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Issue: May. 07, 2008
Top News
Digital TV Drives Employee Growth in Broadcast Industry
Staff turnover in the global TV industry peaked in 2007, with 31.3 percent of employees changing jobs during the year, according to research by Informa Telecoms & Media. Turnover was lowest amongst senior executives and the Networks & Channels and Distributor sectors saw the highest levels of staff turnover last year. The previous record year of 1997 saw 31.1 percent staff turnover recorded.
In a study of 11,960 TV executives worldwide, the turnover rate was highest amongst administrative staff and junior executives at 38 percent, while the levels of staff leaving for positions elsewhere were lowest amongst Technology Providers (19.8%.).
Commenting on this peak in staff turnover in the broadcast industry, Adam Thomas, Media Research Manager at Informa, said: "More generally the changes seem to have been prompted by the increasing rise of digital TV. Some 60 million homes worldwide changed from analogue to digital during 2007. This unprecedented level of transformation leaves the broadcast industry desperate for expertise across the business; whether it be technical skills for technology providers, or creative brilliance to help fill the increasing number of digital channels that need compelling content to outshine their competitors."
The study also found that results varied significantly between regions. The most developed countries experienced higher turnover rates, with North America showing rates of 35.3 percent and Western Europe recording 34.3 percent. The least developed regions of Africa and the Middle East reported the lowest rates of turnover – 21.2 percent and 23.5 percent respectively.
Analogue Broadcasting Ends in Czech Republic on 11/11/11
Whether by purpose or simply coincidence, the Czech Telecoms Office (ČTÚ) has picked Nov. 11, 2011, as the date analogue broadcasting will end in most of the Czech Republic. Numerically, 11/11/11 has a distinctly binary look to it, although we'd probably have picked a slightly earlier date such as, October 10, 2011 (101011)
The Prague Monitor article said the plan is voluntary and its implementation cannot be forced. Existing broadcasters will have to exchange their current analogue channels for digital channels. ČTÚ Chairman Pavel Dvořák said the plan could come into effect sometime in May and stations would have 90 days to decide if they want to become part of the plan. Two regions, where there are technical problems, would continue analogue broadcasting until June 2012.
Don't Fall Asleep at the (Master) Control!
Editor's Note: Below is a column we ran in the May-June issue of TV Technology Asia/Pacific, written by TV Technology Asia/Pac tech editor Craig Norris. Craig argues that in an increasingly automated world, playout operators need stimulation and a break from routine. Let us know what you think at tvtpasia@aol.com.
There was a story on the news the other day about two airline pilots who were fired because they fell asleep in the cockpit during a commercial passenger flight. They overshot their destination on one of the Hawaiian Islands by about 15 miles.
It was around nine o'clock in the morning, and it was a relatively short flight of only 30 minutes, so it really makes one wonder how such a thing could happen?
The answer lies in the fact that we humans need stimulation, and modern working life involving the supervision of automated repetitive routine work procedures is far from stimulating.
"Just another day at the office" is a cliché to describe a day where nothing new or exciting happened. For a pilot, that means the take-offs and landings were easy and without incident. The traversal of the route at cruising altitude was uneventful.
The following adjectives: "automated"; "routine" and "uneventful" carry with them a dangerous implication, and that danger is boredom. Boredom dulls the senses and slows the reactions. Boredom leads to a feeling of "not-there" – a daydream where others would see us as though we "were a million miles away", figuratively speaking.
In other words, when we are bored, we aren't concentrating on the job at hand. When we are bored, we physically go through all the motions of the task, but spiritually, we are "elsewhere".
Three weeks prior to the above-mentioned news item about the pilots I participated in a discussion about the job nature of the operators in a large multi-channel TV station. In that discussion, I heard a complaint from the master control and playout operators that they were bored and lonely in their work.
There's a great similarity between airline pilots and television playout and MCR operators. They both manage fully automated systems. Most of the time they have nothing to do but watch the automation do its job and check its progress. When all is running well, they have very little or nothing to do. They aren't challenged. It's mostly boring. And it can be lonely. There just isn't enough stimulation to keep a person continuously interested and alert.
It's a perfect recipe to make a person drowsy. But when, out-of-the-blue something goes wrong, it means instant high stress levels, and severe accountability for the prolonged duration of any outage of the service until the fault is rectified.
