The DPP has published a new report exploring how media companies are using data to drive better decisions, stronger engagement, and improved commercial outcomes.

Making Data Pay is the result of input from over 70 contributors representing 19 content organizations and 19 vendors.

It explores data across four key areas of the media business: management and operations, audience engagement, business strategy, and the technology foundations that support them.

According to the DPP, despite significant investment in data capabilities, many organizations are still struggling to translate that investment into measurable impact. Making Data Pay examines where data is already delivering value, where complexity is emerging, and the practical lessons the industry has learned so far.

The report adds that while data is abundant, impact is uneven, suggesting that media companies are “drowning in data but lacking alignment” and need “data coherence”.

It suggests companies should begin by defining the questions and then find the data points to answer it. “Without purpose, dashboards multiply but strategy stalls,” states the report. “Data must drive decisions, not simply score past performance. Metrics that only look backwards aren’t enough to shape the future.”

The DPP urges companies to “measure what matters” by focusing on the metrics with the greatest strategic importance rather than those which are the easiest to measure.

“Across the industry there’s strong belief in the power of data, but turning that belief into measurable impact remains a challenge,” said David Thompson, technology strategist at the DPP.

“Successful data strategies aren’t just technology projects,” added Thompson. “When the questions being asked of data aren’t clear, organisations quickly end up measuring everything but understanding very little.”

The report is available for DPP members to download here.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope.

July 19 marked one year since what has been described as “the largest IT outage in history” when cybersecurity company CrowdStrike updated its software that led to roughly 8.5 million systems crashing and refusing to properly restart.

A number of broadcasters were significantly impacted by the outage, including the U.K.’s Sky News and Sky Sports News. Sky News went off-air for parts of the morning on July 19, 2024, before returning with a much-changed backdrop, no graphics, autocue or packages.

In the United States, station group E.W. Scripps Co. told TV Tech that a strategy put in place over the past 10 years was able to quickly muster technical resources and identify and correct issues when they arose.

To mark one year since the outage, TV Tech and sister brand TVBEurope asked key media figures if they believe the industry has taken sufficient steps since then to prevent similar disruptions in the future.

Tim Claman, chief technology officer, Avid
One of the big learnings from that outage was that security strategies need to be more proactive and adaptive, rather than just responding to incidents after the fact. Since the outage, we have seen wider adoption of strategies that combine prevention and resilience methods.

Customers are bolstering traditional detection methods (like antivirus, EDR) with technologies that more dynamically identify potential threats, including AI-based monitoring, zero-trust models, dynamic policy management and more rigorous update testing, to help prevent and minimize impact from security incidents like we saw last year. While a lot of the technologies and approaches (CNAPP, IAM, EDR, Endpoint Isolation, Zero Trust, etc.) are not new, they are now being used more intelligently in combination with operational best practices to reduce risk.

Beyond the technological improvements and the evolution of best practices, we have seen a shift in mindset. The outage was a wake-up call for our customers, as well as for the vendor community. Media enterprises realize that they need to own their own destiny on security, rather than trusting security vendors, so they are more proactively managing their security strategies and practices. As a technology vendor, Avid is receiving more detailed and thorough security questions and requirements in RFPs, a reflection of our customers’ more intensive approach to security strategy.

Rowan de Pomerai, CEO, DPP
I think it’s probably fair to say that no, not enough focus has been given. There’s been a huge amount of business transformation and disruption, and AI has taken so much of the technical limelight, so it’s been easy to lose focus on concerns like security.

But perhaps AI could be the solution as much as the problem: contributors to the “DPP 2025 Predictions” said that “security concerns will go beyond human scale” as the capability to keep up with ever-changing threat vectors will become so complex that AI and other automation tools become essential.

Our “State of Media Technology Security” report also exposed a gulf between customers and vendors when it came to their assessment of the security of modern media technology tools. Clearly, there is more collaboration needed as we move forward.

Neil Maycock, TVBEurope contributor and business adviser
I think the CrowdStrike incident really highlighted that trying to protect against the ever evolving threats in cyber security carries its own risks, and the fact that major operations were so severely impacted is a testament to that. These were companies who take security very seriously and will have had extensive protocols in place to keep systems safely up to date, and yet an unforeseen scenario had devastating consequences. Therefore, to answer the question have sufficient steps been taken to prevent a repeat, I think the answer is of course industry will have protected itself from another CrowdStrike, but the real question is it ever possible to anticipate all possible scenarios?

Cybersecurity is a classic risk management exercise, where risk must be balanced against cost, both financial and operational impact. If we lock our systems down to the extent it compromises the ability of our organisation to operate, then the cost may outweigh the potential risks. Quantifying the risk and cost impact is a massive challenge, and one that is getting harder all the time. We frequently talk about the impact of AI in the media industry, but across all sectors AI is now being leveraged to implement ever more sophisticated cyber-attacks. For example, AI’s ability to impersonate key personnel, or create very specific personalised phishing attacks is creating new challenges.

Ensuring companies are adequately protected is an unenviable challenge.

Karl Paulsen, TV Tech contributor and retired CTO
I suspect this won’t be the last time we see something like this happen when there are so many moving parts in a single system. With Windows 10 support evaporating, much of the base software for users will be shifted and everybody and their dog will be wondering how to address a significant change in their hardware and software (including third-party support).

Impacts on multi-cloud will need to be managed, and it is still unclear what “AI” is going to do to everyone’s architectures. Errors are still likely to occur and an overload of systems management is a potential liability.

Dan Pisarski, chief technology officer, LiveU
The notorious CrowdStrike outage in 2024 taught an important lesson about shared vulnerabilities: you could have an entire, physically diverse set of servers and workstations—even in a building designed to withstand disasters (what if a meteor falls on the building, after all?)—but if every one of those servers runs CrowdStrike, you’re still at risk. This event has put real pressure on media organisations to rethink what disaster recovery looks like, especially when it comes to intentionally building diversity into Disaster Recovery (DR) plans.

Is your primary production on-prem? Then your DR should be in the cloud. Is your playout path based on a local fibre run? Then your DR plan should use wireless. The goal is simple: if something happens that wipes out an entire class of options (as the CrowdStrike incident did to Windows PCs and servers), you need a diverse DR plan that can avoid the fate that takes down not just one component, but an entire class of your mission-critical systems.

Cloud-based production platforms provide a diverse form of backup to hardware-based production solutions running Windows. If there is another day when “all Windows PCs don’t work in the world”, then you have a backup plan. The cloud solution does not require integration with Windows, and while it is not an exact match 1:1 of features of a hardware-based solution, that matters less when it is becomes the primary solution in a disaster recovery scenario.

This kind of built-in diversity applies at both small and large scales. At the small scale, for example, your bonded-cellular active/active wireless transmissions should use multiple carriers—not just for performance, but also “just in case” one carrier experiences a localized or nationwide outage (it’s happened!). On a much larger scale, diversity might mean having an elastically scalable cloud production service ready to go, even if you “usually” rely on on-prem production.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.—Although “Innovation” and the phrase “Let the Sparks Fly” were the themes  of the 2024 HPA Tech Retreat, several of the most perceptive sessions involved looking back— be it for a month, a year or decades into the archives of the moving images industry.  Each presentation offered perspectives and outlooks that will affect the TV and video industries in the years and decades ahead. 

