October 2013

October 2013 www.tvbeurope.com

You may not be able to make money with news, but TIMA aims to help you break even

TVBEurope 13 News & Analysis News direct from the (out)source

With broadcasters cutting back foreign news bureaus, TIMA’s outsourcing model offers a way to make global news coverage viable. Neal Romanek talks to company CEO Alla Salehian

AFTER 10 years with AP, including a stint as AP’s head of Global Media Services, Alla Salehian is as familiar as anyone with the old line that ‘news doesn’t make money’. “News is a cost centre for any broadcaster — it’s not a revenue centre,” says Salehian. “The only parts of news that you can really get any sponsorship for are weather or, in some places business, and to some extent sports. “Having said that, it’s the most important part of what a broadcaster does. In many countries, providing news is a legal requirement for being able to broadcast. So broadcasters are stuck between having to manage costs while maintaining coverage. You can’t afford to miss a story, but it’s not like if you covered three more stories you’re going to get more advertising. Outsourcing is the logical solution.” In 2012, Salehian founded TIMA, The International Media Associates, to offer news services to broadcasters

control, but outside of that — how you film, how you research, how you feed it, how you stream it — there is no reason you have to invest in all that infrastructure yourself. If you’re Swiss TV, you shouldn’t have to make a decision of ‘Do

The New Zealand House

location has another feature attractive for live newscasting — studios with breathtaking views of the city and of every major landmark in west London. Salehian says, “We had one client remark on the beautiful London backdrop photo we used for a broadcast. They didn’t realise it was the real thing.” Initially, TIMA opened three main offices — London,

We have to remain neutral. One day we could be working with CCTV and the next providing a service for Dubai TV or ITN. The editorial stance is provided by the broadcaster.” Conceivably, TIMA’s brand

of outsourced reporting could lead to circumstances where a journalist moves from covering a story for one broadcaster to covering the same story for a different broadcaster with an opposing editorial stance.

“How you film, how you research, how you feed, how you stream — there is no reason you have to invest in all that infrastructure yourself”

Alla Salehian: “In many countries, providing news is a legal requirement for a broadcaster”

without large global news budgets. TIMA provides journalists and facilities to a range of news organisations, which now include China’s CCTV, Arise News, Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV, Swiss TV, and Al Jazeerah Sports. “There’s a lot of what we do

that a broadcaster doesn’t have to do themselves,” he says. “Editorially, you want to have

I cover a story in London, or not?’ based on costs. Instead it’s ‘For the cost of one reporter, I can cover a story in London whenever I want.’” TIMA is headquartered in London in New Zealand House, just west of Trafalgar Square. The London office has five SD/HD studios, including one large four-camera studio, as well as two editing suites, make-up rooms, two satellite dishes, fibre connectivity, and office space for journalists.

Zixi makes internet transport reliable By Anne Morris

AT IBC2013, Zixi demonstrated its internet transport architecture which permits broadcasters, live event producers and other content creators to use the internet for reliable, distance-insensitive transport of high-quality video. With Zixi, broadcasters can replace inflexible and costly

satellite and fibre links with the unmanaged internet and still be certain their content will arrive in the formats and quality they need. Unlike peer-to-peer internet

transport tools, Zixi is a complete three-point software system. Zixi Feeder, running at the origination point provides signalling and control to ensure that encoder output is accurately

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sent to Zixi Broadcaster. Zixi Broadcaster, running in the cloud or on a user’s premises, can switch streams, output them directly to devices and/or CDNs or send streams to Zixi Receiver. Zixi Receiver, running at the destination point, ensures error-free reception. By placing intelligence in all three critical points of transmission, Zixi says

it aims to transform the internet from something that is only marginally useful for production

transport of content into the first choice for video transport. www.zixi.com

Washington DC and Paris — but then quickly expanded to an office in Sana’a, Yemen. The company then opened offices in Damascus, Tehran, and recently Ramallah and Gaza. In its first year, the company served 51 broadcasters; so far this year, it has served 69. Where does editorial accountability lie with outsourced journalism? Salehian emphasises that “our philosophy is that we do not editorialise. We are journalists who provide facts.

Alla Salehian Though TIMA’s value

proposition is cost savings, Salehian notes that in the end, the importance of news is as much about a broadcaster’s message as its revenue stream: “You don’t want people turning away from you to other sources of information. You want to be the one to provide that information otherwise you’re letting someone else have control over what your audience hears and what they see.”

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