The OmniBus automation system integrates with ENPS via the MOS protocol to enable control of the entire production process, including graphics and editing applications, from the desktop. Each news item in the editorial program of the day is marked with a file that ENPS uses to reserve space. Any work on the same news that occurs later, is related to the name of the tab, while the medium that is added to the news is associated through a unique identifier, created in the background by the automation system.
When journalists use the desktop interface to examine and edit material with Pinnacle's high- and low-resolution editing tools, the OmniBus automation system automatically displays all clips associated with the story on the screen. Through a simple save-and-confirm function, the automation system saves and updates content under the original name of the news sheet, reducing the potential risk of confusing names.
Truncale points out that the chain's facilities have begun to institute standards within the MOS gateway for the movement of media through the system. The rules are based on clip-like identifiers for some news items that carry the corresponding tab. The system uses the clip-like identifier to facilitate the handling of the storage and archiving of materials in the online, almost online, and chain archiving systems.
As part of the OmniBus system's "Workflow Management" module, these standards help organize, store, and delete NY1 media content items, depending on their clip-like identifier. In this way, the operator's time can be focused on other tasks.
Because the system allows newsroom staff to pre-mount all news items into a single rundown item, only one operator is required to monitor the content and playout of the streaming system. Live events can be inserted, either from information received in feeds or from the studio, as needed.
Although Noticias and NY1 News operate in a single automated system, each chain relies on independent components for reliable and efficient airtime. Some key equipment units, such as the sharer, which contains all the information from the OmniBus, and a SQL server, where all the information from the Pinnacle and Vertigo graphs is stored, are shared, but each channel handles ENPS servers and independent MOS gateways , with different control elements and interface for the OmniBus system.
"When we started broadcasting the News channel, one of the main concerns was to maintain the integrity of NY1," adds Truncale. We started with everything the two channels needed in one system, and we were concerned that we might be affecting NY1 with that additional information going through the network. We didn't want to risk duplicating our MOS gateway , because we've already seen that the results can be disastrous. The MOS gateway allows the ENPS system to tell OmniBus what to queue, what to play, what to record, and what to archive. With so much material going through the network, we decided to work with independent MOS gateways , one for English and one for Spanish."
Until recently, news staff worked in the newsroom of NY1 News, sharing both the production space and the content of this network. Noticias handles different informational material related to the Hispanic community, but staff also reoriented NY1's spanish-language content, for a change that, in Mr. Truncale's view, was beneficial to both channels. NY1 journalists take into account the needs of the Noticias channel every time they go out to cover an event and usually bring additional information or even sound recordings that complement the spanish broadcasts.
