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With pressure to make content available for an ever-increasing number of platforms, broadcasters need technology that can keep pace with evolving market demands, writes Said Bacho.
In the Middle East, the transition from analogue to digital and the HD build-up are still the main drivers in the market. However, as advertisers look to get the best return on their spend in the new media landscape, today's broadcasters are facing significant pressure to expand revenues via additional content delivery mediums.
To many broadcasters, online services and catch-up TV are not yet seen as a source of immediate, incremental revenue, but rather as part of the cost of building and maintaining a brand. In today's highly competitive environment, if an opportunity for a new channel or service arises, there is pressure for it to be on air as quickly as possible. Leveraging interoperable technology to streamline workflow throughout the content chain makes profiting from emerging business models a much simpler and cost-effective proposition.
The ability for broadcasters to repurpose their valuable content for multiple delivery platforms is key to success in today's market. They have the content and they now need to move it quickly and cost-effectively from format to format, delivery platform to delivery platform.
The move to file-based architectures is a vital step: Ingest once, at the highest resolution you are going to need, and transcode and trans-wrap content to meet all your delivery standards. At this level, signal processing is relatively inexpensive, requiring only an initial implementation cost. The creation of different output formats is largely automatic and, therefore, fairly low in ongoing, operational expenditure.
One example of an organisation establishing a long-term vision for an enterprise-level workflow is Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC). In 2008, ADMC expanded its existing Harris ADC automation system by incorporating Invenio digital asset management into the content ingest, preparation and playout workflow. It also added Harris Broadcast Master traffic and scheduling software.
The company's aim was to improve its broadcast production cycle and to address the inefficiencies of the decentralised approach that was taken to presentation and playout. ADMC required an automation solution that would easily support its existing workflows and control the expanding systems at its facility. Together, these solutions support a collaborative approach to creating, producing and repurposing media assets across the organisation.
Another example is the new Egyptian sports channel, Al-Ahly TV, which was able to get on air quickly and avoid many of the standard challenges of launching a new channel by installing an end-to-end, fully interoperable Harris broadcast solution at its facility in Egyptian Media Production City. Spanning production, automation, signal processing, routing, branding, graphics and test and measurement, the tapeless workflow allows Al-Ahly to maximise efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Broadcasters and content owners in this region are being forced to do much more on ever-tighter budgets. With all these pressures, the emergence of new delivery platforms and the continuing drive toward total media convergence, the requirement for integrated solutions and interoperable technology has become central to building a successful broadcast business. Said Bacho is regional director of Harris Broadcast Middle East.
