AMSTERDAM—IMAX Corporation and Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) have announced that they are expanding their strategic relationship beyond theatrical and into the streaming ecosystem.

Under the new agreement, IMAX will expand access to its Stream Smart technology to PFT customers across Europe, Asia, and Australia. The expanded partnership will dramatically increase the global availability of Stream Smart, which helps streaming platforms deliver maximum picture quality while significantly reducing distribution and storage costs, the companies said. 

"We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with IMAX, an industry trailblazer with a remarkable legacy of revolutionizing the global entertainment industry," said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Global CEO of PFT. "For over a decade, CLEAR, our flagship product, has spearheaded digital packaging and delivery services for prominent streaming platforms worldwide. CLEAR & Stream Smart will help optimize our customers' encoding pipeline, so they deliver better streaming quality while optimizing CDN & storage costs."

"Many of Hollywood's biggest streaming platforms use Stream Smart to ensure quality and reduce costs, and we're excited to work with our partners at PFT to extend the reach of our technologies throughout key markets in Europe, Asia, and Australia," said Vikram Arumilli, general manager of streaming and consumer technology at IMAX. "Our suite of streaming technology products, including Stream Smart, provides a best-in-class service for direct-to-consumer broadcast and streaming companies, and PFT's' ability to leverage this for their customers is a win-win for both organizations."

PFT and its parent company, DNEG, are industry leaders providing a full suite of technology and creative solutions, including IMAX post-production and 3D mastering.

IMAX and DNEG joined forces in 2022 for post-production, which included Indian films like Jawan, Pathaan, and RRR. This extended partnership will build upon the established theatrical relationship between IMAX and DNEG to develop a comprehensive video optimization solution. Stream Smart is an enterprise software product designed to deliver the best image quality and optimize delivery to unlock cost savings. This product was built from cutting-edge scientific advancements, state-of-the-art engineering, trusted studio relationships, and rooted in a real-world at-scale Emmy-winning collaboration with Disney Streaming Services and SSIMWAVE, the companies said. 

Stream Smart will be the centerpiece of the IMAX showcase at IBC 2023. See IMAX will be at booth 3.C67.

PFT will be at booth 3.C23.

Visual effects company DNEG has entered into a memorandum of understanding to acquire Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), which delivers cloud-based software and artificial intelligence technology for the media and entertainment industry.

PFT is a subsidiary of DNEG’s parent company, Prime Focus Limited, and has offices located across North America, the United Kingdom and India.

Upon conclusion of the proposed transaction, DNEG will acquire PFT’s media workflow and automation software suite, CLEAR, and purpose-built AI platform, CLEAR AI, which offer studios, broadcasters, and service providers solutions to help manage content, video collaboration and automation in the content production and distribution process.

Acquiring the software-as-a-service business of PFT will enable DNEG’s expansion into media tech and distribution services, including fulfillment, localisation and marketing, said the company.

The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed. PFT’s clients include Channel 4, Netflix, and Amazon.

DNEG is the entertainment industry’s go-to premium turnkey solutions provider thanks to organic market share expansion and key, strategic acquisitions, including today’s MOU with PFT,” said Namit Malhotra, DNEG chairman and CEO. “In concert with DNEG’s deals for several lines of production and post production services from Prime Focus Limited earlier this year, and our latest studio opening in Sydney, DNEG is truly a global, 24/7 force in the business.”

“Prime Focus Technologies is thrilled to be joining DNEG and becoming part of the company’s global solutions offering for an impressive and growing array of clients and operations,” added Ramki Sankaranarayanan, founder and CEO of Prime Focus Technologies. “PFT is committed to offering customers digital transformation solutions that help automate the content supply chain. This transaction will be a positive step forward for both our existing customers and for prospective clients. The transaction with DNEG will enhance PFT’s financial strength and stability and help in building longer-term relationships with our clients. DNEG provides PFT a halo of credibility and success, with its strong studio partnerships and relationships that we can leverage into growth opportunities in the future.”

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand, TVBEurope.

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has announced it will be launching CLEAR Localize, a cloud-based process automation platform that simplifies the localization process at the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas.   

The company noted that managing multiple projects, spreadsheets, vendors, languages, and services, across time zones and logging into multiple vendor-specific systems can make the localization process cumbersome. 

CLEAR Localize is designed to streamline those efforts by streamlining communication with multiple vendors and providing users with complete insights into progress updates and estimated delivery dates, thus reducing time wasted on emails and calls for progress updates. 

"A study by Nimdzi Insights found that localization project managers spend an average of 2 hours per day or even more on administrative tasks, such as email communication, progress tracking, and file management." Said Murali Sridhar, senior vice president, and global head of product management at PFT. "Many companies we work with report that their localization management process takes longer than expected. Our endeavor with CLEAR Localize is to help you stay on track and change how you manage your Localization Process for the better. I'll see you at the show!"

Key benefits include:

• A simple, secure interface connecting localization vendors and freelancers globally to manage multiple orders, languages, and media for seamless localization operations. 
• Easy onboarding of new vendors for quicker initiation. Frame accurate subtitle and audio reviews with a multi-language subtitle and audio player
• Ability to automatically convert subtitles to any format and conform existing subtitles
• Fully automated Media Logistics on S3 where you receive source media, access & share reference material, and collect deliverables
• Low-Code / No-Code ready-to-use platform with event-driven information exchange on AWS SNS
• Flexible process automation with validations on deliverables like profanity checks and language labels as required by your localization workflows
• Title-level dashboard with a summary of order status, turnaround times, and vendor performance, giving you peace of mind 
• Transparency into project progress and delivery date 

More information is available here. 

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has announced that it successfully delivered large volumes of long-form and short-form legacy content for A+E Networks (AETN) using its CLEAR AI and CLEAR enabled media services.

PFT collaborated with AETN in digitizing its legacy content to be cloud-ready and to meet the growing fulfillment demand for linear and non-linear outlets (FAST, NextGen TV, OTT, AVOD, and SVOD). In addition, PFT worked with AETN to optimize their files to allow for faster content reuse and redistribution to meet future end-point specifications.   

"PFT has processed and transformed large payloads of content to date, leveraging CLEAR and its AI. A key aspect of this project was to train the CLEAR AI engine on the editorial guidelines. Both teams worked together to ensure that this is done promptly to achieve the scale needed to deliver within the desired timeline." said Ankur Jain, senior vice president of sales at PFT North America. "We are focused on the accuracy and actionability of our AI/ML tools. Such use cases will continue to increase operational efficiencies, enable quicker monetization and hence bring measurable business benefits to our customers."    

PFT leveraged a combination of its CLEAR AI and its media services team to deliver for AETN, the company explained. 

First, the legacy videotapes were digitized at PFT's New York facility. The digitized files were then ingested into CLEAR for further processing. CLEAR supply chain management tools enabled PFT and AETN teams to automate media logistics, track tasks and provide visibility into the process. CLEAR AI then automatically processed the file and rearranged all segments per the AETN specifications to create a master file.

PFT is the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus, a global leader in M&E industry services. For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, has announced that Suresh Sugumaran has joined the organization as senior vice president in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Region. Sugumaran is a 23-year industry veteran with a background across the media, technology, and telecom sectors.

