BBC and ITV Revive Paid VOD Streaming Plans

Streaming Media

Joined by NBC Universal, broadcasters BBC and ITV are working on a UK competitor to Netflix and Amazon Prime

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/News/Featured-News/BBC-and-ITV-Revive-Paid-VOD-Streaming-Plans-109707.aspx

The BBC and ITV are reviving plans to stream archive shows for a subscription and extend the commercial life of content.

A previous attempt in 2009, codenamed Kangaroo, was nixed by UK regulators.

A report in The Guardian, substantiated by "multiple sources," speculates that the broadcasters, along with NBCUniversal, are exploring a Netflix-style subscription service.

Admittedly in its early stages, the project is thought to focus on catalogue shows rather than first-runs, although some original commissions may be included.

The BBC is under pressure to make up to £800 million ($1.14 billion) in annual savings, and will be looking at any potential revenue to fill the hole.

ITV has been on a mission to reset the commercial broadcaster's dependence on ad revenues since chief executive Adam Crozier joined in 2010.

As of last month, non-advertising sales account for 49 per cent of ITV’s total revenues of £3.38 billion ($4.8 billion), up from around 30 per cent in 2010. Crozier said last month that ITV was looking to "explore new models for content creation and distribution, through a mix of pay channels and online."

While both networks run free catch-up services, programming is only available in a 30-day window after TV transmission.

BBC Store, launched in November, is a download to own service designed as a replacement for declining sales of BBC Worldwide physical disc sales. It has 7000 hours of shows available.

Both broadcasters, though, licence content to Netflix (ITV does this via ITV Studios) and will be eyeing the proven market in longtail views on the U.S. rival—a market which they had hoped to capture with the aborted Kangaroo.

This venture, which was also backed by Channel 4, intended to provided a single broadband VOD service in the UK and was blocked by the over zealous Competition Commission on the grounds that it would be a threat to the nascent video on demand market.

This opened the door wide to Netflix, which subsequently capitalised on the vacancy by launching in 2012. It now counts more than 5 million UK subscribers.

For this reason, and the increasing impact of other streamers like Amazon Prime, if the BBC and ITV proceed with a new paid VOD offer it is unlikely to run into the same competition issues. Nor would the new service include each broadcaster’s catch-up service, which was another concern of the regulator.

Assets from Kangaroo were acquired by Arqiva which proceded to launch ad-funded VOD service SeeSaw in February 2010 offering content from BBC Worldwide, Channel 4, Channel Five, and several production companies. This was shut down in October 2011 after failing to gain traction.

In the interim, the BBC and ITV retrained efforts on project Canvas which eventually surfaced as internet connected TV platform YouView.

Merging virtual with live – the next sports evolution?

Sports Video Group

Imagine sports presentation where a virtual world is combined with the actual event and the audience, user, or gamer can switch or play between the two. This is the firm belief of Lawrence Duffy, founder and managing director of Aurora Media Worldwide, the three year old sports media agency behind host coverage of all-electric motorsport FIA Formula E Championship.

http://svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/svge-analysis-merging-virtual-with-live-the-next-sports-evolution/

“We’ve looked at concepts which would allow us to map a virtual world against the actual world using all the data that we now have access to,” says Duffy. “We can create a virtual world that adds value to the live property. This will be the next natural step for some sports to take. There is a natural coming together between gaming, digital and live sports — between playing and watching – and it will happen soon.”

The most obvious synergies are in e-sports where amateur gamers can already test their mettle against professional gamers and where online gaming is transitioning into a major live streamed event. “Imagine a scenario in a Formula-E race where there’s an amazing overtake manoeuvre and you replay that from every angle and also as a 360-degree virtual replay,” he says.

An example of this cited by Duffy is the Virtual Eye augmented reality presentation which has become core to America’s Cup coverage online. In this system, GPS tracking data sent 1-10 times a second is recreated as graphics detailing the entire race course, including marks, laylines, advantage lines and distances between the boats. All of this information is available in real-time for immediate review and post-race analysis.

“Replication of this in other sports is inevitable,” says Duffy. “Kids can watch a Manchester City game live and then play on their PS4 and recreate the goals they’ve just seen. There’s a thin wall between those two experiences and sports producers will continue to pull down those walls.”

