Tag: news production

Bitcentral Shows Latest Newsroom, Automation and Master Control Innovations at NAB 2017

Newport Beach, Calif. – April 10, 2017 – Bitcentral, a provider of digital and broadcast video workflow solutions, will demonstrate the latest features and capabilities of its award-winning portfolio of newsroom workflow, automation and master control automation solutions at the NAB 2017 tradeshow.

CORE:news™, Bitcentral’s flagship news production suite, offers several new enhancements, including:

  • Updates and enhancements to its Oasis™ user interface (UI) that enable easier searching for content across various stations through various device types such as mobile devices, which improve collaboration and maximize the usage and value of news assets and packages.
  • Support for Apple Mac-based workflows. Apple Final Cut Pro X and Adobe® Premiere® Pro CC will be demonstrated running on Mac systems with Precis™ Attach integration allowing seamless workflow by eliminating the need to switch between applications to edit in these leading NLE’s while leveraging CORE:news to achieve efficient and collaborative news production workflows.
  • Integrated connected camera workflows across the three main broadcast news camera platforms that support wireless file upload – JVC, Panasonic and Sony – thanks to the enhanced Create™ ingest and editing utility in CORE:news. File naming and sharing is demonstrated to simplify, speed up and automate file ingest operations.
  • NRCS integration between Precis and the Ross Inception system, which expands CORE:news already class leading level of integration.

Bitcentral will demonstrate the CORE:news integration with Adobe Premiere Pro on Windows and the Mac OS. Adobe Premiere Pro is a great option for editing in the field as exported files can be contributed back to the station through Bitcentral’s browser-based Contribution Portal. The pre-configured H.264 export options in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Adobe Media Encoder CC – both part of Adobe Creative Cloud® – allow editors to choose quality level and file size based on codec parameters. This determination is made based on the available time before a story goes to air; more time allows higher quality levels to be utilized. Bitcentral’s Contribution Portal and Precis Transcode features work in tandem to facilitate the seamless publishing of the story to the Precis playout’s newsroom computer system with no manual intervention needed inside the station.

Bitcentral’s Central Control™ master control solution has received several enhancements in the areas of syndication content processing and advanced Join In Progress (JIP) operation. Notably for NAB 2017, Central Control is now available in application-specific versions that offer superior price-performance while preserving Central Control’s rich functionality combined with targeted, intuitive operation based on simplified UIs. Complementing the “Full” version of Central Control are the following additions to the product lineup: “Light Edition,” “Ad Insertion with Graphics,” “Channel Branding” and “Studio,” which is optimized for live production.

Demonstrations of the company’s award-winning OTT solution Continuum™ will showcase the mixing of live production and automation-driven playlists with support for ad insertion – all vital capabilities as broadcasters continue to innovate with digital story first news production workflows. Additionally, the partnership with Brightcove is highlighted by Continuum sending a 24/7 linear feed to the cloud for adaptive bitrate transcoding, packaging and content distribution to mobile devices, showcasing apps that can be quickly customized to expand broadcasters’ brands to mobile and OTT audiences.

“These latest enhancements to our award-winning family of newsroom workflow and master control automation solutions are based on feedback straight from our customers, wNews Production suite, offers several new enhancementsho have deployed them in over 250 stations across the U.S. and power over 400 channels globally,” said Bitcentral CEO Fred Fourcher. “We are committed to providing solutions with the features, functionality and reliability that meet the real-world needs of newsroom. Complementing our cutting-edge products isthe industry-leading service and support we provide customers, because failure is not an option for news broadcasts – the show must go on!”

Please visit us at NAB 2017 – booth # SU2610 – in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 24-27, to learn more about our solutions.

 

About Bitcentral

Bitcentral provides solutions that maximize the value of media workflows. Our reliable and flexible product offerings represent our close partnering and intent listening to customers and world class support to back them up. Since 2000, we have gained a trusted partnership reputation with news and media customers, providing them with efficient media workflows that result in higher productivity – all while helping them increase their audience reach and competitive market position. We design forward looking, pragmatically designed and exceptionally reliable media solutions in news, master control and emerging-platform content.

We are dedicated to creating a culture of proactive sharing and listening to understand to stay close to our customers and partners as we solve real-world problems and an environment that attracts and retains the right talent. See how at www.es.bitcentral.com

 

Newsroom Computer Systems — Are We There Yet?

