The country's estimated 10 million individual stock investors who rely on their PC for their livelihood are getting good news: Dallas-based GlobalTec is joining the online TV revolution by launching the first online TV network featuring 12 hours of live, in-the-market programming every trading day.
The nine-year-old investment software technology company has partnered with Akamai Technologies (NasdaqGS:AKAM), a leading service provider for accelerating the development of information and business processes online. Dubbed Wizetrade TV, the subscription-based online TV network allows viewers to call or e-mail in their stock picks to have them analyzed on-air by professional traders-turned-teachers, several of whom began trading in the pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. The network will also serve as a public platform for traders looking to swap trading strategies on-air with fellow traders.
"Our aim with Wizetrade TV is to take the online trading experience to a different level," said John Dankovchik, president of GlobalTec. "Where other traditional financial networks offer broad coverage of the markets, Wizetrade TV focuses exclusively on the technical analysis of the trades our viewers are currently engaged in, or are considering engaging into. As investors continue to rely more heavily on their PC for their trades as opposed to the traditional bricks and mortar of a broker, it only seemed natural to create this type of programming to assist our viewers."
In its first few months of operations, the Wizetrade TV network is averaging a total of 75,000 monthly viewers and more than 1,000 daily viewers use the network's on-demand feature. The network fills up 36.9 TB of bandwidth weekly for its live programming and 5.7 TB of bandwidth weekly for its on-demand feature. By teaming with Akamai Technologies, Wizetrade TV is delivered right to a viewer's computer anywhere an Internet connection can be established.
"By leveraging the Akamai platform, GlobalTec can offer its viewers a superior experience through fast, reliable delivery of trading information content right to their personal computers," said Paul Sagan, president and CEO of Akamai. "The demand for online trading content is growing rapidly, and Akamai is excited to work with an industry leader such as GlobalTec on the content distribution infrastructure for its new Wizetrade TV."
Programming is shot from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. EDT daily from GlobalTec's online TV studios in Carrollton, Texas. The 200,000 sq. ft. facility includes seven studios, two editing suites, satellite uplink capability, and spinning sets for news briefs. The facility houses Wizetrade TV's 29 full-time production staff, including one full-time make-up artist, three producers, three cameramen, a graphics artist, on-air talent, and others.
Programming begins at 7 a.m. and covers all the major markets from before the opening bell to after the closing bell -- from (spot) FOREX and stocks to stock options, commodities and futures. All daily programs are archived for five days and are available via Video on Demand.