Aurora Media has a lot to live up to given the tagline on its website: “We like to shoot with tomorrow’s kit today, with brilliant post. We like to challenge and innovate.”

The approach is exemplified in its production of Formula-E for which it is the host broadcaster of the ten race calendar until 2016-17. “Formula E represents the collision between the digital space and TV. It’s about unpacking the OB in order to get further inside the sport than anyone has ever got before.”

He elaborates; “In a world where we can walk down a street and check an instant digital readout on our wrist giving us a record of steps or energy consumed, the viewer wants all data involved in a sport to come to the screen. They want it to be accessible, immediate and as entertaining as possible.”

This philosophy informed Aurora’s choice of camera placement for F-E. There are cameras positioned in the cone of each car and in the rain light at the back for nose to tail action. Layered on top of that is data, a key one being realtime data about the battery life of a car – akin to fuel levels in Formula One (information which FOM keep out of the public eye).

Says Duffy, “Another example from Formula-E is live streamed team to driver radio comms. When you combine live action with data assets and camera positions right inside the sport, it gives the fan a much more entertaining and informative experience.”

Formula-E also famously introduced the fan boost, a means by which fans can affect the outcome of a race by virtually injecting additional power into a race car through interaction on social media. “The industry has talked for a decade about convergence of digital and social platforms with TV and now the opportunities for second and third screen interaction are very real,” says Duffy.

The motorsport is also working with developer 360 Racing to stream 360-degree cameras on board four cars during races. YouTube videos from races have been posted since last May but new tests ongoing since November are intended to give viewers a second screen experience live from a driver’s point of view.

“The 360 cameras we tested are a runaway success and the feedback phenomenal,” reports Duffy. “It speaks to the signature of Formula E which is to be an online and fan-based experience, to be on platforms that allow people to take part. VR and 360-degree video is an ideal way to unpack areas of the track that have not been seen before. We will continue to look at it (live 360) and look to roll it out as an ongoing proposition.”

He admits that innovation of this sort is easier in a sport fresh to market such as Formula-E, which as part of its branding, wants to be seen as a young, rule breaking and tech-savvy. “it is inevitable when you start from a new position that you can be bold,” he says. “That said, your boldness is based on an end-game which, for Formula-E, is to engage, motivate and monetise a sports audience with a new entertainment property.”

A new area for sports production

Duffy, a former IMG and Endemol executive, co-founded Aurora in 2012 and now employs around 30 staff including former Channel 4 live sports editor Jamie Aitchison who is the firm’s commercial & development director. Aurora is one of a number of sports producers – Whisper Films, Whistle Sports and ITN Productions among others – trying to break the duopoly of sports production in the UK.

“If there is a duopoly it’s been hard won,” says Duffy. “People say the contracts are locked up between IMG and Sunset+Vine but they’ve worked hard to get them so there’s no antipathy there. At the same time there’s a third way and it’s the reason I set up this business.”

Traditional sports production companies work with sports rights holders who retain the rights, he says. “Then there are sports [like MLB] which keep control of rights and produce their own media. There is a third way and this is the area in which we sit. This is between working with somebody’s IP and bringing your own IP to the table.

“It’s a new area for sports production and the reason why people come to us to develop original IP. We will be bold in developing solutions that bring digital virtual and live factual to those sports which want it.”

Aurora’s other contracts include for Dubai Duty Free Tennis, part of the ATP tour. It has just signed to work with Dubai-based Falcon and Associates on its social and digital properties including Badminton’s World Superseries Finals. It produces Goodwood Festival of Speed Revival for ITV and elite track cycling 6 Day Cycling held at the Lee Valley Velo Park.

Sky Spreads its Bet in Online Futures With FubuTV and iFlix

Streaming Media 

The broadcaster is preparing for a time beyond traditional TV viewing by making investments in sports and entertainment streamers around the globe.

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/Sky-Spreads-its-Bet-in-Online-Futures-With-FubuTV-and-iFlix-109698.aspx

British-based European satellite broadcaster Sky has added to its portfolio of online streaming ventures with fresh investments in U.S. online sports pay service FubotTV  and in Asian OTT content provider iFlix.

