The EBU has set out to help its member broadcasters migrate to multiscreen production via a three phase program to develop a common infrastructure and organizational structure to address all platforms.
The EBU has just met in Barcelona to discuss how to advance this project called Integrated Media Production Strategies (IMPS), which has been set up to help EBU Members provide content that matches the needs of the different platforms simultaneously, in better quality, and with higher production efficiency. IMPS is taking an interdisciplinary approach to these challenges, recognizing that the technical and content departments of broadcasters EBU Members must cooperate.
The EBU is calling for broadcasters to adapt to multiscreen production in three phases, each bringing stepwise organizational and technological changes. Phase 1, called Media Production Islands, will involve broadcasters establishing a department for online services, but with little integration at this stage. In this phase may come moves towards a common technical infrastructure for accessing joint databases and Content Management Systems (CMS).
Then, Phase 2, Integrated Media Production, will complete the task of integrating the technology infrastructure but leaving isolated production islands in terms of organizational structure. There would still be separate departments for TV, radio and online. In this phase, broadcasters will have to address technical challenges related to interoperability in file-based production and media Information management, as well as media storage and archives.
Finally will come Phase 3, Fully Integrated Media Production, where a broadcaster already has a fully integrated Content Management platform, and then moves to develop the organizational integration. In Phase 3, the same creative staff will start to perform functions for all three media types, TV, radio and online, using integrated CMS and organizational structures so that staff can access all content and produce output formats for the various distribution forms automatically. This will also include integration of archives.
As the EBU pointed out, most broadcasters have now begun producing and distributing content for multiple platforms. These include linear TV in SDTV and HDTV, non linear and hybrid services such as catch-up TV, along with delivery to mobile devices. The same applies to radio services, while almost all broadcasters now have online portals of some kind as well.
There is now a pressing need to cut costs and streamline services by providing content that matches the needs of all these simultaneously, and the EBU believes IMPS will help achieve that.
