CH
I wouldn't fully dismiss it. I can't remember whether or not BBC's dropping of the simulcast of World News Tonight happened before or after the huge editorial changes at ABC, but the CBS Evening News would be a worthy program to rebroadcast on the BBC. It would certainly fit in much better than World News Tonight ever did in the final years of the simulcast.
IS
The partnership started the day of the announcement. I'm sure there's still a lot of things to work out about how it'll work but sending a package over is hardly a sign of them 'hurrying up'.
NG
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
noggin
Founding member
The partnership started the day of the announcement. I'm sure there's still a lot of things to work out about how it'll work but sending a package over is hardly a sign of them 'hurrying up'.
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
CH
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
It is possible (and quite common) to set up newsroom systems to access other servers from other stations/newsrooms, though I'm not sure how fast they can set them up. CBS News uses ENPS (though I think the O&Os use iNEWS — not sure whether the two systems can interact very much) and BBC News uses ENPS (for now), so it'd be pretty seamless to look at each others' rundowns and video (in theory!). If all that is set up, and set up for maximum ease of use, then a BBC producer could snoop into CBS' rundowns, copy and paste the story, and download the video through ENPS or another system like BitCentral in about 15-20 seconds, all without any communication between that producer and someone at CBS.
If all of that is not set up yet, then at the very least, after planning meetings, CBS and BBC's respective assignment desks are most certainly emailing each other lists of stories that their correspondents are assigned for that day and for when they are slated to air or be finished. A BBC producer could then email CBS and request the story if he or she wants to run it, and then it would be delivered via a more manual way by emailing the script and uploading the video to an FTP server.
TL;DR: it's possible BBC and CBS have already set up their newsroom systems to talk to each other, but even if they haven't, there are more manual ways of still sharing content immediately.
The partnership started the day of the announcement. I'm sure there's still a lot of things to work out about how it'll work but sending a package over is hardly a sign of them 'hurrying up'.
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
It is possible (and quite common) to set up newsroom systems to access other servers from other stations/newsrooms, though I'm not sure how fast they can set them up. CBS News uses ENPS (though I think the O&Os use iNEWS — not sure whether the two systems can interact very much) and BBC News uses ENPS (for now), so it'd be pretty seamless to look at each others' rundowns and video (in theory!). If all that is set up, and set up for maximum ease of use, then a BBC producer could snoop into CBS' rundowns, copy and paste the story, and download the video through ENPS or another system like BitCentral in about 15-20 seconds, all without any communication between that producer and someone at CBS.
If all of that is not set up yet, then at the very least, after planning meetings, CBS and BBC's respective assignment desks are most certainly emailing each other lists of stories that their correspondents are assigned for that day and for when they are slated to air or be finished. A BBC producer could then email CBS and request the story if he or she wants to run it, and then it would be delivered via a more manual way by emailing the script and uploading the video to an FTP server.
TL;DR: it's possible BBC and CBS have already set up their newsroom systems to talk to each other, but even if they haven't, there are more manual ways of still sharing content immediately.
NG
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
It is possible (and quite common) to set up newsroom systems to access other servers from other stations/newsrooms, though I'm not sure how fast they can set them up. CBS News uses ENPS (though I think the O&Os use iNEWS — not sure whether the two systems can interact very much) and BBC News uses ENPS (for now), so it'd be pretty seamless to look at each others' rundowns and video (in theory!). If all that is set up, and set up for maximum ease of use, then a BBC producer could snoop into CBS' rundowns, copy and paste the story, and download the video through ENPS or another system like BitCentral in about 15-20 seconds, all without any communication between that producer and someone at CBS.
If all of that is not set up yet, then at the very least, after planning meetings, CBS and BBC's respective assignment desks are most certainly emailing each other lists of stories that their correspondents are assigned for that day and for when they are slated to air or be finished. A BBC producer could then email CBS and request the story if he or she wants to run it, and then it would be delivered via a more manual way by emailing the script and uploading the video to an FTP server.
TL;DR: it's possible BBC and CBS have already set up their newsroom systems to talk to each other, but even if they haven't, there are more manual ways of still sharing content immediately.
I'd be surprised if the video sharing were integrated at the ENPS level. You'd almost certainly do it from a separate system so you had full metadata and rights information that ENPS probably doesn't present in a running order view. Not all content CBS have in their rundowns will be shareable - as the BBC and CBS will have different contracts with third party providers.
If they have server sharing in place - I'd expect it to either be a web-based system, or possibly even still arbitrated by a human at each end to confirm rights.
noggin
Founding member
The partnership started the day of the announcement. I'm sure there's still a lot of things to work out about how it'll work but sending a package over is hardly a sign of them 'hurrying up'.
If the deal works anything like the ABC one did, BBC News may well have access to a CBS server that has all their packages on, and simply selects them for export them to their own playout system.
It is possible (and quite common) to set up newsroom systems to access other servers from other stations/newsrooms, though I'm not sure how fast they can set them up. CBS News uses ENPS (though I think the O&Os use iNEWS — not sure whether the two systems can interact very much) and BBC News uses ENPS (for now), so it'd be pretty seamless to look at each others' rundowns and video (in theory!). If all that is set up, and set up for maximum ease of use, then a BBC producer could snoop into CBS' rundowns, copy and paste the story, and download the video through ENPS or another system like BitCentral in about 15-20 seconds, all without any communication between that producer and someone at CBS.
If all of that is not set up yet, then at the very least, after planning meetings, CBS and BBC's respective assignment desks are most certainly emailing each other lists of stories that their correspondents are assigned for that day and for when they are slated to air or be finished. A BBC producer could then email CBS and request the story if he or she wants to run it, and then it would be delivered via a more manual way by emailing the script and uploading the video to an FTP server.