The moves are part of the pan-European broadcaster's ongoing programme of investing in innovative startups directed at safeguarding its future as viewers shift from traditional TV consumption.

Having built its subscriptions business in the U.K. on live sports content, the broadcaster is not unnaturally focusing many of its investments at sports streamers.

FuboTV launched in January 2015, and has attracted 400,000 subscribers paying $10 a month for a bundle of live football match sports and magazine-style content. According to the company, it is the second-largest aggregator and distributor of OTT sports content and the fastest-growing "virtual payTV operator" in the U.S.

Distribution deals with Univision, beIN Sports, GolTV, and Benfica TV mean FuboTV delivers 30 to 40 live football games a week over the Akamai CDN, including MLS and Spanish La Liga matches. Over a quarter of subscribers are Latin American. The service is available on the web and Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon, iOS, and Android devices.

Sky's stake was matched by 21st Century Fox, which owns 39 percent of Sky. The $15 million total funding round included additional backers such as former NBA commissioner David Stern. Univision Communications invested previously, and FuboTV received seed investments from Anthony Vinciquerra, former CEO of Fox Networks Group, and Blake Krikorian, co-founder of Sling Media.

Neither Sky nor Fox are supplying the service with content, though both now take a seat on the board.

"We’re excited to be investing in FuboTV, at a time when our customers are looking to consume more and more content, whenever and wherever they are," said Emma Lloyd, director of corporate development and strategic investments at Sky.

This news follows recent Sky investments in U.K.-based mobile fan engagement and sports marketing company InCrowd Sports (for €396,000); U.S. sports streamer Whistle Sports ($7 million) and DataXu, a Boston-based provider of programmatic advertising analytics software ($10 million). In December, Sky paid $300,000 for a stake in LA-based online TV content publisher TV4 Entertainment.

Earlier this week Sky paid $45 million for a share of iFlix, which has been dubbed an Asian rival to Netflix. The service provides unlimited access to a library of Hollywood titles and Asian regional and local movies and TV shows

Although it operates in the U.K., Italy, and Germany, this is Sky's first investment in the APAC region.

iFlix was founded less than year ago, and has 1 million subscribers in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. It plans to extend its service to new Asian markets in the coming months.

“iFlix has quickly established itself as southeast Asia’s most exciting and fastest-growing streaming TV service,” said Sky Group CFO Andrew Griffith. “There are lots of opportunities for Sky and iFlix to work together and share expertise as both companies continue to expand.”

CES 2016 Report

TVB Europe

https://issuu.com/newbayeurope/docs/tvbe_mar16/28

It is traditional for press to wait in line for up to three hours just to get into jam packed Consumer Electronics Show (CES) news conferences but this year along with those of the major TV vendors, the queues were snaking round the block for YouTube. Samsung and LG press events were still standing room only – but they lacked the buzz of keynotes from Netflix and YouTube.

It was symbolic of the show's key theme which was of power draining from old TV straight into digital video. 

“I believe digital video will overtake TV to become the single largest way people spend their free time before the end of the decade,” predicted YouTube chief business officer Robert Kyncl, the day after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the next steps in global domination by lighting up 130 new territories for the OTT subscription service. 

Smartphones are emerging as the TV screen's biggest competitor, and are increasingly being used for long form viewing, not just short clips. Kyncl said the average viewer now watches 1 hour 15 minutes of digital video per day, a number that will grow. Google claims that YouTube on mobile alone reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network and that 600,000 people in the U.S cut their cable subscriptions last quarter. 

Added to that, TV shipments are down, with IHS reporting the biggest annual decline in five years for Q2 2015. It expects no growth in 2016 either. 

The CTA (Consumer Technology Association), which owns and produces CES, was slightly more optimistic. It projects revenues will reach $19 billion for all TV sets and displays in 2016, on par with 2015, as volumes drop one percent to just under 40 million units. Well-established technologies including smartphones, televisions and laptops will lead to a small growth in the CE market this year. While these categories account for 51 percent of the industry’s revenue, the catalysts for future growth are newer innovations such as wearables, virtual reality and drones.

“The industry is at an inflection point, because nascent categories will continue to gain market share,” explained Shawn DuBravac, chief economist, CTA. 

