infringement from occurring on their apps and not be solely reliant upon notifications."

Those takedown requests have been going directly to Periscope, and not to the consumers in question.

Twitter told Australia-based news site Mumbrella that it will look into suspending Periscope accounts that are found to be streaming copyrighted material, but that it does not constantly monitor for that kind of behavior.

Twitter’s Periscope terms of service page has a section dedicated to its copyright policy, which basically says, don’t send copyrighted material on the service,  or risk getting tossed out.

“Twitter, Inc. respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of Periscope Services to do the same,” it reads. “We will respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable law and are properly provided to us….We reserve the right to remove Content alleged to be infringing without prior notice and at our sole discretion. In appropriate circumstances, Periscope will also terminate a user’s account if the user is determined to be a repeat infringer.”