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18/11/2015

Blitz Film & Video Takes Up Arms With PROVYS

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Running movie channels has always been an extremely thrilling and often risky job. Not because of the content itself, but due to more and more complicated rights, critical scheduling, and difficult revenue streams, writes Adam Zeman, Key Account Manager, Provys.

In 2009, CineStar Cinemas (the largest Croatian chain) and Blitz Film and Video Ltd. (the most successful Balkan regional film distributor based in Zagreb) launched their first cable TV channel, Cinemax, which soon became the most popular in the country. Cinemax was designed to entertain the whole family, presenting all kinds of films and series. Two years later, Blitz launched the equally popular adrenaline-charged Action & Thriller channel and a 24-hour news show.

The programmes were broadcast in 16:9 SD format with no movie interruption by commercials. In 2013, the family TV channel was transformed into the first premium domestic movie channels, CineStar Premiere 1 and 2, each of them in SD and HD (1080 and 5.1 sound) versions. CineStar Premiere 2 re-plays the Premiere 1 programme with a 23 hour lag.

With the growing number of channels, the Blitz back-office operations became slightly inefficient without a proper management system. At the beginning of 2015, this prompted the decision to find a solution to this problem.

"Having growth in mind, we had to select a future-proof software which would cover our ever developing needs. We were searching for a system which would help our people to use effective and proven workflows and which would introduce processes that lead to higher profitability and efficiency. Although Provys was more expensive than others, we selected them after a thorough cost/benefit analysis. Provys's renowned support and training quality was an additional factor in our decision making process," said Tomislav Vuic, Content Manager at Blitz.

Unlike many other Provys clients, Blitz strictly required delivery of a standard system without any functional configuration or even customisation. Only the initial system settings were requested and this fact greatly helped to keep the cost of the implementation low. Then, ten days of user training on programme scheduling, rights control and content management, followed by five days to introduce ad sales basics, and then Blitz was ready for lift off. All broadcast scheduling needs integration with the automation system, and this part of the software implementation brought no major challenges as Oasys playout was already in place and the Oasys techies assured Blitz of a smooth and seamless integration with Provys.

Sending playlists with basic graphics and logos is something absolutely ordinary today, but planning accurate secondary graphics, different subtitles, and receiving correct as-run logs and other metadata, is not among the expectations from a low-cost traffic system. Needless to say, secondary graphics and EPG exports were high on the list of Blitz's priorities. As everyone would expect, advertisement sales features had the same level of preference. Surprisingly for all involved, the integration with the established workflow was easy, coherent and simple, undoubtedly due to relatively low usage of the very wide functionality range of the Provys sales module.

After the implementation, we asked Tomislav to explain the difference in their operations in comparison with the replaced legacy system. The answer was clear. Provys has a set of features to manage multi-channel operations with an elegant lightness. An extremely easy extension of the number of channels, simple tools for cross-channel re-plays, template-based secondary event planning, and ingenious support for multi-language playout including multi-language subtitles offer unprecedented time-saving and a much lower error rate to all system operators. The ability to provide TV entertainment for several different national environments is actually crucial to Blitz.

Currently, the Blitz network covers Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Monte Negro, and Kosovo. "Multi-language support was one of our top tendering conditions," says Tomislav, and continues: "We carefully studied references on the candidate suppliers and we were really impressed with the list of Provys's clients. For example, the global entertainment companies such as AMC Networks which acquired Chellomedia two years ago, or Polsat, were a clear sign for us that we can grow with Provys literally without any limits.

"We are particularly delighted with the range of functions available in the system. Although, to start with, we have bought licences for only a few users, Provys system contains all the features needed for a very large multi-national operation. In other words, it provides us with the platform for further expansion. So, with the power of Provys in our engines, the Blitz fireball is ready to roll."

www.provys.com

This article is also available to read at BFV online.

(JP)
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