As broadcasters continue transitioning to IP-based workflows, industry leaders are exploring new approaches that could improve interoperability, collaboration and operational flexibility.

At the heart of these discussions is the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and related Media eXchange Layer (MXL), emerging frameworks intended to help broadcasters determine how the next generation of software-defined workflows could work.

The topic was explored during a panel hosted by the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), in conjunction with the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), featuring moderator Steve Reynolds, CEO, Imagine Communications, and guest speakers Naveed Aslam, senior vice president of Production Technology and Engineering, CBS/Paramount; John Mailhot, senior vice president of Product Management, Imagine Communications; Willem Vermost, senior IP media technology architect, EBU; and Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear.

“Much of media processing now runs in software, in a combination of on-premises and in the cloud,” Reynolds said. “And so, if everything is now moving to software, we have to ask the question: are we still designing our facilities in the right way?”

Panelists said DMF was created to address this question, driving the industry forward while solving key business challenges such as how to improve efficiency and allow broadcasters and their partners to share “very expensive resources” amongst more productions.

“I think, from our perspective, SMPTE ST 2110 and IP-based workflows have largely been understood and embraced as being the next industry evolutionary step,” Aslam said. “From our perspective, the DMF initiative is truly the key to start unlocking the practical and technological benefits that we can derive from an IP infrastructure, the opportunities that arise from that, and it just truly starts to give us an opportunity to explore what IP workflows can be.”

The panel explained that neither DMF nor MXL are meant to replace SMPTE ST 2110, the technical standards that gives broadcasters a means to transport broadcast-quality signals over IP networks, enabling them to scale workflows and providing a foundation for interoperability.

Rather, all three are designed to work together: DMF provides a framework for the next generation of more dynamic, software-defined facilities, while MXL provides a specific mode for connecting applications and services, effectively enabling interoperability inside of a computing cluster.

“It’s really the goal of the DMF to organize those upper layers so that you can actually have a dynamic facility,” Mailhot said. “I think that 2110 and MXL will work together to achieve that, but there’s a lot of work to do to fill in all those blanks.”

“If we work in an asynchronous way, suddenly more media functions can be run than ever before. Within the same time frame, of a frame, multiple operations can be run,” Vermost said.

“If you look at it from that point of view, it seems like a revolution. But, if you look at it from your broadcast plant and how you operate it, it’s an evolution. We’ll get there step by step.”

Panel discussion is available on demand on NABA's YouTube channel.

To help engineers and technical leaders stay ahead, this two-part series, which is now available for on demand viewing, brings together the engineers, innovators, and technical architects defining the next decade of production. If you’re responsible for shaping or supporting your organization’s workflows, this is where the real insight lives.

Session 1, January 21: “MXL Architecture and Its Capabilities: Unlocking the Future of Live Production” Featuring a keynote from Peter Brightwell, Lead R&D Engineer at BBC and moderated by Jenny Priestley of TVBEurope offers a deep dive into the building blocks of #MXL providing broadcasters, content creators, and technology professionals with actionable strategies to streamline production, enhance flexibility, and future-proof their media operations. REGISTER HERE TO WATCH ON DEMAND

Session 2, January 28: "MXL in Action: Real-World Interoperability for the Software-Defined Era." Featuring a keynote from Helio Eufrauzino Media Solution Specialist at TV Globo and moderated by Tom Butts Editor of TV Tech will explore real-world implementations of MXL, demonstrating how interoperability between devices, systems, and workflows enables more agile, scalable, and efficient production operations. REGISTER HERE TO WATCH ON DEMAND

Who Should Attend

• Broadcast engineers
• CTOs and technical managers
• Live event and remote production teams
• Studio operators
• System designers and integrators
• Anyone modernizing workflow and infrastructure

Why Register Now?
Because the future of media workflows isn’t coming “someday” — It's being built today. And this series gives you access to the people designing the blueprints. Registration is free, but spots fill quickly.

Join us and be part of the conversation shaping what’s next.

The event is being held in collaboration with Matrox Video, Lawo, TVU Networks, Appear, Techex, Riedel Communications, Grass Valley and Telos Alliance.

With the dust now settled on IBC2025, TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope took the time this week to reflect on the biggest talking points and trends of the show in a special webinar.

The panel, Larissa Görner-Meeus, managing director at LaraMedia, Caretta Research co-founder Robert Ambrose, and Simon Hawkings, director of sales strategy and business acceleration at Ross Video, discussed multiple topics, including the Media eXchange Layer, cloud adoption, live production and the future of the industry.

One of the biggest talking points of the show was FinOps. “Finance has always been on the table when we were buying something. But now finance is a very central discussion that you have in any purchase or in any solution purchase,” explained Görner-Meeus.

“In this software-defined world that we’re moving so fast into, there are just new skills that we need and new disciplines that we need,” agreed Ambrose. “License management is one that comes up all the time in this world where we have all of this flexibility and floating licenses.”

This led the panel on to discussing the cloud, not a new talking point, but Ambrose told the audience he feels the industry is moving to a more pragmatic approach.

“There was a little while where everybody was cloud, cloud, cloud at all costs,” he explained. Now there’s much more focus on using the cloud where it makes sense. And, of course, it makes sense for lots of things. There’s a whole range of use cases where the cloud is superb. At the same time, there’s a lot of live production and broadcasting workflows, which are pretty constant workloads, and where that and cost and latency all make it much more sensible to just have it running on-prem on cheap servers. And I think, exactly what we’re seeing.”

“Maybe that’s another example of FinOps,” said Ambrose. “It’s understanding how to access the resources that you need and where’s the most economical place to have them.”

Hawkings agreed with Ambrose’s point, citing conversations at the show around the use of private cloud and customers building their own data centres in order to protect both costs and security.