In his new role, Sugumaran will oversee PFT's business in EMEA. 

Sugumaran has extensive experience facilitating technology and services business growth strategies within the media and entertainment businesses, the company said. Sugumaran previously held business leadership positions at Wipro and TCS. Most recently, he was with Tech Mahindra as vice president, technology for M&E in Europe.

He holds a degree in B. Tech, Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

"Suresh comes with a strong technical background and will be accountable for delivering sustainable top-line growth with new and existing customers," said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder & Global CEO of Prime Focus Technologies. "He was instrumental in sales of large digital transformation projects in the industry, and as PFT continues to scale and grow, his track record, coupled with our product portfolio, is a winning combination and key to creating long-term success for the company. We are stoked to have him on board." 

PFT also announced today that Nick Kaimakami has been elected to the company's UK Board of Directors effective immediately and appointed to serve as a member of the PFT UK Board. Kaimakami has been with PFT for five years as head of sales EMEA.

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies has launched CLEAR AI, a new service from its CLEAR cloud platform that simplifies the foreign language mastering process. CLEAR AI is designed to meet the demand for multiplatform content fulfillment, covering content identification, determination, and creation of missing material, aligning all pieces of content, including video, audio, and text artifacts, and developing ready-to-distribute masters.

CLEAR AI offers the following processes:

• Automatically identifies languages in dubs, subs, and on-screen text
• Identifies metadata and segments to master from multiple versions
• Compares versions and determines the best master to conform
• Helps conform foreign language assets (dubs and subtitles) even across multiple frame rates
• Automatically creates forced narration files that can be localized
• Identifies and packages foreign language master in the specified format

“A powerful combination of identifying languages and content segments, comparing versions, conforming, and packaging masters using AI boosts operational productivity by at least 3X. This makes the process simple and as easy as possible for both businesses and editors”, said Murali Sridhar, SVP and Head of Product Management at PFT. “With an AI-driven approach, Foreign Language Mastering works at exceptional scale and speed like never before.”   

CLEAR AI creates fully localized foreign language file masters for distribution in multiple international territories, resulting in 60-75% reduction in editorial/conform effort, gain efficiencies, speed, and faster time to market, according to the company.   

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has announced that it will showcase its next-generation AI-led supply chain automation solutions at the 2022 NAB Show between April 23 and 27 in Las Vegas. 

"We couldn't be happier to see our customers and partners in person again and share our latest product innovations that address key challenges in the industry currently. We've been working hard to re-imagine supply chain automation driven by AI in the last two years. We deployed it within our media services and our customers successfully", said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, founder and global CEO of PFT. “We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved with CLEAR Media ERP software & Vision Cloud AI platform and are excited to showcase these at NAB this year.”

In response to the move to remote postproduction workflows, the company is also introducing CLEAR Remote Postproduction Workflows for Adobe Premiere Pro. 

Some of the tech advances on display at the show from PFT include:  

• Access Archive: PFT has moved the application to content so users can restore and archive faster. 
• Media Discovery: AI & deep Metadata integration across the workflow helps users locate clips of interest from both new content and archive to prepare a rough edit timeline.
• Collaborate on Cloud: Editors can collaborate on projects, share media and metadata, seek review and approval regardless of where they are, ⏤ use visual mark-ups and free-hand annotation, chat & share notes.
• Render & Upload from Adobe Premiere Pro: Users can now render & upload to CLEAR MAM for review and approval without moving away from Premiere Pro, making it easier — this also helps avoid repetitive manual actions.
• Automatic One-click Backup & Restore: Automatic ONE click back up from home to the Cloud and restore to "my workspace" ⏤ to the point where users have it all broken down within their Premiere Projects folder, with different iterations every day.  
• MAM:  Run all postproduction workflows within CLEAR MAM — create work orders, tasks within the postproduction process, and more.  

Demos of CLEAR will be available at 4233MR and W3624C during the show. 

For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com.

LONDON—Prime Focus Technologies is opening the doors to a new hybrid-cloud media center in Leeds, U.K., which will serve as the new national headquarters for Channel 4. Using the CLEAR Media ERP platform, the new facility will help manage Channel 4’s media processing and centralized content operations, including live simulcast and VOD services.

PFT and Channel 4 agreed to develop a new facility in 2019 and spent 2020 building it, including constructing it in line with social distancing norms and U.K. government guidelines for Covid-19.

The facility houses infrastructure for end-to-end supply chain management through SLA-driven media processing services powered by cloud-based workflows running on CLEAR.

The end-to-end content supply chain services offered include QC services; editing and remastering services; archive services; compliance and global re-versioning services; digital distribution services; and access to PFT’s Global Media Services pipeline, which includes localization services, re-mastering services and creative services.

The Leeds facility is now open and will employ more than 70 professionals, per PFT.

LOS ANGELES—The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent to Prime Focus Technologies for its Just-in-Time embedded watermarking solution of streaming proxies within the company’s CLEAR platform. 

This patent (No. 10,904,595) covers two innovations. First, the ability to apply user-specific burnt-in watermarks, real-time; and secondly, making a Just-in-Time watermarked stream “as seamless as that of a CLEAN stream,” PFT says.

According to PFT, Just-in-Time watermarking treats streaming segments requests from a user’s video player as an atomic segment that needs to be transcoded by a GPU-farm and handed back in real-time to the player, as well as meeting the needs of standard streaming protocols, including HLS/DASH. As a result, any segment requested, across any bit rate, is served with a watermark and any high-speed trick-play request (up to 3x) is served elegantly.

“Piracy has been and continues to heavily impact our industry at the world-wide level. Such an invention now provides studios and content owners the ability to protect their pre-release content through strong and reliable deterrence mechanisms that are embedded within their streaming infrastructures” said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, founder and global CEO, Prime Focus Technologies. “With Cloud costs continuing to drop and GPUs becoming even more affordable, it is a matter of time when the industry will decide to provide streaming URLs to their content-partners and vendors, instead of creating copies of content, individually watermarked for their use.” 

For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com.  

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies is opening the doors to a new, state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Hollywood.

Through this new Hollywood hub, PFT says it will offer SLA-driven media services powered by secure, automation-led technology. Among the things offered through the facility will be re-mastering services, VFX, film scanning services, color correction, DI validations with LTO migration, HDR workflows, master QC, localization, AI-led auto form for both TV and motion pictures, digital distribution and providing PFT’s Clear technology as a service delivery and service enabler platform.

PFT will also make available its Lowry Digital technology, which delivers quality restoration and enhancement of content from SD to 4K resolution, according to Allan Tudzin, vice president of business development for PFT.

For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com.  

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies announced the addition of Apple TV app enhancements, schedule-driven acquisition of live content and other new features to its Clear Media ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) suite.

The update includes “some power-packed features” that are “focused on making micro-tasks in the content supply chain faster and easier for users,” said Vimalesh Melwani, senior vice president, Product Engineering, Prime Focus Technologies.

“Clear is known for its interoperability, and we’ve further expanded our product integration portfolio to support 11 more partner products in this release,” he said.