Commercial pilots and TV playout operators have something else in common: their jobs are about 99 per cent boredom and 1 per cent terror. There are very few thanks when everything goes right. But there's a crushingly heavy penalty when things go seriously wrong.
The job of a television playout operator wasn't always boring. It used to be quite interesting and stimulating because it was quite a hands-on, manual operation. The operator could feel a genuine sense of satisfaction at the end of a shift, because in a manual playout environment, the operator can take full credit for the good end result.
The operators in a news studio control room have a much better life. They work as a team. They do most things manually, with perhaps some "automation assist".
But have a look at the playout operators in a large multi-channel automated pay TV station. They usually sit there alone for an entire shift, staring at a monitor wall, waiting for something to go wrong. But most of the time nothing goes wrong. Especially during the night shift, it's almost like being a security guard on a door that no one tries to enter.
It might not be so bad if some of the channels being monitored were comprised of very interesting and enjoyable programmes. The operator could kill some time by enjoying the TV shows. But unfortunately, the majority of TV programmes in a large multi-channel TV station are junk.
What we need is a total revamp in the job design of television playout operations. Three things are needed to make the playout operator's job more satisfying and enjoyable. Firstly: teamwork. Don't let the operators sit there alone. Put them in a group and somehow arrange the tasks so that it requires a team effort, rather than a one-man show.
Secondly: stimulation. Give the person direct responsibility for actively doing something. Even with an automated playout system, some tasks should be left manual so that the operator has something to do. Give the operator a good reason to stay awake.
Finally: variety. No one likes doing the same thing day in and day out. We need job rotation. We need fresh scenery. We need to be thrown into challenges. Some of a pilot's most exciting times are in the simulator. In the simulator, the instructor throws all sorts of emergency situations at the pilot, and the pilot has to learn how to handle each problem perfectly. It's really quite enjoyable in the simulator. They could even call it "the stimulator".
Why not set up a playout simulator for TV operators? Simulate all kinds of fault conditions and teach the operator how to handle each one perfectly. Make it like a game. And when the operator becomes really expert, and masters the whole game? Transfer them to another job that they haven't done before, because once you master the game, it starts to become boring.
Newswatch
India's Parliament TV Chooses Autoscript
Autoscript has won an order from the Indian Parliament's TV news channel for its teleprompting technology. The deal will see Autoscript supply a conference teleprompter and a mobile system for Lok Sabha TV, which provides exclusive daily coverage of events at India's Houses of Parliament.
"The conference teleprompter will be used for covering the speeches of the President of India as well as the Prime Minister during public meetings," revealed Vinod Kaul, Technical Head, Lok Sabha TV. " The mobile teleprompter is necessary for reading pre-planned scripts on outside locations and to help the talent deliver their lines confidently."
The sale was completed through Indian systems integrator Cinecitav Comoptronics Industries.
Canal Overseas Goes HD With Omneon
French broadcast services provider Canal Overseas has invested in Omneon's Spectrum HD media server as part of a transition to an all HD workflow.
Canal Overseas opted for the two 10 Terabyte Spectrum servers due to their support for World Standard Teletext (WST) data. The new equipment provides the organisation with eight channels of ingest along with 20 channels of dual-output HD and downconverted SD for preview and playout.
The investment is part of a facility makeover from SD to HD and includes DBOS automation from SGT, and Front Porch Digital's DIVArchive middleware integrated with a Sun Microsystems StorageTek library for content storage management. The system was installed in late 2007, and went on the air in January
Canal Overseas provides 24/7 satellite distribution of France's Canal+ programming to 500,000 subscribers in Africa, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.
HBO Latin America Secures Content Delivery
SeaChange and Thomson have joined forces to provide a content delivery platform for HBO Latin America Group (HBO LAG) incorporating digital watermarking for enhanced security.
HBO LAG has invested in the platform in order to make feature films available via the video-on-demand services offered by cable network operators across Latin America.
The solution combines SeaChange's VODCast file-based content delivery system and Thomson's NexGuard video watermarking technology. It will allow HBO Latin America to transfer file-based movies and premium content securely and cost-effectively faster than real time.
Sonacom Installs Fairlight Xynergi
Sonacom has invested in four Fairlight Xynergi systems in order to integrated audio and video in each of its HD 5.1 surround sound studios.
The French post-production house made the decision to switch to Xynergi driven by the need for a fast editing and mixing interface that would allow it to speed up workflow while maintaining stability and synchronisation.
