Tedial – Build a strong cybersecurity framework with Tedial’s NoCode Media Integration Platform smartWork

Julián Fernández-Campón

CTO, Tedial

The shift to IP has opened a whole new world of possibilities to the media industry. Broadcasters and content owners can quickly and easily manage, archive and distribute content at the touch of a button from any device, at any location. Stored digitally, on-prems or in the cloud, media can be made available at a moment’s notice, now or years in the future, regardless of new formats and technological advancements. This is clearly excellent news for the industry and cause for celebration; there’s just one fairly major consideration that media providers and studios need to make to ensure their digital world doesn’t come pixelating down, and that’s cybersecurity.

Attacks vary in nature - some look for ransom, others destroy information, some steal and sell user information and some simply cause mass disruption - the list quite literally goes on, but whatever (and whoever) is behind the attack, your business certainly doesn’t want to be a victim of it.

While ransomware attacks have been around for many years, there is evidence that organized cybercrime entities are investing heavily as the number of attacks and the sophistication is growing exponentially. Garmin was hacked in July 2020. At the time, the Cyber Security Hub website explained that, “Hackers deployed the ransomware tool WastedLocker, which encrypts key data on a company’s digital infrastructure. In the case of Garmin, website functions, customer support, and user applications were all affected. Unlike typical ransomware software, WastedLocker does not steal identifying information and hold it for ransom. Instead, it renders programs useless until decrypted. The hacking organization then demands a fee for the decryption key.”

Companies from the M&E industry have also been affected by cybersecurity attacks. In October last year, Sinclair Broadcast was hit with a ransomware attack. A TV Technology report explains that, “On Oct. 17, certain servers and workstations were encrypted with ransomware, disrupting certain office and operational networks.” And just a few months ago, in early January 2022, Portuguese terrestrial television station SIC, owned by media conglomerate Impresa, was also hit by an attack.

No organisation, media or otherwise, ever wants to be in this position. So how do companies ensure that their systems are always protected? In April, Tedial announced a new media concept and a new era in media management, with a new paradigm: smartWork, the company’s NoCode Media Integration Platform or NoCode iPaaS for media. As well as providing an ecosystem of applications and media systems out-of-the-box, the Media Integration Platform offers a cybersecurity framework that protects at all levels, from the standard IT infrastructure up to the applications, and more importantly at the media production level.

smartWork democratizes business processes, empowering users to define integrations autonomously - without vendor participation - and create workflows in a flexible and agile manner. Aligned with Movielabs’ 2030 Vision for Media Creation, the platform removes time-consuming and complex configurations via a common User Interface that guarantees an optimal experience and easy access to all applications, external systems (including any legacy MAMs, PAMs and DAMs ensuring business continuity), and features self-validation. An easy-to-use toolset allows users to concentrate on creativity and make the data-driven decisions necessary to quickly adapt to market or supply changes.

The IT Infrastructure and all the applications need to be secured but seen as a whole and defined, controlled and managed at the production level, and not the individual elements. This high-level security management has a reflection and some actions on the different subsystems: network, storage, services, applications, etc., but needs to be abstracted and seen from this angle and not from the IT infrastructure. This can be seen as a “Workflows Defined Security” which focuses on the operation, the content and not where the workflows are physically executed.

This is a new paradigm, which defines a platform where all the applications are integrated. Media management capabilities and workflows are defined with a NoCode approach, which allows non-technical people to implement the content supply chain processes and production workflows by themselves, without the support of the IT team nor programmers, including all the security needed.

The NoCode Media Integration Platform has some key important benefits in terms of security that makes it suitable to implement advanced security schemas to meet the most demanding customer needs:

Common Interface. The common interface is one of the pillars of the platform as it offers the same methods for the same operations, but also protects the applications from external access offering a single layer to be secured, instead of securing each individual system. These systems can be isolated and protected to prevent attacks.
Media Abstraction Location. The physical location of the media is not known, it’s leaving in a protected storage location and it’s given a one-time access.
Infrastructure as Code. The deployment is adapted to each infrastructure, defined as deployment scripts using tools like Terraform that includes the use of the specific security mechanisms adapted for each target (Kubernetes cluster on prems line OKD, AWS, Google, Azure, etc.).
Zero Trust Approach. Some of the points are achieved naturally by the platform:
Business Segmentation, Segregation of Duties is provided by the abstraction of the methods provided by the common interface and the workflow defined security that will be explained in the next section.
One time access, the media location abstraction layer will give access on demand to the specific content as the physical location is abstracted

And others that need to be implemented in the NoCode Media Integration Platform as part of the secure design:

Least Privilege access. Defining the proper security principles such as Access Control Lists, Roles and User Groups where the access to any resource is denied by default, unless explicitly granted.
Multi Factor Authentication. Integrating IAM (Identity and Access Management) systems that integrate with tools like Google Authentication, Microsoft Authenticator or more proprietary and/or device dependent tools.
Logging, Auditing. Registering all the activity in the platform, including anomaly detection, notifications and any other mechanisms to have visibility of all the events, access to the media, applications and services and any other tasks done by the users or any external application.

