LONDON—ITV Studios, the production arm of the U.K.'s largest commercial broadcaster, has deployed the Cuez live production platform to manage three back-to-back live shows from a single platform, handling live rundown and studio automation.

ITV runs three back-to-back daytime magazine, talk and lifestyle shows, “This Morning,” “Loose Women” and “Lorraine,” from the same London studio. They share a single technical crew but have different hosts, branding and graphics, and their own editorial styles.

To produce these shows, ITV Studios needed a solution to unify the three shows while handling every production role from producers building rundowns to gallery operators managing playout.

The Cuez platform allowed ITV Studios to handle the entire creative process from a single environment and employ a leaner crew, ITV Studios Executive Director Barry Thomas said. “Our production teams range in technical ability, yet suddenly they all use the same newsroom system and that's really unique,” Thomas said. “Other systems don't offer this sort of full capability.”

Adam Scott, ITV Studios gallery playout operator, added: “Using one application, we were able to play multiple graphics systems and VT playout systems together very easily. This results in the crew having a clearer view of the show, and less margin for error when transitions between programs run to minutes.”

Production team members said the Cuez platform is easy to adopt.

“From the minute I started, I noticed it was much easier to use than other systems I've used in the past,” Producer Jonathan Hughes said. “It’s really user-friendly. Once you've had just a little bit of a play-around with it, you’re completely across it. Last-minute changes are critical for all three programs.

“Cuez Rundown keeps everyone in sync,” he added. “You type something in the control room and this instantly gets on set. The live synchronization is exactly what we needed. Those changes also reach the camera operators in real time. They’ve replaced their bundles of printed rundowns with a modern iPad attached to each camera, displaying the synced Cuez Rundown.”

Thomas added: “Being able to have one universal tool that we can communicate in, and see exactly what is happening next, is a real game changer for creatives and directors.”

Cuez is a cloud-based platform for news programs and live entertainment programs that connects with and controls content creation devices via API or MOS. Its three main elements are Storydesk, Rundown and Automator.

For more on Cuez, watch the video below.

EPSOM, U.K.—Pebble will showcase its automation, content management and integrated channel solutions and highlight continuing development of its software platforms during the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Pebble now delivers highly tailored solutions at any scale, ranging from a single channel to the largest multi-tenanted facility. Its solutions are built upon three foundational elements: Pebble Automation, Pebble Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote.

Pebble Automation is the control and intelligence layer used equally well in rich best-of-breed architectures or those using Pebble Integrated Channel. Its Integrated Channel platform is the second part of the trilogy. Pebble Remote reflects the growing demand for multi-site workflows and remote access for monitoring and management. Authorized users anywhere in the world can use Pebble Remote to access systems securely via a web browser.

Using flexible implementations of these core elements, Pebble builds architectures to match user requirements. Its solutions are equally at home in SDI, SMPTE ST 2110, NDI and hybrid environments, in a single control center or with multiple access points and cloud connectivity.

A key factor in Pebble’s continuing development lies in its involvement in cross-industry initiatives like the JT-DMF: the EBU/AMWA Joint Taskforce on Dynamic Media Facilities. To continue achieving seamless interworking across complex and virtualized media infrastructures, it is vital for all the key players, including Pebble, to contribute knowledge and experience to reach the optimum standards and solutions.

“Our goals today are what they have always been. Partnerships first. We're in this for the long term, and so are our customers. Beyond that, we're very conscious that nobody yet knows exactly where this industry is heading in terms of architecture, virtualization, cloud or AI. Our job is to make sure that wherever it goes, our customers aren't left behind,” said Pebble CEO Peter Mayhead.

“Live broadcast is increasingly built around high-value content, and the expectations around reliability and monetization reflect that. Broadcasters can't afford failures, and they can't afford systems that can't respond when commercial strategies shift. Add to that the very real demands around cybersecurity, and you start to understand why our customers value a partner who has been working through these challenges for as long as we have.”

See Pebble at 2026 NAB Show booth W2725.

More information is available on the company’s website.

When Imagine Communications announced last fall that it was acquiring Pixel Power from Rohde & Schwarz, the company said its main goal was to “broaden Imagine’s live production ecosystem and playout offerings via integration of Pixel Power’s software-defined, deploy-anywhere platforms.” This week, Imagine President Steve Reynolds updated TV Tech on how the integration is progressing.

Of particular importance to Imagine is Pixel’s playout and multiviewer solutions, two parts of the production workflow chain Reynolds thinks are key to expanding the company’s presence in these markets.

“Imagine has been in the playout business pretty much since the playout and automation business started all the way back to when we were Harris, and it's always been a really important segment for us,” he said. “We like to be in those mission-critical operational systems, the things that our customers depend on day in and day out in order to run their business.

“Those are the kind of products that Imagine has really focused on as we made the transition from a hardware centric company—which is what Harris really was—towards the software centric company that we are today,” Reynolds added.

The Power of a Combined Solution
The acquisition of Pixel Power, Reynolds says, will not only help strengthen its current playout solutions portfolio—which include ADC, Versio and in more recent years, the Aviator orchestration platform—but also expand its geographic footprint, Reynolds said.

“Pixel Power—which is a company that we have competed with for years—has built a really great solution for the European public broadcaster space, where they had a lot of success,” Reynolds said. “With customers like TV2 in Norway, SVT in Sweden, the work that they've done with the German public broadcasters, the work that they've done with TV5MONDE in France, they had a really great customer base around those public broadcasters.”

The two main products Pixel had built its success on in this market, according to Reynolds, were the company’s Gallium automated multiplatform content management solution and StreamMaster platform for realtime graphics and control. Combining automation plus a media server “really formed a nice bundle for anybody that's in that kind of public broadcast space,” Reynolds said.

“Pixel had done a good job of winning market share with those [national broadcast] customers, so the reason we wanted to acquire Gallium and StreamMaster was really aimed at that market segment,” he added. “We saw the success that they had in that segment, and as we continue to move forward with investments in Gallium and StreamMaster, it's going to be focused, at least initially, in Europe, to continue to build on that customer base.”

Reynolds said the combination of the two created a powerful and sophisticated graphics solution for Pixel Power, which was beating Imagine when it came to bidding for business with European broadcasters.

“Imagine was bidding on a lot of those same projects, and Pixel Power was winning,” Reynolds said, “And one of the things that we consistently heard is that the graphics package that is in StreamMaster is a top-tier integrated graphics package that a lot of those national broadcasters were leveraging because it had the capabilities that they needed not only to be able to do the 2D graphics—which Imagine already had—but they had some more advanced capabilities to be able to handle some 3D and to be able to handle a lot of the kind of the more advanced and more sophisticated on-air look that that those broadcasters were looking for.

“They had a sophisticated graphics package that was integrated into a playout system that met all of the criteria—it supports all the formats, it supports all of the different resolutions, it supports all the ingest workloads that those guys need,” he added. “So it had it checked all the boxes on kind of the basic set of competitive features. But it also added in that higher power graphics.”

Scaling Up
The second product Imagine was keenly interested in was multiviewers, specifically Pixel’s Prismon platform, which is designed to scale up to support hundreds of channels. This large-scale type of monitoring platform was high on Imagine’s shopping list, according to Reynolds.

"Imagine has always been in the multiviewer business, but we had a different focus—we were more on the production multiviewer side of things,” Reynolds said. “[Imagine’s] SNP was intended to be a production multiviewer, very low latency, very high quality, but not large scale.”

Integrating Prismon into Imagine’s multiviewer product line gives Imagine the ability to build facility-scale, multiviewers, especially in production facilities, turnaround facilities including satellite and cable operators, or in large scale, playout operations where there's dozens or even hundreds of channels being played out of the same facility, Reynolds said.

“So we now have multiviewer offerings for large scale and for smaller scale, low latency, and that would be in OB vans, production galleries, or control rooms at a sporting venue, where the number of feeds that you're dealing with is 10, 20 or maybe 30.”

Reynolds said Prismon helps Imagine respond to more market demands for integrated solutions. “What we realized was we really need to have a product in our portfolio that lets us create that fully bundled solution, because increasingly, that's what the market wants to buy,” he said. “It's the same thing as with the playout solution, right? The market wants an integrated solution, they don't want to have to build, or have to be their own systems integrator. They want to buy something that is integrated. And so Prismon filled that gap for us.”

The timescales for building new media production facilities has been declining for years, according to Reynolds, another reason for increased interest in integrated solutions.

“The idea of having these multi-year facility builds… that's in the past,” Reynolds said. “And in many cases now, we're looking at time frames that are measured in months between the time somebody acquires rights and they want to be on air. And that's what's really driving the demand for these fully integrated solutions. Customers want to know that it's already been tested, it's already been integrated, and you can deploy it quickly, easily and within a set of budget constraints to get on air.”

The acquisition of Pixel Power was completed at the end of 2025 and Reynolds said not a lot will change in terms of what existing customers should expect, including keeping the product names.

“That's why we bought them, we like the products, we like the differentiation of those products, they fit well within our portfolio, and they give us something new to offer to the customers that want to buy that kind of solution,” Reynolds said.

NAB Show Plans
Imagine’s booth (N1328 in the North Hall of the LVCC) at the NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, will reflect this expanded market focus, according to Reynolds. Among the highlights will be the company’s cloud-based XVR playout engine, which was introduced at the 2025 IBC Show.

Gallium StreamMaster will be demonstrated running on COTS and its expanded multiviewer portfolio will be highlighted, including advanced automation features such as intelligent monitoring, automated audio/video issue detection, and “penalty boxing,” which elevates problem signals for immediate operator attention.

"The other thing you're going to see is this kind of fully integrated solution of gateways—the ability to use the SNP as the gateway between the SDI and IP world, and to do format conversion with JPEG access and things like that, directly into ingest,” Reynolds said. “And we'll be using the new XVR engine, which is the Linux-based ingest engine with multiple playout systems. So you'll see StreamMaster, XVR, and Nexio all sitting side by side in a kind of a multiserver environment.”

A 13-year-old company that serves as a master control/disaster recovery hub for PBS stations says it has seen little financial impact from cuts to public broadcasting.

Executives from CentralCast Alliance, a company that got its initial investment from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting back in 2012, recently discussed the current status of the not-for-profit organization with TV Tech.

Syracuse, N.Y.-based CentralCast is a self-sustaining organization that serves more than 100 streams of public broadcasting channels to U.S. viewers.

“CentralCast started with eight New York PBS stations as a file-sharing mechanism and then it expanded from there to a joint master control to create efficiencies,” said Shadi Sabra, CEO of CentralCast Alliance. “And CPB back then said, ‘OK, we're gonna help you guys,’ and they matched whatever the New York stations invested in capital.

“Fast-forward to 2025, it's a whole different beast right now,” he added.

Streamline Operations
In CentralCast’s first year of operations, total revenue was less than $1 million; today, that has increased to almost $5 million with the expectation it will surpass $6 million within the next two years, according to the company.

When Sabra and CentralCast Chief Technology Officer Steve White joined the company near the end of the last decade, they both had one goal in mind.

“The first thing that we did was to streamline operations—all of it, from workflows, day-to-day operations, to technology to solutions,” Sabra said.

“As a startup, we didn't really know what direction we should be going in, so we pretty much went in any direction that a customer asked us,” White added.

In 2019, the company made a “massive investment” with broadcast tech provider Evertz, which had been a tech partner with CentralCast since its 2012 launch. “We upgraded almost everything when it comes to play out and automation, all of it,” White said. “And with the way CentralCast is structured, every penny of revenue that comes in goes back to R&D.”

In 2022, CentralCast LLC merged with Digital Convergence Alliance, a competitor serving Florida public broadcasters, to form CentralCast Alliance, a single major nonprofit entity built and designed specifically for public media. Its goal was to house more than 150 streams serving more than 50% of the entire U.S. public broadcasting audience.

Sabra said CentralCast wants to move from its current centralized “one-to-many” concept to a more molecular design, as spelled out in a white paper the company released in 2024.

“We want to change the model from one to many to kind to a more of a molecular design, where it's kind of ‘many to many,’” Sabra said. “So instead of having one hub and spokes, we want to have a core that is many hubs and the spokes around it.”

Second Hub Planned
To help achieve this, CentralCast plans to open a second site in the Northeast and to use the cloud to operate more efficiently. The new hub will have the same capabilities as the one in Syracuse and be close by for staff sharing. It will be IP-ready for ATSC 3.0 and 4K content distribution and will be able to house all 354 stations that are part of the CentralCast hub.

“We also want to minimize our hardware footprint and take advantage of the cloud, but at the same time make sure that the cost of doing so doesn't really change our service costs,” Sabra added.

Those costs include current annual fees of $40,000 per managed channel and $15,000 for pass-through channels, which is basically the national feed, but with the ability to do their own branding and EAS.

The company recently launched its next-generation service, called “Cast,” which takes advantage of advances in IP-based distribution.

“It basically delivers all the streams from the hub to the spoke hub over the public internet,” Sabra said, adding that the company deployed it to all of its customers free of charge.

“So now we have multiple layers of defense—at the hub, we have all the redundancies that we need,” he said. “We have the fiber delivery, and then we have the cloud bridge delivery, and then if all of those fail, we have the local disaster recovery system that we deploy to the stations on site.”

“Cast is identical to our traditional solution, but, again, instead of no fiber, it's just an internet delivery,” Sabra added.

The new solution was deployed to their customers just prior to the 2025 NAB Show.

“We’ve essentially compressed an entire master control in nine rack units,” White said.

The company also restructured its fees. “Technically, a station can do all their master control and transmitter monitoring, all for $55,000 a year,” White said. “They don't have to worry about getting national content; they don't have to worry about integrating with the PBS interconnection system; they don't have to worry about all of those things.”

Planned for the Worst
Funding for public broadcasting has never been guaranteed and in the current political climate, the termination of funding for CPB earlier this year certainly raises questions about how PBS stations can operate more efficiently. Sabra believes CentralCast is in the best position to help.

“We didn't anticipate [the defunding] but we always planned for the worst, but hoped for the best,” Sabra said, adding that the development of Cast was a “direct response to the thought of federal funding going away.”

“And then for the current client list that we have, we started working with almost everyone about a year ago to figure out what is the best way to keep moving forward,” he said. “There are a few stations that changed their stream structure from managed to pass-through and some stations that sunsetted some of their subchannels.

“But all in all, knock on wood, we had a retention rate of 100% last year,” Sabra said, adding that he expects that to be the case for 2025 as well.

Sabra says the company is planning for westward expansion.

“We’ve located where the second site is going to be on the West Coast,” he said. “I’m not going to tell you that right now, but we are going to move automation into AWS with Evertz and the development for that has started. We're hoping that by late 2027, that will be online for us, which means that we won’t need automation at each site.”

LONDON—Vizrt has announced that it is providing automation technologies for live sports production to the Viaplay streaming service that are being used to cover Premier League action and soccer matches.

For this year’s soccer season, Viaplay’s goals were to simultaneously increase content output and improve show quality and consistency, while ensuring scalable workflows, the two companies explained. To accomplish those goals, it is using Viz Mosart on live productions, which allows a single operator to run an entire show, enabling the production of more localized content for different audiences.

Viz Mosart is designed to put all the power of the gallery and studio at the operator’s fingertips, with templated actions controlling lighting, graphics playout, robotic cameras, and videowalls simultaneously. Viaplay’s teams across Denmark and Norway are creating consistent, on-brand live content that entertains and informs soccer fans before, during, and after every Premier League match, Vizrt reported.

By automating repetitive tasks, Vizrt reported that users are able to ensure consistent, reliable productions, while enabling more creative storytelling and making it possible to deliver more content with the same resources. Viz Mosart is at the center of production workflows across the Viaplay studios, ready to be flexible and deliver what’s needed for each production team.

Viaplay subscribers across the Nordic countries and the Netherlands can tune in to the streaming service’s pre-match build-up, halftime debrief, and post-game analysis. For all live Premier League matches, soccer fans in each territory can enjoy commentary in their own language, providing them with unparalleled access to expert insight and coverage of the beautiful game.

“This is an important step in our journey to future-proof our sports productions, and without the reliable system and strong expertise we receive from Vizrt as our partner, it would not have been possible for this project to go live in such a short time,” says Robin Gerbino, vice president of production, sports operations at Viaplay Group.

“Production automation needs to be flexible to make a real difference. Adaptability is as important as reliability, especially in live sports, where so much of the excitement comes from not knowing what will happen,” says Andrew O’Neil, vice president of sports, strategy & growth at Vizrt. “The purpose is to free up your time, while keeping the production process efficient. With Viz Mosart, the show is completely yours to create and change as you please.”

To effectively implement Viz Mosart across the Viaplay studios, Vizrt offered comprehensive training of the automation solution for team leaders, including training in show design to help make shows as creative as possible.

Following the successful launch of the solution for Premier League content production, Viaplay plans on expanding its use to more markets and other sports coverage during the year — including premium rights such as the Champions League, Formula 1, Superliga, FIS Skiing, and many more, the companies explained.

"With our new partnership with Vizrt, centered around implementing Viz Mosart to strengthen our productions, we are very pleased with the collaboration and the support we have received making it possible to go live in the new soccer season kick-off. This is a first step, and we are very much looking forward to what the collaboration can bring in the years to come,” explained Gerbino at Viaplay Group.

To learn more about how automation streamlines production for news, sports, and other live and pre-recorded shows, please visit: https://www.vizrt.com/products/viz-mosart/

In today’s fast-paced sports broadcasting environment, the role of the studio is becoming increasingly central to the overall production. Whether it’s pre-game analysis, mid-game breakdowns, or post-game commentary, sports broadcast studios are expected to deliver content that engages viewers visually as much as it does editorially. A key part of achieving this engagement is the ability to capture dynamic, creative shots that enhance the storytelling within the studio.

Yet, for many studios, managing complex camera movements and maintaining high-quality visuals across broadcasts can be a challenge. Traditional camera setups often rely on manual operation, which can result in inconsistent shot quality, operational inefficiencies, and higher production costs. With the growing need for real-time responsiveness and flexibility in studio environments, more advanced solutions are required to streamline camera operations and ensure smooth, polished visuals.

CHALLENGES IN CAMERA OPERATIONS FOR SPORTS BROADCAST STUDIOS

Inconsistent camera movements and shot quality

One of the biggest challenges in sports studios is ensuring smooth and consistent camera movements. Whether it’s a transition from one host to another, a sweeping shot across a panel of analysts, or a close-up to emphasize a key point, these movements need to be flawless. In traditional setups, these shots are controlled manually, leading to inconsistencies in timing, framing, and execution. As a result, the overall quality of the broadcast can suffer, diminishing the professionalism and impact of the in-studio segment.

Smooth, well-timed camera movements are essential for maintaining viewer engagement. For example, during a heated discussion among commentators, a poorly executed camera transition can disrupt the flow of conversation and diminish the viewer’s experience. Achieving consistent, seamless transitions is crucial to delivering a visually compelling experience that keeps the audience focused on the content, not the production.

Operator-intensive production requirements

Managing multiple camera angles in a live studio environment requires a highly skilled and coordinated team. In traditional setups, each camera must be controlled by an individual operator responsible for executing precise movements. This level of manual control can be time-consuming and labor-intensive and requires experienced operators who can react quickly to real-time developments in the broadcast.

The complexity of certain camera movements—like smoothly tracking talent as they move across the set—can present challenges, particularly in automated setups. While manual operation often provides the nuance needed to make such movements appear natural, automated systems can struggle to replicate the same fluidity without manual intervention. Maintaining a large crew of skilled operators to achieve high-quality, consistent results can drive up production costs, making it harder for studios to stay within budget while delivering polished broadcasts.