The equipment was purchased via Fairlight's French distributor, EuroMedia Technologies, which also provided technical support during the installation process.
Alongside its four Xynergi media production centres with Pyxis track SD/HD Video, Sonacom has also installed six Xynergi 12 fader Sidecars with metering units, five SX-48 MADI interfaces and a centralised AudioBase3, which is localised onto two large 16TB redundant servers.
Star TV Invests in iTX for Playout
Athens-based Star TV has installed a five-channel playout and automation system as part of its plans to broadcast new a number of channels, including Star Greece, Star USA and Star Australia. The system is based on OmniBus iTX software and offers one-to-one channel redundancy.
All five channels are SD output with master control, logos, live, dynamic schedule and sequence software plug-ins, with fully redundant framework services and SQL on a clustered server. Schedules are provided by a Provys system, with Star TV's own software converting Provys schedules to iTX format.
One of the new channels in the new Star TV system includes iTX GFX, the advanced real-time 2D and 3D graphics option, for MTV Greece. The graphics tool offers template-based animation and scripting functions as well as external control. The G3 technology on which iTX is based will allow Star TV to build customised interfaces to suit individual workflows.
TV Globo Does First Live HD Carnival
Brazil's TV Globo International (TVGI) undertook the first live HD broadcast of the famed Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo annual Carnival using microwave technology from RF Central. Channel 18 in São Paulo was able to deliver 32 hours of realtime coverage.
Although TVGI has taped the event in HD for the past four years, an array of RF Central equipment allowed the event to be broadcast live in HD this year. Seven RFX-RX6-II six-way diversity receivers were used for wireless camera reception in both SD and HD as well as at TVGI's HD helicopter receiver site.
In addition, two TVGI wireless cameras were outfitted with RFX-CMT-II HD rack-mounted camera transmitters, and one RFX-PHT-II HD portable digital transmitter was attached to the station's helicopter for aerial shots. An extra PHT-II was used alongside a fixed RF camera for ground coverage.
Harris Wins Saudi TV HD Contract
Harris Corporation has secured a contract to supply high-definition (HD) equipment for two of Saudi Television's new facilities in the holy cities of Makkah and Madīnah. The new facility includes two HD studio control rooms for production and daily live broadcasting of prayers from the Islamic holy shrines in each city.
The deal is based around Harris' ONE package and covers a range of systems for channel release, core processing, media transport, and newsroom and editing workflows. The installation will see Harris deliver multiple Nexio servers, Platinum routers and Videotek TVM-950 HD/SD-SDI signal analysers. Also being supplied are a number of Zandar Predator II multiviewers, NEO and 6800+ frame synchronisers and converters and Inscriber RTX and G3 graphics systems.
The sale was made through Harris' Riyadh-based dealer and systems integrator, First Gulf Company (FGC).
Another Vista for SVT
Swedish state broadcaster Sveriges Television AV (SVT) has taken delivery of its fifth Studer Vista 8 digital console, for installation in the flagship live-audience Studio 1 in Stockholm. The new system will be used for popular light entertainment and live audience programmes.
The investment in the 52-fader console is part of an upgrade to the audio facilities in Studio 1, and follows on from a detailed evaluation process.
Collaboration between Swiss, Swedish and British audio engineers has resulted in a new compressor algorithm, which will now be made available on all new Vista 8 consoles. The creation of the Vintage Dynamics algorithm enables a retro style of compressor-gate/expander to give a more pronounced effect than the standard dynamics.
The compressor section of the 'Vintage Dynamics' also allows different types of sound colouration, and includes 'wet/dry' blending control for greater flexibility.
Volicon Monitors SKY Italia
SKY Italia has implemented a 52-channel Volicon Observer video monitoring system for compliance recording and fault detection. The new equipment replaces SKY Italia's previous tape-based model at SKY Italia's Milan facility.
In addition to round the clock monitoring and fault detection, the Observer instantly archives content from 52 channels for up to 90 days via RAID-5 storage hardware, with four spare recording channels at the ready.
The move to server-based monitoring eliminates the need to change out videotapes manually and saves space, occupying a smaller footprint than the facility's old VCR systems and avoids the need for external storage.
The Observer was purchased through Rome-based systems integrator Allyn.
Piero Has Winning Start to 2008
Success with its Peiro sports graphics technology continues well into 2008 for Red Bee Media. The company has won two contracts with broadcasters RTE (Ireland) and C More Entertainment (Sweden) to supply its Piero 3D graphics equipment.