“The move to software does not necessarily mean public cloud. It could end up looking in a way quite similar to how things are today, a room full of boxes with flashing lights doing things. But they’re running software. They’re not running FPGAs and hardware.”

The panel shared their overall thoughts from the show, with all three agreeing that they feel that in 2025, the pace of change in the industry is starting to increase. “It feels like we’ve got so much to talk about now in the way the industry is changing,” stated Ambrose.

“But we do always need to be careful, and this is always the danger of IBCs, that we can get caught up in the bubble. I think it’s always crucial to step back. We love new tech and love looking at the latest shiniest thing, but always step back and say, well, how is that going to change what we do for the better? How do we use it for real? Is this just a bubble, or is this something that is going make a change?

“That’s always a crucial question to ask after any of the big events.”

The full webinar is now available to watch on-demand here.

DENVER—Low-power television (LPTV) station owners looking to navigate the complexities of selling their assets in today's dynamic media environment are invited to an essential upcoming webinar, “Selling Your LPTV Station.” The session will feature two leading figures in the LPTV industry: Greg Guy, managing partner at Tideline Partners LLC, and Bill Christian, a highly experienced station owner.

The webinar is designed to provide practical guidance for owners contemplating a sale, offering a deep dive into current market dynamics and strategies for maximizing value. Greg Guy will share his extensive knowledge on valuation trends and key factors that attract buyers, drawing on Tideline Partners’ unparalleled track record as the firm that has brokered more LPTV transactions in recent years than any other.

Joined by Bill Christian, who has successfully bought and sold numerous LPTV stations, the discussion will offer candid insights directly from the negotiating table. Attendees will learn how to prepare their station for a sale, discover the biggest mistakes sellers often make, and understand what buyers prioritize when acquiring stations.

“Whether you’re actively preparing to sell or simply exploring your options, this webinar will equip you with the knowledge to better position your station, understand the sales process, and navigate it with confidence,” said Amy Lodes, director of the LPTV Broadcasters Association. "This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from two leaders with deep expertise in the LPTV space."

"Selling Your LPTV Station” will be held Tuesday, July 8 at 2 p.m. ET. The event is free to members of the Low-Power Television Broadcasters Association and $25 for non-members. Register here.

Click here to get all the information on TV Tech's future and past webinars, live and on demand.

Increasingly, traditional linear broadcasters are augmenting their distribution strategy by including streaming content delivery to reach the growing number of audience members who are just as likely to watch content on their smartphones and tablets as they are on their living room TVs.

Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) channels and Broadcast-Enabled Streaming TV (BEST)—aka BroadcastIP—are but two of the avenues broadcasters are pursuing to reach additional viewers, drive higher revenues and compete more effectively with digital rivals.

Broadcasters looking to cash in on these opportunities must first develop effective strategies touching nearly every aspect of their operation—from sales and marketing to content prep, traffic and playou tand master control.

Join TV Tech Contributing Editor Phil Kurz and sponsor TelVue for this informative webinar Dec. 12 at noon ET to explore the latest developments in streaming services, advertising opportunities and FAST and BEST channel deployments.

TV Tech is teaming up with TVBEurope and Avid to host a webinar looking at the impact of artificial intelligence on the media industry.

With so much being written about the technology, how does the industry actually see it? What advantages and challenges does AI offer to broadcasters, and how confident are they about using AI in their workflows today?

The free session on Nov. 26 will take a deep dive into the key findings of an industry survey on the confidence in AI, conducted by Caretta Research on behalf of TVBEurope and TV Tech.

Topics under discussion will include what challenges lie on the road ahead to adopting AI, and where AI is currently making the most impact on broadcast and media workflows, and where it could in the future.

Speakers include Caretta Research co-founder, Robert Ambrose, and Seth Hallen, president of the Hollywood Professional Association and AI expert.

A second session hosted by TVBEurope and Avid on Dec. 3 will focus on the reality of AI today for broadcasters and how it can increase workflow efficiency and creativity. It will include discussions on the ways in which AI can help journalists get their stories to air faster than ever before, and the importance of security when considering the implementation of AI.

Speakers include Avid product evangelist Craig Wilson and Danijela Horak, Head of AI Research, BBC R&D.

Don’t miss out on these webinars with leading experts sharing their knowledge on artificial intelligence. Register for free now.

Simply sending an OB vehicle to a remote venue to produce coverage of live sports or entertainment is no longer the only game in town.

Developments over the past several years have helped to drive a rethink about how best to implement technologies and supporting workflows to maintain production excellence, adopt advancements in resolution and High Dynamic Range and work more efficiently--all while controlling costs.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, at 12 noon ET, join our panel of remote production experts, Stephen Repass, vice president at Ross Production Services; Deon LeCointe, director of networked solutions at Sony Electronics; and Laurent Masia, director of product line management, managed switches at NETGEAR.

You’ll learn:

• Where REMI, virtualized production and other workflow advances stand.
• How more efficient compression schemes are opening up new contribution possibilities
• Whether or not private and public 5G networks will prove to be real production game changers.
• How cloud-based alternatives to on-prem OB trucks are transforming workflows.
• The latest workflow developments including distributed production.

Register for this free webinar here.

Today’s consumers have an increasing array of choices when it comes to consuming media and broadcasters are uniquely positioned to attract more viewers than ever before. Whether it’s over the air or over IP or traditional pay TV, broadcasters have the background and expertise to create, manage and monetize their content in ways that can maximize their bottom line. 

Join us on Thursday, September 28th at 2pm EST. 

In this webinar, we will discuss best practices in managing the creation of content, focusing on the variety of media formats now available, manage your content archives, the most effective monetization strategies and take a look at how emerging technologies such as AI and new methods of distribution will impact the future of media consumption.

Register for the event here. 

