Licensing Pre-Cleared Music Audio for Movie and TV Content

Getting the right music for movie and TV programs can be the difference between a blockbuster success or a marketplace failure. During my interview with Ray Williams, founder of CrumbsMusic, he explained that can be complicated, time consuming, and costly. It commonly involves negotiation with multiple record labels, artists, producers, and other companies. With the growing number of distribution channels such as Internet TV, mobile video, and stored media distribution (e.g. Blu-Ray), there will be an increase in number of movie and TV programs that are produced and they will need lots of good music tracks! To solve this challenge, Ray recommends that music be pre-cleared to simplify and speed up the licensing process. A pre-cleared licensing system needs to have a search system that allows producers, directors, and music supervisors to discover and select from quality content.

Reliably Providing Over 100 Mbps on DSL Twisted Pair using the G.Vector Industry Standard

Reliably providing high bandwidth over DSL is critical to the success of many telephone companies. Jerome Joanny from Assia explained to me at the TelcoTV trade show that it is possible to provide over 100 Mbps on DSL over significant distances if the access network has been optimized. The key to reliably providing high bandwidth DSL transmission includes good management of DSL access networks which includes maintaining the physical plant, optimizing to reduce interference both internal (crosstalk) and external (such as AM radio station and in-home interference). If these factors remain unidentified and are not addressed, this means that the bandwidth on the DSL connection can be dramatically reduced and become unreliable. If the access network is not optimized for DSL, this results in reduced available services for subscribers and higher costs for the operator (customer care, repair, and other costs). A key solution for DSL optimization is to use “vectored” technology which actively cancels crosstalk and can provide transmission rates exceeding 100 Mbps.

Flexible Pluggable Optical Modules with Automatic Configuration – Universal Optical Nodes

Mixing different types of optical modules in an access network can be costly and complex. Lars Eriksen from Norwia explained to me at the NAB trade show that a key solution to network operators is to use a single type of optical module that that can provide different types of transmit and/or receive and optical processing functions. Another key function to a flexible module is the ability of the device to automatically detect and configure itself. This allows operators to install a single type of optical equipment which simplifies installation, reduces spare inventory cost, and enables the network to be reconfigured as the network needs change.

TelcoTV 2011 Show Summary

The main theme of the show continues to be systems and content for television that is provided over telephone networks.

Key themes at this show:
1. Communication Access Systems
2. Systems Integrators
3. Support Services

Missing:
1. Advertising Systems
2. Content Production
3. TV Applications Providers
4. Content Clearinghouses (media brokers)

Many of the attendees were from telephone companies. Most telephone companies (Telcos) have some sort of TV service offering. Interviews we had with telephone companies indicated that they feel that the number of telecom based television options and solutions have dramatically increased and improved over the last year. Several of the telephone companies we interviewed are now focusing on expanding their systems and lowering their operational expenses.

System integrators are now focusing more on optimizing IPTV operations than setting up new systems. This involves monitoring and adjusting access networks, better testing, and overall better installation and operations management.

There is a increase in the number of available revenue sources for TelcoTV systems. This includes turning public, educational, and government (PEG) channels from cost centers into a profit centers. Telephone companies seem to finding creative ways to generate revenues including security monitoring services and lifeline services.

A common issue for many telephone companies is that they cannot provide IPTV service to all of their customers because of limited data transmission speeds. In some markets, only 30% of the customer base can access IPTV services. There were several companies that offered services to improve DSL transmission rates such as G.Vector (100 Mbps) and Phantom (up to 1 Gbps).

Some telephone companies are providing local content program guides as a way to make the local broadcaster different. Local content is identified and merged with traditional electronic program guides.

Creating and Managing a Complex TV Content Rights Database

Content owners, licensing agents, and broadcasters have many new types of content and distribution options that require licensing and royalty payments. Ben Clasper from Counterpoint explained to me at the NAB show that this results in more complicated needs for rights and royalty accounting software. Both content owners and broadcasters want to maximize the exploitation of their intellectual property and broadcast options. They want to minimize revenue loss and expense leakage while keeping back office system costs at reasonable levels.
It is helpful to have a system that can manage content licensing for the complete life cycle of a contract. Content licensing has different needs based on industry areas and there are many options such as multi-property and bundled SKUs that need to be setup and managed.
A core need for a content rights management system is a robust calculation engine. It should include analytical tools that ensure that royalty calculations are correct. It should allow for a wide range of licensing contract terms including use authorizations, advances, royalty tiers, payment schedules.

Broadcasters Need Smart Contract Management for TV Advertising Systems

Selling and managing television advertising services is typically complex with a mixture of systems, contracts, and different types of advertising. Peter Storer from Storer TV explained to me at the NAB show that broadcasters have many new opportunities to generate advertising revenues. They can only take advantage of them if their advertising systems are smart enough to track and manage them. To do this, they need a contract and program manager system that can provide scheduling services, rights management, and financial control of their media assets
Advertising schedules are a combination of linear schedules, nonlinear schedules, and planning schedules. Broadcasters need scheduling tools that allow them to manage programs, titles, and ads in any of the scheduling formats which may occur over multiple schedules.
Advertising programs can have a complex set of shared content rights and restrictions which needs to be managed. To track programming assets, the TV advertising system should be able to gather and organize into a centralized database. Having a centralized database allows broadcast executives and managers to have immediate access to contract data, media valuation, and liability payments.
TV advertising systems must have revenue assurance capability and auditable financial records. They should have key analysis and reporting capabilities that enables daily financial controls with budgeting and forecasting capabilities.

