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In addition to providing the world's media with editorial copy in its capacity as a news agency, Associated Press (AP) is also heavily involved in the behind the scenes logistics of the world's TV newscasters. Digital Broadcast gets the scoop with AP's Global Media Services (GMS) division.
AP's GMS division provides coverage of special events and breaking news coverage for hundreds of broadcasters simultaneously saving them the expense - and the headache - of doing so themselves, a service with growing appeal in the current economic climate.
"A lot of broadcasters - especially in this day and age - are looking to outsource to us," says Alla Salehian, director of AP's GMS.
"We have seen a rise in the past two years, but especially since the middle of last year the demand for these services has grown to the point where we are now fielding so many requests from broadcasters it is difficult to fit them all in," he admits.
The alternative for broadcasters is to use a feed from a rival network or a station local to the event in question. This feed may include the original channel's branding, graphics and unwanted foreign language commentary.
"The benefit of the GMS service is that we don't interfere in the client's editorial," says Salehian. "Each can maintain its own output and the quality of that editorial without the expense of camera crews, uplinking units on the ground, satellite capacity and so on."
Salehian attributes the combination of cost-cutting with the ability to retain individual editorial control and creativity for the company's good fortunes during a period of economic instability.
So from which regions in particular has Salehian seen this heightened interest in GMS's services?
"I would say that the US and Europe have been the source of the greatest number of enquiries. There has been interest too from the Middle East and some from the Far East but the emerging markets don't seem to be as exposed to the recession. The media is not as reliant on the advertising market in these territories, which is why the bulk of interest at the moment is mainly from US and Europe," says Salehian.
The GMS client list effectively includes to different extents every news station.
"The scope of our involvement varies from broadcaster to broadcaster but we pretty much do something with every broadcaster in the world," claims Salehian.
"At President Obama's speech in Cairo last month we were working with more or less all the US networks, in addition to Canal+, BBC, France24, ZDF, CCTV and from the Middle East Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. We have major contracts with Saudi TV Channel One, we do a lot with the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) - the work today in Cairo is in collaboration with the ERTU - and all of the Gulf countries take services from us on a regular basis.
Ensuring all these signals go to the right place is a bit like air traffic control. Last year we helped produce 5500 news reports from Iraq alone, just for Middle East-based broadcasters," he says.
With content delivery infrastructure increasingly incorporating fibre networks and portable satellite broadband-based methods some might consider that the traditional satellite methods used by AP's various divisions could be viewed as outdated. Salehian is confident that the satellite delivery has a long future ahead of it.
