streaming services and live event producers to pick and choose individual elements, or outsource the turnkey production. We see industry-leading rights-holders delivering more events at a consistently higher quality and lower cost. We were doing this successfully before Covid-19. Top-tier producers, including ESPN, CBS Sports, The Recording Academy (the Grammys) and FloSports are leveraging these
to and from anywhere in the world – plus social media clips. MIMiC is cost-effective and scalable, providing all of the production elements in an integrated offering – although there are limits to the scale of event it can be used for. As a flexible, as-a-service tool, it provides scope for trialling new programming, without the commitment of investing in additional facilities. For example, if you want Q : How is the more widespread use of remote production and cloud-based tools set to impact the industry in the long term? Glenn Adamo: The permanent shift has been to a bigger menu of production choices. Before the pandemic, the broadcasting industry had a very fixed production menu. But broadcasters, leagues, over-the-top providers and other live content producers have been forced to choose alternative production models. Traditional mobile production to stream swamp buggy races in Florida to see if there’s an audience, a cloud tool like MIMiC is the way to go. has given way in many cases to remote production, cloud-based production and combinations of the three, creating new ways of producing live and virtual event programming. What’s more, those in the industry who were reluctant to adopt new methods and technologies have seen them tried, tested and proven to work. Ian Dittbrenner: Likewise, enterprise, entertainment and awards shows have a broader spectrum of options. Remote production tools have made live streams from far-flung and virtual locations easier than ever. For awards shows, cloud-based clipping and editing capabilities support the
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production-as-a-service models to great effect. Q : What impact is having on The Switch?
rapid delivery of real-time clips of presentations, performances, winners’ reactions and other highlights. The result is a rich mix of feeds from stages, sound stages, backstage, remote locations and even living rooms – marrying live, virtual and as-live segments into a seamless flow. Charles Conroy: Esports producers were pioneers of remote production, simply because they couldn’t justify a full, on-the-ground production at first. The sport was born online. Physical production came later. Esports was quick to adapt to the pandemic, since competitors don’t need to be in a physical space – in turn, its production doesn’t either. The pandemic reminded esports producers that remote production works just as well today – and most esports production crews will likely remain permanently remote. It’s totally unnecessary for them to travel. Q : A lot of companies are offering various remote and cloud-based services. What differentiates The Switch? Eric Cooney: Being able to bundle production and transmission services is a major differentiator – and simplifies organising live-event coverage, while enabling cost savings. The footprint of our transmission network, combined with the production services layered on top, is quite a unique offering. Universal access is another critical advantage The Switch offers. Irrespective of where your live content is – a baseball stadium, a football ground, a golf course – or where it’s going, The Switch is on hand.
the industry’s evolution
Eric Cooney: As we make it easier to do more for less, we not only enable live streams of more niche, smaller sports and entertainment programmes, but a much wider range of esports and enterprise events. To meet growing demand for our production-as-a-service offering, we are making significant investments to include innovative, cloud-based transmission services, as well as a myriad of next-generation production services elements – watch this space! Q : Why the decision to launch cloud video services? Robert Szabó-Rowe: MIMiC, The Switch’s cloud video services platform, complements the existing remote production and delivery services we helped pioneer, letting content producers choose the level of service they need. They can even decide whether to use their own crew, or one provided by The Switch. MIMiC includes remote production, clipping and editing, as well as transmission. Essentially, it empowers rights-holders of all sizes and types to produce and deliver broadcast-quality live programming
THOSE IN THE INDUSTRYWHOWERE RELUCTANT TO ADOPT NEWMETHODS AND TECHNOLOGIES HAVE SEEN THEMTRIED, TESTEDANDPROVEN TOWORK
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