Germans Tune In For Euro 2008

Annova Systems, developer of the enterprise newsroom system OpenMedia, has announced that German broadcaster - ARD (under the leadership of Bayerischer Rundfunk and Südwestrundfunk) is using Annova's flagship OpenMedia solution to report on the 2008 European Football Championship games. With Germany scoring a place in this weekend's final, the company's estimate last week that over 80% of the German population is likely to be tuning in to watch the games may therefore be a bit conservative.
The audience viewing statistics has already made reporting on the games top priority - and with Germany v Spain being the finale pairing on Sunday - ARD's implementation of the enterprise OpenMedia system across all game reporting facilities is all the more vital.
Reporting has so far been including the DFB headquarters in Tenero, Ascona, the IBC in Vienna and all earlier game venues in Austria and Switzerland as well as game locations in Germany - including the forthcoming Vienna final match.
The special OpenMedia set up enabled journalists to report on all aspects of the championship football events including; real-time coverage, press briefings and other news feed outlets.
For OpenMedia also manages the rundown, allowing for last minute updates from any of the locations.
"Many people know the OpenMedia system as a newsroom solution that can
support large workgroups," commented Michael Schueller, Annova Systems. "It can also be as flexible and if not more accommodating than smaller systems when it comes to complex reporting situations such as high-profile live events or political elections where simultaneous coverage and reporting from and on multiple locations is paramount.
"Integrations with many industry standard broadcast technologies and API's greatly extend the system's capabilities and functions enabling journalists to see and tell the story from many angles."
The OpenMedia system can support thousands of journalists - providing functionality newsroom computer system functionality including; simultaneous agency feeds research, contributions and rundown planning, on-air management as well as integration of standard broadcast equipment and media asset management solutions to streamline the flow of content.
Highly configurable, the OpenMedia solution provides a plug-in interface for third-party development greatly extending the system's capabilities. Automation, managing assets, integrating desktop editors and controlling playout can be managed through the plug-in API. For the football games, OpenMedia incorporated the module for connecting with 3rd party broadcasters for transmission transfers.
(BMcC)