Vatican News will optimize multiplatform content production with Sony Media Backbone Hive

Sony's multi-platform news production system will allow the Holy See's Dicastery for Communication to integrate the creation, storage and dissemination of content with diverse audiences around the world.

The official information service of the Holy See Vatican News, based in Rome, has chosen the system of Sony's multi-platform production, Media Backbone Hive, to reach the public through online communication channels, social networks, television, radio and press.

Vatican News, the official communications web portal of the Holy See, provides information on the activities of His Holiness Pope Francis, the Vatican, local churches and current international news through a multilingual, multicultural, multi-channel, multimedia and multi-device platform.

After the reform of Pope Francis in the Vatican with the Motu Proprio, issued in 2015, the Dicastery for Communication was created to restructure the Vatican's multimedia content in the current digital age. The Dicastery is in charge of reforming the Vatican's audiovisual information system and incorporating a new omnichannel technological platform, capable of guaranteeing the workflow of the Vatican's official communication system.

The current configuration would be a challenge for any media company in all aspects: human, technical and management resources. The Dicastery, the body in charge of all news related to the Holy See, works as an agency, providing video material free of charge to channels around the world, as well as audio, text and images for any type of press.
The solution: cloud-based cross-platform content distribution

Media Backbone Hive allows Vatican News to have Greater capacity and flexibility when creating, editing, sharing and storing content that can be redistributed to various distribution channels globally.

Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, points out that "Hive guarantees Vatican News' long-term strategy to create a single omnichannel platform. It allows us to optimize content creation workflows and reach our audiences more efficiently, both today and in the future."

To start, they will use Sony's Media Backbone Hive to process content on the Vatican News website, which currently includes several types of content for the public and the press. In the second phase, the news team will consider adding radio and social media to the Hive workflow.

Hideyuki Nakamura, Head of Media Solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe, is proud that Sony can help the "Vatican adopt new technologies so they can reach their huge global audience. In today's frenetic digital world, Media Backbone Hive demonstrates Sony's commitment to helping content creators tell their stories more effectively on a wide variety of platforms and communication channels."

Una relación durante dos décadas

Sony Professional Solutions has worked collaboratively with the Vatican for several years, achieving numerous important technology firsts along the way. On December 24, 2017, Vatican media live-streamed the Christmas Eve Mass from St. Peter's Basilica in Sony 4K Ultra HD, with a Sony UHC-8300 camera capturing additional footage of the liturgical ceremony in 8K.

In December 2015, the Vatican Television Center recorded the opening ceremony of the Holy Door live in Sony 4K HDR. In April 2014, the ceremony during which Pope Francis elevated Popes John Paul II and John XXIII to sainthood was broadcast live in HD, 3D and 4K Ultra HD formats. The event was recorded with six Sony PMW-F55 4K cameras. In March 2013, Pope Francis' first Mass to inaugurate his pontificate was captured on Sony 4K.