www.tvbeurope.com
Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry
May 2017
Back to the
Future? Contemplating the media landscape in 2017 and beyond
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
MediaTech 360
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Welcome EDITORIAL Content Director: James McKeown jmckeown@nbmedia.com Editor: Jenny Priestley jpriestley@nbmedia.com Senior Staff Writer: James Groves jgroves@nbmedia.com Contributors: George Jarrett, Neal Romanek, Philip Stevens Sales Manager: Peter McCarthy pmccarthy@nbmedia.com +44 207 354 6025 Senior Account Manager: Richard Carr rcarr@nbmedia.com +44 207 354 6000 Digital Director: Diane Oliver Human Resources Director Lianne Davey Head of Production: Alistair Taylor Managing Director: Mark Burton Designer: Kelly Sambridge kelly@excitingcreative.com US Sales: Michael Mitchell mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv +1 (631) 673 0072
A virtual future? H
ere we are then, at the start of a journey which could lead who knows where…It seems to me that I join
TVBEurope at a time of immense change
within the industry. Just a few years ago we were all watching TV through satellite dishes or cable, now it’s all about OTT platforms while the future seems to be live-streaming. For me, it feels as though momentum is with virtual reality. In recent weeks we’ve
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VR for the first time at BVE in February, I
reality on TVBEurope’s website – from Ridley Scott’s production company launching a VR-dedicated division to Channel 4 investing in new VR firm Parable. Having experienced came away feeling really excited about this
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“For me, it feels as though momentum is with virtual reality”
claim that TV ‘doesn’t need to bother too much about VR in the next two years.’ VR is obviously a subject we’ll be discussing during our MediaTech 360 event and we’re delighted to be featuring a preview of the
new technology. It helped that the VR film
two-day summit in this issue. Co-chairmen
I watched was based at Anfield, home of
Simon Frost and Niall Duffy pick out some
© Copyright NewBay Media Europe Ltd 2017
Liverpool Football Club, who I’ve supported for
of the key panels and speakers during our
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher. The contents of TVBE are subject to reproduction in information storage and retrieval systems.
almost 30 years. But aside from that, and once
two-day summit. Obviously there’ll be lots to
I got used to it, I found VR to be an incredibly
discuss, not least the General Election taking
exciting experience! I was a little upset though
place on the second day, we couldn’t have
when I went straight to a panel with the DPP
timed it better! n
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where they announced their key predictions
Jenny Priestley
for 2017 – including the somewhat surprising
Editor
SECTION EDITORS
Philip Stevens Production and Post editor
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Neal Romanek Technology editor
George Jarrett Business editor
19/04/2017 18:28
4
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
In this issue 10 MediaTech 360
Conference chairs Simon Frost and Niall Duffy look ahead to TVBEurope’s inaugural MediaTech 360 event
15 28 Feature
Production and Post
Philip Stevens discovers the winning Formula for Channel 4’s F1 coverage
SAM launched its Academy earlier this year. James Groves investigates the developments
30 Business
32 Technology
George Jarrett visits the DPP’s ‘Twogether’ event to celebrate the partnership’s second birthday
Neal Romanek investigates how Sony Pictures Television unified and future-proofed its array of channels under one roof
38
38 TVBEverywhere
Following Telestream’s acquisition of IneoQuest, Jenny Priestley speaks to CEOs Dan Castles and Calvin Harrison about the latest developments, and plans for the future
46 Data Centre
Genius Digital’s Giles Cottle evaluates “the $375 million conundrum”
04 TVBE May 17 Contents_v2 JG_final.indd 1
Audio
40
PSNEurope editor David Robinson gives his thoughts on Prolight + Sound 2017 in Frankfurt
21/04/2017 12:26
Grand Production Console
mc 96 2
Read more @ tinyurl.com/lawo-mc2-96
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6
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Opinion and Analysis
Jumping the gap
André Kamps, CEO, Elements, looks at integrating functionality and simplicicity
D
Unfortunately, however, many makers of MAM
and you won’t be happy with a system that
systems seem to neglect the strenuous workflow
requires intensive training for every potential
processes broadcast and post production
user, as you might end up being dependent
facilities have to cope with every day.
on a few users that are actually able to manage
Demanding the fulfillment of complicated set up and client configuration procedures at
the system. Another important issue to make sure of is that
ue to tight deadlines and a considerable
the beginning – and, later on, requirement
the MAM provides a professional full-text search
amount of stress on a daily basis, video
compliance with predefined media asset
engine, as many projects require tremendous
professionals in the broadcast and post
management processes when managing the
amounts of data to be reviewed, pre-selected
production industry don’t have the time to deal
system on a daily basis – is basically the opposite
and annotated, oftentimes by numerous
with ‘complicated’. Instead, simplicity and speed
of what users want and need.
people. Locating particular media files or video
are crucial and desirable – and features that increase collaboration and accelerate their daily business. Modern media workflows in the post production and broadcast field have become more and more complex and intricate, and
‘Users don’t need more gimmicks and gadgets, they need purposeful features that simplify and accelerate their daily tasks’
collaboration among the various workstations
clips even by simply searching for comments from other users can enhance and accelerate communication and approval processes. Also verify that the MAM is platform-agnostic and fully integrated, without the requirement to pay for client licenses. Since the media assets are living on your
– as well as communication between the
media storage already, an embedded task
team members – can be a challenge. This
While many of the sophisticated (and expensive)
manager that allows for setting up tailored
applies even more when editors and artists
MAM solutions provide a multitude of features,
event triggers such as automatically generating
work remotely, accessing the same project files
gimmicks and gadgets (that nobody seems to
proxy files, or distributing email notifications
simultaneously from a multitude of different
actually use!), some of the more cost-effective
to dedicated users, as soon as changes have
applications, constantly creating new versions.
solutions often lack useful and practical features
been applied, comments have been added
It can make managing and controlling those
that streamline processes and provide the
or the particular project has reached the next
media assets rather difficult.
flexibility users are looking for.
step in the approval process can be extremely
A large number of MAM solutions available
When you are looking for a professional
helpful as well.
today provide a comprehensive range of
MAM solution, check first and foremost how
features that help to defeat the data chaos and
easy the handling is. Simplicity is key. Not
never use, and don’t seek for fancy gimmicks
manage media assets efficiently.
every graphical user interface is fully intuitive,
that are not useful in your daily business. n
06 TVBE May17 Opinion_v2 JG_final.indd 10
Don’t pay for complicated features you will
20/04/2017 14:50
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20/04/2017 16:53
8 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Opinion and Analysis
The scale-out digital production opportunity By David Sallak, vice president and CTO, M&E, Panasas
M
edia formats grow larger and more complex with every incremental upgrade release of a device or
application. What options exist for production companies when it comes to getting work done, given this amount of format fragmentation and workflow change? Post production environments must invest in platform upgrades and adapt data pipelines just to keep pace with the surge in new media formats and creative capabilities. Each step our industry takes to support new filters and looks, effects and storylines has also placed pressure on the facility to do more with what it already has. Any system admin with history in this business can look at what they’ve managed over time, and the most painful point
capacity and parallel access. Most shared-
To scale-out the metadata portion of storage
of the business has been a migration event – the
access storage for creative teams is designed
requires adding compute within the storage
time when older technology could no longer be
to scale-up one or two of these three vectors.
architecture to handle the increase in aggregate
upgraded enough to keep up with new formats
A typical example occurs when expanding a
client access to data. Most scale up storage
and performance requirements.
SAN with more disks/arrays, resulting in more
has a controller server acting as the traffic
capacity and more bandwidth. However, the
director, with a backup controller server acting
facilities replace the old with the new, it can be
improvements are generally only experienced
as the failover. The traditional design is capable
described as scale-up. This means that portions
if the number of clients stays the same – the
of achieveing high availability, but surprisingly
of individual components improve (scale-up),
storage is scaled up to enhance the experience
enough, most storage vendors have attempted
but the next performance bottleneck is likely
of an existing number of users.
very little when it comes to scaling the compute
When computers get faster and post
to be exposed. Most technology can only be
A scale out storage platform is engineered
within the controller part of the architecture.
improved along one or two vectors of their
to support all three vectors of scale – not only
Some storage vendors offer scale-out via
design paradigm, such as CPU performance or
throughput and capacity, but the complete
clustering to traditional scale up performance
disk capacity. At a certain point, they must be
end-to-end scale of adding more users and more
and throughput designs. Performance-based
replaced since the original equipment lacks the
powerful applications and media management
clustered storage supports real-time workflows,
ability to scale in all the necessary areas to stay
systems that insist on accessing more assets and
– such as video editing and streaming playback
in use as the primary production platform.
providing status and availability at the same
– in digital production environments as they
In some cases, the emergence of cloud
time. This superior approach will provide agility
are modern scale-out storage architectures
resources for burst workloads can help, but
and reliability, as emerging UHD, VR and other
that are capabale of expanding easily along
many concerns around availability, cost, and
immersive workflows encroach upon traditional
all three-scale vectors.
maturity continue to impact the ability to build
media delivery operations.
a cloud-only workflow for media production.
The constant challenge with business growth
Avoiding the pain of data migration is a clear goal that should be expected from storage
A foundation of data processing made from
is taking on new productions while delivering
technology, and scale-out offers a way to
modern, agile on-premise components can
existing ones. The addition of more users drives
overcome this challenge. A modern scale-out
scale-out the needs for bandwidth, capacity
organisational migration events, since most
architecture can avoid the painful scheduled
and workflow as the cloud continues to evolve
shared-access storage struggles to support
outages due to data migrations in addition
to address the time and cost of large payload
greater amounts of parallel user access
to adding capacity and performance on the
workflows common to media production.
compared to the initial design specification.
fly to meet ever-increasing production needs.
Add an asset management system, and
Maintaining availability of the data while it is
facility has a core and ties into many
everyone will agree that overall storage I/O is
migrated from one-generation platforms to
components. Part of the modern media core
not only about high performance – it’s about
another is a core tenant of scale-out storage,
is the shared-access storage piece, addressing
more aggregate performance for more users
and a final benefit to scaling out all three vectors
the three common scale vectors of bandwidth,
accessing more files in parallel than ever before.
of shared storage architecture. n
Like the human body, the media production
08 TVBE May17 Opinion with tint_v2 JG_final.indd 8
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10
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Feature
Evolving together MediaTech 360 is almost upon us. James McKeown, content director, NewBay, looks ahead to the inaugural event
5th – 9th June 2017, Central London, UK
Ensuring positive change By Simon Frost, industry expert - internet, media and telecoms, and chairman of the MediaTech 360 Summit, Day One
I
am honoured to be chairing and
to address. All providers of television content,
moderating the first day of TVBEurope’s
services and connectivity have to rapidly
new MediaTech 360 event. As a previous
accelerate their digital propositions that
speaker at the TVBEurope 2020 events
leverage data insights, machine learning and
while the head of media marketing and
analytics, combined with agility enabling
communications at Ericsson, I shared insights
cloud-based approaches that result in a
from my specific industry-wide research
continual focus on delighting the end-user/
O
projects that looked into global viewing
viewer. We are only mid-way through this
urs is an industry in the grip of
behaviour, and also an industry outlook called
transformation and have so much to learn
profound change. The days of legacy
Media Vision 2020 that predicted some of
from adjacent industries, while discovering
systems, hardware, and ‘traditional’
the future for media, and how to address
those core values of media that have
broadcast technology are falling to the past,
that vision for success. The TVBEurope team
sustained television for over 50 years. Media
increasingly being replaced by IT and IP-
have a strong track record of curating the
has the luxury of the knowledge that in an
based infrastructures that will become the new
needed thought leadership to enable a better
all-digital ecosystem, the most compelling
standard. At the same time, the disruptive forces
understanding of our industry’s evolution.
programming can reach global audiences,
The big picture outlook is a vision of a
but so much of the established value chain
of emergent technology, new market players, and consumption trends are adding layers of
networked society, where globally connected,
is up for renegotiation, and so many new
complexity for all industry stakeholders.
digital, always-on consumers are ever more
technologies create such different ways of
fickle and selective in responding to global
working and thinking.
