NEW YORK—Due in part to the proliferation of social media, the way people get their news continues to evolve, and broadcasters are embracing these changes in how the news is even disseminated. The linear broadcast that has been a staple of TV reporting—including the daily evening news—has given way to multiple delivery platforms. At the same time belt tightening means newsrooms increasingly have to do more with less, but here too technology is having a serious impact as audiences fragment in the evolving 24-hour news cycle. 

This has led to broadcasters adopting the “digital first” policy that was first championed by publishers, according to Warren Davis, senior product manager at Bitcentral in Newport Beach, Calif. 

"Digital curators are getting access to content as it is being created for live broadcast," he said. "This is being facilitated by new search, production and publishing tools in the newsroom being shared across the digital production teams. Additionally the push for earlier metadata enhancement of raw camera and finished content allows for the automated curation and assistance in creating new or re-versioned content for live and digital distribution."

This year could see significant changes, beginning with how news is produced, but more importantly how it is delivered or distributed and also in how it is consumed.

"There are many, many new things that are coming up," predicted Raoul Cospen, marketing director for news at Dalet, which has also adopted a “digital first” approach. "The first one is obviously the digital disruption and the fact that even televisions now have websites and digital ways of putting their news or posting their news. So, digital is becoming more pre-eminent in workflows."

This digital first approach addresses changes at the production level, and Dalet is among the companies leading the move to the next-generation, borderless multiplatform newsroom with Dalet Galaxy Five, which will leverage advanced cloud and AI technologies, Cospen said.

GOING WITH THE WORKFLOW

The work of producing news for viewer consumption has long been about the workflows, but in 2020 these will continue to evolve as part of that move to digital first. However, in many ways it could still be "business as usual," as the end result is about delivering the news in a timely manner.

"Editorially, there are new needs for the TV script but also the CMS script, but also the narrations that are going to go inside the video and so on," said Cospen. "Then on top, you will have broadcast video that sits on one side but also the digital version with multiple formats; obviously, 9:16, 4:3, [Instagram] square and so on. But that will embed some additional graphics, some captions, maybe some translations, maybe some narrations, some stuff that is going to make the video more compelling to the digital viewers, basically."

None of this is exclusive to news production, but it is the never-ending daily news cycle that presents the added challenges to the workflows. In addition, there is the fact that viewers aren't sitting around the TV to catch the evening news at a set time. As such, the traditional workflow is very much a work in progress.

"There is the move toward mobile journalism, user-generated content and we need to arm those journalists with the toolsets so that they can do everything they need to do over a phone or tablet," said Ray Thompson, director of broadcast & media solutions at Avid. "We're seeing a move away as well from the truck or even cameramen, and the new technologies enable broadcasters to become more nimble and operate with less."

Even within broadcast facilities the actual newsroom is undergoing significant changes, notably with the move to IP.

"This is extending the ability for anyone in the newsroom to work with reporters who are everywhere, and this can include editing of video and the adding of graphics," added Thompson. "We're also seeing a move to a cloud-based repository, which allows broadcasters to route video as a story breaks whether it is regionally, nationally or internationally, and to be shared to that audience."

The evolving workflows will address this cross-media proliferation of news content delivery as well. "We can increase the number of output channels, and a lot of our existing customers are looking to be more efficient from these tools," said Trevor Spielmann, head of sales for newsroom solutions at SCISYS, which was acquired by CGI last year. 

However, there are also new challenges as a result.

"We are finding that it must be cost effective, easy to learn, easy to deploy and flexible when deployed," added Spielmann. "Our ‘Open Media’ [platform] can do all this and be customized, and integrated with third party applications, which provide that flexibility to our clients." 

AI FOR NEWS

While the newsroom may have to do more with less in terms of people, it will be getting help from artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, which can provide the ability to utilize content in the archives far faster than ever before. This could also result in a change in the general repurposing of archived content. 

"I would not call it ‘repurpose’ anymore because we used to repurpose before, but because of the ‘digital first’ aspect, it's not about repurposing," said Cospen. "It's about producing some content for many outputs, taking many outputs in consideration."

This is just one aspect of how AI could be utilized this year and beyond. AI has fully strategic uses, which include the calibration element as well as the ability to better collaborate across a story even as it has more contributors.