Efficient Management of TV and On Demand Content for Multiple Types of Distribution Channels

TV broadcasters need effective ways to manage and distribute their content to multiple types of distribution channels. Joe French from MassTech explained to me at the NAB trade show that broadcasters can become overwhelmed with the many new content production and distribution requirements. They need an effective and efficient (low operational cost) digital archiving and media asset management to help them compete with many new types of content broadcasters and distributors.
Broadcaster’s content management systems (CMS) need to integrate to multiple end points such as view servers and non-linear editors (NLE). They should be able to integrate with new types of media and business systems and have a framework for automated workflows. To speed up the distribution process, automatic file transformation should be able to easily convert and publish media in a wide range of formats and wrappers. They should be simple and easy to use keeping the edit list transfer complexity hidden from the operator. The system should be able to automatically generate the high resolution finished sequences ready for review, playout, and repurposing.
In addition to the technical and integration capabilities of media asset management – MAM systems, broadcasters also need hardware, software, and support services along with unlimited storage licenses.

Key Requirements for Hybrid TV Broadcast and OTT Set Top Boxes

TV broadcasters are using hybrid broadcast and over the top television – OTT set top boxes to provide new on demand and interactive services to their customers. Steve McKay from Entone explained to me at the IPTV World trade show that there are some key differences between hybrid OTT set top box and there are some key features to consider which choosing a hybrid STB solution. Hybrid STBs combine broadcast TV and streaming services and need to offer users with a simple combined navigation interface. They should link to other devices in the home through wired or wireless connections. Some of the key media processing capabilities should include multiple types of media decoding (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1), 3D processing (multiple formats), and transcoding capabilities. A HTML-5 compliant browser can provide for an open and flexible platform allowing for more uniform and efficient application development. It should allow for DRM content protection support while allowing for creative licensing options and side loading (portable distribution).

How to Overcome the Challenges of Transporting Video Over IP

Video, data and voice services have different requirements for transport. Data can be sent in bursts, while video requires a constant stream. IP technology was developed for data traffic where retransmission addresses data loss. Delay and jitter are non-issues for IP data. The congestion that occurs now and then is a normal state of network operation, and is actually used to control the amount of data users send to avoid severe congestion.
Network engineers have introduced priority based QoS mechanisms to accommodate more demanding services such as video, audio, voice and high bandwidth file transfers, aiming to reduce data loss and jitter characteristics. Unfortunately that this solution slows down the migration of all services to IP and the introduction of new services. Another way of solving this problem is to overprovision the capacity of the network which leads to higher CAPEX and OPEX with solutions that are not scalable.
To meet the demand for today's media content as well as future broadcast content, operators must be able to design networks capable of delivering quality of transport (QoT). This can be effectively provided by using channelized IP.
You can learn more about these challenges and QoT solutions in the article from the IPTV Magazine article from Net Insight.

Overcoming the Challenges of Video-Over-IP Transport

Clickable Television Ads Provide Significant Revenue Sources for TV Broadcasters and Higher Conversion Rates for Advertisers

Enhanced interactive media offers additional revenue opportunities for TV broadcasters and higher conversion rates for television advertisers. Dan Hassan from BCM explained to me at the NAB trade show that implementing interactive TV services such as clickable ads can generate significant airtime revenue and additional service fees. Because the ads better satisfy the viewers and provide more conversion incentives and options, advertisers benefit. Implementing interactive services creates new challenges for TV broadcasters and there are some key options and solutions broadcasters should consider.
In the past, request for information ads (RFI ads) required the use of slow marketing response channels such as direct mail which reduce the effectiveness. Clickable ads can enable immediate fulfillment (ordering) or satisfaction (registration). Advertisers can dramatically improve the effectiveness of TV spots. They can extend the viewing experience beyond the typical 30 to 60 second spots when they are interested in the product or service.
Producing interactive TV ads requires the creation of new content and an interactive control process. To enable and simplify this process, BCM has created a system that supports the creation of clickable television ads called Clickable Moments™. The system embeds interactive Clickable Moments into television programs. It includes a mixture of tools and templates that allow broadcasters and media agencies to create and manage a new inventory of highly valuable interactive ads.
Interactive TV systems need to work with existing headend broadcast systems which may be implemented in different types of technology environments. It must operate on existing viewing devices which have limited memory and processing capability. Enhanced binary interchange format - eBIF is a versatile industry standard that enables interactive applications that can work with existing systems and a mixture of legacy and newer set top boxes. The interactive programs are written in compressed and efficient binary code that allows it require less transmission bandwidth, smaller memory size (footprint), and reduced processing requirements.
A byproduct of interactive advertising is the gathering of rich detailed interaction data. This can provide insight into which networks, programs, times (dayparts), and other criteria influence the success of the ad and identify when and how the viewer interacted with the ad (engagement).

