Media and Technology World #070322

RTL Today Radio goes live with BCE’s StudioTalk

For RTL Today Radio, the new web radio in English, Luxembourg's leading media, RTL Luxembourg, selected BCE’s StudioTalk to produce and broadcast its visual radio.

RTL Today Radio is the heartbeat of Luxembourg, bringing together news, local events, insights into life in the Grandest Duchy of them all, traffic, weather, sports, chat, games, and much more. Much like the website (https://today.rtl.lu), the radio is fun, friendly, interactive, and always a part of the community available to everyone and anyone.

StudioTalk is an all-in-one solution to produce shows, manage content, add special effects, control sets and broadcast programs on any existing platform. The solution comes with automated or manual video production, channel branding as well as advanced monitoring features.

RTL Luxembourg was looking for a visual radio solution which could integrate the full branding of their new media, synchronize with their radio automation and broadcast on their website while being fully automated.

In less than three months, Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) installed the solution in RTL Today Radio studio, including the cabling, infrastructure, and platform configuration. Working with StudioTalk’s fully automated feature, the team can focus on content and shows, while leaving the production and broadcast to the solution.

“StudioTalk is constantly evolving, allowing the radio world to enrich its programs and create new experience for the viewers. The radios can continue to deliver their audio programs and at the same time produce high quality live video programs.” Explains Olivier Waty, Technology & Project Director at BCE. “We are glad to take part in the launch of RTL Today Radio, the English-speaking media of Luxembourg.”

Geared up with four PTZ (Pan–Tilt–Zoom) cameras and multiple screens, StudioTalk is perfectly synchronized with the radio automation to broadcast the music and News with the content on the visual radio screens (in the studio and on the website). StudioTalk also triggers the different live shows, manages the camera production, with the intelligent identification of the speakers, and automatically add the graphic titles with the data encoded in the system.

“StudioTalk is an amazing solution, it completely transformed our way of working. The solution takes care of everything, we can concentrate on our content and live shows. From a simple touchscreen interface, we can manage the full solution, add graphics, titles and even take the control over the system, in case of special guests or breaking News!” Concludes Gerard Floener, Head of Digital Development Radio & Deputy Head of Radio Programmes at RTL Luxembourg.

More information: RTL Today Radio: https://today.rtl.lu/radio | BCE’s StudioTalk: https://bce-8988786.hs-sites.com/bce-studiotalk

MwareTV partners with Irdeto for advanced content protection?

Highly respected content security brand now ready for fast deployment

MwareTV, the leading cloud-based multi-tenant TV platform provider, today announces a partnership with?Irdeto,?the world leader in digital platform cybersecurity. The partnership allows Irdeto Control, the widely recognised and market leading DRM solution, to be seamlessly integrated into MwareTV’s IPTV/OTT distribution platform.

?The first implementation of Irdeto with MwareTV will be rolled out at shared services provider MultTV in Brazil. MultTV will offer MwareTV’s IPTV/OTT platform to its Brazilian ISPs as well as other service providers. MwareTV’s new platform will enable ISPs to rapidly launch their own TV service with a fully customised interface on Samsung Tizen and LG WebOS SmartTVs, Android and Android TV devices, iOS, AppleTV, FireTV and Roku. ISPs will have the option to use their own content or MultTV’s extensive library of content and channels or a mix of both.

“As we talk to content companies worldwide, it is clear that the Irdeto brand is recognised and trusted,” said Sander Kerstens, CEO of MwareTV. “Our customers want a simple, seamless deployment, so the ability to include Irdeto Control as part of our offering is extremely attractive. Partnering with Irdeto was an easy decision for us.”

The issues of content security, revenue protection and cyber threats are uppermost in the minds of all content companies. Irdeto offers more than 50 years’ experience in providing comprehensive services and solutions for the media industry.?Irdeto Control, the company’s multi-DRM solution servicing some of the world’s largest OTT platforms and issuing 3.7 billion licenses a month, provides MwareTV with a significant competitive advantage. MwareTV chose Irdeto Control due to its scalability, ease at handling thousands of license requests per second and reliability, as well as offering best-in-class and up-to five 9s SLA. With?Irdeto Control, MwareTV ensures support of multiple DRM formats including Microsoft PlayReady, Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay and provides its customers with a multi-DRM solution that is recognised by the major studios and sports leagues around the world and can be deployed in weeks.