Limited flexibility for real-time adjustments

A sports broadcast studio is an inherently dynamic environment. Hosts move around the set to interact with graphics, video walls, or other studio elements. In some cases, they might shift locations unexpectedly or stand up to make a point more emphatically. While manual camera operators excel at making reactive adjustments with precision, relying on a dedicated operator for each camera can be inefficient and costly. Scaling this approach across multiple cameras significantly increases production complexity and budget, making it difficult to maintain efficiency in fast-paced broadcasts.

Traditional automated cameras result in inconsistent or delayed camera responses, which impacts the flow of a broadcast and may lead viewers to miss key moments or become distracted by awkward framing. Flexibility in camera movements and framing is especially critical in sports studio settings where timing and smooth transitions are vital to maintaining professionalism and viewer engagement.

The role of automation in solving studio camera challenges

As the demands on sports studios increase, many broadcasters are looking to automation to streamline their camera operations. Robotic camera solutions, like the ones used in top studios, help bridge the gap between manual operation and full automation. They bring advanced features that make capturing shots more precise and easier to control. Automated systems have the ability to execute precise, pre-programmed camera movements with greater consistency and reliability than manual setups. These systems provide a level of precision and control that can enhance a broadcast’s overall visual quality while reducing operational complexity.

Consistency and precision in camera movements

Robotic cameras are becoming a cornerstone of leading studio setups, often complementing manual systems. Manual tools like jibs and Steadicams have long been prized for their ability to execute dynamic, creative shots—the “candy” of broadcast visuals—but they also rely heavily on highly skilled operators. Achieving consistent quality across broadcasts can be challenging, as outcomes depend on operator expertise and technique.

Advanced robotic systems, such as Ross Video’s Artimo, are now bridging the gap between precision and creativity, offering smooth, fluid camera movements that rival those of manual setups. These systems can replicate complex moves traditionally reserved for manual tools, such as sweeping transitions or dynamic talent tracking, while ensuring consistency across broadcasts. With the added advantage of automation, these systems reduce operational complexity and provide reliable performance in live, fast-paced environments, helping broadcasters maintain a professional polish without sacrificing creativity.

Reducing the operator burden

Automating camera operations significantly reduces the number of operators required to manage a live studio production. Instead of needing a dedicated operator for each camera, an automated system can control multiple cameras simultaneously from a single console. This not only improves operational efficiency but also minimizes the risk of human error during live broadcasts.

With automation, operators can build pre-programmed sequences of shots that automatically recall new camera positions and framing throughout the show. For example, during a pre-game discussion, a sequence might include wide shots of the entire panel, close-ups of individual hosts, and dynamic transitions between angles—all executed with little to no manual intervention. This allows production teams to focus on other elements of the broadcast, such as coordinating graphics, managing audio, or interacting with live data feeds.

Real-time adaptability through AI-driven tracking

The latest generation of robotic camera systems leverages AI-driven tracking technology to further enhance automation. AI-based systems, like those deployed in leading broadcast studios, can automatically track on-camera talent, ensuring the camera stays framed on the subject even as they move across the set. For instance, a major German broadcaster, Sky Deutschland, incorporated these solutions during a recent studio overhaul, significantly improving their live sports coverage’s precision and dynamic capabilities​.

This eliminates the need for manual tracking and ensures that talent is always framed perfectly, even in fast-paced, dynamic environments. AI-driven tracking can be a game-changer in sports studios, where talent often moves around to interact with graphics, screens, or other visual elements. By following the talent in real time, these systems ensure that the camera keeps up with the action, delivering smooth, professional-grade shots that enhance the viewer experience.

For example, AI-driven technology like Vision[Ai]ry can autonomously adjust to follow talent’s movements, in a way that looks natural to the viewer. Systems like this offer a hands-off approach that reduces the need for manual adjustments, allowing directors to focus on other production areas.

Enhancing creative flexibility

In a studio environment, creative flexibility is essential. Automated camera systems can be programmed with customizable presets that allow directors to easily switch between different camera angles and movements. For example, a preset might be used to capture a wide-angle shot of the entire set at the start of a segment, then transition to close-ups of individual hosts as the discussion intensifies.

These presets can be triggered automatically or at the director’s discretion, allowing for seamless transitions between shots without the need for manual control. This level of creative flexibility enables directors to experiment with different shot compositions and movements, ultimately improving the visual storytelling of the broadcast.

Cost efficiency and scalability

By optimizing camera operations and enhancing workflow efficiency, automated camera systems improve cost efficiency for sports studios. These systems are scalable, making them suitable for studios of all sizes—from small local stations to large national networks. As the demands of live broadcasts continue to increase, the scalability of automation ensures that studios can grow and adapt their camera operations without incurring major costs or requiring extensive reconfigurations.

The future of camera automation in sports studios

As sports broadcast studios become more complex, the need for efficient, flexible, and high-quality camera operations has never been greater. Traditional camera setups, with their reliance on manual control, are becoming increasingly inadequate for the demands of modern broadcasts. Automated camera systems offer a solution that improves the consistency and quality of studio shots and reduces the operational burden on production teams.

By embracing automation, sports studios can enhance their creative flexibility, capture more dynamic visuals, and deliver a more polished and professional broadcast experience. Whether through advanced AI-driven tracking or pre-programmed camera movements, the future of in-studio camera operations lies in automation.

For studios looking to stay ahead of the curve, investing in a robotic camera system similar to Ross Video’s Artimo is an important step toward improving operational efficiency and elevating production quality. These systems offer the precision, adaptability, and scalability that modern sports broadcasts demand, ensuring that every segment is delivered with the highest level of professionalism and visual appeal.

A definitive guide to the modern sports viewer

Sports broadcasting is undergoing a seismic shift, with global audiences consuming live events in new and diverse ways. From multi-screen viewing to the rise of social media engagement, modern sports fans are more connected—and selective—than ever before.

According to our recent research, conducted in partnership with Kantar, sports audiences are adapting to new technologies and media formats at an unprecedented rate. These behavior shifts present challenges and opportunities for broadcasters and rights holders.

MONTREAL—Two long-time competitors in the TV production market have announced a collaboration that allows integration of two of its platforms.

Grass Valley and Ross Video—both among the largest providers of production switchers to the TV production market—have announced that Grass Valley’s Maverik X Production Switcher, powered by AMPP OS (Agile Media Processing Platform), can now be directly controlled via Ross Video’s OverDrive. This collaboration enhances flexibility for broadcasters, enabling seamless interoperability between two industry-leading production technologies for studio production, the companies said.

By working closely together, Grass Valley and Ross Video have expanded OverDrive’s capabilities to include the Maverik X Production Switcher, reinforcing both companies’ commitment to open and adaptable production workflows, the companies said. Ross Video continues to expand OverDrive’s compatibility with a wide range of third-party devices — enabling customers to utilize the production tools that work best for them.

“Media organizations today demand the freedom to build systems that match their unique workflows by integrating the best solutions from across the industry,” said Adam Marshall, Chief Product Officer at Grass Valley. “With OverDrive support now available for Maverik X, media organizations can modernize their technology infrastructure while maintaining the familiar OverDrive user experience—minimizing disruption for operators while leveraging AMPP’s advanced processing technology for greater agility and flexibility in hybrid deployments.”

“AMPP OS was designed from the ground up as an open platform, built to enable seamless integration with best-in-class solutions across the industry,” Marshall continued. “The growing adoption of the GV Technology Alliance is a testament to this commitment. We’re excited to see industry-leading automation tools like Ross Video’s OverDrive now providing direct control over AMPP OS-based solutions like Maverik X. This deep, bidirectional collaboration underscores our mission to deliver unmatched choice and flexibility for customers.”

Ross Video’s OverDrive powers thousands of hours of live production every day, trusted by leading broadcasters around the globe for its tight newsroom integration, intuitive UI, and powerful rundown-based control. Now compatible with over 220 third-party devices, OverDrive gives producers and TDs the confidence to execute fast-paced shows with precision and consistency, the company said.

“Automation is no longer just a nice-to-have — it’s essential to producing more with less, and doing it reliably under pressure,” said Jeff Moore, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Ross Video. “We’re pleased to see this integration with Maverik X, further expanding OverDrive’s reach within today’s dynamic, multi-vendor environments.”

This collaboration between Grass Valley and Ross Video marks a significant step toward broader interoperability, the companies said, adding that they are committed to further expanding OverDrive control across additional AMPP-powered solutions in the future.

The media industry is navigating a storm of disruption. Broadcasters are grappling with challenges stemming from relentless market shifts, mergers, acquisitions, and tighter budgets. To remain competitive amidst these pressures, efficient playout consolidation and management have transitioned from a nice-to-have to an absolute necessity.

In this context, automation emerges as the key to navigating a rapidly evolving market, driving operational excellence in an industry where efficiency, consistency, and adaptability are paramount.

The Need for Consolidation and Automation
Historically, playout and media orchestration relied heavily on manual workflows that were time-intensive and prone to error. Today, such methods are no longer sustainable. Increased channel variety, fragmented audiences, and the demand for lightning-fast delivery across platforms like OTT and FAST channels require streamlined operations. At the same time, broadcasters face immense cost pressures, forcing them to reassess their traditional, resource-heavy approaches.

Automation is fundamentally redefining this landscape. By consolidating processes and automating key functions, broadcasters can manage their operations far more efficiently. Tasks that once demanded human oversight—content ingestion, quality control, compliance checks, and distribution—can now be executed within seamless, repeatable workflows. This consolidation not only simplifies operations but also reduces redundancy, eliminates silos between departments, and provides a central, unified system to manage complex playout functions.

Simplifying Complexity
Modern media orchestration is incredibly intricate. From managing incoming content to preparing it for multiple platforms and ensuring flawless delivery, each step adds layers of complexity. Automation cuts through this chaos by standardizing and optimizing every stage of the process.

For example, automated systems can format content to suit diverse platform specifications without manual intervention. This ensures a faster turnaround and higher accuracy while reducing the operational burden. Broadcasters no longer need to spend valuable time troubleshooting inconsistencies or duplicating efforts. With automation, their teams are free to focus on innovation, storytelling, and long-term strategy rather than tedious logistics.

Driving Efficiency and Cost Savings
Efficiency lies at the heart of automation. Whether it’s dynamic scaling in a cloud-native playout system or automated quality control checks, automation ensures broadcasters only expend resources when and where they’re needed. Dynamic scaling, in particular, allows operations to flexibly adapt to fluctuating workloads. For live broadcasts, compute resources can ramp up instantly, while non-peak operations can scale back to conserve power and cut costs.

This optimization runs parallel to significant savings in capital and operational expenditures. Gone are the days of huge upfront investments in costly infrastructure. By automating processes and adopting cloud-native models, broadcasters can reduce their reliance on physical equipment and ongoing maintenance. Pay-as-you-go systems further enhance flexibility, allowing broadcasters to allocate budgets strategically rather than locking them into fixed, oversized installations.

Reducing On-Air Risks with Automation
The stakes in broadcasting are high. A single on-air incident—from a technical glitch to a scheduling error—can damage audience trust and undermine relationships with advertisers. Alarmingly, human error has long been the leading cause of such disruptions. Here, automation plays a pivotal role in boosting reliability and minimizing risks.

With automated fail-safes in place, systems can instantly detect and resolve potential issues. Should a primary stream face a problem, automated workflows can shift to a backup stream without delay, ensuring seamless broadcasting. Similarly, scheduling conflicts and compliance oversights are virtually eliminated by rule-based automation. This consistency instills confidence, not only within operations teams but also among viewers and clients relying on uninterrupted, high-quality delivery.

Navigating a Disrupted Market
Broadcasters today face constant disruption, from mergers creating operational sprawl to tighter budgets demanding more output with fewer resources. Automation offers a critical solution, enabling organizations to streamline workflows, scale efficiently, and adapt to shifting market conditions. Whether integrating new assets, launching pop-up channels, or scaling down during off-peak periods, automation provides the flexibility and reliability needed to thrive.

Beyond cutting costs, it positions broadcasters for long-term success by maximizing efficiency and allowing them to focus on delivering high-quality content in an ever-changing media landscape.

SAN FRANCISCO and SHENZHEN, China—AI-powered camera control technology specialist Iris has partnered with optical and video technology innovator Telecam Technology (Telycam) to integrate the former’s embedded software into the latter’s cameras to enable users to control their devices via the cloud.

The integration allows Telycam cameras to be fully managed from anywhere in the world in real time without any additional hardware. Users can seamlessly control camera movement, adjust settings and deploy AI-driven capabilities, such as auto-tracking, from a single cloud-based interface. 

By combining Iris' cloud control technology with Telycam's cameras, the companies are providing a solution for professionals in education, corporate environments, broadcasting and live events. The integration offers users greater accessibility and ease of use.

"We are thrilled to partner with Telycam to bring Iris to thousands of cameras and customers around the world," said Iris CEO Noah Johnson. "Our goal has always been to simplify and enhance the video production process, and this collaboration with Telycam enables us to do just that. Together, we're delivering a powerful tool that will revolutionize how users interact with their cameras."

The partnership not only enhances the capabilities of the companies' products but also paves the way for future advancements in cloud-based video management.

"Integrating Iris into our portfolio has allowed us to provide a superior, intelligent solution with an unmatched user experience," said Telycam's co-founder and head of sales and marketing Jenny Liu. "We are excited about the immense value this partnership will bring to our customers, setting a new industry standard."

More information is available on the Telycam and Iris websites.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Perifery has launched AI+ 2.0, an AI-powered suite for media professionals to revitalize their existing content libraries with AI-generated metadata.

Perifery AI+ 2.0 unlocks new monetization opportunities for the content M&E companies already own and automates distribution workflows by enhancing content awareness, the company said.

The latest version of the product offers customers a comprehensive set of AI and workflow automation tools. New capabilities include updated transcription, metadata generation, facial and object recognition and automatic translation.

The additions streamline asset management processes, simplify technology administration and automate content organization, enabling organizations to enhance content library visibility, boosting productivity and creativity, and helping them reach larger audiences. Serving a broad spectrum of media professionals from content creators and post-production houses, Perifery’s AI+ suite enables the media and entertainment industry to harness AI technologies and prioritize the human experience, the company said.

“Perifery AI+ 2.0 delivers a range of transformational advantages by combining advanced AI with workflow automation,” commented Jason Perr, chief technology officer of media and entertainment solutions at Perifery. “Bringing these capabilities to market will help organizations across the media and entertainment landscape fully unlock the value of their content by enhancing searchability and delivering highly efficient content management capabilities. These innovations will enable users to operate more effectively and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving industry.”

Perifery AI+ 2.0 integrates seamlessly with AWS S3-enabled cloud, edge and on-premise storage. The solution creates metadata at ingest ensuring search and access to content becomes an intuitive experience. It also addresses the widespread challenges created by inefficient retrieval systems, complex infrastructure and lack of operational excellence, it said.

The product allows users to benefit from global reach and multilingual support while eliminating operational silos and resource duplication. Integrating with commonly used industry tools, storage and MAM systems, Perifery AI+ 2.0 delivers effective workflow customization options providing a fully automated, low total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) solution for media customers, the company said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo.—We’re a medium-sized broadcast group with multiple network affiliates across 10 markets, but we face the same challenges as other industry organizations, large or small.

If we want people to see us, then we need to be on every media platform. We couldn’t provide diverse programming and services on our increasing number of channels and stations without reliable and efficient master control, program automation and distribution.

We found the right platform for our needs with the Crispin Corporation, a Sony Group Company. The Crispin solution provides a browser-based playlist tool, webRPX, allowing for reliable and flexible control. Plus, Crispin’s CORE and its full suite of applications, is built to support a hybrid approach of on-prem, VM, and multisite.

Fractions of Seconds
We pride ourselves on local news coverage and in many of our markets we are the news leader. When viewers tune into live programming, everything must be dialed in perfectly—fractions of seconds can be the difference between ruining or enhancing the viewing experience.

In the fall of 2023, we deployed the Crispin software suite at our broadcast operations center (BOC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., and we are aggressively rolling it out to the remainder of our markets. We quickly began seeing the benefits—dependability and less time spent troubleshooting on-air issues, resulting in a better working environment and improved programming for our viewers.

I can best describe our search for a viable master control and automation platform as preparing for the future by going “back to basics.” Our industry used to be focused almost exclusively on hardware; now that’s become largely a commodity with so many software options on the market.

However there are still legacy workflows that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. SDI is still a part of our plans. The resources simply aren’t there to redo each station and become a full IP house. IP will take the place of baseband, but the on-ramp to get there is still pretty long.

Crispin offered an ideal software-based platform that fits how we work today, allowing us to manage our existing baseband infrastructure and on-premise workflows. It also gives us the flexibility to leverage cloud and IP for future growth. It’s the best of both worlds.

Our BOC and market stations operate on a hub-and-spoke model. A few years ago, we were deciding between centralizing at the hub and transporting programming to the spokes or keeping the heavy lifting on-premise at the spokes with remote control managed from the hub. We chose the latter option.

Granular Control
Also, since we don’t have the resources for dedicated fiber or satellite uplink between all our facilities we rely heavily on public internet. The system we chose had to be resilient and able to run 24/7 without much maintenance required, which was especially important since we have added channels and services but not the staff.

With Crispin, we have granular system-wide control over a reliable remote IP connection and the assurance that all programming and ad content is being delivered and inserted properly with no downtime.

At one of our stations in the Crispin roll-out phase, our legacy automation system failed, and we were facing the prospect of dead air. But the Crispin system was running and even though it wasn’t fully commissioned, we flipped over to it to provide an hour of programming we otherwise wouldn’t have had.

That invaluable peace of mind is worth any time or costs involved with new technology, and we’re confident that as our needs change, the Crispin suite will grow and adapt with us.

James Crawford is director of engineering for St. Joseph, Missouri based News, Press & Gazette Broadcasting. He is based out of Idaho Falls, Idaho. He can be reached at james.crawford@npgco.com.

Additional information is available at www.crispincorp.com.

NOVI, Mich.—ENCO has joined the Ryan Seacrest Foundation’s technology partner community, helping the foundation establish a simplified media workflow at the 14 Seacrest Studios located in pediatric hospitals across the United States. 

The Ryan Seacrest Foundation (RSF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to inspiring today’s youth through entertainment and educational initiatives. Its primary initiative is to build broadcast media centers (Seacrest Studios) that allow pediatric patients to explore the creative realms of radio, television and new media and contribute to the healing process for children and their parents.

RSF opened its first Seacrest Studios in 2010 with an emphasis on the radio side of broadcast and production. Over the last several years RSF’s strategy has expanded to include a larger video component.

“There were always video elements so that patients could visually take in what was happening in the studio inside their rooms,” said Nicole Mead, RSF vice president of business development and operations. “As technology has evolved along with the desires of young patients, we have made significant investments on the video production side. Seacrest Studios locations today have the appearance of a combination radio and television studio. The square footage of Seacrest Studios has essentially doubled since our first build.”

With these changes came the need to modernize the technology footprint within both new and existing Seacrest Studios. The radio automation workflow was a specific emphasis. RSF also wanted a solution that offered direct hooks into some of the video production elements as well as a simpler on-air and production workflow, ENCO said. 

These were among the reasons inspired RSF to standardize on ENCO’s DAD radio automation solution across all locations, the company said.

