TVBE August 2015 by Future PLC

www.tvbeurope.com

Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry

August 2015

Countdown to

Amsterdam

IBC2015 preview edition

TVBEurope 3

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Welcome

EDITORIAL Executive Editor - James McKeown jmckeown@nbmedia.com Editor - Melanie Dayasena-Lowe mdayasena-lowe@nbmedia.com Senior Staff Writer - Holly Ashford hashford@nbmedia.com Contributors - Chris Forrester, David Fox, David Davies, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine Wright Head of Digital - Tim Frost Human Resources & Ofﬁce Manager - Lianne Davey Head of Design, Hertford - Kelly Sambridge Senior Production Executive - Alistair Taylor Publisher - Steve Connolly sconnolly@nbmedia.com +44 207 354 6000 Sales Manager - Ben Ewles bewles@nbmedia.com +44 207 354 6000 Account Manager - Richard Carr rcarr@nbmedia.com +44 207 354 6000 Managing Director - Mark Burton US Sales - Michael Mitchell Broadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY 11740 mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv +1 (631) 673 0072 Japan and Korea Sales - Sho Harihara Sales & Project, Yukari Media Incorporated sho@yukarimedia.com +81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800 Circulation NewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK Free subscriptions tvbe.subscriptions@c-cms.com Subscriptions Tel +44 1580 883848

R(IP) SDI: your death will be greatly exaggerated TVBEurope 2020 gave us some cleaner perspective on the hybrid road ahead

ike many conferences we

to those longer-established facilities

attend throughout the

that will go through an irritating hybrid

lengthening annual calendar,

period as SDI says a ridiculously long

TVBEurope 2020 certainly left one

goodbye. One of the key pleas was

feeling that regardless of how

for ‘a small number of standards we

long and how often we discuss

can all use’, which need to be in

the varying complications of the

place by IBC 2017.”

shift to a more fully IP environment,

approaching IBC2015 to contend

at this stage to forecast with any

with, where no doubt many of the

accuracy just what the road

conversations entered into during

ahead will be like for companies

TVBEurope 2020 will continue to

in our sector. What we can do, and what I believe our

NewBay Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association

© NewBay Media 2015. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. TVBEurope is mailed to qualiﬁed persons residing on the European continent. Subscription is free. Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery. Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, NewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England. ISSN 1461-4197

Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

develop throughout the conferences and seminars that lie in wait at the Amsterdam

2020 conference did exceptionally well at

RAI. Our IBC preview offers a glimpse of the

encapsulating, is plan for the realities we can

messaging we can expect to hear as we marry

see; to address the core questions that are

exclusive thought leadership opinions with

affecting operational decision-making today.

product showcases in our countdown feature

There was a healthy mix of forward-probing and

starting on page 22.

present-day discussion to put in context the

If you missed out on TVBEurope 2020, then

undeniable convergence of UHD and IP, and the

make your way to our coverage of the day

issues this fusion creates for us all.

on page 40, and also to the feature on our

Nobody has the answers, that much was TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by NewBay Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002

Before then, we have the

there exist too many unknowns

TVBEurope Strategy Week roundtable event with

universally agreed, but more consensus was

Pebble Beach Systems, that dared to go inside

found with regards to standards, and that SDI

the evolving broadcast ecosystem.

will be a companion of ours for some time to

Finally, I just wanted to offer my sincere

come (again, no-one knows for how long,

thanks to Dawn Boultwood, TVBEurope’s

exactly). George Jarrett generously offered

designer, who between last issue and this has

his perspective on the conference. “Falling

moved on to pursue new opportunities in her

nicely between NAB and IBC, TVBEurope 2020

career. You will be sorely missed, and on

added weight and perspective to many of

behalf of everyone at TVBEurope, we wish

the assumptions matching UHDTV inseparably

you the very best for the future.

with IP, and exposed the joyous advantages of

James McKeown

being a greenﬁeld site like BT Sport compared

Executive Editor

4 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

In this issue

TVBEurope 2020

Neal Romanek reports from the inaugural TVBEurope 2020 conference, which saw a day of discussion on the connected worlds of UHD, IT and IP infrastructures

08 Opinion and Analysis

SMPTE standards vice president Alan Lambshead outlines a number of notable developments following the Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quarterly Committees meeting

Broadcast ecosystem roundtable

As part of TVBEuropeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strategy Week, Pebble Beach Systems sponsored a roundtable in London to consider the consequences of the transformations that affect broadcasting

22 IBC Preview

What to expect at IBC2015 in Amsterdam this September, with a special audio for broadcast showcase and thought leadership insights

18 Workflow

Reinhard E Wagner travelled to Hungary to visit three local broadcasters. In part one of his report, he focuses on RTL Klub

44 54 Social media forum

Philip Stevens talks to broadcasters, industry experts and graphics suppliers about the dramatic increase in social media within broadcasting

50 Harris Morris interview James McKeown talks to Harris Morris, CEO of Wazee Digital, about solving complexity in the content value chain, rebranding from T3Media, and how broadcast is evolving

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6 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Opinion and Analysis

More than a

Rolodex By Tony Taylor, chief executive, TMD

sset management. Yes, we all have to

have one. In the ﬁle-based world it is the only way we know where our stuff is.

If you talk to some broadcasters – even some

of the biggest broadcasters in the world – you get the feeling that asset management is still regarded as a necessary evil. It is viewed as barely more than a direct replacement for

Automation and metadata

every user has to be faced with this mass

the card index.

The key to this is automated workﬂows, and the

of information. A good asset management

key to automated workﬂows is a rich, solid wealth

system will let you design screens tailored to

properly, is the key to a real transformation in the

of metadata. The asset management system is in

the needs of each user.

way we run broadcast and media companies.

fact the enabling technology for a new world.

When designing modern workﬂows, a good

Production companies have to deal with

principle is to only show users the metadata that

Yet I know that asset management, done

That transformation is about more than just technology, it is about making the whole

much more content than before. A football

they care about; and collect metadata from

enterprise more joined up and better organised.

match might have 30 cameras: how is the

those who care about that particular function.

editor going to ﬁnd a way around 45 hours

‘The key to automated workﬂows is a rich, solid wealth of metadata’

of content? Fixed-rig documentaries might have 20 cameras recording for days at a time, resulting in thousands of hours of content, useless without metadata tags. Playout facilities need to know what content is expected, when it arrives, then route it through

It is easy to look back at some of the recent

transcoding, quality control, compliance editing

major transitions in our industry – Beta SP to

and more to get it to the playout server. At

DigiBeta; robot tape libraries to playout servers

the same time it has to determine what online

– and see them as shifts in point products.

platforms the content is licensed for, repackage

Certainly, a server is an improvement on a robot

it and present it to the CDN.

tape player, but they both do the same thing. The shift to a ﬁle-based environment is an order of magnitude bigger than that. Now we

A commissioning editor will not care about precise timecodes or the number of ‘out of

‘When designing modern workﬂows, a good principle is to only show users the metadata that they care about; and collect metadata from those who care about that particular function’

All this and much more is uneconomic without extensive automation, driven by the metadata. More, the same metadata can be used to link

gamut’ colour errors, but will know if it is the right episode of the right programme. A CFO will

are not replacing point products we have the

the engine room of the broadcast hardware with

not care whether a transcode went through a

chance to completely rework the way the whole

the management decisions of the enterprise.

Telestream or a Harmonic processor, but will

enterprise operates. Content can be everywhere

The board will look at the SAP system to see

care about how much it cost and whether

at the same time; we can have concurrent

where there is proﬁt and where there is loss. A

it was in budget.

and remote working; we can have intelligent

good asset management system will be

decision-making in automated workﬂows.

reporting up and receiving instructions down

scalability in asset management, we do not just

from this enterprise layer.

mean in terms of the metadata schema or the

In short, we can start with a blank sheet of paper and design the best way for our

Yes, that means you need to have a very

When asset management vendors talk about

number of records. We mean the way in which its

broadcast or media business to run, not simply

comprehensive metadata schema. You need to

capabilities scale to meet the real needs of your

update some more bits of technology and

collect a huge amount of information on each

business, helping achieve the real operational

carry on as before.

piece of content. But it does not mean that

savings which ﬁle-based television should bring.

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8 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Opinion and Analysis

SMPTE standards update By Alan Lambshead, SMPTE standards vice president

dynamic range, frame rates, and electro-optical transfer function all contribute to the improved viewing experience that is needed to justify launching new services. SMPTE has a Study Group (SG) compiling

he Society of Motion Picture and Television

a report on the HDR ecosystem. SMPTE has

Engineers (SMPTE) holds quarterly meetings

another project deﬁning content-dependent

of its Technology Committees (TC), and

metadata for colour volume transformation

the latest round of these block meetings took

of high-luminance and wide-colour-gamut

place in Sydney, Australia in July, running into the

(WCG) images. The group’s draft standard

SMPTE15 Australia Conference and Exhibition.

is advancing well.

A number of notable developments emanated from the meeting.

Two SMPTE HDR projects have recently published two new standards: Standard (ST) 2084 – High Dynamic Range Electro-Optical

Interoperable Mastering Format (IMF)

Transfer Function of Mastering Reference Displays

Intended for professional applications worldwide,

Metadata Supporting High Luminance and

Video Compression (VC) standards

IMF is a ﬁle-based framework designed to

Wide Colour Gamut Images. A third document

SMPTE has standardised ﬁve VC standards: VC-1

represent high-quality versions of a given ﬁnished

in this set, ST 2085 – Colour Differencing for High

to VC-5. Current work on VC standards includes

multimedia work destined for distribution

Luminance and Wide Colour Gamut Images, has

development of a suite of documents deﬁning

across multiple channels, including broadcast

reached the Standards Committee Audit – the

the VC-5 compression system (developed from

and over the internet.

ﬁnal stage prior to publication.

a GoPro system). Two parts of the suite have

and ST 2086 – Mastering Display Colour Volume

Over the past four years, this Working Group

been published, and two more are close to publication. Current work has switched to a

elements that can be used to create formats

Network-based synchronisation for the professional broadcast environment

for downstream distribution using multiple

Two documents deﬁning a system for distributing

additional documents are planned for the suite.

composition playlists. Another four of the group’s

synchronisation packets over a data network

standards documents have been published,

were published in April. ST 2059-2 – Precision Time

(WG) has been developing a large suite of documents deﬁning a master set of ﬁle-based

bringing the total to 11 published IMF documents. Ongoing work in the group includes a further standard on a mezzanine ﬁlm format, as well as a sample material interchange group that has organised IMF plugfests. The SMPTE UK Section is holding a one-day seminar on IMF, in partnership with Mesclado.

standard deﬁning VC-5 mapping in the Material eXchange Format (MXF) generic container. Three

Cinema sound systems projects This TC has projects aimed at improving the

‘The topic of HDR has gained importance with the recognition that the next step beyond HDTV requires improvement beyond pixel count’

quality of sound in conventional movie theatres, as well as standardisation of new immersive 3D sound systems. A project to develop a Calibration Reference Wideband Pink Noise Signal and Test File is well advanced. Examination of various ‘reference’ noise ﬁles has revealed inconsistency in both root

Scheduled for Wednesday 8 July, at the British

mean square (RMS) and peak amplitude values.

Film Institute (BFI) located at 21 Stephen Street in London, IMF: The New Universal Master will

Protocol SMPTE Proﬁle for Time and Frequency

This group will create a pink-noise calibration

give technical and non-technical staff within

Synchronisation in a Professional Broadcast

standard and produce a reference pink-noise

the motion imaging industry an opportunity to

Environment deﬁnes the behaviour of the master.

.wav ﬁle and a digital cinema package (DCP)

take the lead in understanding IMF and how

ST 2059-1 – The SMPTE Epoch and Generation

containing the ﬁle. The pink noise deﬁned in

this SMPTE standard works across all areas

and Alignment of Interface Signals deﬁnes the

ST 202:2010 and RP 200:2012 will be used, and

of the industry.

behaviour of the slaves, allowing them to create

the new standard will specify the algorithm used

any synchronised video, audio, or time code signal.

to generate the pink-noise ﬁle. The draft

High dynamic range (HDR) video projects

The system uses a SMPTE proﬁle for the Precision Time

standard and the signal-generation algorithm

Protocol (IEEE 1588 v2) that provides acceptable

are well-advanced.

The topic of HDR has gained importance with

lock-up time, jitter, and accuracy while providing

the recognition that the next step beyond

metadata that allows time code generators to

Immersive Sound Systems in Digital Cinema. Its

high deﬁnition television (HDTV) requires

make adjustments for time discontinuities such as

goal is to standardise a single object-based

improvement beyond pixel count. Improvements

leap seconds and the change from daylight savings

distribution ﬁle format and related protocols

to parameters such as colour gamut, displayed

time to standard time.

for interoperable playback into a variety of

The TC also has a WG on Interoperability of

TVBEurope 9

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Opinion and Analysis standardising a single object-based

Open binding technology for persistent content identiﬁcation in audio/video (A/V) essence

distribution ﬁle format and related protocols

Work on open binding technology for persistent

for interoperable playback into a variety

content identiﬁcation in A/V essence has

of theatrical speaker conﬁgurations.

its foundations in the Open Binding of IDs to

The group will also address recommended

Audiovisual Essence Report. The project will

calibration methods for these audio

develop an open binding technology standard

playback systems.

for embedding end-to-end persistent content

with capability greater than 7.1. It will create engineering documents as needed, including

identiﬁers into A/V essence in a way that

Material Exchange Format (MXF)

survives processing, compression, and

MXF deﬁnes a ﬁle format for video, audio,

distribution. The group has issued a request for

and data essence, along with associated

proposals (RFP) for technology that could be the

metadata, for use in production systems

basis for the standard, and it is currently analysing

(rather than ﬁnal delivery). This widely used

the results of the RFP.

media format does not stand still, and mappings to this ﬁle-based suite of standards

Participating in the SMPTE standards process

or creating constraints for improved

Anyone interested in the standards process

interoperability in a variety of application

is welcome to join the SMPTE standards

theatre speaker conﬁgurations. This working

areas. There are currently 11 MXF projects in

community. Detailed reports from the

group will identify areas of the D-Cinema

process. Some deﬁne new MXF features and

standards committee meetings and more

architecture that require standardisation to

applications, and others revise existing

information about participating can be found

achieve interoperability of audio for systems

documents for better interoperability.

on the SMPTE website.

projects are always adding features and

10 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Workﬂow Nativ’s Mio media logistics platform

No more clouding around Neal Romanek reports on Nativ’s deployment of MioEverywhere in a cloud environment for the Financial Times

Ooyala had already been integrating its video platform with the MioEverywhere suite

UK-based cloud media logistics provider

Nativ was founded in 2001 by Jon Folland and Nick Ryan as an IT consultancy for the

broadcast space. In working with such companies as Turner Broadcasting, Channel 4 and the BBC, Folland and Ryan noticed the projects they took on were solving the same problems again and again – usually to do with managing the ﬂow of content in post, associated metadata issues and delivery to different platforms.

