RFO Creates All-Digital Workflow for Global, Multi-Channel Production
When the French broadcast network RFO (Réseau France Outre-mer, or "France Network Overseas") decided to update its existing infrastructure to support its nine geographically dispersed stations, the staff knew that a comprehensive and forward-looking solution would be required to deliver high-quality, cost-effective programming throughout the network. Programming for each of the stations, which are located in French-speaking territories in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, typically combines local news, magazine shows, and commercials with French national programs repurposed from France Télévisions and TF1.
Until recently the national programs, which represent the majority of broadcast material, were sent to each station from the Paris-based headquarters. However, these exchanges were costly due to expensive cable or satellite links or slow because of time-consuming tape deliveries. Individual stations were also forced to maintain a large and cumbersome amount of storage capacity to receive and store material. The production of local content was equally challenging since local shows were expensive to produce and their profitability was low.
So RFO, which is owned and operated by Paris-based France Télévisions, began seeking ways to streamline its production processes while generating more revenue for the network. Christian Augereau, technical director, RFO, explains, "We wanted to make national programs available to the stations as quickly as possible at minimum cost and be able to respond immediately to a required change in scheduled programming initiated by the stations. We also wanted to make the local productions more profitable by allowing them to be repeated or repurposed. Finally, we wanted to have the ability to develop our services - for example, launch a new channel or Web service in any format, including HD - very quickly and cost effectively."
"RFO will now be able to operate with greater speed and precision than ever before."
- Christian Augereau, Technical Director, RFO
Finding the Right Broadcast Solution
RFO's main objective was to centralize its operations in a single facility while improving workflow efficiencies for all of its stations, regardless of their location. To achieve its goals, RFO developed a set of key requirements for its new setup:
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Store all local and national programs in one centralized storage system at the Paris-based headquarters.
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Broadcast all of the RFO channels from Paris, with schedules planned locally via a shared database.
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Completely integrate the production and post-production operations for all nine stations.
"Thanks to the centralization of media, we can realize new revenue streams by repackaging programs."
- Claude Castely, Technical Coordinator, RFO
After extensive research, it was clear that an Avid broadcast environment would best meet RFO's needs. The broadcaster replaced its existing equipment with an entirely digital architecture for production, acquisition, media management, and playout of programming for all nine stations from its central facility in Paris. The end-to-end broadcast solution is based around an Avid Unity ISIS shared-storage and networking system for simultaneous sharing of all media and projects. The Avid ISIS system is equipped with 16 TB of shared storage and Avid UnityRAID storage protection. Designed for large-scale, mission-critical collaborative environments, the Avid ISIS system can expand to support as many as 150 real-time 50Mbps clients and as much as 192 TB of shared storage to meet RFO's rigorous multi-channel requirements and to keep pace with its growing needs in the future. The system setup currently supports nine NewsCutter Adrenaline and seven Media Composer Adrenaline systems to create national news, magazine shows, promos, and teasers, which are repurposed by all the stations.
The Avid Unity ISIS system at RFO also interfaces with eight MediaStream 8000 video servers, which provide 20 channels of ingest and 60 playout channels. The MediaStream servers share an additional 20 TB of storage to handle approximately 5,000 hours of MPEG-2 IBP content at 8 Mbps. These servers can also handle both SD and HD media so RFO can easily accommodate future HD playout without additional upgrade expense. Avid Unity MediaManager and TransferManager systems facilitate media management for the workflow, including two-way transfers of files between the Avid Unity ISIS system and the MediaStream servers to handle the rigorous playout requirements for all nine stations simultaneously.
Integrated Global Workflow
RFO has also started to deploy Avid equipment in its stations for local production, beginning with its regional centers in New Caledonia, Polynesia, and the Reunion Islands. Each local site will include an Avid Unity ISIS or LANshare shared-storage system, MediaManager for media asset management, TransferManager for long-distance transfers with the Paris office, multiple Media Composer Adrenaline editing systems for production of local programs, an Avid AirSpeed system for playout of live productions, and an Avid CountDown system for automated playlist management.
This new setup will not only deliver greater workflow efficiencies, it will offer expanded revenue opportunities as well. "Thanks to the centralization of media, we can realize new revenue streams by repackaging programs created locally as compilation shows for cable, satellite, and broadband operators in neighboring countries. We are also planning to create alternate versions of our programs for use on the Internet and mobile phones. We can now offer national and international visibility to RFO's local stations, which was previously unheard of," says Claude Castely, technical coordinator.
The new architecture will allow RFO to considerably improve the efficiency of its production processes by greatly simplifying media management and optimizing storage. It will also speed up production, enabling editors to begin cutting programs as soon as acquisition starts and providing them with convenient, simultaneous access to real-time media from every edit suite. The Avid Unity ISIS central storage system will also allow RFO to save time and money on costly satellite and tape transfers to its remote sites.
With installation well under way, RFO expects the new digital workflow to be completely operational by the end of 2006. "We are very pleased to have worked in partnership with Avid on this project," says Augereau. "RFO will now be able to operate with greater speed and precision than ever before. We're also able to meet our future infrastructure needs because the Avid systems are HD-ready today. This will allow us to evolve quickly toward HD when the time comes."
*CREDITS: Courtesy of RFO