“We spent nine months researching how we could best modernize and simplify the Seacrest Studios infrastructure and workflow,” said Cayce Long, RFS senior communications specialist. “ENCO gives us a very powerful all-in-one solution to handle file conversions, metadata and other production elements that previously required separate components and manual intervention. “

DAD seamlessly interoperates with video technologies added to Seacrest Studios, including new PTZ cameras at many locations. 

More information is on the ENCO and Ryan Seacrest Foundation websites. 

LEXINGTON, Mass.—Signiant and TMT Insights today announced a strategic partnership to develop a new workflow automation solution codenamed “MediaFactory” that combines Signiant’s SaaS-based content management and distribution platform with TMT’s Polaris operational management system to help M&E companies optimize their content supply chains. 

Signiant’s widely deployed SaaS platform provides fast, reliable global access to media assets, regardless of storage type or location, serving as the trusted mechanism for securely exchanging content within and between media entities, according to the company. 

Aided by talent and technology from recent acquisitions, Signiant is developing modern media-centric capabilities that leverage the platform’s multi-tenant architecture and the existing footprint of Signiant-connected content repositories. For example, the platform now indexes connected storage and enables users to search, play, and clip media assets. These tools pave the way for the next major building block: a highly scalable and cost-effective next-generation workflow automation solution  the two companies have codenamed “Media Factory.” 

TMT Insights is a professional services and software development company, providing consulting and hands-on implementation services to help customers navigate the transition to high-volume, multiplatform content lifecycles. 

With a particular focus on looking holistically at the operational side of the equation, TMT’s operational management platform, Polaris, provides an all-encompassing “single pane of glass” view, sitting on top of “Media Factory” and integrating with third-party technologies to surface actionable insights and grant operational users visibility and granular control over jobs and tasks, both manual and automated. Streamlining the user experience for both individuals and teams, Polaris delivers business benefits at multiple levels, enabling media companies to efficiently leverage the disparate tools and vast amounts of data that operational users must navigate to deliver results.

Commenting on the partnership, Margaret Craig, CEO of Signiant, notes the complementary nature of the companies’ charters. “With Media Factory, we will deliver a productized, multi-tenant workflow core that codifies standard media preparation and delivery processes. Off-the-shelf functionality that delivers very fast ‘time to value’ is central to our strategy, but we also know that many media companies require the kinds of consultative professional services and bespoke interfaces that TMT provides. Through this partnership, customers can have the best of both worlds.”

As Signiant’s workflow offering matures, TMT will serve as an implementation partner to assist customers with a range of deployment and customization initiatives. In the near term, the companies plan to jointly deliver an early adopter bundle that includes a headless, API-only implementation of the Signiant workflow offering working in conjunction with a lightweight version of the TMT Polaris interface. 

According to Andy Shenkler, CEO of TMT Insights, the time is right for this new partnership. “The TMT team has deep domain knowledge and real-world expertise in implementing and operating cloud-based media supply chains. We recognize the limitations of first-generation implementations. They are generally far too complex, and they lack the scalability and resiliency that are required for reliable and cost-effective fulfillment operations. Signiant is addressing these issues by building a reusable workflow core, and TMT can deliver services and software outside the product boundary to make it fit perfectly into any customer environment.” 

Shenkler further notes that the companies share a number of key customers who see the partnership as highly compelling. “With media industry business models under severe pressure, there’s a growing understanding of the need for new ways of thinking about both the media technology stack and the operational processes that surround it. We’re excited to work with Signiant to lead the way into the next era.”

As part of NEP Finland’s recent move to its new headquarters, the company built three new studios and five control rooms in Helsinki’s western Pasila district. One of the central goals in building these state-of-the-art, IP-based facilities, was to automate and streamline production for popular weekly shows such as the Finnish Lotto and Eurojackpot that NEP produces for Veikkaus, the Finnish national betting agency.

The Challenge
Jyrki Lepistö, deputy managing director at NEP Finland, oversaw the search for new technology that would not only achieve the company’s automation goals, but also reduce expenditures while future-proofing productions for maximum flexibility including remote and higher resolution workflows. 

To maximize their investment, Lepistö’s team wanted a system with flexible resources that could be easily redeployed and customized to suit the production. As remote productions have become increasingly popular, the team also wanted a system that could be potentially controlled from any location using the open internet and a browser-based user interface. 

The system should be capable of running on non-proprietary, COTS hardware in a datacenter type environment. Resources should be easily sharable with the ability to spin up and spin down processes as required. Most importantly, operators wanted a low-latency system that was easy to transition to without a steep learning curve. 

Finding the Best Fit
Since NetOn.Live’s LiveOS platform is software-based and operates in a pure SMPTE ST 2110 IP ecosystem, it was considered the perfect fit to transition the Lotto and Eurojackpot productions into more streamlined and automated workflows. “LiveOS represents a tremendous value for us. It has all the features we were looking for with room for expansion.,” said Lepistö.

Lepistö’s team also liked the fact that LiveOS could be used remotely almost immediately giving the group a freedom of deployment previously impossible to achieve.

“Unlike purpose-built proprietary systems of the past, we simply bought a few computers with software and some network switches, installed them in the datacenter in the basement and we were ready to go,” said Lepistö. 

Integrations and Automation
NEP requested that SPX Graphics by Softpix, an HTML-5 based application, be the graphics engine to be used within LiveOS. The first significant task for the NetOn.Live team was to seamlessly integrate the graphics engine into the LiveOS platform. 

The flexibility and the shareability of LiveOS has enabled the production team to design production templates that can be instantly deployed. Switching from the Lottery production to Eurojackpot production simply entails spinning up the current project while spinning down one that is no longer required. 

The new production workflow requires fewer physical and human resources to produce a seamless production at a fraction of the cost. Operators can modify their layouts as they want to further streamline their views and tools.

“Being able to customize and share means we no longer require dedicated multiviewers for everyone,” said Jukka Keski-Loppi, CEO of Pipeline Media, a systems integrator specializing in broadcasts workflows. “We can share things like timers, so the director knows when the B-roll is ending, and we don't need to have dedicated clocks and timers in the galleries. Everything can be built into the user interfaces as required.”

In addition to automating cameras and setting shots, the production team is also able to automate graphics. For example, for the Eurojackpot production, the winning numbers are provided by the Veikkaus server and automatically populate the lower thirds, helping to provide a seamless and error free experience. 

A Template for the Future
As with most things, change can be difficult for people used to doing things in a certain way. Not unsurprisingly, some members of the production team were initially reluctant to learn a new system. “In the end, the transition for the team was surprisingly easy because the user interface is so intuitive and modern compared to the old software they were using,” said Lepistö. 

Lepistö and his team are confident they can automate even more capabilities as time goes on. “The system is now resolution independent, so we can do 1080p HD or even UHD HDR productions as required simply by changing some parameters in the configuration,” said Keski-Loppi. “In this way, we’ve provided NEP with a future-proofed system.”

If NEP wishes to expand their system, they don’t need to buy dedicated hardware for playback channels, recording capacity, multiviewers or graphics and no extra cabling. It’s simply a matter of adding more horsepower in the server cluster. Everything is under one umbrella and a single point of development, so there’s no need to worry about version mismatches between equipment and third parties. 

“We’re happy to report that the price of production is significantly lower with the NetOn.Live system,” concludes Lepistö.

For more information on LiveOS go to: https://www.neton.live/solutions/ 

Content discovery is one of the most crucial aspects of your streaming user experience. Making it as easy as possible for your audience to find something they want to watch requires an intuitive user experience, but also the curation of your content into attractive collections. Whether you call them “rails,” “rows,” or “carousels,” you’ll want your app to be stacked with groupings of video assets that tempt users and help them find more of the content you’ve invested in. 

Getting users to take a deeper dive into your library is essential to growing AVOD or FAST revenues, and for tackling SVOD churn. If users sign-up to watch one flagship show and then leave, you’ve wasted your significant subscriber acquisition costs. Getting that user to discover and taste a wider range of the shows you have on offer is crucial to keeping them long-term. 

When it Comes to SVOD Churn Reduction, Three is the Magic Number
Analysis of our customers with subscription-based streaming services suggests that getting subscribers to try more than three content brands (for example watching at least some episodes of Friends, Seinfeld, Cheers and The Office) within the first 14 days of their subscription is key. Data suggests this magic number of more than three brands results in a user being 55% less likely to churn. In other words, variety matters.

How do you make that magic happen? If you’ve only got a small content library, it may feel like it’s relatively easy to curate it manually. But streaming success depends on a constant flow of fresh content and making the very best use of everything in your catalog. 

Whether you’re staving off subscriber churn or encouraging repeat visits to drive up ad-revenue, your goals will be easier to reach if you’re exposing users to as much of your video as possible and keeping the selection looking fresh on every visit. Fully manual curation is no longer an option. Especially with operational budgets always under pressure. 

Automatically Better
With automated playlists, you can set parameters that are then used by your CMS to automatically pull in matching content. When content reaches the end of its availability window, it’s immediately removed from all playlists without human intervention. When choosing a playlisting solution, look for a CMS that enables you to mix and match criteria in imaginative ways. 

Rather than sticking to genre-based groupings, you can then choose configurations like genre + release year, so you can offer a collection of “80s Romantic Comedies” or “70s horror films.” Ideally, you’ll also want the ability to combine criteria such as genre or mood with availability window information to create a sense of urgency, such as “comedy shows to catch before they’re gone.” 

The more parameters you can apply in an automatic playlist builder, the more creative ways you can find to promote your content without spending hours manually scrolling through your library.

Personalization: the Ultimate Content Automation
While editorial curation is a great way to promote your content library in new and interesting ways, everyone has their own personal tastes. No matter how niche your streaming service may be, you can’t ever create a single selection of content that’s perfect for everyone. 

So it’s no wonder that personalization has become so popular for streaming services that want to make it as easy as possible for each individual user to find and watch content they love. 

Personalization is really good for business. Data from companies that use our 24iQ personalization platform suggests users who interact with content that’s recommended to them specifically based on their viewing habits will go on to watch almost twice as much content (44.7%) as those who don’t interact with recommendations. Imagine what “twice as much content viewed” would do to your AVOD or FAST revenue, or your SVOD churn rate? 

Personalization is More Than Just 'Recommended for You'
Increasingly, we’re seeing services personalizing the UX in different ways - from adjusting the order of rails in the app based on the user’s previous viewing, to personalized content recommendations in marketing emails that encourage repeat visits. 

It can also be really effective to add personalization as a layer on top of manual curation. In this scenario, the editorial team might choose 10 assets for the “featured” rail in an app, but an algorithm then decides the order in which those 10 are shown to each individual user. 

This means the app automatically prioritizes the assets that are similar to the individual user’s proven viewing habits, moving them to the front of the rail in the most prominent position. And it de-prioritizes those assets that they’ve already watched or are less likely to be interested in, moving these assets to the end of the rail. This is a great user experience and boosts the chances of viewers discovering something new they want to watch. 

You can find more tips on building adaptability into your streaming technology platform with The Flex Factor e-guide. 

Cinegy GmbH, has announced that during IBC2023 it will be showcasing media solutions that deliver rich functionality and address environmental concerns.

During IBC2023 in September 15 to 18 at its stand 7.A01, the provider of software technology for digital video processing, asset management, video compression and automation, and playout, said that it will be showing a ultra-optimized software stack that offers clients very low energy consumption. 

Drawing on the benefits of its partnership with Supermicro, Cinegy said it will be demonstrating this by running a staggering 256 channels of HD playout using Cinegy Air software from a single 4RU server. With a power consumption of around 1500W, that equates to consumption of less than 6W for per complete playout channel, a huge reduction in carbon footprint. 

In addition, Cinegy said it is delivering huge performance in a compact form with the Micro OBVAN demonstration. That demo shows a complete four camera broadcast system fitted in the trunk of a Microlino car. The Microlino is a tiny electric town car, only 2.5m long and weighing just 500kg. Its trunk is a tiny 230 liters, yet Cinegy has put all the hardware and software for production and delivery into it, including 5G connectivity, drawing power from the Microlino’s traction batteries. 

“Our goal when developing all our products has been to create high functionality in very compact software,” said Jan Weigner, managing director of Cinegy. “Delivering high performance with the minimum of processor resources makes for high availability systems in a low physical footprint, but it also means that the continuing costs of running the installation – including power and air conditioning – are also minimized.” 

“We can all see the catastrophic damage that climate change has wrought,” he added, “and our very efficient software is playing its part in minimizing the carbon footprint.” 

The company also stressed that IBC2023 will see the introduction of enhanced functionality across all of Cinegy’s key products, including Cinegy Air multi-channel playout, Cinegy Multiviewer and Cinegy Capture for ingest. 

These continuing enhancements reflect the company’s continued close relationships with broadcasters and media enterprises around the world who rely on Cinegy software. The greatly enhanced subtitling capabilities in Cinegy Air, for example, were developed in response to a requirement from a major French broadcaster, the company explained. 

Cinegy will also be showing a new tool, Cinegize, which provides remote control of graphics and broadcast equipment with features that are critical for broadcast applications: frame accuracy, color fidelity and low latency. 

Cinegize can connect over any fabric, across a room or across the world. It is standards-based, so can use encapsulated data streams like SRT for remote connectivity, and for high bandwidth streams it can use the Cinegy Daniel2 codec providing very high quality, right up to lossless. 

“We see Cinegize as a utility,” Weigner said, “which is why we are making it available free of charge. It is open, so you can use it to access any suitable software on any remote device, but we hope that in time users will recognize the need to organize and manage the content, which is where our solutions excel.”

“The media market grows ever more crowded and competitive,” Weigner added. “Our products are designed to scale with the user, whether that is the need to move from HD to 4k or even 8k, or the need to add more channels and sub-channels, or the need to link remote workers and locations with rapidly growing content stores. 

“At IBC we look forward to talking these issues through with the many visitors from around the world,” he continued. “We are catching the visitor’s eye with demonstrations like the complete OBVAN in my Microlino, and a single box running 256 HD channels – or 64 Ultra HD, or eight 8k – but the importance of IBC is having the time to talk through solutions in detail, showing how we can match users’ expectations, on premises, in the cloud, and across multiple locations.” 

More information is available at cinegy.com. 

WEYBRIDGE, Surrey, U.K.—Pebble has announced that the major Korean broadcaster CJ OliveNetworks has successfully launched one of the most technically advanced multichannel setups in APAC region using technologies from Pebble. 

The installation combined Pebble’s automation, integrated channel and Pebble remote solutions, to bring 11 fully redundant channels to air. As a result of their collaboration, the project was honored with the Excellence Award for Channel System at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+ Awards 2023.

Pebble’s channel partner Besco, a leading equipment and services provider in Korea, was instrumental in specifying, testing and installing the system. Besco also supported Pebble in translating its user manuals into Korean and providing first line support on the company’s behalf.

CJ OliveNetworks, an entertainment and media subsidiary of South Korea’s CJ Group, provides a full house of broadcast and digital services including managed broadcast transmission of 64 local and international channels. To meet current growth and future expansion it required new flexible infrastructure that could support a combination of SDI, NDI, ST-2110 and transport streams, hosted on COTS hardware. 

“We are excited to become an integral part of CJ OliveNetworks expansion and proud of the work that we have done as a team,” said Samir Isbaih, Pebble’s vice president of sales, Middle East and APAC. “The pandemic and travel restrictions prevented on-site visits but with the assistance of our valued partner Besco and through remote access, the system was ensured a smooth process from commission through proof of concept to test, install and going live.”

“We wanted to build a future proof flexible solution that could perform uncompressed IP, compressed IP and SDI in the same system and in the same server with a modern user interface,” added Choi Tae-Hyoung, general manager at CJ OliveNetworks. “Pebble systems were the clear winner in enabling us to move forward for our clients. We are immensely satisfied with the whole process from inception to execution.”

The solution now live at CJ OliveNetworks features Pebble automation controlling playout of 33 integrated channels in an 11+11+11 redundant configuration, the companies reported. 

Each on-air channel can be fed from any one of three integrated channels to provide extremely high availability. All channels are of similar design with 2110 and SDI inputs and outputs plus NDI monitoring.  Logical processors include loudness control, audio shuffling, DolbyD encoding, SCTE104 and closed subtitling. CJ OliveNetworks is the first customer to use the RT Software plugin for advanced graphics. CJ OliveNetworks also utilizes Pebble's internal graphics capabilities. Furthermore, CJ OliveNetworks are controlling external third-party Tornado CG. The integration of Pebble Open API with CJ OliveNetworks' in-house Traffic and Media Management system enables seamless communication between the two platforms. With this integration, CJ OliveNetworks can now easily interact with Pebble's live playlist and media metadata, the companies explained. 

Besco CEO, Young Bae Kim, explained that “Pebble has market leading solutions with the features that provide the flexibility CJ OliveNetworks needs. Pebble systems have extensive redundancy schemes, backed by excellent customer service ensuring ultimately on-air reliability. We’re looking forward to growing this partnership in the APAC region.”

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—Cablecast Community Media has announced that KMH Integration has completed a turnkey systems design and installation project for Queens Public Television (QPTV), a non-profit community media center and public access TV network serving the residents of Queens, New York. 

The project included a complete redesign of QPTV’s automation workflow, with Cablecast solutions supporting all ingest, scheduling and playout operations for six public access channels on three cable systems.

KMH Integration has a long-standing relationship with QPTV, beginning with a master control design and buildout project in the early 2010s. For the new upgrade, they were hired to evaluate how QPTV could upgrade their operations to simplify their technical infrastructure and workflow while providing an infrastructure for extending QPTV’s audience reach through streaming and platforms.  

For the project, KMH built an entirely new 12G-ready SDI infrastructure, upgrading and connecting several production facilities and studios, and centralizing all automation workflow functions to Cablecast. KMH also deployed an NDI infrastructure for content delivery.

“For a long time, we have combined automation systems with media and workflow products from many different manufacturers,” said Daniel Leone, president and CEO of Queens Public Communications Corporation. “Upgrading our system was a challenge due to frequent backward compatibility and interoperability issues. We also couldn’t easily share QPTV content on our social media feeds. By switching to a single-vendor solution, we can streamline our entire workflow and achieve greater harmony. With Cablecast, we now have access to the hardware and software tools we need to enhance our internet presence and explore new business models.”

In addition to installing multiple Cablecast VIO 4 and VIO 4+ multichannel video servers to handle scheduling, content management and cross-platform publishing, KMH Integration installed six Cablecast LIVE servers to stream QPTV’s channels online, and a Cablecast VOD server to support QPTV’s on-demand content library. QPTV will also use branded Cablecast Streaming Apps for OTT and mobile delivery of all six channels, and KMH will use Cablecast REFLECT for live and VOD streaming content delivery.

The KMH team also installed five Cablecast CG Bulletin Board systems, which allows more than 260 non-profit organizations affiliated with QPTV to upload digital signage content for broadcast. Cablecast also created six custom CG channels to deliver bulletin board content branded for each of their channels.

“The Cablecast CG Bulletin Board system makes it very simple for us to authorize user-uploaded content for broadcast on our six channels,” said Leone. “Once we create the templates, users can log in from anywhere and quickly add their content. It removes our in-house responsibility for script writing and all of the coordination legwork. We also have plans to leverage this same technology for digital signage in our front window and elsewhere in our building, which gives an opportunity to highlight the community and potentially monetize our content through advertising.”

Kevin Henneman, principal and director of engineering of KMH Integration added that his team architected the Cablecast solution to be fully redundant. 

