North Plains Transforms Canada's TVO

by Sue Indrigo
Manager of New Media and IT Application Development
TVO


TORONTO TVO is a public educational media organization serving the province of Ontario. We measure ourselves on the quality of the content we deliver and the size of the audience we reach through our TV network, Web sites and secondary school. In recent years TVO has undergone a major transformation. To improve our content, as well as our own internal efficiencies, we embarked on a plan to migrate to an all-digital work environment.

This move couldn't have taken place without an upgrade in our asset management capabilities. We have used asset management systems since 1972, and the home-grown system we had was limited in scope. There was redundant data everywhere—clips in multiple databases, descriptions written on paper files. And the old system couldn't handle digital files. We were changing our tape library to a random-access shelving system, and we needed an asset management system that could keep pace.

North Plains TeleScope user interfacePLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

We chose North Plains Systems' TeleScope Enterprise digital asset management (DAM) platform for several reasons. We liked the Web-based application, its open database and the ability to configure it using in-house application developers. We also liked how it integrates well with existing content creation and ingestion platforms such as Avid, Masstech, Flip-Factory and Omneon. TeleScope made it easy for us to define workflows using standard database procedures, and we felt it could scale to meet our needs.

As we integrate TeleScope into our digital platform, several groups, including media librarians that select and categorize assets, are relaying positive experiences with the tools. When we complete the digital transformation in 2009, more than 300 workers will be involved in the DAM process, handling more than 500,000 digital assets.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS

We are already seeing great results. We use TeleScope to manage all of our digital content, helping content creators, editors, marketers and broadcast partners find what they need. TeleScope lets us effortlessly move assets from one environment to another—from editing to master control, from video to Web, from studios and field cameras to final editing and broadcast.

The benefits we're realizing include extending the life of digital assets, centralizing asset storage and management, and saving time and promoting efficiency.

With TeleScope, we're able to quickly move digital broadcast files and automatically transfer them to Web encoding for editing into segments. Then the transcode can be sent for upload to the Internet or to our Web partners. This helps us leverage existing assets for reuse in other applications.

Videotape libraries are expensive to maintain—storing the assets as digital files greatly reduces those costs. Over time, traditional tape libraries deteriorate and render files unusable. Now our digital files are a few clicks away and they are preserved for life.

Content creators can create edit decision lists within TeleScope right at their desktop while viewing the content and instantly share the file with their team. This dramatically improves workflow and time to market.

Moving to digital is reshaping TVO into an efficient content-delivery organization. North Plains' DAM platform serves as the backbone for our new technology infrastructure. We're glad we made the move.

Sue Indrigo is manager of new media and IT application development at TVO and is responsible for TVO's conversion to a digital tapeless workflow. She may be contacted at sindrigo@tvo.org.

For additional information, contact North Plains at 416-345-1900 or visit www.northplains.com.