Choosing the proper security policies and systems is a real need, but workflows in the M&E industry have several implications regarding media management. Systems integrations require a different, global, more workflow oriented approach instead of the IT approach, which is focused on infrastructure. In a NoCode Media Integration Platform security can be derived naturally to implement Zero Trust policies.

Come and see Tedial’s unique NoCode Media Integration Platform smartWork in action at IBC 2022 ON STAND 10.D30.

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Digital Nirvana – The Latest in Remote Broadcast Monitoring

Jim Daves

Senior Sales Director for Digital Nirvana

Today, broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) prefer to manage their video from centralized operations covering a large geographic area. However, labor shortages and the dynamic growth in video services have paved the way for remote monitoring to emerge as an essential and profitable option. Over the past few years, remote monitoring has grown considerably important, with corroding profit margins and ambitious business goals having prompted broadcasters to choose this tool to improve their operations.

When an alert arose, the technician responding to the system notification would have to log in to a particular location and pull up the video from the cable TV box, rewinding to the problem from last night or two to three days ago — much like they would on a video tape — and checking the specifications. This crude process required a lot of time and labor on the part of the support team, who would still need to find where the problem occurred in the overall distribution network and fix it at its source.

Thankfully, the process of monitoring video signals has matured greatly. Through remote monitoring, any person, no matter where they are, can monitor any location at any time. Cable operators and other video distributors can monitor hundreds of locations across a large geographic area to verify ad insertion, signal quality, service delivery, and proper programming placement at the local level — all from one or more locations in the country.

This holds several benefits for both operators and engineers. For one, remote monitoring requires fewer physical trips to transmitters, headend or hub sites to correct technical problems. Remote monitoring systems can be programmed to show the location of any problematic hub, bringing up schematics that show how the network is used in the design, and thus making a workaround plan easier. In doing so, the system allows technical and support teams to provide service and monitor high-profile events live from a central location without being on-site, eliminating unnecessary truck rolls.

Remote monitoring also enables more efficient operations. Technical and support teams can monitor or record different individual channels in other areas without logging in to multiple different systems. Engineers can schedule recordings quickly through the electronic program guide in just a few simple steps. Technicians can schedule these recordings on different channels and in other zones instantly and simultaneously instead of visiting each channel individually to set up a recording. For example, it’s possible to record, say, Bloomberg Television at 2 p.m. in a few locations on the West Coast and a few more in the Midwest and East Coast — all with one click.

On the broadcasters’ end, remote monitoring can ensure compliance with government regulations and fulfillment of contracts with advertisers and content providers. Not only can broadcasters monitor channels to check for the placement, quality, and location of content and ads, but they can also keep a recording as proof of fulfillment. Being able to show where a problem occurred in the system can also demonstrate accountability and improve relations between the contractual parties.

Speaking of the technology itself, companies have developed remote monitoring units that contain simplified hardware and software aimed only at the remote-monitoring use case. This allows technicians to see the entire channel lineup; change channels; and view, fast forward, rewind, and scroll through live or recorded content using a remote control — all by region, ad zone, or even down to specific transmitters, headends or hub sites. Essentially, the technician can surf through the channels like any other viewer, with the option to change the inputs and volume on the fly.

Having all this information at their fingertips is extremely important for technicians and broadcasters as it gives them a clear picture of maintenance needs during critical events. For instance, the volume of a commercial might play louder than what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates. If the commercial does air, and the FCC reaches out, then a recording of the channel can show them where in the distribution the rise in volume occurred, helping demonstrate accountability. Thanks to the remote monitoring system, broadcasters can also avoid or account for other critical events — like the signal going dark, the signal dropping off quality, the stream going black, or the audio disappearing.

Overall, remote monitoring is cost-effective, making it affordable for the broadcasters and MVPD’s to deploy hundreds of units to locations throughout their network with the same high scalability and security. These systems are designed for remote monitoring, taking away the things people don't need and simplifying the user interface to make it extremely easy to do the job with as few clicks as possible.

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Bio

Jim Daves is the senior sales director for Digital Nirvana. He oversees sales to the MVPD and broadcast TV markets. Daves has been in the business for more than 35 years. His sales expertise spans numerous hardware and software product lines associated with video and high-speed data services, interactive television, voice, OTT, IPTV, and wireless solutions. Daves is based in Atlanta.

Limecraft – A Workspace for Video Teams – the New Normal

Maarten Verwaest

CEO and Founder, Limecraft

The concept of a digital workspace has been around for a while, but the public perception of what it is supposed to do has recently changed.