It's doubtful that any of the 3800 exhibiting companies truly achieves the impact they want at CES amid all the white noise and the shouting matches which constitute a stand interview. So let's boil it down. From a tech point of view CES2016 was about High Dynamic Range (HDR) and virtual reality (VR) wrapped in an increasingly omnipresent internet of things (IoT).

Drone data

The CTA expects US sales of drones to reach one million units in 2016, a 145% increase from 2015’s total. The US Federal Aviation Authority has mandated registration of all UAVs in response to increased mid-air incidents involving them, one reason why leading developer DJI launched a beta geofencing system called Geospatial Environment Online (GEO), designed to prevent drones from operating in restricted areas.

GEO fitted, a DJI drone will update maps and restrictions based on unfolding events, including sports competitions. It's expected to go live later this year.

Indeed, data gathered by drones is thought to be an even more compelling business case than pure video. “If you shoot a 3D map and print it with your 3D printer, you can get a 3D model of your house, for example,” suggested DJI executive Brendan Schulman. “There are lots of cool things you can do with the data you collect.”

No giant CE company has yet made a move into drones (Sony has development plans and Intel just acquired drone firm Ascending). “Companies deciding to do drones learn just how hard they are to do,” reckoned 3D Robotics, CRO, Colin Guinn. “It’s arguably the most complicated consumer electronics.”

2016 for VR lift off

With over 120 companies touting VR or AR developments in Vegas, virtual reality was the hit of the show. When Facebook's $600 Oculus launches at end of March it will help VR unit sales this year to top 1.2 million in the US, marking a 500% increase from 2015 (source: CTA) and accounting for $540m in revenues. The Diffusion Group reckons global revenues related to VR will top $18bn (€16.6bn) by 2025.

Among companies entering the fray is Zeiss which applied its knowledge of optics to the VR One GX, a phone-based head mounted display costing $130. Unlike Samsung's Gear VR, a phone-tray solution enables the Zeiss device to work with any smartphone on the market today.

NextVR hosted a private viewing of a live streamed NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics, produced with NextVR investor Time Warner-owned Turner Sports. The company also reported that it worked with Qualcomm to develop software for the new Snapdragon 820 processor that enables delivery of live 360-degree content to mobile phones.

One area that promises to give the VR market even more traction will be the increasing availability of 360-degree VR cameras. Nikon's unveiling of its first action camera which shoots 360-degree video in 4K from a 20.8-megapixel sensor, was a surprise. Slightly larger and less of a cube than GoPro Hero, the KeyMission 360 features lenses on front and back, is shockproof to 6.6 feet, waterproof to 100 feet, and touts electronic vibration reduction. It's just the first of Nikon’s action cameras range along with a variety of dedicated accessories to be released this spring.

Well-produced content is “desperately needed” to help VR take off, according to Hollywood execs at a panel on the topic. "A lot of good technology is being developed but there’s also lot of bad content," opined Cliff Plumer, president of VR developer Jaunt Studios.

Sony said it would start selling $300 VR PlayStation goggles by Q2 2016 and Fox announced an a minority investment in VR firm Osterhout Design Group. It also unveiled The Martian VR Experience, companion piece to Ridley Scott's feature.

David Greenbaum, one of the directors of the Fox Innovation Lab that co-produced The Martian VR project, added; "We thought we were just doing R&D, but now people want to buy [VR content]. We are investing time and energy in making the best stuff and getting it out there."

However, Eric Shamlin, executive producer at content studio Secret Location, warned: “It’s probably going to be 2017 before VR content is something you can monetize.”

HDR to the rescue

TV and DVD player makers are pinning their hopes on HDR to reinvigorate the living room big screen as the place to experience the best sound and image.

Helping smooth consumer sales by streamlining the marketing speak used to promote a screen's brightness, the UHD Alliance (of CE vendors such as LG and Sony and content producers like Disney, Netflix) announced 'Ultra HD Premium', a top of the range specification for distributing and displaying content.

To meet the specs, screens must deliver 10-bit colour bit depth, and they must reproduce at least 90 percent of the P3 colour gamut, the same as digitally projected theatrical exhibition. In terms of HDR, the screen must meet SMPTE ST2084 EOTF and deliver certain peak brightness levels. 

