Signiant

Doubling the number of events has forced ESPN to drastically rethink how it produces and distributes the X Games — both in the U.S. and abroad. In that vein, the ESPN brain trust has developed a cookie-cutter–style production model that will be essentially duplicated at all six X Games this year. The new workflow reduces on-site staff and gear, while using ESPN’s Bristol, CT, broadcast center as a de facto IBC (International Broadcast Center) for graphics insertion, features editing, live-feed integration, global distribution, and more. The revamped production model debuts this week in Aspen.

For the past 10 days, the Australian Open in Melbourne has helped tennis fans and others with the winter blues get a taste of summer: the sun always seems to shine on this opening Grand Slam event. And the production teams at ESPN, Tennis Channel, and Channel Seven Australia, and production-services team at Gearhouse Broadcast have been at the center of creating that taste of summer.

For many years we have been talking about file-based workflows and it’s fair to say that data is fast becoming the norm at every stage of the production and post-production path. The plethora of codecs, formats and platforms has introduced a technical challenge of marshaling all this data into usable, transmittable files.

Signiant’s newest solution providers include AD Digital of Brazil, Altered Images in the UK, Fofic Media Solutions in The Netherlands, Mediatrade in Finland, Promovisa in Spain, SAV in France and Visual Unity in the Czech Republic. These partners will offer various Signiant products, including subscription-based Media Shuttle file transfer software delivered from the cloud.

Jonathan Bird’s Blue World takes viewers on an adventurous exploration of the world’s oceans in a series the whole family will enjoy. Filmed across the globe, each episode brings viewers to the edge of their seats.

Craig’s background includes executive roles in various parts of the media industry, including both product companies and managed services businesses. She recently served as COO of Network Services for Ascent Media Group, which provided media management, content distribution, and 24/7 on-air broadcast services to media companies.

“We have built our business on top-shelf service and the highest-quality dubbing of films in all European languages. With Signiant, we’ll be able to help our clients maximize the revenue potential of their movies and other programs by speeding the distribution of foreign language versions to the worldwide market.”

The HPA awards were created to showcase and reward inventors, manufacturers, vendors and companies for outstanding product or technology application offerings that advance the post-production industry.

“Signiant has gained enormous momentum in recent months, with key sales around the world and a rapidly growing acceptance of our solution as an integral part of digital media strategies. The respective backgrounds and experience of these seasoned executives further strengthens our reputation in the Central European and Asia Pacific markets.”

This award is the second significant industry recognition Signiant has received this year, and follows a number of high-profile customer wins. In April, Signiant’s file movement software suite was named a “Pick Hit” for product innovation by Broadcast Engineering at NAB 2008.

“Initially we simply wanted a digital transfer system to move files between two of our stations in Denmark and Sweden which would save us over £100,000 a year. However, the more we discovered about the Signiant system it was clear that we could save even more by implementing the system across our entire distribution network.”

We are delighted to be working with Signiant. We pride ourselves on offering our clients the best solutions to meet their broadcasting requirements, and Signiant’s digital media distribution management suite is clearly becoming the tool of choice for international broadcasters to power their digital supply chains.”