Technology focus > Playout and automation


Digital TV Europe July/August 2010


Play it again


The emergence of multi-screen delivery of content has had a significant impact on the channel playout business, reports Anna Tobin.


for good content to bring in audiences and rev- enues. Now, however, that content can be repackaged for multiple outlets: mobile devices; PC and TV, for example, the industry has realised that there could be as much money to be made from non-linear targeted individual viewers as mass audiences. “Many of our customers are looking at multi-screen content delivery as a way of pro- tecting their revenue streams,” says Paul Turner, vice-president, broadcast market devel- opment at playout equipment provider, Omneon. “In many cases, this is simply the re- encoding of programme output to the screen resolution of the targeted device, but there is


Broadcasters have always hungered


considerable interest in the ability to modify the ‘secondary’ streams to replace content and ads with more specifically targeted media, and editing of the material to more closely match the likely viewing habits of those customers who are using other devices.” To enable this, the core linear playout model has had to evolve, says John Bozza, sales direc- tor, broadcast services EMEA, at media servic- es company Arqiva. “Remote playout and dis- tribution technologies enable content to be stored at the ‘edge’ and tailored to meet market and platform demands.” Traditional linear playout systems, which are loaded with a list of events to execute at set times still has a place, but it must now also be able to follow non-linear processes where it is asked to do things on demand. “Many compa-


nies started off setting up new media divisions for on-demand services,” says Neil Maycock, chief marketing officer at video technology provider Snell, “Now they’re realising that this isn’t efficient as the workflows and production processes are similar and they are back-ped- alling to a playout system that integrates both processes. It’s not economical to have lots of parallel processes and equipment.” To efficiently supply the multiple streams required in the evolving media production and distribution process you need to move over to automatic processes, says Turner at Omneon. “Well architected, file-based workflows are key to this, although there is still a need for human interaction – re-editing of programmes for duration, content and standards and practices is unlikely to be automated for some time.”


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