Premium TV, a provider of digital services and products to the sports industry, has deployed Telestream’s FlipFactory and GraphicsFactory workflow automation products for coverage of the Barclays Premier League. Premium TV builds, develops and manages one of the largest broadband and mobile platforms in Europe.
In June, Premium TV was contracted to produce and deliver in-match, near-live branded football highlight clips, delayed highlights and other programming on behalf of the Barclays Premier League to mobile and broadband licensees outside of the UK. The first matches were successfully delivered on schedule in August using an array of five Telestream workflow automation systems.
The unique graphics assembly software application developed by Premium TV is built on the FlipFactory transcoding engine to automate high-volume branding and encoding workflows.
Premium TV has extensive experience capturing, encoding, preparing and distributing video and audio content for client Web sites. In early 2007, the company purchased an array of multiple Telestream FlipFactory server software systems to improve the efficiency and automation of its encoding services. These servers were supplied and installed by Boxer Systems, and managed from Premium TV’s own production management system through controls written by in-house programmers using the FlipFactory SDK.
GraphicsFactory puts a front and back end on each clip, which includes the Barclays Premier League logo and accompanying text. Telestream’s MetaFlip technology helps send XML data to Premium TV’s clients. The data includes game details such as scores, team names and player stats. MetaFlip enables Premium TV to quickly tailor XML data for each of its clients so the providers, and ultimately the viewers, receive a full set of data along with the video. The next phase in the project is to add branding for the telecom providers, and then to extend that offer to include local branding and advertising.
The entire production process is controlled by Premium TV’s own Java-based production management system, which instructs the GraphicsFactory servers through XML messages written using the FlipFactory SDK. FlipFactory is also used in the production of user-generated media, which is uploaded by viewers of Premium TV for music, football and comedy Web sites. FlipFactory automatically encodes, processes and delivers the files in the required formats and resolutions.
Premium TV will expand its services with more Telestream workflow automation products to support an increase from more than 50 to more than 80 mobile companies worldwide by the end of this year.
For more information, visit www.telestream.net/.