This should help boost 4K TV sales achieve the $10bn revenue predicted by the CTA in US retail this year 2016. Indeed, all 2016 OLED models from LG feature the Ultra HD Premium seal of approval. Panasonic's new flagship DX900 LED TV series, also has 'Premium' certification as do units from Samsung and Sony.

“UHD sets will be at 21% of sales globally in 2016,” said Steve Koenig, CTA, Snr director of market research. “The vast majority of those will be 50 in. and above. And, as set makers move to 1080p for sets smaller than 50 in. and 4K for sets larger than 50 in., the demise of 720p seems inevitable.”

OTT delivery models can easily accommodate the 20% extra data over ‘normal’ UHD, hence Netflix and YouTube announced plans to launch UHD HDR content later this year. Hastings claimed; “We have over 1000 engineers focusing on better global delivery, more intuitive UIs, incredible picture and audio quality.”

Yet this is a lot more complicated for broadcasters who are still struggling to deliver HD without heavy compression. Frustration with the broadcast HDR standardisation process has forced Technicolor and Philips to marry their respective HDR technologies.

The approach will offer backwards compatibility to Standard Dynamic Range displays, just like the BBC/NHK's HDR proposals and include an HDR solution for live broadcast. But since Technicolor and Philips own a set top box business they are keen to badge their consumer boxes – and screens/STBs of third parties - as offering Technicolor HDR and to compete with rival Dolby Vision. 

Dolby announced that Warner Bros., Universal, MGM, and Netflix will all support Dolby Vision with new releases and catalogue titles mastered in the format. Owners of 2016 LG 4K OLEDs will be able to stream HDR content from Netflix on LG’s updated webOS 3.0 Smart TV platform later this year. And in cooperation with Amazon, LG OLEDs will offer the newest original HDR content via Amazon Video. 

Rounding out the home entertainment picture: Philips, Panasonic and Samsung announced 4K UHD Blu-ray players with support for high dynamic range while Sony opted to introduce its new 4K on-demand streaming service 'Ultra' that is exclusive to Ultra HD Bravia TVs.

Sony also announced the FDR-AX53 4K Handycam targeting YouTubers. “Two years ago I said, 4K for the price of 2K. Last year, I said 4K for 1K,” explained Sony Electronics president and COO Mike Fasulo, without specifying a price for the camera. “This year I say, 4K for everyone.”

Just another appliance

"We believe the future of TV is still TV,” declared Anthony Smith-Chaigneau, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Nagra, presenting the company's new all-in-one TV experience called intuiTV. Targeted at pay-TV operators as a managed cloud-based platform for adding any mix of premium content with live TV, VOD, SVOD, PVR and social TV. 

"The advanced TV market is broken broke and heading toward a cold computer dashboard of coloured tiles," added Smith-Chaigneau. "We believe in unifying this fragmented market for the consumer by having all their entertainment in one place and delivering a much better experience."

With Samsung’s flagship UHD TV KS9500 users can adjust the lighting, watch the baby monitor, and even create “mood schemes” with a group of smart devices. They could even watch TV if they wanted. TV vendors have wised up to the idea that watching TV may no longer be the centre of our lives, but are trying to reaffirm the screen's presence in the living room as a central smart home hub to control the house’s smart devices. 

The CTA suggests the IoT will drive the consumer tech industry to $287bn in revenues, an all time high. “The exponential growth of the IoT and the lightning-fast speed of innovation are key reasons we’ll see such strong growth across so many tech categories,” said Shapiro. “Highly sophisticated technology is becoming more affordable and accessible – improving our safety, productivity and entertainment.”

Julie Brill of the US Federal Trade Commission described what the future of the IoT will look like. “The internet will disappear through it and devices will just start to be connected, the way we think about electricity now,” she said. 

The TV is becoming just another appliance.

BT Sport reveals plans to increase live UHD event coverage

Sports Video Group 

As Sky Sports readies its UHD channel this summer, BT Sport is upping the ante by broadcasting all 42 English Premier League matches to which it has live rights from next season. BT Sport’s COO Jamie Hindhaugh revealed that, in addition, even more 4K transmissions will be added to the BT Sport Ultra HD channel.

http://svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/bt-sport-lays-plans-to-increase-live-uhd-event-coverage/

“We’ve made 52 live UHD outside broadcasts to date and we’re looking to expand,” he said. “From next season we will air every single EPL game and will enhance a number of other events and football matches  including more UEFA Champions League tieswith live UHD.”