“Every primary baseband ingest and playout channel is backed up by a redundant system, and we built out an 8x8 Cablecast infrastructure to allow for future expansion,” he said. “QPTV will also have the capacity to feed up to eight endpoints for digital signage, expand access to their VOD content library, and use branded Cablecast Streaming Apps to reach live viewers on mobile and OTT platforms. We installed a 10Gb fiber backbone and upgraded the entire network to support high-speed media transfers between all floors in the building for their production, broadcast, and streaming workflows using NDI, DANTE and SRT. It is a very useful and productive solution with a fair price point. It also establishes a strong foundation for QPTV’s media operations and future growth that will integrate well with community producers as they embrace emerging production models.”

Cablecast Community Media, KMH Integration and Queens Public Television will demonstrate and discuss QPTV’s reimagined workflows at the Alliance for Community Media 2023 Annual Conference, which takes place June 27-29 at BRIC Media Arts in Brooklyn, New York.

EPSOM, Surrey, U.K.—Pebble has announced that the major Indonesian broadcaster Trans Media has successfully launched a new playout system delivered by Pebble and their channel partner system Integrator, PT. Interindo Multimedia. 

The upgraded solution has replaced Trans Media’s legacy infrastructure, providing a range of more advanced features to overcome the challenges of moving to a new broadcast system for the future, the companies said. 

“We’re delighted to have partnered with Pebble to deliver such an innovative future-proof solution for Trans Media,” explained Alfie Torrijos, senior broadcast engineer at PT. Interindo Multimedia. “Our local knowledge and expertise, together with the reliability of Pebble’s robust playout systems have enabled us to support Trans Media with their move to a new CER with new technology.”

"At Trans TV, we strive to deliver innovative and engaging content to our audience, and our new playout system is an important step towards achieving that goal," added Sakti Lubis, Broadcast Support and Multimedia Section head. 

The playout system, which is now live on air, is based on Pebble Automation controlling Pebble Integrated Channel and is designed to ensure seamless broadcasting for the two free-to-air channels which are Trans TV and Trans 7. 

The solution also offers 2+2 channel redundancy, controlled through the Pebble Automation Channel Manager. This includes the capability to automatically switch to a backup channel via a third-party router when a failure is detected in the main channel. 

In addition, native Flash and HTML5 graphics are now used to deliver complex visuals, while simpler PNG or TGA sequences are used for logos. Trans Media can also now insert SCTE-104 messages within its program output, with all of these capabilities under playlist control.

"We are thrilled to see both Trans Trans TV and Trans 7 go live on air with our playout system in their new central equipment room (CER) and new MCR location," commented Pebble’s Samir Isbaih, vice president of sales Middle East and APAC. “It has been incredibly important working with our valued channel partner PT. Interindo Multimedia to deliver this project successfully. The solution will enable Trans Media to broadcast their free-to-air channels seamlessly and reliably, with the added benefit of 2+2 channel redundancy to ensure uninterrupted broadcasting.”

CYPRESS, Calif.—FOR-A and automation provider Aveco have entered a strategic alliance to provide and develop best-in-breed video production, automation, and asset management within one easy-to-use and cost effective solution.

As part of the agreement, FOR-A HVS Series production switchers, Insight video servers and ClassX graphics systems are now tightly integrated with Aveco ASTRA Studio production automation and GEMINI media management systems. 

The package is designed for broadcasters—particularly mid-sized, small-market and public stations—by providing them with an affordable, easy to use solution.

“We’ve been recommending FOR-A HVS Series switchers all over the world for years now,” said Jim O’Brien, president of Aveco. “They’ve got incredible horsepower and performance at a price point no other vendor can match. We’re looking forward to adding ClassX graphics and Insight servers into our combined solution. FOR-A’s high-powered production capability and reputation for reliability together with our production and MAM makes for a very competitive and inclusive bundle for smaller and mid-market TV stations. Having this level of technical sophistication within an affordable and easy-to-use system is a game changer."

Aveco’s ASTRA Studio is a fully automated studio production system and the industry’s only multi-studio production automation design. Within ASTRA, a rundown can be moved from one studio to another with the push of a button. This includes all settings for the production switcher, graphics, virtual set/physical set, monitor walls, camera robotics, video roll-ins, audio, lighting etc. ASTRA Studio is integrated with ASTRA MCR so both PCR and MCR automation are in the same system, eliminating "blips of black" or upcuts between these two parts of broadcast operation. Both also work closely with Aveco’s GEMINI MAM, a browser-based system that manages assets from acquisition through post for live production, playout, and archiving. ASTRA Studio also integrates with the NRCS (Newsroom Computer System) via MOS (Media Object Servers) and plug-ins to streamline news production workflows, the companies said. 

“The versatility and feature set of Aveco’s system are ideal for late-breaking news applications,” said Satoshi Kanemura, President, FOR-A Americas. “They’ve thought of every condition that may occur during a live newscast and included a solution. It’s an elegant technology that fits perfectly within our ecosystem. The combined capabilities of Aveco and FOR-A are unbeatable. Competitive products are far less customizable, much more complicated, and expensive.”

FOR-A’s workhorse switcher, the compact 2 M/E HVS-490, supports 40 inputs/18 outputs, 36 inputs/20 outputs or 32 inputs/22 outputs, including two-channel HDMI outputs with optional I/O expansion cards. In 4K, it allows 10 inputs/six outputs, nine inputs/six outputs or eight inputs/seven outputs. It also has 8 channels of 2.5 DVE as standard and can be optionally expanded to a maximum of 16 channels. FOR-A’s MELite technology extends the switcher’s 2 M/Es to 6 M/E performance. MELite is the building block for more easy-to-use features of the HVS-490, such as upstream and downstream transition effects. 

“The price to performance ratio with the entire HVS Series is unlike any others in the market,” added O’Brien.

BANGKOK—Amarin TV 34HD has deployed a new high-definition playout system that leverages Imagine Communications ADC automation and Nexio+ AMP media server at its headquarters here, Imagine said today.

The setup allows the broadcaster to achieve efficiencies in its operations as well as greater reliability. It also integrates with the broadcaster’s existing server and distribution architecture, it said.

“We had a clear idea of what we needed to achieve with our new playout automation network—both for our operations today, as we develop our workflows, and as a building block towards a more file-based future,” said Amarin TV CTO Cheewapat Nathalang.

On air since 2013, Amarin TV was reaching the end of life of its original playout system. The broadcaster identified Imagine Communications as offering the automation and playout solution that best met its existing and future requirements, it said.

The broadcaster appreciated the fact that Imagine’s software-based solution could integrate seamlessly with the rest of its SDI infrastructure, the company said.

At the heart of the new deployment is Imagine’s ADC automation. The software-based solution tightly integrates with the Nexio+ AMP channel playout services and Nexio Motion asset management software Amarin TV selected. Nexio Motion provides a dynamic link between the Nexio on-air network and Amarin TV’s existing shared storage, the company said.

The new workflow reconciles all incoming SDI feeds ingested using the ADC Media Client before being handled as files and transferred to the intermediate and long-term storage as appropriate.

Close integration the Imagine solutions enables routine operations to be highly automated. Transfers between Imagine’s IOX SAN storage pools are done via watch folders. ADC can interrogate the system for missing material based on playlists and purge content based on business rules. As all content is handled as files within the playout and asset management system, transfers are swift and secure and can be prioritized for urgent demands, it said.

Local systems integrator SWS Group Company implemented the solution.

More information is available on the company’s website.

AMSTERDAM—Pebble will showcase its broadcast automation and cloud solutions at the IBC Show at the RAI Amsterdam, Sept, 9-13.

Pebble Automation is an enterprise-level solution delivering robust functionality at a scale that suits any operation, with the ability to flex and adapt as the customer’s channel count and workflows change. A powerful centralized ingest, content management and multi-channel system, it controls mission-critical operations at scores of broadcasters and service providers around the world and is scalable from one to hundreds of channels. Visitors to the show will see how Pebble is supporting the transition to IP, combining on-premises playout with channels running in the public cloud, all using the same control interface.

Pebble’s software-defined, scalable, Integrated Channel solution with uniquely flexible channel pipeline design offers audio, video and graphics functionality in a compact, cost-effective format to meet the needs for ingest, channel branding and frame-accurate multi-channel playout requirements.

Pebble Remote, a tool for web-based monitoring and control in the cloud as well as on-premises, provides 24/7 secure remote access to mission-critical control of playlists, as well as consolidating control access across several playout sites. Designed to support systems that comprise multiple channels, Pebble Remote has helped many broadcasters easily navigate the challenges of working beyond the normal boundaries of a playout facility.

The company will also mark the first time Pebble Control has been shown at a major industry show in Europe. A self-contained, scalable, and easy-to-configure IP connection management tool, Pebble Control is designed to make IP connectivity as simple as SDI. It leverages open standards to interface with NMOS-enabled devices from multiple vendors and enables broadcasters to make the leap to an all-IP facility without the need to deploy a bespoke enterprise solution.

A freemium version—Pebble Control Free—was launched earlier this year, providing entry-level access where users can download the software via a self-service portal. Pebble Control Free enables the broadcast and media community to try out the functionality, and upskill their teams whilst they contemplate their first steps into IP.

Pebble will be in Stand 8.B75.

JOHNSTOWN, Iowa—Iowa PBS has been a national leader in TV for decades.  We have centralized master control of four program streams, distributed statewide via 17 transmission facilities as well as outputs to streaming services. We produce nationally syndicated TV shows, use our studio facilities for widely viewed specials and have received many awards from our programs and live sports. 

When our Avid-Sundance system reached end-of-life, we carefully accessed all master control automation and found Aveco a stand-out leader. There are many important innovations in playout and we wanted to use them now!  

However, our transition period had to happen during COVID-19.  We were amazed at how smooth the process went—a major master control replacement, adding many new features, while no one could come on-site!  A well-designed transition plan and the workflow automation scripting in Aveco helped a lot. 

The Transition Plan
Aveco has a direct database conversion from Avid-Sundance (and others) as well as BXF integration with Myers ProTrack traffic and API integration with Telestream-Masstech. All existing media and metadata migrated easily into Aveco. 

Via BXF, whenever a trimming or segmentation update is made in Aveco, the updated “confirmed timing” instantly updates both ProTrack and Masstech. Bi-directional MXF was one of our first steps.

In the past, Iowa PBS used many video server ports for ingest but Aveco’s equipment pool management efficiently allows sharing of ingest ports for program feeds, studio feeds, archival ingest, etc. It implements priorities to ensure important scheduled feeds are never missed and provides equipment pool sharing of video server ports for video roll-ins during live production. Aveco also controls live graphics—bridging master control and production use of shared resources. 

While Iowa is the center of political hurricanes every four years, we’re also in the center of “Tornado Alley”—our Intelliweather system is integrated with Aveco master control to bring instantaneous storm updates; every second matters. 

Iowa PBS has a great staff and training remotely due to COVID—on a new advanced automation platform—was expected to be a big challenge. There were many new features and workflow improvements to learn.  The new Aveco software was easy to understand, the trainers had a great grasp of what’s needed, and our staff got up to speed surprisingly fast.

Cloud Leadership
There are many features our staff especially like in Aveco—the integrated MAM, multichannel timeline, BXF bidirectional integration between Aveco-ProTrack and Masstech, the efficiency of equipment pooling, the easy sharing of master control and studio production, ease of use, great reliability, the safe client-server architecture, and the flexibility of unattended and remote operation. We were and continue to be very pleased with Aveco’s responsiveness to our comments and concerns and their flexibility at working with us on refinements to the overall operation of the system.

Most broadcast technologists see current or near-term use of the cloud for a variety of functions—MAM, storage, playout, pop-up channels. It was impressive to see Aveco’s early leadership in this area, with on-prem, hybrid cloud and full cloud operation on air for a range of quality broadcasters. Aveco controls our Harmonic Spectrum platform on-site and the Harmonic VOS360 cloud system which we may use in the future.

TV is in another fast rate of change—over the years, there have been many major waves. We’ve found some smaller companies are the best in innovating and adapting and we consider Aveco one of these and are honored to work with them and other quality manufacturers helping lead our industry. 

For more information, visit aveco.com.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—DeSales Media is a direct provider of Catholic news, events and original content through print, TV, digital and experiential, to engage Catholics and drive them to put their faith into action. With more than 100 years since the launch of our first newspaper, “The Tablet,” and an evolution spanning parochial schooling, prayer channels, evangelization television, an additional newspaper and a 24/7 cable channel carrying live mass, devotional programming, educational programming, news, and entertainment, DeSales is devoted to covering the Catholic perspective through a multifaceted 360-degree approach.

We’ve recently transformed ourselves into a content hub for the faith-based community and its creators. With focused programming and live feeds from local sites including the Cathedral Basilica of St. James and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph, in Brooklyn, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan and international locations including the Vatican, we sought a scalable master control solution to simplify playlist management and streamline efficiencies. We wanted something that had the proven ability to handle a variety of content distribution modes including playout to air for a regular channel and distribution of content to affiliates for their play to air. 

A Scalable Solution
That’s when we learned about Crispin’s master control automation and quickly implemented it for prep, storage, management and playout of live and pre-recorded content. Crispin runs control for a series of Harmonic Spectrum X playout devices, controlling the graphics. 

For us, Crispin has been transformative. When compared to our previous solution, Crispin gives us a lot more flexibility in handling the playlists and making adjustments. It has also changed the way we do live events—allowing us to program a live event without manual intervention has given us a whole new lease on how we can program, and even what we can program.

With Crispin’s master control automation, we don’t have to worry about server availabilities—we can see everything that we need to do and we’re able to record on multiple recorders if we need to. During the pandemic, when the church decided to do eight live masses every day in different languages, we were able to program that very simply: The ones that they wanted us to record, we were able to record and program it as a secondary record. If we needed to re-air that, we were able to schedule it for re-air and we were even able to QC it while we were on another live event. Those capabilities give us a lot more power and flexibility.

In addition, there are also some really nice features in the Crispin environment to handle getting back on time coming out of a live event. You can pre-build blocks and store them off to the side in the file cabinet and you can have some evergreen content there in case something goes wrong with the feed, which we’ve found to be an elegant and simple solution that gives us peace of mind.

Simplified Playlists
Something else we really appreciate about Crispin’s solution is that when we make changes on the playlist, being able to do a “ctrl R” and insert and replace everywhere a show is going to air on that whole playlist saves us a lot of time. You can also make one single replacement just for the master control instead of going through 800 lines of content trying to find and replace a single line. That alone has been a major blessing.

It’s evident that Crispin’s master control automation was thoughtfully built and designed by people in the industry. It accounts for a lot of the workflows that people are used to in other aspects of their computer life, where find and replace, and search are far more developed than the competition.  

Additionally, training operators on Crispin is easy. The speed with which new operators who don’t have a master control background catch on to Crispin is impressive. As a not-for-profit religious broadcaster, this is ideal since many of our staff are either experts or fairly green—and both ends of the spectrum have managed to pick it up quickly. 

For more information, visit https://crispincorp.com/.

WATERTOWN, Mass.—Watertown Cable Access Corp. (WCA-TV) here has replaced its automation and playout system with the Cablecast Community Media solution from Tightrope Media Systems, the vendor said.

"We were increasingly unhappy with our previous system,” said Andrea Santopietro, assistant director at WCA-TV. “The manufacturer released what they considered major updates to their software, but the upgrades were buggy and seemed more like cosmetic changes rather than what customers like us wanted or needed. Lots of updates that we had been promised were never delivered, and it was frustrating going back and forth with their customer support staff but not seeing any real changes or fixes. Our programming was suffering to an extent, as was the public’s ability to access our content. We were ready to move on to something new.”

WCA-TV operates three public, education and government (PEG) channels from its facility in Watertown High School.

WCA-TV purchased a complete Cablecast solution from Brockton-based technology supplier Ockers Company in May 2021. A Cablecast VIO 4 Plus server provides automation and playout for the three channels, while three Cablecast Live units and a Cablecast Pro VOD server power 24/7 live streaming and video on demand. Cablecast CG software running on the Cablecast VIO server drives unique bulletin boards for each channel.

Cablecast apps bring live streams and VOD clips to viewers on over-the-top (OTT) and mobile platforms with digital content delivered over the Cablecast Reflect cloud-based streaming service. The Cablecast RTMP service lets the station easily integrate Zoom and hybrid meetings into its channels, the company said.

“I really enjoy how the Cablecast scheduling interface is laid out, and how easy it is to drag and drop shows, replace content, and move things around. “It’s so simple and straightforward. It has been a huge time-saver for us, cutting my scheduling time roughly in half,” said Santopietro, who added that publishing VOD content with he Cablecast system is fast and easy.

The Cablecast system also makes it easier for viewers to find the VOD content they are seeking. “…[W]ith Cablecast, we have a distinct VOD site for each channel, and visitors can search across all three,” she said. “We can also easily group and reorder content to make it more discoverable.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

WEYBRIDGE, Surrey—Pebble, a provider of automation, content management, and integrated channel technologies, has appointed Besco as its channel partner in Korea and announced that Pebble and announced it is working with Besco to implement an advanced playout system at CJP, now known as CJ OliveNetworks.Co., Ltd – a subsidiary of CJ E&M Group.

The deployment combines Pebble’s Automation, Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote (web-based monitoring) solutions. As part of that, Besco has been leading a complete installation of a series of Pebble solutions including Pebble Automation, Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote, to bring 11 channels to air in the first phase of the deployment. 

“The Korean market is one of the most technically advanced in APAC,” said Samir Isbaih, Pebble’s vice president of sales, Middle East and APAC. “Pebble has market leading solutions that are both flexible and technically demanding, providing a combination of different I/O (SDI,NDI,IP compressed and uncompressed), extensive redundancy schemes (1+1+1), multiple graphic plugins, on-premises/remote operations and much more, all in one system. Combined with Besco’s local expertise and support, Pebble is confident we can offer the Korean market the most technically compelling solutions in broadcast playout automation and IP broadcasting. I’m delighted that we have managed to deliver our first setup in Korea with the region’s biggest broadcaster.”

Besco, the leading equipment and services provider in the Korean film and broadcast market has supported Pebble in translating its user manuals into Korean, and provides first line support on the company’s behalf. 

Besco has also been instrumental in supporting successful Pebble test systems prior to the implementation of the large scale 11+11+11 channels system for CJ OliveNetworks.Co., Ltd., the companies said. 

“We are thrilled to have become a trusted channel partner for Pebble in Korea and are excited to become an integral part of the company’s expansion,” explained Besco CEO, Young Bae Kim. “We’re looking forward to growing this partnership and providing ongoing support to Pebble by offering its world class solutions to the broadcast community in the APAC region and what better way to start than with CJ OliveNetworks.Co., Ltd.”

DENVER—Imagine Communications has enhanced ADC playout automation with the ADC Flex remote-ready control solution that enables media companies to access and control their broadcast chain from anywhere, the company announced today.

ADC Flex enhances media workflows, makes operations more efficient and supports new operational models, including hub-and-spoke deployments and unified broadcast operations from a broadcast center, the company said.

An intuitive, flexible solution, ADC Flex enables media companies to use existing infrastructure and minimize operational training to reduce total cost of ownership. It can be added to existing ADC deployments or used as the basis for new facilities and new channel launches, it said.

With ADC Flex, operators monitor and control channels, schedule content ingest and manage content from anywhere via internet access. With an HTML5 web user interface, ADC Flex is tailored to broadcasters’ specific operational needs. It offers an identical look and feel whether the operator is in the machine room, at a remote location or working from home. All that is needed to communicate is a secure data connection, the company said.