It is within this changeable, fast-moving environment that entities from all disciplines of
influential trends. This phenomenon is already
what we once termed the ‘broadcast’
a huge challenge for every mature industry
With a view to addressing much of this disruption; the first day of MediaTech 360 will
spectrum are burdened with devising and in some cases re-writing their technical and operational strategies. Safeguarding for the short term, future-proofing for tomorrow. As independent media publishers whose traditional backbone has ‘analogue services’ (print publishing) written all over it, we too face similar hurdles, challenges, and therein, opportunities. It’s with some comfort that we approach this uncertain future in collaboration with the industries we serve: end users, service providers, regulating bodies. We are evolving together. MediaTech 360 is the latest stage in that evolution; an independent forum for all components of the industry to come together to try to make sense of the current state of industry affairs, and plot a strategic vision for the future of our market. I know I say this on an annual basis, but this year’s agenda really is the most forward-looking we’ve been bold enough to put together, and boasts by far the best speaker lineup we’ve had the privilege of assembling. To introduce each day’s sessions in more detail, it’s my pleasure to welcome our chairs for this year’s summit: Niall Duffy, chairperson for Day Two; and firstly, Simon Frost, who will preside over the opening day’s agenda. n
10 11 12 TVBE May 17 MediaTech_v4 JG_final3.indd 54
Simon Frost, MediaTech 360 Summit Day One chair
21/04/2017 16:25
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
11
Feature establish the current state of transformation
Having started Day One with a business outlook,
Having established the industry business
with a keynote from a prominent broadcaster,
we will move into the technology drivers that
trends, outlook and drivers, the role of IP in
hearing their outlook on the industry and the
are creating change. Beyond the well-told
workflows and enablers we will pivot towards
most influential trends they are dealing with.
shift to internet video IP distribution, we will look
the consumer adoption of new content formats
at the less mature area of IP in the acquisition
and look at eSports. A respected industry panel
and production workflows.
of experts, analysts and broadcasters will discuss
Following this will be an industry panel of respected analysts where we will get to the hard data on just how impactful industry shifts
Created specifically to address the issues
this rapidly emerging format and debate its
are and the reality of change. I will be looking
surrounding this, the Alliance for IP Media
role alongside traditional sports coverage and
to have these experts bring balance to the
Solutions (AIMS) is bringing broadcasters,
differences in viewer demands. With sports
‘hype versus reality’ of disruption, and yet not
technology vendors and industry standards
content the most valuable and demanding for
be shy about where they see the needed
organisations together to eliminate
both production and distribution, I will be asking
immediacy of action.
fragmentation and maximise hardware and
the panel whether this new format can reach
software interoperability. I am delighted that
similar levels any time soon.
‘I am confident that MediaTech 360 is the natural progression to ensure, as an industry, we share experiences and drive forward positive change’ As an industry influencer, I have used strategic thinking following a simple framework of three
Mike Cronk, chairman of the board of AIMS,
Wrapping-up Day One and providing a
will deliver a keynote update on this open
technology-oriented connection to Day Two,
alliance and its member’s progress.
I will have the pleasure of handing over to the
We will follow up with an insightful panel
Day Two chairman Niall Duffy, CMO of Virtual AI.
discussion where Mike, vendor CTO’s and
Niall will moderate a panel looking at broader
others will discuss the status, interop and
disruptive technologies and their impact – AR,
progress more deeply. I will be looking to
VR and mobile production. Niall will take the
have the panel make clear what they
outcomes of this discussion into Day Two of
believe must be achieved in 2017.
MediaTech 360.
The afternoon will continue on the IP-enabler
I am confident that MediaTech 360 is the
interconnected points; technology drivers/
theme with a presentation on IP technology
natural progression to ensure, as an industry,
enablers, business model impact/evolution
in cloud workflows from a leading vendor,
we share experiences and drive forward
and consumer behavioural trends. These
and then an IP case study from Michel De
positive change. I look forward to seeing you
interconnected aspects influence one-another
Wolf, director, DWESAM Engineering, most
there and please do not hesitate in contacting
deeply, and therefore fit perfectly for my
recently jointly awarded at IBC2016 for the
me in advance with the hottest questions you
approach to chairing this event.
VRT-EBU LiveIP studio project.
want addressed. n
Media’s brave new world By Niall Duffy, CMO Virtual AI, and chairman of the MediaTech 360 Summit, Day Two
T
he MediaTech360 Summit is a significant
That is the context of the second day of
have a dedicated session on the topic, covering
new addition to the events diary in
the conference. We will start by looking at
innovations such as IBM Watson to practical
2017, and it is a great honour to be the
technology trends that will affect us in the near
applications of AI in broadcast.
chairman on Day Two of the conference. The conference’s heritage has been solidly
future, with views from ITV, the DTG and media specialists MTM.
in the world of broadcast, but the branding of the event marks two key departures from the past: firstly it recognises that the world of media technology and workflow is far greater than just broadcast, and secondly it emphasises new technology, and indeed new forms of consumer
The prospect of AI could fundamentally alter how we work, and while the threat of robots replacing jobs may be headline-grabbing,
‘MediaTech 360 will help set the technology, operational and strategic agenda for many going into IBC in September’
technology, is changing the way that we work.
the real impact will be more in how AI and robotic automation will enhance our current operational processes, delivering greater speed and flexibility. We like to think of ourselves as a creative industry, but the irony is that so much of our operations and workflows are manual,
We are now seeing the second wave of
repetitive and, at times, unnecessarily frustrating.
digital transformation – file-based workflows
AI offers to deliver on the original promise of file-
represented the first. This first wave focused on
As ever, cloud will be a topic, but I think it will
based workflows, which was to allow us to focus
digitising tape-based processes, but in doing
be less about “to cloud or not to cloud”, and
on the more interesting business of creating
so, it kept many analogue procedures and
much more about the new workflows and
compelling stories, rather than the logistics of
practices in place. The second will push the
technologies that a cloud-connected world
producing them.
boundaries on how we work, not just how we
will enable, from remote production to Internet
move content.
of Things. AI is one such key trend, and we will
10 11 12 TVBE May 17 MediaTech_v4 JG_final3.indd 55
AI is just one element of technology change which can feel like it will represent an
21/04/2017 16:25
12 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Feature
5th – 9th June 2017, Central London, UK
existentialist threat – at times, it seems there
from long-term existentialism to current-day
may be a few meteors heading our way. The
practicality with a keynote executive panel
next sessions dive deeper into this topic, with
on how media organisations are dealing
a session named ‘TV is not dead, it is reborn’,
with their daily operational challenges.
offering a suitably diverse panel from Google,
The panel will look at how the recent and
the DPP, and innovative cloud start-up Sundog
emerging technology changes are affecting
Media. Historically, broadcasters have been
the fundamentals of media infrastructure,
the storytellers and the curators, but that’s
and where key investment decisions will be
changing, and probably too quickly for many
made. This is a heavy-hitter panel, at the end
established media companies. The panel will
of a heavy hitting conference, with top
look at whether traditional TV, from both a
executives from the major players BT Sport
production and distribution perspective, is being
and Ericsson, the dynamic and innovative
eroded by newer OTT content companies,
Freesat and UKTV, which has been steadily
such as Amazon and Netflix, and the growth
emerging out of the cable and satellite channel
of online social platforms. The panel will also
market into a fast-growing and important UK
look at the role and increased importance of
media operator.
user-generated content and non-traditional content, i.e. content that does not come out of a traditional broadcast commissioning process. This session is followed by one that looks at
Niall Duffy, MediaTech 360 Day Two chair
It’s a compelling schedule. What will you get out of it? Well, you may not be able to predict the future, but you will be able to
market changes, YouView, an organisation that
understand how to prepare for it.
the broadcasters’ strategic responses. It will
lives on the cusp of the old and the new, and
provide perspectives from Channel 4, who have
DMC, a facility that has reinvented broadcast
operational and strategic agenda for many
always remained on the front foot in the face of
and digital delivery. In closing, we come down
going into IBC in September. n
More directly, it will help set the technology,
in
eb
W
COntact details
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Content creation, marketing, and delivery: TVBEurope offers the platform to educate our audience through your webinar. Our position in the industry will allow you to present your content via interaction with a global audience while generating qualified leads
ar
Thought leadership meets lead generation The benefits of a webinar include: • TVBEurope will act in the capacity of an independent facilitator and moderator • Topics of discussion to be set by the client or in collaboration with TVBEurope • Can take the form of either a Powerpoint presentation or a webcast • Unlike a 1-2-1 conference it is not restricted by geographical or temporal factors • Live Q&A session to encourage dialogue • Ideal for lead generation • Ongoing promotion following the webinar’s transmission
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Standard webinar marketing campaign utilising three separate NewBay Europe digital broadcast platforms: • 5 x e-blasts • Advertisement on each of the three sites: TVBEurope, TV Technology Europe, and NewBay Connect • Advertisement included on multiple newsletters sent across the three databases • All generated leads to be shared with the client • Follow up correspondence/reminders to all non-attended registrations • Permanent hosting on each of the three sites
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May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
15
Production and Post
Broadcasters from around the world scramble for the best coverage of the races
Winning Formula broadcast live coverage of the races, including
Tailoring the coverage
practice sessions, qualifying and in-depth race
Stewart Veasey, Channel 4’s technical
analysis,” explains F1 editor Mark Wilkin. “In
manager, takes up the story. “We take feeds via
addition, we will show extensive highlights of all
a Riedel Mediornet from the host broadcaster
the remaining Grands Prix in the 2017 season,
and/or Formula One Management (FOM).
anuary saw the announcement that
with all live races and highlights programmes
These consist of race coverage, main and
Channel 4 will cover ten Formula One
available to watch live, as a simulcast, and on-
backup, clean race, various timing and
Grands Prix during the 2017 season.
demand on All 4. All live races will continue to
information pages, plus nine on-boards and
be broadcast without advertising breaks.”
an on-board mix. To supplement that with our
Philip Stevens discovers how Channel 4 will provide free-to-air coverage in the UK
J
The races include the British Grand Prix in July and the Monaco Grand Prix on 28th May –
Wilkin goes on to recall that the 2016 season
own coverage, this season we will be using
the first time this iconic race has been available
was Channel 4’s first broadcast of the Formula
three Sony PXW-X500 SXS radio cameras with
live on free-to-air TV for five years.
One World Championship – with viewership
a Cobham transmitter. In addition, we have a
figures running into many millions for the race
Marshal commentary box camera, and we will
up and highlights of the Australian race. The first
coverage and highlights programmes. “The
be adding a fourth PXW-X500 at Silverstone for
live race came from Bahrain in April.
coverage, produced by Whisper Films, was
the British Grand Prix.”
The coverage started in March with the build
“As part of a three year-deal with Formula One World Championship Limited, Channel 4 will
15 16 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_F1_v2 JG_final.indd 54
frequently the most watched programme over its time slot.”
The main feed goes via Channel 4’s Ross Carbonite vision mixer. In addition, there
19/04/2017 15:55
16
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Production and Post is a backup feed from FOM – or the host
Channel 4’s coverage includes extensive behind the scenes activity with host Steve Jones
broadcaster – which goes to London via satellite. A Lawo MC56 console handles the audio mix, while graphics comes from Vizrt. Editing is carried out on location using Adobe Premiere. “For the more distant locations, our MCR, server and storage are accommodated in three pods. In Europe, we do a conversion and build a semi-permanent rig in a production vehicle,” states Veasey. “Comms for the complete operation comprises of three talkback channels, covering technical, production and guest, plus four Wisycom IEM transmitters for presenters.”
“The stories are often unfolding as we are on air, so, while planning is essential, being able to react to the moving story is even more important” Stewart Veasey, Channel 4 David Coulthard will provide his expert analysis and commentary at every race exclusively for Channel 4 He goes on, “Technically, everything has to work wirelessly – cameras, microphones, talkback. Our ‘studio’ is the whole of the paddock and pits area, and we need to cover stories from every team. Editorially, the stories are often unfolding as we are on air, so, while planning is essential, being able to react to the moving story is even more important. Keeping all the presenters,
xxxxx xxxxx
commentators and reporters in touch with each other on-air and off-air is also key.”
Cooperation Wilkin adds, “The Formula One paddock is a hugely busy place with many other international broadcasters all vying for the same interviews, space, stories and pictures. We need to be able to work alongside each other and cooperate fully with teams, organisers and other broadcasters, whilst appearing to be effortless moving around the pits and paddock to speak to all the people that matter.” A final word from Stephen Lyle, Channel 4 head of F1: “Following a thrilling first year covering Formula One, we’re delighted to reveal our schedule for the 2017 season. Once again, our team brings extensive coverage of every race. It’s a particular delight to welcome Monaco back to terrestrial TV live, for the first time in five years. And we are just as delighted that Channel 4 will remain the terrestrial TV home of Formula One until 2019.” n
15 16 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_F1_v2 JG_final.indd 55
19/04/2017 15:55
Save the Date Conference 14 – 18 September 2017 Exhibition 15 – 19 September 2017 RAI, Amsterdam
IBC2017
Where the entertainment, media and technology industry does business Join over 1,800 exhibitors showcasing the latest technological innovations, 400+ speakers delivering the latest industry insights and 55,000 attendees providing unlimited networking opportunities at IBC’s 50th annual conference and exhibition. Add dates to your diary IBC.org/savethedate Follow us on social media for the latest news and updates #IBCShow
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18
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Production and Post
Bringing news to life One of Russia’s news channels has recently upgraded its equipment. Philip Stevens investigates
L
The revamped studio at the LifeNews broadcast centre
“For switching and redundancy, we installed a
The Octopus API allows Life News to integrate the
Platinum Harris matrix switch with a dimension
NRCS more closely with their own developments
switching field of 64 by 64,” continues Ushakova.
and applications, including web platforms,
“Almost all infrastructure was based on Harris
publishing, planning and reporting.
