January-February 2016
MANAGEMENT 29
Eliminating the boundary between linear and non-linear
Among the range of Ross Video production , automation and asset management solutions that NESN is deploying , includes the CamBot robotic pedestals .
NESN turns to Ross Video for major production technology upgrade
New England Sports Network ( NESN ), the official network of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins , has deployed a range of production , automation and asset management solutions from Ross Video .
This includes : Two Acuity production switchers and OverDrive automated production control systems ; four XPression dualchannel character generators with Streamline asset management system ; four CamBot robotic pedestals and openGear terminal equipment ; three XPression engines ; and a complete Ross Virtual studio system .
Dave Desrochers , VP of engineering at NESN , explained : “ We chose Ross because of its ability to provide a bundled system for the entire studio production workflow — from camera robotics to production switchers and graphics .
“ Ross also supports our future technical plans and provides us the best flexibility moving forward ; that , coupled with a competitive price , made the choice easy .”
NESN is putting the Ross system to use on a wide range of programming formats .
NESN produces three daily sports newscasts on a virtual set that re-airs up to eight hours per day , as well as multiple pre / postgame shows , for more than 225 days per year .
The Ross Creative Services team is working closely with NESN to recreate both the NESN news and Boston Bruins studio graphics packages using XPression and Streamline . The rebuild focus , is to help NESN move to an automated MOS-based template package from the previous manual operator-driven package .
Joseph Maar , VP of programming and production , and executive producer at NESN , concluded : “ NESN is excited to partner with Ross as the first regional sports network to produce all pre-game , post-game and live sports newscasts using an automated solution . Millions of viewers throughout New England and across the country on NESN National will watch coverage using Ross gear .” by johan vanmarcke
Media and entertainment ( M & E ) companies are increasingly creating new content by cutting and reassembling existing content , making rights management at subproduct level a necessity .
Produced and commissioned programmes are not governed only by broadcast rights . Parts of a programme might have addi tional rights , restrictions and commitments with , for example , the actors themselves .
These rights are independent of broadcast rights , but can impose additional restrictions , generate additional costs or require additional clearance before a programme can be broadcasted or repeated ; or before a programme segment can be ( re ) used as a contribution in other programmes .
Integration between linear and non-linear : The artificial boundary is coming to a dead end
M & E companies will expect a holistic overview of programme schedules , which is in both linear and non-linear formats . And concepts from the linear world , such as strategic scheduling and schedule simulations , will also be needed for the non-linear portion .
From a scheduling perspective , it is clear that non-linear and linear go hand-in-hand . What is published on the linear schedule influences what is available on the non-linear schedule .
This is true not only for traditional catch-up and preview offerings . Publishing previous seasons of a series on a non-linear platform , before broadcasting the new season on a linear channel , is a proven way to get new viewers hooked on the story and the characters .
Conversely , non-linear scheduling decisions might drive what
From a scheduling perspective , it is clear that nonlinear and linear go hand-in-hand . What is published on the linear schedule influences what is available on the non-linear schedule .
is shown on the linear schedule . This is , for instance , the case when non-linear rights only apply after a linear publication .
For M & E companies gaining their income from advertising , performance data on reach and frequency across all touch points is essential . This will force media measurement and monitoring companies to deliver new data and services .
For M & E companies gaining their income from public financing , selling their produced content will be one of the means to compensate budget constraints . New or existing ( BMS ) solutions will have to cater for rights-out management .
Minding the continuous push by technology vendors , only when the consumer sees an emotional / analogue breakthrough will new ( digital ) technology gain value .
Everything becomes digital but the human stays analogue .
The digital world forces all stakeholders towards ever-increasing accuracy and ( meta ) data management / storage , a requirement that is unlike the natural workings of people .
People are analogue , insensitive to noise , insensitive to error , and live their emotions through their senses . People extract meanings , and as long as the meanings are unchanged , the details of the signals do not matter .
In a world where the choice of channels , platforms , devices and experiences is ever-expanding , and the viewer is the driving force , M & E companies are faced with the challenge of how to engage and captivate viewers .
Content providers are faced with the increasing challenge of how to optimise the experience and ad placements as more screens offer more opportunities for ad impressions .
In sports , where viewers want to be part of the story and feel the same emotions as live audiences , video / programmes continue to be enriched through GPS data , human data ( heart rate ), video-ondemand ( VoD ) and so on . However , these metadata will have to be synchronised ( frame accurately ) to audio and video .
Johan Vanmarcke is managing director of Asia at MediaGeniX .
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