Remote production challenges and their drivers were discussed at this week’s SVG Nordic Summit, held in Media City Bergen Norway, where Mediability’s Head of Systems, Ole Johan Skogheim participated on a panel discussion with James Clement, Head of Operations at Sky Sports, Andy Rayner, Chief Technologist at Nevion, and Scott Rothenberg, SVP – Technology & Asset Management at NEP Group.
The key to success – having the right people in the right place
For many, remote production is now a necessity to reduce costs and to share resources; both media assets and human resources. For remote production facilities, we see a shift from just planning where to place the technology (centralized vs. at multiple locations), to also considering carefully where the human resources and skills will be placed.
On this topic, Ole Johan Skogheim pointed out that placing the right people at an optimal location is just as important as placing the technology. Leadership and team communication are important success criteria for efficient remote production and for distributed production platforms. Having a skilled team in a central position, not just geographically, but as team players, coaches and influencers, is crucial for an organisation in transition which needs to shed legacy workflows, adapt to new technology, and prepare for a leaner approach to live production.
Centralise and free up resources
An important driver for remote production is cost saving and the topic of pleasing both shareholders and viewers while doing more with less, where discussed at the SVG summit. Centralised production facilities can free up resources. Cost-savings can be reinvested in new technology. For some, it may enable them to publish globally; all real benefits for staying alive in an industry on rocky ground.
IP interfacing
Balancing in-house production with external production companies, for selected programming, is a challenge. How best to interface the two infrastructures? We expect to see a shift towards even more outsourcing to eliminate complicated contractor operations and interfacing, while some will focus on standardised interfaces at both ends of an IP infrastructure.
Get help!
Whenever major technical, infrastructure or business-process changes are needed, engaging with external expertise for objective advice is the key to success. Transitioning from traditional broadcast technology to IP is a good example. Let someone with experience in similar projects guide you through this process and help you make the right choices for your organisation. Mediability offers exactly this with our expert team of consultants, system integrators, and A/V equipment specialists.
Get cloud ready
It will be very interesting to see what happens next regarding production in the cloud. What new challenges do producers anticipate? For example, the restrictions that bandwidth limitations will place on them as file sizes grow, particularly for UHD production. Are vendors on the technology side (both for hardware and software) ready with solutions that can replace an on-premise live production infrastructure with a cloud solution with no new limitations? “IP technology is already, and will continue to be, an enabler for using infrastructure in a better way and for being cloud-ready”, says Skogheim. “Learning and gaining IP experience by gradually adding incremental IP facilities today will equip you well for the future!”
To all of you in the Sports Video Group team, to the Media City Bergen team, to speakers, and panelists, thank you for the inspiring talks and discussions.
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