HPA President Seth Hallen summed up the pertinence of these times when he cited the over-arching topic of one day’s sessions. He called artificial intelligence a “fundamental transformative change” which is “different” from other technologies that have affected the media industries. “Don’t fear AI,” said Hallen, who is  co-Managing Director of Light Iron; he urged the Hollywood Professional Association audience to find ways to use AI “to enhance the human touch” and explore the “ability to integrate these tools” into productions.

His support of AI underscored the reflective presentations that chronicled recent industry developments.

For example,  Mark Harrison, CEO of DPP, focused on the dominance of AI at January’s CES (formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. Digital Maestro Mark Schubin also cited AI in his wrap-up of 2023’s industry-shaping developments. A panel of media archivists examined AI’s value as a tool to safeguard and search content. And Eluvio’s Michelle Munson acknowledged AI’s role in establishing and maintaining trust throughout the production and distribution process.

 Software—Especially AI—Dominated CES
Artificial intelligence is “finally a technology worth shouting about,” said Mark Harrison, CEO of the DPP [Digital Production Partnership], an international network of media and technology developers, as he began his review of January’s CES. After the pandemic downturn, CES is “again reassuringly unpleasant to be at,” Harrison joshed as he plunged into the otherwise predictable roster of top technologies from the mega-show (smart homes, wearables, robotics, automotive) described in the 100+ page CES report his company just published.

He called the market for consumer TV receivers “as flat as its product.”  The global market for such devices is now about $97 billion and will fall to $96 billion by 2028. “Of course, those TVs get incrementally better each year, as the latest technology gets cheaper, and is standardized.”  He pointed out that content providers already struggle to supply media to a technical specification that matches the capability of the TV’s on which that content is consumed.

Harrison, who founded DPP, previously held senior roles at the BBC and in independent production. His over-arching perception of CES was that “software has become more important than hardware”—a stunning reorientation of a trade show long known as the gizmo and gadget bazaar.

 “Software is killing consumer electronics,” Harrison told the HPA audience.

 One prominent factor in DPP’s evaluation was its “heat map,” which tracks the buzz and growth of innovative products in more than two dozen categories over the past 15 years. The line for high-end displays has been chilly for the past few years, and the smart TV trajectory has become almost frozen. 

Harrison explained that DPP has seen its heat scores in video technology as “modest” and determined that, “we were in a period of pragmatism.  The emphasis seemed to be on making existing technology work better for consumers and businesses alike, rather than hyping  up the new.”

DPP’s report summarizes that, “This year our heat scores are the coolest ever” which may indicate “actual maturity.”   But the analysis also cautions that, “The picture is more complicated.”  It suggests that the reason for the “sense of disappointment” at CES stems from the absences of new tech this year, but then asks, “When something isn’t boiling,  is it cooling down or hotting up?”  Harrison contended that something new may be brewing, but he did not speculate about specific forthcoming products or services.

As for AI,—the #1 topic at CES – Harrison called it “a revolution hiding in plain sight,” although now it is “stranded on the shoulders” of giant providers who are “confident about being able to deploy generative AI.”  But he noted the “AI problem”: innovation requires investment, and he expressed concern about the impact of negativism and financiers’ trepidation about the risks (political and otherwise) regarding AI.

Schubin’s Intelligence
Earlier, Mark Schubin, who calls himself the “Program Maestro of the HPA Tech Retreat”—in his summary of 2023’s key developments—also acknowledged the onslaught of AI, although he called 2023 “the year of Intellectual Property.”

Schubin, the Emmy-winning long-time technology overlord of the Metropolitan Opera’s video production, cited the evolving role of Digital Rights Management (DRM) as an emerging barrier to home recording.  He pointed to developments involving ATSC 3.0 that could enable broadcasters to prevent their signals from being recorded. 

Schubin’s broad-ranging summary of last year’s developments included products such as the Sphere 18K Big Sky Camera, Canon’s Metalens, Apple Vision Pro (and the headset Virtual Reality category) plus the emergence of quantum dots as a new image and transmission feature.  

Although he did not elaborate on these products or forecast their successes in the marketplace, Schubin did cite problems he has seen in some streaming content, such as “dark screens.” He also indicated that the many variations of artificial intelligence—with all their benefits, hurdles and hallucinations—will continue to play a larger role in the video production industry.

Digitizing Archives: Do It Now
Looking further back—while emphasizing future values—a panel of media archivists in a coordinated presentation explained “Why Right Now Is the Time to Digitize Your Archive.”  They explained that in 20 years, more than four million hours of TV and movie content has been digitized, but that the pace has picked up so that last year, more than seven million hours was preserved—nearly double the sum of the previous two decades.

The panelists—representing an array of experiences in production and the history of the TV and film industry—included Carin Forman, Global Partner Lead for Media and Entertainment, Amazon Web Services  (moderator); Heidi Shakespeare, CEO, Memnon Archiving Services; Andrea Kalas, SVP-archives, Paramount Pictures and Linda Tadic, Founder/CEO of Digital Bedrock.

“Content Discovery has forever changed,” the panelists concurred, citing tools such as OpenAI CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pretraining). They described CLIP’s multimodal AI model that combines knowledge of English-language concepts with semantic knowledge of images to power video semantic search, image classification and other factors.

The panelists cited the burdens of archiving, especially “technology obsolescence” which means that playback devices and preserved files are not available. They pointed out that, for example, most surviving VTRs operate on refurbished heads with parts scavenged from “donor machines,” thus reducing the equipment pool further. Moreover, “Knowledge Obsolescence” is already appearing as engineers “with the requisite skills are nearing retirement and attracting younger generations is a challenge.”  

Their side remarks underscored the often-unexpected values of being able to track digital assets.  For example, Tadic explained that when she worked at HBO during the first season of “The Sopranos,” no one really knew that the show would become such a landmark success. She recalled that the outtakes “reel” from the first shows were deliberately destroyed—footage that could have become valuable after the eventual success of the series.

Finally, they warned that, “Just because it’s digital, doesn’t mean it’s preserved.”

"Digital preservation requires ongoing care and management,” they said. “There is no ‘store and ignore’ medium. Migration is necessary to keep your digital content alive.”

Managed digital preservation involves planning, policies and processes, the archivists insisted in their joint presentation.

Establishing Trust
Michelle Munson, co-founder and CEO of Eluvio, described the security vulnerabilities of digital content, including problems that can develop via the “conflation of storage and rendering”—factors of the AI process.  Berkeley, Calif.-based Eluvio has developed the “content fabric protocol,” an open and decentralized, streaming, content distribution, and storage network built for the third generation Internet.

In her HPA presentation on “Content Authenticity and Provenance: Protocol vs. Workflow,” Munson acknowledged that storage formats can be “very kludgy” and contended that the “claims generator is outside the control loop.”  She supported the use of blockchain (which Eluvio supports) as a way to “take care of distribution over decentralized networks.”

Munson, who has been involved in establishing the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, explained that C2PA’s specification is intended to codify procedures and to “establish trust” in digital distribution.

The DPP has published a report summarizing the findings from The DPP Leaders’ Briefing 2023, its flagship conference and networking event bringing together the supplier and content provider community.

At the event, 37 senior executives from 31 major media organizations shared their three strategic priorities for the year ahead, with participating companies including Amazon Studios, BBC, DAZN, ITV, Mediaset, RTL Deutschland, Sky, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros Discovery, and ZDF.

