The advent of smart phones, lightweight digital cameras, and innovation in newsroom computer systems (NRCS) has enhanced the standard of news broadcasting.

The newsroom technology in India has been highly impacted by a discerning shift in the broadcast industry from analog to digital. More recently, a parallel stream of technology has developed that handles the media assets - video clips, voice-overs, and so on. Two computer networks are commonly linked, usually via a standard interface, which now is almost exclusively the Media Object Server (MOS) protocol. This production system manages ingest and live recording, moves content to editors and graphics workshops, compiles and delivers playlists, and hands completed content over to the archive.

The advent of smart phones, lightweight digital cameras, and innovation in newsroom computer systems (NRCS) has enhanced the standard of news broadcasting. A single reporter with just a laptop can deliver breaking news on the go.

Newsrooms have evolved with latest software; for example, the new version of Pro Tools 9 is being used by all the leading channels. Archived music, used as a background earlier, is being replaced by various audio- linked software and media controller keyboards; 16 bit sound cards are making way for 24 bit, 192 kHz ones. Several popular news channels including Star News, AajTak, and Zee News are adopting P2 technology.

A major chunk of investment in this segment was made by regional channels, which provided the requisite impetus to the industry. Indian News group going regional launched eight new satellite channels. Star Ananda, a 24-hour Bengali language news channel, upgraded its NRCS to Octopus6. Seashore TV was launched in Orissa in July 2011. Prime News TV, a 24/7 news channel in Guwahati, focusing on local as well as global news in English and Assamese language, was launched in May 2011. Frontier TV, news and current affairs channel, was launched in February. The channel aims to broadcast news in four different languages - Hindi, Bengali, English, and Assamese. Kashish News, a 24-hour Hindi news channel, was also launched in Bihar and Jharkhand in the month of February. The television features local news from West Bengal and national news in India. News Express was launched in Uttar Pradesh which has come up with complete HD technology setup. Plans are afoot to launch more regional channels in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Reporter TV in Kerala is all set to introduce its HD setup. Indian vendors are also taking up projects in neighboring countries - Nepal and Bangladesh. Modern African Productions (MAP) TV, a subsidiary of Modern Times Group was launched in Ghana in April.

Trends

The newsroom of the future is looking less and less like a newsroom from five years ago. The newsroom computer system has evolved from a simple text-based wire browsing, script, and rundown editing system. It has become a multimedia workflow engine that spans well beyond the newsroom floor. Third-generation newsrooms have to provide all of the content management and production tools required to provide media to televisions and radios, as well as to a growing range of interactive platforms. The digital newsroom is fast becoming the core groupware platform and workflow engine of successful broadcast organizations.

An increasing number of broadcasters are moving away from the legacy model, whereby the NRCS is an island that perceives the outside world as a series of passive devices and black boxes. Information technology has matured enough for an enhanced news operating model to be a faster, cheaper, and more efficient alternative.

Analog workflow of paper and tape. As computing power increased in the 1990s and network technology became more reliable, news production systems were deployed, and the replacement of tape as a production medium began. New solutions have paved the way for better and faster processed workflows, allowing stations to streamline their news operations by integrating their newsroom computers with the station's automation system. But in television, these two processes rarely happened consecutively. This radical evolution was in fact more significant in radio, where the relatively modest bandwidth requirements of digital audio could be handled by adapting standard information technology and office networks.

Audio and video go digital. Newsrooms had facilitated the exchange of scripts and rundowns a decade earlier. News production systems now simplified content sharing by allowing several journalists or editors to simultaneously access media; their introduction brought productivity gains and lowered operating costs by eliminating the need for tape duplication and the maintenance of the associated tape decks.

But other maintenance challenges were introduced. Broadcast organizations now have to maintain two computer-based systems - one for managing text-based operations and another for producing and broadcasting media. Each system was handled by a different department. The NRCS would typically be maintained by the IT department, whereas news production systems remained firmly in the hands of broadcast engineering staff.

At the same time, an increasing number of organizations sought to have certain editing jobs done by editorial staff. Both systems needed to communicate in order to facilitate their jobs and allow rundowns to trigger the right external media elements.

