Automation, a concept that once reigned in the world of science fiction, has become the main force that pushes the productivity and profitability of the industrialized world. And now, automation will play a bigger role in the world of broadcasting.
NBC, which owns and operates 13 U.S. television stations, along with its network of affiliated stations, has taken a big step in that direction with its recent opening of centralcasting operations. The idea is to streamline the production of news and the remote commercials and promotions through the network to the 13 stations, including localized graphics and titles. NBC will use stations in the three largest markets in New York, Los Angeles and Miami as hubs that will power periphery stations, likely online by the end of this year.
The Ackerley group, which owns 16 television stations in the United States, also modernizes its operations in this way, dubbing its initiative "Digital Centralcasting ." In this project, graphic artists and character generator operators, for example, expect to be selected to work from a central hub . Meanwhile, managers who hire these talents will be subject to downsizing operations.
"This is something that has been happening for many years around the world, especially in Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States. We're talking about a central that concentrates the resources used by several broadcasters in a particular
organization says John Wrigglesworth, product manager for DTV and centralcasting for Inscriber Technology in Waterloo, Canada.. This can encompass a power, storage, editing system and can even now cover the installation of the master control." Inscriber has sold 100 NameDropper systems to NBC and its affiliated stations. The NameDropper XL system allows NBC stations to insert alert messages, logos, and other identifying information into network programs or promotions. Soon, Inscriber will offer NameDropper to the rest of the broadcast industry.However, as the centralcasting model begins to be implemented in the United States, peripheral stations can become very lonely places to work. Theoretically, even the master control of the peripheral stations will be operated from the central hub .
The advent of the DTV paradigm in the United States also pushes the centralcasting movement. When the owners of a group of ten stations analyze the change of all the equipment of a station by digital elements, the centralcasting model makes a lot of sense.
Another reason, as Stated by Don Thompson, marketing director of Leitch Technologies, "is that it is cheaper and more profitable to process graphics from a central hub ." Leitch's media servers support the centralcasting model and the company is accompanied by many more, including Inscriber and Pinnacle Systems, in the MOS (Media Object Servers) communications protocol.
When one of the large station networks has a demand, solution providers for the industry come in to meet it. Companies such as Leitch, Grass Valley Group, Chyron and others already have systems for this type of work. Grass Valley has its MAN system, Media Area Network, which runs on top of Profile XP.
Inscriber's contribution to the movement is NameDropper XL, a new box that works in centralcasting environments. NameDropper is used to insert logos, animations, calls, and audio. "These are fired by the network, through a signal encoded in the VBI of the network promos, and locally in the master control using an equipment or by GPI," says Wrigglesworth. "NameDropper XL also has the option to include Inscriber CGX, one of the members of our family of CGs. NBC-affiliated stations are adopting NameDropper in increasing numbers."
NAB2002 will be the perfect place to promote centralcasting tools and all players will be at your fingertips. Inscriber, even though it sells various products for centralcasting, reserves for now NameDropper exclusively for NBC and its affiliates, and will not show it at the NAB2002 exhibition. "However
, Douglas Grant affirms., we will showcase centralcasting tools such as AutoCG and the E-Clips Server, and discuss the specific needs of each broadcaster who visits us in the pavilion."The Associated Press (AP) is one of the great proponents of the speed that the centralcasting model brings, and it states so on its website www.ENPS.com. ENPS, AP's electronic news production system, is a relatively new newsroom system, supporting journalists working in 40 languages and more than 370 radio and television channels in 36 countries. AP wants to sell more of those systems and sees MOS as the language that will enable expansion.
Chyron, a veteran of character generators and graphics for broadcasters, plans to dabble in the centralcasting model as well. "We're doing centralized
graphics, says Vice President of Sales and Marketing Rich Hajdu. We can create content, save it, archive it and put it in the air. It can be very convenient when graphics content is generated at a central station." According to Hajdu, graphics can be created in the hub and templates are provided to stations on the periphery. Chyron's Duet product can serve as a character and graphics generator, clip and still image player, and allow stations to search the hub for the appropriate chart for a given note. Duet can "push" the content to the periphery or allow it to be "pulled." "Another benefit highlights Hajdu it's the ease of getting a unified look and feel for the different stations in a group."The more centralized an operation is, the fewer people will work on it. Is that good? "It depends on who you talk to
says Wrigglesworth. The most centralized model would be the installation that had all the master control equipment, all the storage and all the production in one central site. In that case, the local station becomes a sales office and a broadcast tower." The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a very similar model to that.As centralcasting kicks off, Chyron's Hajdu claims that where 40 graphic artists were needed for a group of stations, the network may have 10 or 15. Hajdu admits that the model involves layoffs, but stresses that all industries are scaling up their operations and that broadcasting is no different. He adds that local newscasts are the most important source of income, as well as a service for viewers. "Local newscasts will always survive; but in different terms."
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