Customer profile

Sky News Arabia (SNA), the sister channel of Sky News in the Mid-

dle East and North Africa, was officially launched on 6 May 2012.

The 24-hour service goes out in both SD and HD from a state-of-

the-art production facility in Abu Dhabi. The channel is a joint venture

between the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation and BSkyB

and is available on multiple viewing platforms, including tablets and

smartphones. The channel is based in Abu Dhabi's twofour54 me-

dia zone and has a network of bureaux spanning across the MENA

region, along with offices in London and Washington, DC. It also

shares access to Sky News' wider international bureaux network.

Sky News Arabia airs with EVS workflow

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The project’s challenges

With new installations, the biggest challenges often involve getting

the newsroom to adopt and rely on the new workflow. Introducing

the new EVS system required training for engineers and journalists

to help them settle into the new environment.

The EVS teams offered constant guidance on every aspect of the

workflow, making sure everyone understood the key steps of the

production process. This level of support was maintained through-

out, with an EVS workflow specialist onsite four days a week to

make sure all questions and requests were answered quickly.

A new channel, a new workflow

Sky News Arabia needed a solution that promised speed and

reliability as well as ease of use. Having already provided a workflow

for Sky News in the UK, EVS were more than equipped to provide

the new channel with a fully integrated workflow - for ingest, central

storage, media browsing, editing, playout and archive management.

CaseStudy

Ingest

The workflow consists of two types of ingest: baseband ingest

for SDI video recording and file-based ingest for video file import.

Ingest is based around:

• Eight four-channel XS servers

• A six-channel XT3 server with LSM control

• 12 XTAccess workstations

This delivers 32 ingest channels for baseband recording controlled

by EVS’ IPDirector or by SchedulAll/Miranda iControl software.

Once ingest is scheduled, the 12 XTAccess workstations stream

the material from the XS server to the central storage. This enables

32 real time streams to be sent simultaneously with the files

immediately available for all users on the SAN setup.

In addition an XT3 server in the playout gallery is used for ultra fast

ingest and playout - ideal for breaking news. The XT3 is connected

to XNet2, EVS’ high-bandwidth media sharing network, allowing the

XT3 operator to instantly access all 32 ingest ports giving instant

ON AIR playout.

CaseStudySky News Arabia

Ingest Playout

CentralStorage

Post-Production

Production &Content Management

Web

TV

Bureaux

DeepArchive

NRCS

Browsing & Clipping

32 RecordingChannels

140 editingstations

Press Files

VTR

PRESSPRESS

PRESS

ENG

Satellite

News FeedsNews Feeds

Hi-Res SAN (210TB)DVCPRO HD

Proxy: H.264 TS Breaking News

DIVA LTO Tapes iNews

FCP

x 2

x 8

MOS Gateway

File-based ingest for news agency files is completed via a dedicated

folder from which material is transcoded to high and low resolution

on the EVS central storage. The files are immediately available for

the newsroom journalists or FinalCut Pro editors. Another folder

created specifically for Sky News UK gives Sky News Arabia instant

access to their material for editing and fast turnaround review.

ENG file import is available for the direct import video into the

EVS central storage. The system recognises the ENG cameras

connected to the system and allows users to import files and create

timelines for fast access to the new material.

CaseStudy

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Editing

All baseband or file-based videos are instantly available for editing

in the newsroom. Operators use two editing tools as approporiate:

• Xedio CleanEdit

140 of these editing applications are available for journalists in

the newsroom with ingested material ready for editing within

ten seconds. CleanEdit works on the low resolution material

allowing multiple users access to files at the same time with

multiple formats and different aspect ratios being edited on the

same timeline. As a result, users can swiftly shape content and

push it to post-production for advanced editing or directly to

the galleries for playout.

• Final Cut Pro

16 FCP stations are used for advanced editing, including 3D

effects and multi-layer editing. FCP integrates seamlessly with

EVS solutions with users able to browse and edit content

directly on the EVS central storage.

Playout

Gallery playout is done from an XS server controlled by an IPDirector

and connected to AVID iNews with a further XS server used as a

backup. iNews is the AVID newsroom system where all the news

bulletin rundown decisions are made by the editorial team. iNews

also runs on the Xedio CleanEdit workstations to allow journalists

to add finished edits directly into the rundown. Due to the MOS

protocol support, IPDirector then automatically synchronises the

rundown content with the playout server content. EVS developed a

dedicated iNews browser plug-in, so that the iNews operator is able

to see and browse the entire EVS server content.

For breaking news, playout can be done directly. Since the XT3 is

connected to XNet2, it can access any of the 32 ingest ports to

play content to air using the XT3 time slip function. A playlist can be

created with the breaking news element, which is played in loop to

let the director decide when he wants the elements on air.

Media Storage

The vast number of files recorded and imported at a news channel

all need to be stored and archived. Three types of storage are used

at Sky News Arabia:

• Playout server (on line)

The XS playout server has 50 hours online capacity. Files

stored on this server are the ones needed for the immediate

news bulletin and are cleansed regularly.

• Central storage (nearline)

The scalable EVS SAN stores ingested files for editing and

backups of files for playout. The SAN’s capacity is around

3,000 hours of HD at 100 Mbps. Once used, material is

archived or deleted to make space for the new ingest.

• Deep archive

A DIVA tape library from Front Porch Digital is used for deep

archive. EVS’ IP2Archive solution allows operators to store

media files on LTO tapes and restore the files on the central

storage at a later date when the material is needed.

EVS Broadcast Equipment / Sales & Marketing sales@evs.tv+32 4 361 7000 www.evs.tv

CaseStudySky News Arabia

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The results

The free-to-air rolling news channel is now being transmitted in both

SD and HD across the region. EVS worked with the SNA engineers

on the workflow design, then installed and commissioned the sys-

tem on-site. EVS’ Dubai office trained both the engineering and edi-

torial newsroom staff to ensure success.

EVS products were new to the major-

ity of the team at SNA. “EVS means

speed to me - it gives me what I need in

a fast-moving environment,” explained

Anees Jebreen, chief sub video at SNA.

“News is the fastest moving broadcast

environment and you need something

that answers you immediately and

immediately delivers material to screen. So far this is exactly what

EVS has achieved.”

The journalists at Sky News Arabia have

been using Xedio CleanEdit since its

deployment and have been thrilled with

its ease of use. “CleanEdit is very impor-

tant to us. Thanks to Xedio CleanEdit,

I do my LVOs in a maximum of five

minutes” said Romeila Ferrat, sports

presenter at SNA. “I couldn’t do my

job without CleanEdit, especially in a breaking news environment. It

makes our lives faster and easier.”

Sally Nabil, news producer at SNA

added “I trust Xedio CleanEdit.

A producer’s worst nightmare is to

start a project and lose your material.

Xedio CleanEdit removes this fear.

EVS helps me to do all my work in the

shortest time possible. The two most

important things for a journalist are

speed and quality, and Xedio CleanEdit provides exactly that.”

Dominic Baillie, chief technical officer, Sky News Arabia concluded:

“EVS provides reliable technology that’s designed for fast

turnaround of content which is essential to a breaking news channel

like Sky News Arabia. The level of support we have received from

EVS through the design, launch and live phases of the channel has

been and continues to be high. It is very encouraging to see a key

partner pro-actively investing time and resources to fulfil their part

in our success.”