“I think editorial had difficulty getting their head around the value of metadata and changing workflows” Jem Rayfield, FT

companies manage new media and workﬂow

journalists across FT’s locations around the

challenges). “What we’ve worked on creating is

world to use and share the same assets, no

‘composeability’,” says CTO Ryan.

matter where they are, and has revolutionised

“We have a core platform, but we’re aiming to have a more modular approach on top of that,

FT’s data management. FT, in common with many other news sites,

so that you can compose different parts of the

has ramped up its video content and now

system into your organisation.”

shares the same media management solutions as many broadcasters. At the brieﬁng, Nativ

Getting with the Times

CEO Jon Folland and FT’s head of solutions

MioEverywhere, the latest incarnation of the

architecture Jem Rayﬁeld gave a summary of

Their work came to fruition in Nativ’s Mio

Mio system, and its deployment in a cloud

how MioEverywhere helped FT transform how

media logistics platform (‘MLP’ was coined in

environment was showcased at a special

the company produces and delivers video in the

a 2014 Ovum report on the increasing need for

breakfast brieﬁng hosted by Nativ and client

cloud. Also present were representatives from

modular platforms and services to help media

the Financial Times (FT). FT’s new system allows

Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is providing

The w ireless and mo st o f capturing

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12 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Workﬂow FT’s new cloud environment. Folland and Rayﬁeld were intent on making the morning an

MioEverywhere is the latest incarnation of the Mio system

open forum of the pros and cons of cloud services and the discussion was frank and honest. “Our view is that this technology is evolving quickly. And it will continue to evolve.” Folland said, “We’re committed to the cloud, but we’re learning with everyone else.”

Can the cloud do the real heavy lifting? Moving services to the cloud requires not only a new technological outlook, but in some cases a new methodology and practices. Folland asked how those present felt about moving away from their existing infrastructure to cloud-based systems. Though few companies seem totally averse to employing the cloud in some form, the transition between a legacy system and a new cloud

“There’s a skills shortage of people who

I’ve got some things on premises and some in

can help them reengineer and rearchitect

the cloud at the same time, I may be in for

in that transition.”

a huge OPEX hit.“

The feeling was echoed by one of the

Soho-based post house Evolutions said that full

system introduces an area of uncertainty that

broadcasters present: “I don’t think it’s as

adoption of cloud services is a way off for them.

many ﬁnd challenging.

simple as whether you go to the cloud, or

“We’d like it to work better. The big problem for us

you stay on premises. It’s about what is the

is the up/down speed. With the amount of heavy

the cost of running what they have now, whilst

road to doing it. Unless all of your systems can

lifting we do, with shooting ratios of sometimes

running something new alongside it,” noted

jump uniformly, you end up with a question of

1,000 to one, it would be difﬁcult to see how it

one of the attendees.

how do you step into the process, because if

would work at the moment.”

“It’s difﬁcult for some companies to know

TVBEurope 13

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Workﬂow The human factor

of 60 to one, moving that volume of material

decouple ourselves from the AWS API so that we

FT’s Rayﬁeld noted that one of the difﬁculties in

in and out of the cloud, with the timescales

can always look at other providers.”

implementing the new system at FT was not in the

for getting it up there and getting it back and

engineering but on the user side of the equation:

everything else that goes with it, becomes a

Acquired by Ooyala

“I think editorial had difﬁculty getting their head

barrier. So then that puts you back to a proxy-

Folland conﬁrmed that some workﬂows lend

around the value of metadata and changing

based workﬂow, and your editors are no longer

themselves to cloud-based solutions more than

workﬂows. They always think that writing some

working at high res like they’re used to.”

others with those that all occur within the cloud

free text against the video is all they need. But it’s about identifying what the video is about. Getting them to understand how the workflow should change rather than always working the same way – to think about simpler and more pragmatic workflows – has been difficult.” Rayfield’s observation brings up a lurking bugbear in the transition to any new technology.

being the optimum. “From an architectural

“From an architectural standpoint, you need to be careful that you don’t keep switching between local and cloud because you end up with so much more complexity” Jon Folland, Nativ

standpoint, you need to be careful that you don’t keep switching between local and cloud because you end up with so much more complexity. With our solution for FT, I think we got the right approach, because we kept on-premise to a minimum.” Nativ’s work in the cloud is obviously attracting increasing interest. The company

Making a system more efﬁcient on paper doesn’t

was just acquired by US-based video content

always translate to immediate efﬁciency in the

management and distribution platform Ooyala.

hands of the people using it. Re-education takes time – and time is money.

Ooyala had already been integrating its video When asked if FT had considered using Microsoft’s

platform with the MioEverywhere suite. Folland said of the merger, “We could not be

ITV’s head of production innovation, Martyn

Azure or other cloud solutions, prior to settling on

Suker, observed, “There’s a difference between

AWS, FT’s Rayﬁeld said, “We looked at them only

more aligned in our vision of how we can help

having a single completed asset that you’re

very brieﬂy, because to be perfectly frank, AWS

transform the way broadcasters and media

moving in and out of the cloud, and then all

is just way, way ahead and its capabilities far

companies operate in a hybrid world, where

the rushes that go with that. If you’re doing an

exceed the others. It has facilities and products

consumers are dividing their TV and video

observational doc with a shooting ratio in excess

that others just do not have. But we are trying to

consumptions across many devices.”

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

14 TVBEurope

Workﬂow

NEP surges into Europe TVBEurope proﬁles NEP Visions, the world’s largest outside broadcast services provider, which has made recent strides into Europe. Adrian Pennington reports

displays, post production and connectivity as well as mobile broadcasting, we see ourselves as a worldwide outsource solutions provider supporting the live event and broadcast

ith a rapid succession of acquisitions

“Growth allows our employees to advance

industry.” The group’s UK managing director

at the start of the year, US broadcast

their careers which is healthy for any business,

Steve Jenkins explains that NEP is focused on

services giant NEP has begun to

and growth serves our clients’ needs as they

an international expansion plan which began

evolve,” says Rabbitt. “With services in studios,

with the purchase of Sydney’s Global Television

accumulate a substantial presence in the European market, and it is far from finished yet. “There are lots of areas in Europe, Asia and South America which all present opportunities for us,” says company CEO Kevin Rabbitt of NEP’s ambition. There’s nothing in particular that has made this moment ripe for NEP’s surge into Europe, according to Rabbitt. Growth by acquisition has been in the company’s DNA since the original mobile operation of ABC affiliate WNEP bought bankrupt US OB supplier TCS in 1987. Majority owned by venture capitalist firms since 2007 (since 2012, New York private equity firm Crestview Partners) the drive for growth is perpetual.

NEP makes an investment in one or two new trucks per year depending on contract renewals

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 15

Workﬂow In a break from the standard layout of a traditional OB vehicle, Atlantic is designed to recreate the internal ergonomics and layout of a traditional studio set-up

tour which requires nationwide or international

and more entwined with live event capture.

support. We are able to share not just equipment

There is a growing need to have that as part

but technical expertise among our global team.”

of our portfolio.”

UK division

Group, ‘proud owners of Northern Europe’s

With the addition of Observe and OBS.tv from

largest ﬂeet of OB-units’ according to its website,

The incorporation of Sweden’s Mediatec

Dublin’s Screen Scene in February, NEP’s UK division employs over 230 staff and offers 18 HD trucks and six HD ﬂypacks. With regard to Observe, Jenkins describes it as a well established OB provider which will continue to serve clients such as RTE and Red Bull plus major events like Six Nations rugby. OBS.tv launched in the UK in August 2013 “managing to ﬁnd a niche solution around mid-tier ad hoc events,” says Jenkins, who adds that OBS.tv will continue as a separate brand operating out of Slough. “It will act as a midtier alternative to the more contract-oriented business inside Visions.” Digital Space, another division of Screen Scene, provides NEP with four uplink vehicles and entry into a space dominated in the UK by SIS Live. “The need for reliable connectivity has become far more important,” says Jenkins. “When you put satellite uplinks next to an OB in January 2014. Rebranded NEP Australia, this

provider there is an immediate, complementary

division facilitates the majority of premium live

relationship about how you broadcast from a

sport produced in Australia and was followed

venue. While an increasing number of venues

by the acquisitions of Sydney’s Silk Studios and

are ﬁbre-networked, many more need a satellite

Media City Melbourne Studios.

uplink. We will tap into [Screen Scene’s] expertise

“It’s about consolidating our core business, adding new services and searching out

“If you are pushing the boundaries of 4K coverage then you need a large OB truck to achieve it on-site and you still need cameras and expertise for capture on-site regardless of the event” Steve Jenkins, NEP

in connectivity.” Screen Scene also brings with it the eponymous

includes a substantial inventory of LED screens.

complementary partners to our business,” says

and well regarded Irish post production house.

This sector is in high demand for equipping sports

Jenkins. “Clients are looking for more constant

“This is an exciting new venture and new set of

grounds, music events and pop-up festivals with

support across wider geographies. There are

services we can offer around 2K and 4K ﬁnishing,”

giant public video communication screens.

one-off major events like an Olympics (for which

says Jenkins. “Screen Scene enables more of a

NEP is a long-standing supplier to US broadcaster

complete workﬂow around capturing content

business Faber, which NEP landed last December,

NBC), which cuts across our entire set of brands,

and media management which is increasingly

the group has created one of the biggest hire

and one-off events like a baseball or basketball

a requirement and something that is more

shops for the technology on the continent,

When combined with the Netherlands AV

Stand No 10.A49

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

16 TVBEurope

Workﬂow though in the UK the market leader arguably

“We’ve been doing a lot of 4K single camera

remains ADI. Bringing Germany’s RecordLab

and some 4K multi-camera work,” explains NEP

and Belgium’s Outside Broadcast into the fold

CTO George Hoover. “4K is predominantly

in April not only buys NEP a presence in mobile

used for image capture on replays and re-

production in those countries but ups the number

zooming and reframing.” In March, NEP and BT Media and Broadcast

of its permanent employees to 1,500 and its ﬂeet

deployed a hybrid 4K/HD technical and

of HD trucks, globally, to over 110.

production workﬂow which allowed the Star India

NEP entered Europe in 2005 by buying Visions for £17.25 million and bolstered that

network to offer its world feed to direct-to-home

with ﬁxed rig specialist Roll to Record and the

subscribers in both high deﬁnition and 4K. This

opportunist acquisitions of struggling Omni TV

followed NEP Australia’s delivery of a Katy Perry

in 2010 (renamed as NEP Cymru) and Bow Tie

concert from Sydney in 4K in December 2014.

Television, whose main contract was televising

Two new trucks launching in July and December

Parliament, in 2012. The domestic OB sector has

this year are set to be NEP Australia’s ﬁrst

since shrunk to four main suppliers (Visions, CTV –

fully-4K super trucks.

owned by the current largest European OB ﬁrm, the French equity investor owned Euro Media Group; Arena and Telegenic. Cloudbass might arguably be considered a ﬁfth main supplier). Is there a danger of yet more consolidation? “When I founded Arena there were in excess of 14 OB companies all much smaller than today,” says Arena MD Richard Yeowart. “While I think consolidation has helped the market

With the move to IP – and NEP is driving its ﬁrst

“If we were just a mobile business or operating in a single territory, that would concern us. But our strategy makes us a safe bet” Kevin Rabbitt, NEP

IP-wired truck onto the road in time for the next NFL season – will connectivity from the venue be more important than having super-sized trucks and large numbers of crew on site? “You have to look at the property being captured and in some cases the requirement for large scale OBs will remain,” says Jenkins. “If you are pushing the boundaries of 4K coverage then you need a large OB truck to achieve it

in many ways by allowing high value investment

on-site and you still need cameras and expertise

and a scaling-up of each company, there will be a point where clients begin to notice a

Investment criteria

for capture on-site regardless of the event. You

lack of choice. This may ultimately affect

NEP makes an investment in one or two new

also need expertise in building out technology to

quality and/or pricing.”

trucks per year depending on contract

cater for changes in technology brought by IP.”

The question for NEP is how much value it adds

renewals. There is a continual process of

The explosion in bandwidth connectivity

to have so many OB brands, as each territory

upgrades and refreshes for kit such as switchers

between venues and broadcast centres

will have its own unique client base. “Clients may

and cameras, again dependent on what

provides live event producers with new ways

not always be happy to get an OB van turning

the client demands.

to produce content. “There are times when

up from a neighbouring country, when they have

“Our investment criteria is simple. What does

we want to use that creativity – whether in

been promised a local one,” suggests Yeowart.

the client need and are we able to get a fair

replay or graphics or where studio components

“So NEP is probably hoping to run each brand

return on the investment we make to support

are integrated locally,” says Hoover, who notes

as a distinct operation and simply looking to

those needs?” says Rabbitt.

an increasing interest in web streaming ‘tier 3’

lever their size within the market.” According

“We are in a position to help clients assess

or niche events.

to Rabbitt, “NEP Worldwide operates as a

what tech is available and what is going to

decentralised group of divisions aligned together

work for their needs and we will be part of

in a single territory, that would concern us,” says

in a common set of values.”

that evaluation for them.”

Rabbitt. “But our strategy makes us a safe bet.”

IBC Booth 7.J15a

SGL has an established history serving the archive needs of broadcast facilities around the world.

“If we were just a mobile business or operating

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18 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Workﬂow

Tapeless

islands Reinhard E Wagner travelled to Hungary to visit three local broadcasters to ﬁnd out how their workﬂows and technologies differ ince the east of Europe opened up,

Playout for the channel’s on-air services is performed through the master control rooms at the facilities

broadcast industry in Hungary, there are three

the free-to-air networking to start broadcasting

Back in 2011, the move to a fully tapeless

different broadcasters competing with each

in October 1997 in Hungary.

facility was performed as well. Regarding its

changes have been happening, politically and technically. Taking a look at the

other: RTL Klub, TV2 and AMC. All are commercial

The all-digital technology used at RTL Klub

programmes and audience, RTL Klub paid a

stations with localised productions, sports and

was originally designed by BCE Luxembourg

lot of attention in streamlining the production

news but each with very different approaches.

and the installation led by Róbert Pálya, who

chain because of an increase of localised

was a system engineer with the contractor that

programming, which needed even more

RTL Klub

built the digital facilities with 46 Digital Betacam

production capacities. In 2005, only the playout

RTL Klub was founded in 1997 by four Hungarian

and a Sony library management system. He was

(Proﬁle servers: SD in 576i) was tapeless and the

shareholders when the Hungarian government

also a member of the funding team back in 1997.

news production (90 minutes per day – material

released the to-air frequencies, which have

Today, Pálya is CTO of the broadcasting station,

from 13 ENGs) was done on a Newsbrowse and

been bought by TV2 and RTL Klub. The TV

headquartered in Budapest, and its localised

News Edit integrated solution. Today, this is a Grass

station, based in Budapest, has been

subsidiaries. Because of his past with

Valley GV STRATUS system with EDIUS software and

operating as an independent commercial

the system house, he knows all about the

40 ﬂoating licences where concurrent streams are

broadcasting station since the end of 2011

installed equipment and infrastructure at

ingested and edited at the same time.

when the RTL Group (owned by Bertelsmann)

RTL Klub‘s facilities. From his point of view, the

integrated it into its network and now holds 100

biggest change in TV history was the move to

and the editor. Both jobs shall not interfere with

per cent of all shares.

16:9 aspect ratio back in 2011. It required a lot of

each other and have no overlapping duties.

changes within the acquisition, production and

The majority of the journalists hesitate to

one of Hungary‘s ﬁrst commercial TV

broadcasting chain. This was the biggest move

do jobs they are not supposed to do or to

channels. Both broadcasters opened up

and not the migration to HD (1920x1080i).

perform, which is very unique.

