Sony Provides Deutsche Welle With Media Backbone Live

In co-operation with Qvest Media, Sony is providing the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) with the news and media production system Media Backbone Hive.

Thanks to integrating Sony's Media Backbone Hive into the production centres in Berlin and Bonn, DW is gradually moving towards new, highly efficient production workflows. Due to its open API interfaces the system builds the centre piece of a future-oriented production platform which allows efficient, automated, and system wide workflows. Using Private Datacentres, the two Hive Digital Centre’s collectively enable approximately 1,000 journalists across the two locations to deliver news remotely in real-time.

With audiences now consuming media directly online rather than through linear channels, flexibility is playing an increasingly important role for media producers needing to distribute content quickly and seamlessly. Rapid content delivery and easy production are key to the success of modern broadcasters and media companies. Serving as a new media asset management system (MAM) equipped with a web editor and Adobe Premiere, Sony’s Hive is equipping DW for today's fast-moving digital content landscape.

Boosting efficiency and reducing operational costs, Sony's powerful Media Backbone Hive eliminates the need to use multiple systems and valuable production resources. DW's journalists, editors and producers can now work closely together and collaborate via the data centre based platform which enables content to be recorded, edited, published and shared on any platform. Furthermore, Hive's powerful planning tools continually update DW’s newsroom systems by linking metadata to news content, making material retrievable at various locations and allowing quick access to data stored during field assignments.

The scalable and award-winning solution reaches audiences more effectively and runs on standard IT hardware, benefitting media teams worldwide by offering more flexibility and efficiency across their production workflows. With Hive, not only can TV recordings be created and uploaded live, but also be used for online, social networks or other broadcast applications. DW will now use Hive for its entire AV production in the future.

Stuart Almond, Head of Intelligent Media Services at Sony Professional Europe said: "We are proud that Qvest Media chose our innovative Hive technology for DW and that together we are shaping the future of television production. Hive seamlessly meets today's digital trends and can be configured as required. Sony Professional is therefore a suitable partner for large and small production companies."