Broadcast (now Imagine Communications)
“The management and engineering teams
equipment. Newsroom as well as studio and on-air
at Studio-Service have proved highly efficient
ife (stylised as L!FE) is a 24/7 breaking news
playout were based on the solution provided by
on previous projects for Russian broadcasters, so
channel station based in Moscow. Launched
the project’s general contractor.”
we are very pleased to be partnering with them
in the Russian capital in September 2013, the
again,” says Octopus Newsroom sales director
company now also operates a sister channel, Life
Upgrade exercise
Gabriel Janko. “They have designed and installed
78, from studio facilities in St Petersburg.
Last year, both channels decided to upgrade their
a completely upgraded newsroom solution for
media complex, including newsroom operations
each location, closely integrated with editing,
new TV studio – including lighting system and
– a project overseen, once again, by Studio-
graphics and playout infrastructure.”
control rooms – ready for the launch,” states
Service. “We started to work on the upgrade
Anastasiia Ushakova, project manager at
in March 2016,” explains Ushakova. “Our main
operates entirely independently, there is the
Moscow systems integrator Studio-Service.
task was to change the existing media complex
option of connecting its respective Octopus 8
“That Moscow studio was equipped with
– which included on-air and studio playout,
systems to allow ready sharing of content between
seven Sony HXC-D70H cameras with Fujinon
MAM system and the VIDI News newsroom
the two sites.
lenses. Six cameras are mounted on Sachtler
system – to more suitable ones. The newsroom
Pedestal C III tripods, while one used an
system we selected was Octopus 8. In fact, our
of newsroom computer software that allows
Egripment TDT 6 crane. Two cameras are
company has had positive experience of Octopus
easy ingest of all incoming source materials such
equipped with Teleview prompters. Vision
NRCS implementation since 2011. The system is
as news agency wires, RSS feeds, emails, SMS
switching in the gallery at that time was
successfully operated on RBC and Tsargrad TV
messages or even faxes. “Such feeds may also
carried out using a Snell Kahuna 2 ME mixer.”
channels in Moscow.”
contain images, video files or audio files.
The new presentation studio at LifeNews Moscow
The playout control suite was also part of the upgrade at LifeNews, Moscow
“In 2012, we were commissioned to build a
Janko reports that although each newsroom
He explains that Octopus 8 is a complete suite
Octopus 8 was the newsroom system selected by LifeNews
18 19 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_life_v3 JG_final2.indd 54
20/04/2017 16:58
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
19
Production and Post “Octopus 8 can display all content belonging
Other kit
HD 1920x1080 and capable of handling 60 inputs,
to a feed in a single view. A powerful relational
Beyond the newsroom operation, a number of
32 outputs and ten channels of Clipstore, a DHD
database with SQL enables users to achieve
other pieces of equipment were installed as part
52/XC 48 channel audio mixer and, in addition
their goals faster. With its topic-centric workflow,
of the upgrade. These include a SAM Kahuna 4800
to the existing matrix switcher, a further Platinum
Octopus helps different teams within TV, radio
switcher with a Maverick modular panel with full
VX 256x256. n
and online portals work collaboratively on current affairs programmes and news items.” Octopus 8 also provides features such as visual story history and version comparison, plus the ability to separate the spoken script from the technical information. Octopus samples each anchor’s reading speed and then calculates the on-air time accurately as it feeds the teleprompter.
Managing the flow Arseny Kudryavtsev, technical advisor to the Life News CEO, takes up the story. “We integrated Octopus with a flow automation and media asset management, a storage system and XStream EFS system to capture and broadcast from EditShare Geevs. “Combining NRCS Octopus 8 and EditShare allows users of both systems to have a common access to the proxy files and high-resolution media content as well as news blocks and metadata
THIS
through a MOS gateway.” Octopus integration is also performed with a renewed graphic design system based on Avid solutions. These include 4Designer to develop graphics, and TD Control and Maestro7 for managing those graphics in real time. Software integrated with an optical tracking system is applied to the new telescopic crane Supertechno
“Octopus 8 is much higher level NRCS than the one we used before,” states Kudryavtsev. “It is
PE N
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NG
2D and 3D objects in AR.
TS
DI
camera to display an image with any integrated
PATE N
Technocrane 22. The result enables the crane
IS STATE-OF-THE-ART WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
flexible in configuration and a very powerful tool that really helped to optimise our workflow. Now we have almost unlimited expansion capabilities. We can very quickly fine-tune the system to create new departments, implement radio and internet broadcasting, configure for our regional branches and so forth. The mobile version of Octopus is very convenient for remote correspondent offices and rooms for announcers.” He goes on, “During 2017, we will use the Octopus for the organisation of a new format of news content delivery based on much greater input from the field – both from our reporters, as well as involving members of the public using our Lifecorr mobile application. We are committed
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18 19 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_life_v3 JG_final2.indd 55
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20/04/2017 16:58
20 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Production and Post
Pushing the boundaries In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports’ head of cricket, Philip Stevens discusses various aspects of the modern game’s coverage
F
Long gone are the days when cricket matches would be covered by a four-camera outside broadcast with maybe one or two commentators, and that increase in coverage expectations means that specialist crews are
or Bryan Henderson, heading up
Alongside the matches involving the home
needed. “I talk about being passionate about
Sky Sports’ cricket production team
side, Sky will broadcast the ICC Champions
the game, but the directors must have a similar
is the dream job. “I am extremely
Trophy tournament, which will take place
approach,” emphasises Henderson.
passionate about what I do. Yes, there are
across England and Wales. In addition, viewers
always administrative tasks to be carried
will be able to follow the women’s international
out, but I am also able to be at the sharp
and domestic competitions.
end and be there at the matches – producing the coverage of some games, especially the
The team
Test matches.”
So, with such a busy schedule, how many Sky
Henderson joined Sky in 1998, and
“Switching to a commentary pod was a risk, but it has gone down well and fits our needs perfectly”
producers work under Henderson’s guidance?
progressed to working as a producer on Sky
“There are four producers, including myself,
Sports News three years later. He became part
and three match directors,” he explains.
“Given the nature of coverage today, the
of the broadcaster’s cricket department in
“The number of people working on a game
directors need to be specialists in their craft,
2006 and was appointed to his present post
depends on the importance of the fixture.
and to understand the sport of cricket. We
seven years later.
Obviously, slightly more are needed at a Test
have a top director, Mark Lynch, who gets on
match because of the complexities involved.
so well with our commentators that he almost
busy. In 2017, more hours of coverage will be
From Sky, there are maybe up to eight people,
knows where they are going with their remarks
broadcast than ever before – in all, more than
plus commentators – with the remainder
and pre-empts some of the pictures. For
100 games.
coming from the production company, OB
example, if a bowler has taken six wickets, then
provider and other suppliers.”
that’s the story. Not a fancy crowd shot. I will
That department within Sky Sports is very
“Sky Sports customers will be able to enjoy an extensive schedule of international cricket
Sky’s coverage demands 15 manned
always go for editorial coverage rather than
as England take on South Africa, West Indies
cameras for the main match, plus the specialist
and, for the first time ever on home soil,
‘extras’ such as stump cams, HotSpot, Hawkeye
Ireland,” says Henderson. “In another first, Sky
and so on. In addition, there are cameras in
directors, plus another for the studio coverage.
will broadcast the first day/night Test match
the studio and analyst areas. In total, around
For other games, there is just a single director
in England as part of the Investec West Indies
34 cameras are utilised for a Test match, with a
for the whole match.
Test series.”
few less for other fixtures.
arty pictures.” For Test matches, Sky has two match
Pod perfect Up to 34 cameras are used for cricket coverage on Sky Sports
One of the innovations introduced last season – and one that has proved a resounding success – is the use of a ‘commentary pod’. “We are broadcasting from a bespoke vehicle – like a caravan – at the boundary edge. It was a big decision for us to move away from the more traditional commentary box, high in the stand. The idea was to bring more energy into the commentary and to provide an immediacy of access to players. It was a risk, but it has gone down well and fits our needs perfectly.” In fact, the innovation was nominated for an RTS (Royal Television Society) Award, as well as a Sports Journalism Association Award. But isn’t being at a lower level a handicap to the commentary team? “That’s a good point,” states Henderson. “But the team is supposed to commentate off the monitor – that’s what the
20 21 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_cricket_v4 JP_final 2.indd 54
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TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
21
Production and Post viewer is seeing, after all. But they enjoy being
become more and more likely in the next few
down there – the atmosphere of being among
years. It is practical to think we will go down
the action.
that route. When we reach a point that the
“They relish seeing the speed of the game
delivery (via a fibre link) from the camera to
from a lower level. And it’s a big deal to have
the broadcaster is absolutely reliable and
the players pop in for a chat during the game.
stable, then the game will be directed from a
They definitely don’t want to go back into the
gallery back at base.
traditional commentary box.”
The truth is, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re in a car park at the match venue or
Moving forward
directing from a gallery.”
So, how does Henderson see the way forward?
The innovative pod brings the commentators closer to the action
A long innings
“Well, we’re always looking to innovate and we have been working with Hawkeye to
“The more that UHD becomes the standard, the more people will take that quality for granted”
improve even further the ball tracking technology,” he explains. Sky have recently announced they will broadcast all four Tests against South Africa in UHD for Sky Q customers and Henderson believes picture quality is key.
Henderson is looking forward to an interesting – yet extremely busy – summer. “England will want to return to the top of the Test rankings, the Champions Trophy is up for grabs on home soil, and England’s women have the World Cup to play for.”
“It’s all very well looking at the gadgets you
He continues, “Since we started participating
use, but at the end of the day, it’s the picture
Of course, remote production is the current
in English cricket in 1990, we have been able
quality that viewers see, and it’s incredibly
‘buzz-word’, especially when it comes to sport.
to build a highly successful team. And while it
important. The more that UHD becomes the
Will that figure in Sky Sports’ plans for cricket
is the senior members who get the credit, it is
standard, the more people will take that
coverage? “Delivery is so reliable now, with
a dedicated and talented group of individuals
quality for granted, so we always need to
links to and from the OB,” says Henderson. “I
who help to make our coverage on Sky Sports
give the best.”
think remote production is something that will
achieve the highest possible quality.” n
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20 21 TVBE May 17 Prod&Post_cricket_v4 JP_final 2.indd 55
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Singapore, Booth No. 6R3-01
20/04/2017 17:26
22
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Production and Post
Lithuanian National broadcaster gets smart studio solution
THE STUDIO IN 2017 6th June 2017, Sway Bar, Holborn, London Sponsored by
Tickets are FREE! Register your interest at www.psnpresents.com HOSTED BY
2017 SPEAKERS – PLUS MANY MORE!
PSNPresents takes place as part of MediaTech 360 5th – 9th June 2017, Central London, UK
Barney Jameson Director of The Inside Story
Andy Wright Producer (Simply Red, Simple Minds)
DISRUPTION | TRANSFORMATION | EVOLUTION A WEEK OF STRATEGIC EVENTS EXPLORING THE FUTURE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY
For more about this event visit www.media-tech360.com Follow us on
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Phil Ward Former editor of PSNEurope
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Ticket enquiries Maeve Nicholson mnicholson@nbmedia.com 0203 871 7838
Sponsorship enquiries Ryan O’Donnell rodonnell@nbmedia.com 0207 354 6047
Event enquiries Emine Partalci epartalci@nbmedia.com 0203 829 2614
@PSNEurope 21/04/2017 12:58
21/04/2017 14:26
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
23
Production and Post
I
Sarah James looks back at LRT’s studio makeover
n recent years, there has been a major shift
biggest integration companies in the Baltics
Its wooden elements give a feeling of cosiness
region, includes virtual solutions control and
and a honeycomb pattern – the colour of which
graphics rendering from Vizrt, as well as robotic
can be adjusted, and has been etched into
dolly-based camera systems from Shotoku
the glass that makes up the walls of the studio
Broadcast Systems.
and the base of the presenters’ desk. The décor
“LRT wanted to upgrade the look of its live
is designed to have its own intelligence, and
in the way TV studios operate, with new
broadcasts, to give a more modern view and
can even reflect the music being played or the
workflows, new control systems, new cameras
reduce on-air errors,” explains Arūnas Uksas,
movements of dance being performed there.
and on-air graphics becoming prevalent. For
regional sales manager, TVC.
Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), this has necessitated a complete refit of its news studio, with the implementation of a full HD Smart Virtual Studio in its Vilnius-based operation. LRT is part of the European Broadcasting Union and is a non-profit public broadcaster that has
The installation of the Shotoku robotic cams was a key component of LRT upgrade, including
“The installation takes our news studio to a totally new level” Arnas Zuikis, LRT
a large SmartTrack rail system to achieve the desired visual impact and a TG-18 pan and tilt head, to allow complete freedom for on-air adjustments, supporting rapid camera moves as well as ultra-slow, smooth on-air crawls.
been providing regular radio services since 1926,
LED screens display background images for
and TV broadcasts since 1957. It operates three
the presenters and can also be used as a virtual
national TV channels, three radio channels and
window, which acts as an extension to the real
an internet portal. It also provides satellite and live
“This involved supplying them with robotic dolly-
studio space by creating a true perspective
internet broadcasts, radio and TV podcasts.
based camera systems with remotely controlled
representation of the background based on
pan and tilt heads to allow for fluent movements,
camera positions, adding depth to the physical
which aren’t possible to achieve by hand.”
studio for displaying virtual graphics.
The studio needs to cope with the seven to eight-hour daily workload of flagship national daily news programmes, weather forecasts
The studio décor and layout was delivered and
“The range of on-air tracking shots provides
and talk shows. The solution, delivered by TV
installed by art studio TV Komanda. It is designed
unique camera motion adding interest and
& Communication Systems (TVC), one of the
to be smart, with no sharp edges.
variation, without distracting from the serious
22 23 24 TVBE May17 Prod&Post_v4 JG_final.indd 55
20/04/2017 17:02
24 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Production and Post nature of the news content and the overall production values,” says Arūnas. “And the Vizrt solution renders all graphics on the-fly for the large LED screens and on-air lower thirds that have been installed, as well as an augmented reality system for two cameras.” The entire system is driven from a Viz Trio interface, providing easy and intuitive GUI for
“The LRT installation is a perfect illustration of Vizrt graphic rendering capabilities” Per Cristian Orset, Vizrt
all system components, allowing one operator to control the video wall, lower thirds and virtual set from one convenient workplace. Vizrt also provided the Weather and Maps systems for convenient, fast and informative display of various forecasts, and illustration of news events. All hardware is based on HP servers and workstations, equipped with NVIDIA graphics cards and Matrox video I/O cards. “The LRT installation is a perfect illustration of Vizrt graphic rendering capabilities,” says Per Cristian Orset, region manager, Vizrt. “It addresses all the demanding requirements for speed and easy operation, and covers all on-air demands for news programmes. But even more importantly, it opens doors for design that only are limited by creativity.” “Our goal is to provide a full turnkey solution for our clients, so they can focus on storytelling and not have to worry about technology,” says Arūnas. “We provided overall management throughout the LRT project, up to and including the launch of the studio, for which there was a very short timeframe for the installation and just a few weeks for trials and testing before the studio went on-air. “One of the major advantages for LRT is that it now needs fewer people in the studio, since they don’t need any cameramen as that function is now easily done by a mixer operator or producer, giving more freedom to programme the most exciting views and crawls in advance.” “The installation takes our news studio to a totally new level,” says Arnas Zuikis, LRT CTO. “It makes it the most modern of its kind in the Baltics.” n
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5th – 9th June 2017, Central London, UK
DISRUPTION | TRANSFORMATION | EVOLUTION
A WEEK OF STRATEGIC EVENTS EXPLORING THE FUTURE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT MediaTech 360 is a week of live events that brings the industry together to unearth the opportunities presented by our evolving marketplace. At the heart of the week is our two-day Summit, taking place 7th and 8th June at Millennium Mayfair. The Summit will provide exclusive content to help shape and define the future of broadcast, with a focus on current and future trends and the impact of connected technology on the industry.
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www.media-tech360.com 19/04/2017 11:50
A FEW OF OUR CONFIRMED SPEAKERS ‌
Daniel Toole executive partner - media and entertainment industry leader Europe IBM
Justin Gupta head of UK broadcast and entertainment Google
Ellie Reed head of digital M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
Keith Underwood director of strategy and technology Channel 4
Fabien Allègre director of merchandising and brand diversification Paris Saint-Germain
Lauren Foye senior analyst Juniper Research
Jamie Hindhaugh chief operating officer BT Sport
Jeremy Bancroft director Media Asset Capital
Jon Watts director and co-founder MTM
Louise Rice chief executive amphio.co
Luciana Carvalho Se chief evangelist Realities Centre London
Mark Harrison managing director Digital Production Partnership (DPP)
Martin Goswami director of pay and distribution ITV
Richard Halton chief executive YouView
Martyn Whistler lead analyst, media and entertainment Ernst & Young
Ronald Meyvisch chief technology officer EURO MEDIA GROUP
Matthew Huntington chief technology officer Freesat
Richard Welsh co-founder and chief executive Sundog Media Toolkit
Mike Cronk chairman of the board AIMS
Sinead Greenaway chief technology and operations officer UKTV
Natalie Fox producer Inception VR
Steve Plunkett chief technology officer Ericsson Broadcast and Media
Niall Duffy chief marketing officer Virtual AI
Alex Holt partner, head of technology, media and communications KPMG
View the full agenda online at: www.media-tech360.com MediaTech360 DPS_speakers.indd 2
19/04/2017 11:50
28
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Feature The SAM Academy has already held workshops offering guidance on its Kahuna production switchers
The needs of the
many Following the launch of the SAM Academy earlier this year, James Groves hears from Said Bacho, chief business development and marketing officer, and Vincent Eade, head of channel management and marketing, on availability, investment and growth
W
“For SAM, in different geographies, there is a different level of needs and requirements for different technology services,” says Vincent Eade, head of channel management and marketing. “You have some who are very focused on IP technology coming to market, and others more
hen contemplating the challenges our
The Academy is a knowledge platform aimed
focused on 12G SDI. Some are looking at lower-
industry is currently faced with, training
at channel partners, system integrators, resellers,
cost HD, whilst others are contemplating virtualised
and education are often high on the
VARs and distributors throughout the globe,
playout, or social media-aware platforms. We
agenda. Despite their clear prevalence as industry-
with a view to extending the offering to end-
develop products in all of these key areas, and
wide concerns, there appears to be something
users later in the year. But that’s getting ahead
we decided that if we’re going on a journey
of a diffusion of responsibility when it comes to
of ourselves.
where we’re repeatedly heading into new
formulating a solution. Enter Snell Advanced Media (SAM), which launched the SAM Academy back in February.
28 29 TVBE May 17 SAM Feature_v3 JG_final.indd 54
The wheels were set in motion back in 2016, as
technologies and developing new products,
SAM were looking at how to best serve its wide-
we needed to come up with a method of
ranging marketplace in various areas of broadcast.
educating our partners and customers.”
20/04/2017 17:07
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
29
Feature SAM also held workshops for its LiveTouch sports highlights system
trends of what partners and customers wish to be educated about. Eade continues: “We’ve got ideas with where we want to go. It’s been very IP-focused so far, and that may well continue for a while, but there is plenty more topics that we’ll bring to the table as well.” Bacho adds: “We’ve had a very successful reception from both channels and end-users, who are already questioning when they will Said Bacho, SAM
have access to the tool. There is still a lot to do in terms of developing the platform further, but
Vincent Eade, SAM
so far, based on the response, it has been a phenomenal success.”
Availability If end-users are already requesting access to the Academy, when will SAM give the people what they want? Bacho says: “My expectation, based on where we’re at with the Academy events and the busy schedule we have taken on, this would be during the second half of the year.” Eade adds: “Most manufacturers have a portal for their partners, but we’ve invested in a new He adds: “There are lots of different forms of doing
“Initially we had an event held in the UK for
one this year. Some of the content we’re putting
this. We came up with the Academy because we
system integrators, where we went through an IP
on there enables them to gain more access to
wanted to not only offer product training, but also
technology workshop,” explains Eade. “We went
materials around the clock in different time zones,
explain some of the technologies as well.”
on to host another similar event in Madrid for our
which otherwise would just have to be pulled from
Southern European partners throughout Italy,
local offices.
The IP Barometer
Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal. We then took
The Academy delivers in-house classes at its UK
elements of those two initial events to our Middle
creating this material, and now we have a platform
headquarters as well as webinars, videos and
East partners ahead of CABSAT.”
to be able to disseminate that with all our partners.
training sessions. Topics covered in the training
“We’ve put a lot of time and investment in
SAM then looked to accommodate its general
Having the Academy is one thing, but how people
include IP and virtualisation, 4K live production and
portfolio. “We held a three-day event in Newbury,”
get access to it is also key. Fortunately, we’ve been
post production, sports and news, playout and
Eade continues. “We wanted to cover everything,
able to do the two together.”
delivery, among others. Committing to such a wide-
so we looked at infrastructure on the first day, with
ranging, all-encompassing agenda took more than
a little introduction beforehand on the challenges
Looking to the future
just a few client requests.
within the marketplace, before delving into
Given the rapid success of the Academy, how
the product.”
does SAM see the venture progressing in the
“Back in January, we wanted to measure the interest from our customers in relation to education
“Day two mirrored this for live production and the
coming years? “Taking into consideration the
and training,” says Said Bacho, chief business
challenges of OBs and studios. Day three saw us
investments we’re making in terms of demo and
development and marketing officer. “As a parallel
contemplate the challenges in production systems
training facilities, the plan for next year, and years
initiative, we launched the SAM IP Barometer – a
in playout, as well as a bit of a market overview.”
to come, is to make sure that we have, in addition
survey which gathered feedback from around
to e-learning, more face-to-face training sessions
1,000 respondents – all of whom were decision-
A phenomenal success
scheduled in each location throughout the year,”
making figures in the broadcast industry.
For each of these diverse offerings, feedback has
says Bacho.
Bacho continues: “More than 80 per cent of
been positive. “The general consensus is ‘would like
“The ideal scenario would be to have four events
respondents said they wanted to migrate to IP
more, and in bite-size pieces’,” Eade says. “While
in each region, every quarter. We believe that
– whether in a hybrid or full-IP environment – but
people are still requesting IP, we’re also aware that
getting face time with channels and end-users is
lacked the knowledge and education that would
some geographies are more interested in 12G-SDI,
still, in this industry, invaluable. It’s priceless to have
enable them to understand the technology and
so we will certainly be doing some sessions on that.
that face time.
make the right decisions for their business. The IP
As we delve further into the year, we’ll look into the
“Although of course we can still deliver video
Barometer cemented the idea that there was the
live production side of things, with 12G and also at
conferencing and e-learning, it doesn’t replace
need for the SAM Academy.”
creating content in a replay environment – not just
the need to have proper face time with our
for linear broadcast playout, but also multi-platform
customers and partners, especially in a niche
delivery and the ability to edit that very quickly.”
market such as ours. That’s how we’re looking
First steps So, how does a cemented idea become a fullyfledged reality?
28 29 TVBE May 17 SAM Feature_v3 JG_final.indd 55
The SAM Academy will be very much led by feedback, with a heavy focus on the timing and
to take the SAM Academy to the next level next year and beyond.” n
20/04/2017 17:07
30 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Business
The DPP at two George Jarrett visits the Digital Production Partnership’s ‘Twogether’ event to celebrate its second birthday
T
Attendees gather to mark the DPP’s second birthday
he Digital Production Partnership (DPP) has
“strict collaborative criteria” for gaining ICG
That was the bandwidth issue. Tim Sargeant,
been amazing to track over its two years
credibility are SMPTE, the Video Services Forum
head of products, systems and services at the
of existence. It kicked off with just seven
(VSF), AIMS, and MOS Development Group.
BBC, was one of three speakers who had seen
members, and now boasts over 250; the latest
No booming media club can ignore its
the report. He says: “Most of the people in
recruits including BARB, Set Keeper, Vice, Tinker
members, and its was revealed that 85 per cent
this room are thinking about IP as a sustaining
List, The Knowledge Lab, PBS, Akamai, Avid,
of DPP members ticked the ‘overall satisfaction’
innovation, but there are elements of IP that are
and Google.
box, while 59 per cent ticked the ‘better than
quite disruptive.”
Since leaving broadcaster ownership and
a year ago’ box. Talking to the wider industry,
Sargeant is concerned about context. “It’s
becoming a not-for-profit professional media
Harrison says: “We are offering to be the place
about people. The technology will change, but
network, and since it made sure AS-11 was
where the industry has its conversations about
very little of the other stuff will,” he says.
adopted and successful, it has now set four
change. We initiate conversations that get
big priority areas to work on in the manner of
things to happen.”
