“Automation Technology Update” spoke to Sarah Foss, president and CEO of VCI Solutions, about their relationship with Newport Television. The TV group was created recently by the acquisition of Clear Channel Television. With 56 stations in 24 markets, the group was looking for better visibility, with corporatewide reporting at each station and hub. “They were looking for improvements to their analytics," Foss said.
Newport stations use their own automation, but were looking for a system to manage the core functions of broadcast operations. “Orion business touches every part of a media business from sales proposal to yield pricing across TV and Web channels” Foss said. “Newport wanted a system that would allow a single package proposal for all channels, where Web is treated as just another channel.
“A unified station management system would allow Newport to leverage best practices across all markets and bring visibility into sales and inventory process for over-the-air and Web,” she said.
With Orion, Newport is able to realize efficiencies through the standardization of key data used for analyzing trends and forecasting revenues and has streamlined scheduling operations through customized weekly reporting. Installations began in November and three channels in Mobile, AL, were the first to go live, on Dec.1; all stations will be live by the end of January.
Orion’s “back office” revenue and inventory management system completes all program and commercial scheduling from the time content is sold through its reconciliation; VCI describes this end-to-end workflow as managing content from point-of-sale to point-of-air. Newport hopes to achieve its business goals in part by the growing centralization of broadcast operations with a single database.
For more information, visit www.vcisolutions.com.
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