"Today's media storage platform is capable of supporting a variety of applications including Web and mobile.""The main challenge faced by a broadcaster is the TRP driven market. It is hard to maintain balance between content and advertisement revenue, and achieve a healthy bottomline." YP Singh, Senior Vice President, Technical Zee News Ltd.

In today's scenario, there are two major challenges for a content producer in India - implementation of file-based workflows and migration to HD. While the ongoing transition from tape- to IT-based solutions seems realistic, it is important to know how to leverage these new IT-based solutions to produce a streamlined workflow. The main demand drivers include investigative/research based news, local content flavor, and addressability of social issues.

There is a major trend toward the adoption of file-based workflows by global networks. Today's media storage platform is capable of supporting a variety of applications for different platforms including Web and mobile. Its need of the hour is to be present on all platforms for better penetration and presence of the brand. The main challenge faced by a broadcaster is the TRP-driven market. It is hard to maintain balance between content and advertisement revenue and achieve a healthy bottomline.

Video usage on the Internet is rapidly outpacing the Internet capacity deployed. Imagine if, in five years time, there were 100 times the number of cars on the roads today. That would be comparable to the video usage explosion now happening on the Internet. More and more HD content is being pumped on platforms such as Youtube and Yahoo.

Migrating to HD is inevitable. The timing and extend of a migration will depend greatly on market conditions. This is a very strategic phase for the broadcaster, assessing quality and working to ensure interoperability across the whole media value chain. This also includes quality training for all those involved from the cameraman through the editors to the marketeers.

The larger the enterprise the more the unique requirements will be, but the key decision makers have to be realistic in terms of the requirement and ROI. Skipping over these requirements will only lead to a poor ROI.

The major vendors Zee News is aligned with include Harris, VIZ, Octopus, Sony, and Grass Valley. The channel has developed in-house applications to improve workflow, quality and better communication and has also upgraded NRCS. The channel is planning to add another news channel in future.

The desired features and specifications from any broadcast equipment are that they need to be HD compatible and should not disturb the existing workflow also.