This will allow for a more collaborative working environment added Cospen, who noted this includes, "the ability to comment, the ability to do to-do lists, the ability to follow pieces of news and so on. The last point is adding a resource management on top of your newsroom, to optimize, to be more efficient and again to tell better news faster, cheaper and in a more efficient way."

Searching for just the right content, when it is needed most, could also be made easier via AI, and Dalet is offering its new automated “Discovery Search,” which works with the planning editor and story editor. "It is identifying potential matches for what you’re currently doing, for things that you didn't identify as potential material for your story," said Cospen. "It's going to help you to dig further in your archive and to bring some extra content that is going to make your story a bit more compelling."

AI can provide the way to pull the content from the archives via metatags and other metadata in a way that simply wasn't possible in the past, but it can also do searches far faster than a team of researchers.

"It can do facial, speech-to-text and use other algorithms to recognize a particular scene or even logo," said Thompson. "This is where the rubber meets the road in really being able to take advantage of the archives, but it can also determine the right content for a specific audience."

However, the full potential of AI will not come soon.

"AI is still a buzzword at the moment," cautioned Spielmann. "It is what everyone is talking about, even if a lot of it isn't really AI. There are plenty of third-party AI solutions as everyone has a different view and a different application in mind. So our view is to be as flexible as possible in how these can be integrated."

USER GENERATED

Today, thanks to our increasingly powerful smartphones, it isn't just the professional TV reporters that are doing the work of newsgathering. More and more content is being shot on those devices, and with the right toolsets this content can be used by teams in the physical newsrooms.

"TV news production has always had access to user generated content [UGC]," said Davis. "Stations are marketing it to be used with their apps and website UGC contribution portals directly from the user's mobile phone. Of course all of these consumer-level video contributions require transcoding since a variable frame rate is used for most all mobile phone recorders and must be converted into a fixed frame rate before going to air."

The quality of the actual content is just one part of a very complex equation, and here is another aspect that AI can streamline.

"The big challenge is about getting the rights to use that content, but we now have the toolsets that can allow you to scrap the social media feeds via hashtags and other metadata," said Avid’s Thompson. "User generated content is produced so quickly that users can beat the actual broadcasters to the story, so it is imperative that those news providers find that content and can get it posted."

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—The cloud continues to redefine the way that broadcasters and video production facilities are doing business as content moves from internal networks to offsite servers, while software as a service, or SaaS, is increasingly being used by both consumers and businesses alike. Cloud-based services such as Salesforce.com and Microsoft’s Office365 have changed the way software is used—offering subscriptions and pay-as-you go solutions over upfront purchases. Video streaming services such as Netflix have successfully competed with physical media content, while in the process being available on a plethora of devices.

Grass Valley debuted iTX On Demand at the 2016 NAB Show.

For broadcasters and video production facilities, this transition to SaaS can present new opportunities as well as a few challenges. While it means replacing older systems for cloud-based solutions, SaaS promises to offer greater scalability, potentially lower operating cost and even off-site backups and archiving of content. Getting everyone on board—or rather to the cloud—could remain the biggest challenge however.

“There is no reason everything can’t or won’t be an SaaS app in time,” said Al Kovalick, founder of Media Systems Consulting in Santa Clara, Calif. and cloud columnist for TV Technology. “What is holding it back is the existing programs that run on monolithic servers and workstations. The user interface also has to be HTML 5 to run in a browser, and it is already apparent not everyone is going to make that move anytime soon.”

One notable misconception about SaaS is that everything suddenly has to be moved to the cloud.

“That is not the case,” added Kovalick. “Just because it is an SaaS app doesn’t mean it has to run in the cloud. Clients can buy an SaaS app and put in on the Amazon Cloud or even a local server. It really just provides flexibility.”

COST FLEXIBILITY

As today’s budget belts continue to tighten, and facilities are forced to do more with less, SaaS could be a good fit, especially for those who need greater financial flexibility.

“We see SaaS as a solution where there are concerns over upfront costs,” said Scott Rose, senior director of product management for digital media at Grass Valley. “It works where the applications may be variable as well, or you don’t need it every month. If you are processing content or editing a variable amount, SaaS is a good solution as you only pay for what you consume.”

To address this changing workflow Grass Valley recently introduced iTX On-Demand, a new VOD/OTT solution that automates the VOD process while dramatically reducing prep time for both pre-recorded and live productions. It is available as an option with Grass Valley’s iTX Integrated Playout Platform, but can also be used alongside third-party playout solutions.