With the introduction of its Electronic News Production System (ENPS), the Associated Press achieved a tour de force by successfully defining and imposing a new protocol - Media Object Server (MOS) - as a standard communication mechanism. Systems such as Avid iNews and Dalet OpenMedia followed suit. The industry took advantage of MOS to achieve dynamic communications between newsroom computer systems and news production systems. Although each system remained a proprietary island, both could exchange basic data through MOS messaging. Improved communications resulted in a breakthrough, which in turn allowed the partial re-engineering of news production.

In addition to user rights management, newsroom computer systems became more sophisticated. They permitted system administrators to define sophisticated workflows involving item status management, instant notification, and versioning.

In the gallery, journalists and producers were allowed to drive things themselves. From the newsroom computer system, they could control and trigger third-party devices or equipment; automation was partially commoditized. Multi-channel broadcasters started dreaming of bi-media operations in which a single newsroom platform could feed and control output to both radio and television transmitters.

Then the Internet wave hit. Web sites became a must have for all news organizations. For technology vendors, open systems became the rule and XML its lingua franca. Today, computing power, storage, and network bandwidths have reached performance levels and cost points that make it economic for broadcast quality media to go tapeless. It has become cheaper to store 25 Mb/s video materials on computer hard drives than on video tapes. The advent of tapeless electronic news gathering (ENG) based on Grass Valley Infinity, Panasonic P2 and Sony XDCAM are further accelerating this move to file-based environments. Gigabit Ethernet networks now offer the bandwidth required to migrate digital video from SDI streams to TCP/IP packets.

The workflow engine. As tapes disappear and files rule the broadcast industry, broadcasters have the unique opportunity to redefine their production workflows. The legacy divide of news production - with scripts and rundowns on one side and tapes on the other - has been broken. The third-generation newsroom enables the whole workflow, providing a platform to share scripts and rundowns at various levels of completion, as well as of media clips and their associated metadata (the electronic tape labels).

In addition to providing user management and workflow functionalities, these third-generation newsroom computer systems (3G|NCS) allow for more sophisticated metadata and media management. By doing so, these 3G|NCS make it much easier to handle networked digital media; they automatically capture contextual metadata collected during news gathering and give system administrators the flexibility to tailor metadata schemas to fit the needs of their own organizations. In doing so, 3G|NCS make sure that editors can determine at any time that did what and why.

Finding relevant, accurate information has always been important to meeting editorial standards. Properly labeled material and sources have become essential to maintain both speed and accuracy in a very competitive environment. In this multi-channel, multiplatform world, separating the shelf life of content from its transmission date has become of strategic importance. It allows stations to provide access to material that would otherwise be locked away in vaults.

Each media channel - digital radio, SD, and HD television, web sites and mobile services - has its own constraints and formatting guidelines. But there is huge benefit in providing mutual access to raw source material: the possibility to browse incoming feeds from any desktop, the ability to strip the audio of a radio story to produce a last-minute piece for the TV newscast or to capture frames from a video package, and convert these into still images for a Web site facilitate the constant re-working of raw material and constitute the basics of any tri-media, multichannel newsroom.

To do this, however, 3G newsrooms need to make media migration from one news production system to another as seamless as possible. Such flawlessness requires integration that goes beyond the data exchange supported by the original MOS protocol. It implies that platforms be open enough to allow for media essence and associated metadata to migrate across the network, from system to system. It also means that wrapper and format conversions are automated in order to ensure that once content is found, it can be easily repurposed.

By merging such media asset management features with the core workflow engine found inside newsroom computer systems, 3G newsrooms are capable of much more than the day's news bulletin. They are the key to massive productivity gains. By merging media production and metadata intake into a single workflow, broadcasters can deploy a more cost-efficient news production model. Such a re-engineering of work processes can occur only through incremental change management. It must leverage on an open, scalable newsroom solution that combines the benefits of central media warehousing, integrated workflow, easy-to-use production tools, and automated broadcast and distribution.

In doing so, broadcast organizations can convert news stories and clips into corporate assets that can be redistributed over more and more delivery platforms. More importantly, journalists can be empowered with the tools they need to do what they do best: delivering the most accurate news, faster than the competition.

A recent trend has emerged where broadcast professionals are taking advantage of the potential presented by multi-platform content delivery for incremental revenue streams. This creates room for adoption of better systems and creative bends in the newsroom industry. Statistics show that 21 percent of media consumption occurs online, while only 7 percent of expenditure is made in that segment. The next big leap in the newsroom technology seems to be connecting with viewers through media other than TV.