The updates include enhancements for production, acquisition, asset management operations, localization and mastering operations and distribution, the company said.

Regarding production, the product now enables Android-based log-in and the ability to browse assets or review incoming assets via Apple TV as well as direct asset downloads from Azure BLOB using Aspera and HTTPS.

New acquisition features offer expanded package ingest, including essence-like metadata XMLs, package structure manifests and audio/subtitle in the content package. There is also new support for ingest via ad-hoc or task-driven acquisition mechanisms and the addition of AWS SNS notification-based ingest. Clear also now supports schedule-driven acquisition for live content.

Among the many new asset management features are asset preview via integration with PDFTron, DR enablement for both SaaS cloud and edge location, new APIs to support more requests from external systems, expanded partner and vendor onboarding and Microsoft Power BI reporting enhancements.

Clear updates to localization and mastering operations include multiformat export, script import and enhanced compliance review. Its new distribution features enable users to invite recipients to download a package directly from Clear; allow users to select a packaging standard and DRM that meets their OTT requirements; offer support for more delivery platforms; and process subtitles for distribution.

Prime Focus Technologies is the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus. More information is available on the company’s website.

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, has announced new features in its CLEAR Vision Cloud AI platform to help solve real world business problems of TV networks, studios and direct to consumer businesses. A native media recognition AI platform, CLEAR Vision Cloud combines third-party AI (Microsoft, AWS, IBM Watson and Google engines) with its Vision Cloud AI models for high-quality and actionable data. In tandem, it provides consulting to customize AI models to help M&E companies base business decisions on that data. 

CLEAR Vision Cloud’s updated data pack now offers AI Metadata at three levels: Basic, Advanced and Premium, allowing clients the option of modularly deploying the requisite intelligence for the use case in hand. In addition, the data pack choices include Video Comparison, Transcripts and Compliance data. The high-quality, usable AI data is generated by PFT’s Machine Wisdom layer that imparts cognitive benefits, helping synthesize data and provide data in a context. 

For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com. 

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies’ DAX Digital Dailies is going by a new name, with the company rebranding the technology to CLEAR and boasting a new set of features for post-production processes.

DAX was an online Dailies experience that began in 2004 and was then bought by PFT in 2014. Now as CLEAR, it offers new collaboration tools, upgraded performance, embedded MAM functionality, strong workflow management and can handle mezzanine/raw content, per PFT. Ingest, delivery, Master QC, localization and Mastering can also be managed and administered on CLEAR.

CLEAR’s MAM features include the ability to upload, manage and create a cloud archive of RAW or mezzanine production content, transcode any format and deliver vendors. Users can also view, manage and search content, as well as add comments, create clips and sizzle reels and easily collaborate with post teams upon uploading content.

Additional features include and Apple TV app; an HTML5 player to stream content up to 10 Mbps/4K/HDR; support for mezzanine content in DNxHD or ProRes formats; multicloud architecture; one-click share; security measures like Just-in-Time Watermarking; an administration module; and the ability to customize your user user settings.

“As part of CLEAR, we have expanded DAX from a dailies solution into a holistic content creation and post-production supply chain platform,” said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, founder and global CEO of PFT.

For more information, visit www.primefocustechnologies.com.  

LONDON—Channel 4 has inked an agreement with Prime Focus Technologies for its Clear Media ERP software, which PFT will use to manage the public service broadcaster’s media processing and centralize its content operations, the company said this week.

“We are delighted to be forming this new partnership with PFT, a company which shares Channel 4’s innovative spirit,” said Keith Underwood, COO, Channel 4. “PFT has proven experience of managing content operations for major international broadcasters, and we look forward to working with them to establish their new U.K. base.”

Prime Focus Technologies will manage:

• Media processing, including ingest, content remediation, media management, content aggregation and quality assurance; and
• Online services, including digital rights management (DRM), VOD transcoding, packaging and delivery, simulcast and live to VOD.

Under the agreement, PFT is tasked with providing all content for Channel 4’s online presence on its own AII4 platform and third-party platforms, the company said.

PFT’s CLEAR software combines MAM capabilities with work order management. The software will allow Channel 4 to manage media operations, including those related to assets, resources, tasks and workflows, the company said.

The software’s framework will improve internal collaboration as well as those with external stakeholders, such as Channel 4’s Access services and Playout partners.

PFT is also launching a media center in the U.K. to act as a centralized content hub for Channel 4.

See Prime Focus Technologies at IBC 2019 stand 7.C05.

More information is available on the company’s website.

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

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

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

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

LONDON—Prime Focus Technologies has developed a series of updates for its DAX Production Cloud, which is part of its CLEAR Media ERP line. The updates will allow the software to help with the collaboration and sharing of content across the production supply chain.

The DAX Production Cloud is based on the DAX with Digital Dailies and provides ONE software across the production supply chain. It serves as a repository for media and ancillary files, including on-set dailies, post-production cuts, editorial, VFX, marketing, localization and distribution.

With these new updates, DAX adds a new Asset Share feature that allows for the collaboration and sharing of content with DAX and non-DAX users with automatic expiring links. Additional upgrades include the DAX Administration tool that offers greater control via custom folder structure, watermarking variation and email/notification settings; there is also the Virtual Playlist Editor that delivers a cloud NLE to create custom playlists.

Users can also access the updated DAX Production Cloud within an iOS or Android mobile app, which features an offline option to download content at a later point.

PFT will demonstrate the latest features of the DAX Production Cloud at the Media Production Show 2019 in London at booth #621. The Media Production Show is taking place June 11 and 12.

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

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

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

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

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

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—You knew it was coming, right? When you walk around with more computing power in your pocket than it took to launch a Saturn V rocket to the moon, you get the hint that computers are increasingly doing work that we either don’t like doing or never could do before.

For example, take logging raw video and creating data files to let news organizations search for just the right clip when we need it. Need a shot of a burning building on East Main from November? Bingo… the AI system logged it and made it available on the server.

AI is also the tool behind giving viewers a better experience when they visit a station’s web page.

[Read: AI And The Digital Transformation]

“As consumers become more driven to personalized experiences, news stations need to keep up with dynamic content,” said Drew Martin, technical product manager for Grass Valley. “AI can provide rich end-user experiences with minimal manpower. This generates more viewership and small operating costs.”

WORKFLOW BENEFITS

And AI is not just for the viewers.

“AI can bring huge potential benefits to broadcasters, with particular relevance in areas of the workflow that are labor-and time-intensive—like ingest,” Martin said. “By enabling broadcasters to track how operations are being used across their organization, AI-based solutions can create more efficient operations and bring costs down by identifying trends. As broadcasters of all sizes are under pressure to produce more with lower budgets, AI-based solutions can help them focus their resources on creating more compelling content.”

Although Grass Valley has no current AI-related products, Martin said the company plans to add AI functionality to upcoming product releases.

Brick Eksten, chief technology officer for playout & networking at Frisco, Texas-based Imagine Communications, recommends using AI to test supply chain management enhancements before integrating them into a facility’s workflow.