According to the report, the key phrase at the Briefing was AI, but the key theme was business effectiveness. 

“The media industry is in a post-transformation phase,” said DPP CEO Mark Harrison. “Organizations know what they need to do—which is to optimize their operations to drive revenue or reach. Any new technology—such as generative AI—is just a tool to help achieve that goal.”

The subtext for almost all the presentations at this year’s DPP Leaders’ Briefing was the same: doubts about the economics of subscription-based video-on-demand have coincided with the durability of scheduled programming—whether linear or online—to create a sense of opportunity to extend value, said the report.

The DPP report predicts that in 2024 the industry will increasingly hear technology and operational strategies placed in a business context—not a general, aspirational one, but a specific, quantifiable one.

The DPP Leaders’ Briefing 2023 summary report can be downloaded by all DPP members here.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope. 

The DPP has announced plans to become an independent organization with founding shareholders the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 relinquishing their board positions and becoming normal DPP members.

The organization said the change acknowledges the evolution of the DPP since it was founded in 2015, and that it has fulfilled its original purpose of helping to accelerate the transition of the media industry to file-based digital working.

To support this strategy, the board has appointed two new non-executive directors, Bubble founder Sadie Groom and Danny Meaney, founder and CEO of UP Ventures Group.  

Other DPP board members will be existing non-executive director, Emma Springham, CMO of TSB Bank; DPP CEO Mark Harrison; DPP CTO Rowan de Pomerai; and DPP COO Kelvin Jones.

The board will continue to be chaired by Helen Stevens, operations officer for content and delivery at ITV through the transition before a new chair is confirmed later this year, said the DPP.

“The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are proud of the contribution they have made to the media and entertainment industry by helping to found and guide the DPP,” said Helen Stevens. “Now is the moment for the DPP to fully explore its potential as a global membership organization that can deliver value to any company that works with audio visual content.”

Mark Harrison added: “We feel privileged that each day we get to work with an incredible range of companies from across the whole media supply chain, and from around the world. It is their input that enables us to keep evolving and refining our work so that we meet our aim of being a valued, independent, and expert resource in a constantly changing market.”

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope. 

LONDON—The adoption of cloud technologies are significantly disrupting established relationships in the media industry and transforming the relationship between media and tech companies, according to a new series of reports, “The Cloud for Media,” from DPP. 

The four reports cover “Automating Media,” “Cloud Post Production,” “Cloud Playout,” and “Streaming at Scale” and are based on input from over 60 media companies, gathered through workshops, case studies, and webcasts.

Some of the key findings of the reports, which explore the present reality of media in the cloud, and shed light on the challenges that remain, include: 

• Consumer hardware manufacturers are becoming TV platform operators.
• Musicians and sports teams are creating linear TV channels. 
• An entirely new breed of post production facility is emerging in the cloud.
• Startups are just as important to the automation revolution as global tech giants.

“The transition to the cloud is more advanced in some parts of the industry than others,” says DPP CTO and author of the reports, Rowan de Pomerai. “But the cloud creates new opportunities across the media supply chain, and they’re being seized by those who can move quickly - from established leaders to new entrants. These reports offer guidance to help companies identify the right cloud strategies for each part of their workflow. They tell the stories of those who’ve been successful, and identify the industry challenges that remain.”

The reports conclude that the quest for automation has been greatly aided by the move to the cloud. As media companies centralize their content and data, the power of automation at scale has become evident, the report noted, adding that the payoff for automation is faster time to revenue.

The reports also stresses that the move to the cloud has put post-production in a state of flux and that an entirely new breed of post production facility is emerging in the cloud.

While many companies have focused on remote access to on premise hardware, those who have made the jump to cloud-based production are finding that the cloud is ready to handle a wide range of post production workflows.

Major broadcasters have implemented full cloud playout at scale already, DPP found based on  its survey of media companies. The reports noted that there are two predominant cloud architectures for playout: edge playout and full cloud; the former offers a useful stepping stone, but the future is fully cloud hosted.

Cloud based technologies have also been central to the rise of streaming. While streaming is now central to delivering all video: on demand, live, and linear TV, challenges remain. Even in the cloud, scaling isn’t instantaneous and large peaks in demand, such as major events, require careful planning and operations.

“Moving to the cloud means being strategic and thoughtful about each individual workflow. We've moved some parts of our business wholly to the cloud, while others remain on premise, and some are hybrid,” vice president, strategic media solutions at A+E Networks, David Klee explained. “It's really important to understand the capabilities and context for each part of the supply chain, which is why we've found it so useful to participate in the DPP's Cloud for Media research for two years running.”

More information on ‘The Cloud for Media’ series can be found here. 

LONDON & LEXINGTON, Ky.—Remote working is the new normal across the media industry, and DPP and Signiant want to find out how the industry feels about it. The two are teaming up on a four-month research project that looks at how companies adapted and operated remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, and how this time will impact the industry post-coronavirus.

Each month there will be a survey of 20 questions to be completed by companies around the world and across the supply chain about how they have been impacted by the pandemic and how they have adapted to it, DPP and Signiant say. This will include weekly “flash surveys” of about five questions on the emotional temperature of respondents.

Research analysis is also being undertaken as to the state of the wider media industry, charting developments over time to provide background context to the work.

Halfway through the research, DPP is scheduled to hold a virtual version of its “DPP At Home” event strand that will look at some of the emerging themes and provide a short interim report.

A full report is expected to be published in July.

PLUS: So, You're Anchoring the News from Home...

“We’re living through a key moment in world history, and we know nothing will ever quite be the same again,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director. “It’s important that we capture in real-time how this crisis is changing the way we work. Research such as this will give us unique insights that will enable us to gain wisdom from an otherwise traumatic event.”

To participate, DPP instructs companies to email Anh Mao at anh@thedpp.com. 

For more information, visit www.thedpp.com. 

Harpenden UK, 29 August 2019 — Boxer Systems, a leading UK solution provider for the media and creative industries, has formally joined the DPP. The DPP is the media industry’s business network with members from more than 400 companies spanning every aspect of broadcast production, from major, established companies to fledgling start-ups.

Boxer Systems CTO Marc Risby said, “Through our partners, we have been involved with the DPP since its inception, but this formally marks our direct involvement. The DPP provides an environment in which companies from the whole global supply chain can collaboratively address issues common to all, and create new opportunities, which mirrors our role as a comprehensive technology and system solution provider.”

DPP Managing Director Mark Harrison added, “The DPP continues to grow in size, strength, and scope. The ongoing development and establishment of recommended technical and metadata practices would not be possible without cross-industry cooperation on our technical projects. Boxer System’s expertise adds to this pool of knowledge, and we’re delighted to have them on board.”

The DPP was initially established by three major UK broadcasters, BBC, ITV and Channel 4, with representatives from each still comprising its Board. The organisation’s influence has now spread globally to include membership from many international organisations. Moreover, recommended DPP practices have been being adopted throughout the world as beneficial to regional digital production initiatives.

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About Boxer Systems
Boxer Systems has worked for more than 25 years in the broadcast and post-production arenas, supplying equipment and integrated systems to a range of clients including: Arqiva, BBC, BSkyB, Thomson Reuters, Channel 4, Perform Group, ITV, ITN, The Mill, MPC, Technicolor, Travel Channel and Liverpool FCTV.

