Now there’s a complete solution to broadcast content using standard off-the-shelf hardware from Apple. At IBC, Vienna, Austria-based company ToolsOnAirBroadcast Engineering GmbH introduced a new workflow for operating an entire TV station completely on the Macintosh platform. The product not only lowers upfront costs involved with building out a TV station, it also reduces maintenance costs significantly.
Employing an administration solution from Step2e (based in Passau, Germany), the “TV Station in a Mac” enables journalists to access all editorial elements of a TV show and edit relevant workflows such as narration and text inserts through Step2e’s content management system. Step2e’s technology also automates ad planning and disposition. And depending on the client’s budget, an advertiser’s commercials can be inserted automatically over a certain timeframe.
Extensive reports give management a quick and convenient overview of revenues and scheduling times with the push of a button. Based on the program schedule within Step2e, the exact sequence plan is passed on to ToolsOnAir’s playout solution, including all the required graphic and text elements for the Info Layer.
ToolsOnAir’s real time graphics solution “Composition Suite” allows TV stations to include real-time information such as news tickers, weather information, stock charts or any other data source from the Internet, throughout the day. This cost-efficient solution provides TV stations with the opportunity to offer an info layer as a supplementary advertising channel to their customers.
For more information, visit www.toolsonair.com and www.step2e.de.