“In a machine learning/artificial intelligence solution, the system could learn enough about the content types [by watching content] and could experiment with various combinations in an offline environment, until you have sufficient confidence that it is providing better management of the supply chain in real time than manual methods, optimizing for cost and quality at the level of each individual piece of content,” he said.

Another potential role is in monitoring. “An AI-assisted multiviewer could provide more in-depth information about each signal, but also put that in context across all of the individual devices that make up that particular channel of content,” Eksten said. “Today we monitor by exception; Tomorrow that monitoring will be more predictive and seamless.”

HUMAN OVERSEER

As promising as AI technology is, many operations touched by AI still need to have a human overseer to ensure smooth operations.

“We’re already seeing artificial intelligence being used as a tool to create content like highlight clips, with Aspera being used for the ingest of video content and the automated delivery of the produced assets,” said Richard Heitmann, vice president of Aspera, an offshoot of IBM. “The natural next step to automated production is automatic publication of personalized media experiences. But we are still in the early days of the technology, and there is a human-review element that won’t go away anytime soon.”

IBM has been developing AI applications for decades, and Aspera has been leveraging that background for its broadcast products.

In April 2018, IBM partnered with the Masters to bring cognitive highlights to the golf tournament, according to Heitmann. “IBM’s AI technology quickly identified key highlights based on cheering, high fives, commentary and TV graphics such as banners within specific video frames,” he said. “As a result, video editors were able to use Aspera technology to distribute highlight reels at high speed in near-real-time for fans.”

INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE

For broadcasters, it’s all about what you do with your bandwidth—the more effectively a broadcaster uses its broadcast bandwidth, the more profitable it can be. For this reason, AI products can now address bandwidth, including learning from one encoding session to improve the next.

“AI plays an increasingly important role in video encoding, where it can significantly help improve workflows,” said Reinhard Grandl, director of product management for Austria-based Bitmovin. “By continuously learning the parameters used in previous encodes, AI-optimized settings can be applied to every new video file. Furthermore, every asset that will be encoded with our service helps to train this machine-learning model and makes the prediction for future encodings more accurate. This results in faster processing times and significantly higher quality with no increase in bandwidth.”

The savings from properly configured AI-driven encoding are substantial, Grandl said.

“Netflix, for instance, estimates that its use of AI to automate workflows and reduce customer churn saves the company around $1 billion annually,” he said. “This not only increases the quality of experience and quality of service for users, but also reduces the number of bits required to achieve the same quality stream. YouTube is also at the forefront of using AI to reduce overall video latency and encoding costs.”

Netflix and YouTube are noteworthy examples, but is there anything AI can do for a call-letter TV station?

“Call-letter stations can receive immediate benefits from TVU Networks’ products with AI,” said Paul Shen, CEO of Mountain View, Calif.-based TVU Networks. “For example, the TVU Transcriber service is available today and ensures FCC compliance of any video content a station puts on air, on social media or any digital media platform. The AI engine in Transcriber detects the need for closed captioning in content and will automatically transcribe the missing speech as closed captions. In addition, TVU Transcriber uses AI to detect profanity and can automatically mute the audio.”

The tantalizing ability to deliver targeted content to web viewers is also within reach of TV stations, Shen said.

[Read: Media 4.0: Using AI To Meet Viewers’ Preferences]

“With the TVU MediaMind Platform, all digital and broadcast production groups can truly collaborate to cover the same story, while allowing each group to customize and deliver the completed program based on viewer demographics,” he said. “As a result, a station can cost-effectively create targeted content and allow it to better serve digital and broadcast viewers using the same raw videos. This becomes a truly story-centric workflow.”

Not only will a properly configured AI system process video as it is ingested, it can also dip deep into existing library files and process those.

AI functionality has recently been integrated into Prime Focus Technology’s, Clear Media ERP, Media Asset Management system, according to T Shobhana, vice president and global head of marketing & communications for the company. “[Clear] helps automatically recognize elements within audio and video, and generate associated metadata, making it easier to sort, locate and use content across all MAM workflows,” she said. “With Clear, content owners no longer have to rely only on manual effort to tag and catalog assets, as this is a time-consuming and expensive process.”

However, keep in mind that AI capability in MAM systems is not completely hands-off from a human standpoint—yet.

“All these functionalities require human review and quality control right now, but one of the key characteristics of AI and machine learning is the ability to learn and improve over time,” Shobhana said, “so we expect these functions to continue to evolve going forward.”

Over the past five years, artificial intelligence has moved out of the laboratory and into real products—you only have to go as far as Apple’s Siri and Google’s Alexa to find examples in the real world. The idea of a computerized assistant has now become real to millions, and that increases the pressure for similar machine aids in various professions and industries… including broadcasting.

It’s clear that the most efficient use of bandwidth and the ability to quickly create targeted programming are of great interest to broadcasters, and artificial intelligence is helping to make that possible.

Most content owners would agree that manual tagging and cataloging of assets is a time consuming and expensive activity that can stymy the usefulness and profitability of media assets. Today however, audio-visual content can be transformed into dynamic assets using metadata enriched with a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and manual processes.

Beyond basic tags that allow for different variations of the same word (e.g. singular and plural) or multiple tags for the same concept, automated AI technology offers more powerful and faster capabilities that can aid content discovery for easy re-use and greater productivity. For example, content can be auto-tagged using Object Recognition as well as Face/Location Recognition technology to further enrich metadata. AI metadata can also be used to discover specific areas where compliance issues have been spotted. Improvements in Speech-to-text and Image Recognition algorithms are further automating parts of the metadata process, making it increasingly useful for both new and legacy content use cases.

AI-ENABLED MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT

Here is an example of how AI technologies are already starting to become an integral part of commercially available products and services. AI functionality has recently been integrated into CLEAR, a cloud-based Media Asset Management (MAM) solution by Prime Focus Technologies. It helps Media & Entertainment (M&E) enterprises leverage both AI-generated and manually logged metadata to maximize content discovery. This makes it faster and easier for users to sort, locate, and re-use their assets for creating compelling stories from a vast content repository.

Importantly, CLEAR empowers users with the freedom to access the entire galaxy of AI/machine learning capabilities (AWS, Azure, Google, IBM Watson to name a few), as appropriate for their downstream use case.

Useful functions for AI-driven visual analysis include character identification as well as recognition of objects and actions. Ideally, AI video analysis should also recognize text within the image, such as street signs, advertisements, and products. The video AI functionality in CLEAR, for example, includes the capability to recognize human faces, their genders and approximate ages. It also recognizes brands and logos, along with well-known landmarks, and presently, to some degree, other objects at a level that includes phones, tables, vehicles, and animals, for example. Additionally, the system can also recognize basic interactions between these objects, such as a human running, dancing, or smoking as examples, and can detect the general facial emotions of people and events, such as being able to tell the difference between a festive party and an intense group discussion.

While all AI-based functionalities at present require human review and quality control, one of the key characteristics of AI is its ability to learn and improve over time, so we expect these functions to continue to evolve going forward.

METADATA IMPLICATIONS

If a collection of media assets could be compared to a file cabinet full of important papers, then metadata would be the labels on the folders. While it is true that the papers themselves are important and valuable, it is the labels that make it possible to locate the particular paper you presently need quickly and effectively.