Boxer Systems has confirmed its commitment to providing quality products and services by becoming ISO 9001:2008 registered. Continuing external assessment ensures a consistently high level of service for all those who work with us.

About DPP
The DPP is the media industry's business network. It is a not-for-profit company with an international membership that spans the whole media supply chain, covering global technology companies, production companies, digital agencies, suppliers, service providers, post production facilities, online platforms, broadcasters, distributors and not-for-profit organisations. The DPP harnesses the collective intelligence of its membership to generate insight, enable change and create market opportunities. For more information, or to enquire about membership visit thedpp.com

Media Contact:
Kara Myhill
Manor Marketing
kara@manormarketing.tv
Phone: +44 (0) 7899 977 222

TORONTO, ON–PBS is adopting a technical specification that will help the network standardize on an HD delivery format for contributed content from North American programmers.

The specification, AMWA AS-11 X9: MXF Program Contribution - NABA DPP HD (AVC) was developed by the U.K.-based group DPP in collaboration with the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) and the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA). The specification belongs to the AS-11 X family of air-ready master formats that define constrained media file formats for the delivery of finished media assets to a broadcaster or publisher.

“The adoption of AMWA AS-11 X9 by PBS is a significant moment for the industry, showing that a collaborative approach is essential to meeting the industry’s developing needs”, says Rowan de Pomerai, DPP Head of Delivery and Growth. “We, at the DPP, along with our colleagues at NABA and AMWA, are working closely with all of our members to ensure that each new specification addresses their business needs effectively.”

[Read: DPP is Ready to Roll]

AMWA AS-11 X9 uses a constrained version of the H.264 codec to offer significant benefits in picture bandwidth and fidelity for program distribution. The specification also supports audio carriage in both PCM and AAC format.

AMWA AS-11 X9 is one of the chosen delivery formats for PBS’s New Media Supply Chain and will be the subject of exhibits and sessions at PBS TechCon, taking place in Las Vegas April 3-5, ahead of the 2019 NAB Show.

“We see AS-11 X9 as a step toward ongoing PBS modernization efforts. The adoption of this specification is a key component to moving PBS away from legacy formats, processes and systems,” says Renard Jenkins, PBS Vice President of Operations, Engineering & Distribution. “The collaborative work of AMWA, DPP and NABA resulted in a format that should gain wide adoption throughout North America. We encourage vendors and broadcasters to consider its usefulness.”

Adoption of AMWA AS-11 X9 by other North American broadcasters is a key goal of this collaboration, alongside implementation by product vendors. In order to support this aim, the DPP Test Lab will launch its AMWA AS-11 X9 compliance testing program this month.

Products that pass the test program will be eligible to apply for a compliance certificate from AMWA, providing buyers and sellers with the confidence that DPP tested tools are technically compliant and interoperable. The DPP, NABA and AMWA will also work with their respective members to facilitate implementation.

“We are delighted that the AMWA AS-11 family continues to grow and show relevance across the globe”, says Brad Gilmer, AMWA Executive Director. “Its support in North America represents a significant step forward and promises to bring important business efficiencies to the media companies that adopt it.”

The DPP and its partners, including AMWA and NABA, continue to extend the AS-11 family. The next addition to the family will provide UHD delivery formats for both the European and North American markets.

Ooyala has announced a partnership with the Digital Production Partnership to advance global news industry standards for the use of metadata.

The DPP’s Metadata Exchange for News is designed to establish standards for delivering news content, from planning and production to distribution and archive.

The initiative allows metadata generated in newsroom planning systems to be transferred to cameras and ingested into MAM systems, before being delivered to a publishing system.

This allows organizations to get breaking news stories to air quickly and to manage rights issues easily, as news packages and clips are clearly marked with copyright and restriction information.

DPP managing director Mark Harrison said: “News organizations want journalists and correspondents to be focused on the story, not the process.”

“With the participation of leading companies, like Ooyala, in the MAM and workflow-automation fields, we will advance more quickly toward these important objectives.”

The Digital Production Partnership (DPP), the media industry’s international business network, has released AMWA AS-11 X1 - MXF Programme Contribution DPP UHD, a new technical specification for broadcasters delivering UHD programming to BBC’s iPlayer platform starting in 2019.

The new standard is based on earlier standard—AMWA AS-11 UK DPP v1.1—which the DPP worked with the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA)—to develop for air-ready masters for all major UK broadcasters. The new update—AMWA AS-11 X1—brings UHD delivery to the AMWA AS-11 family of air-ready master formats. It has been written with the DPP’s international membership in mind and is designed for global implementation.

“The publication of AS-11 X1 is a significant moment for the industry, showing that the DPP and its partners continue to be responsive to the industry’s developing needs”, says Rowan de Pomerai, DPP Head of Delivery and Growth. “UHD is ready to become mainstream and its deployment is often being driven by online and OTT platforms first. We’ve worked closely with our Members to ensure that our new specification meets these needs, as well as those of linear broadcast.”

[Read: New Tech Spec For Broadcast, Online To Power Global Content Exchange Of Media]

The AMWA AS-11 family of specifications define constrained media file formats for the delivery of finished media assets to a broadcaster or publisher. In order to facilitate automated workflows, AS-11 specifications have been developed as block based, machine readable specifications.

“We are delighted to continue our close working relationship with the DPP, providing specialist expertise on the use of technology standards to complement the DPP’s understanding of the business problem.” says Brad Gilmer, Executive Director of the AMWA. “It is very rewarding to see the early work on AS-11 for the UK being used as a basis for broader adoption across the industry.”

AMWA work closely with the DPP Compliance Lab as the sole body to run a compliance testing program for all AMWA AS-11 specifications. The DPP Lab will accept products for AS-11 X1 conformance testing from early November this year.

Products that pass the test program are eligible to apply for a compliance certificate from AMWA, which will provide buyers and sellers with the confidence that DPP tested tools are technically compliant and interoperable.

AMWA AS-11 X1 - MXF Programme Contribution DPP UHD specification is first targeted at UHD deliveries to the BBC iPlayer in 2019. The DPP and its partners, including AMWA and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), continue to extend the AS-11 family. The next additions to the family will be AMWA AS-11 X8 and X9, which will provide HD delivery formats for the North American market.

LONDON—The Digital Production Partnership (DPP) last week announced a new SMPTE technical specification building the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) that promises to make it possible to automate the content supply chain, enable new workflow efficiencies and reduce QC and archive storage.

The technical specification, SMPTE TSP 2121:2018 IMF Application DPP (ProRes), will do so while maintaining the quality of the original asset, DPP said.

The new spec, the first "SMPTE Technical Specification" (TSP) to be created, will support mastering and international exchange of content. TSPs are designed to constrain standards to new workflows and international interoperability, SMPTE said.

[Read: IMF: Unleashing The Benefits Of File-Based Content]

“Specifications are part of SMPTE’s new future” said SMPTE Standards Vice President Bruce Devlin. “With IMF Application DPP (ProRes) we are starting a new chapter in SMPTE’s activities to encourage global interoperability, and to foster the emergence of new and stable technologies.”

DPP worked with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) and the IMF User Group to create the spec.

DPP will launch a compliance testing program for IMF for broadcast and online tools. The goal is to assure buyers and sellers that DPP-tested tools and IMF packages will be interoperable and can be exchanged around the world, according to DPP.