RTE will use Piero on GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) games, the English Premier League matches, UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Championship League games as well as certain rugby leagues.
C More Entertainment will use Piero to enhance its coverage of the Swedish domestic league (Allsvenskan) and the Barclays Premier League.
Red Bee has also added a 'moveable player' feature, allowing presenters to move players with their finger on the touch-screen from one area of the pitch to another.
Deals
Hong Kong Office for Digital Rapids
Digital Rapids has opened a new sales and support office in Hong Kong and appointed Augustine Cheung as Regional Sales Manager for Asia.
Cheung brings with him over 14 years of experience with a number of major broadcast equipment vendors, including Sony Corporation, Leitch Technology, and most recently Dayang International.
The move is a bid to bolster the company's presence in China and better address customers' pre-sale system design and post-sale operational requirements.
The new office is located at:
Digital Rapids Asia Ltd.
45/F, The Lee Gardens
33 Hysan Avenue
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: +852-3180-2382
Fax: +852-3180-2383
Clear-Com Taps Tilts Integration
In a move that broadens its reach into the Baltic region, Clear-Com Communication Systems recently selected Tilts Integration as its new distributor for Latvia.
Tilts aims to expand the use of Clear-Com intercom products among the Latvian broadcast, studio, live film, production and post-production industries.
"Latvia is rapidly developing in the areas of broadcast and live performance, with the emergence of many new studios and new media companies," says Dmitry Gerasimenko, managing director of Tilts. "All these areas need the right communication equipment. Clear-Com offers a wide range of sophisticated, reliable and flexible products that meet the demands of these growing market sectors."
Tilts Integration has more than a decade of experience in the field of television, broadcasting and telecommunications in the Baltic region, offering consulting, installation, training and technical support services.
Linear Acoustic Appoints Gencom Technology for AsiaPac
Linear Acoustic has signed a deal with Gencom Technology appointing it as the dealer for New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, and South Africa.
The company will represent the full line of Linear Acoustic products and provide localised sales and support services from its network of offices.
"We're very pleased to be working with Gencom, a proven leader in delivering broadcast products to Australasia and Southeast Asia," said Tim Carroll, president and founder of Linear Acoustic. "Their tremendous experience in this market and close ties to major broadcasters makes them an ideal partner in our strategy for expanding the worldwide penetration of Linear Acoustic audio products."
Harris Broadcast Revenue Is Up
Harris said its broadcast communications revenue in the recent quarter was up 14 percent compared to a year earlier, to US$159 million.
"Strong orders and an increase in backlog in the third quarter are expected to drive higher sales and operating income in the fourth quarter," the company told investors. "A number of new initiatives are also underway to further reduce operating expenses and improve gross margins."
Harris does not break out radio business within the larger Broadcast Communications sector and it did not describe radio trends in its report.
But it said revenue grew in all business areas both U.S. and abroad, thanks to "the continuing global conversion to both digital and HD [high-definition] operations. Sales of transmission systems grew at double-digit rates, compared to the prior-year quarter, as a result of strong shipments in the U.S. market for the over-the-air digital transmission build-out. Double-digit growth continued in infrastructure and digital media systems, including routers, graphics equipment and multiviewers."
It said sales of traffic and billing software also improved; and the company cited recent implementations using its Harris One workflow solution in Taiwan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland.
Parent company Harris Corp. said revenue in its third quarter was US$1.33 billion, up 24 percent; setting aside the impact of previous acquisitions, organic revenue increased 15 percent.
Belden Announces Increased Earnings After Restructuring
Belden, fresh from job cuts and a plant closing, reported a 52.0 percent revenue increase to US$511.8 million from US$336.7 million in the first quarter of 2008 (compared to the same quarter in 2007). The quarter's revenue included US$167.0 million from businesses acquired during 2007 and US$15.3 million of favourable currency translation.
Earnings increased 36.7 percent, from 49 cents to 67 cents per share. Net income was US$13.2 million, or 27 cents per diluted share.
The company's European segment achieved double-digit adjusted operating margin.
During the quarter, Belden recorded non-cash asset impairment charges of US$11.5 million pre-tax, primarily associated with the closure of its plant in Manchester, Connecticut, and severance charges of US$6.5 million. It also suffered severance and other restructuring costs of US$5.6 million primarily in connection with the reorganization of its European operations.
