Alhurra Television, a Springfield, Va.-based Arab language satellite television network, has installed Bitcentral’s Oasis and Precis systems as part of an initiative to enhance its global news presence and to implement a file-based workflow.
Before the installation, Alhurra had only limited access to news content from off-site facilities. The Bitcentral Oasis media asset management system now allows Alhurra users to more effectively manage large amounts of media, including video, audio, text and graphics. Once media is logged in with the Oasis system, a journalist is able to edit it via from a number of different desktop nonlinear editing systems.
The Precis system at Alhurra streamlines the process of playout of video to air and to more effectively produce content for multiple platforms.
“Our intention to assist Alhurra was not just to sell them some hardware; it was really a project dedicated to maximizing the potential of their workflow,” said John King, vice president of Engineering for Bitcentral. “When we came to Alhurra, we scrutinized every detail of their then-current newsgathering processes and found that their past infrastructure limited their ability to produce breaking news across large geographical distances. We identified when and where Alhurra's content could be utilized and gave them a solution that allowed producers to do all of their work without leaving their desktops.”
Alhurra is operated by the non-profit Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), which is financed by the U.S. government through a grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