Content Recognition Technology is a Key Component that Enables Better Interactive Advertising

Interactive advertising offers significant financial benefits to advertisers and broadcasters if they can get it to work! After communicating with Jeff Vinson from Audible Magic, he discussed that there are several key ways to use content recognition technology to improve and simplify interactive advertising. Content recognition using perceptual fingerprinting uses fine-grained media characteristic measurements of the content that can be compared to a reference database of fingerprints. This does not require modification to any of the broadcasted content which is important as broadcasters may require that content that is sent through their networks must remain unchanged. Cloud based fingerprint content recognition places the detailed analysis on a computer server that is connected to the Internet (located in the cloud). This allows it to work with many existing devices that cannot be updated or managed. Smart hardware such as connected TVs, Blu-Ray players, digital media adapters, such as Roku, can add software content recognition capability to recognize a program or advertisement that is played on the device. Perceptual content recognition applications with limited processing requirements can be for mobile devices. Audible magic has created several of these solutions.

Interactive TV Viewing Data Being Sold to Marketing Companies

Broadcasters could face strong penalties for selling private data to marketing companies for advertising purposes. A bill is being proposed by California secretary of state, Debra Bowen that will likely change the current issue of “spying” through the use of interactive data. Bowen will be facing opposition from a few very powerful companies including Microsoft and AOL. Bowen will go in front of the state senate public safety committee to defend her case that the makers of the interactive television systems will need to ask permission before they try to oversee their customers’ activities without consent. In a study that is going to be conducted by AT&T in the fall, 42,000 cable subscribers will be tested in attempts to develop technology that allows for advertisements to be household specific, based on the interactive data transmitted back to AT&T. This test will allow AT&T to have access to personally identifiable information such as telephone numbers, home addresses, and even credit card numbers. Whether this is seen as a violation of privacy, or the opportunity to have a more personalized television experience, we will wait for Congress to make the ultimate decision.

Reliable Broadband Multimedia Data over Home and Business Electrical Lines

Reliable distribution of television media signals to many types of devices within the home is important to the success of TV broadcasters. Julien Gauchet from Lea explained to me at the IPTV show that it is now possible for users to reliably transfer multiple high definition TV signals in the home over their electric lines. The latest versions of the HomePlug devices can transmit over 200 Mbps and automatically give priority to the transfer of digital video (A/V) signals. The maximum connection distances (up to 300 meters) can be further than wireless options. HomePlug systems can work well with WiFi systems providing high-speed interconnection data between access points and providing data access to areas where the wireless signal is weak or can’t reach.
Users simply plug in their HomePlug devices or adapters and they automatically discover and connect to other HomePlug devices. It is possible to manage HomePlug devices using SoftPlug software that was created by LEA. This allows the user to identify, configure, and control HomePlug devices. The SoftPlug software can group the LEA HomePlug devices allowing for the creation of multiple data networks that share the same electrical lines.

Touch Screen TV Remote (Soft Remote) adds New Capabilities and Services for Television Viewers

TV broadcasters can now provide mobile apps that allow user’s tablets and smart phones to work as a television remote control. Alan Delaney from Ericsson explained to me at the IPTV World show that soft TV remote applications improve the viewer navigation experience and allow the TV broadcaster to provide new services. It operates as a second screen that can preview content (companion device). It uses industry standard digital living network alliance (DLNA) protocol to monitor and control other
devices in the home. The user can intuitively browse through different types of media, preview content, and organize playlists. It can easily link their viewing choices and recommendations to social networks.
Unlike traditional button remotes, the smart TV remote can allow the user to see images and preview videos. This can be done on the remote without changing the content displayed on the TV. When the user finds a new selection, they can choose which device (such as a TV or PC) in the home will display their program. A soft TV remote also provides additional service differentiation and branding opportunities for the TV broadcaster. Because the TV remote connects through a data network, has two-way capability, and previews the media, the viewer can use the remote anywhere.

Real Time TV and Video Content Acquisition, Channel Management, and Publishing using Smartphones

TV broadcasters are getting content from new sources, creating more channels, and publishing them on multiple platforms. Guillaume d’Azamar de Fabregues from SGT explained to me at the NAB trade show that it is becoming more important for TV broadcasters to be able to capture and manage the production and broadcasting workflow in real time at any location. He explained that broadcasters need a new generation of media asset management – MAM. They need a system that allows them to remotely check play lists, playouts, over incidents in real time using mobile devices such as the i-Phone. It needs to allow both skilled and non-technical users to rapidly find and control information they need. Some of the key modules include browsing and cataloging, quality check, content checking, identification, marketing & validation, search and retrieve, and a speech-to-text module. The system should seamlessly integrate into the existing system environment allowing staff and contractors to visualize playlists, playouts, and feedback to possible incidents via remote access devices such as smartphones.