PALISADES, N.Y. — Discovery Inc. has entered into a multi-year contract with the Video Call Center (VCC) to provide two-way video call acquisition technologies, management and production services for its global networks, VCC announced this week.

Discovery will use the services of VCC for new programs enhanced with video calling for its U.S. and international networks.

“The VCC has repeatedly demonstrated to Discovery that its platform is uniquely capable of delivering reliable, high-quality video remotes that help us make distinctive, cost-effective TV experiences,” said Jhamal Robinson, SVP of production management for Discovery Communications.

[Read: MLB Hits Home Run With VCC Caller Queue Fan Chat System]

TLC, a Discovery network, has already used live video content in the production of its “90 Day Fiancé.” VCC provided seven live, two-way remotes into a show on July 8. The most difficult was of a cast member on the outskirts of Nazareth, Israel. Connectivity was limited, and traveling was not an option due to security concerns, VCC said.

The solution was for the cast member to originate the content for the live, national show with her smartphone under the coordination of VCC call producers. No local producer, crew or transmission coordinator was required.

Recently, TLC productions have paired VCC technology and its team with production and creative teams at Sharp Entertainment, which produced “90 Day Fiancé: Epilogue.”

“The VCC platform has become an essential component in the production of immersive television experiences for TLC audiences,” says Mike Granowsky, VP of production for Sharp Entertainment. “It’s reliable IP video call technology means hosts and cast members can stay in the moment for an extended period regardless of location, which allows them to really open up without technology distractions getting in the way.”

The VCC service has made shows possible that otherwise would have been cost prohibitive or undoable because of logistics, he added.

“Discovery continues to break new ground in both the types of programs it creates and in its embrace of new production techniques to make them possible,” said Larry Thaler, VCC CEO.

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Who can deny the impact of cloud computing over the past five years? Just during 2017 Amazon’s AWS revenue grew 45 percent, a very healthy rate for a 12-year-old business. AWS is not alone; Microsoft Azure revenue grew 98 percent year-over-year in 2017. Why should broadcasters and professional media types care?

The media industry has been digging in, leveraging the cloud’s growth, access, cost, agility and reliability across a wide range of workflows. At one end of the use spectrum is OTT streaming (think Netflix) that is 100 percent cloud dependent, and at the other end live HD event productions (e.g. sports, studio) that minimally use the cloud, public or private.

As access points and related bandwidth to the cloud increase, all media operations will have a cloud component; the advantages are too good to bypass. Is there a crystal ball handy to provide some insights into cloud evolution over the next few years?

The “Cisco Global Cloud Index 2016–2021” (published 1/2018) can help. The Index looks ahead to forecast the state of both the public and private cloud up to 2021.

CLOUD FUTURES—FOUR ASPECTS

Let’s consider four areas that have special bearing on media systems. First, is public cloud-projected utilization. According to the “Index,” “By 2021, 73 percent of cloud workloads and compute instances will be in public cloud data centers, up from 58 percent in 2016 (CAGR of 27.5 percent from 2016 to 2021).”

The remaining 27 percent is divided as 21 percent private and only 6 percent (and fading) traditional data center. Note, a private cloud is built using the design principles of public, although not to the same scale and usually operated by the enterprise that owns it.

Public has gained respect from media operators over the past several years. In my column ‘“Deadliest Catch’ Lands in the Cloud,” I reviewed the move to Amazon’s cloud by Discovery Networks for program ingest and playout of all their U.S. domestic channels. 

This is proof positive that the cloud has been accepted by large, respected media enterprises for prime-time broadcasting. According to John Honeycutt, chief technology officer at Discovery, “Discovery’s business is more dynamic than ever. To distribute content on every screen and launch new and innovative products, the ability to scale our technical operation [in the cloud] is critical.”

A second area of interest is the ongoing move to software as a service (SaaS). When possible, don’t install and maintain software applications (e.g. scheduling, media asset management, creative tools, etc.). Rather, let the SaaS provider do the hard work of providing servers/apps, worldwide availability, scale and performance.

All SaaS apps can be accessed via browsers and allow for pay-as-you-go accounting and painless updates/upgrades. When shopping for new media applications, consider the SaaS model and eschew the installed model if possible. Apps that consume huge amounts of media data (e.g. some creative editing tools) are not SaaS-friendly in 2018. However, it’s easy to imagine nearly all media apps being cloud-centric in the future.