“Customers today want highly resilient playout control that is intuitive, fast, configurable and reliable,” said Andy Warman, senior VP playout at Imagine Communications. “ADC Flex provides that flexibility and agility, whether it is for an existing system or at a new ADC installation.”

“The user interface features a thoroughly modern look and feel that is easy to use and easy to customize," he continued. "It allows media companies to connect over their local network or over a secure internet connection ― without the need for any additional cumbersome hardware or interfaces.”

ADC automation can be tightly integrated with Imagine Communications’ Nexio video servers and Versio integrated playout platform and can provide an easy upgrade path as and when needed. ADC Flex leverages these capabilities and will adapt to changing technologies and workflow requirements, Imagine Communications said.

Screens can be customized to suit workflow requirements and user preferences. Permissions can be assigned to users and groups, and favorites can be assigned for commonly used layouts. Since ADC Flex is built using HTML5, ADC Flex can run on Windows, MacOS or Linux. Control panels and supervisory screens can also be created for tablets where mobility is required, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

There is a price to be paid for the multiple benefits of an IT infrastructure that supports media over IP—one not best measured in dollars but in the effort to plan for and deploy an effective way to manage the complex nature of an IT network and endpoint devices, according to Felix Poulin, director, Media Transport Architecture Lab at CBC/Radio-Canada.

“The greater flexibility that media-over-IP technology will provide us comes with a greater complexity compared to SDI,” he said Nov. 11 during the “Continuous Deployment of CBC’s Media-over-IP Data Center” presentation at the SMPTE2020 virtual event.

Poulin, joined by Alexandre Dugas, project leader for Core Systems Engineering at CBC/Radio Canada, discussed the Canadian national public broadcaster’s new IP-based production center in Montreal, which is targeted for completion in 2021, and other planned national deployments. 

“…[W]e have each endpoint that requires thousands of parameters to be configured, including IP and multicast address, PTP parameters and media specific configurations,” said Poulin.

Recognizing the tedious, error-prone nature of manually configuring or reconfiguring each piece of equipment on its network, CBC looked for and found in IT data centers the tools and strategies needed to sustain making initial and subsequent configuration changes over the long haul, he said.

CBC’s approach relies on applying “many of the concepts from continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) and Dev Ops practices that have [a] proven track record of operating [at] data centers throughout their lifecycles,” said Poulin.

Those concepts include scripted provisioning and configuration, updating and changes, performing sanity checks and monitoring. “This is indeed a major shift for broadcast operations,” he said.

THE PROJECT

The new 420,000-square-foot CBC/Radio Canada headquarters in Montreal is dedicated to the broadcaster’s French language network. It operates a continuous news channel with 10 studio floors under the control of four automated control rooms. There are also two TV studios and two multifunction studios with two control rooms, multiple radio studios and post-production facilities, according to Poulin.

The facility’s centralized master control room, which controls all the French-language stations throughout Canada, is designed to handle 20 TV channels and 80 radio stations delivered via OTA and streaming, he added.

CBC/Radio Canada is also preparing to move the machine room of its Toronto headquarters to a new data center and is at the beginning of a technology refresh for all of its facilities in Canada.

The Montreal facility is the broadcaster’s first major project to be designed around IP technology. The architecture is based on JT-NM TR-1001-1 and uses SMPTE ST 2110 (-20, -30 and -40) for transport and a dual spine-leaf COTS network with SMPTE ST 2022-7 redundancy, said Poulin.

IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol operating with the SMPTE ST 2059 profile maintains accurate timing. The broadcaster also is using AMWA NMOS, Ember+ and proprietary API protocols for control, he said.

“With this… [size] of project to deliver over the coming years, we believe that investigating and automating the deployment is the only way to achieve… [this] huge task,” said Poulin.

AUTOMATING DEPLOYMENT

Poulin laid out three steps to automating deployment, including proper network configuration, which eliminates the need for separate staging stations and the risk of errors from human manipulation; initial staging of endpoint devices, which centers on programming the minimum set of device parameters to make it possible to reach the devices’ management interfaces; and device configuration, entailing “software programming all of the media-specific parameters to make the endpoint usable and ready to be provisioned in the broadcast control room,” he said. 

While Poulin tackled the deployment from a high-level, Dugas laid out the details of the solution.

Several components make up the architecture of the solution. They include the continuous delivery pipeline, an IP address manager (IPAM), a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server to automatically provide and assign IP addresses; a firmware repository running on a file server; a network infrastructure physical path (NIPP) generator; and a sanity check pipeline that runs on a daily basis. “All of these components… [revolve] around IT automation tools,” he said. 

“The role of the continuous delivery pipeline is to organize sets of tasks into what the broadcaster calls workflows—which are involved in the initial staging process, can play a role in network configuration and “perform function calls in an organized manner with proper metadata that are fetched to the IT automation tool,” said Dugas. “Continuous delivery pipeline tools provide a level of abstraction to the end user that is not necessarily familiar with scripting language.”

The architecture has three “sources of truth” to ensure error-free automated configuration—a schematic database providing a view and clear understanding of the physical network, a source version control tool that regularly saves the state of the IT automation tool and the IPAM, which provides “a source of truth for all of the logical network components,” said Dugas.

At the heart of the automated deployment system is an agentless IT automation tool that translates staging parameters into a series of comments, synchronizes various components of the system and provides current information on endpoints and network infrastructure, he said.

An “idempotency criterion” is the other core principle of the automated deployment system. “We can say a task is idempotent if it provides the exact same results regardless of the initial stage of the IT automation tool and also regardless of the number of times it was executed,” he explained.

Closing the loop on the deployment is the automated sanity check pipeline, which runs after a new device is enrolled and then again once a day to report any differences between the current state of devices as well as the network and the IPAM, NIPP and source version control sources of truth, he said.

LESSONS TO SHARE

Poulin closed out the presentation by offering some of the lessons CBC/Radio Canada has learned during the deployment.

“We realized that media-over-IP devices take five to 10 times as long to test, stage, configure, troubleshoot… [as does the] equivalent equipment based on SDI,” said Poulin. “It became obvious that we needed automaton tools like those found in data centers to… [make deployment and continuous operation] manageable.”

Broadcasters looking to transition to IT should decide on a “single source of truth” for each aspect of the system, including IP and multicast addresses, VLAN assignments, device inventory list and network configuration, before ever beginning a deployment, he said.

“Build your deployment tools before actually building your system,” he said. “That way you can recover your investment by automating the initial deployment and avoid having to reconcile the state of your system with the configuration scripts [which would be necessary] if you waited to automate at a later stage of the project.”

Poulin also advised broadcasters to involve all key stakeholders, including architect, system designer and operation. “Using a continuity of deployment methodology is a major change of practice, and you need to bring everybody on board so they can implement efficiently the new methodologies,” he said.

The director of the CBC/Radio Canada Media Transport Architecture Lab concluded by reminding those attending the presentation that this approach isn’t business as usual for broadcasters.

“This is a major shift for a broadcast media organization,” he said. “But it is a change that is necessary to adopt the IT technology at the core of our media infrastructure and get the expected benefits of flexibility and agility promised by the complex transition.”

SMPTE 2020 content is available on-demand at 2020.smpte.org.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are technologies that enterprises across industries have been keenly experimenting with to explore the utility they can bring. Is there AI adoption within the M&E industry? Can AI be the solution for enterprises seeking automation? Have we cracked the AI code or do we have miles to go? If automation is a goal, it should be a priority even now. 

Content recommendation (for OTT), speech-to-text and media recognition are some of the initial applications that have been attempted. Clients find vendor demos to be impressive, but when they do a proof of concept (PoC) with their content, results are not. In video operations, frame accuracy is a necessity and AI models struggle to universally solve for this. And such specific nuances of getting it right, is what makes automation work. After trying multiple vendors, clients conclude that AI data is still not accurate enough to solve specific M&E use cases. However, they remain optimistic about the future possibilities.  

So where is the issue? The use cases are not always effectively solved by any one vendor solution. Then we seek to assemble a multivendor solutions either for accuracy and/or coverage. Such solutions also tend to have gaps. The complexity and effort required to solve for accuracy in a multivendor solution are not trivial. Which vendor solution works for what is not obvious for that enterprise’s specific use case. Be it a large firm or a small one, finding data scientists, leadership and investment to fund the R&D effort to make AI work is not something enterprises are able to do.   

To crack the impasse, what is needed is a media recognition AI platform that brings the best-of-breed AI models (Microsoft, AWS, IBM Watson, Google, etc.) and custom (for M&E specific use cases) models to address the gaps and accuracy. Plus, we believe that consulting adjacent to the technology will be an absolute necessity to make AI work. ​Such consulting should be directed to impart suitable learning to AI models​ and make custom ML models to address customer specific use cases. For delivering this consulting, talent with expertise in media and deep learning AI with computer vision knowledge is critical. 

Observing the fundamental impact AI is making, CEOs are looking to do more with less especially in the times of COVID-19. I believe making AI work for client specific use cases is critical to drive larger adoption. And an AI platform with the flexibility to bring the best suited models together for creating high quality data dovetailed with consulting offers the best chance to change the status quo.   

Ramki Sankaranarayanan is founder and Global CEO, Prime Focus Technologies.

MINNEAPOLIS—It was time for an upgrade at Granite Town Media in Milford, N.H., with the station acquiring a new Cablecast VIO multiformat video server to handle its automation and playout duties as it prepares for HD broadcasting.

Offering cable television, live web streaming, social media and OTT channels, Granite Town Media is expected to launch its first HD cable channel in 2020, requiring the station to upgrade its infrastructure and equipment to high-definition SDI. Having experience with a Cablecast SX4 server in the past, the station opted for version 7.0 of Cablecast VIO.

The specific setup is a Cablecast VIO 4 playout server, configured as three playout channels—one for Public, Education and Government offerings—and one recording input. The station’s live streams and on-demand video library are powered by Cablecast Live and Cablecat Pro VOD, with the cloud-based Cablecast Reflect supporting stream delivery. Cablecast Screenweave, meanwhile, brings live and on-demand content to Roku and Apple TV devices.

Other features of the new Cablecast setup include the ability to run multiple instances of broadcast-optimized Cablecast CG software within a single unit; squeeze-backs and expanded channel branded capabilities; and other operational benefits like uploading files remotely through a web interface, batch scheduling functions and a confidence monitoring feature.

Granite Town Media updated its system in July 2019.

2019 was truly action-packed for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry. The wheels of consolidation gained major momentum with several megamergers taking place—from Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox to NBCUniversal and Sky merging key operations. The VoD space got a lot more crowded, with giants like Apple, Disney and others making their foray.

With all these changes shaking the industry landscape, content creators are increasingly looking to re-engineer their media supply chains for greater agility, flexibility, operational efficiencies and cost benefits. From small-time studios to international broadcasters, everyone is rethinking their technology choices and weighing their options. Here are the top five tech trends we predict will have a major impact in 2020:

1. Multicloud solutions will redefine the Media Asset Management (MAM) landscape

The need for speed and scalability along with ongoing improvements in cloud security will drive content creators to embrace MAM solutions based on multicloud architecture. These empower users with the flexibility to leverage elastic, best-of-breed public cloud infrastructure or tap into on-premise infrastructure as required. Users will be able to extend and virtualize their supply chain without having to make additional investments in MAM installation for each site. This flexibility will not only help save costs, but will also drive operational efficiencies.

2. Increasing demand for a connected media supply chain

As cost and time pressures continue to weigh down content creators, fragmented supply chains will give way to connected supply chains. The focus will be on automation, and in many cases the transition to using one, single software across the enterprise rather than multiple standalone solutions. This will make asset management far more efficient and cost effective, especially for media enterprises with an extensive global footprint. Centralization will enable them to enjoy 360-degree visibility and economies of scale by consolidating business processes. At the same time, it will provide flexibility to speedily identify, onboard and monitor best-fit global talent for managing rush volumes and time-to-market pressures.

3. AI to take the center stage of media supply chains

Artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly become a key enabler, powering intelligent, next-generation media supply chains. AI solutions will be instrumental in speeding up content operations and reducing workloads for human operators. Media enterprises will focus on how such solutions can help solve strategic media use cases and how they can be consumed efficiently given the challenges and costs of deploying AI solutions at scale. There will be focused usage of AI solutions with microservice architecture and an increase in demand for metadata that is contextual, accurate and actionable. We believe 2020 will see AI being applied to key areas in the content value chain, including content generation, content enrichment, content preparation and content delivery. In addition, more media enterprises will consume AI as part of their MAM ecosystem, in areas such as metadata enrichment, search & discovery, localization, remastering, sports highlights, trailer creation, playout monitoring and OTT distribution.

4. VoD explosion to drive adoption of automation-led technology

The VoD universe will continue to experience cut-throat competition, as new, big-ticket entrants with massive content libraries will challenge the existing players. At the same, purchasing power limitations may lead to “streaming subscription fatigue” setting in. While the speed at which consumers demand new content will increase, the willingness to pay will limit the market, where only the best will succeed. These forces will compel content creators to focus on enhancing operational efficiencies like never before. In a bid to tap new global markets and achieve faster time-to-market, content creators will search for new avenues of automation. Business processes such as localization, compliance versioning and digital distribution will be prime candidates for automation.

5. Standards-driven approach towards metadata management

Taking cues from the manufacturing sector, media enterprises will adopt a more organized approach to managing metadata. Metadata created at different stages in the supply chain—such as production, Quality Check (QC) and cataloguing—will be captured and carried forward to avoid wasted effort and to drive efficient execution of downstream operations. Content creators will explore new ways to capture and hold the highest quality of content metadata by adopting standardized data models such as Entertainment Industry Registry (EIDR). They will also introduce best practices around data interchange and electronic metadata exchange across the content supply chain.

All in all, with a burgeoning number of content hours to be managed, 2020 will see content creators turning towards innovative, holistic supply chain management solutions to enhance efficiencies and lower costs on the back of automation, data analytics and centralization.

Chandar Muthukrishnan is senior vice president, client solutions for Prime Focus Technologies.

PHOENIX—The YurView network from Cox Communications delivers local, regional and national broadcasts as well as live streaming and digital content to customers across the United States. The company produces Emmy award-winning sports coverage along with original programming that covers the outdoors, entertainment, arts, events, people, businesses, news and more. Each of the regions where Cox Communications has a presence has a YurView channel, featuring paid programming as well as local and shared programming produced by Cox. Live university and high school sports also form an important part of the content offered in each market.

Three years ago, we decided to bring all local market feeds into a single centralized facility in Phoenix, and to have a single master control to manage all content. With markets in California, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Florida and Virginia, each local station was responsible for its own master control operations, but the organization identified that many of the legacy playout automation systems in these locations were fast approaching end of life.

DRIVING THE NEED TO CENTRALIZE

Many TV stations have been driven to centralize operations, which frequently results in the creation of regional hubs. Instead of a regional hub, the Cox YurView team created a national hub to provide an economy of scale with fewer operators watching over more channels. Making one investment in technology in one place, when content originates from so many locations, is typically much more efficient and cost effective. Creating a centralized storage hub that everyone can pull from rather than distributing and storing content on local storage systems was a key goal. This allows outside clients to upload content instead of distributing to FTP sites across the country and removes the need for equipment to transcode material in each market since it is all processed and stored in one place at the same time.

To make single master control operation happen, engineers and integrators developed an infrastructure that allowed all local programming to arrive in Phoenix and be recorded onto a Harmonic Omneon system. For a time, the legacy Sundance automation was deployed for this, but the YurView team needed to identify an alternative solution that would allow them to move forward and future-proof their operations. Pebble Beach Systems’ Marina automation system had a lot of similarities to what operators had been using and represented a state-of-the-art playout automation system that could bring operations into the future. The included migration tools gave the team confidence that they could seamlessly migrate playout operations to the new system with no disruption.

The YurView team made the move to Pebble’s Marina automation in August 2018 during a building expansion for the master control operators. They now have 17 channels going out across multiple markets, plus three or four smaller channels. The main YurView channels and Cox Sports TV, which is predominantly distributed throughout the southeast, originates out of the company’s Phoenix location by operators using the Marina system.

TIGHT INTEGRATION IS KEY

At the heart of the system sits Marina and the Harmonic Omneon playout system. The new Harmonic Spectrum X playout devices integrate DVEs and graphics, and Marina gives all the commands over IP for doing lower-third weather delay graphics or similar workflows, so it’s a very simple process. Other systems may require talking to a playout port, a graphics device and other devices independently, with the potential of having to use GPI commands to trigger things. Marina and Spectrum X integration is operationally seamless for managing items on the playlist and entering commands into the system.

For Cox Sports TV, there’s a considerable amount of live sports programming that will then be replayed at a later time. The program producers use a lot of graphics bugs to tell viewers when content is live or that it’s a replay in the upper right of the screen. This becomes a simple secondary event in the Marina playlist. Operators go to a menu and pull the bug that they want and simply drag it onto the event in the playlist where it’s supposed to go. At the end of the playlist, Marina automatically pulls the bug off, goes to a commercial break and comes back into the next segment where there’s another secondary event to put the bug in.

NEW FEATURES EQUAL NEW REVENUE OPPORTUNITIES

Marina has allowed operators to utilize more SCTE 35 commercial insertion commands, which was impossible to do with the previous automation system.

For example, when broadcasting a Fox Cardinals game, for the avails during the commercial breaks (which allows the downstream content distributors to insert commercials), operators can take a trigger from Fox that instructs Marina to start a commercial break. This enables the team to make use of their own programming, or conversely, they can send that command downstream to trigger any of the downstream commercial insertions that happen in the regional markets.

The Yurview team works closely with the Cox Media part of the organization as they are focused on commercial programming for the local markets. Being able to send those commands out and have separate commercial insertions for each of the regions has enabled account executives to maximize their sales.

The Pebble engineers are installing a redundant Marina system with automatic failover soon. This sophisticated system will give the team even more security for their operations while supporting the organization as it continues to evolve.

David Russin is vice president of sales, the Americas, Pebble Beach Systems.

INGLEBURN, AUSTRALIA—Media-Hub Australia is a leading broadcast services provider to Australian and international broadcast industries. Among the company’s current service offerings are media asset management, managed archive storage, VOD and transcoding services, audio description and closed caption insertion, connectivity, pass-through channel capabilities, 24/7 master control and NOC facilities, live television and radio streaming and in-house coding solutions.

With consumers firmly taking charge of how and when they engage with content, broadcasters, media organizations and service providers need the agility to quickly respond to what audiences demand.

To ensure our operations are optimized to easily deliver highly adaptive services, we decided to deploy Grass Valley’s Morpheus Automation and server playout system. Grass Valley custom designed workflows to meet our unique needs and help as we transitioned to a bespoke business model.

OUR KIND OF SYSTEM

Grass Valley’s Morpheus Automation is a scalable playout automation solution for multichannel and multiscreen environments with support for everything from small, single-channel systems up to very large multichannel, without compromising reliability. Morpheus’ modular architecture allows us to build the perfect system based on the services and components we need for playout. Varied modes of redundancy allow any price point and functionality requirement to be met.

The Morpheus platform also has easy-to-use interfaces providing operators with access to complex functions, while a selection of plug-ins enhances system functionality. Thanks to Morpheus, we can easily integrate our playout automation into our total business infrastructure, including traffic, MAM, OTT delivery and more.

