Azteca America in Glendale, CA, has chosen Digital Nirvana’s Monitor IQ Essentials Broadcast Monitoring System (BMS) to ensure FCC regulatory compliance of its many network feeds.
As a subsidiary of the Mexican broadcast network TV Azteca, in Mexico City, Azteca America delivers TV Azteca as its primary service along with three Spanish language subchannels to more than 55 U.S. markets. The network reaches roughly 89 percent of the total U.S. Latino population via satellite, cable, mobile and Internet platforms.
Azteca America selected Monitor IQ Essentials, one of four versions of Monitor IQ that enables multichannel HD/SD recording, logging, air-check monitoring, loudness monitoring, searching, repurposing and archive, among many quality control functions.
The network uses Monitor IQ Essentials to monitor its ATSC/QAM signals to ensure that closed captioning airs properly on all of its programming. It can also monitor on-air signals to verify compliance with other federal mandates, such as loudness regulations instituted by the CALM Act.
“We’ve been using this product for several months now and rely on it heavily because it’s so easy to use. Monitor IQ Essentials has a powerful search engine that makes it easy for one or multiple people to search for assets like closed captioning to ensure that they were indeed present throughout our broadcast programming,” said Andrew Cain, engineering and operations manager for Azteca America. “If there is any quality control issue, the system pinpoints exactly where the problem is.
“We initially ordered the product to document that closed captioning is airing properly on our children’s programming,” Cain added. “Today we use Monitor IQ Essentials to monitor the ATSC/QAM signals of our primary and three secondary channels. We also use it to create a DVD with video clips as well as quarterly reports to document that our signal aired in compliance with FCC regulations.”
In its full form, the Monitor IQ BMS (Broadcast Monitoring System) combines the functionality of content recording (HD and SD in full resolution), content searching, retrieval and repurposing, Web publishing, signal monitoring, air-check logging, archiving, ad verification and tracking and competitive analysis in a scalable networked appliance.
