PROVYS's All-Year Midnight Sun For Nordic VOD

Writing a new saga concerning the age of digital content delivery started just a few years ago, and is not limited just to the Nordic countries.

Nonetheless, one of the largest private television broadcasters in Scandinavia decided to completely reconstruct their operations and go down in history for expanding all possible media delivery channels including non-linear transmission.

The initial project has already been accomplished. It encompassed the substantial replacement of legacy playout systems supported by a new Dataflow integration platform which provides the backbone for all media management activities harnessing and directing the power of Provys software solutions throughout the organisation. The extent of the expansion covers standard TV channels, VOD and catch-up services. In making their selection for partners in the transformation process, the broadcaster first decided to choose the local system integrator, who is responsible for the proper installation and commissioning of the Provys solutions.

"Although we were definitely not the cheapest in the tendering process, we were nevertheless selected for our flexible solutions which will afford the necessary open and variable attributes for the customer's current and future requirements. I am confident that our renowned service and support was an additional major factor in their decision making process," said Adam Zeman, Representative of Provys.

In addition to the standard Provys package of long-term planning, daily micro-scheduling and linear and non-linear rights management, the broadcaster can now enjoy the benefits of strategic reporting. The implementation of the advertising sales module has already started and will soon bring enhanced profitability through more effective and efficient management of their clients' ever increasingly sophisticated campaigns. One of the most critical elements of the solution is the highly respected Provys Content Manager. At the risk of sounding immodest, we truly believe that content management by Provys is the most powerful and comprehensive metadata database on the market today. The metadata serve many tasks in the broadcaster's back office. In our saga, there were two main focus points: rights management and VOD (Video-On-Demand) planning.

Management of rights to use the content is one of the most important functions. Provys system administrators have great flexibility when configuring different profiles and enhanced templates for data input. The users can navigate in five dimensions of the rights including distribution mode, platform, language, territory, and period.

The second focus point is the planning of different non-linear, i.e. VOD channels. Again, there are many options available for different VOD types:

The most common type of VOD service is "Catch up TV" which is a way of watching TV shows within a period of days after the original television broadcast.

Subscription VOD (SVOD) service uses a subscription business model, where subscribers are charged a monthly fee to access a library of programmes.

Transactional video on demand (TVOD) is a distribution method by which customers pay for each individual piece of video on demand content. TVOD has two sub-categories: Electronic Sell-Through (EST), by which customers can permanently access a piece of content once purchased via internet; and Download To Rent (DTR), by which customers can access the content for a limited time after renting.

Near video on demand (NVOD) is a pay-per-view service offered by multi-channel broadcasters usually via cable television. Multiple copies of a programme are broadcast at short time intervals (typically 10–20 minutes) providing convenience for viewers, who can watch the programme without needing to tune in at a scheduled point in time.

Push video on demand is used by a number of broadcasters to optimise their video streaming infrastructure by pre-loading the most popular content to the viewer's device. The content is often transmitted in spare capacity overnight or all day long at low bandwidth. After downloading, the content can be watched at the desired time, immediately without buffering.

"There are many more important features that made Provys stand out including the very wide range of functionalities, and interfaces, all of which can be connected to seamlessly integrate with any of today's world standard systems. We have implemented a complete promotional workflow and many features of our system are available for handheld devices through the web," says Karel Votroubek, Chief Commercial Officer at Provys.

The team at Provys are delighted to be taking these pioneering steps into northern territories. Finally, in addition to the major structural and operational changes coming into force, Provys is also scheduled to control all advertisement sales processes, this being an indispensable component of any private broadcasting organisation, ensuring permanent profitability.

Author: Martin Junek, Electronic Media Evangelist.

Image: Media City of Bergen.

www.provys.com

This article is also available to read at BFV online here.


(JP/LM)