Together with TV2 Hungary, it has been

But there is a separation between the journalist

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20 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Workflow All ingested tape material (old analogue 4:3 and 16:9 digital: IMX50) goes into a deep archive (FPD/StorageTek [Oracle]) and is afterwards used file-based only at 50Mbps. At the end, an NCPower NRCS from NorCom – interfacing to the Stratos and Edius system – is used for scheduling and run-down of the news. Only specialised and dedicated personnel with a journalistic background perform the metadata load of the news archive and log specified information with the archived news material such as text or relevant search criteria. Metadata that is coming with the raw material from the ENG teams is not used at all. But the production of shows and magazines still needed tapes and even more effective workflows. Localised shows are the main programme for the RTL Klub viewer audience (18–49), therefore the production workflows

GV STRATUS and EDIUS

needed enhancements such as an upgrade of the Unity solution in 2010. Therefore, major

After the ﬁnal edit is closed and all conforming

Therefore, all incoming clips are always

investments into server architectures, MAM/CMS

processes are ﬁnished, the production manager

recoded, regardless of the original format.

systems and editing suites took place.

deletes all the original raw material of the concurrent eight camera streams.

Tapeless islands

Today, the playout for the on-air services of the channel is performed through the master control rooms at the facilities in Budapest via

This resulted in a TOC (tapeless operation

Insourced technology

Antenna Hungária (DVB-T), which operates the

centre) with three islands: news, production,

Because of the amount of material generated

transmitters for the free-to-air channel. The SD

and promo. These islands interconnect via a

by local production, which drives the

and HD version is directly available for cable

50Mbps broadcast network and incorporate a near-line archive. Although this linked central database is used for AV material, the playout for news and shows is separated from each other. The integration of an Avid Facility Bundle (Interplay with AS3000 IP Server; IP Central base connections, ISIS 5500; Media Composer; MC IP Edition; MC IP Edition with Symphony) into the

operators as IP transport streams. Since January

“We’ve tried several times to install useful MAM systems, but when the users don’t need and like them, I do not force anyone” Róbert Pálya

2015, all cable operations, which are different entities and have different owners, run through the BCE playout centre in Luxembourg operated by an automation system that is controlled from Luxembourg and backed up in Hungary. “RTL Klub is not like an automotive factory where everyone knows what the other does. For example, the news show is produced and

existing ISIS 5500 environment was initiated and

edited. The team sits together and discusses

an end-to-end MAM solution for collaborative

whether or not there should be a news item

workﬂows had to be installed for primetime production as well.

explaining what happened in the last season broadcasting station further, the amount of seats

of the show. To edit such a clip, they don’t dig

An Interplay production system (part of the

will be doubled in the near future. “We always try

deep into the archive, although they could

Avid Facility Bundle) met RTL Klub’s budget and

to keep the production in our hands and control

search, for example, for last year’s The X Factor

together with Media Central clients, material

the quality,” explains Pálya.

show in the database of the deep-archive but

can now be browsed, logged and approved

“It is much easier to control the budget this

because they have all the details in their brains,

during the ingest process and within the

way. We know the hardware and software used

they always know what they need and where

production workﬂows. Additional ISIS 5500

and the people involved are sophisticated

it is,” says Pálya.

expansion engines were implemented which

enough to fulﬁl all of our requirements. We

increased the production capacity to a total

outsource people but insource the technology.”

of 224TB of storage.

Because of different media laws and

The use of metadata is not very common and only a few people are allowed to log and tag material that is supposed to go into

age restrictions in three supported regions,

the archive. The personnel has not used

Avid suites involves operators selecting relevant

programme material has to be carefully edited

such tools, which have been installed for

clips from the concurrently recorded streams.

before it can be broadcast.

these purposes, because they did not like them.

The ingest and editing workﬂow for the 27

These EDLs are then forwarded to the chief

Curiously, the generated metadata

“We’ve tried several times to install useful

editor and creative director who ﬁnally decide

database of all server systems cannot talk

MAM systems, but when the users don’t

which one will be part of the programme

to each other and they are searchable by

need and like them, I do not force anyone.

itself. This pre-selection will be assembled and

their own tool. Nowadays, all internally used

The past told us that the time is not ready

forwarded to the playout.

material is XDCAM HD50.

for it yet,” he explains.

The global resource portal for media technology content

White papers, webinars, opinions, blogs, case studies, tutorials and more. 5L^)H` *VUULJ[ UV^ VɈ LYZ L]LU ^PKLY JVU[LU[ MVY P[Z YLNPZ[LYLK \ZLYZ PZ LHZPLY [V UH]PNH[L HUK WYV]PKLZ \ZLYZ ^P[O KLKPJH[LK ^LLRS` UL^ZSL[[LYZ VɈ LYPUN H KPNLZ[ VM [OL SH[LZ[ JVU[LU[ HUK JHYLM\SS` selected content from its themes of the month. Why join NewBay Connect? Free and easy to use – stay informed with the latest industry white papers, opinion pieces, ^LI ZLTPUHYZ HUK JHZL Z[\KPLZ [OH[ HɈ LJ[ `V\Y business and your career. ࠮ Categorised Content All material is organised into clearly referenced, specialist areas. ࠮ Customised search @V\ JHU X\PJRS` SVJH[L [OL PUMVYTH[PVU YLSL]HU[ [V your business or area of interest. ࠮ Tailored email alerts 5V[PÄ JH[PVUZ ZLU[ [V `V\ ^OLUL]LY [OLYL PZ HU update within your chosen areas. ࠮ Dedicated weekly newsletters Visit www.newbayconnect.com to register, browse and download content for free today.

Editor: Melanie Dayasena-Lowe mdayasena-lowe@nbmedia.com +44 (0)207 354 6001

Sales: Ben Ewles bewles@nbmedia.com +44 (0)207 354 6000

Campaign Manager: Warren Kelly wkelly@nbmedia.com +44 (0)207 354 6000

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

22 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW

Countdown to

Amsterdam IBC2015 is fast approaching, and a whole host of companies have been busy issuing announcements ahead of the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s showpiece European trade show and conference. Part one of our IBC preview takes in a wealth of exclusive thought leadership from a selection of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exhibitors as well as sneak peaks into what they will be showcasing at the Amsterdam RAI. We also feature an audio product preview and look ahead to the 4K 4Charity Fun Run. Part two of this IBC preview will feature in our September edition

Getting ahead in the cloud to build their own piecemeal

on the Generation 4 Aspera

solutions to the file exchange

Transfer Platform, a single

problem, including managing

software-as-a-service offering

he need for media

their own file exchange software

that solves all these problems.

companies to conveniently

on their own cloud and on-

The SaaS Platform allows any

ingest, exchange, and

premise systems, resulting in

media organisation of any size to

distribute file-based digital

constant struggles to increase

establish a branded web-based

media content fast, securely,

transfer throughput and storage

presence for fast, easy and

and with the scale-out capacity

capacity to meet user needs,

secure exchange of file-based

of cloud platforms is at an all-

to support ever larger formats

media content between end

time high. Media companies

even within cloud object storage

users, where the content can

are creating more high-

file systems, to achieve security

be stored and accessed in

resolution content than ever with

within and between media

multiple cloud storage and

increasingly shorter turnaround

organisations, and to keep up

on-premise storage systems.

times; cloud platforms offer

with the accelerating demands

Built on Aspera FASP, companies

great efficiencies, and high

of shrinking production cycles.

may use any combination

Michelle Munson, president, CEO and co-founder, Aspera, an IBM company

frequency content sharing across

of storage types with high-speed

organisations is fundamental to

IBC showcase

competitiveness. Yet, to date,

At IBC, Aspera will be

media companies have had

showcasing Aspera Files running

Aspera transfer.

Stand: 7.B27

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 23

Feature The new media value chain Tom Cordiner, vice president of sales international, Avid

he transformation of the

priorities are moving away

collaborate everywhere.

old, linear media value

from creative solutions and

They need powerful process

chain into a complex,

towards solving the challenge

automation, easy access to all

fluid, interactive, and multi-

of monetising, protecting,

media assets and metadata,

dimensional process has

repurposing, and optimising

and proven performance in a

created enormous pressures

content more efficiently. And

multi-vendor environment.

for media organisations and

consumer demand to consume

creative professionals. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re

content anywhere, anytime,

IBC showcase

under pressure to connect

through many devices and

At IBC, Avid will showcase

and automate their business

formats has increased the cost

solutions powered by the Avid

processes and workflows: from

and complexity of monetising

MediaCentral Platform, including

content creation to monetisation

assets, as multiple formats,

the content creation and media

and analytics. Yet, current

distribution channels, and

management solutions we

technology solutions remain

devices have proliferated.

gained through our acquisition

Media organisations are

of Orad. With Avid Everywhere

highly siloed, and vendor strategies are disconnected

looking for efficient, innovative

weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re addressing urgent media

from the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most urgent

ways to solve these issues. They

industry needs by providing

strategic requirements.

need an environment where

powerful ways of working within

workflows are integrated,

the new media value chain.

demand high-quality content

processes are streamlined,

more than ever, yet investment

and professionals can easily

Stand: 7.J14

Sophisticated consumers

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

24 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW

Leading the charge on innovation Nicolas Bourdon, SVP Marketing, EVS

ith broadcast

Another trend that we’re

IBC showcase

technology

focusing on is IP and its

At IBC2015 EVS will be

continually changing,

integration into workflows.

showcasing the latest

we always want to make sure

While the industry prepares

future-ready IP solutions as

that we’re leading innovation

for 4K, future IP adoption

well as its IT-based DYVI switcher,

to enable our customers to

will be the enabler for its

the latest C-Cast technology

produce better content.

implementation. IP has been

and the latest version of server

a core element of production

software Multicam.

A trend that’s currently enhancing live programming is

workflows for file-based

the distribution of multimedia

operations and its integration

the system is ideal for any

content to mobile devices.

will make broadcast production

studio with a number of control

easier to manage.

rooms or multi-venue campuses.

With our C-Cast technology already having been successfully

At EVS, we’re continually

DYVI’s IT infrastructure means

A solution for the increasing

used at this year’s SEA Games

evolving our products and

amount of interest in a remote

and FA Cup Final, the possibilities

solutions to benefit our users

production workflow, DYVI’s

it brings about will become

and operators.

distributed architecture

a key component of live

IBC is such a great platform

enables everything from

broadcast infrastructures

to see what the industry is

cross-campus transport to

from now on.

working on.

cross-continent delivery.

Stand: 8.B90, 8.A96

RAI Amsterdam Conference 10-14 September : Exhibition 11-15 September

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www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

26 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW

The hybrid imperative Glenn LeBrun, vice president, product marketing, Imagine

ontent may still be

reconsider alliances and redraw

competitors while gracefully

king, but nearly every

competitive battle lines.

absorbing new technologies

other convention of this

With disruption, though, comes

and standards without forklift

75-year-old industry appears

opportunity. Video is the new

upgrades. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical that media

to be in transition. A wave of

communications currency. The

companies partner with solution

influential forces, including

demand for compelling video

suppliers possessing a rich SDI/

shifting consumption patterns,

information and entertainment,

baseband legacy, as well as a

value chain disruptions and

consumable on a diversity

carefully crafted next-generation

technology innovation, is

of devices, has never been

vision and roadmap.

sweeping through the media

greater. Media companies

and entertainment industry.

that can harness the power

IBC showcase

Media companies are now being

of these influential forces to

Imagine Communications will

confronted by unprecedented

meet these new demands will

be showcasing its latest

layers of complexity and

be best positioned to improve

innovations in advanced

fragmentation, which threaten

their competitive standing in

compression technologies,

to topple long-standing business

the future. Thriving, or simply

multiscreen delivery, virtualised

and monetisation models.

surviving, in this rapidly evolving

master control, advertising

Historic boundaries, both

environment will require new

management and cloud DVR

competitive and cooperative,

levels of agility and operational

solutions at IBC2015.

are also being erased,

efficiencies that enable media

forcing media companies to

companies to keep pace with

Stand: 4.AMT Stand: 7.K11

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August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 27

Feature Addressing the UHD-1 workﬂow David Ackroyd, business development director, Omnitek

generate low-Jitter output. The challenge in overcoming this

ere at Omnitek, we

not all, of these standards. We

issue is to understand where

believe we have identified

also need to note that, over SDI,

output Jitter sources lie and to

three main challenges

4K material can be transported

be vigilant in removing it.

for a successful UHD-1 workflow:

using either ‘2-Sample Interleave’

connectivity, data packing and

or ‘Square Division’ formats (the

IBC showcase

data integrity.

former being officially adopted

Omnitek is showcasing its latest

by SMPTE) causing further

single link 12G SDI 4K Tool Box

transfer uncompressed signals

challenges for product designers.

at IBC 2015. Omnitek is the

from camera to router to

The combination of data-

first test and measurement

switcher to editor to storage

packing formats in operation

to display device, is possible

alongside a multitude of single

for example), the issue of data

generation, and analysis of Ultra

at present over SDI using

and multi-link transport standards

integrity presents itself. On a

HDTV and digital cinema signals

standards including quad-link

can make it difficult to ensure

given system, jitter needs to

including 12G-SDI physical layer

3G and single-link 12G. It is also

correct pixel ordering. So once

be four times lower at 12Gbps

measurement and is aimed

possible via DisplayPort 1.2 and

again we can see how important

than 3Gbps when measured

at manufacturers and systems

HDMI 1.4 and 2.0. With no clear

it is for equipment to be able to

in picoseconds. This presents

designers to help accelerate 4K

preference being adopted

cope with both formats.

a considerable challenge for

product design.

The first of these, how to

there is a need for equipment to manage signals from some, if

Also, when dealing with high-speed SDI standards (12G

company to offer conversion,

receivers to be able to hold a signal and for transmitters to

Stand: 10.F30

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www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

28 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW

Real-time solutions for IP

SDI: what IP video wants to be when it grows up

Thomas Riedel, founder and CEO, Riedel

David Ross, CEO, Ross Video

any articles position IP as worry-free, however the reality is quite the

opposite. With SDI, we know what is on the cable and have a high degree of confidence that when we plug it in, video will flow. IP technology on the other hand is still in its infancy with standards for real-time video still in a wild state of flux. There are

where it fits well and makes

currently numerous incompatible

economic sense. These include

approaches to encapsulation,

remote production, inter-facility

compression and network

and campus-wide links, facilities

here has been much

ability to make instantaneous

management, crucial issues that

requiring massive routing

discussion about IP

changes cannot be overstated.

need to be worked out so that

infrastructures, and of course

networks and their place in

If you’re going to have more

we can enjoy a standard that

non-real time movement of

broadcast, particularly for large-

cameras and more replay

‘just works’ like we have today

video files. The reality for most

scale sports events. And while

systems and all of the other

with SDI. Some of the things that

facilities today is that SDI is still

I am a big fan of networked

state-of-the-art technologies

we take for granted with SDI

the best infrastructure solution

solutions, I feel that the various IP

that are developed for sports,

are plug-and-play connectivity,

for live production, enjoying

solutions are fine for audio, but

then why would you have

un-hackable infrastructure,

characteristics that will take

not yet ready for video. These

anything less than state-of-the-

low cost, low latency, perfect

some time for the industry to

technologies need to be plug-

art as the signal backbone?

quality, synchronous signals

replicate in the new world of IP.

and-play and that is what we

and a clear, simple standard

need to be concerned with. The

IBC showcase

that can be implemented by

IBC showcase

benefit of real-time solutions is

At IBC2015, we will be

anyone without paying royalties

New at IBC will be the European

that every signal is available at

showing MicroN 1RU box:

or license fees. Additionally, SDI

premier of the Carbonite

every node on the network, all

a powerful and flexible 80Gb

is continuing to move forward

Black production switcher and

the time, today.

media distribution device

with 12G 4K/UHD on a single

a full Ross Virtual Solutions

that can be used in to create

cable: now standardised and

presentation highlighting the

built-in redundancy features and

unique signal topographies

with interoperable products

creative power of augmented

80Gb of bandwidth, it’s easy to

and simplify signal transport

shipping today. Ross Video is

reality using Ross robotics and

see where the IP solutions fall

like never before.

a big believer in the practical

XPression graphics.