WASHINGTON—NextGen TV, the evolution of broadcast TV powered by the ATSC 3.0 standard, will have wide-ranging impacts on how TV is delivered and viewed by consumers, but according to John Lawson, executive director of the AWARN Alliance, perhaps no broadcast element has a bigger upside with NextGen TV than weather.

The AWARN Alliance discussed what things will look like with ATSC 3.0 in this week’s webinar “NextGen TV and the Future of TV Weather.”

THE BASICS OF ADVANCED EMERGENCY ALERTING

The ATSC 3.0 standard is built with a multitude of layers that offer different types of services, but as ATSC President Madeleine Noland outlined in the webinar, the most relevant to weather broadcast is its Advanced Emergency Alerting layer. 

One of the key AEA features includes what Noland called the receiver “wake-up,” a bootstrap component of the layer that enables monitoring for alerts even when a receiver is in stand-by mode. If a relevant alert is sent out, the monitor will wake-up and broadcast the alert.

There is also the AEA table, which determines the key information that is needed to properly disseminate alerts. This includes data like where the alert is for, allowing for geo-targeting; the timing of the alert, severity, and more. Noland called the AEA table “the heart and soul of the system.”

Other elements that the AEA layer provides is the delivery of rich media, including interactive content for recipients.

PUTTING IT TO USE

It’s not enough to just have the tool, the right people need to know how to properly use it. The groundwork for this certainly seems to be in place based off of the panelists’ presentations during AWARN’s webinar.

Veronica Johnson, morning lead meteorologist with WJLA in D.C. and a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, discussed how broadcasters can improve upon their role as a trusted source of weather and other emergency information with NextGen TV.

Many people get their alerts from either broadcast TV or radio stations, which come in the form of on-air announcements or text crawls and texts/push alerts to mobile devices. However, these alerts are typically delivered to a very broad audience, where everyone might not be impacted—a source of frustration for many Johnson has found, especially when it interrupts “Jeopardy.” 

The ability to focus alerts via AEA’s geo-targeting capabilities is expected to remedy that. Johnson takes it a step further and says that dedicated, area-specific weather channels could be developed to provide 24/7 information.

Johnson also highlighted how alerts via AEA can be delivered to more devices beyond just the TV or smartphone. Gaming devices are a potential source for receiving alerts, as are cars, which could receive information on road closures or other incidents impacting someone’s commute.

Johnson says she sees “zero negatives” and all positives with the launch of NextGen TV, and believes that it will become the second most important tool for weather broadcasters, behind radar.

A ‘BACKBONE OF WEATHER INNOVATION’

The weather industry itself is also utilizing NextGen TV technology. FACETs (Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats) has been working with broadcasters since 2016 to determine how its technology can be incorporated to better serve broadcasters and their viewers. “The more we learn as researchers, the more we are excited about what we  can provide broadcasters,” said Kodi Berry, Ph.D, FACETs program lead at NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory.

The Weather Company has found that NextGen TV tech gives a boost to a number of its features, including its Weather InSight program, which uses AI to provide hyper-local and hyper-focused information. Rodney Thompson, senior strategist, Digital B2B/B2C weather products for The Weather Company, said that NextGen TV creates a better experience for delivering weather information.

“ATSC 3.0 can be the backbone of weather and weather innovation,” said Mark Taylor, a technologist with MyRadar and a strategic advisor to the AWARN Alliance. However, when asked if the weather industry is expected to wait for broadcasters to utilize the NextGen TV tech he put it bluntly. “No, but hopefully we can do it together.”

ATSC 3.0 deployments are already underway across the country, ready to serve viewers that have ATSC 3.0-compatible TV models—Sony, Samsung and LG are currently offering NextGen TV capable models. Noland reports that ATSC 3.0 is expected to reach 50% of the U.S. TV households in the first quarter of 2021, then 75% by the fall of 2021.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—SMPTE is providing a preview of what the 2020 SMPTE Remote Conference experience will be like during a free webinar scheduled for Aug. 26.

Netflix's Kylee Peña and media tech innovator Chris Witmayer, the SMPTE 2020 program chairs, will host the webinar, sharing their personal experiences with past conferences and discuss what attendees can expect from this year’s technical content.

“This webinar is for anyone who is curious about participating in the 2020 edition of SMPTE’s annual conference,” said Sally-Ann D’Amato, director of events, SMPTE. “We’ve got an exciting lineup of events and opportunities presented in a polished interactive virtual setting that eliminates the usual time, cost and travel commitments. Kylee and Chris will offer their perspectives on the program content and format and then explore the many great reasons to register for SMPTE 2020.”

SMPTE 2020, because of COVID-19, is going the virtual route this year, but says that it has crafted an “interactive and immersive” experience for learning and networking.

The preview webinar will take place live on Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. ET. Registration is now open. 

COVID-19 has compelled broadcasters to use home-based workers extensively. In doing so, both sides have had to endure lower-quality performance and productivity in content creation, plus the reduced capabilities available to home-based users compared to those working in production centers and studios. 

These problems have arisen because a typical broadcaster’s network infrastructure was never designed to serve so many remote connections and functions. Add the inferior cybersecurity available to home-based users (and the incursion risks this poses to broadcasters), and working from home has been a necessary workaround at best.

Fortunately, there is an available, feasible, and affordable IT solution to all of these problems. It is the innately secure communications protocol known as Teradici PC-over-IP (Teradici PCoIP). 

In place of traditional two-way data communications, Teradici PCoIP compresses, encrypts and transmits only video pixels from the broadcaster to home-based/remote users. The actual file remains within the broadcaster’s domain, with any interactions going through a secure interface that keeps the content safe. 

