Paper presented by Emanuele Balossino, Mediaset, at the FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2018, Venice.

1. FIAT/IFTA – World Conference
Venezia, October 9th 2018
Mediaset Sport
Digitization-Industrialization:
Sport broadcasting challenges
and the value of real time contents
in an integrated newsroom

2. Mediaset in motion

3. MOTORSPORTS AND OTHERS
• Superbike,
• Formula E,
• Nascar,
• Tennis
FOOTBALL
• FIFA world cup,
• UEFA Champions League hilights
selection,
• Serie A highlights selection,
• UEFA Nations League,
• Campeonato brasileiro
• Barca TV,
• Arsenal TV
Mediaset Sport: main contents
Up to
≈ 6.000 hours of contents per year

4. Live
events
“Produced”
content
Mediaset Sport: content portfolio
• Live matches (multiple formats) and highlights
• Pre/post match selections (i.e.: mix-zone and
dedicated interviews)
• Magazines/ live-shows: in-house sport programs
format with talents and football experts/ sport
celebrities and tactical analysis (i.e.: players and
teams’ rankings, moviola)
• News bulletins: live news everyday, distributed
over DTT premium channels and FTA TV
• Selected content for Web/social: Sportmediaset.it,
with dedicated profiles
≈ 2.500
hours/ year
≈ 1.000
hours/ year
≈ 2.500
hours/ year
Source: Sport Season 2017/’18
FTA generalist &
Multichannel distribution
Up to 5 main
channels,
with dedicated
brands

5. Be emotionalEnhance library heritage
Cross media approach and
multi-platform distribution
“Pre-mediate” events
Mediaset Sport: going forward

6. Mediaset Sport: digital journey

7. PROCESSES AND
TECHNOLOGIES
Technology breakthrough, generating
a paradigm shift (from analogue to
digital)
ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Day-by-day activities and workflows
reengineering and roles evolution
Mediaset Sport: digital journey – drivers and approach

8. Mediaset Sport: digital journey – drivers and approach
PROCESSES AND
TECHNOLOGIES
Technology breakthrough, generating
a paradigm shift (from analogue to
digital)
ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Day-by-day activities and workflows
reengineering and roles evolution

9. Mediaset Sport: digital journey – drivers and approach
Business side
Technology side

10. Mediaset Sport: digital journey – drivers and approach
ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT
• Projects and change management, from
business requirement definition to post-
release support
• Design system workflows,
basing on architectural
frameworks,
• Define organizational
models, declining
roles/resps.
“INTERNAL CUSTOMER”
• Production department: plan and manage production resources and day-
by-day content availability (selection, cataloguing and archiving,
right management),
• Technical Department (studios resources)
• Journalists
TECHNICAL SUPPLIER
• Deploy technical facilities and
solutions, based on customer
requests and defined SLA
• Ensure maintenance and
end-user support (L2 support team)
TECHNOLOGY DEPT.
• Design technical facilities
and solutions for
broadcasting,
• Responsible for post-
release technical support
(Operations),
• Vendor management.

11. Digital journey: Processes and Technology

12. Digital journey: Processes and Technology – timeline
ACTIVITY SCHEDULING FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP
REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS
SYSTEM AND WORKFLOW DESIGN
INFRASTRUCTURAL CONFIGURATION
(network, hardware/software)
DEPLOYMENT
TRAINING
DATA MIGRATION
POST-IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

13. CATALOGUING AND
ARCHIVING
Digital journey: Legacy content production model
CREATION
AND DISTRIBUTION
DEFINITION AND
SCHEDULING
INGEST
ASWAS
• Mainly analog supports,
• Acquisition on digital
(Storenext) and physical
support collection in analog
tape library
• Raw content definition on
traditional supports (pen
and paper),
• digital content scheduling,
with basic rundown
management (titles and
durations collected on Inews
spreadsheets)
• Ibrid archives
environments - digital
storage (most recent
contents) and analog
supports (tape library),
• Linear Editing,
• Print-to-tape for manual
contribution.
• Local dedicated archives (from
tapes on the shelfs to file
system content management)
and centralized tape library
• Descriptive Metadata (title,
timecode, duration), Clips
grouped by subject and time
Hilites Production, ad-hoc
SW Word, I-News
Hilites Production/ Linear
Production
Word, Tape library.
Hybrid analog-digital sys
Metadata Metadata