In a similar way, as content is analyzed and then augmented with metadata, value is added because the ability to locate the desired content and understand important features of that content is enhanced. The value of metadata in our current time is even further enhanced because the quantity of content that already exists, along with what is now being created, is so extensive. If AI techniques can be used to help human evaluators review new or existing content and create valuable metadata, then it can help organizations unlock additional value in these assets.

There are several ways that using AI to improve metadata processes can help an organizational business case. Making the most of digital content often requires M&E enterprises to move beyond basic asset management and embrace new-age, Cloud-based MAM solutions. Such solutions, with extensive data models and built-in tools for cataloging and metadata tagging, help organize content in useful ways, make it easily accessible, and open up new avenues to monetize assets. Ultimately, they streamline and improve the overall efficiency of digital content creation, boost monetization, and drive creative enablement.

Here is a recent example of how more detailed and accurate metadata gave some content providers an advantage when broadcast content regulations changed. Whenever such regulations change, there is a time consuming and stressful burden placed on the M&E industry to quickly come into compliance. In this case, it was legislated in India that all smoking scenes must be prefaced with a warning message about the hazards of smoking. When this regulation came into effect, detailed and accurate metadata let some content providers quickly identify every scene that included smoking. Armed with this information, broadcasters could then choose to either remove the scene, or add the required warning message.

Looking at content from another angle, content creators can also depend on the use of metadata to locate existing materials for new projects. Documentary film makers, news organizations, and investigative reporters are just a few of the kinds of content creators in this category that frequently look for content relating to specific themes, public figures, locations, and similar categories. When a famous or influential person passes, or a current event warrants a special report, detailed and accurate metadata describing existing footage and media about the topic can make the search for this material far faster and more effective.

CONCLUSION

The integration of MAM solutions with metadata management tools, extensive data models and AI-based functionalities, hand-in-hand with human quality control and judgment, will help organizations achieve the effective labeling of vast quantities of existing and new content. And, the improved accuracy and efficiency will deliver, in turn, improved business efficiencies and results across cataloging, editing and mastering operations. By making it possible to find content faster, easier, and more accurately, AI-enhanced systems will create new revenue opportunities.

T Shobhana is Vice President and Head of Global Marketing & Communications for Prime Focus Technologies.

CULVER CITY, CA.--Recognizing the U.S. as a key strategic market for its products, Prime Focus Technologies announced this week that Founder and CEO, Ramki Sankaranarayanan will now operate from the company’s U.S. headquarters, in Culver City, Calif. As the technology arm of Prime Focus, PFT markets its flagship Media ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software Suite CLEAR, as well as cloud media services.

PFT's focus on the U.S. market began in 2014 when it acquired DAX, a provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry for a base consideration of US$ 9.1 million in a structured performance-linked transaction. The company is actively expanding its local sales and marketing efforts, while expanding its product and services portfolio.

[Read: Prime Focus Technologies To Acquire DAX For $9.1 Million] 

PFT works with major M&E companies, like Disney, Hearst, Warner Bros., CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Lionsgate, Showtime, A+E Networks, HBO, Miramax, Google, YouTube, and Amazon Prime.

“I believe I can best contribute to our continued growth by focusing more of my efforts here in the U.S., where the majority of premium content originates for global consumption,” Sankaranarayanan said. “This decision will help to reinforce our strategic focus on the U.S. market—corporate growth, human capital investment, and market development.”

PFT has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Johannesburg, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Sydney that support a global digital media content pipeline for customers worldwide.

LAS VEGAS—At the 2018 NAB Show, Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) will launch its CLEAR Digital Lab, which acts as the “media universe” for secure content operations, from acquisition through distribution and archive. CLEAR Digital Lab revolutionizes the way content makers manage their content by connecting the various contributors engaged in the content creation process.

By leveraging the scalability and global accessibility of the Microsoft Azure cloud hosting platform, CLEAR Digital Lab gives production houses and studios greater creative control, faster decision-making capabilities, more efficient workflows, supply chain freedom and lower production costs.

CLEAR Digital Lab connects the production ecosystem, making it easier and more secure for people to collaborate across the supply chain. It brings together the stakeholders and supply chain vendors for such tasks as editorial, visual effects, sound, localization, mastering and distribution.

Built around CLEAR Media ERP’s DAX Production Cloud software and Cloud MAM software modules, CLEAR Digital Lab handles files of different resolutions and content types—including scripted, unscripted, short form and digital content—as well as tracking jobs and managing media logistics across production supply chains.

The 2018 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 9-12. Prime Focus Technologies will be in booth SL9605. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

Read up on all of TVT's NAB Show Sneak Peeks and other 2018 NAB Show news here.

NEW DELHI—A new partnership between Prime Focus Technologies and Microsoft has come to be in the attempt to strengthen PFT’s Clear hybrid cloud-enable Media ERP suite. Clear, which PFT reports handles up to 1.5 million hours of content, will now be combined with Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services to be implemented across global regions covered by Azure.

This deal will begin with the immediate migration of all consolidated data storage to Azure before the migration of core Clear Media ERP to Azure couple with Microsoft’s Cognitive Services. The companies plan to work together on the go-to-market approach, which will seek to help clients migrate to the cloud.

Clear will now be available through Azure’s 42 regions, allowing M&E organizations to manage workflow orchestrations across the entire content supply chain of one system, including processes like acquisition, review and approval, cataloging, QC, mastering, distribution, promos and localization.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—Prime Focus Technologies’ gear is getting a security boost, as Caesar Sedek has been brought on in the role of chief security officer.

Sedek comes to PFT after most recently working at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he led risk assessments, developed security strategies and implemented cybersecurity response programs for content and entertainment industry clients. He has also held information security positions at Warner Bros. Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company.

Sedek will work on continuing to develop security capabilities for PFT products.

When it comes to OTT programming, content is king—no matter the source or the delivery. Because of this, OTT has the potential to become a significant part of the content monetization strategy for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry.

To fully delve into this media phenomenon, it is important to understand exactly what OTT is, how it supports content monetization, what the future holds for OTT programming and how solutions such as those from Prime Focus Technologies are driving innovation.

WHAT IS OTT?

According to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, “Internet access to programming independent of a facility or network dedicated to its delivery (via, for example, cable or satellite) is the defining feature of what have been termed 'over-the-top' services."

The most common examples of OTT programming are Netflix and YouTube, but smaller services including Amazon, Hulu, HBO Now and CBS All-Access are all quickly growing in popularity. One driver is niche programming that is taking aim at super fans who are passionate about their interest—whether it be sports, cartoons, cooking or even Brit-coms. High-speed internet that can deliver outstanding video quality, coupled with viewers’ desire to watch whatever, whenever and from wherever, on the device of their choice, has further pushed OTT programming and viewing to the mainstream. More than 450 scripted TV series are currently available via OTT programming.