On the home workers’ display screens, everything looks the same. The video quality is lossless and color accurate, while the entire experience of connecting from any remote location via PCoIP looks and feels like using a conventional computer at work. Video editing performance is unaffected because Teradici PCoIP technology can deliver full-motion video up to 4K at high frame rates to home-based/remote computers.

Teradici PCoIP has been adopted by many industry players including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) of Star Wars fame. Because PCoIP sends pixels rather than complete files, its bandwidth requirements are relatively small. This is why ILM uses PCoIP to share dailies between its San Francisco headquarters and collaborators worldwide. Doing so avoids sending proprietary video files as large as 100GB or larger over the internet.

On August 11, 2020 at 2pm eastern, Teradici Technical Marketing Principal Ian Main will share how Teradici PCoIP (and other Teradici products) can provide broadcasters and their home-based workers with a secure, efficient, and scalable virtual work environment. He will also detail how ILM and other users are using PCoIP today, and how easily broadcasters can implement PCoIP in their own IT infrastructures.

To register click here.

WASHINGTON—Pearl TV, a consortium of TV station groups, manufacturers and associated groups focused on advancing ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) plans to host a series of educational webinars to prepare stations’ in their transition to NextGen TV, powered by ATSC 3.0.

The webinar series, “Entry Level ATSC 3.0 Implementation Requirements and Capabilities,” will be held bi-weekly June 3 through Aug. 26. Pearl says the expertise provided through the webinars are based on  the experience gained during the last two years of operating the Phoenix Model Market Station, and will provide instructions to help station and technology management personnel convert local markets to ATSC 3.0.

Participants will be guided to a general operational knowledge of the standard as well as how it relates to service sharing on a NextGen TV “host” station. The series will cover an overview of content security and service protection, broadcaster application and framework and service profiles. Sessions will also be dedicated to encoding, packaging, gateway, encapsulation and signaling.

To register for the sessions or to learn more about the topics covered, please visit https://pearltv.com/events/.

The biggest area of content to have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic has been live events, be that sports, concerts or live entertainment shows.

But eventually these events will return, and operators need to be ready for what’s expected to be a large audience hungry to watch their favorite football team once again.

The question is, are operators ready for that returning audience?

This will be the focus of TVBEurope’s free webinar with MediaKind on Tuesday, May 5.

The webinar, which will include contributions from Carl Furgusson, MediaKind’s vice president of Portfolio Strategy, and Richard Mansfield, head of Media Delivery and Advertising Product Management, will look at how consumer habits toward streaming will have shifted during the first half of 2020.

For many viewers, live TV has been king over the past 10 years or so, with BARB figures showing viewers are still tuning in to live TV for around 2.5 hours a day.

Therefore, delivering live broadcast quality content across all screens is the toughest challenge, especially when the internet is seeing increasing use due to the numbers of people working from home.

Among the questions the webinar will pose will be:

• How can operators achieve a broadcast-like streaming experience?
• What's next for pop-up sport channels?
• Will the coronavirus pandemic accelerate the shift to cloud?
• Is the industry too reliant on on-premise playout?

All of these questions will be answered during the Live Streaming 2020—Shifting Consumer Habits webinar.

Don’t miss out on this webinar with leading experts sharing their knowledge of live streaming. Register for free here.

IP technology for Live Remote Media Production

Live remote media production has long been a mainstay of broadcasting around the globe. The ability to bring live sports, entertainment and news events to viewers continues to be one of the most effective ways to attract large audiences.

IP networks and devices are taking over remote media production due to two main trends: the ever-decreasing cost of long-haul IP network connections, and the unprecedented flexibility of IP-based media production equipment. Understanding the changed environment created by this revolution in technology is essential for media producers and broadcasters around the globe.

TV Technology will be presenting a live webinar on at 2:00 pm EST January 17th that will explain the driving forces behind this transition along with the key technologies that are enabling it. Speakers will include Tom Butts, Content Director for TV Technology, Wes Simpson, President of Telecom Product Consulting and frequent speaker/author on IP media networking.

Webinar topics will include:

The “At-Home”/REMI production revolution

• Deploying new workflows
• On-site vs. At-Home production system requirements

Key success factors

• Bandwidth, delay and signal quality considerations
• Content and network security
• Training and organization

Making the transition

Speakers

Tom Butts has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Technology, the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology

Wes Simpson, President, Telecom Product Consulting, an independent consulting firm that focuses on video and telecommunications products. He has more than 25 years experience in the design, development and marketing of products for telecommunication applications. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as IBC, NAB and VidTrans and is author of the book Video Over IP. Wes was a founding member of the Video Services Forum. wes.simpson@gmail.com

Will Waters is NewTek’s VP of Customer Success. Waters specializes in broadcast production workflow planning, product configuration, and oversees NewTek’s professional services and customer support divisions. Watersis an evangelist for production over IP and is directly involved in creating awareness and adoption of NDI®   technology. He has been intimately involved in many new product concepts and aligns customer needs with market requirements.  Waters has served in roles as sales engineer and top-level support at NewTek. Prior to joining NewTek he was a systems designer and integrator, designing large-scale production video systems and streaming solutions.

Robert is Grass Valley’s director of Advanced Technology, part of the CTO team. In this role, Robert works with product teams to identify future product development opportunities and to apply new and emerging technologies that address specific customer challenges. He regularly engages with customers to educate them on emerging industry technologies, such as IP and cloud-based processing, and to gather input that informs Grass Valley’s future plans.

Escalating requirements associated with higher resolution content, increasing formats, and tighter deadlines continue to drive organizations to invest in new storage resources.  Often this means purchasing additional storage arrays to add performance and capacity, but with the common issue that environments become more difficult to manage, and nonlinear improvements in performance reduce overall returns on investment.  The good news is that with the right storage technology, this doesn’t need to be true. 