14. LOGGING
FACTORY
Digital journey: evolution roadmap
NEWSROOM
& PAM
• WEB AND SOCIAL content
publishing and distribution
• ENTERPRISE REPOSITORY – MAM
INTEGRATION
• REPORTING/ KPI facilities,
• RIGHT MANAGEMENT advanced facilities
• INTEGRATED PLANNING TOOLS (technical plan and
scheduling into the same newsroom environment)
DISTRIBUTION
& MAM
EXTERNAL CONTENT
PROVISIONING
(inbound/ outbound –
i.e.: UEFA Ubox,
FIFAMAX, Infront
solution)

15. CATALOGUING AND
ARCHIVING
INGEST
Digital journey: Digital content production
CREATION
AND DISTRIBUTION
CONTENT DEFINITION
AND SCHEDULING
ASIS
Digital evolution could be summarized considering main key process areas, representing the factory configuration before digitalization:
Massive ingest, with 44
ingest channels, VTR, P2,
mini-dv and scan-converter
• Central newsroom
• Logging and highlights integrated contribution,
• End-to-end file based workflows,
• Non-Linear Editing (One Cut),
• Tapeless contribution
A single database, sharing
the same content enriched
with multiple metadata and
dedicated profiled views
Dalet Galaxy Newsroom and Playout
3rd party SW (Final Cut and Premiere) fully integrated with Dalet Editor (Xtend plugin), Cube Graphics, CMS
Totally integrated metadata
End-to-end digital integrated workflows
BACKBONE OF THE SUCCESS

16. •Scheduled and crash recordings
from various sources and formats
(VTRs and live feeds, direct import
from cameras, such as P2 or
XDCAM, and FTP),
•Immediate “asset identification”,
through hybrid metadata definition -
“first tagging”, with manual and
automatic asset management,
•Materials immediately available to
all users simoultaneously (i.e.:
editing in-while recording).
Digital content production: Ingest

17. • Dedicated technical scheduling ( ),
• Story centric workflows management, with
central production rundown and on-air
dedicated content scheduling for
newscasts, live and near-live magazines
(running order definition),
• Single/centralized point of collection
(placeholder/ “box”) for every planned story,
to be managed as unit with all its associated
elements (text, video, voice-over and audio,
CG and graphics),
• Story lifecycle management (from initial
content assignment to final acceptance)
Digital content production: content definition

18. • type of plays through a dedicated
glossary (goal, penalty, etc.),
• player information and related
team (pre-loaded team rosters),
• immediate rating to each clip (1:
kick-out, .., 4: gol/moviola, 5:
choreography), useful for
subsequent trim and assemble into
dedicated playlists
About 300 logs produced per match
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Logging factory
Simultaneous live games logging while events are in progress (pre-match, match and post-event), via preset
buttons to denote:

19. • Highlights and clips creation,
with typical playlists (i.e.: key
plays, favorite players, penalties)
immediatly available for the
playout/ contribution
• highlights selection and
orchestration during half-time
and post-game shows, managed
by dedicated figures (i.e.: super-
editors, supervisor)
• Highlights packages
immediately available into the
central newsroom
Logging factory
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Logging for instant highlights feed –
dedicated logging teams (1 logger & 1 editor
per match)

20. •Unique search environment
over online and offline
contents,
•Traditional content browsing,
through standard collections
and hierarchical structure (i.e.:
footage, feeds, events, with
dedicated sub-collections),
•Standard searching (i.e.:
video, text, wires) through
single text field,
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Search & Browse

21. •Advanced and dedicated
search profiles (i.e.: locators,
event’ logs, catalogued
playlists)
•Summarised results, with
intelligent filters – facet and
multiple selection filters
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Search & Browse

