Mark Rawlings-Smith

'Recording' in the end is purely an interim solution whilst we were in the scheduled TV world. Now that we have transitioned to the release TV world (where programmes are linearly delivered but also released at, or before even, a time/day and then made available for a variable time window for consumption when you wish to) then it is clear that 'Recording' disappears as not required - as needed for the modern world as much as analog phone lines and telephone boxes... Quite just for something that in many countries only exists because of legal actions in the late 1970s about recording on video tapes... The only challenge to this is bad behaviour by rights holders who try to bleed too much money out of distributors for those catchup / on demand rights, or those who mandate the inability to avoid ads that are not of interest...

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Today on the Hacking Self Storage podcast I'm excited to share a powerful insight from Mark Helm: how population growth can address many challenges in self-storage. Speaking of growth, our course reopens tomorrow. And it's packed with insights and tools from top experts like Gavin Shields and Laura Moxham. Give it a listen.

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Customer feedback and reception have been overwhelmingly positive since we launched our Gen-IC Cloud Intercom service at the start of the year. Transitioning production workflows from on-premises to cloud-based tools is not always smooth, and getting crews and personnel fluent with new systems can come with many teething challenges. However, one of the main pieces of customer feedback we get is how intuitive Gen-IC is to use especially with the self-serve SkyPort portal. Moreover, the users of the system continue to work with the same virtual clients or physical panels (hybrid systems) that they have come to love for many years. This results in much lower deployment costs as no user training is required. Gen-IC is our first product venture into managed cloud services, and it’s hugely rewarding to hear that it is enabling our customers to save time and money, making productions as efficient as possible. Read more in this InBroadcast write-up Phillip Izzard: https://lnkd.in/eKTDUWGK

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🎉 BIG NEWS at IBC 2024! 🎉 We’re thrilled to unveil Zixi's latest ground-breaking features at IBC 2024! 🎉 💥 Live demos, hands-on experiences, and exclusive insights await you at Stand #5.A85! >Upstream Metadata Tracking Capture protocol metrics and system metrics from previous network hops. Helping to pinpoint where issues have been introduced.   >Reduced stream bitrate without transcoding on congested networks​ Dynamic bitrate adjusting without transcode, to suit available network bandwidth.   >Seamless switching between inputs Switching between streams in compressed IP without any disruption to output IP stream and downstream decoders.   >IDP Incident Prediction​ Increased accuracy of incident prediction, now highlighting incidents that will become “severe”.   >SCTE-224 / ESNI Schedule-based Switching​ Support for scheduling and program substitution switching via the SCTE-224 standard, also known as ESNI (Event Scheduling Notification Interface). Ideal for switching targets to an alternate Channel for alternate content or blackout   Alternate Path Switching ​ >Alternate Path configuration failover for disaster recovery, maintenance windows, multi-cloud environments etc and many more!   IBC 2024 (13-16 Sept) RAI Amsterdam, Hall Number 5, Stand A.85 Stream without limits, broadcast without boundaries ONLY with Zixi!

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UK ad spend on BVOD services is on track to exceed £1 billion in 2021, representing a noteworthy achievement. The projected 13.7% year-on-year growth in BVOD spending is linked to major sporting events like the #Euros, #Olympics, and #Paralympics. Future estimates anticipate an additional 11.8% annual rise in BVOD spending by 2025. #Advertising #BVOD #AdSpend #Marketing #UK #BusinessInsights VideoWeek

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TSC has pioneered live streaming interactive events for many years and recognise the importance of data tracking to monitor viewer engagement and trends in topics.   Some of the reports we can provide include: •   Individual viewer sessions logging into and out of videos (session time) •   Interactions per viewer (questions asked and polls submitted) •   Referring URLs – which campaign got them to the event •   Peak viewer participation/interaction •   Geo location – country, city •   Device(s) used to view To effectively encourage and monitor live interaction, and identify trends, you need comprehensive logging and statistics.   Give us a call – we have been doing this for 18 years and are experts in interactive live streaming; https://lnkd.in/eAW_amD2   #liveevents #livestreaming #videotracking #viewingstats"

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Leverage The Radiostats API to access data across 40.000+ terrestrial and digital radio stations, satellite TV channels and SiriusXM! All directly within your dashboard, app or reporting tool!

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Over the weekend, James Cridland posted an article highlighting the recent data showing that #streaming of AM/FM (not #radio writ large) has overtaken OTA in the UK. It's an interesting read that sheds light on the nuances of the situation given the deployment of DAB (a technology we do not rely on here in the US.) What does this mean for #stations here in the US? We've seen a steady increase in the share of the audience consuming their favorite stations via the #digital stream over the last 5 years. In fact, some demographics now register over 25% of their listening of #AM/FM radio through digital streaming platforms. As mentioned in James' piece, multi-platform #distribution and a dedicated strategy around your digital footprint will be critical to your stations success in navigating these changes. If you're a station or #broadcaster needing guidance on your digital strategy, let Maz Man Media, LLC be your guiding hand. We're here to help!