Today, the development of creative economies and the relative importance of the Media and Entertainment industry accelerates at an unseen pace. A great example is video production – digitization not only sped up the editing process but also allows creators to express themselves in ways that were not available before. The amounts of video that video teams need to process take on unmanageable proportions. It is assumed that Artificial Intelligence comes to the rescue, but there is a catch.

The media and entertainment industries are increasingly being dominated by few vertically integrated players. These have the firepower to internally develop software to automate production processes on a vast scale. Independent producers don’t have access to the technology that would allow them to compete and to access a global market, unless they engage with one of said large players, whereby they typically lose the majority or all of the exploitation rights. This massive consolidation may lead to standardized and easy to digest audiovisual products, whereby local markets are at stake.

In the near future, we will start seeing independent digital ‘workspaces’. At the core of these, seamlessly integrated AI services optimised for professional production of audiovisual material will allow producers to significantly improve their productivity. It will allow (co-)producers and service providers to interact without intervention of 3^rd parties, effectively creating a dynamic ecosystem of independent operators that can be easily scaled and customised according to the specific requirements of the production. It will give birth to an approach which much more resilient to change compared to vast, vertically integrated business models.

To make this happen, the supply side has to overcome a number of hurdles. First, the majority of commercially available AI services deliver hugely inaccurate or otherwise unusable results. Secondly, professionals are faced with an explosion of point solutions and find themselves excessively copying and pasting information from one application into another. To make sure material can be more easily processed and exchanged across the organisation, the new Digital Workspace must crack these challenges.

The Limecraft Workspace for Video Teams and its key features

Limecraft offers a secure online workspace for global video teams. A safe repository for all their content, regardless of the format (fiction, docu, news). It hides all technical complexity by sorting file format conversions and giving access to built-in AI services for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), translation, and image recognition. These perform the grunt work of indexing video and audio, so the users can focus on the creative processes of storytelling and video editing.

In order to make this work, we had to bring AI to another level. Unlike text, video is not self-descriptive. AI has a lot of potential, the raw output of the individual services has to be seriously post-processed to provide an accurate and coherent description of each shot (‘shot list’). This is essential for journalists and researchers, so as to allow them to find the right fragments in minutes. This is of critical importance to documentary makers, who typically work on a very large collection of data, or for journalists that need to publish their content with the shortest possible turn-around time. This is exactly why the Associated Press teamed up with Limecraft.

The most common issues that video teams run into these days

As both the demand and the offering of available video are exploding, producers are struggling for originality. The methods for producing and distributing content are being improved as we speak due to recent advances in AI for the purpose of automation. However, automation implies change and resistance to change. But we are beyond the point of no return. Producers either must adapt or die, and there will be casualties.

Besides this, as loudly conveyed during the DPP leader’s briefing in November last year in Berlin, there is a large-scale war for talent going on. For that reason, and in combination with the struggle for originality, producers seek technology to improve the job of creative professionals, rather than to make them redundant. This is exactly why Limecraft came up with the concept of ‘workspace’ and why we made significant investments in improving AI, not to automate work as such, but as value-added tools embedded in a user-friendly application for professionals so they can do a better job.

The future

Limecraft will be one of those companies that stood up and walked through the storm. We have been offering solutions for remote editing and collaboration for 10 years; until a few years ago we had a hard time competing with traditional software businesses. Recent events have made it clear to the producer community that online collaboration is not a nice-to-have or an add-on; it has become the new normal.

The next challenge on the horizon is the technology swarm. Recently, we have seen several smaller companies come to life, solving point solutions or parts of the problem. Producers are faced with huge security-related and operational challenges.

The mean time between failure of a patchwork of point solutions is not good, as each individual component may cause downtime of the overall solution. Also from a security perspective the best of breed situation may not be optimal. Finally, from an environmental sustainability point of view, it is just nonsense to create and transfer copies of video material, often several gigabytes per hour of footage, back and forth between all these point solutions.

Therefore, producers should look for a competent partner and a workspace optimized for integration - highly optimized to minimize the number of copies and to reduce the number of file transfers. It is an approach where maximum security, environmental sustainability, and economics go hand in hand.

Consult Red – Adopting RDK throughout the connected home

Rahul Mehra

CTO at Consult Red

RDK’s strength and versatility opens up the smart home - a single software platform for managing connected device ecosystems is proving irresistible

Having started out as a Set-Top Box (STB) solution over 10 years ago, open-source software platform RDK (Reference Design Kit) has rapidly taken on a life of its own. It’s a major player that is proven to seriously accelerate the development of the smart home, yet outside of the media industry, many may not have heard of it. All that might be about to change, says Rahul Mehra, CTO at leading RDK development experts, Consult Red.