Fig. 1 indicates the SaaS public cloud delivery model will be 73 percent of all “cloud-installed workloads and compute instances” in 2021. Typically, each SaaS app delivery replaces, in some manner, an end-user-installed application (e.g. an EXE installed program on a PC or server). SaaS is making a big dent in how users install and access applications. For media-specific applications, many vendors offer browser-based apps either on-premise and/or cloud-based.

The third area of focus is security. From the “Index,” “Cloud workloads and compute instances are expected to nearly triple (grow 2.7-fold) from 2016 to 2021, whereas traditional data center workloads and compute instances are expected to see a global decline, at a negative 5 percent CAGR from 2016 to 2021.” Also, private cloud growth will be about 2.5x slower than public from 2016 to 2021.

A major reason for the growth of public over private/traditional is the increased confidence of users. Security was a huge obstacle to public cloud adoption just a few years ago. Today, savvy users appreciate the comment from research organization Gartner (2018), “Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault.”

Human error occurs whether using an in-house server or one from the cloud. Bottom line, security is a shared responsibility; part user, part cloud vendor.

The fourth area is cloud services adoption. Increasingly, enterprise systems have communications between an on-premise app/process and cloud processes using APIs. For example, say daily you need to modify an existing promo video (talk show) and update a section with new “appearing guest names.” Of course, a human editor can fire up an Avid or Adobe editor and get it done. With repetitive, templated tasks such as this, a software process could make the edit sans a human editor. How can this be done using the cloud?

There are two aspects to this. One is the client-side program (e.g. Python script) to orchestrate the edit, and the second part is the cloud-side process to do the edit. The cloud-side offers a service API that a simple Python program invokes to do the heavy lifting.

Imagine the sequence. A client-side program receives the “guest names.” It calls the cloud service API to insert the names into the promo video and out pops the new, edited file ready for broadcast.

As an example, consider the editing-services API from OpenShot. OpenShot provides a cloud service API enabling a variety of A/V edits (e.g. resizing, trimming, compositing, audio processing and much more). They offer a one-click launch of an Amazon AWS editing-services instance to kick things off. Try it and learn this facet of cloud services.

For another example see cloud.google.com/video-intelligence, with an API for indexing/searching video content. Media processing API’s are very cool.

FINAL WORDS

There is no stopping media apps and processes migrating to the public cloud. Look for ways to leverage the benefits. At the NAB Show/IBC, ask vendors what they are doing in this area to support the workflows you care about.

Finally, I have been writing Cloudspotter’s Journal for the past 6+ years, from inception. I have enjoyed researching and writing each article. However, it’s time to hang up my spurs as a columnist. Fortunately, longtime friend and fellow TV Technology columnist Karl Paulsen will take over the reins of Cloudspotter’s Journal. Thanks to editors Tom Butts and Terry Scutt for providing me with helpful guidance along the way. 

NEW YORK—Discovery has chosen New York City’s Flatiron district for its new global headquarters, and will spend $16 million to expand its facility in Loudon County, Va.

The company will consolidate several New York office location in the new space at 230 Park Ave. South and aims to begin moving to the new space in fall 2019 following renovation of the new facility. The move will continue through mid-2020.

“The New Discovery is transforming into a different kind of global media company, and where and how we work is a critical foundation for our future success and growth,” said David Zaslav, president and chief executive of Discovery.

[Read: Discovery To Shut London Playout Hub]

The new headquarters will have an open floor plan and loft-like features, including exposed ceilings and natural light, Discovery said. Plans also call for a ground-floor studio and production space and a rooftop terrace.

Discovery will maintain a national operations headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., the former home of Scripps Networks Interactive. Discovery acquired Scripps in March 2018.

Separately, Ralph Northam, governor of Virginia, today announced Discovery will invest $16 million to expand its global technology and operations hub in Loudoun County. The product will create 240 new jobs.

Virginia approved a $500,000 grant from its Commonwealth Opportunity Fund to assist Discovery with the project. The Loudon County Board of Supervisors will vote on a $500,000 to match, the governor’s office said.

LONDON--Discovery plans to shut its West London playout hub as it moves to the cloud, with the loss of 100 jobs.

However, it will continue to employ 1,300 people in the UK, and will look to develop the playout centre as a hub for sport and live broadcasting.

[Read: Discovery Finishes Move To Cloud For U.S. Network Playout]

In a statement, Discovery said: "We are in the process of moving the playout of our non-live channels to the cloud and consolidating the physical broadcast centre into one facility, based in Sterling, Virginia. This is part of our vision to move to a more agile operational technology model."