"Geographic diversity, driven by our successful 2007 acquisitions, is working in our favour," said John Stroup, president and CEO. "Strong revenue and margin performance by our European and Asian businesses offset weakness in North America. Additionally, the operating margin of our European segment, as well as the legacy cable operations in the segment, exceeded our near-term goal of 10 percent. To address the weakness in our North American volume, we enacted countermeasures throughout the quarter, including reducing our work force in several locations, moving ahead with the decision to close the Connecticut plant, and delaying rehiring for most of the positions vacated through the Voluntary Separation Program."
COMM-TEC and Doremi Partner Up
Doremi Technologies and COMM-TEC have inked a partnership deal covering the European market. Germany-based COMM-TEC will now distribute Doremi products over a large part of Europe.
The agreement covers all Doremi video products for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, all Eastern Europe (except Russia) and Scandinavia.
"COMM-TEC is ideally situated to handle our video products. Its successful distribution organisation has established a big reputation. Now there is especially high potential as growing demand for HD means our video products, particularly the new ones introduced at NAB like the GHX-10 HD cross-converter and the V1-HD-2K video server, can benefit from COMM-TEC's established market position," said Patrick Zucchetta, EMEA Business Development Director for Doremi.
International Contract Assembly Group acquires ATI
International Contract Assembly Group (ICAG) has acquired Audio Technologies. New funding and management provided by ICAG will allow ATI to modernise and expand its product line.
ICAG has also named an Art Constantine to the position of Vice President Sales and Marketing. Constantine was formerly Director of Sales for both ATI and DaySequerra.
"I'm thrilled to be able to concentrate all of my efforts on ATI's growth," said Constantine. "We introduced six new products at the NAB Convention and we have more to come."
The company will continue to operate with sales based in New Jersey and manufacturing based in Arizona.
People News
Martyn Hopkins Joins Link Research
Link Research has appointed Martyn Hopkins to the role of European Regional Sales Manager. He joins from RFS.
Hopkins is responsible for sales of Link's wireless camera transmitters and related system components through the company's European distributor network. He will be working to support Link's European distributors in their RF camera projects.
Dave Remnant of Link Research commented: "With the summer sporting season beginning, and broadcasters using more RF cameras in news, there is very good potential for further growth in wireless camera sales in Europe. Martyn's experience is going to be especially valuable in Link's larger OB projects which often involve complete RF systems with antennas, receivers and a cellular network infrastructure."
Olympics
NBC Taps Blue Order to Manage Olympic Assets Beyond TV
For the fourth Olympics in a row, NBC has selected Blue Order to provide digital asset management for the network's coverage of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
Blue Order was previously deployed by NBC for its Olympics coverage in Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004 and Torino in 2006. For Beijing in August, Blue Order has enhanced its enterprise Media Archive media asset management platform for NBC's online, on-demand and mobile services. Distributed and replicated over two locations in China and the United States, NBC will use Media Archive to import content ingested via Omneon Media Deck, logs created in NBC's OPIS logging system and statistics data received from IDS. Editors based in the United States will be able to select recorded events and provide intros/outros for re-runs or subclip them to create highlights packages. The defined packages are then forwarded to distribution, including both the transcoded media and the timeline-related metadata.
"The Highlights Factory puts Media Archive in the heart of the production chain for NBC New Media coverage of the Beijing Olympics," said Dr. Frank Rauch, chairman of Blue Order Solutions in Kaiserlautern, Germany. "Bringing together media and metadata originating both in China and the USA, Media Archive provides both the business process management and the editorial interface for this coverage, independent of the physical location of the users."
According to Dave Mazza, senior vice president of engineering for NBC Olympics, the network's NBCOlympics.com Web site will feature 2,200 total hours of live streaming video coverage, as well as 300-400 hours of clip-based Olympic Highlights, Rewinds, and Encores.
In China, the Highlights Factory will record up to 40 streams in SD and 1 stream in HD. In the United States, additional 2 SD and 5 HD channels are available for ingest. Proxies, keyframes and metadata will be fully replicated between both sites. High-res material from the Games selected for re-use is transcoded to Long GOP MPEG and subsequently transferred to the United States for packaging to the various distribution channels. Media Archive also includes relevant pieces of selected metadata timelines (manually created logs and IDS sports statistics) into the delivery package submitted to downstream processing.
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