When you combine that with

short. Shows are getting more and more complicated and the

Stand: 10.A31

application of technology and we offer IP in select environments

Stand: 9.B08, 9.C10, 9.C23

TVBEurope 29

Feature Flexibility is key to successful MAM systems Julian Fernandez, solutions director, Tedial

UNTIE YOUR TALENT

How can you demonstrate your creativity if your equipment holds you back?

Tedial Evolution

hanging market demands

customers to host different

and the evolution of

client/region/corporate content

technology in terms

within the same infrastructure,

of computer processing,

optimising IT investment; workflow

programming languages, and

configuration in standard

network interconnectivity have

notation using graphical tools

seen the concept of MAM

independent from the supplier;

change significantly. Nowadays,

and dashboards, monitoring

it’s quite challenging to find a

and reporting tools, providing a

precise definition of what a MAM

global overview of the system,

is with growing confusion between

detecting bottlenecks or

DAM, MAM and PAM. Today’s

inefficiencies.The MAM is key

MAM systems provide services

to content production, archive

for new business opportunities

and delivery, which all require

and growth areas including:

seamless workflow execution.

UHD, non-linear services, multiple

Broadcasters and content

delivery platforms, scalability,

owners should select

third-generation environments,

a system that’s flexible. This

and profitability within

is even more critical now as

media operations. To enable

content requirements for

broadcasters and content owners

different platforms continue to

to maximise these opportunities,

change constantly.

The new CW-F25 Wireless HD Video System from IDX frees you from the restrictions of cable and provides the ﬂexibility you need to get the best shots back to base. Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) automatically chooses the best available channel and Beam-forming technology maintains directional signal integrity. This unique combination means that no other wireless system using WiFi channels delivers greater

reliability. And because it releases camera operators from more expensive systems using licensed channels or cables, it’s cost-effective too. You also get return video, talkback, tally and camera control and an Ethernet bridge over the wireless link. To ﬁnd out more or arrange a demonstration go to www.idx-europe.co.uk/CW-F25

MAM systems should include key features that further improve

IBC showcase

flexibility and efficiency. These

At IBC, Tedial is showcasing its

include: multi-site operation,

award-winning Tedial™ Evolution,

allowing remote operation by

an enhanced version of its

distributing the infrastructure and

Media IT platform, for the first

operators in the most convenient

time in Europe.

way to suit the requirements of the business; multi-tenancy, enabling

Stand: 8.B41

Reliability and safety ﬁrst

30 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Feature

PREVIEW: AUDIO

Back to the

future To lead the audio segment of our IBC preview, we invited Robert Edwards, co-founder of Video Sound Service and recent BAFTA winner for his work on The X Factor, to offer his ﬁrst-hand perspective on the changing face of broadcast audio

ver 40 years ago, when I left school, I

technical stores, with a useful range of 20ft on

except inside the hallowed walls of the BBC.

knew what I wanted to do. I wanted

a good day. I had no idea that I was working

There wasn’t really a formal training structure,

to do sound in television. I did notice,

in a ‘classic’ environment. It was all analogue

or defined career path outside. I knew then

back then, that cameramen just had a focus

– pure analogue – and I had no idea just how

that I wanted to work for the BBC, but cruelly

knob, a zoom control, a viewfinder, and a set

influential working with this technology and

fell at the first hurdle when I was rejected for

of headphones connected to a director who

these constraints would be to my career.

having poor colour vision. No concessions

told them what to do, but that was not for me.

My theoretical knowledge was grounded in

for enthusiasm or desire, just “find another

My world became a world of black Pye

an applied physics course I took at Kingston

career”, I was told. Some months later, after

limiters, sweeping 12-channel Neve desks,

Polytechnic, and in the music I played in the

similar rejections in the independent sector, I

robust Neumann microphones, and Studer

evenings to earn money. I was allowed to use

was taken on by a forward-thinking technical

quarter-inch tape machines the size of small

the college computer for five minutes a week.

manager at ITV in Southampton. “We’ll give

fridges. Why on earth would anyone want

Five whole minutes. There was the perennial

you three months, but if we think you have a

more than eight groups and four auxiliaries?

chicken-and-egg problem of trying to get real

problem, you’re fired.” As it happens, it was a

It was all mono, of course; mixing to picture

work versus a lack of real work experience, but

great place to learn and I was allowed time

on full-range British-designed-and-built

I was fortunate to know exactly what I wanted

to explore, to make mistakes and to try new

loudspeakers in properly designed acoustic

to do as a career.

things, all within the discipline of working in a

sound rooms. On special occasions, a single radio microphone might be booked out from

ber 11 – 15 Septem Hall 10 0.D30) Booth D30 (1

In those days, formal apprenticeships, ‘placements’ or graduate schemes didn’t exist

commercial broadcast environment. I learnt how close you could put a U87 into the frame

Robots for creative camera motion The latest version of the camera robot solution offers unlimited design possibilities and creates stunning images. www.camerobot.com Camerobot Systems GmbH, Theodor-Schmidt-Straße 19, D-95448 Bayreuth Phone +49 (0) 921 883 0, Fax +49 (0) 921 883 3244, info@camerobot.com

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 31

Feature to match the perspective of the shot. I learnt

watch, but only a tiny proportion really bought

digital. A quick media course at a university

how two microphones interact in the same

into a 5.1 experience. Well, today things have

near you can only scratch the surface.

sound-field when covering dialogue on a

turned a corner again.

The best digital technology makes light of

boom in a large drama set. I learnt to mix in

Consumer screen sizes have become

genuine progress and there is a widely held

mono. It was all an investment in learning a

so large and the cabinets so thin that the

belief that technology can correct the most

set of fundamental skills, not a formal training

consumer has at last woken up to the fact

fundamental of sound mistakes.

scheme. I worked on every programme genre:

that the audio heard in the home is really

news, light entertainment, quizzes, classical/

poor in comparison with the high quality video

pop music, outside broadcasts, live and recorded television, and dubbing. Could life get any sweeter? Well, redundancy is a good leveller. The industry imploded, and we all found

Sound engineering is an art and a science, but it is also essentially a craft that develops skills over a long period of time. There is no

‘Let’s make audio in television a positive career choice, rather than a module in a multi-skilled workplace’

shortcut, no quick learning curve except in the most mechanical of cut and paste environments. The best hope for the future of broadcast audio is to invest in training the next

ourselves in the freelance world where talent

generation to appreciate the added value

and skill run alongside the ability to negotiate

that a dedicated craft technician in sound can

a decent daily rate and to run a company.

bring to a production.

There is a very direct correlation between

experience. External sound-bars are now

eating and working.

routinely bundled-in with the screen package.

microphones, put in the right place and

The pendulum is gently swinging back.

mixed by someone with flair and skill, can

The consumer discovered low bit-rate

A skillset that shows how the right

immeasurably improve the whole television

sources, and did not seem to mind that nearly 90 per cent of the audio information had

Riding the audio tech wave

experience. Let’s make audio in television a

been jettisoned. In the same blink, screen

Audio technology has given us a great ride. In

positive career choice, rather than a module in

sizes mushroomed, but the internal speakers

three generations we have learnt to mix using

a multi-skilled workplace. It’s not for the faint-

became squashed to near extinction. There

twelve channels to over 1,000, from mono to

hearted and it requires a commodity in short

was a choice of hundreds of channels to

stereo, to multi-channels, from analogue to

supply these days: dedication.

Transform your business Automate and streamline your file-based processes to save time and money. ContentAgent’s powerful processing engine, extensive feature set and ease of use provide the perfect tool to transform all aspects of file-based workflow from ingest to delivery. Features include:

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NEW Featur es

at Meet us.

Hall 7.E21

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

32 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW: AUDIO

IBC broadcast audio showcase As part of our IBC preview this issue, we take a Top Trumps-style look at some of the audio products being showcased at this year’s show, covering everything from consoles to microphones to audio ﬁxing software

BroaMan

Calrec Audio

IBC stand number: 8.C60 IBC showcase product: MUX22 Product description MUX22 is an application-engineered device that offers every signal

IBC stand number: 8.C61a IBC showcase product: Fieldbox/H2Hub - very compact I/O units

needed in the professional environment in just a small 1RU chassis. MUX22 combines 3G/HD/SD-SDI I/O with Optocore and SANE digital

Product description

audio networks, creating a compact solution to transport video, along

The Fieldbox range of small format I/O units brings the advantages of

with audio and data, on the duplex ﬁbre. MUX22 can be populated

Calrec’s Hydra2 stage box to rugged environments and areas where

with up to four dual channel 3G/HD/SD-SDI modules providing E-O-E

rack space is at a premium. These 1u half rack units are suited to

conversion. There are two types of video board available: IVT and MR.

environments where I/O needs to be spread over a large area. They

MUX22 can be supplied with different types of audio/intercom inputs

can be located exactly where they are needed using just two high

and outputs.

capacity network cables for full redundancy.

Special functions

• Up to 16 3G/HD/SD-SDI ports

• Powered by industry-standard battery packs or an AC feed

• Selectable audio modules

• Remote control over input settings

• Four, 4-wire ports for Clear-Com/RTS/generic intercom

• Designed to support future audio-over-IP connectivity

• MADI module: 4 duplex SC MADI ports

• Fully redundant with option of two high-capacity network cables

• 16 AES/EBU ports on Phoenix or RJ45 connector

• H2Hub can link to multiple I/O units or another H2Hub

Cost: POA

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 33

Feature DPA

xxxxx

IBC stand number: 8.D70 IBC showcase product: d:facto™ interview microphone Product description The d:facto™ interview microphone is a high-end, hand-held reporter’s microphone that delivers exceptional voice clarity and linearity, plus low handling and wind noise that is superior to other solutions on the market. Ideal for outdoor and studio interview settings, it has an omnidirectional

Virtual Studio solutions made easy! Datavideo introduces the TVS-1200, two 3G SDI input trackless virtual studio solution. The TVS-1200 uses two single fixed cameras. This allows the director to zoom, pan and tilt the camera virtually within the set. Just like the TVS-1000, the TVS-1200 is very easy to operate. With a new and improved 10 second chromakey setup, this system is up and running in less than a minute. Use Datavideo chromakey products to dress your studio in the best shade of green and use Datavideo lighting kits to bring some light in the darkness.

TVS-1200 TVS-1200 dual 3G SDI virtual studio solution Turn key solution with capturing, streaming and RMC-220 control panel

USD$ 8500,Prices excl. VAT and local import duties

2006V capsule, based on DPA’s original 2006 but with sensitivity adjusted down 12 dB to accommodate interview mic and wireless handle sensitivities. Its modular design means the same microphone head can be employed for both wired and wireless use, with DPA’s state-of-the-art adapters providing seamless integration with wireless systems from all major manufacturers.

The TVS Series virtual studios have streaming encoders on board. That means that the only thing between your studio and a broadcast on the largest CDN’s is a piece of Ethernet cable or a steady WiFi connection. TVS Series equipment supports RTMP streaming and is capable of importing your FMLE settings file. Datavideo TVS Series equipment is easy to set up, easy to use and easy to master. The results are professional, and the possibilities are endless. To watch some example clips and receive more information, visit www.datavideo.com

Special functions • Exceptional voice clarity • Best suppression of wind and handling noise • Fits most pro wireless systems • Modular design

MAT-1

TVS-LK1

TVS-AUX

Chromakey floor vinyl

Lighting kits

HDMI Auxiliary input board

Visit our booth: hall 7 booth D39

Cost: £560 excluding VAT

Datavideo Technologies Europe B.V.

2015

• Omnidirectional pattern

info@datavideo.nl www.datavideo.com

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

34 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW: AUDIO

Genelec

iZotope

IBC stand number: 8.D61 IBC showcase product: Compact Smart Active Monitors (SAM)

IBC stand number: 8.D80 IBC showcase product: RX family of post production tools

Product description

Smart Active Monitors (SAM) offer users automatic acoustic calibration

At IBC, iZotope will showcase the latest advances in its award-winning

for systems up to 25 speakers and ﬁve subwoofers and is ideal for

audio repair and enhancement toolkit. RX, RX Final Mix, and RX

multichannel systems. The system calibrates frequency response to

Loudness Control are designed to solve common problems in the

be ﬂat as well as time-of-ﬂight (same arrival time of sound regardless

editing, mixing, and delivery stage of audio post production. The RX

of distance from listening position), phase correlation between

family elevates audio quality while contributing signiﬁcant time and

subwoofer(s) and the main speakers, and sound pressure level.

cost savings to a typical broadcast TV or ﬁlm production budget.

Special functions

• Built-in facilities for acoustic calibration at listening position

• RX transforms ﬂawed audio into usable material

• Designed to achieve accurate and powerful sound reproduction

• RX Final Mix balances a wide variety of audio assets in a single mix

• Reliable three-way systems

• Built speciﬁcally for audio post production professionals

• Handmade, individually calibrated

• Ensures clearer dialogue and maximum sonic impact

• Simple-to-operate calibration software

• RX Loudness Control ensures compliance with delivery expectations

Cost: Prices start at approx. £5,200 ex vat for a typical 5.1 system including the GLM kit

Cost: RX4: $349 (Advanced $1,199); RX Final Mix: $299; RX Loudness Control: $349

Hall 7 | Stand # B27 September 11 - 15, 2015 Amsterdam RAI

www.asperasoft.com moving the world’s data at maximum speed

TVBEurope 35

Feature Linear Acoustic

IBC stand number: 8.D47 IBC showcase product: Linear Acoustic – AERO.10 DTV Audio Processor Product description Television Loudness Controller and Audio Processor, includes

Connect 2 Expertise

Reliability

Innovation

AEROMAX® and UPMAX® II Algorithms, AES, SDI, and stereo analogue I/O plus BS.1770 Loudness Metering, TCP/IP Remote and HTTP control and logging. Handling up to ten channels of PCM audio via AES, SDI or analogue stereo I/O, the AERO.10 offers all-inclusive audio processing for overthe-air, over-the-top and mobile television broadcast.

Special functions • Linear Acoustic AEROMAX® loudness and dynamic control • UPMAX® II automatic upmixing and downmixing • Intelligent Dynamics™ with Advanced ITU (AI) Limiter • 3GHz HD/SD-SDI I/O with included video delay • Five front panel GUI plus extensive TCP/IP and HTTP control

Cost: $6,000, subject to options

Studer by Harman

Make Broadcast Easier Proven, reliable connectors and cable assemblies are here IBC stand number: 8.D60 IBC showcase product: Studer Vista V broadcast audio mixing system

www.ﬁscherconnectors.com

Product description The new Studer Vista V console harnesses Quad Star technology from the acclaimed Vista X to deliver a powerful, dependable and ﬂexible broadcast audio mixing solution in a compact form factor. Studer’s Vistonics™ interface and FaderGlow™ create a uniquely intuitive and stress-free operator experience.

