FEED Winter 2020/21 Newsletter

“GOING FORWARD, EVERYTHING WE’RE DEVELOPING INVOLVES VIRTUALISATION AND BEING CLOUD-BASED”

AN OFFICE FROM HOME Canada’s CBC was able to clear its facilities quickly, distributing 530 laptops to staff for home working

MARK PIZZEY: It’s very interesting to hear the stories so far, because I can relate to them all, both as a supplier and as somebody absorbing the news. When March came about, it seemed everybody had to react. In the case of the BBC, which I work closely with, we have an automation product, Mosart, which has been a success there for many years. And by default, it enables a socially distanced way of making programmes. It wasn’t like they had to turn around and cut the number of people in the gallery, because news production in the majority of BBC sites already uses that product, so they realised that was a bit of a blessing. It wasn’t something anybody could have predicted. It was something acquired to save money, not to socially distance. A lot of interesting projects, especially in sports, had to be shelved, but news went on. And the BBC’s traditional broadcast news viewing figures rocketed up, and that includes the regional news as well.The reason is, quite simply, more people were working from home and we all went back to watching traditional television bulletins. Sure, we’ve got the apps and 24-hour access and iPlayer, but people were watching news the way they would have done many years ago. Everybody tuned in, to use an old-fashioned term, to hear the prime minister’s announcement. As a supplier, our priority became how to help broadcasters continue to make programmes.The immediate focus of attention became remote production.Vizrt acquired Newtek recently and our focus is to make remote production a lot more affordable. As the year has gone on, I’ve seen that popularity increase, especially as people look ahead to 2021. So we were affected just as the broadcasters were. But the news goes on. More eyes are on it than ever. One positive thing about 2020 is it’s the year of the return of traditional broadcast news.

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