Grass Valley is strongly positioned to help our business meet any challenge the market throws at us. We have a close working relationship built over many years with them, so the Grass Valley team has a unique understanding of how our operation works and what our specific needs are.

At MediaHub, we pride ourselves in leading the way when it comes to broadcast services and we strive to stay cutting edge. Thanks to Grass Valley, we have cemented our position as market leaders with our radical new approach of per channel count model that keeps us and our customers one step ahead of the ever-shifting topography of the media industry.

Alan Sweeney is CEO of MediaHub Australia with more than 35 years experience as an executive, including 18 in media. For more information, visitwww.mediahubaustralia.com.au.

For more information on Grass Valley, visitwww.grassvalley.com.

PHILADELPHIA—FISM TV is a “postcable” television network offering edgy and informative Christian television programming for a cable-cutting world. Available on a wide range of platforms—Roku, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube, Android and iOS apps, and online at www.fism.tv—FISM TV features preaching and teaching, news, financial, business and documentary content.

Our cornerstone show, the nationally-syndicated radio and TV program “Financial Issues with Dan Celia,” has been on the radio for more than two decades, and we started building our own OTT and online television channel around it in 2016. Soft-launched with a handful of shows, FISM TV will officially roll out an expanded mix of original and syndicated, live and prerecorded programming in the coming months.

When we started FISM TV, we were happy with a third-party vendor’s playout and scheduling system for our initial needs, such as basic scheduling, but we had to do many things manually. We outgrew its limited capabilities, and our workflow became very tedious.

A cloud-based channel playout service proved to be a poor fit for our needs. The solution couldn’t provide the speed we needed for uploading shows or changing out spots, and it required multiple steps for things we needed to do quickly.

GOOD OLD MOM & DAD

Having used ENCO’s DAD automation system for our radio programming for many years, we decided to look at their comprehensive MOM (Media Operations Manager) television automation and integrated channel playout platform. Our DAD system just hums along without issue, giving us peace of mind that its TV counterpart could be exactly what we needed. We purchased MOM in May 2019, and it enables us to do a lot of things quickly while delivering the same rock-solid reliability we knew from DAD.

The ENCO system now handles all automation of FISM TV, including scheduling our live segments and breaks, as well as playout of pre-recorded content, commercials and bumpers. Live programming from our studio is fed to it from our NewTek TriCaster production switcher through a Blackmagic Design VideoHub. For file-based content, our ENCO platform is connected to a network-attached storage (NAS) system. Users in different locations can remotely access the system to upload or replace files, and the ENCO DropBox utility automatically adds them to the media library.

EASY ADJUSTMENT

Getting up to speed with MOM was almost instantaneous, since everything works basically the same way as DAD. Its Presenter on-air interface lets us see quickly and clearly where all our elements are and what time they’re going to play.

The ENCO automation system’s approach to replacing cuts saves us a lot of time. Rather than having to access the playlist, we can simply change the files assigned to those cut numbers. We also do a lot of show replays when our host is out—we can simply replace the existing cuts from our originally-defined live segments, and the system will play the replay.

Placing bugs on the screen is also easy. We can take a playlist for a previously recorded live show and assign key overlays that say “Previously Recorded” to the existing cut numbers. In contrast, with our previous system, we would have needed to individually put the key on every single clip or segment, which took a lot more time.

We have been so satisfied with MOM that we recently added ENCO’s ClipFire system to provide instant clip playout during our live productions, feeding multiple outputs to our TriCaster switcher. Overall, the ENCO platform has proven very valuable to us. We can count on its reliability, and its efficient workflow enables us to quickly do what we need to do.

Krunti “Kae” Hester is senior producer and engineer at Financial Issues Stewardship Ministries (FISM). He can be reached atkhester@financialissues.org.

For more information, contact Ken Frommert at ENCO Systems or visitwww.enco.com.

New product specialists join from broadcasters to enrich customer understanding

Cambridge, 7 October 2019: Underlining the importance of its solutions business, Pixel Power has added two new product specialists to the team. Tanya Schurawel and Toria Farrell both come direct from broadcasters, and will use their unique insights to help customers develop optimised solutions for automated production, graphics and playout.

Tanya Schurawel joins from Univision in the US, where she was most recently technical supervisor, animator and designer. With her strong technical and creative background, Tanya – who will be based in Florida– will engage with customers during the pre-sales period, ensuring their complex requirements are identified and satisfactorily met with Pixel Power’s virtualizable, modular systems.

Toria Farrell was previously a transmission controller at Red Bee Media/Ericsson. Toria began her career at the BBC as an EPG scheduler, and her career has seen her act as network director and playout director. Toria was a key member of the transmission launch team for the BT Sport launch in 2013, and became a senior playout director in 2015. She has worked within many client transmission areas from uktv and ITV to Channel 4, BT Sport and BBC World News. Based in the Pixel Power headquarters in Cambridge, she will work with customers to define software and virtualized playout solutions which enhance their businesses.

“As playout moves from large hardware installations to the almost infinite capabilities of software-defined, virtualizable solutions, broadcasters need to look at their operations and workflows afresh,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “Vendors have an important role here, in translating a broadcaster’s business needs into innovative, practical and affordable technologies and workflows.

“Tanya and Toria, because of their extensive and current experience in broadcast and online transmission, are great assets in these discussions,” Gilbert added. “I’m delighted they have joined the Pixel Power team, helping us – and our customers – go from strength to strength.”

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About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company
Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power Contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

AMSTERDAM—Prime Focus Technologies will showcase a new batch of software updates for its flagship CLEAR Media ERP platforms during this year’s IBC conference. These new updates are designed to drive automation-led efficiencies and manage end-to-end content operations.

One of the CLEAR products on display will be the CLEAR Vision Cloud, which uses artificial intelligence micro services for entertainment and sports productions. For entertainment, the AI capabilities are designed to automate operations like content segmentation, thumbnail creation, cataloging and conformance of content during remastering, as well as provide assistance for promo creation and OTT highlights compilation. For sports, the AI tech can identify sporting action and help produce highlight packages.

Other updates for the CLEAR system include centralized automated content operations for global enterprise, a content acquisition portal, promo operations automation, production supply chain automation and mastering automation.

Find out more by visiting PFT at stand 7.C05 during IBC 2019.

Cambridge, UK 28 May 2019 : Pixel Power, the global automation, branding and graphics innovator, is working with with Qvest Media, the leading global media systems architect, to bring its playout and automation systems to Qvest.Cloud, a multicloud management platform for media.

“Qvest.Cloud from Qvest Media is an ideal environment for our virtualized approach to automation”, said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “For many reasons, broadcasters are keen to adopt hybrid workflows that blend cloud and on-premise hosting of fully integrated systems. That is precisely what Qvest.Cloud brings to the table: it means our clients can create their own bespoke workflows and use whichever cloud providers deliver the right service for them.”

Pixel Power, with its 30-year dedication to the media industry, has used its experience to develop a uniquely powerful and flexible approach to automation. It is built around two key elements: StreamMaster for video and graphics processing, and Gallium for workflow and playout automation. Their functional block architectures mean implementations can be fine-tuned to achieve optimal performance for each specific use case. StreamMaster and Gallium together build solutions which are inherently virtualizable and cloud-agnostic.

As well as fully-featured channel playout, the Pixel Power architecture also allows for powerful functionality such as the automated creation of VOD assets for catch-up channels, and the automated creation of trailers and promos. The company has long offered its automation technology on pay-as-you-go and pay-per-feature licensing models, which fit perfectly with Qvest.Cloud.

Qvest.Cloud radically simplifies the implementation and management of fully virtualized architectures using best-of-breed products. By networking third-party applications into a single, integrated workflow in a multicloud environment, it makes it simple to operate rich solutions from a single dashboard, breaking down the barriers between on-premise installation and private and public clouds.

“Pixel Power playout and automation solutions are designed to take full benefit of the cloud, and therefore fit perfectly in the Qvest.Cloud ecosystem”, said Thomas Müller, CTO at Qvest Media. “Our aim is to offer customers from the broadcast and media industry a platform that is scalable and cost-efficient, with proper ready-to-use packages and custom-tailored enterprise solutions.”

James Gilbert of Pixel Power concluded: “We have always believed that the transition to IP was simply an enabler on the road to tailored, operationally significant and extremely cost-effective solutions for our customers around the world. We are excited to be working with Qvest Media to offer broadcasters and media companies the chance to transition to modern, software-centric technology supporting their own requirements and their own pace of change.”

###

About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company

Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

LAS VEGAS—Prime Focus Technologies is pulling the curtain back on what it will be showcasing at this year’s NAB Show. Set for prime display at the PFT booth is the latest developments of the CLEAR Media ERP Suite, which includes automation-led technologies and managed services, and Vision Cloud, a collection of AI-led micro services.

The new elements of the Media ERP suite includes Centralization, automated content operations for the global enterprise; Content Acquisition Portal, a system designed for managing content acquisition and the associated process, including evaluation, editorial, enrichment and archival; Promo Operations Automation, business process orchestration for promo creation, with auto assist versioning and delivery; DAX Production Cloud, which provides automated production and post-production workflows; and Mastering Automation for automated domestic and international syndication.

Then the Vision Cloud is a native media recognition AI engine that synthesizes and focuses on the most diverse and relevant annotations to deliver actionable search results. Its AI-led micro services deliver automation and data to accelerate the adoption of AI within M&E businesses.

Learn more about these services at PFT”s booth, SL9605, during the NAB Show.

To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.

PRAGUE—Automation provider Aveco is heading to Panama as the choice of Medcom for three studio operations that include a number of terrestrial and cable channels. Medcom has acquired the Aveco studio production automation system and ASTRA MAM system for its stations.

Medcom installed the first of the new Aveco automation system at its first station, Cable Onda Sports, back in November of 2018. According to Aveco, this marked the first of its automation systems to be used in Central America. Medcom will continue with what it is being billed as a three phase project when its Telemetro and ECO TV stations launch with the Aveco system by the end of Q1 2019.

Meanwhile, the ASTRA MAM system is being used to integrate all Medcom systems into one unifying platform. The ASTRA MAM database links to all other storage devices to provide a central point for media management. A rules-based transfer engine automates transfer and operations between multiple systems.

Medcom will have the ability to integrate the Aveco systems with third-party devices and be scaled up for future expansion, per Aveco. 

OTTAWA-Ross Video has announced the release of v18 of its OverDrive Automated Production Control (APC) platform.

Ross says v18 helps content creators better manage and reduce the complexity of audio, as well offer additional rundown information, greater customization of the user interface, Ross Virtual Solutions UX MOS support (for virtual studio/augmented reality applications), as well as new security updates.

A summary of the new features:

• Audio Variables – included in OverDrive Premium and optional modules for OverDrive Prime and OverDrive Express.
• QuickAudio Groups, an enhancement to the existing QuickAudio feature where users can group multiple sources into a single keyword.
• New UI customization – bigger, bolder and different colors. Users can now select different colors to represent elements in the rundown to match existing workflows making the transition to OverDrive even easier.
• Additional rundown information – users can now display more granular information about each shot in the rundown. This enables a simpler or more detailed display depending on the layout’s application (e.g. producer needs less technical information, but the director wants more detailed information.)
• New security updates and performance/security improvements for HTML5 MOS plugins.
• Ross Virtual Solutions (VS/AR) – UX MOS support

At the same time as shipping V18 of OverDrive, Ross is also releasing V5.1 of Caprica, which enables OverDrive to be used with a comprehensive range of third party production switchers.

Automation has been infused into innumerable elements of our daily lives. From production and assembly lines to broadcast facilities around the world, the transition to automated processes and workflows now have deep roots, and have forever changed the way we work, shop and entertain.

A common concern across all appliances of automation is the reduction, or outright elimination, of the human element. While the transition from manual to automated operations will undoubtedly remove human error in many cases, there are certainly more sensitive tasks where the argument for maintaining a manual workflow remains strong.

In the broadcast space, the transition to automated closed-captioning workflows is one topic that breeds intense discussion both for and against. However, the technology has advanced enough to instill confidence with broadcasters in many of today’s top DMAs, clearly representing the future of this important application.

EVOLUTION OF SPEECH-TO-TEXT

Speech recognition dates back to the 1950s, with modest first steps focused on digits and the most basic English words. With consumer services such as Siri and Alexa continuing to improve with each product generation, it’s clear that speed and accuracy in speech-to-text recognition has come a long way. So goes the same with automated captioning technology, which benefits today from the strengths of modern artificial intelligence.

[For an opposing view, read: Is It Live, Or Is It Automated Speech Recognition?]

While different mandates on closed-captioning in broadcast television exist around the world, the unifying purpose ensures that deaf and hearing-impaired viewers can fully understand and enjoy the shows they watch. Beyond the hearing impaired, statistics show that one in six viewers worldwide prefer to receive closed captions with their content.

Production and transmission of live, manual closed captioning has long been challenged by high costs, availability, varied latency, and inconsistent accuracy rates. And it’s true that the transition to more automated, software-defined captioning workflows introduced a new series of challenges.

For example, while automatic speech recognition removes the cost and staffing concerns of manual captioning, the performance of early-generation servers and processors demonstrated accuracy and latency problems. These issues were especially magnified for broadcasters that must now deliver accurate closed captioning across a multichannel, multilingual, multistandard and multiplatform media landscape.

These concerns are rapidly diminishing. The accuracy of speech-to-text conversion across multiple languages continues to improve with the emergence of powerful, deep neural network advances. In fact, accuracy across today’s strongest platforms has been raised to 90 percent or higher. The statistical algorithms associated with these advances, coupled with larger multilingual databases to mine, more effectively interpret—and accurately spell out—the speech coming through the air feed or mix-minus microphone.

Meanwhile, the faster and more powerful processing of computing engines within automated captioning technology has significantly reduced the latency to near real-time. This achievement is particularly impressive given that automated captions took between 30–60 seconds on many systems as recently as one or two generations ago.

Additionally, as closed-captioning software matures, emerging applications to eliminate crosstalk, improve speaker identification and ignore interruptions are improving the overall quality and experience for hearing impaired viewers.

MARCHING FORWARD

Many of the above improvements are related to recent breakthroughs in machine learning technology, which have enabled a deep neural network approach to voice recognition. Machine learning not only strengthens accuracy, it also provides value through detection of different languages and the different ways that people speak.

That intelligence as it relates to different dialects will provide an overall boost to accuracy in closed captioning. Consider a live news operation, where on-premise, automated captioning software now directly integrates with newsroom computer systems without the need for a network connection. This will now help broadcasters strengthen availability—no concerns about a network outage taking the system down—and take advantage of news scripts and rundowns to learn and validate the spelling of local names and terminology. Both of these points were once major and justified arguments against automated captioning.

Automated captioning also enables the applications to be achieved efficiently on a larger scale—costs are lowered due to the transition from human stenographers to computer automation. And as there is a need to caption a growing amount of content, there is an economy of scale that drives the cost down even further as broadcasters automate these processes.

As systems grow more reliable and broadcasters grow more comfortable with the technology, they will also find new efficiencies and opportunities along the way. For one, broadcasters that need to cut into a regularly scheduled program with breaking news or weather alerts will no longer be forced to find qualified (and expensive) live captioners on short notice.

Improvements in captioning technology have also been timely around emerging needs, including networks tasked with captioning large libraries of prerecorded content. As more systems move to software-defined platforms, the captioning workflow for prerecorded and/or long-form content has been greatly simplified. Post-production staff can essentially drag-and-drop video files into a file-based workflow that extracts the audio track for text conversion. These files can then be delivered in various lengths and formats for a TV broadcast, the web, mobile and other platforms.

And with multiplatform reach, broadcasters also have opportunities to caption live and on-demand streams, ensuring that hearing-impaired and multilingual audiences watching online are properly served as well. The future of this technology is very exciting, especially with the knowledge that we’re really just beginning to reap the fruits of this technology.

Ken Frommert is president of ENCO.

DENVER—Colorado Public Television has a great history of technology innovation. We’ve produced multiple Emmy Award-winning shows and were one of the first digital TV stations on the air.

This year we decided to expand master control automation, video servers, storage and branding and invited all major vendors in for demonstrations. Aveco stood out dramatically in software features—with many of their most impressive capabilities not found in any other system.

For one, Aveco has equipment-pool facility management that dynamically assigns resources based on need. For example, in scheduled ingest, a video server port is assigned automatically, the route is locked and, when completed, resources return to the pool. In playout, if a primary video server fails, the 1:1 backup goes instantly to air, but now a new backup can automatically be built.

Our senior staff member who approves media needs to go between edit suites. Whenever a promo approval is required, he selects the media and Aveco automatically assigns a Harmonic output, path-find through the router and delivers video to his room’s monitor. Facility management is invaluable in the large national TV networks Aveco runs—but it’s also very helpful for smaller stations.

SOPHISTICATED MAM

Aveco’s Media Asset Management includes workflow rules that reviews the on-air schedule to determine the priority of transcoding in our Rhozet/Harmonic. When a promo or program arrives late, it’s instantly moved to the top of the processing list.

Aveco’s MAM has sophisticated video search, so operators can easily search-and-replace clips. It can automatically output CableLabs VOD specs and streaming media; we’re not using this yet but we can see how easy and inexpensive it is to grow.

Aveco automatically brings in media from the archive to the on-air video server according to on-air playlist schedules. It also implements our policies of where and when to store media, including checking space on storage subsystems; when they reach fullness-thresholds, it automatically begins using the next available system. This intelligent storage management includes purging rules based on media types, future reruns, etc.

There’s almost no limit to how efficient media operations can mature using Aveco’s workflow manager.

We’ve used Harmonic/Omneon video servers for years and we’ve seen how fully Aveco implements every nuance of the Harmonic APIs. We’re very happy to make a major upgrade to the new Harmonic Spectrum X under Aveco control.

In traffic, Aveco was the industry’s first MCR automation to implement BXF 5.0, and, more impressively, it had dynamic traffic interfacing over 20 years ago, long before BXF. Dynamic traffic interfacing makes it easy to handle changes.

The Aveco-traffic interface also allows dynamic “coming up tonight,” “coming up next” promos in real-time on-air through Aveco controlling the Harmonic Spectrum X branding overlays of graphics-video-audio. This greatly reduces editing time in the repetitive tasks of compositing regular promos, letting editors work on higher value content.

Aveco uses QNX, a real-time operating system common in Cisco switches, Boeing aircraft, etc. Software clients are on Windows, Mac and Linux, with all three OS clients operating simultaneously—locally and remotely. QNX has never had even one virus or worm. It’s POSIX-compliant and easily supported and looks like Linux. Access is only by a software client. Having a safe, reliable core will be increasingly important as the industry moves further into IP.

Aveco has a truly remarkable platform; we’re proud to work with them and would welcome any broadcaster to come visit us in Denver. We’d be happy to show you what we determined is the current state-of-the-art in master control automation.

Mark Seewald is a 35-year broadcast technologist at Colorado Public TV (14 years), DirecTV and other companies. Mark can be reached atmseewald@cpt12.org.

For more information, please visitwww.aveco.comor call 818-292-1489.

LAS VEGAS—Virtualized video playout streams operating in the cloud; the integration of many station automation systems into one easy-to-manage platform, and having the flexibility to spin new channels up and down as needed… these are just some of the trends influencing station automation products today, and that vendors will be addressing in their booths at the NAB Show.

CENTRAL CONTROL

Sam Peterson, vice president of production management at Bitcentral, said that along with virtualization, other trends driving station automation including centralization and simplification.