Special functions • FollowSolo with FaderGlow and direct bus/group assignment • Stereo channel unfold onto the GrandMaster faders • User and system-events logger • VistaMix: Studer’s automated microphone mixing algorithm • Inﬁnity Core with 12 high-capacity A-Link ports (1536 channels/port)

Cost: POA

Headquarters Fischer Connectors SA Saint-Prex - Switzerland Phone +41 21 800 95 95 mail@ﬁscherconnectors.ch

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

36 TVBEurope

Feature Sennheiser

PREVIEW: AUDIO TSL Products

IBC stand number: 8.D50 IBC showcase product: Sennheiser AVX

IBC stand number: 10.B41 IBC showcase product: Phinix suite of file-based and IP audio solutions

Product description

AVX is a wireless microphone system for video cameras that ensures

The Phinix suite of file-based audio tools brings workflow efficiencies

totally stress-free audio capture. The amazingly compact AVX receiver

by enabling audio engineers to measure, correct or adjust audio files

plugs directly into the XLR of a camera, where it automatically pairs

on the fly. The tools include comprehensive loudness measurement,

with the microphone and switches on when the camera does. The

correction and compliance, Dolby-E encoding and decoding, options

system automatically adjusts the correct audio levels and transmits

for track shuffling and up/downmixing. The solutions support a wide

using a specially protected link in the licence-free 1.9 GHz range.

range of professional media formats, including MXF, LXF, GXF, QT, WAV and AIFF as standard, and are available as standalone desktop

Special functions

applications or as a fully integrated enterprise solution.

• Ease of use right from the start • Adaptive transmitting power

Special functions

• Rechargable lithium-ion batteries for receiver and transmitter

• Ensures loudness compliance to worldwide standards

• DSLR accessories included

• Track shuffling/re-mapping/replicating and muting

• Ready-to-use sets or individual components

• Dolby-E encoding/ decoding • Stereo to 5.1 upmix

Cost: Hand-held Set £810 incl. VAT; Lavalier Set £810 incl. VAT; Lavalier Pro Set £946.80 incl. VAT

Cost: POA

4K 4CHARITY FUN RUN

IBC2015 | Saturday, 12 September | 7:30am Amstel Park, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Register at 4K4Charity.com Join us for the 4K 4Charity Fun Run! Walk, jog or run your way through beautiful Amstel Park in support of major 4K industry achievements and charitable organizations. Amp it up with a challenge to your friends. Feel good about giving to those in need while engaging in a healthy activity yourself.

速

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

38 TVBEurope

Feature

PREVIEW

Technology meets athlete serendipity The NAB event was a roaring success with over $35,000 raised for the charities supported

Elemental Technologies’ Laura Barber, senior manager, publicity and events, talks to TVBEurope about the concept behind its the 4Charity Fun Run

and select a diverse global charitable

Describe the background of the 4K 4Charity

we’re at it!” To our great delight, our colleagues

the recipient organisation. Since 1945, CARE has

Fun Run in terms of its conception, and how

at Ericsson, IBC, and NAB agreed, and the 4K

served individuals and families in the

you went about choosing the charities you

4Charity Fun Run was born.

poorest communities in the world by working

organisation for each event. For the run at IBC2015, we designated CARE as

support both at IBC and NAB.

With regards to the charities we support,

It was technology meets athlete serendipity. The

the 4K 4Charity Fun Run organisers work

run was conceived by Elemental in 2014 as 4K

to identify charities that provide sustaining

was shifting from science thought experiments to early trial realities. We have a lot of smart, athletic people on our team, as do our colleagues across the industry. Many of us have attended shows like NAB and IBC for years, and have found

to cut poverty off at its roots. CARE focuses on community-based efforts to improve basic education, end gender-based violence, provide healthcare

‘As a community, the media and entertainment tech industry can make a huge impact for those in need’

that early morning workouts are huge in terms

and nutrition, increase access to clean water and sanitation, and expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. For more information about CARE, please visit www.CARE.org.

of giving us the energy to make it through the marathon of trade show ﬂoor meetings and

The NAB event was a roaring success

evening receptions and dinners. As a company

resources for those in need. We also seek those

with over $35,000 raised for the charities

– and I think this is true across the industry – we

organisations that have the lowest possible

supported. Just describe how the event has

also are well aware of how fortunate we are

administrative overhead so that we can assure

grown since it was conceived.

and are eager to give back. In the midst of

sponsors and individual participants that their

These 4km runs have raised almost $60,000

an NAB planning meeting, we looked at each

contributions make a direct and positive

to date in charitable donations for Oxfam

other and said, “we should have a 4K run, and

impact on the lives of those in need. We want

International, Heifer International, and The Shade

make an impact on communities in need while

to spread the wealth, so to speak. We research

Tree. We’ve made tremendous progress since

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 39

Feature the ﬁrst run last September. Every individual

Participants can use social media to both cajole

run, set over the 4km (2.49 mile) course in Amstel

runner and corporate sponsor makes a huge

and support their colleagues to do similarly.

Park, is open to all IBC2015 attendees, with all

impact in terms of helping those in desperate

The 4K 4Charity Fun Run at IBC2015 takes

need and contributing to an enduring tradition for our industry. The the NAB run saw 53 per cent increase in charitable donations and a 107 per cent increase in participation, with 30 countries and 217 companies represented. More than $35,000 was raised for global and local charities and we’ve seen widespread demand for future 4K 4Charity events at IBC and NAB – and potentially other events globally.

‘ The the NAB run saw 53 per cent increase in charitable donations and a 107 per cent increase in participation, with 30 countries and 217 companies represented’

This is something you are clearly passionate about. What does the industry’s reaction, participation and appreciation of what you are doing with the fun run mean to you on a personal level? It is humbling, and inspirational. As a community, the media and entertainment tech industry can make a huge impact for those in need. At the same time, we are creating a healthy, positive and enduring tradition for the industry. This spirit of generosity and adventure is contagious. What are you hoping to achieve with this year’s IBC event? In Amsterdam this September, I’d like to see 1,000 contributors and donations increase commensurately. This time around, companies such as Aspera (an IBM company), Brightcove, ChyronHego, Clearleap, Ericsson, EVS and Verimatrix as well as IBC and major media outlets, including NewBay Media (TVBEurope), Rapid TV News and Advanced Television are proactively approaching us about opportunities to participate. This is an incredible validation of the 4K 4Charity Fun Run. I should mention that at IBC2015 we have a fun new way to help registrants rapidly increase charitable giving: the 4K 4Charity Corporate Challenge. We’ll post the top ﬁve companies based on daily donations and registrants on a leader board located on the event landing page (www.4K4Charity.com).

place at 7:30am on Saturday, 12 September. The

proceeds being donated to CARE. To ensure your place, please visit 4K4charity.com.

40 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Feature

“We’re deﬁnitely not behind.” Hans Hoffmann, far right, defends the EBU following Thierry Fautier’s keynote address while Bevan Gibson, centre, looks on

TVBEurope 2020 A new conference for new workﬂows Neal Romanek looks back on the inaugural TVBEurope 2020 conference that sought to address the convergence of UHD and IT/IP ecosystems

despite the size of the global broadcast industry,

though the broadcaster is still important, could it

it is dwarfed by other technology players, such

be that it is the service provider – or even totally

as the IT and telecoms industry, which are

new customers – that we have to address?”

increasingly becoming intertwined with the world of broadcast. Technologies like 4K can

Looking for a blueprint

only be effectively created and delivered by

Thierry Fautier, president of the Ultra HD Forum,

IT workﬂows, and simultaneously these

started off the day’s sessions with a keynote

VBEurope’s conference season has rolled

workﬂows create a ﬂexibility – or instability,

address, the title of which encapsulated the

around again, but this one marked an

one might say – that builds an environment for

day’s principal theme, ‘Tomorrow’s world: the

evolution from past years, with TVBEurope’s

even more dramatic changes in broadcast

convergence of UHD and IP ecosystems and the

industry practices.

impact on production workﬂows and delivery’.

venerable Beyond HD Masters and IT Broadcast Workﬂow conferences combined into one

Ive’s IABM research showed that 54 per cent of

Fautier opened by saying that a UHD future

uniﬁed seminar. The synergistic result was one

IABM member revenues were now from services,

included implementation of wide colour gamut,

of the most forward-looking and insight-rich

many of which would be impossible without

high dynamic range (HDR), higher frame rates

conferences TVBEurope has yet offered and a

IP-based infrastructures; multi-platform delivery

(HFR) and next generation audio. He cited

reminder of the now inextricable link between IT

being a key example. “We have traditionally

research suggesting mass consumer adoption

workﬂows and higher format video.

thought of ourselves as a broadcast industry,”

of 4K TV will take place between 2017 and

he stated. “But as we get more democratisation,

2018 with the “magic number” of 20 per cent

and strategic insight, and regular TVBEurope

more channels that are not typical broadcast

take-up reached, based on current projections.

conference host, opened by emphasising that

channels, and more people making content,

By 2017/18, the Ultra HD Forum aims to have

John Ive, IABM’s director of technology

calrec.com

SUMMA. THE WORLD AT YOUR FINGERTIPS.

TVBEurope 41

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Feature ten times more services than exist today, with

While concurring that IP was going to be the

“The ‘gotcha’ at the moment, and where we’re

broad content availability, live HDR capability,

workﬂow environment of the future, Sky’s Chris

pushing the boundaries, is live production: the

and backward compatibility. By 2019, the goal

Johns noted that the road ahead might be a

processing of live, synchronous, low-latency,

is to have a full spec deployed that will include

bit bumpy. Sky has been almost ‘tapeless’ for

real-time feeds across multiple networks,” Johns

2160p/120, MPEG level 5.2 with HFR and HDR –

some time now.

said. “As we’ve seen from NAB, there are a

this delivered via stream without a decoder. A key challenge in adoption and deployment of 4K services is the lack of a single blueprint for how it will be deployed. The purpose of the Ultra HD Forum is to provide benchmarks and milestones for the rollout of UHD TV, including speciﬁcations and standards. “We want a single speciﬁcation for the future,” said Fautier. “We don’t want to keep going back to the drawing board.” Fautier then joined a keynote panel: ‘UHD and IT/IP: convergence or divergence and the options for UHD delivery’, which featured Bevan Gibson, CTO at ITN; Dr Hans Hoffmann of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU); Thomas Kernen of Cisco, and Chris Johns, chief engineer at Sky. Fautier had implied in his earlier presentation that perhaps organisations like the EBU were behind and that the slow process of establishing

“We are not in favour of a short-term solution that only satisﬁes the sales of certain big companies for the next year. We need to put the user in the middle of our considerations” Hans Hoffmann, EBU

standards and consensus was holding back the development and deployment of UHD. “We are deﬁnitely not behind,” EBU’s Hoffmann countered. “We need to have a longer term solution in place. So we are not as in favour of a very short-term solution that only satisﬁes the sales of certain big companies for the next year. We rather believe that we need to put the user in the middle of our considerations. “We do feel we are a little alone in standards bodies,” Hoffmann continued. “When we raise the subject, we make it absolutely clear that we need to have standards that are futureproof for the next ten years.” There was consensus among the panellists that a 4K/UHD world would be prohibitively expensive and complicated using traditional infrastructure and that it was going to require a move to software-centric platforms.

42 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Feature bunch of different vendors all proposing their

the audience, that there has been a move

of EVS; and Sony’s Peter Sykes. Again, the

own standard, which works perfectly well on

from “offer” to “engagement” which is forcing

question of standards arose. Johan Vounckx

its own, but when I want vendor A to deliver

broadcasters to up their game.

noted, “Many of the building blocks for IP are

their IP package into vendor B’s switcher, is it

already there. Some are mature, some are not mature. What’s lacking is a joint industry effort

wonderful, it delivered everything down one

Getting it to work, and work simply

known interface.”

The next panel asked the question ‘Do we have

build a comprehensive end-to-end ﬂow that’s

the necessary creative tools and infrastructure

interoperable and simply works.”

going to work? That universal coaxial cable was

to bring all these building blocks together and

Consumers take control

for UHD production?’ Present on this technology-

The next panel, ‘Consumer trends and their

focused panel were BT Sport’s chief engineer,

service, pointed out that the IP utopia might be

inﬂuence on the professional environment’, took

Andy Beale; John Ellerton, head of media futures

at odds with the reality on the ground around

a look at how the industry is increasingly in the

at BT Media and Broadcast; MC Patel of

the world. “We still have some broadcasters who

thrall of consumer demands. The panel was

Emotion Systems; and Simon Tuff, principal

don’t have enough broadband to handle FTP,

composed of media analysts: Ennel van Eeden

technologist at the BBC.

and then we have others who want live streams.

of PwC Netherlands; Erhan Gurses, of Bloomberg

BT Sport’s Andy Beale appeared only weeks

Intelligence; Mohammed Hamza of SNL Kagan;

after the company launched what it believes

and Martyn Whistler of Ernst and Young.

to be Europe’s ﬁrst UHD channel. Rather than

TIMA’s Alla Salehian, head of a global news

The question is how do we, as content producers, make sense of this.”

Ennel van Eden gave statistics from PwC’s

waiting for standards bodies to get their ducks

Risks and rewards

Global Media Report that conﬁrmed what is no

in a row, BT has just gone ahead and deployed

‘The risks and rewards of IP for broadcast media

secret: that traditional broadcasters are losing

a 4K channel. The fact that the company owns

entities’ continued the discussion with panellists

ground and that bundled cable packages

the means of distribution via it’s own broadband

George Boath of Telestream; Dr Glodina

are no longer as highly valued as they once

network simpliﬁes many of the problems that

Connan-Lostanlen of Imagine Communications;

were, especially among millennials who have

have bedevilled broadcasters. BT Sport will

Kris Hardiman of Ericsson Broadcast and Media

substantially reduced their linear TV watching.

initially transport UHD as quad-HD signals, but

Services; Maciek Janiszewski of BroaMan; and

Beale says BT will continue to improve and

Igor Krol of Veset.

SNL Kagan’s Mohammed Hamza noted that although consumers had an unprecedented inﬂuence, big technology companies still had

upgrade the technology as time goes on. MC Patel and Simon Tuff each represented

Ericsson’s Hardiman broke down the pros and cons of IP, noting that IP provides economies of

leverage. “The industry drives platforms, they

the audio world on the panel. Both claimed

scale, ﬂexibility and, unexpectedly, skills access.

make the devices.” He said that while 4K

that the new world of object-oriented audio

The question of how to attract the best people

seemed the next logical step for the industry that

will enable whole new ways of experiencing

to the broadcast industry emerged as a theme

the timeframe was still uncertain and that the

content. Object-oriented audio could correct

throughout the conference. With the migration

transition from SD to HD had not yet been fully

for badly arranged sound systems in the home or

to off-the-shelf and IP-based systems, broadcast

realised. “There won’t be any providers that are

allow for custom mixes of a soundtrack – louder

infrastructure moves toward the pure IT realm.

going to offer an SD channel, an HD channel,

dialogue for the hard of hearing or a selection of

Though these changes might put stress on old-

and a 4K channel.”

commentaries during a sporting event.

school technologists, they open the doors to the

Ernst and Young’s Martyn Whistler looked

The ﬁrst after-lunch panel, ‘IP workﬂow: the

great mass of IT expertise in the world. Hardiman noted that the risks of IP were

into who exactly the audience was and what

future of broadcast in an IP-based world’,

they wanted. “Anytime, anywhere access is

featured Ian Cockett, CTO of Pebble Beach

that the technology didn’t always mesh with

an expectation now. It’s almost considered

Systems; Alla Salehian, CEO of global news

broadcaster-speciﬁc needs, that the technology

a right.” He also said that content producers

agency TIMA; Tim Santhouse of Reuters;

needed to mature, and, of course, that it still

must maintain an on-going relationship with

Rod Fairweather of Viacom; Johan Vounckx

lacked a set of coherent standards.

