AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95 - (Page 10)

The service sector – outsourcing broadcast facilities Dick Hobbs is an independent media analyst who writes regularly for AV Specialist magazine. This article is based on research commissioned by the IABM and undertaken by Screen Digest. The full report is available through the IABM website at www.theiabm.org “I have many friends who, like me, live in the UK but who are nothing to do with the television industry. They are always astounded to discover that the BBC – the world’s best known name in broadcasting – does not actually broadcast anything.” T he BBC has outsourced its playout services to Red Bee Media and its transmitter network to Arqiva. BBC World’s Asian services have now been handed over to Technicolor for playout. The BBC has even outsourced the provision of its technical systems, to Siemens Business Services, although this is a move which has seen some controversy and the UK government is making polite enquiries as to whether this actually represents good value for money. So is the BBC alone in placing so much reliance on service providers, or is this likely to be a major trend for the future. In this month’s article I look into the research carried out by the IABM on the nature of the market, and see what conclusions it reaches about the service sector. Some outsourcing is already well established, and in some areas has become almost universal. Outside broadcast facilities are the most obvious example here. An outside broadcast truck is an expensive investment, particularly at the top end, and it only makes commercial sense if you maximise the amount of time it spends making programmes. With different programmes having different requirements it makes sense to rent in the right unit for the job. Using a 25camera sport unit for a two-person interview is clearly wildly over the top. Much better for the broadcaster or the production company to rent the right sized unit for the job, and let the OB provider worry about maintaining utilisation for their own fleet. Strong financial arguments There are similar strong financial arguments in favour of equipment rental. Provided you go for the most popular choices of equipment, then you can put in the minimum level of stock and rent when you need more. One of the reasons that a very large number of the world’s OB fleets standardised on the Thomson Grass Valley LDK 6000 HD camera is that they knew the rental houses had them on their shelves when they had a big shoot. And the rental houses invested heavily in the LDK 6000 10 http://www.theiabm.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95

Bumper product news
Outsourcing broadcast facilities
Panasonic drives EcoFuel World Tour
it's broadcasting Jim...but not as we know it
Tapeless workflow: Not as scary as it seems

AV Specialist - Africa Edition Volume 95