Release of the technical specification comes on the heels of on the release of “The Business Benefits of IMF” pamphlet for DPP members from the broadcast, supplier and distributor communities.

The new technical specification is available online.

To promote more efficient, global file interchange, the Digital Production Partnership Ltd (DPP) just released The Business Benefits of IMF, a guide to understanding the financial and operational benefits of Interoperable Master Format (IMF).

“The global market for quality content has brought enormous opportunity for media companies, by creating demand for different versions of master material. But that also brings great cost and complexity,” says DPP Managing Director, Mark Harrison. “That’s the problem that IMF solves: it enables faster, cheaper and higher quality versioning. It brings huge financial and operational benefits.”

The guide not only covers the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) IMF standard for premium content, it also explains the new IMF for Broadcast and Online specification. According to the DPP, the new standard they’re developing with SMPTE saves significant time and money by enabling automation of the content supply chain, eliminating unnecessary versioning, enabling workflow efficiencies, and reducing QC and archive storage requirements, without sacrificing quality.

Produced with DPP Member EditShare, provider of the QScan Automated Quality Control family of products, The Business Benefits of IMF explains how IMF works, the problems it solves, the benefits it brings, as well as how best to implement the IMF for Broadcast and Online specification. 

According to Howard Twine, Director of Software Strategy, EditShare, "IMF represents a new level of efficiency within our industry. .. Our QScan range of Automated Quality Control products will help deliver this kind of efficiency to any media workflow. Users will be able to roll out technologies like IMF in a much more agile and less disruptive way."

[Read: SMPTE, DPP Partner On IMF For Broadcast And Online]

Once SMPTE publishes the new IMF for Broadcast & Online specification, the DPP will launch a compliance testing program designed to give media professionals confidence that DPP tested tools and IMF packages are interoperable and can be exchanged internationally.

As the media industry moves towards a future dominated by large, super resolution files, inter-connected workflows, and multiple cloud solutions, DPP announced that its next guide will be Home Truths No.12: Cloud Exchange, followed by a DPP at Home May 2018 workshop.

The Business Benefits of IMF is downloadable as a PDF booklet for DPP members, and also as a presentation deck with handout notes to support the DPP’s broadcaster, supplier and distributor members in the adoption of IMF for Broadcast & Online. 

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—In an attempt to define a prototype SMPTE Specifications process, SMPTE and Digital Production Partnership recently collaborated on a pilot project. Together, SMPTE and DPP have delivered the first draft SMPTE Specification, which focuses on the use of Interoperable Master Format, or SMPTE ST 2067, for broadcast and online applications.

The documents, which were presented during the recent HPA Tech Retreat, were written with input by DPP, SMPTE, the North American Broadcasters Association and the European Broadcasting Union, as well as industry manufacturers and end users. The draft is now out for public comment.

The draft specification addresses constraints for IMF for broadcast and online applications, including MXF Track Files, composition playlists, output profile lists and IMF packages. The specification will reference other activities, such as the EBU.io/qc project for carrying quality-control metadata and EBU-TT, as well as optional methods for carrying EBU-STL subtitles in Europe and CTA-608/CTA-708 captions in North America.

[SMPTE Looks Beyond Hollywood]

The specification was built on the IMF standard and will help enable broadcasters to use IMF workflows with their existing content archives and facilitate the realization of file-based interoperability on a large scale.

The prototype SMPTE Specifications process will be exercised with these documents with the process being documented and reviewed by the SMPTE Board of Governors before being offered to the industry as a specification service to all. Once finalized, the new SMPTE documents will join other SMPTE technical publications, including standards.

The draft documents are available here. 

LONDON—The use of videotape for file delivery is now officially part of the past in the U.K. As of Oct. 1, U.K. broadcasters would no longer accept delivery on videotape said Mark Harrison, Digital Production Partnership managing director. To help with the new procedures, DPP has released an updated version of “A Producer’s Guide to File Delivery.”

“It’s the natural next step three years after the DPP initiated its AS-11 file delivery specification,” said Harrison in regards to the stopping of videotape delivery. “The latest version of our guide helps producers deliver their programs in a world without videotape. It also offers guidance on emerging specifications and formats that will impact them.”

The updated guide incorporates the DPP’s “Delivering Close to TX—Without Tape: What U.K. Producers Need to Know,” and provides insights into things like UHD.

The guide was enabled by DPP member Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. It is available for download here.

LONDON—The time where U.K. producers will have to go with completely tapeless transmission deliverables is coming up, so the Digital Production Partnership has released a special guide for them. “Delivering Close to TX—Without Tape: What U.K. Producers Need to Know” is meant to provide clarity on how producers can manage the close to transmission deliveries by either files or lines.

The DPP is in charge of coordinating the industry-wide change process and providing guidance to producers, broadcasters, post houses and suppliers on how close to transmission delivery can be managed in a tapeless environment. This new guideline is a part of that goal and will make up a section of another document, “A Producer’s Guide to File Delivery,” which will have an updated version released in Autumn.

“As we enter the final phase of the transition, this document builds on our existing workflows guidance by outlining best practice for the delivery of programs close to transmission—one of the key areas that will impact producers and suppliers when tape disappears,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director.

The cutoff date that broadcasters like BBC, BT Sport, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky and UKTV will stop accepting delivery on videotapes is Oct. 1.

“Delivering Close to TX—Without Tape: What U.K. Producers Need to Know” is available here.

LONDON and WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. —Two major production technology organizations are teaming up to brew a new flavor of the Interoperable Master Format otherwise referred to as “IMF,” in time for next year’s NAB Show.

“The final publication of the IMF specification is expected to take place before the 2018 NAB Show,” stated the announcement distributed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. SMPTE, along with the Digital Production Partnership, intends to create the new standard.

“Working with SMPTE, the North American Broadcasters Association, the European Broadcasting Union, manufacturers, and end users across the media industry, we plan to create a specification that brings the benefits of IMF more fully into the broadcast and online realm,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director, in the SMPTE release.

IMF is described in the SMPTE standard ST 2067, (standards documents are housed in the IEEE Digital Library). In a nutshell, IMF is a method for transmogrifying a master file into various versions for delivery to many platforms. The current version is more geared toward studios and less toward broadcasting because of the codecs it does and does not support. Netflix, for example, uses IMF because it licenses content from multiple studios. (See, “IMF: A Prescription for Versionitis,” Netflix Tech Blog,” March 7, 2016 and “IMF: Unleashing the Benefits of File-Based Content,” TV Technology, Feb. 15, 2017.).

The fragmentation of display platforms is driving the initiative for broadcasting, according Andy Wilson, head of business development for DPP in a statement from the London-based tech consortium formed by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

“Broadcasters are looking to target new audiences and territories and monetize their program assets over a much longer period of time,” he said. “But while they are doing that they also need to maintain quality. So the need to keep high-quality files for re-versioning for new broadcast and online deliveries is more important than ever.”

SMPTE said this new version will “deliver a technical specification for IMF in broadcast and online applications as a breakdown of different elements—video and audio packages, composition playlists, and output profile lists—with references to all relevant SMPTE standards.”

The final draft proposals will proceed “in conjunction with a series of plugfests and product tests,” SMPTE said. When it’s done, it will be made available to manufacturers for creating compatible readers, writers and analyzers. 