RDK is evolving as a super versatile platform at the forefront of innovative consumer electronics products for broadband and video service providers. The technology has attracted a community of major players using RDK to power their broadband routers. Far from standard-issue products, these are market-leading devices used by Liberty Global, Deutsche Telekom, Sky, Comcast, and others, making RDK one of the leading open-source software platforms shipped worldwide.

RDK showing real potential as a whole home IoT solution

Operators have now deployed smart cameras in homes based on RDK (including RDK-C for camera applications), together with a smart doorbell also based on RDK. Unlike other IoT technologies, RDK is unique in that it embraces the whole home and is doing so in proven applications from the set-top box to routers to video doorbells.

RDK is now a smart TV solution too

RDK standardizes core technical functions of video devices, and RDK is an important component of Comcast’s global technology platform, which powers Sky Glass and XClass TVs. Once again, these are not entry-level products but some of the smartest of smart TVs on the market.

The app framework to make the look and feel unified and seamless, specifications designed to support the nuances of a 2022 connected TV experience (such as presence detection), and the capability to support a 4K Smart Camera with motion and gesture support, are all delivered over IP.

RDK powers more than 80 million devices deployed by over 500 service providers around the world that require flexibility and control over their customer-premise equipment software and diagnostics data.

Adopters of RDK understand the potential of RDK

RDK is currently deployed across dozens of leading service providers throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia. Service providers with public RDK deployments include: Atlantic Broadband, BCN, Claro, Comcast, Cox, Deutsche Telekom, J:COM, KabelPlus, Liberty Global, Mediacom, Megacable Melita, NOS, Rogers, SFR (part of Altice Europe), Shaw, Sky, Stofa, Telcom Argentina, Toya, Vectra, Vidéotron, Vodafone, VOO, VTR, WOW, Ziggo, and others. They understand the burgeoning potential of RDK to unlock commercial opportunities across a broader range of devices outside of the traditional domain of the set-top box.

More signals that RDK has a bright future

There are strong signals RDK is being driven even further as a whole home solution. But why?

Operators want to sell different services, and some have set their sights on being firmly at the centre of the smart home. To do that they need a whole home technology, and we are seeing them embrace, extend and invest in RDK.

Recently we’ve seen more investment in RDK with the addition of a Zigbee radio and future support for the Matter IoT standard (for example, in the latest iteration of the Comcast router). Zigbee, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radios typically act as the backbone of many smart home solutions. Matter is the emerging IoT standard backed by industry giants. Together these will allow RDK and operators to get deeper into the smart home with applications such as smart heating, security, plugs, locks and home automation. So, is it yet another indicator that RDK is gearing up for a wider smart home solution, with the smart router being at the centre as a coordinating device?

OTT and content providers see the potential of RDK too

It’s not just operators seeing the benefits of this approach. Recently, Netflix announced its DaVinci scaling program which allows operators to reduce the effort of integration and time-to-market to launch Netflix services on its RDK devices. The program will improve a service provider’s ability to offer more enhanced viewing options and make Netflix more accessible to subscribers.

Meanwhile, other leading premium content apps also run atop RDK to give operators an accelerated on-ramp to deploying services their customers can’t live without.

Just as importantly, RDK is giving operators greater versatility outside of the domain of Google TV/Android.

Silicon gets in on the RDK act

The ecosystem is growing in all directions. From a time when only one semiconductor manufacturer supported RDK (Broadcom), now Realtek, Amlogic and others are competing to make chipsets for RDK while the number of OEMs backing the solution strengthens every day.

It’s clear - there is a serious player in town. RDK is set to snowball. With versatility by design, the platform’s potential is barely tapped, but it is already clear that operators value the advantage of a single software DNA for managing the burgeoning connected device ecosystem.

Thinking about RDK? Bring in the experts

Consult Red is embedded in the RDK community. We know the silicon vendors and understand the ecosystem inside and out. We help operators to achieve their goal quickly while leveraging all the smarts of the RDK playbox from PoC to prototype to product.

An early adopter of RDK – 10+ years of experience
One of Europe’s largest RDK development teams
Expertise in RDK from the ground up
Proven track record working with leading operators including Sky, Comcast and Liberty Global
Developed the world’s first RDK Video Accelerator on Amlogic SoC
Established contributor to the RDK community:
We sit on Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and have led contributions to the Containerisation SIG

farmerswife – Cirkus automates workflows and improves collaboration for Able

Able is New Zealand's leading provider of media access services, including captioning, subtitling and audio description for broadcast TV and On Demand streaming services. Gencom has supported Able since their inception as a not-for-profit charitable trust in 2013, and today oversees all of Able’s IT infrastructure and support requirements. As the organisation has grown, they wanted to automate their freelance workflow, moving away from a system that relied on manual management oversight, to a more efficient and automated process that would reduce the amount of resource required.