Although locating station automation facilities in centralized locations, creating them as “virtual” facilities in the cloud, and making all of them simple to operate may seem like very different trends, they all come from a common broadcaster need. “What is driving those trends is our customers’ requirement to run multiple outputs from more efficient operations centers,” Peterson said. “This is particularly true for customers who are running multiple linear channels.”

To address these trends, at the show, Bitcentral will showcase CentralControl, its master control/station automation platform that provides a suite of modular user interfaces and tools for ingest, media management, and playout. Bitcentral recently did a major CentralControl installation for a Latin American broadcaster, and will be sharing details of the technical solution at the NAB Show.

THE IP FACTOR

IP signal delivery, cloud, and integration of playout facilities are the automation trends ENCO Systems is focusing on right now, according to Ken Frommert, company president. “Video over IP is the big buzzword in the industry right now,” he said. “We’ve implemented that within our automation system to meet the growing demand.”

Dave Turner, executive vice president for ENCO added that video over IP “is a much easier transport mechanism” and that it “lends itself to implementing virtualized content management and playout in the cloud, which is a huge trend in broadcasting due to its lower cost of operation.”

[Read: The Benefits Of Virtualization]

With its integration of automatic ingest, media asset management, graphics, and playout automation together into one platform, ENCO Systems’ MOM (Media Operations Manager) automated playout system will be front and center at the company’s booth. “We’ll be showing how it integrates with different production systems made by Broadcast Pix, Grass Valley, NewTek, Ross Video, and Sony,” said Turner.

ON PREM AND IN-CLOUD PLAYOUT

Shawn Maynard, senior vice president/GM for Florical Systems sees two divergent trends in station automation.

On one hand, cloud-based station automation is catching on. “Whether on or off-premises, we’re seeing a lot of interest in virtualized playout systems operating in the cloud,” he said. On the other hand, “I’m seeing a resurgence of traditional playout centers using best-of-breed equipment. When it comes to individual local stations, rather than a network, they just don’t see the cloud as a viable playout option at this point.”

Florical System will focus on virtualized playout at their NAB Show booth. “Our main feature this year is our new FéniX integrated playout option—powered by Harmonic Technologies,” Maynard said. Florical Systems will also showcase its Acuitas channel-in-a-box IT-based playout package that can be deployed on COTS hardware. “For the first time, we’ll be showing Acuitas operating over SAN architecture,” he said.

MAKING MOBILE CONTENT DELIVERY AFFORDABLE

Grass Valley is seeing a growing emphasis on pushing broadcast content to mobile users, according to Chuck Garfield, the company’s director of product management for the News division. “Unfortunately, the ad dollars are not following this area of digital content growth,” he noted. “So the revenue that is generated of this is a small part of any station’s revenue stream; say just 25 percent of the total.”

In this context, station operators need to find economical ways to fund and operate second and third channels. “The budget isn’t there to fund standard linear control room equipment,” Garfield said. This is where virtualized and cloud-based station automation solutions need to step up.

Grass Valley has been tackling this issue through what it calls “automated production control.” At the NAB Show, the company will demonstrate “Event Builder,” the first stage of an APC application designed to reduce the complexity of live broadcast production by up to 50 percent.

“Event Builder is designed for a non-technical, lower-cost staff member to call up a basic Grass Valley Ignite library to produce live programming,” said Garfield. “This is part of our efforts to create lower cost station operations for broadcasters; of which station automation is just a part.”

With the recent acquisition of Snell Advanced Media, Garfield said Grass Valley is “excited” by the opportunities to blend the SAM line of production equipment into Ignite. “We will demonstrate Ignite control of the Kula video switcher, and already have plans in place to add Kahuna control to our APC portfolio,” he said.

NEW MEDIA WORKFLOWS

For Imagine Communications, their customers are concentrating on new media workflows, according to Chuck Kocsis, the company’s senior product manager for automation.

“We’re also helping our broadcast customers define their business cases for data center-based playout and cloud-based playout,” he said. Such changes help stations launch short-term pop-up channels for special occasions/opportunities at minimal cost, and facilitate disaster recovery.

At its booth, Imagine will feature the Versio Platform integrated playout solution, which supports data center-based and cloud-based content playout. The company will also show xG Schedule, which it says is the industry’s first cloud-based planning and scheduling system for linear, on-demand and digital platforms.

Read: The Opportunities For Virtualized Playout]

“One of the major questions we will be able to answer is how customers can transition from their current station operations—whether automated or not—to our streamlined Versio and xG Schedule platforms to become more efficient, flexible, and cost-effective in their operations,” Kocsis said. “We want to help broadcasters decide what they need to do to automate their stations, identify their comfort level in affecting change, and help them achieve it as painlessly as possible.”

BOTH ENDS OF THE SPECTRUM

Ross Video is seeing “a push this year for automation at both ends of the spectrum,” said Mike Paquin, marketing product manager for control and automation for the company.

“A decade ago, automation was all about making operational savings and improving the efficiency of existing productions,” he said. “Now, our customers are looking for ways to add content for new distribution channels cost-effectively at a time when video resolution quality is jumping up to 4K on TVs, computers and even smartphones.”

At the NAB Show, Paquin says Ross will demonstrate “end-to-end solutions for large national and network level productions—with all the production horsepower required—featuring our flagship Acuity production switcher, Inception social media management and OverDrive Premium.”

The company will also showcase OverDrive+Graphite, which combines automation and production tools that provide the same levels of production quality and consistency “as the larger offerings, but at a price and compact size that ideally meets the needs of smaller productions like seconds screen, breaking news, or smaller markets” Paquin said.

THE REPACK IMPACT

The ongoing channel repack that resulted from the recent spectrum auctions is prompting broadcasters to focus on reducing capital and operations expenditures, without sacrificing functionality, according to Rush Beesley, president of RUSHWORKS. These changes are leading broadcasters to re-evaluate their spending plans, he noted.

Adding to their confusion is OTT, which “presents an ever-rotating kaleidoscope of possibilities, and the attendant uncertainties of how to monetize alternative media delivery platforms,” Beesley said. “So spending less on products and minimizing human resources is key to economic survival in station automation.”

RUSHWORKS will address this uncertainty by showcasing its A-LIST BROADCAST Automation and Streaming System. “It supports up to four channels in a chassis, and provides all the functionality that traditional broadcasters need at a fraction of the cost of ‘big iron’ systems,” said Beesley. A-LIST interfaces with virtually all video routing switchers and third-party traffic and billing systems; provides detailed as-run logs for reconciliation, integrates with most current EAS systems, and can be run remotely from virtually any location, as long as there is Internet connectivity.”

RUSHWORKS will also unveil the A-LIST Streamster, a tiny desktop appliance that includes most of the features of the A-LIST BROADCAST configuration, according to Beesley. However, with the emphasis on IP/OTT mediacasting, there are no baseband inputs or outputs. The A-lIST Streamster has six USB 3.1 ports and Gigabit Ethernet.

EFFICIENCY IS KEY

Sony’s take on station automation is in line with the trends it sees driving the broadcast marketplace.

“Broadcasters are looking for more efficiency across the entire enterprise, as their operations become more consolidated and they look to move away from the traditional ‘heavy iron’ approach often associated with many on-premise solutions,” said Ali E. Amoli, director of product management & solutions development at Sony Professional Solutions Americas. “We’re seeing more interest in virtualized data centers and master control in the cloud, especially for disaster recovery. Customers have come to us and said this is a real need, especially in light of all the recent natural disasters and flooding that disrupted local stations’ broadcasting.”

At the 2017 NAB Show, Sony announced the acquisition of station automation developer Crispin Corp., a company it had been collaborating with on deployment of the “Public Media Management” platform at Boston PBS station WGBH. The fruits of this acquisition, and how it meets the demand for more efficient operations, will be seen at the 2018 show, when Sony Electronics exhibits its own station automation solution.

“Sony’s solution uses a combination of Crispin Loading Dock and RapidPlayX in the cloud, Sony wireless streaming camcorders, our Ci Cloud Platform and virtual switching technology,” said Amoli. “We can take streams directly from the cameras in the field, files directly from Ci, do graphics overlays and switching, automate play-out and exchange information with traffic systems. With Sony’s Master Control in the Cloud for DR, we can get a station’s programming on air and distributed when they are unable to operate locally.”

DIETZENBACH, GERMANY—Software developer Dimetis GmbH is ready to roll-out its latest media workflow automation and orchestration platform, the mX Media Exchange. This new workflow is designed to provide management, automation and transfer of large files with enhanced metadata handling for video and audio files through a web interface.

The mX platform is capable of managing complex file-based workflows and can connect with third party systems like transcoders, file checkers, workflow systems, storage and resource scheduling tools. Specific features for the mX include advanced metadata editor and management, with the system automatically collecting technical metadata and the ability to aggregate editorial metadata from multiple sources; a GUI workflow builder with drag-and-drop functionality, defined rule-sets based on file information, can store files in a library and address third-party systems; and it provides 24x7 monitoring as are customized reports based on completed transfers, alarm events, transferred volumes, number of transfers and reporting time.

Dimetis designed the mX system for broadcasters, content providers and production companies.

Major shifts in the means of broadcasting— as well as what that term actually means going forward—are accelerating us down the IP highway and into the cloud. A Broadway show lyric seems apropos: “There are times I am not sure of what I absolutely know... very often find confusion in conclusion I concluded long ago” (“A Puzzlement” from “The King and I”). Challenging times indeed for manufacturers, next-gen technology decision-makers, and content consumers alike.

MASTER CONTROL AUTOMATION & CHANNEL PLAYOUT

ACTUS DIGITAL will showcase Clip-Factory-Pro, sporting video editing functions, such as blurring, muting, pre/post rolls, Ads removal and more. Clip-Factory-Pro also comes with a new set of metadata generating tools that can integrate to As- RunLog, automation and Ads insertion systems in view of a fully automated workflow from Linear to OTT.

AVECO will highlight Redwood Blue, a multipurpose channel origination engine with up to four channels of ingest and/or playout per chassis and services including graphics, DVEs, live switching, and audio processing.

BITCENTRAL will unveil performance enhancements to Central Control, its scalable play-to-air automation, including new multichannel environment modes, improved Time Delay functionality, and additional workflow support in the Management module.

CRISPIN will debut a master control in the cloud solution with interfaces and controls for OTT and IP streaming. Enhancements to LoadingDock include the ability to streamline content acquisition, preparation, and scalability for multistation distribution that enable operators to pull or upload cloud content, prep files, view lo-rez clips, and manage media status.

ENCO will introduce a new ClipBoard control interface for its playout and TV/radio automation systems. Media Operations Manager (MOM) enhancements include live inputs for cut-ins without an external switcher and support for its browser-based enCloud remote production control applications.

FLORICAL will launch FeniX, an integrated playout solution powered by Harmonic technology and Florical’s enterprise automation suite. It offers SDI and IP options, plus master control switching, branding, and DVE effects.

GRASS VALLEY will showcase iTX Flex, a cost-effective SaaS playout solution using “True Cloud Architectures” to leverage proven iTX and GV Cloud Orchestration technologies.

HARMONIC will debut VOS SW (Software) Cluster Media Processing, a comprehensive suite embedding the company’s best-of-breed encoding, playout, origination, and packaging applications.

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS returns with an enhanced Versio Platform, a cloud-native, microservices-based, modular playout solution designed for pure-IP, geo-dispersed environments using commercial-off-the-shelf [COTS] hardware.

PEBBLE BEACH has added NDI confidence monitoring to Orca, a software-defined, virtualized IP channel solution optimized for cloud deployment of high value channels. Also at their booth will be the Dolphin channel-in-a-box system, offering graphics plug-ins and live captioning capabilities.

PIXEL POWER has added NewTek’s NDI protocol to its StreamMaster integrated playout platform. NDI enables generation and monitoring of low latency proxies, letting operators view multiple output buses from within the Pixel Power Gallium Automation interface or a third-party multiviewer.

ROSS VIDEO will introduce a broadcast production and newsroom control bundle that combines OverDrive Express automation with its Graphite switcher, 3-D graphics, and a two-channel clip-server.

RUSHWORKS will introduce A-LIST Streamster, an IP-only edition of its broadcast automation system tailored for OTT content management and distribution.

NEWSROOM SYSTEMS & WORKFLOWS

BITCENTRAL will debut MultiPath, an Oasis media asset management module. Its intuitively structured interface complements the company’s integrated newsroom suite with an overview of the media publishing process for targeting and simultaneous content delivery to websites, apps, social media, and syndication.

DALET will unveil Content Discovery module, a core functionality within its Unified News Operation that presents relevant/related media to journalists and content producers as they develop news stories, thereby enriching narratives with expanded data and detail.

GRASS VALLEY has added a new web client and support of the GV I/O appliance to GV STRATUS 6.0 to enable complete virtualization.

ENCO will spotlight a MOS interface for ENPS, iNews and Octopus newsroom systems, plus NewTek NDI support within its Media Operations Manager (MOM) automation.

TRAFFIC, BUSINESS & RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

BROADVIEW SOFTWARE will showcase v8.0 of its On Demand management tools supporting a wide range of multiplatform services.

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS will reprise xG GamePlan, inventory optimization tools to help deliver target audiences with a minimum of commercial airtime.

MYERS will debut options for ProTrack, its management system for broadcast networks, affiliates, and independent media outlets. ProTrack HUB supports Network Operations Centers, integrating tightly with centralized master controls and their distribution to client stations. ProTrack MAM makes file-based media visible to programming and traffic teams.

ARCHIVE & MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

AVID will introduce Media- Central | Asset Management to speed finding assets, streamline content delivery across any platform, and create new revenue opportunities.

DALET will feature AI-enhanced media workflow prototypes to help organizations capitalize on opportunities via intelligent auto-tagging, augmented production workflows with contextual recommendations, more advanced task and process automation, and adaptive scaling to leverage powerful predictive analytics.

EVERTZ will feature Mediator-X, a cloud-enabled media asset management platform that helps media companies monetize content and lower operating costs.

MASSTECH will highlight its efficient FlashNet media object storage application and MassStore media services framework for media and storage management on-premises, the cloud, or in hybrid configurations.

PRIME FOCUS TECHNOLOGIES will unveil AI-enabled MAM and subtitling tools for its CLEAR Media ERP range. Capabilities include facial detection, speech-to-text, and location/brand recognition to enrich content metadata and aid content discovery.

TEDIAL is introducing SMART Live, designed for sports and live events. Its metadata engine automatically generates metadata ingest processes to address complex sporting event workflows, creating clips based on actions, keywords or logged occurrences; video and audio recognition can generate additional locator data and annotate the media proxies.

TELESTREAM will add end-to-end Adaptive Bitrate and a new workflow to its iQ Quality Assurance solution, reducing issue report to resolution times.

TMD will unveil an integration between its Mediaflex-UMS workflow engine and Avid’s Interplay, enabling users to select content, master clips, or sequences and initiate actions to archive or distribute media.

VERIZON DIGITAL MEDIA SERVICES will bring enhancements to its Volicon Media Intelligence, Media Xperience Studio; Uplynk Video Streaming, and Edgecast Content Delivery Network service offerings.

SWITCHERS AND ROUTING

When it comes to switching and routing, new solutions on the NAB 2018 show floor are offering more inputs, more DVEs and expanded capabilities such as 4K and IP connectivity. Popular this year: customization and the ability to handling multiple formats and functionalities often in a smaller footprint.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN will show the ATEM 4 M/E high frame-rate Ultra HD 2160p60 switcher, a 4K switcher with 20 inputs, 4 MEs, 16 ATEM advanced chroma keyers, two Ultra HD multi viewers, full 2D DVEs, and built-in compositing engines with four picture-in-picture DVEs. A smaller version of the ATEM will also be on the floor in the form of the ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel, a compact hardware control panel designed to work with all ATEM switchers.

BROADCAST PIX will show the BPswitch family of integrated production switchers, which include control-over-IP capabilities. Features include NewBlueNTX 3D motion graphics, clip stores, customizable multiview and device control.

EVS will demo the DYVI IT-based switching solution, which offers distributed live production and new scalability features.

FOR-A will unveil the HVS-6000 12GSDI video switcher, with support for 4K and scalability for users looking to transition to 8K in the future. The company will also introduce a system package that includes the HVS-490 video switcher, MFR-3000 routing switcher, MV-4200 multiviewer and ClassX suite of graphics solutions.

GRASS VALLEY will feature GV K-Frame X, a new processing engine that supports SDI, IP or hybrid SDI/IP configurations. The switcher offers an I/O footprint of 192x96, supports TICO compression or uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 4K along with HDR, and connects to any Grass Valley panel.

JLCOOPER ELECTRONICS will feature its ION compact broadcast switcher panel control surface, designed for fast video switching in a live production environment such as mobile, sports, educational or house of worship.

NEWTEK will highlight the TriCaster TC1 production system, offering switching as well as streaming and recording in HD, 3G and 4K UHD 60p. Features include 16 external inputs and 4 MEs as well as an integrated video server for playback, replay and live editing.

PANASONIC plans to showcase the AVHLC100, a combination solution that pulls together a 1ME switcher, PTZ camera controller and audio mixer in a single device.

PIXEL POWER will demo the BrandMaster branding switcher and graphics playout system.

ROSS VIDEO will show the 12G Multi-Processing Input Module for Acuity, a 20-input card that adds single-link 12G connectivity and provides independent input signal management functions. The company will also bring its range of switcher options, including the Carbonite Black Solo single ME switcher, Graphite all-in-one production system and Carbonite midsize switcher.

RUSHWORKS will showcase its VDESK radio/TV production system, a multifunction integrated production system.

ROUTING

BARNFIND will feature BarnOne with Web Server, which offers a new web interface for configuration and operation of BarnOne frames; and new 4K Products as part of the BTF1-41 series.

FOR-A will introduce a system package that includes the MFR-3000 routing switcher that includes a HVS-490 video switcher, MV-4200 multiviewer and ClassX suite of graphics solutions.

GRASS VALLEY will show the latest in router control and configuration with GV Convergent, an IP/SDI router control/configuration system that works with both COTS switches and IP-enabled endpoint equipment to manage facility routing as the industry migrates from SDI to IP.

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS will showcase Platinum IP3, a 28 RU device that offers hybrid IP connectivity and offers mixed-format video and audio routing, multiviewer functionality, frame sync and advanced I/O options.

ROSS VIDEO will showcase Ultrix-FR5, a 5RU, 144 x 144 version of the Ultrix routing/AV processing platform.

UTAH SCIENTIFIC will debut updates to the 400 Series, a hybrid digital router designed to accommodate IP signals along with high-density SDI. The company will also show the UHD-12G 12G digital routing switcher which enables distribution of a full range of SDI video signals, from SD data rates up to 2160p60 in a single-link interconnect.

KVM SWITCHES

ADDER will feature the ADDERLink INFINITY 100T, an IP-based KVM transmitter that uses standard network infrastructure to extend and matrix computers away from the user environment.

BLACKBOX will showcase solutions that include its control room KVM options such as the InvisaPC, an IP-based KVM solution that offers access to physical and virtual servers and the DCX digital KVM matrix solution.

G&D NORTH AMERICA will introduce a new KVM-over-IP matrix system, as well as the DP1.2-Vision KVM extender system for 4K, which uses in-house HDIP compression technology and is compatible with G&D’s digital matrices and allows the extension, switching and distribution of 4K video signals through matrix systems. Also on display: the DP1.2-VisionXG, a high-end KVM extender system that extends computer signals up to 10,000 meters over fiber.

