Record numbers of viewers tuned in to Jewish.tv to watch a simulcast of Sunday night’s gala banquet of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries in Brooklyn, N.Y. Logs maintained by the Jewish Web site Chabad.org, which produced the service and in a first in the history of the banquet, made an embeddable player available to users and other Web sites, reveal that more than 38,000 users connected to the simulcast.
Working from an upper floor at the New York State National Guard Armory, where thousands of rabbis and lay leaders celebrated below, crews from Chabad.org huddled for days over computers and a slew of audio-visual equipment to prepare the production. Representing an improvement over past efforts, this year’s simulcast featured interviews of banquet attendees in addition to the event’s speeches and videos.
While people logged in from locations around the globe to view the proceedings, the sheer number of viewers in Brooklyn strained Internet services provided by the Cablevision Systems Corporation. Technicians alerted Chabad.org staff Sunday night of the problem, requesting that customers experiencing a slowdown place a call to their customer service department.
Viewer feedback on Jewish.tv – which maintains an archive of thousands of Torah classes and inspirational programs and regularly simulcasts live productions and programs – indicated that many people stayed tuned in for the majority of the banquet.
“The atmosphere in the hall was shared with those watching,” said one viewer, David Cohen. “The dedication of the Chabad rabbis are an inspiration for me to do more good in my community.”
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