Gencom worked closely with Able to understand their requirements and assess the available options. Due to the organisation’s unique requirements, Gencom ultimately developed a system architecture centred on Cirkus, a new collaboration toolset from farmerswife, the leading provider of resource scheduling, project management & team collaboration software for the demanding needs of today's media industry.

Cirkus is an easy-to-use, day-to-day task collaboration tool for teams. It allows users to unlimitedly schedule, assign and manage projects and tasks; track status and report time; and collaborate efficiently anywhere, with anyone, by coordinating resources and sharing files in one central hub. Cirkus allows Able staffers and freelancers to effectively communicate, share resources and securely share media and deliverable files. The system allows for an efficient workflow, where tasks can either be assigned to a specific freelancer aligning with their subject matter expertise or presented to the pool of available freelancers. Data is shared securely through an intuitive web-based UI or an iOS app, which notifies the supervisors upon the completion of tasks, and allows for dialogue between freelancer and supervisor within the app.

According to Stephanie Turner, Operations Manager at Able, “The team at farmerswife were a dream to work with while we implemented Cirkus. They were very responsive to any queries we had, and any changes we needed were actioned quickly. We find Cirkus to be a very malleable product. We were impressed by how user-friendly it was from the outset – filtering, searching, display options are all available. Whenever we had a question like ‘How can we do this?’ Or ‘How can we see this information?’, there was always a way. Cirkus has improved and simplified our internal processes and made us an easy and efficient organisation to work with.”

Pippa, a freelancer at Able, added, “Cirkus is easy to navigate and intuitive. It is straightforward to see what tasks are upcoming – especially those that are designated urgent – and to download and upload files.”

As a part of the project, Gencom also developed a web-based application that can ingest new tasks from Able’s normal workflows. The titles available to freelancers are automatically uploaded to Cirkus with all necessary program information. The web tool also generates a set of billing reports that Able staff can provide to freelancers to make invoicing simple and error-free.

David Barnard, Managing Director for Gencom, said that “Cirkus’ open REST API made integrating the product into Able’s workflow very straightforward. Our application allows an Able user to have full control over the tasks being ingested, including making manual changes if needed. We then use the API to create tasks in Cirkus, with full control over all aspects of each task. We’re then able to retrieve changes and task status, filtering as needed to give us the information Able needs to see in their reports. It was easy to get up and running with the API, and the team at Cirkus was very helpful all through the process.”

The project was completed on time and on budget, and after an initial trial period with a limited number of freelancers, the Cirkus workflow has now been rolled out to all of Able’s freelancers. The result has been significant reduction in management resource, and an increase in freelance work completed.

Visit www.cirkus.com to learn more about Cirkus, or reach out to Gencom (www.gencom.com) to get started!

7Mountains – A look into TVNZ and the revamp of their newsroom to cloud

Andrew Fernie

General Manager of Operations, News and Current Affairs, TVNZ

7Mountains, the creators of cloud newsroom solution DiNA, recently announced a new milestone deal with Television New Zealand. TVNZ has chosen DiNA as their core journalist tool, in order to transition to a native cloud based newsroom. DiNA will sit at the heart of the newsroom for creating, planning and publishing news to all of TVNZ’s linear and digital platforms.

The project will be delivered in conjunction with 7Mountains technology partner Stem Media, with the development, installation and implementation of DiNA done remotely from Norway, close to 18,000km away.

Mads Grønbæk said in the announcement of the TVNZ project: "DiNA is built from the ground-up on modern web technologies and runs in the cloud. This means that we can deliver projects remotely and highly efficiently, benefitting both the customer and our team.”

Transitioning to cloud at TVNZ

We spoke with Andrew Fernie, General Manager of Operations, News and Current Affairs at TVNZ about their ongoing project with moving their newsroom to the cloud, the workflow requirements and expectations.

What is the background for this project for TVNZ?

Some of TVNZ’s news production processes haven’t changed in 25 years. Given their age, they can be difficult to change, adapt or integrate and are primarily designed to deliver to broadcast outputs.
We want to simplify the workflows for our editorial teams. With the solution from 7Mountains, we will deploy a single system that covers planning and deployment, editing and production to multiple publication points – both linear and digital.

How will this change the way your journalists work?

With DiNA we equip our editorial teams with one unified user interface. This means that there’s no need to jump around multiple tools to create and publish content which allows our journalists to work more efficiently. This will be a huge relief for our editorial teams and enable them to work far more efficiently. With DiNA at the core of our newsroom workflow, we allow our journalists to plan, investigate, collaborate and tell stories that matter and then deliver to all platforms with ease.

What convinced you to choose DiNA as your next newsroom solution?

