The 3 Ring Circus of TV ProductionRemote collaboration & use of cloud technologies

Who is the Pac-12?TWO ENTITIESThe CONFERENCEOne of the 5 “Power” College Conferences12 Universities in 6 Western statesMore NCAA titles than any other conference, closing in on 500100 Years OldContent licensed to Fox and ESPN

The NETWORKSLaunched August, 2012, located in San Francisco Independent Media Company operating 6 regional and 1 national sports

networks and digital properties (TVE)Affiliates include Comcast, Spectrum, Dish Network, SlingTVProduce 850 live events for linear distribution, between August and May

https://vimeo.com/206512500/312a1676d4Produce additional events for Twitter and additional content for Facebook

Live

ContextChallenges

At Launch: Approximately 75 of the 850 broadcast events garner “big” audiences• The remainder (~775) need to be produced live and as inexpensively as

possible• Editorial voice and production values need to be maintained across all

events

Now: Increasing demands for unique content for OTT and digital distribution • Production of additional full events (Twitter), behind the scenes (Facebook

Live), bonus coverage (TVE) did not exist at launch, but are now important part of Production Operations

The 3 Ring Circus of Live, Remote TV Production

NetworkDistributi

on

• Scheduling & Log• Playlist manipulation and management

• Asset management• On-air operations• On-air GFX• Reporting & Recon

FieldProductio

n

• Camera• Switching• Mixing• Replays• GFX• Communication• Internet Access

Acquisition

• Signal Transmission• Multi-path• Bi-directional• Low latency• Lower cost than video

Acquisition (aka Transmission)Connectivity as the foundation for all things

• Video is out & Data is in

Pros• Multi-path & Bi-directional – allows for collaboration• Low latency – improves production quality & values• Lower price point overall• Unlimited use – connect upon arrival• Services and communications

Cons• Complexity / New vendors in a new space / Staffing skill set

Acquisition

Big, fat, bi-directional pipes connecting

100+ venues back to the to Studios

Enhancing “Traditional” Field Productions

Enhancements achieved with improved connectivity• Enhanced Productions

• Operators and artists stay in the Studio & work multiple games• Easy to add resources advantageously• Less staff to travel = lower costs• Hardware is centralized & easier to maintain

• More topical content from Studio to Field• Packages and profiles can be more timely

• Immediate transfer of highlights from field to Studio• No waiting for game breaks to send content

• Scenics & other content ingested directly to EVS• No hard drives or tapes to ship or send

• Improved communications • 4 digit dialing, faster Internet access

Big, fat, bi-directional pipes permit collaboration

FieldProducti

on

HTTPS://VIMEO.COM/208153188/CCA9BF243F

Field Production in the StudioCentrali

zedProducti

on

Efficiencies achieved with improved connectivity• Camera leads and audio stems fed directly to Studio• Majority of crew works from home Studio – Video switching, audio mixing

all GFX, instant replay, even Talent could call the game from the Studio• TD, Director, Producer & Operators work at Studio & work multiple games• Easy to add resources advantageously• Less staff to travel = lower costs• Hardware is centralized & easier to maintain• Can deploy more resources advantageously

• Game highlights immediately available• Exploit content across all platforms (Digital, other games and Studio shows)

• Return path with audio mixes• Post game interviews quality super high

Further exploitation of connectivity

COLLABORATION EXAMPLEhttps://business.facebook.com/Pac12Conference/videos/10153516907446801

/

Distribution (aka Master Control)Trying to move aggressively towards the Cloud for Linear & Digital

• Virtualized processes – available today• Transcoding and versioning (Elemental)• Content acquisition, QC, ingest• Workflow automation (AWS)• Content storage (AWS)

The promise of tomorrow, virtualized processes – the “webification” of TV• Content scheduling (Log), Playlist manipulation and execution, Asset

management, On-air operations, GFX, Secondary events, Real-time reporting and reconciliation (Air-checks)

Expected Benefits & Attributes• Ability to “accordion” operations to meet peak needs• Pay as you go Opex model

Unrealized potential

Distribution

RISKS & CHALLENGES

Adoption rateFears surrounding securityDisplacing entrenched tech is never a picnicLevel of captivity with cloud vendor(s)Staffing skill set shift (internally & with

vendors)

“Friends don’t let friends build data centers”

Infor CEO Charles PhillipsAWS 2014 San Francisco Summit

Take away

MICHAEL HARABINPAC-12 NETWORKSmharabin@pac-12.org