Emily Hopson-Hill, the director of media logistics with Ooyala, does not see IP as a disruptive change. This is no wonder because
its new report ‘The DPP Survey: The Business Benefits of IP Production’. These are Cyber
Elements of IP are disruptive
she had already experienced the joys of live
Security, a Unique Global Tracking ID for
Proof of Harrison’s claim is that other
collaborative editing, with rushes in the cloud
Content, Broadcast IMF (versioning), and
organisations have asked the DPP to “hold the
and the generation of automated metadata.
lastly The Supply Chain, which managing
ring” around cyber security, and all the issues
“IP is impacting all of our customers,” she said.
director Mark Harrison says would be “a big
that need resolving there. “There is a sense
“The industry is moving gradually towards video
piece of analysis.”
we have to demonstrate that we take cyber
from camera to the audience, done wholly
security very seriously,” he says.
with IP.”
Harrison got to the new report on IP last. It is the 17th publication issued by the DPP in the last 12 months. First, he celebrated the new members at a special event to celebrate the DPP’s second birthday. He says: “What a fantastic increase of companies: they want to be in rooms with that wide diversity between
“We are becoming a very considerable and vibrant community” Mark Harrison, DPP
‘Virtualisation’ is a misused term The new report concludes that IP is impacting every aspect of production, but barriers to endto-end IP production still remain. Does Harrison, author of the report, want to look at the issues around virtualisation?
big names and start-ups. We are becoming a
“Yes, virtualisation is covered. But it can be
very considerable and vibrant community, and
a misused term. Often, people use it when
our members give us a clear picture of what is He moved onto the benefits (or not) of IP
talking just about the cloud. To me virtualisation
production, saying first: “There is a real problem
is things like – and as we are starting to see
announced its endorsement of the DPP as
out there of trying to articulate the business
more of it now – editing where you are actually
an Industry Collaborative Group (ICG).
benefits. This report helps users to understand
getting a streamed desktop. Your content and
In common with the IABM, the DPP has a
where and how to make a start.
the software are driving it, and the desktop is
happening in the supply chain.” It was appropriate that the IABM had just
membership that points very succinctly to
“OTT activities around IP are incredibly strong
sitting up in the cloud. That is true virtualisation,”
the way the market is heading in terms of
right now, whereas De Luxe reports that it will
he says.
technology trends, and the potential of
be five years before high resolution movie
“What we heard in this work (for the report)
start ups. The other groups to satisfy the
rushes will sit in the cloud,” he adds.
is that editing in the cloud is happening, but
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31
Business says: “A lot of the excitement of being at
“The thing is that IoT potentially releases
the DPP is being at the centre of this media
a huge amount of data which could provide
revolution that is going on, and being amongst
a huge amount of intelligence, but you
the changes happening. I think we as an
have to know what you want to be intelligent
organisation have got still further to go. “Take branded content,” he continues. “A huge amount of the content now originated
intelligent in the way we do things – both
is branded content. Historically the world of
business analytics and audience analytics.
commercials has been a completely separate,
The audience: well, historically, broadcast
parallel media industry from TV and movies.
has been a supply base, of one to many:
Are we going to start seeing a convergence of
we give it to you, and hope you enjoy it.
these sectors, where some of the assumptions,
It is not two-way. That is very threatened
ways of working and the quality standards of
by analytics.
commercials actually begin to impact on TV?” Asked what DPP attacks after the IP research,
generally we heard that we are a couple of
about,” he adds. “Culturally in broadcasting we have not particularly wanted to be
“And internally, historically on the business side, broadcasters have not known how much
Harrison says: “We go into the context piece,
it has cost to make a piece of content. Do
which is what this is doing to all of us. That is the
they really want to know? Well, if they do,
supply chain work I mentioned, and we will be
they are going to make some scary
focusing on that in the second half of this year.”
discoveries,” he continues.
The IP report does mention analytics. Asked
This is exactly why broadcasters have
years away from it starting to become really
if programmatic data analytics as applied to
had to jump beyond their traditional walled
mainstream,” he adds.
TV would trigger IoT based media advances
gardens, and rush towards OTT as their
Harrison says: “The IoT as a business to business
redemption. “One of the big drivers to
and services coverage would push DPP into
offer is really interesting in media, and I think it is
OTT is going to be the sheer business data
researching new and different areas, Harrison
going to become really important.
logic of it,” concludes Harrison. n
Asked if the huge diversity of technology
On Shot On Air
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32
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Technology
In association with
Encompassing Sony’s big move Sony Pictures Television needed a technology services provider to bring together its disparate array of channels under one roof. Encompass Media and Imagine Communications gave them a unified, cloud-based solution designed to last into a 4K future. Neal Romanek reports
Unifying all linear playout under a single technology stack was a challenge, given the variety of content types. “On one end of the spectrum, you have Sony’s music channels,” Shepherd continues. “Typically those will be playing short form
I
t’s safe to say that the Sony Pictures Television
Encompass Media provides outsourced
programmes that are very graphically intensive
portfolio is diverse, spanning 50 channel
technology services, primarily origination
with long, complex, interactive playlists. On the
brands, from AXN, Sony Movie Channel
and linear playout, for major media companies,
other end you have movie channels, where you
and Sony Entertainment Television to Sony’s
broadcasters, corporations and government
may only have a handful of programmes during
music services and children’s services. The
facilities. Its worldwide presence includes
the day. And then there are the entertainment
bouquet also includes Hungarian language
offices in the US, London, Singapore and
genres that sit between those two.”
channels Viasat3 and Viasat6, acquired by
Buenos Aires.
Sony in 2015. In late 2015, Sony Pictures Television set Encompass Media the challenge of how to unify this wide portfolio under a single, future-proofed playout system. “Sony wanted a managed service provider who could provide them with an end-to-end service,” explains Keir Shepherd, senior vice
“Nobody today should be choosing a technology if it doesn’t give them a route to grow into 4K” Keir Shepherd, Encompass Media
Geographic resilience was a key part of the brief. If Sony was going to bring all its channels to a single provider, it needed to know that there would be failsafe continuity of playout in the event of some catastrophic loss in the service. Encompass also had to encode and distribute to a variety of technologies. These included traditional fibre carriage and baseband, though
president of global technology architecture at
increasingly services are being handed off to IP
Encompass Media. “The channels had been spread across
Format salad
The company operates around 850 channels
or distributed via the public internet.
a number of providers, across different
globally, with 130 different channels run out of
“In the same way that Sony were looking for
geographies, with an array of different delivery
its facility in the UK. The three biggest providers
a technology that allowed them to deliver this
mechanisms and different archives storing the
serviced outside of the UK are Modern Times
broad range of channels, they were also looking
content, and in a variety of different formats
Group, Walt Disney Company, and now Sony
for one that would allow them to hand off in any
complied to a variety of different standards.”
Pictures Television.
of these formats,” says Shepherd.
32 33 TVBE Mar17 Technology_v2 JG_final2.indd 54
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May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
33
Technology
In association with
“But with an evolutionary roadmap that allowed
The thing that allowed us to do this was
for Sony right now. The agreements we have with
them to move more toward IP and allowed them
partnering with Cisco to provide a private cloud
Sony will run in some cases for the next five years.
to take advantage of more efficient codecs, like
environment. What that allows us to do is run
HEVC, as those start to mature.”
services cost effectively for long periods of time,
is minimal and the mechanisms of distributing
“The amount of 4K and HDR content now
without having to worry about the underlying
it are small, but over the next five years – and
March of this year. Encompass will be rolling
infrastructure. Cisco provisions the required
probably over the next 24 months – we’ll see
out the rest of the Sony channels over the next
amount of compute storage and network
more linear 4K and HDR channels launched
24 months, as the contracts with Sony’s current
capacity, plus the overhead that allows us to
and we’ll start to see content arriving with us
providers expire.
scale rapidly. Operating under a private cloud
natively as 4K.
model everything is fully templatised, nothing
“We still operate a number of SD services,
unique was the aggregation from multiple third
that we do requires manual intervention. If we
but we haven’t received SD content in years.
parties into a single provider and the scale of
need a channel launched, we’re provided
In the same way, we will start seeing that
the number of channels. And the necessity
with the appropriate applications, permissions
move with HD channels, where we get 4K
to provide geographic independence at a
systems, networks and security and deploy that
masters which we’ll use to originate both HD
reasonable pricepoint.
in multiple data centres.
and 4K variants. “
virtualisation, IP distribution, virtualised monitoring
Sony’s 4K roadmap
technology if it doesn’t give them a route to
and automation. It was one of the first times we’d
Sony has long been at the forefront of 4K
grow into 4K. And we’re going to see that
taken a traditional set of origination requirements
technology development. Naturally, the Sony
accelerate over the coming months and years.”
and applied it to cloud infrastructure, to give us a
Pictures Television reboot features a roadmap
degree of reliability above and beyond what we
for 4K, as well as High Dynamic Range.
additional storage, computer capacity and
had provided before.”
Encompass will also be generating 4K on
network capacity. We could be seeing a
demand with partner Imagine Communications’
couple hundred gigabytes for an hour’s worth
Selenio platform.
of content, and if we’re taking in an SDR and
The first Sony channels went live on 30th
Shepherd says: “What made this project
“We took advantage of new technologies –
Shepherd points out that the Sony job would have had a very different, and much more
“Nobody today should be choosing a
“For 4K, we need significant amounts of
limited, configuration, even 12 months ago.
“This same technology stack also has to grow
“The advancements that have made this
into a 4K and HDR environment and workflow as
big challenge of 4K is not that it’s a bit more of
well. Both 4K and HDR are very much top of mind
everything. It’s a lot more of everything.” n
practical have only happened in the last 18 months with companies like our partner Imagine Communications moving to a software model. In the past, companies have provided software, but it’s always had a hardware requirement, whether it’s a processor type or an I/O card or GPU card. But in the last 18 months, those vendors have moved into a virtualised, cloudaware environment. “We’ve moved through a set of stages with our vendors. We used to take appliances. Then we took software, which we had to install on specified hardware. Now we’ve moved to a third phase with hardware independent solutions, like the ones we get from Imagine. We can now move away from this requirement of having specific, bespoke hardware for all the channels.”
Which cloud to choose? The transition isn’t as simple as “move everything to the cloud” however. Shepherd points out that not all clouds are created equal. The question of public versus private is the first point of consideration. “For us, public cloud isn’t in the right place for operating 24/7 365 channels at the right cost point. Public cloud is fantastically powerful for unpredictable loads – pop-up channels, for example that run only for a short time. But if you’re in a situation where you commit to run several channels for several years, public cloud
an HDR version, we’ll be seeing double that. The
RE-IMAGINING SCHEDULING ENCOMPASS partnered with Imagine Communications in building the new Sony Television playout platform. One of Sony’s requirements was a unified scheduling system. Encompass has employed Imagine’s xG Schedule, a cloudbased scheduling and planning system for linear, on demand and digital platforms. It is an essential component in getting Sony’s complex playout under control. xG Schedule works in combination with Imagine’s cloud playout system, Versio. The Versio playout solution combines automation, branding, graphics, file server, storage and master control capabilities in a software-based environment. “In developing xG Schedule and Imagine’s unified scheduling, we recognised that we needed to have a way of managing the rights and the content between what used to be disparate systems,” explains Sarah Foss, Imagine’s chief product officer, advertising management systems. “With all the different content platforms, the master control environment has a lot more information that is being disseminated through the playout scheduling solution against different types of schedules or business rules.” xG Schedule offers a single web interface for all users that enables the execution of the content playout to be handled through Versio. “It allows Encompass to manage content playout with Versio in the cloud,” says Foss. “They can spin channels up or pull them back down, or make modifications based on how the channel behaves. To do that, they need more than just a log. They need a front end view of the business changes that are coming, those things that are going to have to change based on the platform the content is currently being played out on.” With cloud-based playout, the opportunities to monetise content grow massively, but keeping track
of rights issues, branding and ad targeting also becomes more complicated. “The more aggressive Sony becomes about leveraging their content, the more mission critical this front end interface into a cloud-based execution system becomes,” says Foss. “It enables a quick hit view for a master control operator to see any applied business changes or things that need to be approved before the content moves to a disparate platform. And it allows the Encompass staff to be sure of client needs for each piece of content rather than having to remember or double-check a convoluted log. Logs capture information in the way a traffic person thinks, not in the way someone managing different playout possibilities needs. “ xG Schedule also aims to simplify the insertion of ads by clarifying when ads can be inserted in a programme, either in live or on-demand content, and with increasingly sophisticated ad targeting and localisation, what geography an ad should be assigned to. “Many content holders will treat the graphics and advertisements very differently based on what the playout stream is. Each one of those will have a different set of rights based on different sets of playout rules.” n
cost doesn’t work.”