To this end the broadcaster is working with its existing suppliers to ensure it has the facilities ready. The suppliers include Arena, which is building three large UHD trucks and in the final year of 38 match per year EPL coverage for BT Sport in HD; and Telegenic which covers rugby league for BT Sport and has recently equipped its T25 4K vehicle with 14 Sony HDC-4300s.

Despite testing High Dynamic Range (HDR), including with the BBC on America’s Cup and FA Cup transmissions, BT Sport will not be adding HDR into its UHD mix until 2017. “There is a danger of causing confusion to consumers who are only just upgrading to 4K TVs,” said Hindhaugh. “We don’t think the industry needs to be confusing the issue today by asking them to go out buy and an HDR-enabled one.”

Hindhaugh said BT Sport is actively trialing the technology and is positive about HDR forming part of its workflow, but not before 2017.

‘There are two main formats for HDR and we’ve trialled both but the standards and the technical pipeline is still not settled,” said Hindhaugh. “The BBC [HDR] version is easier to implement we feel but we are not just BT Sport we are BT TV so we need to look at the version the movie houses have. We think there is a future in which both versions can be played out.”

BT has shot eight events as a HD and UHD simulcast and needs to find ways of doing this efficiently to fulfill its agreement with rights holders.

Explains Hindhaugh, “The big challenge is that the contract we have with rights holders calls for a minimum camera spec around HD and minimum delivery standards. So we need to capture in 4K as would capture in HD and downres the 4K for an HD feed. We are confident this is possible and you will see us doing more and more of it.”

The BT executive was also bullish on Virtual Reality, having trialled the technology with LiveLike at the NBA Games at the O2 in January.

“VR is really an enhancement of the linear broadcast. I don’t personally believe people want to watch a whole live event that way and the lesson from 3D about sport is that 3D limits the enjoyment of sport as a group viewing experience. That said, there are 10 million households with games [machines] in the UK and that is where VR will leap from. If you have a VR streaming app and some live content that is the direction we are looking at.”

BT has been open about sharing its UHD workflow learnings with broadcasters including Canadian cable co. Rogers with whom it shot the NBA match between the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors at The O2.

“We’ve had most of the major European broadcasters come and look at how we’ve done 4K and sharing the challenges and opportunities. Working with Rogers for example we were the first broadcaster to deliver live 4K into North America. We are very pragmatic and open about supporting other country’s journey into 4K because we it helps the market grow and makes more content available.”

Is VFX Success Founded on Exploitation and Gender Divide?

IBC

Last month's Oscars were groundbreaking in recognition of the first win for a VFX Supervisor who happened to be female and for underlining London's status as the world capital of visual and practical effects.

http://www.ibc.org/hot-news/is-vfx-success-founded-on-exploitation-and-gender-divide

However, alarm bells should ring when Sara Bennett's well deserved win for Ex-Machina makes headlines and when controversy over the business model of studio VFX work still rages.

Bennett was only the third woman nominated in the category, following Suzanne Benson's win in 1986 for ‘Alien’ and Pamela Easley, who received a nomination for ‘Cliffhanger’ in 1993. The Oscar rules limiting eligibility to craftspeople (rather than producers) was not endorsed by the Visual Effects Steering Committee until 1998 making Bennett the first women with a Visual Effects Supervisor credit to be nominated and to win.

The co-founder of facility Milk collected the Award along with a team of VFX leads from Double Negative.

“While I am extremely proud of her, it is tragic that she is only the second female to win and tragic that she is the first VFX Supervisor to win,” commented Milk CEO and Co-Founder Will Cohen. “Many parts of the film industry have been male dominated. I can certainly see the balance being addressed in VFX with more women coming in at entry level, but there is a lot more work to be done.”

He also points out that more women tend to work in film production rather than creative roles. “There is a stereotypical view that women are great at mutitasking but I'd like to see more men take on production and pre-production roles.”