TL;DR: it's possible BBC and CBS have already set up their newsroom systems to talk to each other, but even if they haven't, there are more manual ways of still sharing content immediately.
I'd be surprised if the video sharing were integrated at the ENPS level. You'd almost certainly do it from a separate system so you had full metadata and rights information that ENPS probably doesn't present in a running order view. Not all content CBS have in their rundowns will be shareable - as the BBC and CBS will have different contracts with third party providers.
If they have server sharing in place - I'd expect it to either be a web-based system, or possibly even still arbitrated by a human at each end to confirm rights.
CH
Excellent point! I was going to mention that but didn't want to drone on too much. I also know some places are much more concerned about rights clearance (Fox, surprisingly!) than others (CNN). A lot of it too also depends on how cozy of this relationship really is between CBS and the BBC.
To be honest, I am not sure to what extent video sharing is even available through ENPS. I know it was mostly made for the BBC and is (in my opinion) a very clunky piece of software with a lot of capability and scalability built into it —perhaps too much, even. In the one place where I used ENPS, it was not set up to do very much, and video from our sister stations was not set up to be viewable through it — we had to use a different web client for it. Even viewing our own in-house video through ENPS was a bit of a pain, but that's another story. We could look at each others' rundowns and copy and paste stories, but the video links would always be broken, and even the graphics didn't work despite all of us using the same playout systems and graphics package.
I was also going to add that you can also share video by putting it on a satellite, rolling on it, and having the receiving party simply record it, but that's really only necessary in like a breaking news situation or when you need the video for broadcast very soon. I doubt they'd do that for a package about rediscovered moon rocks.
confirm rights.
Excellent point! I was going to mention that but didn't want to drone on too much. I also know some places are much more concerned about rights clearance (Fox, surprisingly!) than others (CNN). A lot of it too also depends on how cozy of this relationship really is between CBS and the BBC.
To be honest, I am not sure to what extent video sharing is even available through ENPS. I know it was mostly made for the BBC and is (in my opinion) a very clunky piece of software with a lot of capability and scalability built into it —perhaps too much, even. In the one place where I used ENPS, it was not set up to do very much, and video from our sister stations was not set up to be viewable through it — we had to use a different web client for it. Even viewing our own in-house video through ENPS was a bit of a pain, but that's another story. We could look at each others' rundowns and copy and paste stories, but the video links would always be broken, and even the graphics didn't work despite all of us using the same playout systems and graphics package.
I was also going to add that you can also share video by putting it on a satellite, rolling on it, and having the receiving party simply record it, but that's really only necessary in like a breaking news situation or when you need the video for broadcast very soon. I doubt they'd do that for a package about rediscovered moon rocks.
SP
Would there also be rights issues in terms of which outlets could use footage and packages? There might be items that CBS were happy to be shown on the domestic output but less, so if it turned up on World News America?
CH
Rights issues can really vary. CBS probably wouldn't care about sharing any video with the BBC that they shot themselves. But if they get video from somewhere else, the rights owner may not necessarily want it shared beyond where they agreed to have it used. As an example, let's say the CBS owned-and-operated station in San Francisco covers a local murder that's of international interest. The family may provide pictures of the victim to the CBS O&O (KPIX) and agree to let that local station use their pictures, but they may not necessarily agree to the pictures being used on CBS affiliates all around the country or around the world on BBC. Same thing with stringers — they may sell their video to the local affiliate, but they would want to be properly compensated if CBS News or BBC News wanted to use their video on national or international platforms. In these kinds of cases, national feed editors will try to get the contact information of the rights owners from the local station, contact them, and try to get permission to use their video.
Big televised events can be another can of worms too. During all the presidential debates, it was typical that the networks on which each debate aired would only allow a certain amount of minutes of tape to be used on each station and in each newscast, and they had to credit the network that aired the debate and not crop out their bug.
It also depends on the types of agreements too. As another example, here in the US, CBS, Fox, and ABC pool resources into the Network News Service (NNS). They share video and sound, but not packages, and whatever they share is embargoed against competing affiliates in the same market from where it originates. Presumably, BBC is shut out of any video from NNS that didn't originate from a CBS property.
Would there also be rights issues in terms of which outlets could use footage and packages? There might be items that CBS were happy to be shown on the domestic output but less, so if it turned up on World News America?
Rights issues can really vary. CBS probably wouldn't care about sharing any video with the BBC that they shot themselves. But if they get video from somewhere else, the rights owner may not necessarily want it shared beyond where they agreed to have it used. As an example, let's say the CBS owned-and-operated station in San Francisco covers a local murder that's of international interest. The family may provide pictures of the victim to the CBS O&O (KPIX) and agree to let that local station use their pictures, but they may not necessarily agree to the pictures being used on CBS affiliates all around the country or around the world on BBC. Same thing with stringers — they may sell their video to the local affiliate, but they would want to be properly compensated if CBS News or BBC News wanted to use their video on national or international platforms. In these kinds of cases, national feed editors will try to get the contact information of the rights owners from the local station, contact them, and try to get permission to use their video.
Big televised events can be another can of worms too. During all the presidential debates, it was typical that the networks on which each debate aired would only allow a certain amount of minutes of tape to be used on each station and in each newscast, and they had to credit the network that aired the debate and not crop out their bug.
It also depends on the types of agreements too. As another example, here in the US, CBS, Fox, and ABC pool resources into the Network News Service (NNS). They share video and sound, but not packages, and whatever they share is embargoed against competing affiliates in the same market from where it originates. Presumably, BBC is shut out of any video from NNS that didn't originate from a CBS property.
Last edited by Charles on 22 July 2017 11:05am