Outside the Box: Today’s Next-Generation IT-Based Automation and
Transmission Platforms

What is a ‘channel in a box’ system? Broadcasters and media companies are aware of a class of products that offer an alternative solution for some playout applications. But the term ‘channel in a box’ is misleading if it persuades the market that all IT-based systems are necessarily boxed in, limited and compromised in their capabilities. An advanced IT-based system actually exceeds the capabilities of the conventional automation and transmission chain, without compromising a broadcaster in any way.

The idea that a conventional, multi-vendor, hardware-based transmission chain is the only way to deliver complex, high-value, primetime television belongs to the last century. In the same way that software running on standard IT hardware revolutionized editing and other areas of post-production, top-end IT-based automation and playout is now transcending the limitations of conventional technology, and making it possible for broadcasters to develop new approaches to the business of putting channels on air. But this level of capability is a long way from what the typical channel in a box system offers, so broadcasters and media companies need to understand the difference between the categories.

By contrast, the advanced IT-based transmission and automation platform offers the benefits of space and cost-saving, very rapid installation, great flexibility in operation, and industry-leading capabilities, but without compromising in any way on integration with broadcast workflow and equipment, business and data systems, or the sophisticated multi-platform services today’s broadcasters are developing. In fact for these cutting-edge, high-end applications, the advanced IT-based transmission platform is now the logical smart choice over the conventional infrastructure.

There are genuine applications for the typical channel in a box system: broadcasters sometimes don’t need to integrate a channel into the wider transmission operation, and some channels can run without requiring any significant automation capability. But these applications tend to be at the lower-end – shopping channels or religious programming, where getting a channel on-air quicker and at lower cost than with conventional infrastructure is the main consideration. And the fact that such a channel is ‘boxed in’ is not usually a disadvantage in these situations, or is at least an acceptable disadvantage.

Broadcasters soon come up against the limitations of the typical channel in a box product when they want a system that provides the advantages of quick installation and cost-savings, but they also want the system to fit into their operating framework and behave in other respects like a conventional transmission chain. Very few of the channel in a box solutions offer much more than a playout capability with some graphics, and the basic audio functions necessary to run low-end channels effectively. Most provide little or no serious automation capability, and use a video card instead of a video server, limiting them to the functions supported by the card. They cannot deal with some of the important but less obvious requirements of broadcasting, such as AFD, closed caption insertion, Dolby surround sound, and all the triggers and codes that go into a video signal to meet the requirements of most broadcasters today.

What separates the ‘channel in a box’ product from an advanced, enterprise-class, IT-based automation and transmission platform is a deep understanding of broadcast automation and transmission environments from the manufacturer, coupled with many man years of development time and resources. In practice, few channel in a box products are supplied by companies with this expertise, so broadcasters need to tread carefully when choosing systems.

For those who clearly understand and are happy to accept the limitations of the product they choose, the channel in a box approach can work well in the right application. But look beyond the channel in a box if you want a fully capable alternative to conventional infrastructure, with sophisticated automation facilities, multi-client, multi-user capability, capable of driving a large number of channels, with enterprise-class asset management, and if you want to be able to monitor, manage and update the systems easily. Look beyond the conventional infrastructure too, if you want to develop innovative, high-specification services for the next generation of broadcast, streaming and mobile services.

The advanced IT-based system lets you operate hundreds of channels from a single workstation, with all the functionality from ingest, through materials management, to automation and playout available within a single unified software application. It lets you work with a fully distributed architecture, where operators can watch and control any number of channels, sharing control and reassigning configurations hour by hour, as broadcasting needs change. And it integrates fully into the engineering, monitoring, and asset management environment.

This category of advanced IT-based transmission and automation systems is currently defined and occupied by one product only – OmniBus iTX – and leading broadcasters have been quick to use it to run complex, high-value primetime channels efficiently and flexibly – without getting boxed in by technology compromises. As these industry leaders have found, iTX offers the most advanced approach to transmission available today, and it’s safe to say that within five years, few broadcasters around the world will be considering anything but IT-based solutions for their transmission and automation needs.