Milk and DNeg's win for ‘Ex-Machina’ was the fifth in the past nine years for which UK facilities have won the best VFX Oscar. What's more, four of the 2015 nominated movies in the category featured work led by UK shops.

MPC and Framestore were nominated for’ The Martian’, Cinesite teams in London and Montreal completed 138 shots for ‘The Revenant’; and ‘Star Wars’: ‘The Force Awakens’, was supervised by British artists stationed at ILM London. The latter also featured the practical effects wizardry of British special effects supervisor Chris Corbould.

It has taken London nearly three decades to become the world hub for feature film and TV VFX. At this moment only Vancouver and Wellington, New Zealand – home of Weta – compete, and arguably no location trumps the UK's combination of production tax rebates, talent pool and geography in which a multitude of craft companies and expertise are often a short walk away.

“One of the benefits of the UK is that we are collectively very integrated,” said William Sargent, Framestore Co-founder and CEO. “Foreign directors rely on British crews, from carpenters to VFX artists, because UK craft teams exhibit lateral thinking and collaborate as a very cohesive unit. Quite simply, studio executives, directors and DPs like working here.”

At the same, though, UK union BECTU ((Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) says membership of its VFX division has “skyrocketed” amid concerns about conditions. BECTU claims that on average UK VFX workers do 1.5 hours of unpaid overtime per day.

Although BECTU is not recognised by most UK facilities, membership is said by the union to be rising at houses including Framestore, Double Negative and MPC. It may take MPC to the UK government's Central Arbitration Committee to force recognition. If it wins, BECTU would be able to collectively bargain for better pay and conditions on behalf of members.

Paul Evans, BECTU national officer, said, “Our members don’t believe that their management are managing them well. They are essentially working an extra day per week, without pay."

Its fight echoes the call for wider international union recognition of the VFX community which occurred following the collapse of LA post house Rhythm & Hues, despite an Oscar win for ‘Life of Pi’, in 2013. Protests were staged at the 2013 and 2014 Academy Awards to raise awareness of the issue, but not resulting in an industry change.

The sheer scale of Hollywood's tentpole releases which regularly top 2000 VFX shots and are rising all the time, the tight deadlines and last minute changes imposed on suppliers, and rising competition from vendors in Singapore, China and India with less expensive labour costs, are all putting pressure on facility management which, in turn, knocks-on to staff.

Cracking the encoder/decoder code

TV Technology

With software solutions now in abundance, encoding and decoding have come a long way from the metal boxes of a decade ago. But is software always better?

http://www.tvtechnologyeurope.com/buyers-guide/cracking-the-encoder-decoder-code/01176

The need to deliver to more and more devices is complicated by the rise of video quality expectations for 'TV everywhere'. Consumers want to experience ever-better HD or UHD quality on any screen. These higher expectations are intimately linked with the question of ensuring delivery to a maximum number of consumers through low bandwidth mobile networks where the threat of limited access, slow playback capabilities and unreliable connections is constantly looming.

Multi-screen encoding and transcoding solutions are key to helping broadcasters, programmers, content owners and their multichannel video programme distributors (MVPDs) – such as cable, DTH satellite or telecoms operators – and OTT players to overcome the numerous challenges of delivering reliable, high quality video content to a wide variety of devices.

For ATEME, the proliferation of those screens across different networks – payTV, OTT, and 3G/4G – calls for an increasing number of video formats to be produced at the video head end. Its multi-screen solutions address those challenges with a particular focus on video quality at the lowest bitrates.

Its TITAN Live is a real-time multi-channel/format encoder claiming the highest bandwidth efficiency on the market powered by home-grown encoding technology. TITAN embeds up to 48x3G-SDI inputs and can also receive IP sources from satellite, making it a convergent solution for complex video head ends.

The top two buying criteria for broadcast customers with multiplatform distribution needs are simplicity of use and flexibility. “Getting more done with the same, or even fewer, resources requires software that is easy to use and capable of shielding the complexity of the underlying operation,” says Mark Senecal, manager of product management, Imagine Communications. “In terms of flexibility, broadcast customers require solutions that are able to adapt to new platform launches with new codecs or additional processing requirements, without making compromises on any platform.”