The broadcaster insists the move has "nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with technology innovation."

"This migration to the cloud is a global initiative that has been underway for a while."

SILVER SPRING, MD. & KNOXVILLE, TENN.—Discovery Communications, cleared to acquire Scripps Networks Interactive, on Thursday (March 1) announced new management for the combined company.

Among the top Scripps execs taking prominent roles are Jon Steinlauf, who will be chief U.S. advertising sales officer. Ben Price, currently president of U.S. ad sales for Discovery, will report to Steinlauf, along with Leigh Anne Brodsky, currently executive VP of Discovery Global Enterprises.

Scripps’s programming chief, Kathleen Finch, will become chief lifestyle brand officer for the combined company with oversight of HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Cooking Channel, Discovery Life, American Heroes Channel, Destination America, Great American Country and Lifestyle Digital Studios in the U.S.

Henry Schleiff will continue as group president for ID, Destination America and American Heroes Channel. Howard Lee, currently executive VP, development & production for TLC and general manager of Discovery Life, will be the new president and GM for TLC and Discovery Life, effective immediately. Both Schleiff and Lee will report to Finch upon closing of the transaction.

[Discovery Acquires Scripps Networks for $14.6 Billion]

Nancy Daniels, currently president of TLC, will assume the new role of Chief Brand Officer, Discovery & Factual, effective immediately. Daniels will lead all aspects of the Discovery Channel and Science Channel brands. Rich Ross, currently group president of Discovery Channel and Science Channel, will be leaving the company.

Susanna Dinnage, currently serving as Global President of the Animal Planet network in the U.S. and Animal Planet brand worldwide, will continue in that role.

Erik Logan, currently serving as president of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, will continue in that role and report to the OWN Venture board of directors.

“Today’s announcement is another major milestone in combining these two fantastic companies into a new kind of media company with the most trusted portfolio of real life entertainment brands in the world,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO, Discovery Communications. “Upon closing, each division will have a best-in-class leader focused on quickly integrating the combined teams to create new ways for advertisers and distributors to reach highly targeted audiences at scale; capturing operating efficiencies across both companies; and driving innovation to continue telling great stories and nourishing our passionate, loyal superfans around the world across every consumer screen, service and platform.”

Other executives who will be reporting to Zaslav include:

Gunnar Wiedenfels, currently Discovery’s CFO, who will be CFO for the combined company.

Jean-Briac Perrette, currently president and CEO of Discovery Networks International, will continue in that role for the combined company.

Bruce Campbell, currently chief development, distribution and legal officer for Discovery, will continue in that role. Leading the combined company’s linear, non-linear and mobile distribution efforts in the U.S. & Canada will be Eric Phillips, president, affiliate distribution, reporting to Campbell. Discovery’s General Counsel, Savalle Sims, will retain that role for the combined company, also reporting to Campbell.

David Leavy, currently serving as Discovery’s Chief Corporate Operations and Communications Officer, will continue in that role for the combined company with continued oversight of the company’s global technology operations. Discovery’s John Honeycutt will be the combined company’s Chief Technology Officer with direct management over global technology operations and strategy, continuing to report to Leavy.

Adria Alpert Romm, currently serving as Chief Human Resources and Global Diversity Officer for Discovery, will continue in that role for the combined company.

Karen Leever, currently serving as executive VP and GM, Digital Media U.S., and Mike Lang, currently serving as president, Discovery Networks International Digital & CEO TEN/MotorTrend, will continue in those roles for the new company reporting to Zaslav.

Current Scripps Networks executives not assuming roles in the company going forward will participate in the integration process following the deal's close to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities, Discovery said.

This story originally appeared on TVT's sister publication B&C.

TORONTO—BroadView Software and Discovery Communications have announced a deal that will see Discovery deploy BroadView’s OnDemand 2.0 platform for its U.S. networks, including Discovery Channel, TLC and Investigation Discovery. The OnDemand 2.0 platform is designed for non-linear scheduling. This new implementation builds off a previous rollout of BroadView’s Program Scheduling technology at Discovery Communications networks.

The OnDemand system provides bi-directional integration and features an architecture with workflows that can be triggered by process and user decisions. Created schedules are connected through flexible and configurable multidimensional relationships to different on-demand platforms.

This deal is a continuation of the five-year partnership that Discovery Communications has with BroadView. The technology will provide Discovery with a single scheduling system for linear and non-linear distribution, according to Barry Dubin, vice president of global content systems at Discovery.