This informative session will cover how organizations can get more out of their storage resources while at the same time improving the overall economics of their investments. 

Specifically, this session will discuss:

• Making flash-based storage resources more cost-effective by tiering primary storage to better align with high-performance requirements
• Reducing data center footprint by driving the maximum level of performance per U of rackspace with an NVME all-flash storage system
• Transitioning demanding workflows from costly SAN-based infrastructure to economical Ethernet-based infrastructure
• Increasing productivity of both users and IT staff through new innovations in file system functionality

Tom Butts has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Technology, the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology

Jason Coari has over 20 years experience in the technical computing and storage industry, with a career spanning both senior sales and marketing positions across the globe at both hardware and software organizations. At Quantum, Jason is responsible for leading the company’s commercial strategy across all industries for scale-out storage solutions. Previous to Quantum, he worked in a variety of global roles at SGI, most notably directing HPC product marketing strategy and leading the European and APAC marketing organizations.

Click Here to Watch.

In this webinar, experts with Audinate and Solid State Logic will share perspective on how Dante helps provide a more powerful, stable environment for the broadcast world. 

 This highly informative Webinar will discuss and demonstrate the following:

In addition to many common questions we hear from broadcasters, representatives from Audinate and Solid State Logic will take questions, time permitting, at the end of the webinar which can be submitted using the attendee console.

If you find you’re unable to attend, or have a question that you would like us to be aware of before January 14, you can send it by clicking here. We will be sure to either answer your question live during the webinar (time permitting)

 A follow-up email with a link to watch the presentations On-Demand will be sent to everyone who registers within 48 hours after January 14.

Speakers

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TVTechnology. For more than 30 years, Phil has covered the television and non-broadcast video markets. During that time, he has served as the editor-in-chief of three different industry magazines and helped launch several successful e-newsletters on television technology-related topics. Phil also has written well over 1,000 articles, columns and editorials on technology topics. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor and a master’s degree in journalism

Patrick’s career has spanned live production, recording, broadcast, installed sound and automation industries, especially in the adoption of new technological innovations. He excels at explaining not only the theoretical aspects of new tools, but also in bringing practical advice and instilling confidence for new systems to run as planned. Over the last five years, he has been active with Dante licensees and their adoption of AES67 and ST 2110. In his current role at Audinate, Patrick leads training efforts around the Dante audio-video network solution.

Responsible for the strategic planning and realisation of Solid State Logic’s Broadcast product portfolio, Tom has been the driving force behind the company’s shift to networked solutions. He specialises in the design and integration of networked / AoIP systems and works with a comprehensive engineering team to specify, develop, manage and deliver SSL’s Network I/O and System T ranges.

WASHINGTON—On Thursday, Jan. 23, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm ET, the FCC’s Media Bureau will host a webinar reviewing the functionality of, and changes to, the Commission’s revised Children’s Television Programming Report. The Report has been amended to implement changes adopted by the Commission regarding the children’s programming rules and broadcasters’ related reporting and filing obligations.

To join the webinar online:

1. Click here or copy the link in the footnote below and paste it into your browser.

2. Click on “Join.”

3. Enter your name and email address.

During the event, those watching the live video stream will be able to email form-related questions that staff will address at the conclusion of the webinar. After the event, a recording of the webinar will be available for streaming. A link to the recording will be available at:

https://www.fcc.gov/general/childrens-educational-television-rules-and-orders.

For additional information, contact Evan Morris, legal advisor, Media Bureau, 202-418-1656 or by e-mail at Evan.Morris@fcc.gov; or Kathy Berthot, Policy Division, Media.

Social media has become a critical element for broadcasters to deliver stories quickly and engage viewers and is the key topic of discussion in the webinar “Social Media Platforms—Profit or Problems.” This new webinar features the following speakers:

Bob Papper, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Journalism at Hofstra University and Professor Emeritus at Ball State University

Ray Thompson, director of market solutions, Broadcast & Media, Avid

Craig Wilson, product evangelist, Broadcast & Media, Avid

This webinar explores the everyday challenges that face news producers globally to capture audiences across multiple platforms, with the solution experts looking at the essential need for a connected workflow to accelerate news production and distribution.

You can now watch the webinar on-demand.

In an ever increasing market, broadcasters, content owners and distributors need to find effective ways to increase viewer choices through more content, new services and expanding to new markets. TV Technology is offering a one-hour webinar on these types of strategies, “How to Implement an Intelligent Content Media Platform,” with the following speakers:

Bea Alonso, director of product marketing, Dalet

Luc Comeau, director of market strategy & portfolio - MAM, Dalet

The webinar examines how MAM technology can be leveraged to manage content production and distribution workflows to meet today’s new distribution demand while reducing labor costs and maximizing return on investment.

You can now watch the webinar on-demand.

Media Asset Management (MAM) systems must undergo a fundamental transformation from simply a repository for audio, video, graphics, animations and associated metadata to an intelligent content factory that enables Media & Entertainment companies to streamline content production and distribution, says Bea Alonso, director, product marketing at Dalet.

“Content owners and distributors face a daunting challenge as their media supply chain is under strain to keep pace with their desire to exploit new markets and distribute content quickly and efficiently,” says Alonso.

Alonso, along with Luc Comeau, market director, MAM, at Dalet, will present their views during a TVTechnology webinar, Nov. 20 at Noon EDT. The hour long event, “How to implement an Intelligent Content Media Platform,” will examine how MAM technology can be leveraged to manage content production and distribution workflows to meet today’s new distribution demands while reducing labor costs and maximizing return on investment (ROI).

A major impediment holding M&E companies back from fully capitalizing on new distribution opportunities is their existing workflows, says Comeau. “Often M&E businesses find themselves with multiple departments acquiring and producing content in different formats, storage that is disconnected and geographically diverse and a lack of searchable metadata. Further, their content import workflows are disjointed, downstream distribution workflows are paltry or non-existent and there is limited visibility into content consumption and distribution.”