Doug Lowther, CEO of Irdeto added “We recognise that new entrants to the content market want to get their streaming and delivery services online as quickly and as simply as possible. By working in partnership with MwareTV we can ensure their customers can enjoy a fast implementation and receive world-class digital security protection their content and operations deserve.”

iFast Corporation chooses NewTek and NDI??to create in-house broadcast quality studio

One of the major consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic has been an acceleration in remote models of doing business. While face-to-face contact remains the gold standard for many companies, the practicalities of arranging meetings in a shifting patchwork of international restrictions has become a logistical nightmare, as well as a profound health and safety issue.

Companies looking to keep connected with their customers and their employees have had to move swiftly to maintain their pre-pandemic momentum, and the savvy ones have leveraged many of the recent innovations in the professional AV space to maintain those relationships.

The work recently undertaken at iFast Corporation, a wealth management fintech platform headquartered in Singapore, is a case in point and neatly illustrates the confluence underway between high-end AV and professional broadcast. Thanks to the advent of IP-based production, corporations are now able to deploy solutions that until recently would have been firmly the province of broadcasters alone.

Due to Covid-19, iFast found itself in possession of a large conference and training room at the heart of its Singapore base that was effectively lying idle as social distancing restrictions curtailed its use. The company was therefore looking to turn it into a high-end TV studio and production facility for its own B2B streaming operation, iFast TV. This was a critical project for iFast, which regularly imparts time-sensitive financial news to a network of over 520 companies and 10,000 agents and partners worldwide.

The company chosen to oversee the installation was APAC technology integrator Ideal Systems, which in turn took the decision to base the new facilities on an NDI??infrastructure. The result is a state-of-the-art 150sqm (1500sq ft) IP-based end-to-end 4K studio that provides broadcast-quality content while being optimized to be operated by non-broadcast professionals.

At the heart of the new iFast TV studio is a NewTek TriCaster??2 Elite, whose power and flexibility have enabled many of the operational functions of the studio to be condensed into the unit for effortless operation. This includes Virtual Sets, which allows iFAST unlimited flexibility in terms of creating different looks for different shows using an 8m x 3m chromakey space, while it also provides the video feed to a 5m LED wall in a more conventional studio space. Both virtual spaces and physical walls can incorporate video, graphics, and video conferencing from multiple platforms such as Zoom??and Microsoft??Teams and at multiple resolutions.

The TriCaster even provides the encoding for the output to the CDN and on to iFast’s App for worldwide distribution, with a spare encoder also available if simultaneous steaming to social media is required. These are all running using standard ethernet cables which, as they use power over ethernet as well, further reduces cabling and studio clutter. Indeed, each cable for the PTZ units is effectively a 5-in-1 cable providing power, control, tally, video, and audio.

Impressively, the installation features zero legacy SDI equipment or cabling used in the entire facility. To accomplish this, Ideal deployed the world’s first NDI-native teleprompter and the world’s first NDI-native studio monitors from Telescript. To make operation even easier, it also used the Live Story Creator functionality in the TriCaster 2 Elite for the teleprompter, which allows users to write a script in Microsoft Word and use Word’s comments to trigger actions on the TriCaster as the presenter reads from the teleprompter. Thus, picture and picture graphics and even switching can be fully automated live by the script, again making the production operator’s job easier and helping ensure the fintech giant can create a premium, broadcast-quality product that helps it stay connected with its customers wherever they are in the world.

WSLS-TV Improves Studio Production Quality with Hitachi HDTV Cameras

SK-HD1800 cameras help broadcaster showcase talent and new sets while providing the robust reliability needed in automated environment

Now owned by Graham Media Group,?WSLS-TV?(“WSLS 10”) has been proudly serving viewers in Southwest Virginia since 1952. Replacing its aging HDTV cameras following its move into a new facility two years earlier, the Roanoke-based NBC affiliate purchased six SK-HD1800 studio cameras from?Hitachi Kokusai Electric America, Ltd.?(Hitachi Kokusai) to improve its on-air look and better represent its new production sets.