Growing the digital side of the business is not simply a matter of repurposing news content online. Channels have little choice but to drastically rethink and revamp their operations to focus on the web. Broadcast news operations today are facing disparate challenges. They need to figure out how to evolve their standard-definition newscasts to HD, while also expanding their websites with more low-resolution video and original content. And they are doing so under extreme competitive pressure and, in most cases, tight budgets. One way to make multi-platform production easier is to work in the file-based domain, which helps speed production and makes it easier to repurpose content.

The big drivers for file-based workflows are the frequently decreasing cost of server storage, as the price of hard disk falls; the creation of nonlinear editing software that can run on a laptop and thus allow more editing to be performed in the field; and the adoption of tapeless camcorders like Panasonic's P2 and Sony's XDCAM.

Improvements in NRCS like Avid's iNews and AP's ENPS, which journalists use to coordinate the newscast and produce scripts, are also letting producers and rep

a mobile phone before sending it out.

Harris' NewsForce, a server-based system that features tight integration with Apple's popular Final Cut Pro editing system, is particularly useful. NewsForce, which stores content on Harris' Nexio shared architecture, also includes a family of Harris-built editors including NewsForce ES, NewsForce Desktop, NewsForce XNG, and Harris' existing Velocity NX promotions/craft-style editor.

Major Players

Aditya Infotech Limited represents Blackmagic Design, Aver Media, Corsair, FSP Group, NVIDIA, Pinnacle, Point of View, Sapphire, Zotac, Yamaha, Avid, and M-Audio in India. The company distributes capture cards for its partner Aver Media; video editing solutions, video capture cards, and professional audio setup for Avid, coupled with brands, Pinnacle and M-Audio; memory devices, solid state drives for laptops, notebooks, desktops for Corsair; Quadro graphic solutions for NVIDIA; graphic solutions for Sapphire; digital I/O cards, digital mixers for Yamaha and video editing solutions, converters, production switchers, routers, and encoders for Blackmagic Design. NDTV group, CNBC, Times Now group, Radio Mirchi, and Red FM were the major clients in 2010.

AGIV India Private Limited markets video equipment from Telescript, Canon, and Sanken Mics.

Autodesk Inc. continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. The company has launched Autodesk Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X, which provides an all-in-one editorial workflow by combining powerful finishing tools with the familiar workflow of a nonlinear editing (NLE) to reduce complexity and streamline finishing of high-quality content.

AVF Distributors (India) Pvt. Ltd. represents Studer, Soundcraft, JBL Pro, AKG Accoustics, Junger Audio, Beyerdynamic Gmbh & Co. and JL Cooper Electronics. Its major clients in the year 2010-2011 were S-TV, Bhubaneswar and News Express, Noida.

Comcon Technologies Ltd., a technological solution provider to the broadcast and media industry has established a strong customer base in both the private as well as public sectors. The company's product range for newsroom operations includes teleprompters, Samvad, and routers from Utah Scientific, USA.

A complete range of PC-based teleprompters, with matching hardware, PC cards, software and control accessories has been developed by a young team of software professionals at Comcon. The main features include unicode font support, MOS compliance certification by leading newsroom systems, run order management, type-and-play, hand and foot controls thereby placing it in the league of high-end teleprompting solutions. The hardware offered is based on non-proprietary display and modern advancements in IT technology, and hence, allows the company to keep the costs to minimum and benefit being passed on to the customers. A wide range of product configurations are on offer to support different customer groups, including those in the educational sector.

Deepjyot Electronics offers sound mixers from Yamaha and Soundcraft and microphones from Countryman, AKG, and Coles.

The Yamaha digital mixers are used for live sound, broadcast, surround production, installations, and a huge variety of other audio applications. Other mixers available are analog and powered mixers.

Soundcraft is a dedicated professional mixing console designer and manufacturer. It offers a range of mixers which are designed for use in live sound, recording, post-production, and TV.

Countryman is best known for innovating high-quality microphones. It has focused on developing microphones and accessories that deliver maximum gain before feedback, with the highest possible rejection of wind, vibration, interference, and other unwanted sounds.

AKG has made available technologies like the world's first high quality condenser microphone, the D 12 with its cardioid characteristics, the world's first remote-controlled multi-pattern capacitor microphone, the C 12 and the D 36 made acoustic history. One of the first customers of the famous C 12 microphone was the BBC in London.