TVBEurope 43

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Feature BroaMan’s Janiszewski commented on the standards issue: “It is very difﬁcult to make a

Ravensbourne students were on hand to capture the day’s events

A tsunami of change The day’s wrap-up session ventured into new

standard. We can make a great standard, but if

territory as Simon Frost of Ericsson delivered

it is difﬁcult to implement, people will not use it.”

a presentation on broadcasting’s place in a

In a Platinum keynote presentation, Per

Networked Society incorporating connected

Hansen of Aspera advised delegates on ‘How to

technologies such as the Internet of Things.

avoid drowning under your own ﬁle mountain’.

The panel that followed attempted to

File sizes are increasing (and will balloon

make sense of the wider reaching impact of

further when 4K matures) and so is the number

technological advance in the context of the

of ﬁles. The scale of the problem was illustrated

machine to machine, and won’t touch a single

day’s overarching theme. Frost joined a diverse

by Hansen’s observation that Netﬂix distributed

disk until the very end of the process.”

panel that included Jon Carter of Deutsche

33,000 different versions of Frozen. Many have

The question ‘Will SDI go the same way as

said that working in the cloud is not practical

tape?’ was addressed by Futuresource’s Adam

David Klafkowski of post house The Farm; and

for broadcasters for that very reason – moving

Cox. He agreed that 4K was the catalyst for

David Peto of Aframe.

masses of large ﬁles in and out of the cloud

an all IP industry, but questioned how great

is too time-consuming and too expensive.

the appetite for change actually was. Budgets

bound to IP-based workﬂows and that the

Hansen noted that IP was originally designed for

are increasingly tight and a certain amount of

development of one would push forward the

reliability, not for speed.

“investment fatigue” has become common. He

other, and that coherent sets of standards

believed that many production companies will

must be agreed upon. But the more important

memory until the end of the process. “You cut

be using legacy content well into the future. And

implications for the technologies were creative.

out storing the content as a ﬁle and you work in

again, the standards issue created uncertainty

memory instead throughout the whole process.

and hesitancy. His conclusion: “Things take

4K and IP will be transforming the broadcast

I think by 2016 a proportion of your workﬂows

longer than you expect. SDI is going to be

industry. But what kind of industry that will be

will be streaming content, memory to memory,

around for a long time yet.”

remains to be seen.

He offered the solution of keeping ﬁles in

Telekom; Niall Duffy of Sony; Bevan Gibson of ITN,

It was universally agreed that 4K is inexorably

One thing TVBEurope 2020 made clear:

44 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

Exploring the new broadcast ecosystem Philip Stevens reports from his moderation of the TVBEurope Strategy Week roundtable, held in association with Pebble Beach Systems, which focused on the challenges that lie in wait for entities across the media sector

From left to right: Ian Cockett, Russell Grute, Niall Duffy, Guy Elliott, Philip Stevens (moderator), John Ive, Marc Risby, Tom Gittins

But the technology is changing. The demise of SDI is recognised by most people; IP infrastructures are coming in; virtualisation is being driven by UHD/4K; and we are seeing the emergence of

here is, of course, nothing as permanent as

part of the vocabulary. And the impact

change. And the broadcast industry has

on the industry is already massive, and

seen its fair share of those changes over

is set to grow.

had little impact on the way viewers perceive

Beach Systems hosted a roundtable in London

television. Technological innovations still saw

to explore how these transformations will affect

the ‘telly’ as being a box (or more latterly, a ﬂat

stakeholders across the broadcast ecosystem.

the years. But until recently, those changes have

screen) in the corner. That is no longer the case. Second screens, VoD, multi-platforms – words unheard of not too many years ago – are now

As part of TVBEurope Strategy Week, Pebble

Those taking part in the wide-ranging deliberations were Tom Gittins, sales director at

remote production.”

”Technical recycling is unpredictable, but is getting shorter” Russell Grute, Broadcast Innovation Ltd

Pebble Beach Systems; Ian Cockett, CTO for Pebble Beach Systems; Niall Duffy, head of IT and

Panellists Tom Gittins Ian Cockett

workﬂow solutions for Sony; Guy Elliott, managing

sales director, Pebble Beach Systems CTO, Pebble Beach Systems

Niall Duffy

head of IT and workﬂow solutions, Sony

Guy Elliott

managing director, EMEA Gateway

Russell Grute

managing partner, Broadcast Innovation Ltd

John Ive director of technology and strategic insight, IABM

Marc Risby

director of technology, Boxer

director of EMEA Gateway; Russell Grute,

He said that all these elements represent

managing partner of Broadcast Innovation Ltd;

major challenges to suppliers. “The whole

John Ive, director of technology and strategic

ecosystem is changing for software providers,

insight at IABM; and Marc Risby, director of

service companies, systems integrators and

technology at Boxer.

manufacturers in general. And we have to consider that new ways of delivering content

Setting the scene Tom Gittins began by providing a brief

to viewers will bypass traditional supply chains.” The presentation ended with Gittins posing four

presentation ahead of the day’s discussion. “We

fundamental questions: who adds the value in

all know that the consumption of linear television

this changing landscape? Where are the most

still forms the major source of viewing.

successful enterprises?

TVBEurope 45

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Who will our customers be in the future? Who do

Niall Duffy and John Ive swap views during a lively debate

end users think their suppliers will be?

Business models The discussion started by addressing the business model that is likely to be successful in the future. “I think all can survive, and we shouldn’t assume the business models we have enjoyed in the past will automatically go away,” declared John Ive. “New models will be added. Clearly, there has been a growth in services, with the models built around those and software. You hear some

there are lower margins and higher volumes, but

bothered about technology’.” He maintained

people saying that the margins have gone out of

some suppliers do not understand that model.”

that over the last ﬁve years customers have

hardware, but there are still reasonable margins to be made out of software.” Ive felt that some of the upcoming business

Niall Duffy believed that it is easy to get too

been demanding risk-management from their

focused on the commercial aspects and the

suppliers and that has meant the emergence

mechanics of business models, whereas the real

of service companies.

models have not yet been exposed to the

factor is the customer value proposition and how

industry. “I hear it said that we – like our customers

that is delivered. “Twenty years ago the major

phenomena. “The service industry has always

– have to experiment with the new business

broadcasters would deﬁne what you did, but

existed; we simply didn’t refer to it in that way.”

models, and in ways that do not bankrupt us

now our customers are getting more diverse and

along the route. I think high value products

more demanding. They are no longer telling us

Software solutions

will have a place as part of the mix with lower

what they want, but are increasingly looking to us

With that in mind, Gittins wanted to know if

margins. We are seeing models working where

and saying ‘we need to do things and we’re less

software rental has an impact on those providing

Risby disagreed that this was a new

46 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

a service to the industry. Duffy responded, “It’s

Risby maintained that not everyone needs an

not just about offering the customer a new way

exit strategy. “We’ve been in business 25 years,

of paying, it’s more a case of what they need.

and we do not have any immediate plan to be

Adobe bucked the trend, and told customers this

sold or acquired. However, in modern businesses

is the only way it was going to operate.”

you have guys who can immediately produce

In response, Risby asked if Adobe had a

an app and they are then looking at their exit

choice. “I wonder if they were the ﬁrst to jump,

strategy. A lot of people set up in our industry

so to speak. There are a lot of young people

because they actually like what they are doing.”

today who won’t pay for media or they will

Elliott then continued, “It’s a lot easier with

rent it through Spotify, and maybe Adobe was

the trends when you are a reseller than when

worried it was going to lose out on that market.

you are a manufacturer. A lot of manufacturers

So perhaps the rental model means the volume

are not making any money, not spending the

increases, and Adobe was the ﬁrst to come in.”

right amount of money on R&D and so they are

Russell Grute added a thought about the ﬁnancial markets’ perception of the industry.

missing the next step.” This prompted Duffy to ponder how companies

“They seem to be interested in companies that

react when they come to the end of a particular

have a recurring revenue. Technical recycling

product cycle. “Take IBM, for example. They

is unpredictable, but is getting shorter. And it is

came to a point when they realised the next

driven by investment cycles and not technology.

wave was in services. But that didn’t stop them

There is no three to ﬁve year bet any longer.”

innovating in software and hardware, and there

Continuing that theme, Gittins wanted to know where those broadcasters with investment

is a certain level of compute for which it is now starting to see a demand.”

plans would be spending their money at present. Grute’s answer was succinct, “If I was

Is there an SI future?

a broadcaster, I wouldn’t be spending any

The role of the systems integrator in the new

money on equipment.”

world of broadcasting was then broached. Duffy

past ten years, they may not be fully aware of the

felt the prognosis was not good if the company

newer technologies and therefore need to hire

Making money, or not?

is only a reseller of hardware. “We have a lot

consultants to help ﬁll in the knowledge gaps.

So, why do companies that don’t make money,

of resellers who come back to us and say the

survive? “We seem to hang on to brands through

future is not in doing things this way. Those SIs that

Grute, though, felt the question was even more profound. “It’s not about editing suites,

strong emotion,” Gittins said. “And they continue to

storage and the other things with which we grew

be funded by venture capital companies. If they

up. They should be thinking about business wiring,

were in the IT space it would be a different story.” Grute again provided insight. “This comes up time and time again. What we are all struggling with is the normal cycle of a mature business. We all grew up with audio and digits when pictures from the bottom of the seas or from the moon were

“There’s a strong understanding of IT among all of the western European broadcasters“ Niall Duffy, Sony

the trafﬁc systems, the channel planning, the acquisition, and modelling systems…the actual things that make the money.” All agreed that there are lessons to be learned by studying SI practice in other industries.

all ﬁrsts. But we are now in the throes of a mature

Frightened of change

industry that is wrestling as to where to go next.

Change is inevitable, and that might scare some

Unfortunately, there are many small winners and

people. “I don’t think it is as scary as many people

lots of big losers. The whole industry is in transition.

know how to do software systems in a broadcast

think,” believed Duffy. “But I don’t think we always

The big boys have a lot to lose and are defensive,

environment are in a much better position.”

listen to what is needed.” Elliott agreed. “It’s a

or they are big enough to invest and carry on. So

He believed the role would be solution

case of ﬁnding out the reason for the change.

can we sustain all of those hobby companies or

orientated and providing assurance to the

We all talk about the four year cycles – Olympics,

money-losing companies? Deﬁnitely!”

customer, especially as broadcasters are now

World Cups, etc – so some companies will always

more technically literate. “There’s a strong

have reason to upgrade, but I think you have to

that for many years was a very exclusive club

understanding of IT among all of the western

ﬁnd the reason for change.”

with a high cost of entry. And we achieved a

European broadcasters.”

Ive added, “But also we have seen an industry

That moved the discussion to the matter of where money for change was being spent. Ive

very high standard of technical quality. The cost

Risby said that he sees the role of the SI as

of entry is much lower now and we are seeing a

a consultative seller. “We’ve always operated

suggested that some organisations are spending

proliferation of channels and more competition

like that: sales, systems, solutions. Today, many

money on technology at the expense of investing

and that does change the landscape.”

broadcasters are more IT than broadcast focused.”

in production. “They are spending money on

With the dangers of loss making in mind, Guy

Cockett saw SIs as essential partners in seeking

multiple channels that are not making any proﬁt.” Grute offered that more media is being made

Elliott wanted to know if it is wise to set up a

the solutions needed to meet current demands

business without having a clear exit strategy.

while Ive observed that where broadcast

and consumed today than ever before – but not

Before Elliott could answer his own question,

engineers have kept legacy systems alive over the

everyone can win in that situation.

TVBEurope 47

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

Game of Thrones, but I’ve seen spoilers posted that have aroused anger such as I have never seen before.”

Deﬁning success The debate turned to the identity of the most successful enterprises, in reference to the people in the ecosystem, not the supply side. Duffy believed it was those who identiﬁed scarcity and those who provide great services. He felt that Vislink, the company that bought Pebble Beach Systems in March 2014, was a great example of an enterprise that recognised those values and saw the potential of a company offering automation. Grute pointed out another quality example: Nativ and Ooyala. “It’s good to link up a piece of media statistics with a bit of media analytics. If I was recruiting engineers now into broadcast manufacturing, I’d want one of their core skills to be understanding analytics in its various ways.” Duffy felt that the chances of a small media management company that tried to survive on

Tom Gittins opens with a short presentation

its own were zero. Grute chipped in with, “That is so deadly because there are companies like that which come and go. I keep a check on

Risby then added the point that dynamic

Duffy predicted that in ﬁve years’ time, nobody

51 companies, and what is worrying is that they

ad insertion equipment is one of the biggest

involved in distribution will be making money. “There

have other people’s media under their control.

changes that has been seen recently.

is nothing more scarce than narcissism. We’re

The vast majority of the suppliers are much

looking at people who can create something just

smaller than the customers they serve.”

“But ultimately,” asserted Elliott, “the broadcaster has to keep eyeballs, and he has to ﬁnd a way of

for me. That’s the most valuable thing to me. You

doing that which is normally through content.”

succeed in that, then there’s value.”

Cockett felt that this was similar to other areas: where control systems for the electricity and water

Duffy said that only really applied to those

That approach is just what social media is

that rely on advertising. Pay-TV channels work

all about, according to Grute. “So we have to

to a different model. Grute came back with the

move from technology being the limitation to the

Gittins asked if there was a question of scale

thought that VoD is replacing the channel loyalty,

enabler to the industry. The equipment must track

involved. “If you look at our industry and consider

and that’s where changes in business models

the information needed for personalisation.”

the players – the big companies, the Grass Valleys,

need to be focused.

Elliott added a warning. “Let’s be careful that

industries, for example, are in the hands of a small number of people, and who move around.

the Sonys, and then you look at the medium size

we don’t throw everything away in the process.”

companies – is there evidence that the more

Answering the questions

He fears that social media can upset viewing

successful enterprises are not the big ones?”

The discussion then moved back to who adds

plans by sending out information before a person

“Yes,” maintained Grute. But not all agreed.

value in this changing landscape.

has seen a particular programme. “I’m not into

Ive felt that some of the smaller companies

48 TVBEurope

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

realised they had something really good,

into this industry – but they are making a

Ive said that it is important not to be in the

but they didn’t have the reach to take full

better ﬁst of it this time.”

middle ground for too long because that’s

advantage of their situation.

not a comfortable area. “And if you spend

Losing out

your entire time supporting legacy – you

approached by large IT companies when a

The discussion moved into who the losers will be

won’t move forward.”

presentation is needed to a broadcaster.

in this emerging media world.

Risby reported that his company is being

Looking ahead

“Those IT companies said ‘we tried to go

Duffy predicted it will be those that can’t

in on our own, but it didn’t work’. We can pick

adapt to the new technologies. “And in many

Risby was the ﬁrst to answer the question as to

and choose the projects that are going to

cases it’s going to be those who don’t have

who our customers will be in the future, saying

be right for us.”

the cash. If I was to start a new company, my

that his company will serve anyone with a

single most important employee would be the

media-related requirement.

And talking of large companies, Grute added his opinion that the biggest customers at NAB

ﬁnancial controller.”

and IBC in the future are going to be telcos.

He concluded, “If you don’t have an IP

And that referred back to a point that was raised earlier – should we still be calling the

“That’s interesting,” answered Ive. “We’ve seen

story you won’t survive. If you don’t use cloud

industry ‘broadcasting’ or should it be ‘media’?