22. • Fully integrated video production
tool (OneCut), to combine text,
video, voice-over and CGs, into
each dedicated “placeholder”
• Online and offline content preview
(proxy), selection and video
editing, including in-while
recording content, logged items
and retrieved content from deep
archive, audio manipulation,
graphics insertion and rendering
(*.MXF 50 Mb)
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Video Production

23. • dedicated workstation with full capabilities, where
journalists can search, write, retrieve, edit, and
finalize/render their assigned stories, by themselves,
• web innovative client – “light workstation”, with
rundown management, remote content sharing and
selection while recording (Dalet Web Space)
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Video Production

24. • Tapeless contribution, with HD video
broadcasting/ 4K (biggest events) and
graphics/credits management,
• Live automated playout, directly from
the rundown, in the same scheduled
order or with live reordering, or
eventually manually triggerable
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Playout

25. • Web and social distribution through
CMS video and metadata publishing
(title, text, brand and sub-brand), with
manual trigger (status change within
production rundown):
Brand/Sub-brand management
(SportMediaset.it/ World Cup,
Superbike),
dedicated social pages
(Instagram, Facebook, Twitter),
Digital content production: creation and distribution
Publishing

26. • Live cataloguing (loggers/editors), and
near-live tagging and description PLUS
• Offline logging review and update (internal
archivists - lead-time: 1 day)
• Cataloguing defined procedures based on:
 Asset manager with tags and
descriptive metadata (i.e.: usage rights
– in progress), based on defined data
model and metadata taxonomy,
 Scenes/frames selection with
locators – Medialogger
Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving

27. Logging review and update: from 300 logs to 30 logs produced per match by archive staff
Sub-items
with
annotation
tracks:
• Logging description
• Players
• Detailed tags
(taxonomy
predefined with
editorial staff)
Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving
Log to archive

28. Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving – log focus
Logging
factory
Online logging for instant
highlights feed, playout
and immediate use during
the match day
Log
to archive
Specialistic/dedicated
logging teams
(1 logger & 1 editor
per match)
Offline logging review and
selection, with tagging and
metadata annotation
Archivists –
Media/Event
specialists
Up to 48
hours from
live event
From 48
hours till
deep archive

29. • Daily quality check and monitoring, to ensure
proper and corret metadata enrichment,
• Continuous content selection and review with
evergreen creation and update.
Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving
Continuous review

30. • Online and offline
repository
monitoring (daily
base) and
management
Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving
Reporting
Library (LTO)
≈ 1.500 TB
Online Storage
150 TB

31. Cataloguing
and
Archiving
Ingest
Creation
and
Distribution
Content
definition
and
scheduling• Content as the fuel,
• Workflows as the
engine
• Metadata as the
spark
to maximize
the value of the
assets
and
to ensure
full rights and
content
exploitation
on every platform
But what about the driver?..
Digital content production: cataloguing and archiving

32. Digital journey: drivers – Roles and Responsibilities

33. PROCESSES AND
TECHNOLOGIES
Technology breakthrough, generating
a paradigm shift (from analogue to
digital)
ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
Roles evolution and day-by-day
activities/workflows reengineering
Digital journey: Roles and Responsibilities

34. ORGANIZATION INNOVATION – main roles evolution:
JOURNALISTS – central content-factory deployment, where
each journalist is engaged:
to search, write, retrieve, edit and finalize/render
Digital journey: Roles and Responsibilities – challenges and key-facts
their assigned stories, by themselves, in order to
provide content for Sports brands and channels
(pay & free), but also for other Mediaset brands,
into news and infotainment areas.