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TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Technology
In association with
The popularity of broadcast contribution effective way of doing just that: by allowing
In the simplest possible terms, the encoder is
journalists, pundits and presenters to venture out
vital because it determines how quickly the
of the TV studio and into the heart of the story
live broadcast arrives on the viewer’s TV screens.
or event they’re covering and so the viewer at
Obviously there is no such thing as a truly live
W
home is able to get a taste of the atmosphere on
broadcast, as there will always be some degree
hether you know it as broadcast
location. It’s the next best thing to actually being
of time required for signal delivery, but viewers
contribution or not, the ability to
there themselves.
ideally want to watch broadcasts as close to
has universally influenced the content we
of broadcast contribution is a live football
consume on TV. It’s something that most of us
broadcast. No matter what broadcaster is in
compressing the pure signals into a much smaller
probably take for granted now, but we should
charge of the coverage, almost all of them
package, there is less data to transmit from A
never forget the impact that contribution has
now choose to have several pundits sat in a
to B, which means faster delivery to viewers’
had on the wider broadcast industry.
‘box’ inside a stadium, from which they discuss
screens. This ultra-low latency also enables
opinions and share thoughts before the match,
remote production, or the ‘stay-at-home’
influence, it helps to rewind a couple of decades
at half-time and after the final whistle. As well as
production model. Broadcasters bring back
or so. If you were to switch on a TV and tune into
this, there will often be an additional presenter
multiple, uncompressed or lightly compressed
a news programme back then, you’d probably
situated to the side of the pitch itself who they
feeds over fibre, then edit the stories on their
find a presenter or two dictating the biggest
can cut to in between thoughts from the pundits
own premises. Staff are more productive
stories of the day from behind a large desk. If
in the box. The result is a much more immersive
because they are in familiar and comfortable
there was an important story about conflict in the
broadcast that allows viewers at home to enjoy
environments, and they also save on travel and
Middle East, for example, we would only be able
exclusive insight from multiple perspectives.
accommodation costs.
By Rémi Beaudouin, vice president of marketing, ATEME
broadcast live from remote locations
To get a sense of broadcast contribution’s
One of the most visually-rich examples
to hear about it from a TV studio in London. The same applied to live sports coverage back then. If a broadcaster chose to televise a major football match, the only remote broadcast element would be that of the match itself – any
live as possible. This is where the encoder plays its part: by
Most importantly (at least from the perspective
‘The contribution process has had an immeasurable influence on live broadcast’
punditry taking place before, during and after
of the broadcaster), encoders allow video to be compressed and transmitted in numerous codecs, including the fabled HEVC. Although still in its infancy, the HEVC codec allows for better video compression with less
the game would have to be conducted from
required bandwidth, while also improving the Despite only being used to its full potential
resolution, contrast, frame rate and colour of
Fast forward to the present day, and the
relatively recently, broadcast contribution is
the video.
picture is totally different. Broadcasters are no
not new. Broadcasters have been capable
longer hindered by these technological and
of live broadcast contribution for years, but
specifically for many of the formats that are
geographical limitations, which means that news
it wasn’t until the emergence of high-speed,
now being adopted on a wider scale, including
shows and major broadcast events are able to
highly available bandwidth that the technology
4K, which delivers four times the quality of HD,
have reporters and journalists live on the ground,
could truly flourish. What’s more, with super-
and high dynamic range (HDR), which uses
at the very heart of the story.
fast 4G and 5G networks, reporters can set-up
a much wider range of contrast for life-like
their equipment and broadcast from just about
video quality. Although native broadcasts in
The sales of broadcast contribution encoders
anywhere. What hasn’t changed in this time,
these formats are still rare at this point, many
– just one component within a much wider
however, is the importance of encoders in the
broadcasters are equipping themselves with
overall set up – are set to reach in excess of $320
contribution process.
HEVC-enabled encoders in order to remain
another studio.
The broadcast contribution market is booming.
future-proofed. Certain encoders even allow
million this year, and this number will continue to increase rapidly as the technology continues to be adopted across wide swathes of the industry.
HEVC is exciting because it has been designed
What is it that makes the encoder so important?
pay-as-you-grow support, so businesses only
The broadcast contribution encoder is the
to the quality of their content.
need to spend what they need to according
Why is broadcast contribution so popular?
component that compresses the video and audio signals coming from the original source (this
had an immeasurable influence on the modern-
As the broadcast industry becomes fiercer, more
might be a camera, an OB truck or perhaps the
day live broadcast, and the encoder plays
saturated and more competitive, companies
venue itself) and then transmits the compressed
the starring role. By embracing contribution
need to focus on being inventive and innovative
signals back to the broadcaster’s studio. If a
technology and using the right choice of
with the content they produce if they are to
workflow involves the transport of signals between
encoder, broadcasters will surely continue
stand out from the rest of the crowd. Broadcast
various studios, the encoder is also responsible for
innovating and raising the broadcast
contribution has proved to be an extremely
compressing these streams for transport.
benchmark for a long time yet. n
34 TVBE MAY 17 Technology_v3 JG_final2.indd 54
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36 TVBEurope
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TVBEverywhere
Death of the TV licence? Not so fast By Dror Ginzberg, co-founder and CEO, Wochit
Traditional broadcasters aren’t being left behind though and have also committed to VoD services, with the BBC launching its iPlayer as far back as of 2007. Back then this was seen as a controversial
2
move, one that prompted internet providers to
viewers, while the World Cup pulled in 15 million
traditional broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4
viewers for the BBC. It also happened to be the last
have also invested in their own VoD services too in
time television licences in the UK increased in price.
order to keep up with shifting consumer tastes
010 was a year of memorable moments for
ask the BBC to help share the financial burden of
TV. That year, we saw the first ever UK leaders’
the bandwidth needed to host the player, with
debate attract an impressive 9.4 million
values estimated at £830 million. Since then, other
However, as of 1st April of this year, the annual
However, these broadcasters aren’t keeping
TV licence fee increased from £145.50 to £147.
pace with their VoD-only competitors like Netflix.
With this increase, the first in seven years, the fee
From 2014 until 2016, BBC’s iPlayer actually saw its
is also scheduled to rise for the next five years in line
number of viewing requests fall by 30 million while
with inflation. While this year’s increase is marginal,
during the same time, Netflix’s viewing figures
at best, much has changed over the past seven
surged by 110 per cent. There are some key
years and the relevance of such traditional TV
reasons for this.
subscriptions amongst consumers has changed hugely. In the intervening period of time, we’ve seen a huge shift in how people actually consume TV content, with viewers increasingly jumping online, and video now accounting for over two thirds
‘The death of the TV subscription is not nigh. Instead, the biggest change is merely the way content is delivered to subscribers’
of all internet traffic. This is expected to increase even further to 82 per cent by 2020. Even sports, once the most bankable piece
television broadcast, or the iPlayer, is more costly
longer immune from these shifting viewer habits.
than a subscription to Netflix, or even Amazon
The English Premier League (EPL) is one of many
Video. Another issue is that VoD services have
examples of this change. Despite BT and Sky
been so successful in such a quick period of time
Sports spending billions of pounds to secure
that they’ve quickly amassed deep pockets
exclusive rights for this live content, ratings have
and now have significant war chests to produce
been on the decline; the first half of the EPL season
their own content, which are rivalling the BBC.
saw audiences down 22 per cent from the 2010-
Undoubtedly, the BBC is well known and respected
2011 season. To combat this, BT, who trumped
worldwide by audiences for producing quality
Sky Sports to host the Champions League and
content, such as Sherlock and Peaky Blinders.
Europa League rights, broadcast the finals of both
However, Netflix spent just over £4 billion in 2016
competitions on YouTube for free, reaching more
on programming whereas the BBC spent £2.2
than 12 million fans.
billion. It shows no sign of slowing down either
A key driver of this changing consumer
36 37 TVBE May17 TVBEverywhere_v4 JG_final2.indd 32
Firstly, the TV licence required to access live
of content for traditional broadcasters, is no
as Netflix is planning to deliver 1,000 hours of
behaviour has of course been the rise of VoD
new content, under its “Netflix Originals” brand,
services, such as Netflix, which now boasts over
spending a record £4.8 billion in the process. This
1000 million subscribers worldwide, who watch
strategy to produce their own content has really
125 million hours of content every day. In terms
proved its worth with 2016’s Stranger Things racking
of UK audiences, Netflix has also been wildly
up over 14 million viewers in its first month, and
successful as it is now present in nearly a quarter
Orange Is The New Black hitting 6.7 million viewers
of all British homes.
for its Season 4 opening weekend.
21/04/2017 15:24
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
37
TVBEverywhere The size of Netflix’s wallet is clear after winning the
a TV series out as far as possible, until eventually
TV licence, if you’re constantly producing great
rights to The Crown, a drama based on the royal
audiences lost interest.
content, people are more than willing to pay for it.
family. The makers of this drama even admitted
In today’s market, this isn’t possible. With so much
The death of the TV subscription is not nigh. instead,
they took Netflix’s offer rather than the BBC
quality content, as evidenced by the popularity
the biggest change is merely the way content is
because it had a bigger budget. In addition, Netflix
of Netflix and the enduring appeal of the UK’s
delivered to subscribers. n
has created the second most expensive TV series ever (after The Crown). The Get Down cost an eye-watering $120 million for just 12 episodes – well above its initial budget of $90 million. Broadcasters who also offer VoD are hampered by an issue which is unique to them alone. Whereas Netflix can release an entire series, such as House Of
Cards in one go, allowing viewers to binge on new content, BBC iPlayer hadn’t offered this until very recently. Instead, the airing of new content had always deferred to TV, with VoD termed as a “catch up” services for those audiences who missed out on the original airing on TV. In light of these major consumer behaviour changes and huge competition from VoD, is the paid-TV subscription, and by proxy, the BBC’s days numbered? Not quite, some major changes are afoot and the BBC is beginning to fight back. Firstly, minor changes have been made quickly by the corporation as it shifted BBC Three to an online-only channel last year. While cost-saving was undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons for this decision, it was another clear acknowledgement of shifting viewer habits. BBC Three’s target audience, 16-24 years olds, now consumes less traditional TV content than ever before with a 19 per cent decline in viewership from 2010-2013 in the youngest bracket. Initial figures from the move to online proved the transition successful, with comedy-of-the-moment Fleabag reaching over one million requests before its move to BBC Two. Much more importantly, the BBC has announced it will go for broke, by ditching “linear exclusivity”, which as mentioned above gives preference to airing content on TV before VoD, with its director general Tony Hall saying that it must “reinvent public broadcasting for a new generation. This decision means that the BBC will enable iPlayer users to see an entire series before the first episode in a series is even broadcast on terrestrial TV and will be rolled out over the next three years. It’s already paying
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off, all four episodes of series two of Peter Kay’s Car
Share were made available on iPlayer following the first episode’s linear broadcast. Within three days they had been requested 2.5 million times – occupying all four top slots on the on-demand service, the first time the same series has dominated
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36 37 TVBE May17 TVBEverywhere_v4 JG_final2.indd 33
21/04/2017 15:50
38 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
TVBEverywhere Calvin Harrison, IneoQuest
Dan Castles, Telestream
When two become one Telestream recently acquired video analytics and service assurance solutions provider IneoQuest. Jenny Priestley spoke to both company CEOs, Dan Castles and Calvin Harrison, to find out what the future holds
38 39 TVBE May 17 TVBEverywhere_v2 JG_final.indd 32
Why did Telestream decide to acquire IneoQuest?
enterprise level live products and we had a line
DC: We’ve completed acquisitions in the past
there’s the VoD distribution side and we were
so doing this wasn’t a new thing for us. We had
kind of moving in that direction but we wanted
completed ‘smaller ones’ and we just felt that
to accelerate that. IneoQuest is a company
we wanted to accomplish several things.
that plays in the distribution side. They wanted
We wanted to find a company that we had
where we’d been kind of file-based and then
more traction in the VoD side, where we’re
something culturally in common with, and
strong, and we wanted more engagement
then the other piece is that in the last six to
in the distribution where they’re strong. That
nine months we had launched a couple of
was the attraction. The combination of the
20/04/2017 17:16
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
39
TVBEverywhere “When you’re isolated you can report up
to explain what we did and then where we
How do you feel the acquisition will affect each of the companies in your approach to market in the future?
stop. And then where we stop would always
DC: We’re learning. This closed only recently. I
doing the work, there’s some things you can
get to be a mouthful and mini-sentences about
think that we know what we’re good at, we’re
fix and change on the fly. So further. tighter
‘we’re about automated workflows, we’re
also pretty realistic about where we have areas
integration among the products is going to
in the contribution side, and we prep files for
where we can be stronger; so we aren’t going
help the market have a more robust solution
distribution’ and we’d keep going on and on.
to be doing anything dramatic from a customer
in the future.