WSLS produces 31 hours of live newscasts each week for the Roanoke-Lynchburg market, as well as local lifestyle programming including the Daytime Blue Ridge Spotlight. The broadcaster initially launched its new studio space in 2019 using its existing, decade-old cameras alongside additional units borrowed from a sister station. In 2021, WSLS undertook a long-planned camera technology refresh to enhance both its visual quality and creative options.

“Improving our picture quality was the main thing we wanted to do, but our previous cameras had also become unserviceable,” said Ricky Williams, Director of Technology at WSLS-TV. “We also wanted to add new production capabilities such as automated lift.”

Systems integrator Digital Video Group (DVG) had built the technology core of WSLS’ new studio, and recommended the SK-HD1800 cameras as ideal fits.

“Beyond the quality advantages, the success DVG has had with Hitachi cameras at other broadcasters was a big factor,” said Williams. “We do so much live production every day that taking a camera out of our rotation to resolve any issues would impact our product. DVG’s excellent experience with Hitachi’s reliability was important to us.”

WSLS went live with the SK-HD1800 cameras in November 2021, with DVG performing the integration and Ross Video handling the setup of camera robotics. With live production happening throughout the day, WSLS deployed the new cameras and robotics two at a time to minimize disruptions.

“The Hitachi cameras were really easy to integrate even while on-air with our other equipment,” explained Williams. “We would start on one camera at the beginning of the day, and by the end of the day that camera was on-air doing our 5 o’clock show. It was really neat to be able to add them in as the day progressed.”

That phased approach to implementation made the quality benefits of the SK-HD1800 even more evident.

“The improvement in picture quality was very noticeable as soon as we went on-air with the first two units,” recalled Williams. “We could immediately see an A/B difference next to the older cameras we were still using. It motivated us to speed up the deployment of the rest of the new cameras, since it would be so obvious to viewers that we were using both generations at the same time.”

Two of the SK-HD1800s are deployed on new Ross BlackBird pan/tilt/lift elevation systems to accommodate varying heights in the studio and sets. The remaining four SK-HD1800s are set up on Miller 3230 Combo Live 55 pedestals with Ross pan/tilt heads. Five of the cameras are used for newscasts, with two – including one shared between both purposes – used on the Daytime Blue Ridge Spotlight set on the other side of the studio. Production is automated through the Grass Valley Ignite platform, with Ross Video routing systems, Xpression graphics, and Dashboard control software rounding out the infrastructure.

The SK-HD1800’s global shutter sensor has proven adept at providing exceptional acquisition in WSLS’ LED-rich environment, which features a row of nine vertically-mounted LED displays behind the news desk and an LED cube as a highlight. Williams also notes that achieving these stellar results requires very little ongoing effort.

“The Hitachi cameras have upped the game in picture quality in our new studios, helping us better showcase the set and the people on it,” he summarized. “The SK-HD1800s don’t require us to do a whole lot of adjustment. They’re pretty much ‘set and forget’ and they just work, which is ideal for our automated workflow.”

Avatel Brings New OTT Service Powered by Viaccess-Orca, Ateme, and Optiva Media

E2E solution includes Viaccess-Orca's Service Delivery Platform, Multi-DRM, Secure Video Player + Ateme Encoding, Origin Packaging, Cloud DVR and CDN + Optiva Media Apps

Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader providing OTT and TV platforms, content protection, and advanced data solutions, announced today that Spanish telecommunications provider Avatel is delivering its new OTT service with an end-to-end solution from VO,?Ateme, and Optiva Media. The joint solution includes VO's?Service Delivery Platform?(SDP),?Multi-DRM, and?Secure Video Player;?encoding, origin packaging, Cloud DVR, and CDN?from Ateme; and multiscreen apps from Optiva Media. Using the state-of-the-art solution, Avatel can deliver a superior quality of experience and personalized content to subscribers through Avatel TV's 100 online channels and an on-demand catalog of more than 2,500 movies and TV series. Users can enjoy Avatel TV in their living room with a voice-controlled Android TV set-top box connected to the fiber network or watch their favorite program anywhere on their iOS/Android mobile device or laptop.