IHSE will show the 491 Series for extending HDMI signals; 496 Series SDI/KVM extender series, which converts 3G/SDI signals for sharing serial digital video with Draco tera KVM matrix switches; 494 Series DVI-I, which can interface with other Draco ultra extenders; 444 Series, which allows users to connect a keyboard, mouse and keypad as a single HID device to a KVM system through USB with an additional HID extension, and the OPS+ KVM extender, which is designed to simplify the installation, operation and management of remove displays.

THINKLOGICAL will showcase TLX, an uncompressed 4K/8K KVM solution that delivers extension and switching of KVM and uncompressed 4K DCI video (4096x2160 resolution, 4:4:4 color depth, 30 bits per pixel) at 60Hz frame rate with any-to-any matrix switching. The company will also show its new Virtual Machine Integrated Client Modules.

Once upon a time, you probably owned a physical alarm clock. Maybe you even traveled with it. And a Rolodex. And an answering machine, a desk telephone, a wall calendar. A stop watch, a calculator, a bookshelf. “Bespoke” things, to lift a term from haberdashery that seems to be making the rounds in tech-talk lately.

Now look at your phone. All of those things are in it, plus a travel agent, television, mirror, document scanner, cookbook, pager, and whatever other handy apps you carry with you, every day, that used to be standalone things.

The same thing is happening in broadcast video facilities, to single out one (of many) industrial instances of the “bespoke-to multi-purpose device” phenomenon. Banks of switchers, servers, broadcast-specific production/playout hardware —all of the individual components that make TV signals get from where they start to your screen— are ultimately tilting toward the same general destiny as your formerly physical stuff is to their smartphone doppelganger.

It’s one of the things broadcast-side technologists are talking about during the run-up to the NAB’s annual gathering in April. So far, I’ve spared you the very Dilbert-esque language of it, but I can spare you no further: Virtualization. Orchestration. Automation. Three words, fourteen syllables, lots of room for interpretation, in the overall language of “the cloud.”

VIRTUALIZATION, ORCHESTRATION, AUTOMATION, HUH?

Here’s the short translation: Virtualization is what happens when a big, standalone device becomes the “app” version of itself. Point to any traditional piece of equipment in a broadcast TV control room, and ask the nearest engineer what percentage of the time it’s actively used. Chances are high that it’s a low number.

Chances are also high that when it’s idle, a lot of compute, connectivity and storage resources are essentially twiddling their thumbs. That’s what makes virtualization attractive, especially to the efficiency-minded.

Orchestration is what makes those previously standalone broadcast “appliances” easily navigable, all in one place, with a deliberately “web-like” user experience/UX. Log in, pick a desired event (sporting event, newscast, comedy), drag-and-drop, voila! Good to go.

Automation in a broadcast video sense, is what makes it so that a TV show —and everything about it, behind the scenes— can be set up and torn down, in seconds. It’s the work that automates a series of processes, across a pile of gear, which used to take much longer.

Setting up and tearing down a TV show used to take much longer —hours, or days, depending on the material— because studios and production data centers are largely hard-wired. Control rooms are connected to studios by lots and lots of SDI (Serial Digital Interface) cables, some still managed by physical patch panels. It’s not unusual for dozens of devices to be physically patched to multiple distribution channels via a patch panel.

Plus, today’s “bespoke” broadcast appliances each come with their own management interfaces. Usually, they’re ganged together in some fashion of back office management tool, but even so, a typical day in the life of a broadcast engineer still involves a lot of manual configuration, especially when a broadcast endeavor spans multiple facilities.

“For lots of us, the transition to IP starts with location independence,” said a European broadcast engineer. “When you have a handful of locations separated by hundreds of miles, unifying acquisition is very desirable —but to get on the ‘IP train,’ it has to be cost-effective.”

THE FINGERPRINTS OF IP ARE ALL OVER THIS

At the heart of all of this bespoke-to-virtualized activity is the steady progression of IP (Internet Protocol)-based technologies, permeating all industries, as the goods and services all around us become more “Internet-like.”

In the case of video, it started (as technological advances usually do) with consumer technologies: Internet-connected TVs, smart phones, tablets.

It’s happening now, in video distribution, as satellite providers and the industry we used to call “cable” shifts more and more of its total available capacity to IP-delivered video and services.

Broadcasters and studios are next, as the transition to all-IP marches further “up” the video food chain. If the global transition to “all-IP” could be illustrated, it’d look like one of those maps that follows a moving progression, like spring —a bloom of green to the South, edging ever northward. Except in this case, it’s a progression from what you’re seeing on your screen, all the way “back” to the camera that captured it.

WHY NOW?

The IP transition for broadcasters didn’t happen earlier because Ethernet networks and interfaces weren’t fast enough to carry uncompressed video. Virtualization didn’t happen earlier, because data centers lacked “GPUs” (Graphical Processing Units), plus they were originally built to support “web-based” and “non-real-time” applications. However, professional media applications, like broadcast video, are necessarily real-time animals, and need GPU heft to operate well. Add in the absence of network scheduling techniques, necessary to avoid packet loss — “no dead air” isn’t a “nice to have” when it comes to TV broadcasts. It’s a basic necessity.

Those restrictions are lifting, rapidly, as the exhibits and sessions at the 2018 NAB Show will assuredly demonstrate. Again, this is as close as I’ll ever get to an endorsement, but from the Department of Full Disclosure, Cisco commissioned this series and provided the engineering contacts and background that informed this piece.

So if “getting virtualized” is on your “figure it out” list, and you long for a web-like, drag-and-drop way to see and manipulate video workflows, or even better, if you need to convince your IT-side colleagues of the changes needed in the data centers for broadcast video, that’d be a good whistle-stop for your NAB wanderings.

Bottom line is, the triad of virtualization, orchestration and automation is both inevitable and a plausible way to optimize your gear. That alone brings cost savings. But like any other technological advance, it’s as much about slivering costs as it is the “gotta have it!” capabilities that come along for the ride.

This is the second in a six-part blog series preceding the 2018 NAB Show. Click here to read more about what broadcasters will be talking about at this year's show. Click the thumbnail below for the next installment in this series.

About the Author:Leslie Ellis is a respected “technology translator,” well known in cable and telecom circles for her award-winning, 20+ year “Translation Please” column in Multichannel News. She took on this Cisco-sponsored pre-NAB series to point out common and frustrating obstacles, for anyone on the sliding transition toward “being more Internet-like.” It is less of a comprehensive representation of available options and more a glimpse into what’s worrisome, on a day-to-day basis for engineers and IT people who work in media and entertainment.

Workflow, automation. Workflow automation. Whenever anyone uses these words in a sentence, my eyes start to glaze over, so I don’t blame you if you’re feeling woozy. Hang in there with me for a few hundred words and let’s try to look at these from another perspective.

I like to boil all this down to the essential point and build from there. What is our business? What are our client’s business? After all, one thing we all have in common is the pursuit of profit in the service of our clients. Sometimes it seems we are in the workflow, IT or automation business, but we’re not. Here are some strategies to help achieve our real purpose.

Every time I’ve found myself off in the wrong direction in my career it has always come down to one error. I sometimes work on step four of a 10-step process before I’ve solved steps one, two and three. I suspect I’m not alone here. Businesses are better served if they look at the idea of automation as a holistic strategy and not a point solution. If we look at this holistically, it makes sense to start any automation exercise or workflow analysis at the beginning. At some point, somebody is asking for something. This is the tabula rasa. This exchange should define every other step, be it a simple fulfillment or a 20 system, 200-step, geographically diverse workflow.

I’ve spent a lot of time these last few years listening at conferences where we all are trying to come to grips with the explosion of data and how to solve the issues. I recall a simple lesson I learned years ago working in a record store (for my younger friends, just Google it.). When I moved from a simple cash register to a point of sale system, the data I collected drove almost every decision I made. It was the exercise of “capture relevant data at the time of a purchase,” making the transaction easier for my customer while providing me with a concise, holistic view of the appetite for easy listening jazz in Westfield, N.J. It was higher than I thought.

TWO DISTINCT SPHERES

Let’s take that prehistoric lesson and apply it to today’s media automation needs. If you look at automation from a work order perspective, the opportunities break into two distinct spheres. First, the work order gives us a unique opportunity to completely streamline the onboarding process of work. Using automated workflows and rules engines, the onboarding process should be as simple as a few clicks. For whom are we doing this work? On what are we working? What is the desired outcome? Where does the work ultimately go? 

From this key work order metadata, automated workflows, drawing from a predefined resource pool, can assemble a manufacturing manifest describing what services need to be performed. Also, what system or staff is best suited to perform those services while laying the ground work for remediating any errors, timing issues and delays. Historically, work order systems have only been asked to store data primarily focused on financial and usage results. Today, this repository must store all technical data and the data may also be harvested through interfaces to monitoring systems, harvested from smart networks or manually entered. The idea is we are assembling a database of rich technical data for the workflows to work against. The asset and resource repositories become the variables in the equations generated by workflows and executed through rules engines. This moves the work order system from a cash register to a complete repository of institutional knowledge, allowing us to merge operational data with financial data.

Of course, the work order still performs its traditional function of instantly calculating expenses, applying parameter-based rate cards and preparing either cost recovery journal entries or invoices.

AT A GLANCE

Modern integration methods remove the technical challenge of speaking to others in systems in an audited, queue-based manner, so no integration message ever gets missed. This allows the work order to facilitate the workflows of adjunct systems and aggregate critical metadata—giving users direct feedback about the status of the work order and raising alerts when something goes awry. This also allows the work order system to present holistic dashboards where the aggregated facility data is presented in a usable form. This keeps operations orderly while enabling problems to be flagged early. The real payoff is the ability to leverage a complete picture to make better business decisions. These days, margins are wildly thin and the ability to use data to determine staff footprint, schedules, equipment purchases and cloud strategy can make all the difference.

Of course, work orders are frequently initiated outsidethe work order system. This presents us with an opportunity to address top line revenue. The same automation, workflows and integration technologies are used to imbed the work order initiation process into whatever tool the user requires. This can be accomplished through integration with outside portals, or more effectively by creating smart adapters to the user base system. For commercial enterprises, it offers the opportunity to simplify work orders and streamline the end of month reporting stress.

Workflows, integration, automation and technology are all moving incredibly fast. What was an economically impossible project five years ago can often feel like an absolute imperative today. If the automation strategy isn’t looked at from a work order perspective, it’s like driving in a 500hp sports car with bad handling and old tires. Sure, you can go really fast, but you might not like where you end up.

Greg Dolan is Chief Operating Officer for Xytech Systems.

WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND & BROOMFIELD, COLO.—Saudi Media City Co. (SHAMAS) has installed Pebble Beach Systems’ automation system for its new headquarters. SHAMAS will use the automation system to handle the channel playout of multiple organizations.

The Pebble Beach system installed by SHAMAS has the capability to playout 30 channels; 15 channels have already been taken to air, according to Pebble’s press release. The system also controls video servers, routers, a branding processor from Grass Valley and a TitleOne graphics system from Imagine Communications. Both VTR and file-based ingest are supported and the system offers an automated QC workflow and content management.

SHAMAS customers are able to log into the system with their own secure credentials and are only able to see devices and media to which they have privileges to access.

WEYBRIDGE, ENGLAND & BROOMFIELD, COLO.—Spain and Portugal’s AMC Networks International Iberia is jumping on the 4K bandwagon, announcing that it will rely on Pebble Beach Systems’ Marina automation system for its first 4K channel. Reports indicate that this will be the first 4K channel in Spain.

The Marina system will control a Spectrum X server from Harmonic in a fully redundant configuration for AMC Iberia, according to the network’s Chief Engineer, Ramón Juvé.

AMC Iberia is based in Madrid and operates 23 television stations throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The 4K channel is expected to launch this fall.

HAMILTON, N.J.—Without closed captioning, the deaf and hard of hearing cannot fully appreciate the video they’re watching. When closed captioning is displayed onscreen, viewers can read text of the dialogue while watching the video. And for international video distribution, foreign language captions and subtitles are essential for viewer accessibility.

In fact, this service is so important that a recent U.S. law—the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)—stipulates that any video that’s been broadcast on television must have captions when it streams over the internet. And the FCC’s closed-captioning quality rules require non-live programming to have captions that are accurate, complete, in sync with the dialogue and properly positioned on-screen.

When broadcasters need to distribute a high volume of video to domestic and international markets—and IP outlets including over-the-top services, websites and mobile devices—they need a smart, automated captioning workflow that ensures regulatory compliance without quality compromises.

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION
“Many broadcasters today want to deliver their video content internationally so it can be enjoyed by the broadest possible audience, and closed captioning is the key to making that happen,” said Giovanni Galvez, product manager of captioning products for Telestream, in Nevada City, Calif. “Where there are language barriers, foreign language captions and subtitles are a must.

“To expand viewership across global markets and ensure accessibility to everyone—whether they’re watching via TV, online or mobile—means broadcasters must properly caption or subtitle all iterations of their content for multiplatform, global distribution,” Galvez added. “Considering the scope and complexity of this task, broadcasters can save considerable time and money by using an automated solution that integrates precision captioning and subtitling as part of their existing media processing workflow.”

Telestream’s new Timed Text Flip feature leverages the company’s Vantage 7.0 media processing platform to automatically process high-quality subtitle and captioning input files—created by the customer or a third-party service—and add them to associated media in accordance with today’s broadcast, internet and accessibility mandates.

Galvez said that Timed Text Flip runs on the same automated Vantage workflow that many broadcasters already rely on in their daily broadcasting operations. And multiple processes—such as burning in subtitles, and offsetting captions to match the media following frame rate conversions—can run in parallel, with the finished files automatically landing on servers or other designated destinations for delivery.

EEg’s icap alta system is intended for closed captioning of live programming delivered via an IP workflow, with support for 4K, IP and cloud environments.CAPTIONING IN IP
As the volume of video to be captioned grows—and the rules mandating quality increase—broadcasters must manage these pressures while transitioning from SDI to an all-IP infrastructure. EEG’s iCap Alta system is intended for closed captioning of live programming delivered via an IP workflow, with support for 4K, IP and cloud environments.

“Our goal is to enable a seamless transition from the hardware-driven caption insertion we’ve relied on with SDI to a software-based closed-captioning encoder for the IP playout and distribution workflow,” said Dave Watts, marketing manager for EEG Enterprises, in Farmingdale, N.Y. “With iCap, the SDI/IP transition is just a matter of switching from our iCap SDI hardware encoder to Alta’s virtualized encoder. Since our iCap product line is cloud-driven, when a broadcaster switches from an SDI to IP workflow with Alta, their settings, account activity and closed-captioning assets that they’ve built up over time in their iCap account are preserved and readily accessible.”

The iCap product line includes the Falcon live iCap encoder that routes captions to streaming services, including Wowza Media Systems and You-Tube Live Events. It offers “pay as you go” service on demand and connects online content producers to the iCap captioning cloud. iCap products offer instant online access to a global network of certified captioners as part of EEG’s end-to-end interoperable technology network.

AUTOMATED LIVE CAPTIONING
Live, real-time captioning typically involves contracting a third-party captioning service at a cost. ENCO’s Encaption 3 is a hardware/software solution that employs a speech recognition engine to fully automate closed captioning in near real time. It does not require any voice training and produces captions with a high degree of accuracy.

“For live newscasts, it can acquire the correct spellings of important terms, like names and local places, in advance by checking the news rundowns coming from the newsroom computer system through an IP MOS-based interface,” said Ken Frommert, general manager for ENCO in Southfield, Mich. “And in breaking news or weather emergencies, when captioners might not be readily available, the system is always ready to go for a fraction of the cost of live captioners. “Since TV shows cannot air without captions, this system makes it possible to go ahead and deliver the content, which benefits all viewers.”

Encaption 3 delivers live captions as a serial data stream directly to the broadcast encoder. It can also record a file of the live captions for future use, such as editing and repurposing of captions in post for rebroadcasts and multiplatform distribution.

Volicon’s observer media intelligence Platform provides tools to monitor and measure closed captions to ensure compliance.QUALITY ASSURANCE
Digital Nirvana’s MonitorIQ media management platform has a software-based component that captures and stores the off-air digital broadcast signal along with its closed captioning. It also serves as a search engine that makes recorded video content searchable based on associated metadata, including its closed-caption data.

“Users can search on any keywords, such as names, places or other terms, to find where those words are mentioned in the video,” said Dan Wasilko, director of sales for the Fremont, Calif.-based company. “For example, local news teams or producers of magazine-style shows can search video they’ve aired—or that multiple networks and channels have aired—by using the closed-caption data in off-air video recordings to see what’s been reported on a particular subject.”

MonitorIQ also has technical components that verify the presence of closed captioning, either during live broadcasts, or while media is streaming online. If the closed captioning is lost, it promptly alerts the on-duty operator.

Digital Nirvana also offers professional closed-captioning services, such as taking video shows that have aired lived and revising their captions so they’re 100-percent accurate when they’re rebroadcast or streamed online. At th NAB Show, the company launched a new cloud-based closed-captioning service that’s available on-demand anywhere video is created and distributed. The service includes pop on and roll-up captioning for all technology platforms, and supports multiple HD and SD video and caption file formats. The service also targets non-broadcast customers, such as the educational, corporate and government markets that also need to caption video programs they’ve created for online and social media distribution.

PROOF OF COMPLIANCE
To avoid potentially hefty fines and penalties, broadcasters must comply with all laws, mandates and quality rules related to closed captioning. With continuous recording of a broadcaster’s on air signal, Volicon’s Observer Media Intelligence Platform provides tools to monitor and measure closed captions to ensure compliance.

“This recorded media of the live broadcast provides undisputed evidence of exactly what went to air, including the closed captions,” said Gary Learner, chief technology officer for Volicon, in Burlington, Mass. “This proof can serve as an affidavit confirming regulatory compliance. Without this proof, it becomes hearsay. Broadcasters can check the system remotely to verify that closed captions are present, and it issues alerts, by a variety of means, such as texts, emails and alarms, to indicate when closed captioning has not been detected for a certain period of time, depending upon the user-configurable settings,” Learner added.

Volicon Observer also enables monitoring and compliance verification of subtitling, secondary audio tracks and foreign language captions, all of which are vital to broadcasters worldwide.

CUSTOM WORKFLOW
Dalet Digital Media Systems developed and integrated a custom workflow for CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channels) that automates the process of adding English and French closed captioning to programming. As a 24/7 bilingual TV service in Ottawa, Ont., CPAC delivers voluminous programming to over 11 million Canadian homes via cable, satellite and wireless distribution.

“We needed a closed-captioning solution that could manage [content] from different types of workflows, including news and magazine-style shows, live and studio production, and long-form programming,” said Eitan Weisz, senior manager of operations, CPAC. “For each of these workflows, we needed to manage and maintain caption data, especially after the content has been edited or when it’s passing through another system.”

Dalet’s AmberFin advanced media and processing platform automates insertion and extraction of caption data. It also leverages Dalet MAM to manage the workflow with an emphasis on maintaining captions as metadata. Among its many automated processes, AmberFin detects ST436 data and extracts caption information to a standard SCC caption file. It also generates TTML (Timed Text Markup Language), a standardized XML structure that represents captioning information as timecoded metadata that can be cataloged, searched and modified.

According to Dalet Sales Director Frederic Roux, with TTML, “the user can directly view and search it as well as perform basic editing and correction of the caption information. CPAC now has rich automated metadata created in the Dalet system and tagged to all our content through this captioning process.”