The Degree Myth: Why Broadcasting’s Gatekeepers Are Wrong About Qualifications
I built ancast.tv to challenge the industry’s obsession with credentials. After listening back to my recent bonus episode, I’m more convinced than ever: the broadcast world needs fewer gatekeepers and more pathways.
Media Workflow’s – the cookie cutter approach.
So what happens when your plumbing in a centre-piece tape to file workflow and you’re asked to add in some other content providers? Well just take what you learnt from the media solution you put in and the on-boarding process your crafted and apply it to the others! It means you know what works, fits in with broadcasters architecture and the documentation is standardised. It was one of many contractor assignments in Chiswick Park, this time Ancast providing what was described as ‘Media Solutions Engineer – On-boarding Specialist’ which was a bit of a mouthful but fitted the bill. It required media technology experience specifically in file delivery, workflow but also soft-skills in client on-boarding (at least it avoided coding – not my bag.) What needs to be plumbed in first? Well that was what you’re here for – we need to onboard these distributors and move them from tape delivery to a standardised media contribution workflow. Let’s work with the project and operations team and see which one we will target first. It’s a strategic project, it will save money and enable a fully automated workflow right up to eyeball QC with richer metadata – these are the drivers. And we also have a pressing issue of a planned series just acquired that has a short lead time for TX that we need to get through – can it be done? (of course!) Running order to get up and running: OK so 2 down how many to go? This could be a valid question as the combinations could now be endless, is the cookie cutter working – let’s find out. There are so many awkward workflows out there it would be prudent to get as many as possible to be integrated in a standardised way. Now that your in a media plumbing ‘rhythm’ let’s see what we can put on your task list – now it doesn’t really matter where it’s coming from to be honest. The workflow profile’s being put in are all automated right up to QC, they all have notifications, support routes and bespoke documentation – next. By now the operations staff become acquainted with you and there is less asking for system access and where things are – simply get more plumbing jobs. The contractor assignment was around 7 months in the end, the stormin’ normin’ performin’ aspect was just as it says. Embedded with the tech teams collaborating on shared work or going forth on my solo integrations which finishing was a well oiled machine. Ancast still follows their updates and developments (some incredibly progressive!) and keeps in contact with them – as always. testimonial “I have had the pleasure of working with Ben on a number of occasions. He is an expert in file based workflows and can be trusted with high level solution architecture through to the set up and configuration of workflow tools. Ben played a pivotal part in integrating international offices and clients to the file based workflows for VOD, editing and languaging. Ben’s is the sort of guy who will get on with the job raising issues and suggested solutions along the way.” written by Ian Baker then Director of Media Technology, Discovery
How to Spin Up a Broadcast Course
What happens when you have some TV playout operators land on-site but you have several weeks to spare before you need them on live operations? Easy – you devise a bespoke course for classroom based learning of the company, the backend technology and instil some operational best practice. With the culmination being an operations manual presented to peers and a graduation ceremony thrown in for good measure! Ancast was providing consultancy to Arqiva, who at the time was migrating the NBCU channels to their Chalfont site. And so was best placed to devise a way to leverage the time between operators arrival on-site and the channels going live. First challenge was to provide temporary freelancers some guidance as they needed to get content running through the channels that were being built. As well as understand the nuances of temporary workflows, configurations constantly changing and workarounds. Given the context in the guide produced, the freelancers could then ensure the scheduled content was being played – valuable for the project team to gauge the integrity of the channel build. The second challenge was that the temporary freelancers were only a stop gap between a permanent shift of TV playout operators taking over – yet there was this gap. Having 6 weeks to fill but with room in a ‘lab’ to seat them all it was sensible to create a bespoke 6 week course. The 7 page ‘Operator Guide’ It kind of snuck up on us but the first 2 days were simply site familiarisation and introductions – it did give chance to write a training programme though. It was a stroke of luck in a sense that these operators were given the opportunity to really learn the TX chain and embed operational excellence. At the graduation show to our peers, everyone took turns speaking about creating their manual before we gradually integrated them on shift – very rewarding. Now that the operators were trained up in the new TV channel build and launch – it was time for the third challenge, to do the same with the senior staff. Having known what works and letting the participants use the actual systems in a safe way was the mantra of the day. Workshop Agenda in the ‘lab’ – In depth backend systems – Outage recovery advice – New internal integrations – Escalation procedures – Senior PC access & config – TX chain walkthrough – Practical hands-on session The audience was Senior Transmission Controllers, Shift Leaders and Engineers – it was a very low-level workshop over 3 sessions, but really closed the loop from a support sense.It seemed like the right time to do the senior workshops, the operators were now ready and the channels were going live. After all, it is support and operations that inherit project work and glad that this training was part of that. The consultancy assignment was around 9 months long and involved being embedded in the project team to call upon specialist skills – training was just one of them. Ancast has worked with the client Arqiva many times, who were pleased to see the channels go-live and project concluded by starting many years of fine service by them. Testimonial “Ben did an exceptional job on recent projects. As I remember, Ben was a very productive person and is a multi-skilled person with vast knowledge. Ben is careful, proactive, self motivated, intelligent team player and exceptional at teaching others.” written by Joe Pignataro – then Service Delivery Manager, Arqiva