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A nice win for Sony and Arm as their corporate venture-backed computer maker Raspberry Pi floats in London with an immediate boost to valuation. British chip designer Arm had committed to buying $35m of shares in the IPO, building on the 3.4% stake it took in October, according to a registration document published in May seen by the FT. https://lnkd.in/e2zxSPPK Interesting that exits are starting to happen with Alphabet and SoftBank-backed Alphasense picking up peer Tegus for nearly $1bn, and the VC backers behind BeReal finally realising that having an app with "no business model" as its VCs supported a few years ago was unlikely to survive long and selling out to Voodoo to work its magic on, ie start selling advertising (shock!). https://lnkd.in/e43W-ynr The upshot of this flurry of activity: 1. VCs are selling what silverware they can; 2. corporate shareholder-backed companies are making hay. There's an argument VCs' only true skill is marketing themselves to potential LPs and there's definitely a clarity a focus on short-term distributions to paid-in capital (DPI) brings. But bringing longer-term, strategic lens to bear on the direction of markets is also helpful - learn more at www.GlobalVenturing.com and through the #GCVinstitute and #GCVsymposium this month

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Following my recent post on Disney’s shift to streaming profitability, it’s clear that the broader industry is now facing a critical turning point. As highlighted in Lucas Shaw’s Bloomberg UK Newsletter, streaming has moved from a growth-focused model to a profit-driven one. As Shaw writes, "Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global wrote down the value of their cable TV networks this week, erasing $15 billion from their books." These once-profitable assets are now becoming liabilities as cord-cutting accelerates and advertising revenue shifts online, but are they? The reality is, pure streaming services have benefited from an existing internet infrastructure with lower overhead costs leaving it to telcos and cable companies to shoulder the capital-intensive investments in connecting our homes to the internet. European telcos are also pushing back, campaigning for legislation to allow them to charge big tech companies for using the internet. It is clear there is a dependancy here. As consumers we need both streaming services and network connectivity (be it wireless, cable or fibre). Surely some co-operation between these two makes sense!! The future of media has to about integrating broadband with streaming services. Bundling broadband with streaming will redefine the value chain, ensuring that both broadband providers and pure play streaming companies remain competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape. At Bango, we’re poised to help our partners lead this change. Our Digital Vending Machine® offers a seamless connection to hundreds of channels worldwide, allowing content providers to focus on delivering top-tier content and for network providers to take a different position in the value chain while we handle the complexities of scale on both sides. Read the full Bloomberg UK newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/eFGNkDZ5 #DigitalTransformation #MediaIndustry #Profitability #ContentDistribution

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Find out how European League of Football can centralize its production and reduce its carbon footprint with the help of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and LOGIC media solutions GmbHs #Portal. 🏈 🌳 ⛅ With the help of #Portal, the necessary AWS resources are effortlessly managed and made available when they are needed. From production to commentary, from encoding to distribution, Portal also helps you, to reduce your carbon footprint.

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The interesting part about the SDI-versus-IP debate is that those who haven’t migrated to IP yet are wary of fixing something that isn’t broke as far as they are concerned. This will eventually lead to a dead end, as those who have made the transition and never want to go back will confirm. True, from a broadcaster’s point of view, IP requires a different mindset and other skills for everything happening under the hood. But the whole idea of going IP is that there should be no noticeable difference for operators, even though they can achieve a lot more than would be possible in the baseband domain. read more below by Chris Scheck Lawo

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As our smart TV home screens gravitate to global viewing, it stands to reason that expanding the Geo-Block ban on the audio-visual sector must include expiration of regional licences and introduce one single content licence. Not just for Europe, but for every streaming territory as a whole. Although much can be said about content quotas, they are in fact near-sighted to the fact that technology and consumers are driving this demand because of the content choices audiences are making. Netflix features content in over 60 languages, with 80% of the platform’s users claiming to use subtitles at least once a week. This implies that content providers would be compelled to make movies and TV shows unlicensed in one country but sold in a neighbour available on the same streaming service on the same device in Amsterdam or Sydney. For those interested, 'Streaming Without Borders' is a panel topic at this year's Ad Forum event in Sydney. #CTV 🌏

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Hints yes... but actually? The interest in VVC is demanded the delivery of higher resolution video, but apart from OTT providers, the market is not running in that direction. Today is a world of efficiency - and that is with the existing AVC codec more than anything else, with the application of per title or Content Aware Encoding as a way to wring out more cost savings. Moving to other codecs, takes time and money with long ROI - not for today's economic situation.

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This level of acceleration of streaming adoption will drive the transition from broadcast at a much faster rate than forecast by Ofcom... understanding already that consumers are also on an accelerating adoption.

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Excellent case study describing how we helped ITV audit, cleanse and consolidate a large internal metadata set. Read the case study to learn how this resulted in a positive outcome for ITV. https://lnkd.in/eVJ9cwTN #metadatatransformation

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Everywhere the broadcast landscape is shifting inexorably from linear to digital and with it the nature of the distribution infrastructure from over the air to internet. But the UK is a beacon in continuing to want to enshrine universal access to public broadcast channels from the BBC, ITV and others. The report points out that even though Digital Terrestrial and satellite delivered households are declining, the resilience of live TV as a shared cultural experience for key moments such as cultural and sporting events has not gone away. While every household in the UK has the right to ‘decent affordable’ internet connection of at least 10 Mbit/s this would be put under strain if there were a sudden switchover to IP. Without greater advances in compression, superfast broadband speed (30 Mbit/s) is more likely to provide a reliable viewing experience but that will cost capital investment. Ofcom point out that if investment or technology advance is not forthcoming then broadband speeds would not be sufficient for a reliable IPTV viewing experience making any imminent abandonment of DTT unlikely. So how the country transitions to a future of increased reliance on broadband networks for video streaming while ensuring availability for all will be a complex decision – and one where technical considerations will likely not be the only factors at play. #DTT #NextGenTV #IPStreaming #Freeview #Freesat https://lnkd.in/e3Gr4swP

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