Authored by Tom Ohanian and featured in MediaPost
August 25, 2008 - On August 8, the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games will kick off an unprecedented amount of coverage over an equally unprecedented series of distribution types. Consider some of the pre-event statistics cited publicly:
• A minimum of 3600 hours of broadcast coverage
• A minimum of 2900 hours of live programming
• A minimum of 2200 hours of streaming coverage on NBCOlympics.com
• All footage acquired in HD and protected for 4:3 aspect ratio consumption
• Coverage of all 302 unique Olympic events
• US-based coverage on NBC, USA Network, Universal HD, Oxygen, CNBC, and Telemundo
• Supplying content to a myriad of partners such as Google, which will stream content on YouTube
• Video on Demand (VOD) of noteworthy Olympics coverage in an offering entitled "Highlights", "Rewinds", and "Encores".
• Supplying content to Amazon, NBC2Go, and mobile phones
Just the ability to cover 302 events, all in HD would be complex enough. But adding the 360-media component to the efforts requires a staggering amount of work to be done to ensure that the correct content is in the proper resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, and scan type.
This event, and the manner in which content is being acquired, distributed, and exhibited places enormous demands on digital media supply chain management infrastructures. Simultaneously feeding multiple distribution venues with the right content in a timely fashion is crucial. Sending a full HD clip to a Telco provider for consumption on a mobile phone is a mistake that cannot be made. This is why the content requirements for each provider are well described and thought-out in advance.
To ensure that this process runs as smoothly as possible, the supply chain has to be as automated as can be and this translates into scripting routines that move the content from ingest, through transcode, and to distribution. Content must be moved in the most efficient manner possible and file transfer acceleration techniques employed.
It is also important to be able to centrally manage and manipulate all digital media packages that utilize finite network resources. Having visibility into all transfers and being able to prioritize transfers as they are "in flight" is necessary in order to be able to react to developing stories or fast-paced, high demands for content.
Every media organization has its own set of partners and customers it communicates with and its own digital media supply chain requirements. The Olympics coverage we are about to see and enjoy puts the spotlight on implementing and fulfilling a global digital media supply chain solution.