MAM technology holds the key to solving these issues by transforming existing workflows into an intelligent content factory tuned to choreograph the distribution of content to multiple platforms—one that leverages component-based workflows to maximize efficiency and ROI for M&E businesses, whether they are distributing their content to other businesses or directly to consumers, says Comeau.

The webinar, moderated by TVTechnology Editor-in-Chief Tom Butts, will also examine the questions of whether there is a business case to be made for investing in multi-platform distribution automation as well as where the ROI is in multiplatform distribution. There also will be the chance for those attending the webinar to have their questions answered.

Registration is currently open for the webinar. Simply click on the link and register.

BURLINGTON, Mass.—The rise of social media, digital and smartphones as go-to sources of news and information for millions of consumers is transforming how broadcasters view their role as a critical source of news, weather and sports, says Ray Thompson, director of Market Solutions, Broadcast & Media at Avid.

“Just repurposing stories that go out over traditional OTA [over-the-air] broadcast won’t cut it,” he says Thompson. “Having a social/digital strategy is a requirement as data shows more and more people rely on mobile and social platforms for their news/sports source.”

To register for the “Social Media Platforms –Profit or Problems” webinar, Nov. 21, click here.

Thompson and Craig Wilson, product evangelist, Broadcast & Media at Avid, will present their perspectives on the evolution of TV newsrooms as they leverage social, digital and mobile Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. EDT during the “Social Media Platforms –Profit or Problems” TVTechnology webinar, sponsored by Avid Technology. (Full disclosure: I am moderating this hour-long webinar.)

In the past, journalists focused their efforts on creating news stories for TV or one particular news show or bulletin with specific deadlines, says Wilson. “Now they need to be able to produce across many platforms and meet almost instant deadlines.”

No longer do journalists hold stories till airtime. Today, they are looking to publish as soon as they have information and then refine and update the story throughout the day as well as produce a package for the evening news, says Wilson.

As a consequence, workflows and the thinking of journalists and news managers are changing in newsrooms. “Journalists now have lots of competing demands for their time, and it requires a new, creative mindset to deliver throughout the day on these platforms and then on-air,” adds Wilson.

One workflow strategy that’s popular among stations is merging traditional TV news teams with digital/social media teams into a single unit. “Even if they are not merged, stations want them to collaborate and to be as efficient as possible so they can pool their resources and deliver the biggest bang for their buck in terms of content production,” adds Wilson.

While disruptive to traditional TV newsroom workflows, these new platforms offer broadcasters that leverage their full potential benefits that extend far beyond bringing news to consumers faster, says Thompson.

“As producers develop content, they may be publishing to different social, web and app platforms that are built to cater to different demographics,” he says. “This can help stations realize higher ad rates and higher CPMs as the ads served are easier to deliver to a specific audience and demographic group.”

The availability of analytics about consumers of news on these social and digital platforms enables broadcasters and other content creators to deliver metrics to ad buyers looking to reach different groups with ads, he says.

“To be successful, content creators and publishers must deliver a TV-like experience –meaning no buffering—to any device, anywhere, anytime, then measure both the network –meaning reliability--and the playback, including who is watching, for how long and potentially where, and last but not least, develop a more catered experience based on the types of content and shows a user is watching,” says Thompson.

To register for the “Social Media Platforms –Profit or Problems” webinar, Nov. 21, click here.

LONDON & WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers today announced an agreement to make training by each organization available to the membership of the other at discounted prices.

The agreement also calls for the organizations to look for other areas in which collaboration could benefit the members of each. Calling the deal “something of a milestone,” IABM CEO Peter White said the agreement marks “the beginning of an ongoing collaboration across a number of activities and the start of what we envision to be a long-term partnership.”

As part of the deal, some SMPTE members will have privileged access to IABM Business Intelligence via an exclusive web portal and webinars, and IABM members will be granted access to SMPTE webcasts, the groups said.

“A knowledge exchange with IABM makes a great deal of sense for both of our organizations,” said SMPTE Executive Director Barbara Lange. “IABM’s strength is in business knowledge and research, while SMPTE brings expertise in standards-based technologies—a synergy that will add great value for our respective communities.”

Both organizations published links to their respective courses and educational offerings covered under the agreement, including SMPTE educational offerings and full IABM course offerings.

“Collaboration is not just the latest buzzword—it underpins the future success of both the supply and buying sides of the broadcast and media industries,” said White. “We see media companies increasingly coming together to form alliances in the search for digital speed, scale and geographical reach, and the same thing is happening on the supply side.” 

WASHINGTON—Now that the FCC has opened a 60-day filing window for LPTV, translator and FM broadcast stations impacted by the channel repack, the commission has announced that it will hold an informational webinar on Aug. 28 to answer filers’ questions.

Scheduled for 11 a.m.-noon Eastern Time, the webinar will be hosted by the Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau and will cover topics including:

• Filing FCC Form 2100, Schedule 399 (Reimbursement Form), including the certification demonstrating that an entity meets the eligibility criteria for reimbursement (Eligibility Certification);
• Providing estimates of reimbursement costs;
• Submitting invoices for actual expenses incurred;
• Overview of the allocation and payment processes and additional topics related to the reimbursement process

Attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions via email during the live webinar and a recording of the event will be available afterwards.

The broadcasters have until Oct. 15 to submit paperwork.

Visit this link to join the webinar.

For more news and insight on the repack, visit TV Technology'srepack silo.

WASHINGTON—The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is set to host a free webinar designed for low power broadcasters that will cover a number of topics dealing with the Emergency Alert System, including instructions on how to register and file in the EAS Test Reporting System.