CONTENT MONETIZATION

For the owners of media assets, content monetization can be built on three layers. First, they can conventionally publish on a linear platform (television, movie theater, etc.) to capture short-tail revenue for up to several weeks, followed by physical media (such as DVD/Blu-Ray) with a low distribution cost that generally ends within a few years. Most media industry executives predict that clients will not use OTT as an outright replacement for traditional TV subscriptions; instead, most plan to just cut back on the number of pay subscriptions and supplement viewing with OTT offerings, and almost a fifth don’t plan to cut back at all.

The second layer is publishing OTT, creating a long-tail cycle using contextual ads. In fact, many viewers said online ads are “particularly helpful” in introducing them to shows coming out on networks they do not regularly watch. Publishing nonlinearly incurs almost no incremental cost, the delivery cost is minimal, and the revenue potential can continue indefinitely.

Third, they can further develop each asset for user engagement commerce. OTT programming offers various options ranging from social media engagement to second screen companion applications that sync with the first screen. For example, almost half of viewers who miss the premiere of an episodic program they find interesting look for the premiere episode later on-demand or on a video website. Every option varies in its effectiveness as a potential for commerce and to increase user engagement levels. Assets can be further developed through analytics captured across these platforms.

OTT DISTRIBUTION CHALLENGES

While OTT publishing offers substantial business benefits, it also comes with a new set of challenges. For example, each OTT platform, such as YouTube, iTunes, HOOQ, or Amazon Prime has its own set of technical and quality specifications that need to be met. This involves several steps for each publishing channel, for every piece of content, including metadata creation, subtitling, compliance editing, QC and transcoding.

In a related example, also note that digital syndication to platforms like YouTube, Dailymotion, Go90, Facebook, and Pluto.tv also comes with its own set of requirements.

Thus, the process of publishing content to these platforms can be extremely cumbersome and expensive for content owners. To orchestrate all these tasks efficiently and effectively, companies must consider Media Asset Management (MAM) systems that automate the content supply chain as a critical support function. In particular, cloud-based MAM can play an instrumental role in seamless digital packaging and delivery—from content ingest through publication. This is because the process of creating the digital packages—transcoding them into multiple formats and delivering them to the target OTT platforms—can all be automated, saving substantial costs and time. The best vendors to consider provide support for all OTT-related services, have ready-to-deploy presets for all the major publishing platforms and can provide their certifications as approved and/or preferred vendors and partners for all the major industry players, including Netflix, iTunes and YouTube at a minimum. Choose a supplier with substantial experience and audited by the MPAA for best results.

MOVING FORWARD

A streamingmedia.com report anticipates that the number of companies involved in OTT delivery will grow and the proportion of businesses substantially invested in OTT technologies will more than double over the next 3 to 5 years. Interoperable Master Format (IMF) is also rapidly emerging as a preferred format for content exchange, and IMF ready packages now play an important role in the way content is managed, packaged and published across the OTT universe.

Going forward, a MAM system that provides technology to transform IMF Packages into deliverables for platforms like Netflix and iTunes will become essential for managing OTT operations. A MAM with an IMF Media player for playback over streaming proxy will also help achieve faster time-to-market, while easing content transfer loads and optimizing storage consumption across streaming locations. Because IMF also improves the ability of content owners to efficiently collaborate in content preparation and exchange content, IMF will continue to grow in use and must be a part of any ongoing OTT planning.

SOLUTIONS THAT DRIVE INNOVATION

The present-day content owner should not stop at OTT. Rather, they should be prepared for a switchover in the mindset of their audience; take deliberate efforts to plan and implement enterprise digitization; and lay the foundation for change. These steps can be more effectively implemented, and results achieved through automated MAM solutions such as hybrid cloud-enabled CLEAR Media Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software from Prime Focus Technologies.

Going forward, automated MAM systems will be the only way to handle increasing volumes of content while also managing and responding to the multiple format requirements of OTT distribution channels and avoiding delays and errors. Compared to traditional approaches, such automated systems will drastically reduce the total cost of operations for content owners, while increasing speed and flexibility when going to market. And in the media business, the faster, more accurate, and more flexible providers will win.

T Shobhana is vice president and head of global marketing & communications for Prime Focus Technologies.

James Eccles

LOS ANGELES—Prime Focus Technologies double dibs with its latest hiring announcement, sharing that it is bringing on James Eccles as vice president, key accounts, sales cloud applications and media services, and Chris Reynolds as vice president, head of Technical Solutions Group for its North America branch.

Eccles comes to PFT after working at Deluxe Entertainment Services, Chace Audio, Westpac Banking Corporation and various New Zealand government administrations. Reynolds also previously worked for Deluxe Entertainment Services and Chace Audio.

Chris Reynolds

The pair will be based out of PFT’s Los Angeles office. Eccles will be responsible for generating new business opportunities, while Reynolds is charged with leading the Technical Solutions Group.

Prime Focus Technologies is the technology arm of Prime Focus.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—For executives in the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry, new models for success are driven by the need to realize greater profits by lowering Total Cost of Operations (TCOP) while simultaneously increasing overall throughput. This is especially true relative to Media Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with key objectives focused on streamlining the content supply chain across the enterprise and automating tasks from ideation through distribution. It’s a very ambitious set of objectives for any M&E business, that can have extraordinary outcomes when achieved.

Achieving these goals relies on investment and innovation, both of which must be orchestrated closer to the point where content and technology intersect. However, the unfortunate reality is that legacy media asset management (MAM) models continue to exist, with multiple on-premise, non-scalable systems deployed across different business units, departments and locations within an organization. These systems result in production delays, duplication of content, lack of agility and higher content management costs.

The ideal solution to these pain points is to implement a single enterprise-wide Media ERP solution that helps embrace digital transformation beyond technology departments. A purpose-built Media ERP solution will drive creative enablement, enhance efficiencies, reduce costs and increase monetization. A cloud-based Media ERP solution in particular, delivers numerous benefits across four key areas: efficiency, flexibility, collaboration, and content delivery.

EFFICIENCY

Media ERP solutions provide organizations with a single software to automate their entire content supply chain with the ability to perform advanced processing and delivery operations via the cloud. By deploying one software solution across the enterprise, M&E companies can easily manage their resources to tie together multiple systems, contributors and other stakeholders within the supply chain.

Cloud-based Media ERP solutions arrive ready-to-deploy, include a wide range of preset robots and automate many otherwise time and labor-intensive manual tasks. They use automation to efficiently and effectively prepare, package and deliver content to linear and non-linear platforms with little or no human intervention.

While on-premise solutions rely on manual content workflows, the automation capabilities of cloud-based Media ERP solutions enable easy hand-off from one department to another without inconsistency, duplication, or confusion. This results in increased efficiency across the enterprise, allowing M&E organizations to improve their capabilities without the need for additional staff or investment in multiple products that will ultimately end up being underutilized. This combination of factors adds up to significant overall savings in both operations and MAM, while drastically reducing TCOP.

FLEXIBILITY

Harnessing the power of hybrid cloud architecture, Media ERP solutions allow content owners to run workflows at any time and from any location, while also retaining high resolution content in-house. This cloud-based workflow orchestration addresses end-to-end content operations across the enterprise, allowing users to leverage existing workflow templates or create their own with instant use of primitives. Equipped with different modules, Media ERP solutions also allow M&E companies to select the best possible combination of applications they need to meet their specific needs.