When starting this project, we were, as many other broadcasters, in need of simplifying our workflows and equipping our teams with tools that require less maintenance. We needed tools that are more efficient, that allow for creative freedom for our editorial teams, and that scale. To accomplish this we looked for a vendor that is at the forefront of cloud technology, and that also had the experience and understanding of traditional journalism and production workflows.
7Mountains and their product DiNA caught our eyes in 2019 where we got a chance to sit down with the team at the IBC show, to see a live demonstration of the tool. We have followed their projects closely since then, with the soon-to-air new British TV channel GB News, the launch of OTT business channel ausbiz, as well as Danish TV 2/ FYN and their transition to a cloud based newsroom.

What were your main workflow requirements for your newsroom?

We required a tool to allow our journalists to plan, investigate, collaborate and tell stories that matter and then deliver to all platforms with ease. We wanted to move away from working in silos with news for web, linear TV, social TV and more, in teams that could not collaborate efficiently and share resources. By choosing DiNA, we knew that we’d end up with one tool that encompasses the planning, creation, and publishing of stories to linear TV, our digital platforms and to social media.

What does your new workflow look like for your editorial teams?

DiNA can be accessed from a web browser from anywhere with a connection to our network. This gives our journalists the ability to work from anywhere, although they will have their base at our newsrooms in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Journalists working in DiNA can plan, prepare and create content for all programmes and platforms and publish to linear TV via an integrated rundown module that plays nicely with our Mosart automation system. From within the same story container, they’re also able to push to our digital platforms through our CMS, and to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Resource bookings can be made from within a DiNA story, with a tight integration to ScheduALL, our booking and resource management system. DiNA integrates with media asset management system Viz One by Vizrt and with Avid Interplay. The integrated workflow allows our journalists to search for videos from both of these platforms simultaneously, when creating their stories.

How will the system be rolled out in your organisation?

The amazing thing about cloud solutions is that setup and deployment can easily be done without the need of onsite technical support, as we normally require for projects of this size. The 7Mountains team will set up the solution for us remotely from Bergen, Norway. We then have the local support from the Stem Media team.

What are your editorial team most excited about with this major change?

I would say that having one unified user interface across our editorial teams is what we are most excited about; at least now for the roll-out and early phase of the project. This is a major benefit for us and something everyone really is looking forward to. This means that there’s no need to jump around multiple tools to create and publish content, which will allow our journalists to work more efficiently. We want to allow our journalists to plan, investigate, collaborate and tell stories that matter and then deliver to all platforms with ease.

And when do you go live with DiNA?

We are on track for going live with DiNA and with the integrated production workflows in August.

About TVNZ

TVNZ is New Zealand’s state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster. Each day, TVNZ reaches more than 2 million New Zealanders through channels TVNZ 1, 2, DUKE and online platform, TVNZ OnDemand. Leading news site, 1news.co.nz and socially driven online news brand Re:, connect Kiwis to the important issues however they choose to engage. 1 NEWS forms the backbone of TVNZ’s content offering, providing New Zealanders with live and breaking news throughout the day, both on air and online. 1 NEWS at Six is Aotearoa’s highest-rating bulletin, reaching over a million viewers each night. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/

About DiNA

7Mountains is a software company that is part of Fonn Group. They are the inventors of DiNA, a cloud news and storytelling tool for content creators. DiNA is built with modern, web-based technology and with the end-user in mind, bridging the gap between news production for TV, social media and online.

EditShare – Flexible, collaborative workflows for the next generation of talented film, television and games makers

Dr Jonathan Wardle

Director, National Film & Television School

Flexible, collaborative workflows for the next generation of talented film, television and games makers

Based in Beaconsfield, to the west of London, the National Film & Television School (NFTS) has been nurturing talent in the industry for over 50 years. Our graduates include the Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, Oscar-winning animator Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit fame, and acclaimed directors like Lynne Ramsay and David Yates.

We offer more than 30 MA, Diploma and Certificate courses, and have more behind-the-camera courses than any other film school. We are proud to be recognised as a model of excellence, and we are consistently listed as one of The Hollywood Reporter’s top international film schools.

So, you can imagine how scary it felt when, back in March 2020, I had to send an email telling all our students that the gathering pandemic meant we had to close our doors.

The NFTS is a very hands on, practical school. Students ‘learn by doing’, making films, television shows and games to an exceptionally high standard in real studio environments. Transitioning online was going to be a mammoth task but we also saw it as a major learning opportunity for us as well as our students. We have always had a policy of going where people need to be trained, and this was going to be an extension of that philosophy: to see how much we could do remotely.

We already had a strong technology platform, built around a very large EditShare multi-node EFS storage platform, along with FLOW asset management and workflow software. We currently have 308 users and 200 media spaces on the system, which correlates to 200 projects. EFS and FLOW are ideally suited to cloud connectivity, and as remote collaboration is likely to be a key part of the future of television and film production it should be a key part of our curriculum.

