GlobeCast has recently completed a significant deal with Bollywood TV network B4U to provide playout and media management services for eight of its worldwide channels. The five-year deal also includes the initial ingest and archive of 22,500 hours of content as well as the implementation of a fully tapeless workflow.
B4U will ingest and deliver content made in India to a library at GlobeCast’s facility in central London. From here, the broadcaster can remotely access and edit the content from its own facility for playout to the UK, United States, India, Malaysia and the Middle East — all without the use of tapes and its associated cost and timing.
The initial stage of the project has involved ingest of 22,500 hours of content in a high-quality master format (30Mb/s) for storage at GlobeCast’s London facility. Using subsidiary NETIA’s Manreo software, GlobeCast will host a media asset management system that will enable B4U to remotely search, view and organize the content. When ready for playout, the content will be transcoded and supplied to GlobeCast’s playout automation system automatically.
Playout for the eight channels went live March 31 and included subtitling in English, Malay and Arabic live at the point of playout, automatic audio level control and logo insertions and graphics.
To complete the tapeless workflow, GlobeCast has provided B4U with the equipment and connectivity for a remote ingest site in India as well as an edit bay at B4U’s offices in North London. Both sites will eventually be connected to GlobeCast’s worldwide fiber network.