Qligent To Hit IBC Exhibition Floor With New Vision Platform Feature

Qligent is set to hit the IBC exhibition floor next month with the debut of its new As-Run feature for the Qligent™ Vision platform.

The new As-Run feature uses an imported as-run log to analyse whether vital secondary program events, like SCTE-35 ad insertion triggers and ratings watermarks, aired as planned, and also improves the compliance verification process of loudness, EPG tables, and closed-captioning. The application then produces a consolidated as-run report as an overlay to the program schedule in near-real-time.
 
It also provides monitoring by exception to pinpoint precisely where, when and why secondary events failed to execute properly along any of a broadcaster’s downstream distribution channels.
 
"Until now, there hasn't been an easy way to determine if SCTE-35 ad insertion triggers occurred at the right moment in relation to the network's planned commercial break," said Ted Korte, COO, Qligent. "If the playout of an ad triggers too soon or too late, it could clip the head or tail of a spot, resulting in the need for a 'make good', and a potential loss of revenue. And if closed captioning isn't present, or audio exceeds acceptable loudness levels, a station could incur fines for non-compliance. By calling attention to secondary event anomalies in relation to where in the programming, this new feature can save broadcasters money by reducing their exposure to fines and lost advertising revenues."
 
According to Mr Korte, in addition to bottom-line savings, the new application helps broadcasters take smarter, swifter corrective action, meet their mandated responsibilities, and ensure a higher operational Quality of Service (QoS). This is due to how the As-Run feature time-accurately reconciles what actually aired with the program schedule, providing all important details in an easy-to-comprehend format.
 
This new feature also saves broadcasters significant amounts of time and effort by enabling them to search for specific clips or segments of primary program events, such as TV shows, commercials, and IDs, as well as secondary events. Once located, the search function can link them directly to where that item is in the program schedule, and they can also play or export the selected clip segment.
 
Networked Architecture
Like other aspects of the Vision platform, IoT and Virtual probes are used to monitor downstream distribution channels in the last mile and the home, including over-the-air, satellite and cable transmission along with over-the-top (OTT) online and mobile platforms. Qligent's software probes gather and consolidate data for each monitored channel—and relays it to a centralised site.
 
"By aggregating this comprehensive data about all their channels, this as-run overlay feature can reveal if a problem occurred, the nature of the problem, exactly when it occurred, and more importantly where it occurred in their programming," Mr Korte said. "If the data shows that the problem occurred in one distribution path but not another, that can help broadcasters deduce the source of the problem much quicker. As an industry, we have generated as-run logs based on the output of the station's automation system or master control, but today's multi-platform distribution makes it necessary to close the loop on what actually aired further out near the end user."
 
With this new As-Run feature—and other recently added modules like MATCH for programmatic error detection—the Vision platform's comprehensive analytical capabilities now encompass four major areas of concern: the detection of compliance errors (regulatory/SLA), objective errors (QoS), subjective errors (QoE), and programmatic errors (expected presentation to the end user). By leveraging Vision's broader data analytics processing, broadcasters now have visibility of their entire distribution chain, including the terrestrial, cable, satellite, IPTV, mobile, OTT, and social media services that deliver their branded shows to a potentially global audience.   

Qligent will demonstrate its new As-Run capabilities and the entire Vision platform at Stand 8.E47 at the 2018 IBC Show in Amsterdam, 14-18 September.

www.qligent.com