In this 2 part series we explore the importance of metadata for operational scalability in the IPTV world. The emphasis is on allowing our readers to understand the importance of the underlying economics of the operation, specifically the importance of going beyond infrastructure and technology and focusing upon people, processes married to technology to ensure the viability of an IPTV rollout.

INTRODUCTION

As Telco service providers enter the world of video content delivery management and are aggressively evolving their networks, they are learning from broadcasters that business viability is not just about having the right infrastructure. It is about people, processes and technology. Delivering rich media profitably, is about getting the right content to the right subscriber at the right time on the right device. 

Managing metadata ("content about content") will be essential to supporting workflow efficiencies, new services and creating early break-even profit margins. By applying an intelligent "instructional" layer to content metadata, companies can articulate the descriptive and instructive aspects of content to identify an appropriate audience, determine the profitability of any associated commercial opportunity, and subsequently move content via multiple paths to varied consumer devices. This two part series will outline an enriched view of metadata, which enables a fundamental approach for providers to profit from increased granular control over the flow of their content.

Most discussions on metadata's role in the management of content have centered around video delivery management operations or on non-linear content editing. 

Missing from these discussions is the larger role of metadata in the content lifecycle. For such discussions to be meaningful, metadata must be considered in a broader context, beyond its physical operational attributes such as titles, SOM, duration, and encoding formats. One must consider the wider financial and business utilization of content, such as rights, cost, and scheduling constraints. All of this must be considered against the backdrop of changing legacy business models. 

This integrated approach to metadata usage and management supports increased organizational efficiencies. Such efficiencies lead to increased opportunities for operational scale, a more cost-efficient mechanism to repurpose content and an ability to generate new revenue streams. These are what drive business value. 

During this series, 'broadcast' will be used to allow the reader to conceptualize the delivery of content to mass audiences. Clearly, there are targeted and narrowcasting implications that the careful application of metadata will more readily enable in IPTV. However, for the purpose of clarity, we will focus upon the 'broadcast' model in order to maintain focus upon core concepts.

Figure 1 - Typical operational focus on metadata

BEYOND OPERATIONS

Consider figure 1. In its passage from the content creator, be they content providers or ad agencies, content travels a disjointed path through the broadcast operation. For example, a commercial spot usually makes its way from the distributor directly to the automation facility. If in a digital form (usually MXF compatible), then ingest automatically provides a way to extract the metadata. If on tape, the ingest function requires that metadata be generated. In both cases, the available metadata is generally limited to attributes, which facilitate or 'automate' operational efficiency, such as formats, timings, descriptors etc.

Should the material require editing, then it 'inherits' additional metadata from the editing suite in the form of the increasingly prevalent AAF standard. 

Long format items follow a similar path with the addition of segment timings, component content items such as subtitles, different language tracks, censorship items etc. Similarly, in the world of promotions, elemental clips, sound beds, voice-overs, logos, etc.

are all assembled with the AFF format, or similar, encapsulating the content for downstream utilization. 

Note what is missing from this description.

Consider the departments of Programming, Sales, Material Library, Traffic and Finance. All 'touch' the content from a business viewpoint, yet each department has software applications that abstract and transact the content in order that it is appropriately managed from their perspective - always distant from the content itself. Could this distance be the cause of discrepancies and a source of inefficiency?

CREATING BUSINESS VALUE

If we accept the fact that the very essence of broadcasting is about providing the right content to the right consumer in order to create business value, then it follows that those businesses which manage content seamlessly along every link in the broadcast chain will be inherently more efficient. 

Consider what those isolated applications in Programming, Sales, Traffic, Library and Finance have in common. Each has a data structure

Figure 2 - the new broadcasting business model

that describes such things as the state of the content (i.e. Has it been acquired? How and when it can be used, how much it costs, where the material is located, on what media, has it been dubbed? Has it been paid for? Was it profitable? Were the spots invoiced? etc.) and many other issues that must be tracked in order that the business maintain financial viability.

Now, consider scaling people, processes and technology for potentially thousands of 'channels' or streams enabled by an IPTV infrastructure. The numbers are staggering.

All of these individual data structures are function and workflow specific. However, from the enterprise perspectives, are they not merely subsets of what one knows about the content and its usage at any given point in time? Consequently, we conclude that since content is increasingly expressed in digital form, along with its metadata, then is this not just another specialized data structure, albeit more dynamic in nature?

So if we could define a common metadata structure that provides all of the information or data to run all aspects of the business, then each department, or link in the broadcast value chain could share the same data at all times. 

The consequence of this would be an integrated workflow. Because the workflow would be defined by the state of the content, and its usage at any given stage of the business and operational cycle, direct business value is created by operational determinism.

TOMORROW'S MEDIA WORLD

When pundits speak of the impact of digitization, most focus upon the capital investment in infrastructure on both the media industry's part and that of the consumer. Very few delve deeper into what impact it is going to have on the nature of the business of getting media to the consumer. Fewer still consider the impact on the associated business models. Figure 2 illustrates the new broadcasting business model. 

As modern media organizations consolidate their holdings, aggregate their media assets and revenue streams, diversify their offer to compete with consumer pressures and new-media offerings, there is only one certainty - the old advertiser-funded, schedule based business model of broadcasting, will not scale and be as profitable in the future.
All around us we see media 'broadcasting' becoming 
-fragmented and 'multi-media' in nature
-requiring parallel workflow streams
-less people intensive
-sensitive to, and stressed by scalability

At the same time it is becoming more IT-centric. Content is becoming data (e.g. file-based distribution) and data is becoming content (e.g. RSS feeds). And both are becoming the 'base currency' of the digital media enterprise.

In response, content producers need to protect their content, consumers

Figure 3 - H-Class Content Management System

will challenge that right by demanding access to media across many more platform options and operators will need to maintain their distribution costs whilst managing much more content and many more delivery options.

For the broadcast systems of today, these functions are often performed by software and hardware that is provided by different companies (point applications). While this can work in small systems with a limited number of channels, as IPTV systems expand and companies need to become more efficient, this becomes very complicated, time consuming and costly. To solve this challenge, Harris has developed a system called H-Class. The H-Class system uses metadata to identify, characterize and control the flow of media in, through and out of content management system.

Metadata is information (data) that identifies and describes the attributes of media or data. Metadata or meta tags are commonly used in broadcast systems to enable program managers to find, select and setup programming schedules. The current method of adding identifying, qualifying and assigning rights to television programming media in broadcast and cable television systems is often performed through a manual process. 

Figure 3 shows how the H-class system can use metadata to describe and efficiently manage

 content through an IPTV system. This example shows that content management has various interface point including deal management, airtime sales, media ingestion, digital asset management, playout automation and intelligent transport. This example shows that the Harris H-class system provides a common interface to each of these functions allowing for the integration and streamlining of content flow.

The combined need to manage metadata in order to manage and automate large scale integration along with the necessity to track and manage content in the IPTV domain means that an integrated platform is the only viable option. And the key to a viable platform is metadata.

In part 2 of this article, we will explore the types of metadata, their importance and impact upon business processes and scalability.graph.

Taras Bugir is the Cheif Strategy Officer at Harris Software Systems, Media Business, a division of Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division based in Denver, Colorado.