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Our mission is to identify and explain the technologies and applications that allow television services to be provided through Internet Protocol (IP) data networks.  Readers learn the options and the system to implement IPTV along with new features and applications and business opportunities that are available in the IPTV industry today.

          

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Managing Metadata in an IPTV World

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In part 1 of this series we introduced the concept of metadata and its importance to the delivery of content and the scalability of an IPTV business model. In this issue we continue our discussion on the importance of an integrated metadata model and its impact upon operations.

TYPES OF METADATA

Figure 1 describes the different types of metadata currently well known and utilized in daily media business operations.
Core metadata - basic information about content. This information never changes because it identifies the original content. Example, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was produced in 1937 by Disney, is in color, with sound in English, and runs 83 minutes.

Applied metadata - the addition of applied metadata to core metadata to support specific contexts. Example, a Japanese broadcaster may add Japanese subtitles to "Snow White…" for local consumption.
Transactional metadata - instructional metadata enables organizations to direct how content is to be managed. Example, the Japanese broadcaster may choose to specify that a particular format of "Snow

White…" be delivered to its cellular subscribers.
We perform such transactional operations with systems today, they are external to the content model, but they interact directly with the content. An example of such an application is the Harris Vision scheduling tool, which checks dubbing requirements against channel defaults. 


The model described above has one more metadata type than is generally discussed or even acknowledged - transactional metadata. It is this type of data which bridges the operational chasm, supporting the effective integration of business functions with operational mandates. There has been very little discussion about this type of metadata, because, typically it has been treated as 'data' within business systems. However, there is no longer any reason to consider this as being separate from the overall integrated business workflow. Examples of Transactional metadata are:

Conditional Access - This metadata can be held as properties of the content but is more often customized for each transmission event of the material. The instructional data defines the logical conditions 

Transactional Metadata
Applied Metadata
Core Metadata
Content Essence

that must be met for viewing, based upon each Entitlement that a viewer could purchase. It is often only used to attach Entitlements to Subscription channels and PPV programming with some geographical blackout control. However the potential extension of this enables highly targeted television events and commercials. This is an example of metadata information that is transacted with the viewing device by the content.

Program Contracts - This important information is associated with the program titles and instantiates the detailed rights and contractual constraints for the broadcasting of the title. In current business models it is currently used only to schedule and then validate the planned transmission of programming. In a pull world, this information becomes immediately essential to support conditional access and financial mechanisms.

Material Instructions - This metadata is sent by advertisers (or promotions departments) to provide detailed rules for the assignment of content to booked campaign spots. This includes rotation arrangements and frequency of display information. Such information along with commercial orders (refer next) could be intelligently utilized by 'content-aware' placement algorithms. In effect, content could instruct  the system where it should be placed - all without human intervention.

Commercial Orders - This information is essential for the revenue of most television broadcasters but traditionally has not been considered to be transactional metadata. These instructions include when and where the booked spot and its material must be shown to the viewer and also include the rate-card and audience value of the spot. 


Interactive Packages - Another class of material metadata is the linkage of all the related content elements that are needed to compile an interactive TV event. In addition to video, content can be as diverse as HTML, Java as well as static and dynamic image formats. It is important to recognize that script files that instruct the flow of control and display are themselves content and in theory, these scripts can be as complex as a traditional e-commerce web site.

Process Status - The communication of content status to business processes is essential to the management of the preparation of content into a transmission-ready state. This metadata contains all the job steps, their assignment, due dates and completion status. While important during the execution process, it is only of historical value after the material is completed and approved.

Program Format - This metadata is related to the

transmission instance of a program title and defines the detailed structure of the breaks, segments and other interstitial events. This information is not only important to the preparation of the transmission schedule but is now being treated as essential metadata to be delivered along with the content to inform receiving parties of the structure. This is extremely valuable for affiliate ad break overlays and if sent to the viewing device, could easily support local targeted content insertion.
Clearly this is not a comprehensive list of business driven information that could be embedded into the metadata model, but it does illustrate the point that capturing and enriching metadata upstream of operational processes supports massive automation of downstream operational processes.

OPERATIONAL INTEGRATION

So, let us briefly step back to the world of business systems. How would all of these applications access the metadata so nicely contained and cataloged by our operations team across the enterprise? 

Logic suggests some sort of 'connection' between the world of business and operations. Traditionalists would argue that this exists in the form of a log and a material dub list. If you have these two, all is well. But is it? Will that suffice in tomorrow's world? What does a log for internet look like? Is it similar to a radio log? Or a VOD log? Obviously not. The only answer is an integrated operational platform that links all business and operational activities with the same 'currency' i.e. content and its associated metadata.

In response to this inevitability, Harris developed a content-centric platform from the ground up utilizing an entire architecture with well-defined services that provide workflow focused data to the calling application see figure 2.
To date our experience with integrated applications suggests that a platform approach with integrated business operations could reasonably achieve efficiency gains of over 25%. This figure is consistent with organizational studies from supply chain management efficiencies in retail and manufacturing.

ENTERPRISE METADATA RULES

Harris' experience of designing many large enterprises globally, has enabled us to formulate what we consider to be three fundamental rules to consider when evaluating the impact, or value of metadata to your organization.


Operational efficiency decreases in proportion to the degree of abstraction of metadata.


Basically, the further your business transaction applications are dissociated from content and its metadata, the more issues you will face in maintaining information in synchronization between

the business and operational domain, and the more likelihood of discrepancies and common business practices in your enterprise. This directly impacts efficiency.


System integration effort is a geometric function of the number of databases abstracting metadata

The more applications you attempt to integrate with tools that really only facilitate inter-process or inter-application messaging, then the more permutations you have in ensuring that data is consistent across the enterprise. Complexity increases as a function of n*(n?1) database application connections.

The 'dexterity' of an organization is directly proportional to the number of metadata enabled workflows

If you have to re-key, re-populate, refresh and re-check data and 
metadata then your ability to scale becomes a limiting factor. The number of parallel workflows reaches a limit. This is a direct indicator of your ability to quickly change as an organization.


FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

As bandwidths increase, new opportunities to leverage content must be managed in a cost effective manner. The economics do not allow for increased personnel to manage the increased requirements of deploying and running new channels and services. 

Through the use of a content-focused platform, knowledgeable of business metadata, modular content-aware applications can allow organizations to scale for the increased volumes of content that will necessarily follow. This type of infrastructure can support new strategies to take content and reach an increasingly fragmented consumer base cost-effectively.


This will drive flexibility and as such, present up-sell opportunities for not only pulled subscription or transactional-based content but will drive advertising content which is pushed to consumers.

With this increasing proliferation of content provides the one inescapable conclusion in the media marketplace of tomorrow - the certainty of metadata management.

 

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

 
 
 

                                                       

 
   
   
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