An Ideal Automation Workflow In TV Channels

This article will give a brief explanation as how automation works and what exactly is the role of automation in the TV channels’ industry. Play out automation, media asset management, program scheduling, digital archiving, news room systems and news automation are themselves very wide terms and detailed articles can be written on each of them. Once completing this article I will definitely try to write something on the mentioned topics. However this article will talk about the basic workflow and the role of integration that automation plays in enhancing the workflow which can eventually save costly time and dollars.

Rapid advances have resulted in more frequent introduction of automated systems in all segments of the broadcast; from Ingest to Production and Play-out and from management to operations processes. The broadcast industry is now revolving around the automated systems where the automation companies emphasize to provide more and more features to stream line all the activities of a TV channel.

The channels are investing in acquiring the latest technology, even in Pakistan the competition amongst the channels is forcing stakeholders think that technology can play a major role in smooth operations, increasing the viewership and even in generating the revenues.

A full featured Automation system deployment is the one which manages all processes and controls all equipment for Ingest, Media management, Play out and Archiving; managing frame by frame, every piece of video material from Intake to Broadcasting to Archiving and Billing . With the passage of time and as the technology progresses it is not impossible to say that the media buying agency can book the commercials by sitting in their office which will reflect to the play list of the TV channels.

Coming back to the existing workflows, all the content including programs, commercials, shows etc. should first be centrally ingested after arriving to the TV station. Media asset management is responsible for creating a unique asset ID to which the related media will be attached. The ideal scenario is to ingest the content within the archive department where the related Meta data could be entered in the digital asset management system. The content after digitizing and logging in to the asset management should then be processed further. As soon as the digitization takes place the low-resolution of the assets are being created.

After the digitization the content should then be processed. If the content is in the form of program or commercial, the first process that it should pass through is the Quality Control. An automation system can intimate the concerned QC staff that a fresh content is ingested and needs to be checked. Once the QC is done, the automation system can then forward the same request to the censor or for other management approvals and that will be available for previewing the low res version of the content thus saving the network bandwidth. Once that step is done it will be ready to be scheduled. The program scheduling department will be informed that the relevant checks have been approved and now the content is ready for the transmission. It can now be placed in the cue sheet using the traffic system which will obviously be integrated with the automation and hence the media management.

The program scheduling department is usually responsible for making the cue sheet. All the content having the initial unique IDs which has passed through different checks is accessible to the Program Schedule Department and the entire asset IDs with their current status are visible in the traffic system.

They can place them in the daily schedule and the relevant content is then transferred automatically to the isolated on air server. Once after the content is played on air the as run logs are developed which are compared with the cue sheet and deviation report is generated. Again all these processes take place automatically. The reports can then be generated and send to the media buying agency.

So far we have talked about the non-live primary events. The live events can also be scheduled in the cue sheet and as the automation system can control the router and master control switcher therefore live events are as normal as the non-live for all those TV channels which have reliable automation systems. The as-run logs of the non-live events can also be generated easily through the automation.

Now let’s talk something about the secondary events which have now a very significant role in the channel presentation and are a great source of revenue. The secondary events can also be scheduled and as the automation can control the Character Generator so the secondary events can be accurately controlled. This is once again relevant to mention that good automation should keep a track and as run logs of all the secondary events.

So by this point of time I think I have given a very brief explanation on automation and its integration. In the next articles I will try to elaborate some more specific topics which are directly or indirectly related to this topic.

In the end I would like to take this opportunity to thank BESPAK which has provided the platform to all the broadcast engineers to unite and get together to promote not only the broadcast engineering in Pakistan but also help the young engineers to decide their career path by taking guidance from the experienced professionals in the industry. Initiative taken by the founders of BESPAK will certainly create history. I wish BESPAK all the best and hope that this society will prove to be the best in the country.

This article is written by Syed Sheeraz Adil who is working as Manager Automation in Geo TV and can be contacted on sheerazadil@gmail.com