Programming may be restricted from some viewers. These viewers will stream alternate content instead of the regularly scheduled program. This capability is known as blackout. Blackout may be implemented using one of the following options: conditional blackout, reverse blackout, blackout.
Quick Start
Leverage blackout by performing the following steps:
Identify the programming that should be restricted from specific viewers.
Include the repl parameter within the playback URL and set it to the desired flavor of blackout (i.e.,
blackout, rbo, or aboi).Blacked out viewers will view alternate content instead of the regularly scheduled program.
Conditional Blackout
Load Parameter:
repl=blackoutThe blackout plugin enables content providers to blackout certain assets from their channel’s timeline. In order for an asset to be blacked out, it must contain custom metadata
blackout_id that matches the value associated with the playback replacement parameter boid. If they match, the channel’s blackout slate (or, if not defined, the owner’s blackout slate) will be played. If they don’t match, the asset will play.Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
boid | string | No | The blackout ID used to determine whether an asset in a timeline should be blacked out. If the value provided with this parameter matches the blackout_id custom metadata on the asset, the channel or owner blackout slate will play. If there is no match, the asset will play. |
This plugin does not currently support specifying the
boid in channel metadata.Example
Using the
meta parameter on the slicer’s content_start method to set the asset’s custom metadata, you now have an asset that contains meta.blackout_id=blackout_01. If you then play a channel that contains this asset with the following URL parameters: http://…?repl=blackout&repl.boid=blackout_01Because the
repl.boid value and the meta.blackout_id match, when the timeline reaches this asset, the viewer will see the blackout slate instead of the asset.Reverse Blackout
Load Parameter:
repl=rboThe
rbo, or “reverse blackout”, plugin operates in reverse of the blackout plugin described above. While the blackout plugin defaults to letting all content through and filters those that match the rules, the rbo plugin defaults to letting no content through and allows only those that match the given parameters.Parameters
| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
prop,val.<id> | string | No | The prop,val.<id> parameters specify what asset property to use for filtering. <id> must be replaced by a unique identifier for each property/value pair. A meaningful string identifier is acceptable, or an incrementing integer value would work as well. Filename-type wildcards can also be used in the value, where * matches multiple characters, and ? matches one character. Note that the match is case-insensitive. |
Example
Let’s say you have multiple assets in a timeline and wish to black out all content except those with a
desc property of either “Nightly News” or “Good Morning, USA”. Assume that the assets with a description of “Good Morning, USA” are always that exact string. Further, for “Nightly News”, the description might include a suffix such as “Nightly News - 01”, meaning you want to match any descriptions that start with “Nightly News”. Use the following playback URL parameters to achieve this:http://...?repl=rbo&repl.prop,val.nightlynews=desc,Nightly%20News%2A&repl.prop,val.gmusa=desc,Good%20Morning,%20USANote that spaces and the
* are URL-encoded (%20 and %2A, respectively), but unencoded characters can also be passed as long as the client sends them properly.Alternatively, you could specify the
repl-prop,val-<id> parameters (note . has been replaced with - in the key name) in channel custom metadata by specifying the following custom metadata on the channel:| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| repl-prop,val-nightlynews | desc,Nightly News* |
| repl-prop,val-gmusa | desc,Good Morning, USA |