New challenges in an industry in continuous evolution

The media business is undergoing rapid change, which is creating new challenges for content owners and broadcast companies. Marc Caeymaex, director of EVS Ibérica, offers his vision in this Tribune on new workflows and multiplatform content distribution.

Among the new challenges facing the media is the distribution of rights, the profusion of new digital platforms such as social networks, videos, as well as content generated by the users themselves and, consequently, the emergence of versatile audiences who have the ability to watch television while writing messages on their mobile phones or on Twitter.

As a result, broadcast companies need to put all their efforts into balancing the balance between capturing the attention of a mass audience while catering to the particular interests of viewers by maintaining their attention.

EVS has been attentive to these changes and has tried to improve the capabilities of its current technologies, as well as to develop new complementary solutions that help broadcast companies increase the value of their content and facilitate the sending of media to the different audiovisual platforms.

As head of EVS's major event management, Luc Doneux believes that sports coverage is changing and is expected to continue to do so in the coming years. With 15 years of experience in the company, Doneux has had the privilege of having worked on the design of the solutions developed by EVS for the different Olympic Games, World Cups and European Football Championships since 1998 and believes that, although the bases of sports broadcasting will prevail, the way in which viewers will consume the content will change dramatically.

Doneux points out that this change will also be perceived by sports shareholders in two ways. "First of all, the holders of the broadcasting rights are going to see these rights divided according to the different audiovisual platforms (live, mobile phones, Internet and others). Therefore, the large owners of the broadcasting rights (for example, UEFA, FIFA) are trying to unite all these platforms and sell the whole to one organization. It is then up to the broadcast companies to offer the content in multiple formats."

New screens

"Secondly, the increase in screens and the possibility of distributing more content over broadband is opening up new possibilities when it comes to covering other types of sports. There are other minority sports such as sailing or judo that can be produced economically with a "traditional" HD infrastructure from recording to distribution. Thus we have the example of Google that has decided to cover some of these sports. At the same time, major events such as the Olympics or the Champions League will be produced with a greater emphasis on production values, graphics and interactive experiences,” adds Doneux.

Sport360º from EVS helps to successfully face these challenges by using the most recognized servers in the live production industry, news compaction highlight production programs, new content management tools for file monetization and instant distribution of content to any audiovisual platform. Thanks to this, an increase in the value of the content is guaranteed, either with 2D or 3D repetitions of the most impressive actions of the event, in-depth analysis of the actions with high quality graphics (also in 3D) and own tools for creating highlights.

The integration of this technology with applications for second screens has led to greater versatility and better quality in the content sent to the different screens. Thanks to the real-time delivery of content and metadata, broadcasters will be able to use their content profitably and generate new income derived from “App” sales or advertising.

To ensure that the content flow is completed and reaches multiple screens, EVS, based on the Sport360º concept, has developed C-Cast (cloud-cast), an integrated system that provides broadcasters with the tools to distribute the best actions in multi-camera mode to all mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, web pages,...)

The Olympic challenge

The first Olympics in which EVS was involved was in Atlanta 1996, since then the production possibilities of its products and their characteristics have grown significantly. It is rare to find a live sports production that does not have one of the different EVS solutions. In fact, EVS technology, including the use of C-Cast, is set to play a crucial role in the production of the 2012 Olympic Games, which is expected to be television's most-watched event to date. It is likely that OBS (Olympic Broadcast Services) and the broadcasters that own the rights to broadcast the games will have around 600 EVS servers to ensure the production and broadcast of the Games. That is, all the images produced during the games will be recorded and managed on the servers with the EVS content management tools, which will allow the selected content to be in real time on the Internet and that is what is really important to be able to offer a good second screen experience.

Doneux has helped Olympic Broadcast Services design the massive server system that will run the entire event. “The HD and tapeless workflow used until now has prevailed for some time, but there are always improvements,” says Luc Doneux. “In 2012 our goal will be to capture 5,000 hours in high definition, all stored on the largest server system the Olympic Games have ever had, to which broadcasters will have access from anywhere in the world.

With its pioneering loop recording technology and Multicam LSM software, the EVS XT series of servers have continued to offer its customers the speed, precision and reliability expected for the production of live events that require a high level of performance, with multiple camera angles and fast production operations such as: Live Slow Motion, Super Motion, Ultra Motion replays, analysis by inserting graphics and creation of highlights on the fly.

Nowadays, workflows in sporting events require new emission models that are more in line with the changes that the industry is undergoing. These streams must contain material dedicated to broadcast not only through televisions, but also through second screens such as mobile phones with Internet or tablets. EVS' new CloudCast solution is designed to facilitate live distribution of content directly to consumers via web applications. C-Cast works in conjunction with EVS live production applications allowing viewers to access desired footage, special edits or action from other angles.
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