This raises the message to a much broader
interfacing point of view and we really do
level, and positions us uniquely.
want to keep the sales organisation and those
DC: Just to add to that, because Calvin’s right
relationships in tact. There isn’t a plan for some
on the money, customers will ask us ‘what does
that we’re all about the same thing in terms
big sudden move, we really want to learn more
it mean and how will things improve?’
of ensuring the highest quality but now it’s
about each other first and then make decisions
over frankly the broadest spectrum possible,
based on fact not diligence and theorems and
from the moment an image is captured to the
all that. We’ll make decisions after NAB based
moment it’s viewed. So that’s why we found
on just experience. Once we get past NAB it’s
them very attractive.
May and June and it’s the summer season and
two broadens and simplifies our message tremendously because we always had to try
“The combined philosophy really plays well,
I think we have between now and IBC to really
How does this acquisition benefit IneoQuest?
figure out a lot of those pieces that we want
CH: We’ve been around over 15 years and
a master plan that’s been developed without
traditionally our customers have been in the
regard to actual facts and experience and
service provider space, the cable MSOs, the
people and relationships.
to address. But we’re not coming into it with
telcos, and for the last four or five years, the
what’s happening, but when you’re technically tied back into where the encoder’s actually
“Tighter integration among the products is going to help the market have a more robust solution in the future” Calvin Harrison, Ineoquest “We aren’t the only company that does what we do, and IneoQuest aren’t the only company that does what they do. So, on Calvin’s point,
from content movie providers to technology
How do you think the acquisition will benefit both of your customers?
companies and what we needed to do, as Dan
DC: I think it brings a more integrated solution.
engineering are that we need to figure out
said, was get into the content space.
Just like when Calvin talked about the QC,
how to make what we do and what they do
we don’t have these gaps in what we do.
become more custom fit and combine benefits
intermediation in the market where the content
So we can go from file creation through QC
in a unique way from the competition. We
providers now essentially distribute their own
through distribution and all the monitoring that
create the files and they monitor the files and
content over the internet and they lack visibility
IneoQuest does. We’re all about quality and
should be able to do some things that are very
and understanding of how the content was
so is IneoQuest so I think that in this changing
unique to our solution only.
delivered to the end subscriber.
world of content from everywhere coming
adapted streaming world, with customers
Adapted streaming has created this
integrated company to deal with now to
Do you have any set plans for the rest of 2017?
really help to allow them to do it in the most
DC: What we have right now is a 30, 60 and
efficient and highest quality method. So I just
90-day set of plans and they are fairly clear, the
view it as a broader integration that has a real
90 get more general. We will develop the plan
seamless message to it in terms of the quality
together, we do not have a master plan right
and familiarity.
now that we’re going to roll out, we’re learning
in and going out, they’re going to have one
“We wanted to find a company that we had something culturally in common with” Dan Castles, Telestream
part of the discussions that are happening with
about each other and I think we’ll have a So we now needed to take what we had and
CH: From a technical perspective, I think we’re
better sense as to what’s realistic and what
go knock on the content providers’ doors. Our
going to be able to help the market as things
time frame in the coming weeks. But we’ve
sales force wasn’t equipped for that, we hadn’t
evolve more to the complexity of how its being
been through the tough part.
spent 15 years doing that, and as Dan was
delivered with more formats and over adaptive
saying, that’s where they’ve lived for longer
streaming etc. We already have ideas about
than 15 years and it was a fit; the synergies are
what Telestream can do from an encoder
already starting to play out. The other thing
standpoint that we’ll be able to monitor on
Dan, one final cheeky question, any further acquisitions in the pipeline that you’d like to tell us about?
was there was an acquisition that Telestream
the other side of the network and be able to
DC: Yeah, we’re looking at… No, I can’t say
made last year called Vidcheck and that was
pinpoint measure and show broadcasters and
that! This was such an important deal, it was
the end of their value chain. We were actually
service providers latency through their network
larger than our six other deals combined. There
looking at licensing Vidcheck technology to be
through a video delivery standpoint, how its
are other companies that I’m looking at, but
the front end of our monitoring for distribution,
affecting their quality.
it’s on step two of a hundred. I’ll have a look around NAB and meet with people but there’s
so Vidcheck became this piece that totally
“There’s all kind of hooks from the content
bundled the two together and completed
side that we can put into monitoring to verify
not anything on any kind of burner on the stove
the whole story.
the delivery and the quality of that video.
at this point. n
38 39 TVBE May 17 TVBEverywhere_v2 JG_final.indd 33
20/04/2017 17:16
40
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Audio
Prolight + Sound review The annual Prolight + Sound exhibition in Frankfurt plays host to a number of broadcast audio companies, showcasing their latest developments. David Robinson, editor of TVBEurope’s sister title PSNEurope, picks out some of his highlights
P
DPA Microphones, which kicked off the show with the first press conference, is marking its 21st anniversary by carrying out a world tour, visiting 25 places around the globe, where they’ll be working with the local distributor or
rolight+ Sound is not a show that
However, a few things certainly did stand
dealer to offer advice and education on how
reflects trends in the broadcast market
out for me: loudspeaker manufacturer
to use microphones in various situations. New
particularly and this year, there was no
PMC announced that it is taking its speakers
CEO Kalle Hvidt Nielsen said that the company
one overarching trend other than the usual,
on a tour of studio facilities around Germany
is going to ‘enter into the digital area with
which would be trying to get more features in
and Austria. That’s going to be ongoing in
the first product to combine digital low noise
the same footprint. There was no overarching
the next couple of months. It’s working with
acoustic preciseness with ease of use’. He
‘everybody was doing this’ other than what
a company called Dorian Gray. It’s quite good
didn’t say any more about what that’s going
you’d expect, which is what you’d see at every
that it’s taking it out on the road because it is
to be, or what sector that’s going to be, but
technology show – more, faster, not necessarily
actively promoting its product and taking it to
they’re going to have something exciting
cheaper, but better than the year before.
the market.
coming up. DiGiCo, which makes a range of broadcast consuls, launched a remote app for its desks so you can control them remotely or from a tablet, which has become very much a ‘thing’ with rivals Yamaha and Allan & Heath. It has also introduced a 32-bit processing on the mic pre-amps which means that your stage boxes, where you plug your microphones in, have now got a much greater dynamic range and processing available to them – and it’s agnostic to all DiGiCo stage boxes. SSL was there with its System T, which is its rather sleek looking totally integrated broadcast production console. It’s a big deal for them because everything is in the desk. It’s a very fine-looking piece of kit! Stage Tec launched its new desk called the Avatus. It’s a fully IP-based large mixing
The DPA team at Prolight + Sound 2017
40 41 TVBE May 17 Audio_v2 JG_final.indd 54
console with 21″ multi-touch displays. Control elements and interfaces are connected through standard ethernet.
20/04/2017 17:20
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
41
Audio could be used as a bottle opener. Thomas
of innovation, and something that had been
Riedel opened a bottle of beer with the belt
really well thought out. That was definitely one
pack (pictured), for which he got a round of
of the highlights. n
applause! I thought that was very cool.
David Robinson was speaking to TVBEurope’s
It’s a very exciting product – certainly in terms
Jenny Priestley.
Riedel’s Bolero belt pack doubles as a walkie-talkie, and can even be used as a bottle opener Stage Tec has a huge reputation, particularly with broadcasters in the German-speaking world. It’s a very fine high-end technology and this is the company’s latest iteration of that. To me, the stand out product of the show is the Bolero from Riedel. It’s a belt pack, which will be familiar to broadcasters everywhere. This belt pack is maybe over-featured, but it’s very exciting. Riedel has spent a lot of time and effort making sure it practically does everything presentation on the first evening, and Thomas Riedel and Jake Dodson (Riedel’s director of product management) did a presentation of the new belt pack, which can basically double as a walkie-talkie. It’s going to be expensive – the pair said maybe 10-20 per cent more than the current competitor, but it’s quite something to see. The company did some research and the belt packs only spend about 15 per cent of the time on people’s belts. So Riedel has created this hole on the back; ClearCom
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also have a hole in the back of their FreeSpeak II, but it’s very much a keyhole size, so if there’s a nail or a hook it’s fine, but it doesn’t give you much room otherwise. Riedel has created a bigger hole so that it could hang up easily, and realised that if the hole was made just a little bit bigger, it
40 41 TVBE May 17 Audio_v2 JG_final.indd 55
www.phabrix.com
20/04/2017 17:20
42
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Audio
Authoring and monitoring for immersive broadcast audio formats the audio experience for the end-user. Objects
What does this all mean for the broadcaster?
may be static and placed at a fixed point in the
A complete rebuild of existing facilities and a total
mix (for example dialogue) or dynamic, where
re-think about the audio processing equipment
they are panned across the three dimensional
required for outside broadcast vehicles? Well, if
T
soundscape (maybe a plane flying overhead).
we get it right, it should entail just relatively minimal
he world of broadcast audio is on the
Depending on restrictions and limitations decided
changes to overall workflow and hardware,
verge of a major revolution. Numerous ‘3D
at the point of content creation (and signalled
but inevitably some additions to production
Immersive’ formats are under development
in the descriptive metadata), the end user could
and distribution equipment. In the case of OBA,
and will find their way into the mainstream of
select which audio source(s) they want to hear
the metadata appropriate for the final codec
broadcast production and distribution in the near
from an on-screen list and perhaps vary the level
needs to be created and added to the audio for
future. Unlike the world of relatively constrained,
at which they are reproduced. Think of a sporting
insertion into a conventional SDI stream, and the
channel-based coding we’re accustomed to.
event where the options could include home or
engineer needs to be able to monitor this complex
these new codecs will support more channels
away commentary, crowd sounds, the referee or
mix (and all the potential downmix variations) to
and/or object-based audio (OBA) coding.
match official’s voice, or pitch-side microphones
ensure that the distribution chain is fed with all
For the end consumer, there will be two major
at team ball games. At motor racing events,
available objects correctly. Loudness levels should
benefits from this new approach – a greater
examples could be commentary, driver’s voice or
also be considered in respect of existing standards
sense of involvement or immersion, and a
pit crew communication.
and there should be provision for local insertion of
By Peter Poers, managing director, Jünger Audio
degree of personalisation. Greater involvement will come from an
Does this mean multiple speakers need to
content at any point in the chain. Although this
be installed to avail of these new benefits?
all sounds somewhat futuristic, the fact is that the
increased channel count, typically by the
Not necessarily, although of course the best
broadcast industry is already seriously considering
addition of overhead ‘height’ channels.
experience will result from a full installation
the potential adoption of these concepts.
Several proponents including the MPEG-H
of discrete speakers at both floor level and
Alliance (Fraunhofer IIS and Qualcomm),
overhead. However, where this is not practical
side of the industry will be to start OBA production.
Dolby, Auro 3D and DTS have successfully
(most likely the majority of typical domestic
This means completely rethinking how we
demonstrated broadcast compatible systems
situations), the final ‘renderer’ will re-create the
perform the final mix because, with OBA, it will
based on 5.1.4 or 7.1.4 layouts, where four
mix as accurately as possible based on the actual
be performed at home by the viewer rather than
overhead speakers have augmented the
number and location of speakers the end user has.
by a mixer in a post-production facility. We have
traditional six or eight floor level speakers. This
An increasing number of soundbars, designed to
to bear in mind that as soon as post houses mix
creates a ‘3D’ sound image where the viewer or
sit underneath a display, are already available to
objects (different language commentaries, for
listener is immersed in audio in all dimensions.
create a surround experience without consuming
example) into the audio bed, they are gone and
valuable space. Better still, a wall-mounted
are no longer available for delivery to the viewer
personalise their experience by selecting from
soundframe surrounds the display and can give
at home. Therefore, to give viewers personalised
a number of audio sources and controlling the
an incredibly realistic reproduction from the
audio, you need to change your production
level and maybe even the position in the mix. In
height channels. 3D recorded audio can also be
workflow and deliver separate ‘unmixed’ channels
OBA, an ‘object’ is essentially an audio stream
rendered for binaural headphones reproduction.
so that the final mix can be finished in the home
with accompanying descriptive metadata. The
This means that millions of recipients can easily
receiver and decoder. This is very different to how
metadata carries information about where the
enjoy an immersive audio experience – and it
we currently mix for an immersive 3D audio bed
engineer placed the object in the mix and at what
will also apply to 3D audio for computer games
and for standard stereo audio, which is still the
level, and is used to re-create, or render,
supporting VR and AR.
most common audio format. n
OBA will give the end-user the option to
42 43 TVBE Audio Yunger Audio_v2 JG_final.indd 54
One of the major challenges for the production
20/04/2017 17:23
TVBEurope
May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
43
Audio
Education, education, education By Wolfgang Huber, public relations manager, Lawo AG
cannot appreciate the new horizons that these
workflows that make Lawo consoles intuitive to
innovations will open up.
use. Topics including general setup of the console
This same thinking was the reason behind
and its input assignments were covered, as well as
Lawo’s decision to became a founding member
more complex areas like snapshots and show files
of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) in
As a special highlight, each of the consoles had
ecent developments in technology, and
2015 – an industry body that was established to
its own Waves SoundGrid Server Platinum to allow
moves toward IP-based solutions and
ensure that all IP solutions brought to market are
visitors hands-on access to the highly sophisticated
workflows in the broadcast, live and install
based on open standards for seamless integration
Waves suite of audio processing effects.
