The Sky’s the Limit

Now is the time for new skills and new methods of distribution to drive further innovation within the media and entertainment industry to revolutionize the business and the viewer’s experience.

In the next episode of the Making the Media podcast, host Craig Wilson talks in-depth with TV executive and former head of production services at major European broadcaster Sky, Darren Long.

On the podcast, they discuss the way in which Sky changed the game when it came to sports broadcasting in the UK, both in terms of the way it was presented and the way in which it was consumed.

Darren now believes there is a further opportunity to deliver even greater experiences for viewers if the right investments are made. “We're in a new world of discovering obviously greater opportunity. And from a technology point of view, that means we still need to build out some infrastructure and some opportunity to grow our business now past where we were traditionally. And I think we're probably now needing a bit more of cloud distribution and the opportunity to put in sort of rights management really embedded within the content, but in a way that really gives the customer a completely different experience to what they're doing today. So I think this is evolving. And I think all we've done, though, is like the touchpaper and allow people to experience entertainment in a completely different way. And that means that's driving our business across the industry to kind of step up a bit more. And that does mean that we're going to have to find new ways of doing things.”

In the episode, they reflect on the reality of remote working and how it can open up opportunities for skilled people in the industry, regardless of where they live or work. But Darren also believes the balance is shifting from more broadcast to IT skills. He is also clear that the focus always has to be on the end customer.

“I think for many years we built broadcast systems that were built for us broadcasters, because it made us comfortable, made us happy, made us feel like we were in control and we were delivering a service to our customers, but truly sometimes it was built for us. I think this new broadcast IT world that we're now in gives us a much greater opportunity. So we are definitely needing talented—very talented—people that have completely different skills.”

Find out more on the next episode of the podcast, available on all major podcast platforms on Monday, April 25th.

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