35. ORGANIZATION INNOVATION – main roles evolution:
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT:
• Producers re-definition: cross-product coverage (i.e.: from newscasts to live
event coverage, with a monthly full-rotation engagement), mantaining ad-hoc
engagement for specific content productions (i.e.: producers assigned to
TikiTaka),
• Archive staff re-thinking:
• media manager,
• governance specialist,
• “event specialist”, assuring standardized content cataloguing and asset
management, plus oversight media lifecycle and procedures.
Digital journey: Roles and Responsibilities – challenges and key-facts

36. ORGANIZATION INNOVATION – main roles evolution:
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT:
• “central technical pool” structure definition – Centrale Operazioni, fully cross-
factory support, ensuring the execution of technical activities (“ingest farm”,
playout) and management of TV production capabilities (internal and external/on
the field)
Digital journey: Roles and Responsibilities – challenges and key-facts

37. Digital journey: insights and lesson learned

38. From localized and fragmentated activities to an industrialized model over a fully
tapeless value chain, form ingest to broadcast/distribution, focusing on
Journalists as core-figures, responsible for content production and playout
management
Process reengineering, through structured manual and automatic workflows –
“activities standardization” (i.e.: acquisition and tagging with predefined rules and
metadata glossary, editing and voiceover on newsroom capabilities, departmental
archiving and enterprise content management through MAM solution)
End-to-end workflow management, from ingest to rundown management and
playout, with a single digital environment – Dalet Galaxy “suite”, with newsroom
and playout modules
Digital journey: insights – business model transformation

39. Production capacity enhancement: editing and voiceover processes relocated
over editorial resources (Journalists):
• from linear editing, with infrastructural limits (restricted number of editing room),
to fully scalable solution through non-linear-editing station available to every
journalist (dedicated workstation),
• post-production dedicated facilities (complex finished products), integrated with
newsroom/editing suite
• production rate doubled, without increasing human resources (to 5.000
total hours produced per year)
Digital journey: insights – business model transformation

40. Digital journey: lesson learned
Competence evolutionChange managemeent
Human being systemGovernance

41. Heavy impact on final users in term of transition from analog to digital production
environment, particularly concerning journalists and their day-by-day working routine.
This means the need to adress important initiatives of change management and
competences trasformation.
Needs of gradual role and competences evolution (Media manager and content
specialists, support figures, like technical support (L1, L2), workflow and user
operative assistance (actually in progress).
Heavy processes of governance, control and content alignment (i.e.: syncronized
content between different/ not integrated systems – Sport vs News)
Difficult to guarantee the continuous improvement of the system, consistently with
the gradual evolution of production requirements – “Human being System”
Digital journey: lesson learned

42. Mediaset Sport: digital journey
THANK YOU!
Emanuele Balossino
Direzione Organizzazione R.T.I. S.p.A. - Gruppo Mediaset
Viale Europa, 46
20093 Cologno Monzese (MI) - Italy
Mob.: +39 335 7304423
@: emanuele.balossino@mediaset.it

43. ATTACHED

44. EVENTI ESTERNI
STUDIO 8
TV
WEB e MOBILE
Propogazione metadati in real-time
Messa in onda
Pubblicazione
Contribuzione
PRODUZIONE CONTENUTI
Milano
Roma (accesso remoto)
Mediaset Premium Sport: digital journey – architectural framework

45. Mediaset Premium Sport: digital journey – architectural framework (spec.)
CENTRAL STORAGE
NEWSROOM COLOGNO
· 130 USERS
· 10 WORKSTATION
EDITING EVOLUTO (FCP)
ROMA
· 15 USERS
TORINO
· 1 USER
INGEST FARM
· 11 VIDEOSERVER INGEST
· 44 INPUT HD
STUDIO 6
· 4 PLAY HD (A, B, C, CART) WITH SAFETY
· 2 CG CHANNELS (grafica automatizzata)
· 4 DLS CHANNELS
· 12 CLIENT
STUDIO 7
· 4 PLAY HD (A, B, C, CART) WITH SAFETY
· 1 CG CHANNELS
· 4 DLS CHANNELS
· 12 CLIENT
STUDIO 8 HILITE PLAYOUT
· 24 CANALI PLAY HD
· 20 USER LOGGING & EDITING
DALET NEWSROOM
SPORT FACTORY
PRODUCTION STORAGE
MEDIASET SPORT
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OVERVIEW
THIRD PARTY SERVICES
ONLINE TAPE LIBRARY