Our students had already told us they wanted greater flexibility. No one wants to sit in an edit suite until 1am waiting for something to render: they would rather set something off, go and participate in student life, then come back to it.

That is one of the great benefits about using cloud-based tools: it enables us to model the sort of good work/life balance that we might want to see adopted by the industry, and show our students how to make it work to their advantage.

In the craft roles to which our students aspire, flexibility is the key. Sometimes they will want to be sitting in the same room as the director and cinematographer, collaborating directly. But equally, they do not want it to take over their lives. Cloud-based services enable them to decide how they work, project by project, day by day.

A central part of that flexibility is that they should focus on the craft of what they are doing rather than being forced down a particular technological route. We do not specify which tools the students should use, as long as the workflow makes sense. Our students have access to editors from Avid, Adobe and Da Vinci; our colourists use Nucoda, Baselight and Resolve.

We can do that because our EditShare storage platform is completely application agnostic. It happily supports content from any device, even allowing projects to flow seamlessly between applications from different vendors.

Our courses are almost entirely practical, so access to media is the biggest challenge. Our requirements are actually slightly more demanding than most productions, because we have so many projects running in parallel, with tutors needing a view across not just one but multiple projects.

Each project has an EditShare Workspace. Students and tutors involved in that project all have access to the same material from the same point of contact, whether that is to watch rushes, edit or add VFX, or to check the latest cuts. Tutors can make comments on the timeline, so it is very easy for students to get feedback as well as work collaboratively, wherever they are working.

What all this means for us – and for our strong relationships with vendors – is that we are often at the vanguard of what users are doing with technology. Our students like to break things: they push everything to the boundaries. If a system can be student-proof, it will be completely fine in the professional world. Our technology partners understand that the feedback from our students is particularly valuable.

We want NFTS students to learn best practice principles. In post, that means understanding how to access materials, and how to manage assets so that a single source can serve multiple different devices.

Our growing reliance on cloud connectivity and remote collaboration may have been forced upon us, but it has proved beneficial in enabling stronger collaborative working between people working remotely. Our technology platform, built around EditShare EFS and FLOW, has supported these collaborations by making it easier to communicate and share. And that is definitely the future for the industry.

For more information visit: www.nfts.co.uk

Journal 122

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Vislink 5G Wireless Camera Technology Supports New Broadcast Innovations

Download the PDF version of the case study by clicking on this link. You can read our press release announcing our participation in the project at this link.

Wireless camera systems provide the freedom to roam a live event, to get to the heart of the action and offer high impact shots to the event director. Wireless camera systems have a reputation for delivering high and guaranteed quality images with very low end-to-end latencies – enabling the director to have the creative freedom to cut between camera systems at will.

Underpinning wireless camera systems is the COFDM RF transmission technology which delivers robust connectivity at range.

Vislink and its partners wanted to explore the capabilities for a 5G private network to provide equivalent, robust, high bit rate and low latency connectivity. The application of 5G has the potential to bring bi-directional IP connectivity to the camera, right to the edge of the broadcast contribution network.

At a recent major broadcast, Vislink and Mobile Viewpoint co-operated to run a trial and prove private network 5G wireless camera technological readiness for live event broadcasting.

The Event: Gallagher Premiership Rugby match – Saracens Vs Northampton
The Location: StoneX Stadium, London, UK
The Date: 21^st May 2022
The Partners: BT Sport, BT Media & Broadcast, Vislink and Mobile viewpoint, Broadcast RF, University of Strathclyde, Neutral Wireless.
The Goal: To validate the ability to deliver low latency, guaranteed and high quality wireless camera feeds over a private 5G network
The Technology: Vislink HCAM wireless camera encoder, Vislink 5G transmitter, Neutral Wireless (University of Strathclyde) 5G private cellular network

The live coverage of a Saracens rugby game at their StoneX stadium for BT Sport provided a perfect opportunity to trial the 5G wireless camera systems on a live broadcast at this tier 1 event.

The test successfully demonstrated that 5G systems can be tailored to provide high upload data rate rates and provide excellent bandwidth efficiencies – allowing multiple 5G wireless cameras to operate simultaneously at the event.

As a private network, the deployment was separated from any contention issues that could have occurred by utilizing the public cellular network in the packed stadium.

System latencies were minimal and comparable to COFDM wireless camera networks – delivering the same creative freedom to the director to cut between wired and wireless cameras at will without fear of visible time discontinuities.

By utilizing 5G connectivity, the trial showed that it is now possible to bring bi-directional IP connectivity to the very edge – opening-up new opportunities for more interfacing, and more flexible device interfacing for camera systems.