With the technology and business models associated with the newsroom changing and evolving monthly, you can hardly be faulted for wondering where it’s all heading next. There are three primary elements that are adding to these changes: the need to deliver news product to a variety of platforms, not just the big screen; consolidation in station ownership, which is creating new opportunities to leverage news resources group-wide; and IP connectivity that makes it possible to put more TV reporters on the street.1

Once upon a time, newsrooms created newscasts exclusively for air; but that’s in the past. Audiences are demanding their news on mobile devices, laptops, tablets, etc. Social media is also driving demand for news – so if you’re still preoccupied with your on-air newscast, you’re about to go the way of the dinosaur.

Chances are, though, that you’re looking to move forward and evolve. But how can we when the technology we’ve been using is becoming more outdated every day? And what about all that new tech that only does bits and pieces, forcing us to use various platforms with various log-in pages?

“Serving content across social media and OTT is a major challenge facing today’s TV newsrooms, and adding personnel is usually not an option to address the larger workload,” said Fred Fourcher, Bitcentral CEO.

The answer newsroom computer systems (NRCS) vendors have adopted is to put the story — rather than a newscast rundown — at the center of the process. As journalists begin creating news, they can access the elements they need —scripts, video clips and graphics — seamlessly from within the NRCS user interface and build stories for different delivery platforms without the hassle and confusion.1

Bitcentral is serving up the lion’s share of the solution with the various tools. Its CORE:news provides news production and master control and automation solutions that facilitate simplified broadcast and digital media workflows. Create is a single interface featuring a robust story-based workflow from video capture and encoding to editing, playout, publishing and archive.  It publishes content to wherever your customers want to see it; from TV to web to mobile and OTT.

“Multiplatform production, or what some people call a story-centric workflow, is absolutely one of the hottest areas in newsroom computer systems right now,” says Jason Smith, director of product design for AP’s ENPS.

“This is bleeding-edge tech that we’re making sure is constantly evolving. Rest on your laurels and the competition will surge past you”, Fourcher observes. “We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that suggests we’re doing the right thing. A lot of happy clients who let us know how much easier we’ve made their jobs. They love the tools we offer.”

Broadcasters are also increasingly asking NRCS vendors to grow the functions of their newsroom systems to the street where their reporters are gathering news.

 Again, Bitcentral comes to the forefront of this technology with its Oasis platform. Oasis allows you to share and repurpose stories from anywhere with anyone. It allows field journalists to pull video to and from Oasis to finish a package and they can feed video without satellite or microwave trucks. If you’re working in house, it allows you to discover valuable stories from other facilities and partners.

 Another such tool is Bitcentral’s Precis; it’s a full playout solution that integrates seamlessly into your workflow, driving play-to-air servers and ingest encoding ultimately taking rundowns to air. Precis creates a seamless production for everyone, allowing writers, producers and directors to quickly attach items to stories in rundowns, access all video sources (live and non-live) as well as manage publishing quickly – often in real time.

1http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/93559/newsroom-systems-adapt-to-new-necessities

2http://www.enps.com/press_releases/501/ap_enps_tapped_for_gannett_broadcasting_newsroom_system_upgrade

3https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-market-share-of-newsroom-computer-systems-NRCS-globally

Why Your Newsroom Needs Facebook

Is your newsroom using Facebook or Facebook Live yet? Many in the TV news industry are slow to market, especially when it comes to new technologies that they aren’t familiar with. But that kind of thinking is going to leave you even further in the past. Today we’ll discuss why Facebook should be one of your top resources.

First up; why do you need it? Well, according to Mediashift, the cliff is approaching; indeed, they say “a person with his or her eyes open can see it coming from a mile away.”

  • The latest numbers from Nielsen show TV viewership amongst 25-34 year olds (you know, the demo) is down 24 percent from 2010. That percentage continues to grow every quarter.
  • The University of Florida released data in February 2015 that show 4 percent of young people consider their primary news source as either an online-only news site, the website of a traditional news organization, Facebook, Twitter, or some other social network. Broadcast TV came in at only 4.5 percent.
  • What’s even more troubling for TV newsrooms? Ask young people how many of them still pay for cable or satellite. Then ask how many consume a majority of their media on mobile platforms (see the MediaShift special on cord cutting here). The answers aren’t good for the status quo in TV news.1