DPP said the partnership with SMPTE builds on its own analysis of business requirements for creating a global IMF standard with input from NABA and EBU in particular. The partnership is said to be the “first step in a wider move by SMPTE to take a new approach to standards and specifications, and will initially pilot the delivery of the IMF broadcast specification.”

SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange said the effort to extend IMF “comes in response to the changing media landscape where content delivery to multiple territories is increasingly the norm.”

Bruce Devlin is the SMPTE governor for the U.K. Region as well as “Mr. MXF” for his pioneering co-invention of the Material Exchange Format, a type of file wrapper that can be used in the IMF architecture. (Refer again to the Netflix blog.) Devlin said the SMPTE-DPP work will drill down into “specific television metadata needs—from the inclusion of third-party QC reports to the metadata for compressed surround audio—of using IMF in TV applications."

Howard Lukk, SMPTE director of Engineering and Standards, said the partnership with DPP breaks new ground for SMPTE.

“This project will establish a streamlined specification framework that complements our wide range of other due-process engineering documents such as standards,” he said.

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—IP is good business, or at least it will be according to a recent report released by Ooyala and the Digital Production Partnership (DPP). “The Business Benefits of IP Production” is a survey of almost 30 companies and analyzed the benefits of adopting IP-based processes and technology for video production. The results showed that by 2022 IP can lead more than half of the analyzed video production environments to better business benefits and return on investment.

The report sought to track where IP migrations will result in the greatest advantages. It tracked 10 different production environments and the five that will see the biggest boost are IP distribution, live streaming, single camera shooting, media management and cloud playout. These areas will benefit from technologies that reduce manual-labor costs like automating metadata insertion.

“The fact is, the move to IP has inherent benefits for many processes, but only specific environments will see the greatest benefits and highest returns today,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director. “Within a few years, IP infrastructure may be essential in doing business because of the impact it is having across media companies and distribution.”

Ooyala and DPP are planning to host a special event discussing the report and the future of IP production during the 2017 NAB Show. The event will take place on April 25 at 8 a.m. at Ooyala’s booth, SV1000.

Follow the link for the complete “Business of Benefits of IP Production” report.

COLOGNE, GERMANY—The Digital Production Partnership (DPP), a business change network that connects companies and industry professionals across all areas of the media content supply chain, has a new member in Qvest Media.

The DPP network is made up of production companies, manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, post production facilities, consultancies, broadcasters, distributors and not-for-profit organizations. The three main areas of focus for the DPP include generating insight from member’s expertise, enabling change through the identification of business requirements, and creating market opportunities. According to DPP, Qvest is the first systems integrator to join its ranks and will be able to provide expertise in the areas of media and technology consulting, systems integration and support.

“The DPP is extremely pleased to welcome Qvest Media as a DPP member,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director. “We are sure that, with their wealth of experience in consulting for the media industry, they will provide critical insight into our key areas of interest for 2017, including broadcast IMF (Interoperable Mastering Format), IP and supply chain, all of which are currently hot topics for our members.”

LONDON—U.K. broadcasters have a new set of guidelines when it comes to delivering TV programs courtesy of the Digital Production Partnership (DPP). Version 5.0 of the Technical Specifications for the Delivery of TV Programs is a list of updated specs, which now includes info on deliverables for UHD, HDR, drone cameras and the conversion between new video formats.

There are two new versions of the delivery document, one for programs delivered by file and a second for live programs. There is also a series of supplements providing additional advice on metadata, HDR, surround sound, 3D and Super 16. In addition, the new release no longer supports videotape delivery as DPP’s U.K. broadcasters will no longer accept videotape for program deliveries starting Oct. 1.

The complete updated specifications can be found on DPP’s website.

LONDON—BBC, BT Sport, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky and UKTV will no longer accept shows delivered on videotape as of Oct. 1, 2017, according to the Digital Production Partnership. 

“By choosing a date that is nearly a year away, everyone has the time to plan for the end of the use of tape,” said DPP Managing Director Mark Harrison. “The DPP will coordinate the change process, working with broadcasters, suppliers, producers and post houses to ensure a smooth transition.”

Standardized file delivery began in the United Kingdom Oct. 1, 2014, when broadcasters there adopted AS-11, the common spec established by the DPP in collaboration with the Advanced Media Workflow Association. Since that time, according to the DPP, more than 25,000 programs have been delivered as AS-11 DPP files.

While some tape delivery of programs originally commissioned on tape or being delivered close to transmission will continue, the DPP, British broadcasters and playout vendors and planning for the complete removal of tape from the workflow.

In the months ahead, the DPP will provide common guidance on key areas such as the delivery of programs close to transmission, and the process for lines booking and lines record. This new guidance will be released to the industry in an updated version of the DPP Producers Guide to File Delivery, to be published next year.

AMSTERDAM—The Digital Production Partnership and the North American Broadcasters Association have published a joint document, “Broadcaster Cyber Security Requirements for Suppliers,” to assist manufacturers and suppliers in developing products aligning to modern cyber security standards, that are fit for integration into broadcaster facilities. The recommendations will be adopted by major U.K. broadcasters, the pair said.

The announcement of the recommendations was hosted by Ericsson, a member of the DPP.

The organizations said that broadcasters are now facing daily cyber assaults on their websites, IT infrastructure and systems. With this growing threat, they said, U.K. and U.S. broadcasters have united to introduce a set of best practice requirements covering documentation and testing, authentication and security controls.

The Broadcaster Cyber Security Requirements for Suppliers is the latest in a new series of DPP publications focusing on Cyber Security. This includes the 10 Things You Need to Know About Cyber Securityguide, and the DPP’s recently released Supplier Security Checklist and supporting User Guide. All publications are available to download from the DPP website.

“Protecting the viewer’s experience, and the veracity of our output is the number one concern today,” said DPP chair and director of Broadcast Operations at ITV, Helen Stevens. “The growth in connected services and IP-driven production, as well as cloud platforms and applications, means that, as a modern broadcaster, our focus has to be on protecting our content from increasingly frequent cyber attacks.”

The requirements were developed by the NABA Cyber Security group and supplemented by the DPP’s Cyber Security work stream (which includes representatives from BBC, BT Sport, Channel 4, Ericsson, Five, Sky and UKTV).

“Cyber security is now one of the top strategic priorities for North American broadcasters,” said Michael McEwen, director general at NABA. “We will never protect ourselves fully from attacks, but we need to mitigate their impact. As we define our information security requirements for the future, we expect suppliers to be our partners. In fact, we need their ideas and expertise in finding solutions that work.”

Steve Plunkett, head of Technology, Broadcast and Media Services at Ericsson said: “Media companies need confidence in the whole broadcast chain. That confidence is built upon trust in robust and resilient service design and testing—in all stages from program development to the point of transmission. The NABA/DPP requirements will help vendors explore whether their products really are secure by design, and can hold up against modern cyber criminals.”

LAS VEGAS—A consortium of media companies have agreed on air-ready file delivery specs. ABC/Disney, Bell Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, Fox, HBO, NBCUniversal, PBS, Time Warner and Turner have all agreed on a common file format, structure and wrapper based on the AS-11 UK DPP specification adopted in the United Kingdom two years ago. The result is two new new technical specifications for the delivery of finished air-ready programs for North America, both developed by the North American Broadcasters Association and the Digital Production Partnership and unveiled during the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

“The key principle for this work was that the agreed specifications must be commonly defined, testable, unambiguous—and produce business value,” said Clyde Smith, senior vice president of new technology for Fox and the NABA technical lead. “The agreed common specifications will minimize confusion and expense for program-makers, and avoid the proliferation of different file types and specifications.”

