to universities and sports teams, AV users are no longer just buying technology to support live experiences, they’re creating content that’s expected to match broadcast-level quality. “Traditionally,” continues Cox, “broadcast and cine workflows are centralised and built for scale, with highly structured pipelines, strict timing and standards-based interoperability. AV, on the other hand, has been more fragmented, focused on site-specific installations, one-off event builds and faster commercial cycles. But when every brand, venue or campus starts thinking like a studio, the need for real-time graphics, spatial tracking, cloud integration and media synchronisation becomes universal. Both sectors are now in the business of storytelling through a camera lens, and both require tools that support that shift.” Visit many major venues and you can almost see the two sectors collide. “Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium, for instance, not only treats its fans to visual and other in-venue effects,” says Chris Scheck, head of marketing content at Lawo. “It also hosts interconnected control rooms where the giant displays, VIP entertainment and PA system are controlled, and where broadcasts are produced in- house and distributed to the world. The ability to display footage on giant display walls makes combining AV and broadcast a no-brainer.” Or just attend a trade show. “If you go to ISE, the convergence between broadcast and AV is fully on display everywhere you walk,” says Bellamy. Many corporate companies are also creating their own in- house facilities rather than renting broadcast studios or production facilities, according to Brandon Brunhammer, practice director of simulation and enterprise broadcast for AVI-SPL’s XTG Team. “We helped HSBC to develop a new video production studio,” he says. “It included a 4 M/E Blackmagic Design video switcher, four Blackmagic Hyperdecks for recording, three Panasonic PTZ
The pricing is right
Broadcasters and broadcast OEMs can learn a lot from the sales and business models of the traditional AV sector, believes Clear- Com’s Dave MacKinnon. “We’ve always clung to a capex model. There were attempts at a lease or licence model, but these were trying to replicate the cash flow of purchases, so from a customer perspective they were more expensive. You also ran the risk of buying hardware you couldn’t use without a software licence. “We’ve worked most of that out, but there is room to improve. Traditional AV customers expect products and services to be priced like laptops and Microsoft subscriptions. This is where companies like Ross, Amagi, Clear- Com and others have done well.”
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