Cloud-based Media ERP solutions also provide power-packed metadata management with unlimited data extensibility, advanced essence management, and support for DPP (AS-11), AS02, BXF, IMF, Dublin Core and others. This allows M&E organizations to leverage and protect their existing investments while increasing throughput of content.

COLLABORATION

Another key benefit of cloud-based Media ERP solutions is the ability for various content creators and managers to collaborate using a single system. A comprehensive suite of Media ERP applications allows for workflow orchestration across the enterprise, supply chain and partner ecosystems. Regardless of their physical location, all departments are able to access content, make notes and provide feedback at a moment’s notice. All of these functions contribute to increasing operational efficiencies and achieving faster time-to-market.

Among the many features that enable this seamless collaboration is access to metadata enrichment services such as cataloguing, ad contextualization, new-media search tag enrichment and much more.

In addition, cloud-based ERP solutions for the M&E industry perform site-to-site digital rights management, with the power to support ingest, metadata and digital library management. These capabilities also serve to liberate creative teams, offering them a work-life balance that simply cannot be achieved using disparate on-premise legacy systems. Automating a number of time-consuming processes—such as user-rights management and licenses to storage subscriptions—enables content creators to focus their efforts on developing better content, rather than performing the business tasks behind managing that content. Not only does this contribute to M&E organizations’ flexibility and output, higher-quality content can directly contribute to increased net revenues.

CONTENT DELIVERY

Detailed, multi-layered smart metadata allows content owners to deliver large volumes of content quickly and cost-efficiently. For example, Prime Focus Technologies’ cloud-based Media ERP solution currently manages content and workflows across 183 hybrid physical/cloud sites and powers over 400 television shows every day. Transcoding is highly efficient and cost-effective and the system helps generate quick compliance packages for TV Everywhere, DPP and YouTube publishing, among others. This processing flexibility allows M&E organizations to easily repurpose content for distribution across a variety of platforms, including web, mobile, video on demand and IPTV—all while seamlessly enforcing rights throughout the distribution process.

For M&E executives and their organizations, the benefits of a purpose-built cloud-based Media ERP solution are very clear. Such solutions allow organizations to make proper investments in innovation and finally abandon the inefficient, inconsistent and costly model of using multiple, non-scalable content management systems. A unified cloud-based Media ERP solution offers the highest levels of efficiency, savings, flexibility, creative enablement and increased monetization that M&E companies are looking to achieve. 

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—PBS is building a new ecosystem for its Network Operations Center in the cloud with the help of Prime Focus Technologies’ CLEAR Media ERP Suite. PBS will migrate its content delivery, initial quality control and transcoding operations to the cloud.

CLEAR’s Broadcast Cloud and Cloud Operations modules will be used to automate PBS’ Direct to NOC file delivery process. All short turn external file-based content intended for the NOC will be ingested through CLEAR. CLEAR will also manage core operations like NOC-based media processing, storage and external file transfers. It also provides a unified dashboard to track business processes throughout the NOC in real time.

PBS and PFT evaluated and deployed the system at Maryland Public Television.

PBS VP of Operations Renard Jenkins said the deployment of CLEAR and the move to the cloud will help with goals like the future redesign and overhaul of PBS’ entire Media Supply Chain.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—A slate of new upgrades to its Clear Media ERP Suite is the main attraction at Prime Focus Technologies’ IBC 2017 booth.

One of the highlights for Clear is a new functionality for end-to-end Work Order Management, pre-integrated with its Media Asset Management, workflow Engine and video tools. This enables users to manage assets, resources, tasks and orchestration of content workflows on a single system. The new Work Order Management can track all incoming work requests through completion; it also has resource and task assignment modules for the assignment of manual tasks. Additional features for the new Work Order Management include BMP driven tasks, due date based Work Order monitoring dashboards, data analytics and reporting.

There have also been additions to PFT’s hybrid cloud-enabled Clear Media ERP suite, including a Dax production cloud; promo operations; mastering automation; and Interoperable Master Format.

Prime Focus Technologies will highlight all of this at its booth, 7.B12, at IBC 2017.

Photo credit: HBO

MUMBAI, INDIA—Prime Focus Technologies has issued a statement explaining and condemning the leak of the (at the time) unaired episode four of season seven for HBO’s “Game of Thrones” on Aug. 4. The company described the leak as “an illegal breach of obligations by current and former employees of Prime Focus Technologies,” but emphasized that the incident from the HBO hack that occurred late last month. On Monday, Aug. 14, four men were arrested in relation to the leak, with reports naming them as Abhishek Ghadiyal, Bhaskar Joshi and Alok Sharma, current PFT employees, and Mohammed Suhail, a former employee.

Here is PFT’s statement in full:

On August 4, 2017, a link to view Episode 4 of Season 7 of Game of Thrones bearing a Star India watermark appeared online three days before its airdate as an outcome of an illegal breach of obligations by current and former employees of Prime Focus Technologies (PFT).

PFT immediately initiated forensic investigations to determine the cause. Based on a multi-faceted investigation including extensive logs of our system, a complaint was filed on August 6, 2017, and supplementary information was provided on multiple occasions, culminating in a First Information Report (FIR) being filed with the DCP Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police by Shailesh Manohar, Vice President at PFT on August 9, 2017. Acting on the information and extensive evidence provided by PFT, the office of DCP Cyber Cell, Mumbai arrested 4 accused on August 14.

PFT is appreciative of the speed and rigor with which the Special IGP (Cyber), Government of Maharashtra and DCP Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police have moved on this investigation. PFT is working closely with its client and co-operating with the police to take the investigation to its logical conclusion at the earliest and to prosecute the perpetrators of this crime.

PFT has been engaged with Star India as one of its key technology partners since 2011. PFT manages 1.5 Million hours of content for some of the world’s biggest broadcasters and studios globally. As a technology partner, PFT invests in content integrity and security, makes significant investments to ensure content protection and is ISO 27001 & SOC2 Certified.

It is important to note that this was not a system hack. It was an illegal breach of obligations by the concerned persons despite of PFT’s continual internal emphasis on protocols of content security and ethical practices. We deeply regret and condemn this incident – and affirm our strong resolve to continue the fight against content related crimes in an effort to make the M&E industry’s content more secure. PFT has always been and remains committed to the highest standards in content security and integrity in managing its clients' content.

This incident should not be confused with the HBO hack being reported.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—Users of Prime Focus Technologies’ hybrid-cloud enabled Clear Media Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software have some new features available to them. These new additions will be showcased at BroadcastAsia 2017.

Clear is designed to automate the content supply chain from creation through distribution and promotion. Among some of the new additions to the software to do this is the DAX Production Cloud, a software for dailies and post workflows that enables stakeholders in the production chain to collaborate, service and distribute media on the same software. Also new to Clear is Promo Operations, a new functionality that provides end-to-end business process orchestration for promo creation.

Other new features for the Clear software include mastering automation for domestic and international syndication; and an Interoperable Master Format media player for playback over streaming proxy.