Imagine's key products are SelenioFlex Live addressing multiplatform delivery for linear streams and SelenioFlex File, optimised for handling file-based workflows. The underlying architecture is Zenium, the company's modular software that enables customers to use multiple codecs to address the specific application and desired platforms for delivery, whether for SD, HD or UHD, to any device.

But is a software solution always the answer? There are two sides to this story. It is possible to make the case that with a fixed receiver platform (such as a Roku box) it can be more economical to include hardware decode. But most vendors contend that using software to encode is a much better solution.

“By their very nature, software solutions are more flexible than the hardware equivalent, as they can be updated 'on the fly' without worrying if the hardware acceleration has enough horsepower to accommodate the change,” says Paul Turner, vp of enterprise product management, Telestream. “And the one thing that is constant in this industry is change – new formats are coming out all the time.”

Telestream offer a version of Vantage targeted at the creation of multiscreen assets. It also offers GPU-accelerated Lightspeed encoding. Explains Turner; “The principle here is that if each individual job can complete more quickly via our Lightspeed servers, then the customer can achieve more throughput per hour, with lower CDN costs per delivered hour, all of which contributes to an improved bottom line for our customers.”

But Matrox notes that purpose built, hardware-based encoders for live applications can sometimes offer an advantage. A small, embedded encoder is less exposed to network and internet risks than a general-purpose computing platform running software, says Dan Maloney, senior technical marketing manager.

“At the transcoder level, software will almost always be the preferred solution from a flexibility standpoint, but hardware will come into play when executing latest-generation video processes that surpass the capabilities of standard CPUs. For example, 4Kp60 H.264 Long GOP encoding requires hardware (as provided by Matrox M264 H.264 encoding accelerator) particularly if quality and real time encoding are important.”Clearly, if a hardware solution is selected, be aware that these devices cannot easily be reprogrammed should tech trends change. “Particularly when you need more power for peak seasons, scalability and flexibility of solutions needs to be taken into consideration,” says Jiri Matela, CEO of Czech firm Comprimato. “For this, a software solution is more appropriate.”

Comprimato claims to market “the fastest, standard compliant, JPEG2000 software encoder and decoder” around. Its software codec leverages the performance of GPUs and CPUs to speed up video and image compression and can be used in combination with the video processing GStreamer framework. Comprimato says its codec helps cut infrastructure costs by 70 percent, while reducing development cycles by 50 percent therefore enabling new revenue streams such as UHD video in real-time, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and High Frame Rate (HFR) video.

“By separating the software and hardware aspects of these solutions, it is possible for broadcasters to have different budget cycles for the two components for a single application/solution,” says Tom Lattie, VP, market management at Harmonic. “Typically the software component has a very long lifecycle with minimal ongoing investment, usually in the form of a service level agreement. This allows the broadcaster to receive continuous innovation with little disruption and no significant incremental capital outlay. Conversely, broadcasters can replace lower cost general IT infrastructure components on a more frequent or as needed basis.”

Harmonic says that its Electra X advanced media processor is the industry’s first fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery of SD, HD and UHD content. The appliance features real-time encoding of SD, HD and UHD media, integrated with high-quality branding and graphics, and reliable transport stream playout. Under the hood, the Electra X is driven by Harmonic's PURE compression, the company's proprietary encoding engine.

Harmonic’s Electra X3 was a key element in enabling NASA to deliver UHD video quality at minimum bandwidth, on its new NASA TV UHD channel, transmitted via the AMC-18C satellite. The Electra X encoding technology supports resolutions up to 2160p60 for broadcast and OTT multiscreen delivery. NASA and Harmonic have also begun discussions about adding high dynamic range (HDR) and expanded colour-space technologies to the channel as standards emerge.

“Clearly, broadcasters need an encoder that features codec diversity, offering support for formats such as MPEG-2 and AVC with a non-forklift path to HEVC,” offers Lattie. “The encoder should also support simultaneous generation and output of streams to enable traditional broadcast distribution as well as adaptive bitrate.”

With the industry transitioning to IP workflows, it is equally important that encoding/decoding devices support both IP and traditional SDI interfaces, giving broadcasters the flexibility to deploy in architectures today and migrate to IP when appropriate.