With 5G networks directly connected to the cloud, the use of a 5G private network allows wireless camera feeds to be delivered to a remote production broadcast centre through a simpler all-IP architecture – enabling the production team to achieve greater operational efficiencies, to work on multiple events across the day, reduce business travel costs and carbon footprint and given their staff a better work-life balance.

MediaTech Radar: Cloud as a Driver of Change

MediaTech Radar has become a monthly newsletter, previously issued bi-weekly. This edition of the newsletter is produced by IABM’s Senior Analyst Olga Nevinchana. It focuses on a spotlight topic in MediaTech and reflects on a series of past, present, and future business developments in the industry. In this edition, our spotlight topic is Cloud as a Driver of Change.

MediaTech Spotlight: Cloud as a Driver of Change

A spotlight topic in MediaTech.

Last week, IABM published two new reports, both largely focused on Cloud. With the M&E industry moving towards SaaS and cloud operating platforms, the adoption of Cloud infrastructure became a major driver of investment in different segments of the content supply chain, particularly in producing, storing, managing, and distributing content. For example, content management it resulted in the growing demand for cloud-based AI/ML-powered MAMs and orchestration solutions, as discussed in detail in our new edition of the Content Management & Support report.
Widespread Cloud adoption enabled the deployment of other technologies, such as Remote Production (driven by COVID), AI/ML (driven by the need for automation and interactivity), and OTT (driven by changing viewing habits), fueling investment in cloud computing, SaaS, and outsourced software development.
Our new edition of the Cloud report contains data supporting the thesis about hybrid cloud being, for many companies, a transitional stage on the way to public cloud.
Given the increasing fragmentation of viewership across streaming platforms and devices, cloud facilitates multi-platform content delivery and interactivity, particularly with the media industry converging with gaming, betting, and social media. For example, as mentioned in our recent APAC regional report, mobile remains the primary viewing platform for online video in the region.

MediaTech Watchlist: Crypto Payments, Streaming, and more…

A watchlist of selected past, present and future business developments in MediaTech.

TVTechnology published an interesting article looking at the increasing interest and investment of media businesses in crypto payments. This is at odds with the recent crash in crypto markets, which saw major currencies such as Bitcoin or Ether lose much of their values in a very short period of time. Aside from the benefit of streamlining media payment methods through smart contracts, the article cites the peculiar business model adopted by Rewarded TV. Rewarded TV is a streaming platform offering free content and rewarding its users with cryptocurrency for watching it. Perhaps more interestingly, the service rewards users for content engagement activities such as: “sharing a specific piece of content or creating a playlist featuring certain movies or shows”. Despite the buzz circling crypto, I believe that we should not underestimate the potential benefits to viewer engagement through gamification offered by Web3 technology, which may unlock new business models the industry needs.
MEDIAGENIX acquired Spanish MediaTech business BeBanjo in July 2022. According to the press release announcing the deal: “The acquisition generates a broad solution portfolio combining the WHATS’ON Media Business Management Platform with BeBanjo’s best-of-breed Movida VOD-first solution.”
At the end of July 2022, Kaltura received an acquisition offer from K1 Investment Management-owned education software maker Panopto at a $383 million valuation – the third proposal over the last two months, increasing the bid. This offer was followed by an announcement about Kaltura’s reorganization plan at its Q2 2022 Earning Call: “Given the macroeconomic outlook, we are implementing a cost-reduction and reorganization plan that includes, among other things, downsizing approximately 10% of our employee base. Our reorganization plan is heavily focused on realigning our operations to further increase efficiency and productivity. We believe this necessary action will accelerate our return to the profitable growth that we achieved in previous years.”
At the end of July, the T.C filed for a highly unusual antitrust lawsuit against Meta with the aim of blocking the company from buying a virtual reality company Within as part of Meta’s transition to the metaverse. The F.T.C. argued that Meta could have chosen to compete with Within instead of buying it. It is considered to be first of a kind antitrust case against acquisition of a start-up company in emerging tech area rather than against merging of large companies in large markets.
Netflix lost subscribers for two quarters in a row in Q2 2022, mainly due to its core markets of the U.S. and Canada, while other streaming platforms, such as Paramount+, continue to grow viewership. To address the decline in viewership that started in Q1, Netflix partnered with Microsoft in July to create a cheaper ad-supported offering.
NBCU will close its Olympic Channel in September 2022. This is consistent with NBCU’s intention to gradually move most programming to its streaming service Peacock, as highlighted by the words in the press release: “In order to best reach our target audiences, we are re-evaluating our programming distribution strategy.” This is also consistent with other broadcasters such as Disney shutting down linear sports channels to move content to streaming platforms.

Thank you for reading this newsletter. If there are topics you would like me to cover or have information/ideas you’d like to share, please get in touch with us.

Olga Nevinchana

Senior Analyst

IABM

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