BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA—CHEK-TV recently completed an upgrade to its headquarters in Victoria, British Columbia, and the Octopus 8 platform was a key part of the upgrade.

With news consumption reaching beyond the traditional broadcast sector, CHEK-TV, per Jason Sokolski, the network’s chief of technology, sought a news system that would allow stories to be distributed through social media and online, while also continuing to contribute to traditional broadcast. The system installed at the network includes 10 Octopus Newsroom client licenses for iOS/Android smartphones and non-linear edit plug-ins for Octopus 8 and full social media integration.

The Octopus 8 works on Apple OS X, Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, and allows for users to ingest incoming audio, video and still-image files, news agency wires, RSS feeds, emails, SMS messages and faxes. All content relating to a specific task can be seen in a single view. Octopus 8 is MOS compliant and can be integrated into any environment or workflow that supports the MOS protocol. It can also integrate with existing and new MOS devices.

NEW YORK—As Vice News seeks to bring a fresh take on the newscast format for HBO, its team of journalists and broadcasters are utilizing the Octopus 8 newsroom software for its Brooklyn, N.Y., headquarters.

Charged with sourcing from news facilities across the globe, the Octopus 8 system for Vice is working with Vizrt’s Viz Pilot graphics and Viz One asset manager units. This combination allows editors to select video material from Viz One and add graphics from Viz Pilot via a single interface. The Octopus 8 also has preconfigured commands from Viz Mosart into its story templates and story elements so as not to require plug-ins.

Available on Apple OS X, Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, the Octopus 8 allows newsrooms to ingest incoming audio, video and still-image files, news agency wires, RSS feeds, emails, SMS messages and faxes. As an MOS compliant system, it can be integrated into any environment that supports the MOS protocol. The Octopus 8 supports placeholder workflows, thumbnails and proxy preview, item status and channel assignments.

The Octopus 8 is a key piece of tech for Vice’s “Vice News Tonight,” which airs five nights a week on HBO.

DALLAS—The Octopus 8 newsroom computer system is heading deep into the heart of Texas to serve as help Glenn Beck’s multiplatform news and entertainment network TheBlaze. The system has been installed in TheBlaze’s headquarters in Las Colinas, Dallas.

The Octopus 8 is a suite of newsroom computer software that can be used in television, radio and online news broadcasts. It can ingest all incoming source materials like news agency wires, RSS feeds, emails, SMS messages and faxes. All content belonging to a feed can be displayed in a single view. It also features a relational database with SQL and has a topic-centric workflow that enables collaboration.

Additional features for the Octopus 8 include visual story history and version comparison, as well as the ability to separate the spoken script from technical information. The system can be integrated into a range of environments and its workflow supports the MOS protocol.

Octopus 8 runs natively on Mac OS X, Linux or Windows.