BroadcastAsia 2017 runs from May 23-25 in Singapore.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—Prime Focus Technologies and Turner Latin America have closed an agreement that will provide PFT’s Clear Broadcast Cloud for work order and supply chain management, as well as end-to-end process monitoring of critical tasks, with reports and dashboards.

Clear is a hybrid cloud-enabled media ERP suite. The Broadcast Cloud module is designed to support end-to-end broadcast operations. This will allow Turner Latin America to bring its creators, partners and customers onto a single system.

Turner Latin America will connect operations at its main content processing hub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with all other supply chain locations through the Clear hybrid cloud architecture. This will support multi-location distributed workflows like subtitling and dubbing, compliance mastering, promo operations, archival, playout delivery and can schedule driven distribution for OTT and VOD. The Clear module can also integrate with Turner Latin America’s Aleph software, as well as other applications at Turner, through Clear’s open APIs.

LAS VEGAS—Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, is showcasing its new DAX Production Cloud software at NAB Show 2017. Based on DAX with Digital Dailies and part of the company’s flagship product CLEAR Media ERP, DAX Production Cloud vastly improves workflow efficiency by centralizing assets into a single repository which can be securely accessed by authorized stakeholders throughout the content lifecycle. DAX Production Cloud allows the use of same system for both Dailies and Post Production workflows. It enables editorial, creative agencies, VFX and localization vendors – all stakeholders within the production supply chain to collaborate, service and distribute media, all on the same software.

PFT CREATE

In addition, PFT has announced the launch of CREATE, a mobile-first solution for end-to-end production management from screenplay to production on one software, with a connected supply chain. A production module of CLEAR Media ERP Suite, CREATE as a single software will help creators digitize end-to-end the pre-production and production phases of the content creation process. It will allow all stakeholders engaged in creation--writers, creative teams, cast, technicians, vendors including location managers, art directors, costumers, make-up artists, day players and producers--to collaborate in real-time on a mobile device so that they can plan and manage production better, and make higher quality creative decisions more quickly.

PFT has also unveiled IMF support including an IMF Player and Mastering Automation solution as part of its flagship product, CLEAR Media ERP. CLEAR’s IMF solution includes an IMF Player that provides the ability to preview, playback, review and distribute over a streaming proxy a Composition Playlist (CPL) with all its essences including video, audio and captions. This enables collaboration and decision making in the workflow without having to necessarily access the original IMF package each time a CPL has to be played back, thereby easing content transfer loads and optimizing storage consumption across streaming locations.

Prime Focus Technologies is showcasing all of this at booth SL9605 at NAB Show 2017.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.–Prime Focus Technologies has signed a deal with Complex Networks—the new entity owned by Verizon and Hearst—to deploy PFTs CLEAR Media ERP Suite’s media asset management module, Cloud MAM. The installation is designed to establish and operate a centralized, digital content repository that is easily accessible by departments across Complex Networks as well as for their content partners. CLEAR will be used for content operations, media asset management and expansion of Complex’s content distribution channels.

CLEAR Cloud MAM will orchestrate end-to-end processes and workflows for content ingest, metadata modelling, storage, review and approval, as well as library and archive management. Cloud MAM will provide toolsets and mechanisms to Complex for seamless collaboration between various stakeholders of the network, including production houses, field producers and internal editorial teams. The Hybrid Cloud architecture will enable managing content workflows across multiple distributed Complex Networks’ locations while leveraging the benefits of the Cloud SaaS offering.

“Cloud based media solutions are re-writing every aspect of the content lifecycle – from aggregation and management to distribution and delivery,” said Aleksey Baksheyev, CTO, Complex Networks. “CLEAR is natively cloud and has proven expertise in managing local infrastructure, while supporting distributed workflows across sites and public cloud infrastructures as necessary through its centralized MAM application. This makes PFT the ideal partner to help us manage content more efficiently and expand our content distribution channels, meet increasing consumer demands, and achieve commercial objectives.”

“It is exciting to be working with an innovative company like Complex Networks to help them deliver cutting edge content to new-age audiences that are veering away from traditional TV,” said Patrick Macdonald-King, President, Americas at Prime Focus Technologies. “CLEAR’s hybrid architecture offers our clients a unique value proposition and I am pleased it will play a vital role in helping Complex Networks manage their workflows and execute content operations flawlessly across multiple locations with lowest Total Cost of Operations (TCOP).”

PFT’s award winning CLEAR Media ERP Suite has been successfully deployed on Cloud for more than nine years and currently operates over 170 hybrid cloud locations.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—Prime Focus Technologies will be using the 2017 NAB Show as the launch pad for its new IMF Media Player and Mastering Automation system, both of which work with its Clear Media ERP product.

The IMF Player provides the ability to preview, playback, review and distribute over a streaming proxy a Composition Playlist complete with video, audio and captions. This allows users to playback the playlist without having to access the original IMF package. The Clear platform supports IMF Compositions created using its desktop CPL systems—Clipster, Color Front, Gray Meta and Netflix CPL Editor—over streaming proxies and perform search, playback, upload, download and distribution of IMF packages and rendered and transcoded output. Clear supports IMF through its native cloud architecture, enabling packaging and delivery of IMF packages from remote locations, public cloud infrastructure and customer premises.

The Mastering Automation system for Clear assists domestic and international syndication across linear and non-linear platform by leveraging Clear Compliance Data Model, Caption Re-timing feature and tool for compliance auto QC on captions and subtitles.

Prime Focus Technologies will showcase its new technology at booth SL9605 during the 2017 NAB Show, which takes place April 24-27 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS—Prime Focus Technologies will feature its new DAX Production Cloud software at the 2016 NAB Show. Based on DAX with Digital Dailies and part of the company’s flagship product CLEAR Media ERP, DAX Production Cloud centralizes assets into a single repository which can be securely accessed by authorized stakeholders throughout the content lifecycle. DAX Production Cloud allows the use of the same system for both Dailies and Post Production workflows and enables editorial, creative agencies, VFX and localization vendors—all stakeholders within the production supply chain to collaborate, service and distribute media—all on the same software.

With high-res content on the system, users can have seamless access to other CLEAR modules like Promo Operations that allow end-to-end business process orchestration for promo creation including automation of promo versioning using Adobe Premiere Pro CC. The promo operations module is designed to solve the challenge of media logistics and automate workflows to manage vendors involved in the process of “versioning” promos from studios to broadcasters to digital organization

Prime Focus Technologies will be in booth SL 9605.

LOS ANGELES – Prime Focus Technologies has been awarded the 2015 Global Growth Excellence Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan. The award recognizes companies that creatively and profitably deliver value to customers and set-up for long-term and rapid growth.

PFT helps companies with CLEAR, a hybrid cloud-enabled media ERP suite. CLEAR facilitates a connected enterprise with one interface that extends across the content value chain. CLEAR allows customers to use workflows that can be run at anytime on the cloud; single MAM to cover multiple global locations; automated publishing to new media platforms; and seamless distribution.

PFT also recently announced a deal with HOOQ where Operations Cloud, part of the CLEAR suite, will help package and deliver content on HOOQ.