Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) August 2018 Volume 35, Issue 7 | Page 17

August 2018 MANAGEMENT 17

How WHATS ’ ON was used during 2018 FIFA World Cup

by johan vanmarcke
NRL ’ s new studio and post-production facility is designed and built by Videocraft , an Australian broadcast equipment sales and rental specialists .

Videocraft designs and build new studio and post facility for NRL

The National Rugby League ( NRL ), a league of professional men ’ s rugby teams in Australasia , recently commissioned Videocraft to design and build a new production studio and facility at NEP ’ s Redfern HQ . This is to take care of live and recorded online programming and content for its new digital network , www . nrl . com , including 16 clubs and two state associations sites and mobile applications .
Wayne Dakin , media services manager , NRL , explained : “ Online properties such as nrl . com are hugely important now , as are the content they produce . With this in mind , we engaged Videocraft to build us a studio and facility , based on its previous experience in this area , that would allow the creation of fast turnaround highlights and edits of all matches , panel shows , pre- and post-match content .”
Among the solutions implemented by Videocraft were the EVS XS server and IP Director product asset management system . With the requirement that the facility is able to manage all incoming feeds and studio records , and then the playout of the material , EVS is compatible with all of NRL ’ s existing broadcast providers and partners such as NEP , Channel 9 and Fox Sports .
Dakin continued : “ Videocraft really thought through the design and build of the studio and , with our specific requirements in mind , made the studio Ross-based , with a powerful Ross Graphite production switcher at its core . “ They have used this switcher in studios many times before and it ’ s an ideal combination of power and reliability at the right price point for us . It also has a feature-rich version of XPression 3D motion graphics , two channels of clip server and the RAVE audio engine all built in . This allows us to create very high quality graphics at a very reasonable cost .”
In addition to the Ross Graphite switcher , the Videocraft solution also integrated a 400TB Avid Media Central system to help with the fast programme turnaround and NEXIS storage for its “ excellent reliability ” and interoperability with EVS systems .
Dakin concluded : “ The new studio , post-production facility , edit suites and storage are an excellent example of a clever , efficient , integrated , high-end Avid solution . With EVS taking care of the ingest and live production workflow and Ross the graphics and vision mixing , we have not just a state-ofthe-art system but a bulletproof one as well .
“ The best compliment we ’ ve had yet is that the content you see on www . nrl . com looks just like it does on television .”
During
the build-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup , one of our clients , A + E Networks UK / HISTORY used WHATS ’ ON , the broadcast management system by MEDIAGENIX , to create a special pop-up channel , which scheduled football-related programming . The channel was configured and ready to go within a few hours and ran for 14 days . This allowed the customer to focus dedicated content on a targeted event for a specific period of time .
This is a perfect example of how WHATS ’ ON enables media companies to create and remove channels at the drop of a hat . With efficient management of multiple versions and channels , WHATS ’ ON can also help them faultlessly connect the right audience to the right ( localised ) content version .
Several MEDIAGENIX customers scheduled their 2018 FIFA World Cup coverage over both linear and non-linear channels with WHATS ’ ON , adapting their content to the destination communication devices , in a technical way , but also from an editorial point of view . For instance , the Facebook story format is not the long-form format on a website or a connected TV .
Two years ago , merging linear and non-linear management , WHATS ’ ON became the only true transmedia content lifecycle management solution , managing the linear , on-demand and digital world with the same flexibility , power and error checking options .
WHATS ’ ON simply treats videoon-demand ( VoD ) publications the same way as linear transmissions , be it with VoD-specific fields such as ( online ) categories , price codes and the publication end date .
Multiple transmissions can be created with one click , for both VoD and linear channels , in accordance with applicable rights , restrictions and business rules . There is no need to enter the data all over again ; everything is replicated , but can be deviated from every separate
Several MEDIAGENIX customers scheduled their 2018 FIFA World Cup coverage over both linear and non-linear channels with the WHATS ’ ON broadcast management system .
transmission . There are all kinds of automated checks to make sure everything is in accordance with the contracts , and the correct media asset with the correct components is linked to each transmission . Catch-up transmissions are linked to the linear transmission and are kept in synch thanks to the calculated relative start and end dates .
For many customers , WHATS ’ ON is the ultimate orchestrator of their broadcast operations . WHATS ’ ON can also integrate with any system under the sun to receive the data required for personalised recommendations .
With diverse sports-only customers in Europe , MEDIAGENIX has studied their specific challenges and devised effective solutions from a scheduling and metadata perspective .
Alternative transmission schedules can be made and updated using the normal scheduling tools . This way , the broadcaster can create , try out and measure what-if scenarios , and prepare significant changes in a transmission schedule , which can then be updated in one single operation . Also , full-fledged substitute playlists can be created to prepare for contingencies or airing changes on broadcast day ; for instance , when covering live sports events with an uncertain duration .
WHATS ’ ON extends the broadcaster ’ s flexibility to respond to lastminute changes . Whenever weather conditions , editorial decisions or match developments require last-minute changes , WHATS ’ ON pushes these updates to playout to update the current playlist . Also , the system offers a live electronic programme guide ( EPG ) feed to keep the sports fans well informed of all programme changes in the playlist .
WHATS ’ ON not only offers the flexibility and openness to ensure smooth operations ; its Sports Team Management module allows users to draw up sports calendars that contain all the events , leagues , teams and venues , to automatically schedule these events via burst planning .
Johan Vanmarcke is Managing Director of MEDIAGENIX APAC .

Verimatrix addresses security gaps for blockchain applications

Verimatrix has announced the availability of the Veriteem distributed ledger technology ( DLT ), an “ open read , controlled write ” for enterprise applications .
The Verimatrix GenOne team developed the open source technology to build Internet of Things ( IoT ) applications that require a dedicated blockchain that allows public access to data , yet securely manages contributions in order to prevent malicious behaviour .
The Veriteem DLT is built on Ethereum with further control over the nature , frequency and participants of transactions to limit abuse of the data , while maintaining a decentralised system that encourages participation . According to Verimatrix , Veriteem is ideal for compliance ledger applications where organisations can confidently push their data according to the rules established by the DLT .
Petr Peterka , CTO of Verimatrix , added : “ We are well aware of the limitations of blockchain applications but do believe in how its decentralised nature maintains independence of compliance between organisations and manufacturers . However , we identified certain gaps in current blockchain implementations that no existing DLT was able to adequately address .
“ Therefore , we decided to develop Veriteem as an open source solution that solves tangible problems , which have slowed the adoption of blockchain for enter prise deployments . We believe many use cases will benefit from the options in Veriteem to balance accessibility and control .”
Veriteem provides control to a selfgoverned , decentralised group of guardians that do the mining , define applications and assign “ write ” access . It is more open than permission-based approaches that limit access to the ledger network , and does not require expensive proof of work , said Verimatrix .