FEED Autumn 2024 Newsletter

TICKER TAPE

LIVE PRODUCTION KTRK chooses Brightline

Houston broadcaster KTRK-TV has been on the scene for 70 years and is the only major network affiliate in Houston to occupy its original studio facility. With 75 hours of locally produced newscasts each week and live and streaming content, its studios are continually updated to produce the best possible video content for local viewers – however they’re watching. KTRK is a long-time Brightline customer, with over 60 fixtures in its Bissonnet Street location. In 2023, it purchased 37 Brightline L1.2 variable-white fixtures, eight L1.4 fixtures and five Brightline Lupo fresnels to replace existing fluorescent soft fixtures and augment its LED fresnel inventory in the main news studio. In June of 2024, KTRK added to its Brightline complement. New L1.2 and L1.4 fixtures with DMX control now light all of Studio B. The station has been eager to add functionality to Studio B, to enable virtual set production.

IP

Bringing IP to Bahrain TV Grass Valley recently revealed the major part it played in redesigning Bahrain TV’s new highly complex live IP video production environment. As part of the modernisation project, Grass Valley and FGC converted Bahrain TV’s master control suite, making it the first in the region to implement an IP playout system. Considered a trusted source for news and information across the kingdom, Bahrain TV also upgraded its live news studio with Grass Valley.

LIVE STREAMING BIG FISH IN A BIG POND

Fishtank, the unique interactive streaming platform and 24/7 live reality show, has now reached one million viewers and $3 million in revenue – harnessing streaming technology from Livepeer Studio to deliver a live social experiment powered by real-time audience interactivity. Powered by Livepeer Studio, Fishtank sidesteps the huge cost barriers associated with video streaming, enabling high-quality, low-latency streaming at a fraction of the traditional cost.

Funding for AI programme secured AI

LIVE PRODUCTION

BLACKBIRD AND BLOX

Blackbird has been deployed to a further three US TV stations for digital news production following the latest Blox Digital (formerly Town News) deployment, making the total footprint 73 stations. The new stations – KAKE located in Kansas, KTEN located in Oklahoma and WFXG in Georgia – are part of the Lockwood Broadcast Group and are in addition to Blackbird’s deployment earlier this year with Lockwood’s CBS19 broadcast division. SMPTE, the home of media professionals, technologists and engineers, has introduced a pilot IP networking boot camp. This series will feature three separate courses culminating in a final exam. These courses will feature the latest SMPTE ST 2110 advancements, updates and standards. This programme has limited space and is offered first come, first served. INDUSTRY SMPTE BOOT CAMP

Leading UK television facility Dock10, the University of York and award-winning TV production company 2LE Media have secured backing from Innovate UK’s BridgeAI programme to develop AI tools that can power lighting in live virtual productions. Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, announced the £100m BridgeAI programme last year, to drive growth in the UK economy through the adoption of AI and machine learning. BridgeAI has awarded match funding to Dock10, the University of York and 2LE Media to develop AI-driven tools that deliver realistic light interactions

for programmes filmed in virtual studios. The collaboration will build on foundational research that Dock10 and the University of York carried out last year, to explore how AI can deliver real-time lighting for virtual studio productions. Dr Florian Block, R&D lead, AI and immersive at Dock10 studios and a

reader in digital creativity at the University of York, said: “We are delighted to have received grant funding from Innovate UK’s BridgeAI programme, which builds on our research. This R&D project is a timely response to rapidly growing audience demand for live content that lies between physical and virtual worlds.”

@feedzinesocial

Powered by