NEW YORK—As Vice News seeks to bring a fresh take on the newscast format for HBO, its team of journalists and broadcasters are utilizing the Octopus 8 newsroom software for its Brooklyn, N.Y., headquarters.
Charged with sourcing from news facilities across the globe, the Octopus 8 system for Vice is working with Vizrt’s Viz Pilot graphics and Viz One asset manager units. This combination allows editors to select video material from Viz One and add graphics from Viz Pilot via a single interface. The Octopus 8 also has preconfigured commands from Viz Mosart into its story templates and story elements so as not to require plug-ins.
Available on Apple OS X, Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems, the Octopus 8 allows newsrooms to ingest incoming audio, video and still-image files, news agency wires, RSS feeds, emails, SMS messages and faxes. As an MOS compliant system, it can be integrated into any environment that supports the MOS protocol. The Octopus 8 supports placeholder workflows, thumbnails and proxy preview, item status and channel assignments.
The Octopus 8 is a key piece of tech for Vice’s “Vice News Tonight,” which airs five nights a week on HBO.