WebEx will be the host for the webinar, or attendees can copy and past https://www.fcc.gov/EAS-test-requirements-and-reporting in their web browser to gain access. Questions for the webinar can be emailed to alerting@fcc.gov. For those unable to attend live, the webinar will be archived at www.fcc.gov/live.

Open captioning or other accommodations will be made available upon request to fcc504@fcc.gov, or by calling the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

The webinar is scheduled for July 11 at from 1-1:45 p.m. ET. Pre-registration is not required to attend.

This free, 45-minute webinar (now available on-demand), features the editorial teams from TV Technology, TVBEurope and Creative Planet Network reviewing some of the most important media technologies and new products showcased at the 2019 NAB Show.

Topics covered include: 8K, 5G, large-format imaging, machine learning, esports, IP video workflows and Best of Show award-winning products.

Click here to download the webinar.

Sponsored by:
Comark
Evertz
IHSE
Cobalt
VidOvation

TV broadcasters continue to have a great story for companies looking to deliver effective ads and grow their sales. However, advertising demands are evolving rapidly as local, regional and national advertisers look to utilize new platforms like digital and social media. At this point in the journey to Next Gen TV, it’s simply a matter of making the best use of available resources to optimize ad delivery. 

"The Value of Video: Using Today's Media Supply Chain to Optimize Ad Delivery" features the following speakers:

Ronnie Bell, vice president, product line management at Imagine Communications

Abby Auerbach, EVP, chief communications officer at TVB

In this webinar, learn about technologies that can sharpen the effectiveness of media supply chain workflows to enable traffic and sales departments to respond nimbly to the opportunities they are presented.

You can watch the webinar on-demand.

TVB Europe will be joining forces with sister titles TV Technology and Creative Planet Network to host a free webinar on May 22.

The live webinar, titled "Tracking the Trends from the 2019 NAB Show," will take place at 11 a.m ET.

The webinar will review some of the most important media technologies and new products showcased at the NAB Show, including 5G, 8K, esports, IP video workflows, Machine Learning, speech-to-text, standards and more.

Don’t miss out on this free webinar for an update on some of the most important trends from this year’s NAB Show; register for free here.

“The Value of Video: Using Today’s Media Supply Chain to Optimize Ad Delivery” webinar will take place on May 16 at 2 p.m. ET. Registerhere.

LEAWOOD, Kan.—Television broadcasters may only be in the earliest stages of making addressable advertising and interactivity a reality, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take steps today to transform their media supply chain workflows to optimize ad delivery and thereby compete more successfully with digital platforms and social media, says Ronnie Bell, VP, Global Product Management, at Imagine Communications.

“Many broadcasters are poorly equipped to benefit fully from new ad revenue opportunities,” says Bell. “Fortunately, however, there are new technologies that can transform media supply chain workflows so that traffic and sales departments can respond on a dime to meet the demands of today’s linear and digital advertisers.”

Bell will examine how automation technology can help to alleviate workflow challenges, ad optimization can address ad inventory imbalances created by changes in supply and demand, and integration of asset management and playout automation can empower the business office and simplify master control workflows.

“Balancing advertiser requirements and business rules against the most efficient use of airtime can be a tricky business, and automation holds the key to addressing this potential quagmire,” says Bell.

Bell, who will present these and other insights Thursday, May 16, at 2 p.m. ET during a live TVTechnology webinar sponsored by Imagine Communications, also has identified standardization as a critical component of optimizing media supply chain workflows.

“Standardization enables the buy and sell sides of the ad market to align,” he explains. “That’s the case regardless of whether we’re talking about data, orders or copy instructions.”

By standardizing the data format, it is possible to achieve seamless integrations with any party transmitting data using the standard, he says.

The free webinar will give attendees the opportunity to direct what Bell discusses during the event by providing answers to instant-polling questions and participating in a lively Q&A. Full disclosure, I will be moderating the webinar.

Register online today by visiting the online registration landing page.

Media & Entertainment companies around the world face the same problem: how best to archive an ever-increasing number of video assets in a way that’s affordable, accessible and secure. This webinar examines the benefits and limitations of three popular archiving strategies and how they are being deployed to meet the archiving and disaster recovery needs of media companies. Discussion will cover:

• Pros and cons of archiving media in a public cloud and on LTO tape
• How hybrids may be the right strategy for some media enterprises
• Critical factors of archiving options for M&E businesses
• Real-world media archiving and disaster recovery projects
• How station groups of all sizes can begin archiving local content affordably

Click Here to Register

Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Time: 02:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Duration: 1 hour

Date: August 30, 2018

Time: 12:00pm ET

It’s been a decade since the video industry saw its first sVOD service. A lot has changed over the past 10 years. Technology challenges facing content and video providers (CAVPs) have given way to business concerns as the industry matures. 

Key findings of a new research report from Broadcasting & Cable and TV Technology and Comcast Technology Solutions, underscore this shift. Fully 60% of CAVPs identify business issues as their top challenge right now. Join Editor-in-Chief Tom Butts, nScreen Media analyst Colin Dixon, and Matt Smith of Comcast Technology Solutions as they discuss the greatest concerns facing CAVPs and the strategies being deployed to tackle these challenges during this informative webinar.

Among the highlights:

• Controlling costs and maximizing customer lifetime value are important, but not the top business challenge concerning CAVPs.
• 3 key features CAVPs identified as differentiators to stay ahead of their competition.
• Why half of the responders would put most of their existing service in the cloud.