One fear expressed by the TV news industry is spending money and resources on something they don’t think will benefit them financially. But you really don’t have to do that much more. Again, according to Mediashift, when all TV stations do is post video teases to Facebook, they’re thinking short-sighted and missing gigantic opportunities to provide relevant content where their consumers already exist. Instead of teasing the story, post a Facebook-specific video version of the story. Post video of some sound that didn’t make the cut. Post a recap from the reporter about what surprised him or her about the story. Do anything other than a standard 15-second video tease pushing to the legacy medium.1

Case in point is KAIT-TV in Jonesboro, Arkansas – a small station with a huge social media footprint.  In fact, the station, which is in the 180th television market (out of 210) in a metro area with a population somewhere around 150,000, has found ways to gain about the same number of fans and followers as some of the country’s top newspapers.2

Monday through Friday, a “Hot Topic” related to the news of the day is posted by one of the anchors at 4:30 a.m. for people to comment on. KAIT News Director Hatton Weeks says it’s rare to have less than 50 comments by 7. During the show, the anchors talk on the air about the question and user responses.

Weeks goes on to suggest four starting points for your newsroom to take advantage of.

1 – Get Everyone Involved.

2 – Post items a minimum of 4-5 hours before the news begins to push to the newscast.

3 – Find an internal social media guru and let that person lead the charge.

4 – Make sure your website is updated often and stories are shared on the appropriate social media.2

“It has almost revolutionized the way we cover news,” Weeks says. “Our audience, en masse, can communicate with us as we cover stories. Our audience is engaged more with our product, their voice is heard, and they feel like they’re part of the news.”2

With that in mind, don’t you think it’s time you embraced the technology before you’re left in the dust? Bitcentral CORE:news offers industry-leading discovery, asset management and editing capabilities as a perfect complement to a newsroom Facebook strategy. When it comes to maximizing Facebook, we can help get you up to speed in no time!

1http://mediashift.org/2015/04/how-tv-newsrooms-should-use-facebook-and-why/

2http://www.poynter.org/2010/how-a-small-arkansas-tv-station-uses-facebook-twitter-to-drive-audience-to-newscasts-website/111781/

NEWS RELEASE: Bitcentral Announces WFFF Station Goes Live with CORE:news™

Bitcentral, Inc., a provider of digital and broadcast video workflow solutions, today announced the successful launch of Burlington, VT station WFFF on its news production suite, CORE:news. Nexstar-owned WFFF now has a complete news production, media management, collaboration and archiving solution in CORE:news. WFFF currently produces an average of 6.5 hours of news per day with a small staff.

WFFF Launches Bitcentral CORE:news

Nexstar’s WFFF launches with Bitcentral CORE:news.

“The Bitcentral system allows great flexibility and improved operation with editing and video playback systems that are very efficient,” said Craig Marrs, general manager for WFFF. “Bitcentral professionals worked tirelessly and held our hand through the entire install and training process, resulting in a flawless launch.”

CORE:news is an easy-to-use modular news production platform that combines content discovery, capture, editing, playout, publishing, collaboration, asset management and archiving into a single unified workflow. Bitcentral extends its congratulations and appreciation to the staff of WFFF for their partnership throughout the implementation process and looks forward to being a valued partner moving forward.

KMID Goes Live with CORE:news™

Nexstar Broadcasting’s Odessa, TX station KMID is now producing news with CORE:news.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – December 7, 2015 – Today, Bitcentral announces the successful launch of Odessa, TX station KMID on its news production suite, CORE:news. KMID now has a complete news production, media management, media collaboration and archiving solution in CORE:news. Bitcentral welcomes the staff to their 200-plus North American broadcasters as well and 1000-plus facilities worldwide.

CORE:news is an easy-to-use modular news production tool that combines content capture, editing, play out, publishing, collaboration, sharing, asset management and archiving into a single unified workflow.

Bitcentral extends its congratulations and gratitude to the staff at KMID for their partnership throughout the implementation process and looks forward to being a valued partner each day.

About Bitcentral: Bitcentral creates simply efficient workflow solutions for broadcast and digital media. Our news production and master control and automation solutions power over 200 North American broadcaster operations and 1000 facilities worldwide.

WBRE Goes Live with CORE:news™

Nexstar Broadcasting’s Wilkes Barre, PA station WBRE is now producing their news programming with CORE:news.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – October 16, 2015 – Today, Bitcentral announces the successful launch of Wilkes Barre, PA station WBRE on its news production suite, CORE:news. WBRE now has a complete news production, media management, media collaboration and archiving solution in CORE:news. Bitcentral welcomes the staff to their 200-plus North American broadcasters as well and 1000-plus facilities worldwide.

