With Namibia's national elections set for the end of November, national broadcaster Namibia Broadcast Corporation (NBC) has an important mandate to fulfil - ie, delivering fair, timely coverage of events leading up to the election and of the election itself. However, logistical obstacles made timeous broadcasting of regional news difficult. A DigiDelivery file exchange system from Spescom Media IT resolved the dilemma, boosting productivity, lowering costs and enhancing NBC's service quality to boot.
Explains Vaino Ipinge, acting supervisor, IT Maintenance at NBC: “With a vast geographical area to cover and no comprehensive digital report filing solution, getting reports from the eight different regional stations to NBC headquarters for broadcasting has been a serious challenge. Journalists could file copy (text) directly using NBC's integrated iNews service, but not the audio and visual components of the reports.
“We thus had to rely on courier companies, to fly the tapes to Windhoek or ask journalists to hand deliver the tapes - a journey of more than 1000km in some cases. This resulted in delays of 24 to 48 hours - not what you want from a national news service.”
Spescom Media IT, tasked with the transformation of NBC's operations from an analogue to all-digital platform, proposed the implementation of DigiDesign's DigiDelivery, a file exchange system that fits seamlessly with the Avid production suite being implemented at NBC.
Says Thomas Makore, MD of Spescom Media IT: “The solution needed to enable fast digital delivery of reports from remote regions and it needed to be simple enough for everyone to be able to use. DigiDelivery, used in conjunction with a laptop and a broadband connection, provided a solution that met those criteria.”
AVID NewsCutter video editing software and the DigiDelivery client were installed on eight laptops that were allocated to each of the NBC regional offices. This enabled reporters to dump visuals and audio directly from the camera onto the laptop, make basic edits, write the accompanying copy and send the entire report 'package' via DigiDelivery to NBC with the press of a button.
Notes Ipinge: “All that was needed was the implementation of DSL lines in the various regions. This provides the broadband connectivity needed for sending large files. We also have 3G access which we use as a failover solution in case DSL connectivity degrades. While the quality of connectivity is variable in the regions, we have thus far not had any challenges that we could not resolve.”
Makore comments: “The solution has optimised workflows and enhanced productivity. The reports sent via DigiDelivery arrive on the server at NBC and an email is immediately generated to inform the recipient. The recipient can then prioritise downloads and load articles onto the Avid Unity server (the central storage system) that is accessible to craft editors who refine the reports for broadcast, from where they are sent to the playout server for broadcast.”
Concurs Ipinge: “Moving to a digital platform has streamlined our workflows and DigiDelivery is an important part of the solution. It enables journalists to get on with what they do best, as well as enable NBC to up its game - delivering news as it happens to its most important shareholders, the tax paying citizens of the country who fund our operations.
“We are very pleased with the service and ongoing support provided by Spescom Media IT. Their expertise and excellent customer service differentiates them and makes them a trusted partner.”
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