BT make several attempts in the past to get

technology, you won’t be successful.”

“I don’t care if it is a broadcaster or a

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TVBEurope 49

sports-related company – if there is a media

“I have written down ‘mind the gap’ with regard

to move up to large size, because the middle

need we can help.”

to the different scales. Do you pick the size you

ground is not the place to be.”

Ive added, “I would also contend that

He added one ﬁnal thought. “You can

want to be? Do you stay in the safe zone? Stay

companies like Adobe have started a trend

small? Stay agile? Maybe have an exit strategy or

probably track the success of a company by

that has opened up the market for lower

just love your business. And maybe be prepared

the size of its stand at IBC.”

end products. So for those who want to embrace that market there are high volume low margin opportunities. As to who end users think their suppliers will

See us at IBC Stand 10.A31

be, according to Duffy, there will always be a demand for people who understand the industry. “What we will be selling and what we are bundling will be quite a bit different from what it used to be. And there is going to be a lot more

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commodity IT than what we currently do.” “It’s a similar situation for Ericsson,” maintained Grute. “They don’t build playout centres for a telco, but they will provide a managed service. They invested enough in Ericsson Media Services to learn about media to beneﬁt from the amount that is going through their infrastructures.”

“If you don’t have an IP story you won’t survive. If you don’t use cloud technology, you won’t be successful” Niall Duffy, Sony

SDI

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According to Risby, software deﬁned networks still

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need to be discussed a great deal more. And the cloud has to be there. “It will be about our industry learning to use commodities,” said Cockett. “In the B2B market,” added Elliott, “it is generally accepted that a buyer is 70 per cent through the buying process before he talks to a supplier. The end user will be doing his research,

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50 TVBEurope

Feature

Simplifying complexity, solving problems James McKeown talks to Harris Morris, CEO of Wazee Digital, about solving complexity in the content value chain, the strategy involved in rebranding from T3Media, and how broadcast is evolving as both a business and a term Describe your ﬁrst year at the

There’s an enormous opportunity

helm of Wazee Digital in terms of

that’s been created by massive

the progress the company has

growth in content, and in the

made in that time.

numbers of platforms that we can

The progress has been striking. I

use to consume that content. In

think everyone here can feel a

between, that creates a great deal

palpable sense of acceleration,

of complexity that our customers

and I am thrilled by the degree to

need to manage.

which talented people – old and

Media companies are realising

‘Ensuring broadcast-calibre reliability, while hitting the most expansive interested audience at the right price point for them, will be hallmarks of broadcast in the future’ What have been the key strategic changes and developments you

new – are embracing what we are

that they are either in the content

have implemented thus far that

trying to do. One of the hallmarks

creation business or they’re in the

are already starting to bear fruit?

of the year has been striking a

consumer-facing business, or both.

The ﬁrst shift was starting with a clear

balance between taking the ‘old’

What they all need is help in the

strategic understanding of where

strengths already resident in Wazee

middle. And that’s where Wazee is

we play. We are a B2B services

– our deep video and metadata

incredibly strong.

provider that helps our customers

IP, our customers’ loyalty and trust,

Finally, we have had amazing

our history – and augmenting them

progress with our team. Getting our

their brands. We simplify everything

with the ‘new’: new thinking; new

existing experts organised

in the middle of the content supply

talent; new technology that is

well to face our customers’

chain: between when the content

even more robust and capable. A

challenges with well-deﬁned roles,

is ﬁnished and when it is played out

new pace of progress and more

and adding stellar new talent to

to the end consumer. That focus

Manager platform, called Core. The

aggressive approach to service

complement the team already

has sharpened, and is yielding big

platform securely and persistently

and responsiveness. We’ve also

here. I am awed every day by the

change. We’ve refocused on our

houses high-quality video content

conﬁrmed the market opportunity

people we have in this organisation

key skills, and we realise many of our

with all of its associated versions

and strategy for Wazee.

and those that are joining.

capabilities are rooted in our Library

and metadata, which is massively

monetise their content and build

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August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 51

Feature content itself. That’s what is growing

to digital, IP and the cloud, but it’s

the media industry. Content growth

forcing that shift to happen faster.

is clearly enabled by platform expansion, but even more, it is

What will be the catalysts for

enabled by the shift to digital in

change in the run-up to 2020?

production and consumption. That

The number one catalyst is

digital shift not only drives a near

competition. The competition for

20x multiple in number of titles

our engagement as consumers is

versus a decade ago, but it then

going to be a battleﬁeld for media

forces the shift towards IP-based

companies. In a world where quality

technologies versus bespoke

content is rampant, and platforms

broadcast technologies. It is starting

varied, your brand may need to be

to force a shift towards cloud-based

represented in dozens of ways: the

technologies, which is where much

network, the series title, a seasons’

of the media world will go.

pass, the name of an episode, the

Media companies can no

EST platform, the look and feel, a

expect a show to be a hit. There is

great promo, a crawl, a consumer

a competition for absolutely every

goods tie-in…literally any number

eyeball moment. Now, the cool part

of things. So, thinking about brand

is that the volume of those ‘eyeball

identity becomes hugely important.

moments’ continues to increase.

The question then becomes,

But, the competition for those

once you’ve created content

moments is extraordinarily high.

and brand identity: how can you

That creates the complexity

their

S/E number, an iconic image on an

longer rest on their laurels and

ensure it is discovered by everyone

that Wazee goes about solving in

in your possible audience who

the middle, and it also creates a

should be watching? Then, how

number of strategic questions for

do you create loyalty around that

content owners. Questions about

content experience in a world

how they win, how they create a

where content opportunities are

brand, how they create loyalty, how

proliferating at an astronomical

they interact with their consumers.

rate? Metadata is the lynchpin

I think that’s a huge change. It’s

holding that new value system

not only been enabled by the shift

together. As stewards of the

content. Licensing is one important for content discovery

tool in that arsenal. Content

and use. And, the platform enables

management, smart metadata

our customers to transform and

and delivery are others. They’re all

monetise their content with ease.

essential to serving that core.

Wazee is focused on repeatable SaaS products and services, and on

You’ve been involved in the

delivering capabilities to meet the

broadcast market for some time

needs of many media companies

now, notably with Harris. Describe

at scale. This allows us to develop

the changes you’ve seen in your

those capabilities much more

time in the market, and which

quickly – and to offer them with

disruptions you feel have made

disruptively compelling economics.

the most signiﬁcant change to

I think at times in our history,

how our sector is operating.

Wazee has thought of itself as an

For me, it’s what people don’t talk

‘either/or business’: for example,

about. It’s neat from a consumer

either a licensing company, or a

electronics standpoint to talk about

delivery company. The reality is that

the proliferation of distribution

we uniquely understand and enable

platforms. We can see the

that central set of capabilities that

devices and the new offerings as

allow our customers to protect,

consumers. But, far more compelling

control, manage, and monetise

to me is the explosive growth in

Streamlin

e your

SCHEDU LING Model you r schedule s concept u p to broad from the c a sting and beyond ov er multiple media. www.med ia

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www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

52 TVBEurope

Feature content, Wazee has the unique

constitute what people think of as

for narrowcasting, as we harness

I recently wrote that, perhaps,

ability to aggregate and add

television, but the platform will be

the ability to target content to

the term ‘broadcast’ is getting a

massive intelligence to metadata.

less about the screen itself than the

more speciﬁc audiences. Ensuring

bad press. Should we consider

That data fundamentally allows

things we are watching.

broadcast-calibre reliability, while

broadcast as an evolving term,

content targeting discovery,

‘Broadcast’ is fascinating. At

hitting the most expansive interested

rather than a defunct one?

distribution and monetisation. It

Harris, we found that broadcasters

audience at the right price point for

‘Broadcast’ is absolutely an

allows people to ﬁnd the right

thought their business was stodgy.

them, will be hallmarks of broadcast

evolving term. In the future, the

content again and again. That’s an extraordinary opportunity for Wazee, but it’s a challenge that’s going to drive every relevant media

notion of broadcast will be deﬁned

‘Broadcast is absolutely an evolving term. In the future, the notion of broadcast will be deﬁned more broadly’

company in the run-up to 2020.

more broadly. At its essence, broadcasting means reaching a massive audience, doing so ﬂawlessly, and with extremely high quality. For many content

Staying on this theme, and tying

experiences, those things will always

in to our recent TVBEurope 2020

They wanted to be cooler and

in the future. ‘Content’ is a jargon

need to be true. Now, the demands

conference in June, what will ‘TV’,

hipper, so they wanted to be digital.

word. Even Wazee uses it reluctantly

on the content will vary depending

‘broadcast’, ‘content’ mean in

Digital providers, however, wanted

since we know that it has no real

on the channel. You won’t, for

ﬁve years’ time?

to be broadcasters, because that

meaning to consumers. Consumers

example, need 1,000 pixels on your

‘TV’, at its core, is screen-centric.

was where all the money was

think of movies as movies, TV as

screen if you’re streaming content

Over time, TV will come to mean a

made. ‘Broadcast’ means – and

screen-based content. Content

to your phone on a bus, but the

tier of content that sits between a

will continue to reﬂect – the ability

is a catchword, and it will remain

premise remains the same. Massive

feature ﬁlm and short-form content.

to make a high-quality programme

that way. It is a functional word for

reach. Near-perfect reliability.

Character-driven comedies,

available to large audiences in a

the high-quality video we handle,

The right quality for the moment,

serialised dramas and story-arc

nearly perfect way. At the same

prepare and distribute, but it would

content, platform, and pipe. That’s

reality: these types of content will still

time, there will be a growing respect

be nice to invent something better.

how the term needs to evolve.

All trademarks remain property of their respective holders, and are used only to directly describe the products being provided. Their use in no way indicates any relationship between Primestream Corporation and the holders of said trademarks.

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 53

Feature We needed a brand to encompass

In 2016, we will continue to

all of that. The Wazee brand

expand and grow our suite of new

embraces all of those strengths:

products. We’ll have new customers

past, present and future. It allows

and we’ll continue to have the

us to bring the best of the ‘old’

best talent solving major industry

T3Media forward, while harnessing

challenges with Wazee solutions.

new talent, new technologies,

We’ll continue to invest in our

and a refocused vision on how we

people, both fully leveraging the

eliminate complexity at the core of

incredible talent we have, while

the digital media supply chain.

attracting new talent for growth and fresh ideas.

What are the greatest challenges

You’ll see new thinking. In

you face as a CEO in deﬁning and

2016, we’ll augment some of the

executing this strategy?

concepts we’ve discussed here:

Our greatest challenge by far is

elevating metadata ‘smarts’

deciding what not to do. Wazee

and value, improving content

has a great deal of capability and

management, enhancing

our customers have extraordinary

discovery, radically simplifying

need for the products and services

the intrinsic complexity of the

that we offer.

content value chain. And, as

As a company, we need discipline around not doing too

always, we’ll have fun. There are clearly challenges

much. For those services and

serving the world’s largest (and

capabilities that we do offer, we

smaller) media companies: they are

need to do them exceptionally

intelligent, technically proﬁcient,

well. We will continue to move

often demanding, and they have

really fast to meet our customers’

unique needs for a reason. We’re

evolving needs, but we’ll do so

trying to do one of the more exciting

without overreaching and trying to

things in the world: to let technology

do so much that it distracts us from

drive and direct the best content

exceptional execution.

into the hands of everyone who ought to see it. We accept the

Finally, what does 2016 look

challenge of solving it in new and

like for Wazee Digital?

insightful ways.

Optimize y our

We speak following the rebrand

Were we a platform business or a

from T3Media to Wazee Digital.

licensing business?

Talk us through the strategic

In addition, we had a wealth

impetus behind this, what the

of intellectual property that had

refresh is designed to achieve,

not been exposed as products to

and how it will beneﬁt the brand

the market, but, was close

going forward.

enough to be game changing

When I became CEO, I talked to

for our customers.

our customers and partners about

Wazee really is a mix of those

what T3Media means to them. We

three things: our licensing heritage,

heard a lot of wonderful things: trust,

a broader product and services

boldness, willingness to solve

portfolio that enables our customers

hard problems in creative and

to manage and monetise their

smart ways. At the same time, we

content, and a cutting-edge SaaS

heard confusion about how the

company which leverages our 11

company had evolved.

years of investment and IP.

WORK FLOW

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www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

54 TVBEurope

Forum

Social media in the media Philip Stevens talks to broadcasters, industry experts and graphics suppliers about the dramatic increase in social media within broadcasting

show Horizonti (The Horizon) in

and rescuing people, as well as

2012,” explains Igor Medi´c from

organising aid for the victims. It

the Croatian broadcaster’s public

also proved a valuable source of

relations department. “Then we

information for journalists, who used

used social media, primarily

social networks for newsgathering

Twitter, during several other

to provide fast and accurate reporting during their coverage.”

t is hard to believe that just ﬁve

Deirdre Macklin, marketing director

projects, including the coverage

years ago, a television presenter

of Ireland’s TV3 Group. “Over the

of the European Parliament

had to explain to the audience

last ﬁve years, we’ve invested in

elections in 2013, and Croatian

Across different genres

just what ‘Twittersphere’ meant.

our social media output and have

presidential elections in late 2014

German broadcaster SWR ﬁrst saw

How times have changed.

grown audiences by over 40 per

and early 2015.”

the extensive use of social media in

Tweets and Facebook have become part of our vocabulary.

cent in the last year alone.” Macklin emphasises that all TV3’s

Medi´c reports that information

2013 at Rock am Ring, the largest

gathered from social media was

multi-day music festival in Germany.

Ever conscious of having to move

‘live’ programming has a social

used for research, plus opinion and

The broadcast from SWR EinsPlus

with the times, broadcasters have

media aspect. “Instead of asking

exit polls. “We also had a, so-called,

was highlighted with social media

come to appreciate that the use of

viewers to text or email their views,

live tweet wall in our studio during

content on Facebook, Twitter

social media within programming

we now primarily encourage them

the election nights.”

and Instagram. Based on that

can have a major impact in

to communicate with us using our

attracting – and retaining – viewers.

social media channels.” She says

networks proved to be effective

a social media concept which was

that all shows will display Twitter

tools during HRT’s humanitarian

integrated in the ARD broadcasting

our use of social media extensively

and Facebook graphics throughout

efforts that were in place to help

concept of the FIFA World Cup

throughout our live programming,

the broadcast to encourage

ﬂood victims in Croatia, Bosnia

2014 in Brazil.

encouraging viewers to like, tweet,

engagement.

Herzegovina and Serbia. “We

“From 2010 onwards we ampliﬁed

He goes on to say that social

knowledge, SWR developed

“Because of the very good

share and engage through our

“At HRT, we ﬁrst started using

used social media as one of the

feedback from the audience,

social media channels,” states

social media in our foreign policy

main sources of communication

SWR has strengthened social

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 55

Forum media integration for different TV

deeper integration where viewer

that their added value is not

programmes – including politics,

inﬂuence can actually be part of

exclusivity, or even speed. “Prior

sports, events and entertainment,”

the show, sharing comments, polls,

to social media, if something

explains Ralf Baron, graduate

data or even video content to be

happened, it happened on TV

engineer in media technology,

part of the programme output,

ﬁrst. Now, I think broadcasters who

and media designer team leader

giving a richer viewer experience

don’t embrace the fact that the

at DASDING young formats,

where the watcher actually feels

sources can go direct without

technology and production.

involved or, at least, part of the

their intermediation, will become

(DASDING, a youth radio station

community.

irrelevant. Broadcasters need to be

operated by Südwestrundfunk, is

able to expertly tell a story using

moderated mostly by young people

Being involved

pictures and sound that engages

and is advertisement-free.)