CORE:news is an easy-to-use modular news production tool that combines content capture, editing, play out, publishing, collaboration, sharing, asset management and archiving into a single unified workflow.

Bitcentral extends its congratulations and gratitude to the staff at WBRE for their partnership throughout the implementation process and looks forward to being a valued partner each day.

About Bitcentral: Bitcentral creates simply efficient workflow solutions for broadcast and digital media. Our news production and master control and automation solutions power over 200 North American broadcaster operations and 1000 facilities worldwide.

WTTG Goes Live with CORE:news™

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – June 20, 2014 – Bitcentral, dedicated to open news production, management and delivery, announced today that Washington, DC station WTTG went live on Bitcentral CORE:news – a complete news production, media management, media sharing and archiving solution.

CORE:news is a modular production tool that combines content capture, editing, play out, publishing, collaboration and asset management into one complete system. Fox 46 will have the freedom and the tools to achieve more and reach further with their daily news programming.

CORE:news is a complete news production tool to “Collaborate” on project-based production including immediate logging and editing access to live and file-based sources, “Originate” unique content with a concise raw and finished content field-based workflow, “Reach” further with multi-platform publishing, and “Extend” their capabilities with raw media workflows that provide access to typically hidden and underutilized assets.

We’re excited partner with WTTG and would like to say Happy New Year, congratulations and thank you to their staff for their partnership throughout the implementation process!

WTMJ Goes Live with Upgrade to CORE:news™

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – July 25th, 2013 – Bitcentral, dedicated to open news delivery and the success of its partners, announced today that Milwaukee, WI station WTMJ went live on CORE:news – a complete production, media management, media sharing and media archiving solution. WTMJ is a member of Journal Broadcast Group and the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, WI.

CORE:news is a modular production tool that combines content capture, editing, play out, publishing, collaboration and asset management into one complete system that empowers newsrooms to achieve more and reach further with their daily news programming.

WTMJ’s upgrade to CORE gives them a complete News Production tool to “Collaborate” on project-based production including immediate logging and editing access to live and file-based sources, “Originate” unique content with a concise field-based workflow with finished and raw content acquisition via browser or iOS/Android mobile devices, “Reach” further with multi-platform publishing, and “Extend” their capabilities with raw media workflows that provide access to previously hidden and underutilized assets.

In terms of value, it is no longer a question of “what platform does WTMJ publish to first?” Now, everyone in the Journal Broadcast Group on Bitcentral has access to the same sources no matter the file type (video, audio, images, documents), everyone can participate in the process, everyone can prep content for air and publish everywhere all at the same time.

We’re excited to partner with WTMJ and would like to say congratulations to their staff and say thank you for their partnership during the implementation project!

KTVM Upgrades to Precis 4™ and adds Oasis™

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – July 11, 2013 – Bitcentral, dedicated to open news delivery and the success of its partners, announced today that Butte / Bozeman, MT station KTVM went live with their upgraded Bitcentral’s Precis™ news production and playout solution and a brand new implementation of Oasis for archiving, sharing and asset management. KTVM is a member of the Bonten Media Group and the NBC affiliate in Butte / Bozeman, MT.

Bitcentral’s Precis is the most efficient, production system available to news professionals today. Precis brings four channels of playout and unprecedented MOS workflow integration and efficiency to newsrooms. Precis integrates with best-of-breed solutions to meet simultaneous production needs for broadcast, online and mobile with the scalability to meet the ever-growing number of delivery platforms.

Precis customers have flexibility to choose from world-class technology brands, such as Adobe’s Premiere® Pro for full craft editing or Bitcentral’s browser editor Create, which allows newsrooms to do more with the resources they have. AP’s ENPS and Avid’s iNews are tightly integrated allowing for choice among the most popular newsroom computer systems.

Oasis’ sophisticated Asset Management will allow KTVM to automatically archive and share seamlessly and it will grow with their needs. Oasis shares over 6 million news stories annually with that number steadily increasing each year. The flexibility of Oasis has allowed the launch of a new weekly TV news show utilizing shared content and substantially improved the quality of unique content delivered to local markets. Oasis will empower everyone at KTVM to access, share and move stories over existing bandwidth without traditional time-consuming and expensive linear feeds.

Their new workflow goes beyond the newsroom and extends content creation out into the field. KTVM Journalists can see and use all of the station’s content from wherever they are and remotely contribute their packages back to the station.

We’re excited to partner with KTVM and would like to say congratulations and thank you to the staff for their partnership during the implementation project!