"Expanding to a triple-play offering with OTT gives us significant competitive advantage in the marketplace, and we needed experienced technology providers by our side to ensure the success of our new service offering," said Oriol Pedrals, Technology Director at Avatel. "Viaccess-Orca, Ateme, and Optiva Media provide us with a best-of-breed solution for video streaming, coupled with unparalleled expertise in the OTT environment. With VO's lead on the integration, we enjoyed a smooth deployment and immediately began offering advanced features, such as personalization, to our subscribers."

Avatel has deployed the end-to-end solution in an on-premises architecture. VO's SDP empowers Avatel TV to deliver personalized content and increase viewer engagement. Using VO's Multi-DRM and Secure Video Player, the operator can deliver premium live and VOD content with the highest content protection on any device.

Ateme is bringing the best quality of experience with its complete end-to-end solution. Avatel TV ensures an outstanding user experience on every screen with Optiva Media's multiscreen apps.

"The OTT environment can be complex for service providers, and we're excited to team up with Ateme and Optiva Media to offer a solution for video streaming in a single package," said Arnaud Alvarez, Executive Vice President, Global Sales at Viaccess-Orca. "Due to COVID restrictions, we worked remotely with Avatel and our partner teams throughout the entire deployment process — from the point of OTT service kickoff to delivery. Thanks to tightknit collaboration and the world-class, end-to-end OTT solution, this project was a resounding success."

"Getting an OTT platform up and running can take time due to the need to integrate the multiple components involved," said Alfredo Navarro, Sales Director at Ateme. "We are thrilled to be part of an end-to-end, integrated ecosystem with Viaccess-Orca and Optiva Media that enables a much shorter time to launch. Avatel was able to get this up and running very quickly to offer viewers across Spain their anywhere, anytime TV experience."

"Thanks to the excellent products provided by Optiva Media, Viaccess Orca and Ateme, Avatel has launched a top technology environment that provides a best-in-class OTT service to its customers in Spain," said Cristina Garcés, CEO of Optiva Media, an EPAM company.

Eurovision Sport Chooses Flowics Graphics for Producing Live

Broadcast of ISMF World Cup

Flowics, creator of the most comprehensive platform for powering remote and in-studio production of live graphics and interactive content, today announced that Eurovision Sport chose Flowics Graphics for producing the live broadcast of the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) events. Flowics Graphics and its native MSO Chrono data connector allowed Eurovision Sport to easily incorporate broadcast graphics with live results and timing information for all ISMF races.

"While EBU and its members are really committed to delivering more sustainable solutions for the broadcast of sporting events, especially within this new partnership around ski mountaineering with ISMF, Eurovision Sport is also willing to exploit innovative hybrid-cloud technologies to produce live events. In this spirit, integrating Flowics within our host-broadcasting solution has been a key milestone," said Franck Choquard, head of content and platforms at Eurovision Sport. "Not only does the Flowics cloud-based platform allow us to create state-of-the-art live graphics, but the seamless integration with the live data and timing partners, together with the Flowics support team, have helped us to deliver a complete solution within very short time frame.

Rather than use a traditional on-premises graphics solution, Eurovision Sport decided to rely exclusively on cloud-based graphics to simplify the overall production workflow and to reduce the cost of equipment rental or purchase. The creative services team at Flowics delivered a turnkey solution to ISMF, including the initial graphics package design into Flowics Graphics.

"We are very much looking forward to the next steps of development around ISMF events and other properties where we can exploit the unique capabilities of the Flowics solution for both digital and broadcast."

Through Flowics Graphics' MSO Chrono data connector — an integration between MSO Chrono and Flowics Graphics — the production team automatically received up-to-the-minute stats that it could then incorporate directly into the on-screen graphics to keep viewers informed and engaged.

"Eurovision Sport is just one of the broadcasters to start using cloud-based technologies in certain productions, not just in Europe but the world over. It's a trend that we expect will only accelerate," said Flowics CEO and Founder Gabriel Ba?os. "That's one reason why Flowics is growing in the European market. Following our success in North America and Latin America, we're building strategic partnerships to better serve European broadcasters."

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