The specifications are based on the Advanced Media Workflow Association AS-11 specification, with the following features:

• File format: MXF OP-1A
• Video Encoding: MPEG-2 XDCam or AVC/H.264
• Video Signal Standard: 1080i or 720p
• Colour Sub Sample: 4:2:2 or 4:2:0
• Audio: Supports a common fixed channel assignment and Dynamic assignment of Audio Tracks
• A minimal editorial metadata set

Work with the AMWA to define the rules for these file formats, which will be a part of the AS-11 family of specifications, is nearly complete. The team also will be working with the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers to support these specifications in the Broadcast Exchange Format, or BXF. The DPP will continue to work with NABA to support implementation activities, including the development of supporting materials and educational seminars planned for New York, Toronto, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

The specifications are the first output from the strategic partnership formed between NABA and the DPP in April 2015. Work will continue between the two organizations looking at Ultra High Definition for North America and at the development of a Mastering Format. This will help to reach the ultimate goal of the NABA/DPP partnership—to promote the international exchange of content through the definition and implementation of common specifications.

The agreement of these new technical specifications won’t bring an immediate move to a common delivery format. However, the transition will begin over the next 12 months with some networks that are in position to take delivery of programs to these specifications on a selective basis.

Production companies that want to deliver to these new specifications should discuss this at the point of commission, and seek formal agreement with their broadcaster at the outset of production.

The current versions of the generic specifications are:
NABA DPP HD (MPEG-2)
NABA DPP HD (AVC)

(Editor’s Note: Mr. Smith has generously provided TV Technology with a update on the effort to create a common program delivery format for North America based on a successful specification process in the United Kingdom. Some of the questions were crowd-sourced; others submitted by the editor, including “what else should we be asking?” Thus, Mr. Smith also has contributed to the query list here, which the editor greatly appreciates. Also, Mr. Smith will be giving a presentation, “DPP for North America - A Common File Format Specification that will Enable Evolution,” at NAB on Monday, April 18 in Room S227. )

LAS VEGAS: Last year, the North American Broadcasters Association and the Digital Production Partnership Ltd., announced a strategic partnership to promote the international exchange of content through common specifications. The work to date has built on AS-11 DPP, a common specification for file-based program delivery implemented across all the major U.K. broadcasters Oct. 1, 2014.

The introduction of this universal and standardized file delivery specification required business and technology change from all parts of the supply chain–production, post production, vendors, service providers and broadcasters.

Following their first meeting at the NAB Show in 2015, a weekly NABA/DPP Technical Group—including key DPP contacts and members from nine of the major NABA broadcasters: ABC/Disney, Bell Media, CBC/Radio Canada, Fox, HBO, NBC Universal, PBS, Time Warner and Turner—has worked to the basis of a common delivery specification for North America.

With contributions from across the NABA broadcasters, industry associations, manufacturers and the DPP on a variety of topics, the group has been working to the agreed principles that the completed work must be commonly defined, testable and unambiguous. And crucially that any differences must produce business value. The outcome being that the team has now agreed on two common specifications for the delivery of finished “Air Ready” programs, which will be launched at a special event on Tuesday, April 19 during the NAB Show.

Q:It’s a fine standard, but so are many others. Currently, each network has its own standard…
SMITH: Let’s make it clear, this is not a standard and the network delivery documents are not standards. This is an effort to create a common specification for program delivery.
Today, many major end users produce their own specifications that stipulate their requirements for program delivery. These specifications are produced by the end users themselves and not by a cross-industry team with a broader perspective and, in some areas, a greater depth of knowledge of the implementation of the specifications that may referenced in the end-user’s specification.

End-user specifications consist of business processes, production requirements and technical specifications that reference standards to specify the technical parameters of the file format, codec, wrapper, audio, video, caption, timecode, metadata and other structural requirements for the deliverable program to fulfill the interoperability needs of the end user as dictated by their infrastructure and processes.

The three elements—business process requirements, production requirements and technical requirement—are intermingled to a greater of lesser degree throughout these documents.

The technical specifications may contain issues of errors such as ambiguity, deviation or disparity. Each of these has a cost, and each effects all of the other portions of the industry from manufacturing, production, post production, fulfillment, delivery and playout at the end-user facility as well as repurposing of OTT platforms or other delivery models.

The following are examples of each and their implications:
Ambiguity in these specifications can be represented in several ways. One way is the citation of a standard without the specificity of also citing valid modes and options contained in the standard. For example, the 700-plus pages of MXF contain multiple, and perhaps incompatible, methods of including timecode as well as captioning. Few specifications delineate parameters in such a way as to absolutely and specifically define the requirements, insuring that proper human interpretation will achieve interoperability.

Deviation in these specification is another issue. The citation of standards and then adding additional technical requirements that are not specifically documented in, or supported by, these standards is also a significant problem.

Disparity is represented by differences that do not produce value in technical interoperability, creative intent and/or business requirements. This disparity may be caused by the “not invented here” or “we have always done it this way” syndromes.
These are just three areas that commonly cause problems for manufacturers, the production and fulfillment companies as well as the end-users.

Q:How does the North American Broadcasters Association DPP specification address the ambiguity, deviation and disparity?
SMITH:Ambiguity is addressed by several methods. First, because we had a year’s worth of discussions, contributions and review from very many specialists from the major north American broadcasters, manufacturers, standards subject matter experts and industry association, we brought to bear more resources than any one organization could afford to. We also greatly benefited from knowledge from the DPP U.K. experience and expertise from other broadcast organizations such as the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union.

Second, we leveraged work being done in other areas such as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the Advanced Media Workflow Association and the EBU.

The AMWA has broken down the technical requirement of the AS-11 specification into a series of building block. Each block represents a citation of a requirement as being fulfilled by a standard and the required and compatible modes or options in that standard and only those modes and options. A collection of these building blocks produces a specific and precise foundation and structure.

The NABA DPP Technical Specification for North America utilizes this block structure to eliminate these errors. These structures, while relatively new, already define the original DPP U.K. specification and new ones as well, including those for Nordic Regions, Australia and New Zealand. The AMWA is in the process of documenting the block structures required for our MPEG-2 Air Ready Masters and AVC Air Ready Masters as X-8 and X-9 and these will soon be published through the AMWA’s defined process.

Third, one issue has always been interpretation of the document. Depending on the authors detailed knowledge of standards and writing ability and well as the reader’s knowledge and capabilities, the intent may or may not be properly conveyed. We have addressed this by working with Chris Lennon of MediAnswers and the SMPTE to extend the BXF metadata model to including an XML representation of the specification. This will enable direct machine to machine communications, and in the future, will greatly help to resolve the human factor issues.

Q:What else does it address?
SMITH: Business processes, production requirements and technical specifications. The NABA DPP Technical Specification clearly separates these into the three distinct areas. The main body of the specification are the commonly agreed to technical requirements. This area is followed by appendices that permit to broadcaster to specify their business process and optionally any desired production or post-production requirement to fulfill their creative intent and business needs. The simply process for breaking down the interleaving of these requirements makes the document much more understandable and clear.

