Premier Media Group Moves to File-based Delivery with Signiant
By Signiant Inc., PRNESunday, August 8, 2010
Solution streamlines content supply chain for FOX SPORTS and other leading channels -
BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, August 9, 2010 - Signiant, Inc. has supplied and installed a content supply chain
management (www.signiant.com) solution for Premier Media Group (PMG -
www.premiermediagroup.com.au), Australia's leading sports producer and
broadcaster. The Signiant solution is designed to replace existing tape-based
workflows, streamlining the acquisition and management of file-based content
across all of PMG's channels. The solution will have tight integration with
PMG's existing non-linear production workflow.
PMG, part-owned by News Limited (www.news.com.au) in Australia,
compiles and produces FOX SPORTS NEWS
(www.foxnews.com/sports/index.html) and the FOX SPORTS
(msn.foxsports.com) channels, broadcasting an average of 20 hours of
live sport per day. PMG also produces FUEL TV (www.fuel.tv) and the
How To Channel in addition to creating content for mobile and web. While the
majority of PMG's content is live, or replay of live, it receives roughly
4,000 hours per year on magnetic media from providers around the world. In
addition PMG is often required to provide content to rights holders or
sporting bodies, so it also sought a solution for its own content delivery
that would eliminate a number of unsustainable FTP-style solutions.
The technology team began investigating a cost-effective, simple and
scalable solution that would greatly reduce the amount of magnetic media,
provide a peer-to-peer delivery solution, and preferably work on one platform
to simplify management and future development. After considering various
providers - both optimised broadcast media solutions and more generic file or
content delivery solutions - PMG selected Signiant as its preferred provider.
Tony Scanlan, Chief Technology Officer, PMG, said, "The benefits that
Signiant offered made the choice pretty easy. Firstly the solution will
vastly reduce the amount of content delivered via tape, thus saving us
significant time and money by reducing manual processing, and streamlining
the entire process. It will also provide a homogenous platform for all
inbound and outbound electronic content transactions."
FOX is already a Signiant customer worldwide and, while this was not the
deciding factor in PMG's choice, it was certainly a consideration. "We
receive a diverse amount of content from various sources across the globe so
we had to think of the bigger picture, but with the Signiant solution we will
be able to deploy peer-to-peer content networking within the FOX, Sky and the
wider News family in addition to easily exchanging content with other key
Signiant partners," said Scanlan.
PMG will deploy Media Agents at larger content providers to allow
agent-based collection and automated workflow processing - integrating
content collection with smart workflows to include automated QC. Smaller
content providers will be serviced using the Media Exchange web-based
application. The Signiant solution will be deployed across both PMG's sport
and general programming, and will also be used as a wider business solution
covering not only production but also promos and marketing.
Nick Hardcastle, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Signiant, said, "We
have worked hard to create a workflow that fits PMG's vision for a new
tapeless environment, and are delighted with the results. For an organization
of PMG's stature to choose Signiant to streamline its content processes
further underlines our status as industry leaders in this field."
About Premier Media Group (PMG)
Premier Media Group is Australia's leading sports producer and
broadcaster. PMG compiles and produces the FOX SPORTS TV channels, FOX SPORTS
NEWS, FUEL TV, How To Channel, Foxsports.com.au and a range of video, text
and statistical content for television, mobile phone and online delivery. FOX
SPORTS broadcasts an average of 20 hours of LIVE sport per day into 2.2
million homes around Australia on subscription television with almost seven
million potential viewers through FOXTEL, AUSTAR and OPTUS TV. Premier Media
Group also produces a dedicated FOX SPORTS NEWS TV mobile phone channel and
provides mobile content to all four major Australian Telco's. The FOX SPORTS
channels are also available in more than 4,100 hotels and licensed venues as
well as 190,000 hotel rooms throughout Australia.
About Signiant
Signiant's pioneering software is more than simple file transport - we
automate, accelerate, manage, and securely control the movement of high-value
digital content within and between organizations and ecosystems. Signiant
solutions streamline content supply chain management operations from
production through distribution and upload of digital files - enabling
customers to build new business models, reduce costs, and integrate with
existing investments. Headquartered in Burlington, MA with development
facilities in Ottawa, Canada, Signiant has hundreds of enterprise
organizations deployed in over 50 countries. Find out more at
www.signiant.com.
Wendy Mattock, Bubble & Squeak, +44-(0)20-7287-3788, wendy at bubblesqueak.co.uk, or Scott Montminy, InkHouse, +1-781-791-4553, scott at inkhouse.net, both for Signiant, Inc.
Tags: August 9, Burlington, France, Germany, Massachusetts, Signiant Inc., United Kingdom