Mobile TV is alive! - TVBEurope

TVBEU RO PE THE WORKFLOW
New Ardendo/Vizrt MAM system is rolled out across the enterprise
Sky files through
MAM evolution
New TVBEurope contributor
Will Strauss talks to Sky’s Director
of Operations John Lennon on the
broadcaster’s move to a file-based
workflow and how important it was
to focus on the people involved
before looking at the technological
leaps required
John Lennon, the director of
broadcast operations at BSkyB, is
pretty excited about his latest task,
despite its enormity. He is the programme
director for an ongoing
workflow migration that will see
the pay-TV broadcaster move
from a predominantly tape-based
operation to a file-based one.
To understand the scale of the
challenge, and the prize that
awaits a successful implementation,
you only have to glance at
the complexity of the broadcaster’s
current internal workings.
“At the moment we have, on
average, 4,000 physical tape
movements every single day,”
explains Lennon. “That’s a
tremendous amount of people
asking ‘Where the hell is my
tape?’ That happens not just in
every corridor in this place, but
right across the broadcast industry.
The benefits of changing
from this to a file-based workflow
are self-explanatory. It puts
the power back into the hands of
the content creators and enables
us to deliver more content more
efficiently to multiple platforms.”
The transition, which is still
roughly 12 months from completion,
includes the installation of a
major media asset management
system and coincides with the relocation
to a purpose-built production
and broadcasting operation,
Harlequin 1, at Sky’s campus in
Osterley, west of London. Lennon
is not hanging about though.
“Our approach has always
been to not wait until we get into
the new building and go in with a
big bang where everybody moves
in and is handed a brand new set
of work tools,” he says. “All of
the processes and workflows are
being introduced on a team-byteam
basis before people actually
move in.”
This step-by-step process is
not just being done with the new
building in mind, however. There
are other compelling reasons for
doing it that way, argues Lennon.
“Once we had chosen a vendor
(Ardendo/Vizrt), we decided
against a traditional waterfall
project management approach
where you do a user requirements
gathering and then you deliver
against that. Instead we took an
agile approach, pinpointing the
types of things we were trying to
John Lennon: “My job is to ensure
that we go back to what these
people do and then ensure we’re
giving them the right tools to do it”
achieve and what the workflows
are that we need to support. Then
we introduced a little bit at a time
and shaped out how the next part
of that journey was going to go.”
To do this, initially Lennon and
his team partnered up with the
internal production team working
on rugby union. He says: “They’re
a relatively small department, they
were enthusiastic and the type of
work they do touches most of our
production gamuts: live, outside
broadcast, studio and magazine
shows. To make a magazine programme,
you obviously need access
to content. You need to be able to
view your content, to mark up and
edit your content, to push it to a
studio and so on. It was a good fit.”
It was during this early work,
while mapping out and delivering
functionality, that the team had a
eureka moment. “Early on we
thought we would do rugby and then
simply roll on to the next department
and do a similar process with them,”
he says. “However, it was very clear
that this was the wrong approach
and essentially what we needed to do
was to take the rugby guys and bring
them on the journey with us for
longer so we could actually build a
Sky-wide platform.
“By doing this,” continues
Lennon, “when we roll on to the
other teams, we’re doing more
configuration changes rather
than underlying development. It
also creates advocates of the system,
people who in turn will talk
about what they’re now doing
differently to make great content.
And if they’re happy they’ll help
create a wave of enthusiasm that
others will also want to join.”
As of early 2011, file-based
workflows have been rolled out
across teams working on tennis,
American football, speedway,
pool and darts as well as rugby
union and they are currently in
the process of moving on to the
entertainment channels including
Sky Movies and Sky1.
It’s a journey that will continue
over the next few months. At the
same time, the recently added
capabilities will be built into the
new building so that, during the
summer, there can be a migration
phase of moving the pre-Harlequin
1 system into the building.
So far, so good
Lennon believes that the stepby-step,
agile approach to the
roll-out will be of most benefit
when they get to the latter stages
“One of the most important steps we took was to
decide that this was not to be designed and built
by engineers and then forced upon the operations
and content creation teams” — John Lennon
of the project when they’ll have
to migrate the biggest production
teams. “The most complicated
part of this for us is that
we’re only half a dozen or so
domains in,” he says. “During
the course of the next nine to 12
months that goes pretty much
up to 100% so the numbers
become quite significant. By that
stage, from a functionality and
technical point of view, bringing
on somebody like the football
team becomes much more
straightforward.”
This continued focus on people
and their workflows — and
not the technology behind it —
will make Sky’s tapeless migration
a success, argues Lennon.
“One of the most important
steps we took was to decide that
this was not to be designed and
built by engineers and then
forced upon the operations and
content creation teams,” he says.
“We realised we had to start with
the people and then with the
workflows. After that, technology
becomes an enabler.”
Not focusing on the technology
also helped when it came to
evangelising the change. Lennon
explains: “I traditionally hail
from an operational and production
background. So I’m not
fronting up as an engineer saying
here are loads of widgets. My job
is to ensure that we go back to
what these people do, what they
aspire to do and then ensure that
we’re giving them the right tools
to do it.”
Historically within the TV
market, the path to a file-based
operation has been beset with
potholes. However, with Sky’s
road proving fairly smooth so far,
Lennon has advice for others
making the same journey.
“The most important thing is
to engage your user community
as early as possible,” he remarks.
“There was some belief that, like
any type of change, some people
would be resistant. I think quite
the contrary. I think people have
shown that they’re hungry for it
and they’re excited by it and, in
many respects, they can’t wait to
get their hands on it.”
Managing the project internally
— but using external consultants
— has also helped the
File-based workflows have been rolled out across teams working on tennis,
American football, speedway, pool and darts as well as rugby union
rollout, according to Lennon. “I
don’t think anybody knows our
business as well as we do. There is
a tremendous amount of internal
talent, but more importantly, this
current project is about ensuring
that we’re delivering to the people
who make the great content. I
think an internal team can make
that connection so much better
than an external team.”
Sky’s shift from tape to digital
is a fairly seismic one that involves
just about everyone at the broadcaster.
But it is one that Lennon is
positive will be worth it.
“At the moment, the production
teams think that the way
they produce content is pretty
good,” he concludes. “And there
is no reason why they wouldn’t
believe that, because they do
deliver great content. What we’re
doing now is empowering them
to do it better, faster and in a
much more collaborative way.”
16 www.tvbeurope.com MARCH 2011