Another major achievement and a huge industry problem we addressed was building a common a common metadata set. There are so many disparities in the metadata requirements for the end users and how metadata is represented, and this is one of the biggest problem areas. These documents produced a constrained and common defined and agreed to set of metadata requirements of many, but not all, of the frequently used metadata fields.

Q:What has been demonstrated by the DPP in the United Kingdom?
SMITH: The implementation of the DPP Technical Specifications in the U.K. has been a brilliant success. It has been a phenomenal achievement that has resulted in rejection numbers that are infinitesimal, in one major end users experience, they have had zero rejected files.

The DPP organization has been very open in sharing their knowledge and experience, and we have seen the expansion of this approach into Australia, New Zealand and the Nordic Regions, and now North America with the release of the Air Ready Master Technical Specifications.

Next, we have two current activities, the Library Master and the UHD Master.
The completion of a Library Master specification is for broadcasters with a unified workflow, where they take in one file of native format and utilize it for repurposing into all other distribution methods.

The UHD Master is highly desired by broadcaster making plans for their UHD workflows and do not want the replicate the compatibility and interoperability issues we have all experienced in the past with new format specifications.
Both of these formats are based on SMPTE IMF.

Q:How will DPP affect production and distribution in the United States?
SMITH: We will need to start and educational process, but once the mass customization process has ended and there is a precisely defined specification, it will greatly improve the efficiency, reduce errors, reduce time-to-air and permit them to serve multiple customers’ needs with a single technical requirement.

Q:Can you get all the U.S. broadcasters (or all the North American ones) to agree on a single standard?
SMITH: I am not sure that we will ever get all of them and their adoption rate will vary as they look at capabilities of their existing infrastructure and their replacement cycles. However, if you take five or six complex specifications out of the market, it will greatly aid all segments of the industry from manufacturers to end users. I also think that as other regions adopt this similar structure around the world the reasons not to adopt it will become more expensive and less compelling for end users.

Q:The program and ad suppliers will, I’m sure, be delighted to go along. But we are still in an era of 720p at ABC and Fox and 1080i at CBS and NBC. CBS also insists on shoot-and-protect for 16:9, while Fox thinks it’s dumb. How do they reach universal agreement?
SMITH: These are examples of areas that produce business or creative value and should be open for the end users to support in a way that benefits them. What we have achieved it to review all the requirements, separate them into Business, Creative and Technical, and then review each for technical integrity and accuracy, after first asking the question, “does this difference produce value to the business?” I was very pleased to hear people stating that they saw no value in many of the differences and that they would make changes to a common specification, not all but many.

Q:And, if they don’t, what does DPP bring to the table?
SMITH: Those that do adopt the NABA DPP Technical Specification will benefit from the efforts of major broadcasters in North America and around the world to produce a commonly defined, and therefore widely supported format, that will reduce costs, errors and time to market. It is defined by a set of testable building blocks and will be documented in BXF to further reduce errors and enhance accurate automated processing with interoperability.

As organizations face challenges maintaining technical and operations staff with in-depth technical knowledge to develop and facilitate the administration of these complex technical specifications, they now have an alternative that was developed by knowledge resources and their contributions from across the industry and around the world. Most organizations simply cannot afford to commit the resources to meet the current demands or the new and emerging technologies, this is an alternative for them as well as for the major broadcasters of North America.

Also see…
April 12, 2016
“NABA Meeting Highlights Changing Landscape”
The North American Broadcasters Association held its Annual General Meeting in Mexico City, March 1–3. Our Mexican members Televisa and TV Azteca hosted the three-day event at the facilities of Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Radio y Televisión (CIRT).

January 29, 2016
“DPP Launches UHD Standard”
The Digital Production Partnership has revealed a new technical standard for the delivery of Ultra High Definition programs.

October 27. 2014

"DPP is Ready to Roll"

Never heard of DPP? You’re not alone; many U.S. production and post executives haven’t either.

July 17, 2014 

"U.K. DPP Compliance Program Could Benefit U.S. Broadcasters" 

Frustrated by the array of file and tape formats from outside content providers, a number of broadcasters in the United Kingdom have formed the Digital Production Partnership with the goal of solving interoperability issues and to meet specific content delivery. requirements.

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—Mark Harrison said in 2010 it was clear there was problem.

End-to-end digital workflows were not coming together. The BBC ITV and Channel 4 created and funded the Digital Production Partnership, of which Harrison is now managing director. He said the DPP defined a common delivery format, AS-11 UK DPP, that was implemented in March of 2011 at BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Channel 5 and BT Sport and S4C.

At BBC, they have so far put 8,000 AS-11 DPP programs to air “with no problems,” he said.

“At the very least, we’ve taken tape out of the equation,” Harrison said.

The when production companies began to move into a file-based world, and they needed help, he said.

Thus, DPP relaunched as a commercial endeavor to provide the technology beyond the British broadcasters. DPP most recently released an UHD delivery spec, and published a UHD production workflow guide.

In sum, DPP isn’t a standards body, but an organization “that helps get standards implemented,” he said.

DPP’s vetting process never goes beyond 12 months, he said, even though the organization consists of half a dozen people.

THE NA FDF SITCH
Clyde Smith, of Fox stood in for the North American Broadcasters Association. He laid out the laid out the “North American situation.”

Each major network had its own unique technical spec for program delivery, ranging from five pages to 28, he said. Many were incomplete or at least fraught with ambiguity. Some were simple citations of a standard such as SMPTE- 377m-2004—the MXF spec.

“Citing this alone is insufficient as there are many options to specify, as well; so it is incomplete and ambiguous to do so without citing the options,” Smith said later.

The result is costly to manufacturers, creates delays and adds inaccuracies in business processes, he said. Every year, there are new specs and everything starts again.

DPP and NABA formed a strategic partnership last April to help fix that. They’ve had more than 100 document contributions and presentations from across the U.S. and Canada.

The results will consider two workflows: A library master suitable for re-creation of many deliverables, using the original finished program frame rate and a high-quality codec such as J2K or XAVC; and a second air-ready master.

The library master will be released in a few weeks, initially as a common tech spec document, and eventually in XML.

Meanwhile, Smith said the Advanced Media Workflow Association is taking AS-11, the file delivery format developed by the DPP, and breaking it down into a series of rules that he likened to a set of interoperable Lego blocks. The same is happening in Australia, New Zealand and Nordic territories.

There will be two major sections covering network- and broadcaster-specific instructions, and common technical specs. For contractual reasons, broadcasters can specify their production limitations and requirements—which cameras and perhaps graphics and text to be used. These can be part of broadcaster-specific instructions.

The common technical specs will cover video, audio, captions, time code, codecs, file formats and metadata. SMPTE has taken this on with Bruce Devlin leading the group (377-M), while Chris Lennon is working on the XML metadata model.

Finally, Smith mentioned a growing preference from people who want to do high definition with high-dynamic range and wider color gamut, but not necessarily 4K.

The DPP/NABA technical group will bring its work to the Joint Task Force on File Formats and Media Interoperability, which Smith chairs. The JTFFFMI is jointly sponsored by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, AMWA, the Association of National Advertisers, The European Broadcasting Union, the International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers, NABA; and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers—pretty much everyone who touches media files for television.