2. Current Scope
Licensee
- the capacity to serve more stations
Location
WGBH – 2 streams
Boston, MA
WGBX – 3 streams
Boston, MA
NHPTV – 5 streams
Manchester, NH
Boston Kids & Family
(Mayor’s Channel)
Cable only: Boston, MA
WORLD Channel National
Feed
68 markets
3. Why Outsource Master Control?
- 165+ independent licensees in the PTV system
- Technology and low interconnect costs make remote MC
operation viable
- In 2011, 68% of stations operated at a loss – compared
to 14% in 2007
- Stations can shed cap-and op-ex costs to resource
editorial content and audience, member engagement
4. NHPTV Case Study
-Transition from university to community licensee, loss of state
funding in 2012
-Identified opportunities for economies of scale in operations in
the areas of:
Master Control, Engineering and Traffic
Finance, Compliance and Procurement
Local Development and Membership Marketing
Programming and Research
Creative and Promotion
5. NHPTV Case Study
-NHPTV’s master control, engineering and traffic now provided by
WGBH:
- Traffic logs: transmission and record schedules
- Ingest and play out of programs and interstitials
- Advanced branding including automated line ups
- Management and storage of media
- Real-time closed captioning for live and first air.
- DTV Encoding and multiplexing to air ready ATSC stream
- Broadcast system maintenance (support)
6. Lessons learned: What you need to pay attention to
-Define and proof Traffic and Master Control work flow processes
-Document processes and provide staff training
-Have a contingency for substitution of missing media
-Clear demarcation of responsibilities, station vs. MC hub
-Have a contact list for escalation of technical or programming
issues.
- Detail the streams that are being delivered over the air or to
cable and satellite directly. The Nielsen data that needs to be
inserted
7. WGBH’s Approach to Master Control
-
Build trust, start early and listen
Clear lines of responsibility and accountability
Consistent and frequent in-depth communication
Project director assigned throughout transition
Affordable services, tailored to each client specific needs
8. WGBH’s Credentials
-State of the art facilities
-Infrastructure built to be scalable, relatively low cost to add
channels
-Expertise with the public television landscape and distribution (PBS,
APT, pledge, etc.)
-Experienced IT & Engineering staff in place
-Extensive bandwidth, multiple telecom providers in facility
-Full service facility (TV production studios, performance-recording
studios, captioning services and post production)
Editor's Notes
Mike – you could verbally note we began multi-casting 2 channels in 19?? And added 3 digital channels in 2004. shows we have history
Do we have a more recent # than 2011 for those operating at a loss?
Feel we are giving some of our secret sauce away but maybe it’s not so secret! It does show our expertise