“This allows a broadcaster to take content and make it available for an on-demand platform,” said Rose. “It makes good sense for it to be through SaaS as the amount of VOD content can be wildly different throughout the year. If you knew the number of hours you’d use a solution it would make sense to build a system to do that job, but if you need to urgently scale at certain times then the SaaS model makes a lot of sense.”

TRANSCODING IN THE CLOUD

This year IBM-owned Aspera introduced new capabilities for its Aspera Files SaaS platform, including the Aspera Drive 2.0, which added sharing, distribution and exchange features to the desktop, and Aspera Files Mobile, which enabled clients to utilize Files Dropboxes from Apple iOS and Google Android devices over Wi-Fi and cellular networks. This new functionality builds upon Aspera FASP technology.

Francois Quereuil, senior director of worldwide marketing at Aspera

Aspera files is designed to improve bandwidth, according to Francois Quereuil, senior director of worldwide marketing at Aspera. “Aspera Files can be used to share and distribute content internally or with a third party,” he said.

The ability to use a cloud-based application could have other advantages beyond scalability and archiving. SaaS could also leverage cloud computing and infrastructure to transcode content for different devices.

Numerous vendors have offered solutions that include the ability to do encoding jobs with media that is or will be a cloud-resident. This includes Telestream Cloud, which debuted at the 2016 NAB Show as a video encoding SaaS that features support for the popular Apple ProRes video format, along with high-quality video transcoding for all formats and codecs, while also dynamically scaling response to customer requirements.

“All cloud services offer two things: compute and storage. For storage, Telestream Cloud is an attractive encoding service because, unlike other cloud services, it’s storage agnostic, ” said Shawn Carnahan, CTO for Telestream. “It supports the most common storage options, and now includes Aspera uploads.” 

The other advantage of Telestream Cloud is in its ability to provide the encoding service near stored files. “Since it runs on any cloud, the compute encoding engine is in proximity to the storage, increasing speed and lowering costs,” added Carnahan. “Telestream Cloud allows users to encode the video while it's being distributed and stored.”

This ability to transcode in the cloud is something that is being seen necessary given that content consumption isn’t limited to the big screen in the living room.

“The cloud is particularly well-suited to providing content that can be seen on numerous devices; think of how Netflix has to send out content to a range of devices,” said Aspera’s Quereuil. “SaaS apps can be used to crunch in different formats, but also add watermarking and color correction. This can help with the entire production process.”

The changing nature of content also makes SaaS very desirable, added Steve Smith, CTO for cloud at Imagine Communications in Dallas.

“The dynamic for how content is consumed has changed a lot in the past 10 years,” he explained. “Not only is their time and location shifting, but there has been an explosion of content providers, not all of which are 24/7. Some come and go, and SaaS offers this flexibility.”

OPEN SOLUTIONS

Unlike with many past proprietary technologies an advantage of many SaaS solutions is the ability to work with multiple cloud service providers including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services and Rackspace, among others. This could ensure the flexibility that today's clients seek when opting to utilize the cloud, while options to use a private cloud and remote desktop could streamline the production process.

File sharing services such as Signiant’s Media Shuttle have also made the transferring of content as easy as dragging and dropping to a web page.

“With Media Shuttle, files are actually kept locally, yet our customers can leverage the transcoding services; and this can reduce power consumption,” said Michael Nash, senior product manager for Media Shuttle at Signiant in Lexington, Mass. “The cloud economy is thus one of scale. This is making it easier for companies to move large files, and the larger the files the more they need us.”

However, there are concerns that by utilizing an off-site technology, outages could become an issue. Whether this is overstated is still being debated.

“Workstations can also go down,” noted Kovalick. “People talk about the cloud as if it is the problem when there are connectivity issues, but to mitigate the problem you have to realize there are other ways to get that content. SaaS can thus be as reliable as anything else.”

In the short term there may still be hold outs, and that is to be expected, as this regularly occurs in times of transition.

“The broadcasting business has always been about making investment in technology and equipment, so we don’t expect to see a lot of facilities gutting the server room in the near future,” added Grass Valley’s Rose. “This move to the cloud will come more slowly; this is evolution not a revolution.”