Register Here

Speakers and Moderators

Moderator: Tom Butts - Editor in Chief, TV Technology

Speaker: Colin Dixon - Chief Analyst & Founder, nScreenMedia

Speaker: Matt Smith - Executive Director, Comcast Technology Solutions

If you weren't able to attend TV Technology and Broadcasting & Cable’s "State of Streaming: How OTT leaders view quality, opportunity shifts to live/live linear channels" webinar, sponsored by Akamai, you can check it out here. We want to continue the conversation on this very important topic, so have a look at the webinar recording and join in.

Click here to access the full recording.

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Wes Simpson, President, Telecom Product Consulting
Featured Speaker: Keith Lissak, Senior Director, Media & Entertainment solutions marketing, Quantum

FRISCO, TEXAS—Imagine Communications will tackle the topic of ATSC 3.0 and the opportunities it presents broadcasters during a webinar at 11 a.m. EST on Dec. 13.

Company CTO Steve Reynolds and Chief Product Officer (CPO) Sarah Foss will host a panel of industry experts in a conversation about the new standard and why broadcasters who aren’t sure why they should care about the new standard should.

Besides Reynolds and Foss, the panelists will include Rich Redmond, CPO, GatesAir; Chet Dagit, CEO, Lokita Solutions. The webinar panel will be moderated by Allan McLennan, founder and president, PADEM Media Group.

Topics will include:

· The state of 3.0 from a regulatory, standards and market point of view

· Insight into new revenue-driving opportunities made possible by the standard

· An examination of the FCC’s elimination of the main studio rule and how it relates to 3.0

· Low-risk ways to benefit from 3.0

· Tips on making a smooth 3.0 transition

Visit the Imagine Communications registration page to sign up.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Dave Frederick, Senior Director of media and entertainment, Quantum

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Roger Heiniger, Product Manager, Studer

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Features Speaker: Josh Derby, Vice President, Technology Development & Strategy, Discovery Communications
Features Speaker: Bhavik Vyas, Global Alliance & Segment Leader - Media Entertainment, AWS

Moderators: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology, Deborah McAdams, Executive Editor, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Jean Macher, Director, Market Development, Broadcast, Harmonic
Featured Speaker: Jeff Riedmiller, Vice President, Sound Group in the Office of the CTO, Dolby Laboratories

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Deborah McAdams, Executive Editor, TV Technology

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Jim Chen, Product Manager, Advantech's Networks & Communications Group

Featured Speaker: Paul Stevens, Marketing Director, Advantech's Networks & Communications Group

WASHINGTON—Got a gripe about interference complaints or other FCC matters? Here’s a webinar you will find of interest. The FCC is hosting an hour-long webinar that will provide an overview of the Commission’s Consumer Help Center, the online portal for filing complaints and consumer information.

The webinar, which is free, will demonstrate how to navigate the site and explore how consumers can learn about communication services and resolve issues affecting that service. How to file an informal complaint related to access for people with disabilities will also be a topic of discussion during the webinar.

“What the FCC’s Consumer Help Center Can Do for You” will be streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live with open captions. Participants will be able to submit comments and questions by emailing livequestions@fcc.gov or via Twitter using the hashtag #FCCLive.

The webinar will take place on April 24 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET. No registration is required. Additional information on the webinar will be posted on the event page.

MODERATOR: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology

MODERATOR: Cristina Clapp, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Video

MODERATOR: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
FEATURED SPEAKER: Tom Burns, Field CTO for Media & Entertainment, Dell EMC

FEATURED SPEAKER: Sara Kudrle, Product Marketing Manager, Networking, Grass Valley

MODERATOR: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology

FEATURED SPEAKER: James Stellpflug, VP Product Marketing, EVS

MODERATOR: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
FEATURED SPEAKER: Wes Simpson, Research Consultant, TV Technology
FEATURED SPEAKER: Janet Lafleur, Senior Manager, StorNext Product Marketing, Quantum

Featured Speaker: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology

Featured Speaker: Bryce Button, Product Marketing Manager, AJA

WASHINGTON—The FCC webinar on the post-incentive auction transition has been rescheduled from Oct. 13 to Oct. 17. The reason for the move is because the Institute of Electronics Engineers and the NAB notified the FCC of potential conflict with the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Symposium that is set for Oct. 12-14; many of the people attending the symposium are in the FCC’s targeted audience.

The webinar will be hosted by the Incentive Auction Task Force, Media Bureau, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology and is meant to provide an overview of the proposed repack plan. The webinar will run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

For the full story, check out TVT’s sister publication B&C.

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—Monroe Electronics and its Digital Alert Systems subsidiary will take part in the Thursday, Oct. 6, webinar from IPAWS. Monroe will participate as an IPAWS Alert Origination Service Provider and will offer a live technology demonstration of its DASEOC integrated CAP/EAS origination platform.

Following FEMA’s updates on the IPAWS-OPEN authentication platform, Monroe will offer its demonstration that has been adopted by a reported nine state emergency management agencies, as well as counties across the U.S. The demo will showcase the latest features of the DASEOC alert origination platform, specifically its interoperability with FEMA’s IPAWS. These features include providing a single interface for broadcast EAS and mobile phone alerts to Wireless Emergency Alerts; multilingual alert origination; monitor incoming CAP alerts locally, regionally or nationally; email notifications of alerts.

The IPAWS webinar is scheduled to take place at noon on Oct. 6 and does not require prior registration. To launch the webinar, attendees can go through the Webex interface, or dial into 1-650-479-3207 and enter access code 665100168.

Featured Speaker: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Deborah McAdams, Executive Editor, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Jean Macher, Market Development, Harmonic

Featured Speaker: Joe Seccia, Television Market & Product Development Strategy, GatesAir

Moderator: Tom Butts, Editor-in-Chief, TV Technology
Featured Speaker: Tom Lattie, Vice President, Market Development & Product Strategy, Video Products, Harmonic

Featured Speaker: Tim Warren, Chief Technical Officer, Video Business, Harmonic