Randall Bennett, founder of software

viewers at home. Everything else

developer Vidpresso, has a similar

surrounding it, like immediacy,

expanding social media through the

outlook. “Part of it is the weasel word

exclusivity, spectacle, and so on

use of diverse distribution channels.

‘engagement’, but taking out past

will all be supplanted by social

cliches, I think it’s really a great way

media and the internet in general.

to provide a ‘jumbotron’ effect for

The sooner broadcasters realise

any type of content. Most people

this, the better.”

Baron continues, “We are

The best example is our Visual Radio on DASDING and SWR3. Diverse social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and

“If social media is to have any value for the programme then it must be immediate” James Gilbert, Pixel Power

have attended a sporting event where there’s a big video screen,

Social buzz

and when you get on it, you feel the

Chris Lawrence, Cognizant’s head

same emotions as other people on

of media consulting, UK and Ireland,

closer look at services like WhatsApp

the screen. Integrating social media

maintains that social media has

and Periscope.”

into productions is like that – but at a

helped to protect and sustain event

massive scale. It’s not just the 20,000

television, driving audiences back

Scribblelive have been integrated into the live programme for about a year. Currently, we are taking a

Baron says that SWR is about to create a multifunctional

“Twitter also pioneered the social

people enclosed in an arena, it’s

to scheduled events. “Social buzz is

infrastructure for social media

use of the ‘hashtag’, meaning

anyone who cares about a topic

helping to promote the scheduled

applications with never.no as a

people could join speciﬁc

from anywhere in the world. Our

watching of high-end dramas,

central tool, with control through its

conversations and follow the noise

company’s goal is to make it simple

such as Game of Thrones, as well

existing graphic systems from Chyron

of a speciﬁc subject. This was a key

for any broadcaster to use, not just

as voting-based programmes that

and Vizrt. “In addition, we have

turning point for broadcasters and

ones with big budgets.”

are more naturally suited for live

developed a smart solution called

journalists in ﬁnding content from the

Social Media Hub using VidiGo.”

public or key people.” He says that while the ‘hashtag’

How it started

system was originally introduced

Mention was made by Baron of

to the consumer market by Twitter,

never.no – a social TV solutions

it quickly became adopted more

provider for programming

widely by others such as Facebook

and advertising with ofﬁces in

and Instagram. This meant that

Manchester, Oslo, New York City

promotions for ‘use the hashtag

and Sydney. Its CEO, Scott M

xxxxx’ could be more generic rather

Davies, says the idea of social

than platform speciﬁc.

viewing has been part of traditional

So, what does Davies think

broadcasting even before Twitter

are the main purposes of social

started – in the early 2000s. “People

media in television programming?

used SMS or online technology to

“Today, it’s about added value.

interact with shows, sharing content

Tickers or crawlers of comments

directly to the programme for it to

are becoming less and less, and

be broadcast to the masses – not

production teams are now thinking

social as we know today, but the

about how social adds value – that

foundations of what was to come.”

is, how does your social interaction

Davies believes Twitter became

affect the show, or become

the real turning point for social

content in its own right or extend

media in broadcasting due to

the communication outside of the

its open communication system,

linear format?”

enabling people to follow whoever

Traditionally, this has

they liked and share content outside

been around news or sports, but

of any ‘friend’ constraints.

never.no sees more and more

Bennett believes that the

broadcasting. For example, Netﬂix

use of social media has made

has been experimenting with

broadcasters really face the fact

moving away from binge watching

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

56 TVBEurope

Forum – for example, the whole House of

CEO, Pixel Power. “First, the

decisions and just show the

for quickly airing social media

Cards series three was published

solution has to be very fast. If social

producer the selected messages

messages. ChyronHego’s Shout

at once – to more event-driven

media is to have any value for

for ﬁnal clearance.”

Metrics, the extension product to

broadcast, like releasing new

the programme then it must be

episodes on Netﬂix every Tuesday

immediate. The second challenge

comes to social media is its Clarity

easily point and click graphical

over a period of a few months.”

is linked to the ﬁrst. You have to be

Graphics software. This is designed

data visualisations of the social

able to sort and grade the tweets

for the creation and real-time

media data.”

such as Big Brother, broadcasters

so that you only put on screen the

display of uncompromised graphics

have the opportunity to monitor

messages that are interesting and

across a range of playout devices.

effectiveness of social media has

audience opinions as the content

relevant, but at the same time

More than that, its architecture is

up to now been a ‘value added’

is being watched and make

not going to cause offence to the

designed to support a range of

offering for broadcasters. “Engaging

editorial decisions to make the

audience or the regulator. To keep

automated processes, designed

audience participation through

experience more engaging and

up with the ﬂow there has to be a

by Pixel Power or through an open

social media is now an important

immersive than before.”

lot of automation around this or you

interface by third parties.

part of many broadcast events. With

He says for voting-based shows,

Lawrence continues, “Social

will get swamped. Third, you have

Pixel Power’s solution when it

“We have an application

Shout, allows broadcasters to

He goes on to say that the

ChyronHego’s Shout, broadcasters

media is part of a general shift

to get from Twitter to the screen.

called Buzz which automatically

can instantly create an online

online, which has changed the role,

That means showing the comments

parses large numbers of incoming

community and create buzz around

purpose and signiﬁcance of some

in the context of the programme.

social media messages against

the broadcast by quickly airing

content forms, particularly news,

The last thing you want is to create

a set of search criteria set up for

social media conversations from

where the details are broken as it

a distinctive look for a show, then

the programme. Within seconds

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mass

happens and where the scheduled

have the social media feed look

a manageable sequence of

Relevance, YouToo, and RSS feeds.”

news programmes have a greater

like computer type dropped on

candidate messages are presented

role in providing commentary and

top. So you need a powerful

to a producer who simply

Gathering the data

insight, beyond what is reported

graphics platform which can get

accepts or rejects each one.

For Amsterdam-based VidiGo, there

immediately online. Social media

the messages on screen in real time,

The producer can even modify

are two challenges in bringing social

monitoring is key here to identify

conforming to the visual design

a message if necessary.”

media graphics on-air.

new opportunities, and we have

of the show.”

run a pilot to evaluate the value of

Gilbert states that the software

social media as a news source for a

needs to have rules to determine

global news organisation.”

what is likely to be valuable and what can be binned. “You might

“Tweeting from a corporate rather than a personal account is one of the biggest oversights individuals make” Chris Lawrence, Cognizant

Overcoming hurdles

want to promote some messages

Like all innovations, there are

over others: what previous winners

challenges to be met when it comes

of talent contests or reality shows

to getting the messages to air.

would excite audiences, for

Clarity Graphics then puts the text

The ﬁrst is how to realise it in a

instance. So the control system

and avatar into whatever graphic

traditional workﬂow, cost-effectively

has to make a lot of instant

style the designer has determined.

and in real time, and secondly, how

Because it is likely that the rest of the

to gather and moderate the social

programme’s graphics have been

media data. Mention has already

designed using Clarity Graphics,

been made of VidiGo working with

the same templates, fonts and

never.no for a solution at SWR.

“I see three fundamental challenges,” says James Gilbert,

decorative elements can be used.

“For the ﬁrst part, VidiGo’s Social Media Hub is the most cost-effective

Randall Bennett, Vidpresso “Becoming expert visual storytellers will be the key to broadcasting’s survival, especially as more of it moves to the internet”

Scott Davies, never.no “The social use of the hashtag... was a key turning point for broadcasters and journalists in ﬁnding content from the public or key people”

Making it visual

and easy-to-use solution really

According to ChyronHego,

designed to be used by the creative

graphically visualising the social

staff itself,” maintains CTO, Peter

media messages has always been

IJkhout. “At the heart of the Social

the hardest part. “It usually takes

Media Hub is VidiGo Graphics, a

a lot of scripting,” explains Louis

broadcast graphics engine that

Garvin, the company’s senior

renders standard web technology to

product manager. “ChyronHego’s

SDI. Rendering web technology to

Shout and Shout Metrics solutions

SDI has the big advantage that the

work directly with broadcasters’

integration of real-time data is easier

graphics systems and cover the

than ever.” IJkhout says that for that

entire scope of visualising social

data management VidiGo partners

media data. The easy-to-use social

with never.no and Snipper. “These

media editor Shout is perfect

specialise in gathering social media

August 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

TVBEurope 57

Forum data and providing the backend

within the different automation

it works through open standards

improved connection with the

to moderate all the available social

solutions of VidiGo.

http API requests.”

audience in ways not previously

media data on the web. VidiGo has

wTVision has been experimenting

possible.

the broadcast knowledge and tools

Easy import

with socially generated content for

to bring graphics alive. The end-to-

Go Social, the social media solution

quite some time. “Social media is

Ironing out the problems

end workﬂow of VidiGo Graphics

from Lisbon-based wTVision, allows

a natural evolution of calling and

With social media within

and, for instance, never.no is the

users to receive messages in real

text-based solutions of the past and

broadcasting still relatively new,

most cost-effective and complete

time from Twitter, Facebook and

our tools have evolved to embrace

there has been a learning curve

solution to display social media

Instagram and moderate them in

the new more open standards

for all those involved. And during

graphics during live broadcasting.”

a user-friendly way. “It’s possible to

of participation,” reveals Fraser.

that time, mistakes will have

review and edit them with great

“Recently, we have experimented

been made – and rectiﬁed – in its

graphics can be set up with just a

ease, and it’s also possible to search

with live election coverage

implementation.

few clicks. The ﬁrst stage is to pick

messages by users, preview image

by voicing general public and

the type of social media (Twitter,

content, categorise messages by

politician reactions to results as they

than a personal account is one of

Facebook, Instagram, etc), select

playlist and be alerted in real time

came in, using political journalists as

the biggest oversights individuals

the desired graphic template

for the arrival of new messages,”

moderators to our system. This had a

make,” states Lawrence. “However,

and set the playout options – for

explains Alex Fraser, wTVision’s

very engaging result on air.”

many organisations are still looking

example, play only one message,

CTO. “These feeds – both text

loop between all messages, or play

and images – are made available

online coverage of sports like a

rather than a range of different

them all at once. The user is able to

to be imported as ready-to-air

surﬁng championship event that

platforms, each with a different

set multiple social media graphics

messages to be controlled by Studio

spans several hours, social media

value, point of view, purpose and

all with different playout options. In

CG, wTVision’s newsroom and

plays a crucial role in keeping the

audience type. For example,

addition, the graphics can be used

entertainment CG platform, or

event lively and the interaction

Facebook is an engagement

in manual operation or integrated

any other control software, since

with commentators provides an

platform used extensively by all

In the user interface, social media

He says that for extremely long

“Tweeting from a corporate rather

at social media as one medium

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• Media Asset Management forum • Archiving and storage roundtable

Audio for Broadcast

Sports/ Live broadcast

• Broadcast audio feature •Rugby World •Cup 2015

www.tvbeurope.com August 2015

58 TVBEurope

Forum generations and where parents set

traditional graphics. Therefore it is

Davies adds this perspective:

up accounts for their children. This

important that changing templates/

“Story by never.no enables a

should be used in a very different

designs must be extremely intuitive.”

great many new features to take

way by a broadcaster than a social

According to Pixel Power’s Gilbert,

social media integration further: for

media app, such as Snapchat,

the key is to embrace the practice.

example, enabling geo-located

which appeals to a much more

“Social media is a great way of

content for events or focused

speciﬁc millennial demographic.”

keeping the audience engaged

regional content engagement.

and immersed in what you are

It’s the ability to respond – that

has been broadcasting a ‘hashtag’

doing. The chances are that viewers

is, sending messages back with

for the sake of it. “There is nothing

are exchanging information on

additional content, or informing the

more irritating than to motivate

social media about the content of

contributor where and when their

the audience to ‘get involved on

the programme, so why would you

content is going to be used. It’s not

social’ purely in the hope of driving

not want to know what they are

just pictures and text, using video

more viewers due to the social noise

saying? Why would you not want to

is a great solution for live or near

made by it. For me, broadcasters

use it to drive further engagement?

live comments, questions and

For Davies, the biggest mistake

should be making that ‘noise’ part

content provision.”

of the format and enabling the

Looking ahead

viewers to see that their actions can

With all that in mind, how is

be part of a show or even inﬂuence

the future of social media in

it, this in turn will make viewers more

broadcasting viewed?

likely to participate, share, engage and tune in.”

According to Lawrence at Cognizant, live streaming apps will make it possible through tools

From the broadcasters’ perspective, Medi´c sees social networks as a tool for attracting a on whether to distribute their

younger audience, who are already

content directly to the audience or

informing themselves that way. “TV

via existing platform providers. “

broadcasters should intensify that

He continues, “Crucially,

Making better use

such as Periscope and Meerkat to

broadcasters need to understand

Clearly, the use of social media

see greater integration of citizen

that audiences typically interact

within broadcasting is here to stay. So, with that in mind, what can broadcasters do to increase the value of the social mediarelated activities? “The most important aspect is that it has to happen in real time,”

way of communication in the future.” Baron from SWR adds, “What’s ahead is difﬁcult to say, because the market develops rapidly. But

“There is nothing more irritating than to motivate the audience to ‘get involved on social’ purely in the hope of driving more viewers due to the social noise made by it” Scott Davies, never.no

declares IJkhout. “From a technical

for sure it’s more complicated than ever due to closed and very private networks/messengers like Snapchat or WhatsApp.” IJkhout sees the increase of interactivity in traditional broadcast as becoming more and more

perspective it is extremely important

important. “What you see now

that the integration in an existing

journalism into news. “This also allows

with a programme or a person

in gameshows is that the host is

workﬂow is easy and fast, and that

professional journalists to be more

and not with a company. We are

referring to the second screen.

the UI is so intuitive that the creative

mobile, ﬂexible and effective and

helping broadcasters to identify

This is, in our opinion, ‘the worst of

staff can control it themselves.

for non-broadcast organisations

the best social media strategy

both worlds’. Using real-time social

Publishing social media is not like

to make better use of video as a

for them, by implementing social

media so your audience can really

traditional graphics – which are

medium. What is more, social media

media monitoring tools to assess

participate in the show will create

mostly ﬁxed for longer periods. What

will have an impact on whether

their effectiveness as well as the

a real value in live game shows.

you see in the use of social media is

and how broadcasters and other

effectiveness of their marketing

But you can also imagine that this

that the design and templates have

programme makers approach

campaigns. This should then inform

can have a huge impact in news,

a much higher ‘turn-around’ than

going to market and make decisions

a broadcaster’s engagement

elections and so on.”

approach, to make sure they work

Go Social, the social media solution from wTVision, allows users to receive messages in real time

It would appear that the

intelligently with their talent to

technological developments

beneﬁt from the social buzz created

to make the increased use of

around the shows or programmes.”

social media are now in place.

Fraser at wTVision observes: “The volume of aired social media content is still fairly low and many

But doubtless, those advances will continue. From the production side,

show formats will have a limited

programme makers need

segment for airing this content.

to have the vision to consider

By reserving a more independent

new, creative – and hopefully,

screen space for showing external

exciting – possibilities in the way

content, more people will have a

that social media is used. It surely

say and content will be enriched by

is a programming tool that is

moderated vox populi.

here to stay.

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