Delta Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd. provides high quality display solutions for newsrooms in India. Delta's high resolution display products are perfectly suitable for 24?ó7 mission critical control, high entertainment environments, and network access control systems. Delta's high resolution display walls solutions are designed for real and expanding requirements for large-scale visualization systems that present extreme resolutions and provide a customizable multi-media system in a multiple monitor format. These are ideally suited for over-the-shoulder display in TV shows or news studios, broadcast monitoring rooms, screening or post-production environments. With these displays it is possible to visualize inputs from various sources in a variety of formats like DVI, RGB, and video. The display segment by Delta Group showcases three major product lines - video walls, digital signage, and LED walls.

Ideal Broadcasting India Pvt. Ltd. offers editorial driven workflow and metadata management related to newsroom. Major clients of this company include Century, TV 18, Multi Screen, India TV, and Star TV.

KIT digital is a cloud-based software solutions and technology services provider for multi-screen video delivery. The company's cloud-based video asset management system enables enterprise, media and entertainment and network operator clients to produce, manage, and deliver multi-screen socially enabled video experiences to audiences wherever they are. Kit digital sells, installs, integrates, and commissions entire news production facilities. The company's newsroom solutions include studios, virtual sets, graphics, newsroom systems, automation, video servers' all integrated and ready to use. Major customers of KIT digital include Maasranga TV, Janasri TV, and P7 News. Some projects are being executed in the eastern and southern parts of India.

Kramer Electronics Ltd. has launched the VP-471, a high-performance digital scaler for 3G HD-SDI signals. It upscales/downscales the incoming video to computer graphics, SD or HD video resolutions to a DVI connector and de-embeds the audio to S/PDIF and stereo audio on RCA connectors.

Pooja Electronics represents Schneizer, Shure, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Datavideo, Roland, Grass Valley, and Aja for newsroom products.

Real Image Media Technologies represent a bouquet of products which are suited to tailor-made newsroom automation solutions. Major partners of the company are Avid, Animakit, MOG, Softron Media Services, AJA, Minnetonka, JBL, Front Porch, CalDigit and Xtore. Major clients include NDTV, Network 18, Times Global Broadcasting, UTV Bloomberg and India TV, Sun Network, NTV, Sakshi TV, TV5, Kasthuri TV, Kalaignar TV, MAA TV, Telengana TV, Reporter TV, and Orissa TV.

Rivera Digitec India Pvt. Ltd. has launched two products for newsrooms, P-10, a visual sampler and V-1600HD, a multi-format live video switcher.

The P-10 visual sampler is a compact and affordable offering in the growing lineup of Roland visual performance products. The V-1600HD switcher features a built-in preview monitor that provides a convenient monitoring solution when external monitors are not available or ideal. The sixteen inputs provide connectivity to HD/SD-SDI, DVI-D/HDMI, RGB component, S-video, and composite formats, as well as still images assignable via USB memory.

RSG Broadcast designs and delivers technology-enabled solutions. Post-production houses and news channels are its favorites.

RSG Broadcast (India) Pvt. Ltd. has been associated with OCTOPUS from 2010. OCTOPUS6 is a platform-independent newsroom system, which brings the convenience of the OCTOPUS newsroom system to Mac OS and Linux users.

The major projects driven by RSG Broadcast are Mahuaa Khobor at Kolkata, GNN News at Guwahati. RSG Broadcast provided the complete solution to these news channels while using OCTOPUS for newsroom automation. OCTOPUS6 newsroom computer system has been installed on server and is configured to serve up to 20 users in GNN and 50 users in Mahuaa and is installed in English, Assamese, and Bangla language versions.

Shaf Broadcast enhances integrated newsroom solutions with browse editing and provides enhanced media management system for digital broadcasting. The company represents Associated Press, Omnibus, Omneon, Vizrt, Quantel, and Barco. Their major customers this year were News Express, Noida. Puthiya Thalaimurai, AYTV, Foodfood channel, and Samay TV.

VTI-BEI Group of Companies offers video cameras, camcorders, studio, nonlinear editing systems, monitors, plasma displays, microphones, routing switchers, and virtual sets. The company represents Panasonic, Hitachi, DPA, Azden, Omneon, Harris, Pebble Beach, Aveco, Ross, and SAV.

This article is based on research conducted by Broadcast & Cablesat in September, 2011