R
markets are sending a clear message to both
into media workflow environments and are fully
equipment developers and end-users. Lawo
interoperable, and with a clear mission to educate
presence, we chose the flexible mc²36 mixing
has been among the earliest companies to
market players about all related issues.
console and its extensive built-in I/O (including
invest its energies in this direction, developing
With this education mission in mind, we devised
In keeping with the theme of our PLS show
Mic/Line/AESMADI/RAVENNA) which, in
and providing IP-based products and solutions
a trade show concept for this year’s Prolight +
combination with the SFP cages and GPI/O
that we consider will help shape the industry’s
Sound that used five mc²36 audio mixing consoles,
interfaces, offers an unrivalled flexibility in
future directions. In addition, we believe that
all integrated into an IP-network via a Lawo Nova
connectivity both for fixed installation or for live/
it is not only important to produce innovative
37 router to provide a “workshop scenario” where
mobile purposes.
technology but also to educate our clients in
the visitors could join hourly workshops hosted
their use and potential. It does not make sense
by either English- or German-speaking trainers
mix of key customers from the German-speaking
simply to launch new technologies if end-users
who demonstrated the mixing of a complex live
countries (including Switzerland and Austria) and
and customers do not understand what the
multitrack recording. These workshop participants
also a fair number of visitors from the Baltic States,
roadmap of a manufacturer means for them, and
were able to take a close-up look into the
Eastern and Western Europe, and even Africa. n
On reflection, we were happy to see a broad
EDITORIAL FEATURE THEMES 2017 2017 will see an even greater commitment from TVBEurope to cover more of the pressing areas of concern, challenge, and opportunity within our burgeoning marketplace. Our dedicated team of writers and contributing editors will continue their exclusive coverage of the shifting media and broadcast sector and will this year be bolstered by a new Technology section, run in association with our sister brand, TV Tech Global. More content, more insight, more ways to reach our loyal audience.
EDITORIAL PLANNER 2017 JUNE - IP: business transformation
JULY - Live sports production
AUGUST- Mixed reality (MR)
IP technology, standards, live production hardware and software, ingest, playout and delivery + The rise of AIMS + Product Focus on lightweight cameras for location work.
Camera kit, outside broadcast facilities, audio, networked comms, consoles, monitors, vision mixers + World Championship athletics and eSports + Specialist camera systems for sports.
VR/AR hardware and software, audio applications + What’s the business proposition for VR in broadcast? + Case study: broadcast VR/AR in action and the IBC 2017 preview.
SEPTEMBER - Next generation broadcast
OCTOBER - Broadcast audio
NOVEMBER- Post production special
OTT/IPTV services, live streaming, virtualization, multiscreen/multiplatform delivery, social TV + Who are the stakeholders in the new content ecosystem? + IBC2017 product showcase.
Consoles, microphones, monitors, audio fixing software, networked communications + Research and development in broadcast audio + IBC2017 broadcast audio review.
Colour grading facilities, audio dubbing, archive, QC, delivery, remote editing, remote collaboration + We’ll fix it in post: how post production deals with industry evolution + Software Showcase.
For all advertising and sponsorship opportunities, contact the sales team: Europe Peter McCarthy: +44 (0)20 7354 6025 pmccarthy@nbmedia.com TVBE Editorial Planner March 2017 half page.indd 1
42 43 TVBE Audio Yunger Audio_v2 JG_final2.indd 55
Richard Carr: +44 (0)20 7354 6027 rcarr@nbmedia.com
USA Mike Mitchell +1 631 673 0072 mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv 21/04/2017 09:46
21/04/2017 12:16
Wednesday 7th June 2017 I Millennium Mayfair Hotel, London
CELBRATING THOSE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES IN THE PRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT, AND DELIVERY OF TODAY’S MEDIA CONTENT
Join us at the TVBAwards in June
S T E K TIC E L B A L I A V A
Celebrate the many and various success stories in the industry, as we recognise and reward those pushing the boundaries in the production, management, and delivery of today’s media content. For more information about the TVBAwards 2017 please visit www.tvb-awards.com.
from s.com rd -awa b v t . www
Dress Code: Black Tie
5th – 9th June 2017, Central London, UK
DISRUPTION | TRANSFORMATION | EVOLUTION A WEEK OF STRATEGIC EVENTS EXPLORING THE FUTURE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT AVAILABLE! For more about this event visit www.media-tech360.com If you would like to sponsor the TVBAwards 2017 please contact Peter McCarthy on: +44(0)20 7354 6025, pmccarthy@nbmedia.com Brought to you by:
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May 2017 www.tvbeurope.com
45
Data Centre
Exploring the evolution of the TV UX, and why the future must be ‘driverless’ shows that they don’t like. Yet the concept
data points that can be collated, the richer
is sound – like a sommelier recommending
the UX can become. Data also extends to
a wine with a meal, or a hairdresser suggesting
the content; going beyond title, genre,
a new type of styling, consumers relish receiving
actors – but collating associative data that
advice when making a decision within a sea
links certain programmes together based on
T
of choice.
thematic values. Data is the fuel for analysis,
By Pancrazio Auteri, chief technology officer, ContentWise he TV experience has shifted dramatically
In my opinion, the recommendation engine
which generates insights, and this is an area
over the last decade, punctuated by
is just a way station – not the final destination.
where machine-learning tools are able to
several innovations that have changed
The current era of TV has new imperatives
crunch vast data sets and variables can help
expectation from viewers and deployment
around mobility, user-generated short-form
human curators to test hypocrisies with more
considerations for operators. With the
video and niche content that in previous times
than just guesswork.
multichannel explosion offered by satellite,
was uneconomical for broadcast TV, but is now
cable and more recently DTT, the electronic
viable over the internet. Pop-up channels and
programme guide (EPG) has gone from novelty
event TV adds to a broadcast landscape that
to an absolute essential item as channel
is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
numbers headed into the triple digit range.
Yet outside of the needs of the consumers,
Yet with the emergence of OTT based
TV service operators are learning from the
on-demand as the fastest growing form of
skills of retailers to merchandise content to
content consumption, the traditional linear list
audiences through retaining and revenue,
of channels has proven much less relevant,
in a sea of choices. This has led to the rise of
These pre-stages then allow the creation of
as viewers become overwhelmed with a vast
more curation from skilled humans boosted
more automated and dynamic user interfaces
array of content, ranging from live and catch-
with machine intelligence and automation in
and merchandised content that can adapt
up, along with popular trends like back-to-back
an attempt to build a new user experience
to different variables. For example, a kids TV
binge viewing.
(UX) that adapts to the perceived desires of
app for mobile devices, or a live sports service
the audiences.
designed for the big screen in the living room
‘As operators start to offer more targeted advertising services, these underpinnings of data, analytics and automation will become more valuable’
Although initiated by OTT services, the trend
‘The (EPG) has gone from novelty to an absolute essential item as channel numbers headed into the triple digit range’
are vastly different but can be built quickly
has been carried forward in recent times by
and dynamically based on an understanding
deeper pocketed hybrid services that combine
of audiences and content that are revealed
cable or satellite along with OTT as a way of
through data analytics.
combating the rise of cord-cutting. One of these goals is to showcase the value offered
As operators start to offer more targeted advertising services, these underpinnings
by these services along with encouraging
of data, analytics and automation will
easier content consumption across any device,
become more valuable. The same
This in turn set the stage for the arrival of
catering to every viewing window. Yet this is
technology used to build the driverless
recommendation engines, with operators
not an easy task considering the diversity of
UX can also feed the system that aims
using simple logic to promote certain types of
viewers, content, devices and even dynamic
to serve the most relevant advertising to
content based predominately on what had
factors such as time of day or location.
the most receptive audiences.
been watched previously. In OTT services with
Mimicking the notion of a driverless car – the
For operators striving to remain relevant
thousands of titles spread across several dozen
driverless UX that many operators are striving
amongst an increasingly competitive field,
thematic areas, the recommendation engine
towards is underpinned by several foundations.
embracing data, analytics and automation
has started to become a standard feature –
An essential ingredient is raw data. This can
is a key first step, and ultimately a hedge in a
admittedly with mixed reviews from consumers
include demographic and lifestyle data, along
future where limitless choice makes ease of use
who complain that basic systems suggest
with historical trending. In essence, the more
for the consumer a winning proposition. n
45 TVBE May 17 Data Centre_v2 JG_final.indd 49
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46
TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com May 2017
Data Centre
The $375 million conundrum By Giles Cottle, customer, product and analytics director, Genius Digital
V
oD is a fundamental, but sometimes overlooked, part of any operator’s strategy. Multiscreen and OTT deservedly
capture much of the hype, but a core part of any pay-TV operator’s strategy is still to be the principal destination for video content in the living room. VoD is something operators need to get right to achieve this. Most of our customers want to use the data
we can provide to help boost VoD performance. When we start working with customers, most understand how well individual titles are performing, and will periodically promote VoD, usually around the release of a big series or big
There is also a halo effect on overall consumption
The bigger picture
title. This makes sense – lots of VoD consumption,
of VoD content, even when a campaign is
How VoD performs along with other content
particularly transactional titles, is hit-driven.
targeted around a specific piece of content.
provides operators with another lens through
Recently, a customer sent nine different
which to view VoD consumption. It’s easy to jump
can boost their VoD performance, provided they
campaigns to different groups, with different
to black-and-white conclusions about whether
have the data at their disposal. We work with
content targeted at each group. While the
a subscriber is primarily a live or on-demand
our customers to better target lapsed VoD users,
promoted content performed well, in some
viewer, but subscribers are much more complex
to segment their VoD user base to increase the
cases, the overall halo effect was actually
than that. When most of our customers launch
efficiency of their offers and promotions, and to
stronger. This doesn’t mean the wrong content
a big series on their platforms, they see that
understand the way VoD is consumed as part of
was picked for the campaign. A well-targeted
more subscribers watch using multiple viewing
their wider offering. The result of this work has a
campaign means customers watch not only the
methods, rather than just the one.
real impact on our customers’ VoD performance
title included in the marketing communication,
– and their bottom lines. In fact, we think that
but that they explore the service as a whole
16 episode run of a US series. Most viewers had a
globally – were all operators to undertake it – the
– which does not happen if the content is not
preference for a viewing method for a particular
uplift in revenues from this kind of activity could
targeted correctly in the first place.
show, but tended not to stick religiously to it, and
However, there are smarter ways that operators
The above example (pictured) is for a major
used different methods to view. It isn’t hard to see
be as high as $375 million.
Come back to what you know
why – we lead busy lives, and there are plenty of
A challenge most operators face when it comes
reasons why we may have a favoured method
Driving VoD revenues is about doing simple things
to driving VoD usage is retaining users. Operators
to view a show, and why we may deviate from
well, and often. One of the most fundamental
can lose up to 70 per cent of new VoD users
it sometimes. This ability to understand VoD
initial actions we undertake is to use VoD data
within a month or two of their first usage. As such,
viewing in context of the overall picture is crucial.
to segment customers into groups, based on
this group should be targeted differently to new
It means that operators can target shows at
understanding of what they have viewed in the
users. Campaigns can be based around what
customers on VoD that they know they have
past, and re-marketing to them based on content
a new user has watched, as well as frequency,
watched on linear or PVR. It also means that they
they have watched. Most operators already do
the time of day they have watched, and so on.
can avoid targeting viewers for shows that they
Finding $375 million
this via recommendation engines at the point of consumption, but integrating this kind of activity
xxxxx Carefully targeted offers at lapsed users are a xxxxx
very effective means of getting them to come
have already watched via another means. $375m is a large sum of money, particularly
into the marketing process can yield real results.
back to the service. At Genius Digital, we have
when talking about VoD. Operators have long
When an operator runs a campaign, they will
found that 15-20 per cent of customers targeted
struggled to monetise VoD assets, and we’re not
usually see a boost in VoD consumption. Through
with this kind of offer will watch another VoD title.
suggesting that data provides a ‘silver bullet’ that
improved targeting, on average we see a 30 per
This ability to constantly re-target is an invaluable
can turn VoD into a cash cow – but operators
cent boost in view rates of free content – and five
asset in improving the retention rate of any
can iterate and improve on their performance by
to ten per cent in terms of paid content.
VoD service.
doing a lot of these small things well, and often. n
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