New Technologies Drive AP’s Reinvention
The Associated Press invests $30 million in digital makeover
By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/21/2011 12:01:00 AM
From Camera to Customer
As part of the AP’s efforts to transform its news operations, the agency has
embarked on a massive training program of more than 100 people to help its
staff find new way to capture and produce news stories.
Sandy MacIntyre, the AP’s VP and director of news for international video, stresses that the company has already trained most producers to shoot video and that everyone can work on non-linear editing systems.
To build on those skills, the new round of training is focusing on getting staff to use their HD cameras and new technology “to tell stories in a more compelling way,” MacIntyre adds.
The agency also wants journalists to produce more lifestyle and entertainment stories, to better customize their packages for regional clients and to edit stories so that they are delivering “a more finished product” that can be more easily taken to air or directly posted on a Website, MacIntyre says.
Besides producing more finished content, the AP is also looking at a mix of cellular and satellite technology so it can deliver more live video. 3G and 4G networks will be important, but MacIntyre says the company is also testing a variety of satellite solutions, which have been widely used recently in the Middle East after authorities shut down the Internet and mobile networks. —GW
Sandy MacIntyre, the AP’s VP and director of news for international video, stresses that the company has already trained most producers to shoot video and that everyone can work on non-linear editing systems.
To build on those skills, the new round of training is focusing on getting staff to use their HD cameras and new technology “to tell stories in a more compelling way,” MacIntyre adds.
The agency also wants journalists to produce more lifestyle and entertainment stories, to better customize their packages for regional clients and to edit stories so that they are delivering “a more finished product” that can be more easily taken to air or directly posted on a Website, MacIntyre says.
Besides producing more finished content, the AP is also looking at a mix of cellular and satellite technology so it can deliver more live video. 3G and 4G networks will be important, but MacIntyre says the company is also testing a variety of satellite solutions, which have been widely used recently in the Middle East after authorities shut down the Internet and mobile networks. —GW
Buffeted by a decline in newspaper revenue from $220 million in 2008 to about $140 million in 2010, the AP’s London upgrades are part of a $30 million investment in a new high-definition, digital file-based infrastructure that the news agency hopes will help it thrive in a digital world that has been so hard on traditional news organizations.
“From camera to client, there is no piece of the video infrastructure that will not be impacted,” by the upgrade, notes Lorraine Cichowski, senior VP and chief information officer, technology at the AP.
In London, system integrator ATG is working with AP Technology to design a state-of-the-art HD video infrastructure and new control room that will support an end-to-end file-based work flow. Similar upgrades for AP facilities in New York and Los Angeles are expected to be completed by the end of the year, with Washington, D.C., to follow in 2012.
A number of AP bureaus will also get new master controls, and the agency will upgrade all of its satellite and video fi ber infrastructure to HD.
Meanwhile, the agency is revamping the way it produces news so that it can speed up delivery of content and live breaking news to clients. Many Associated Press crews and bureaus have already been equipped with Panasonic HD cameras, Macintosh laptops and Final Cut Pro editing software to speed up field production, and the company is looking at a variety of new cellular and satellite systems to transmit HD news footage to clients, in some cases directly from cameras to broadcasters.
Equally important, the AP has been working in-house to develop a variety of new systems to manage that content and allow its customers to more easily access it. In December 2009, the company launched Media Port, a file-based video delivery system; this May, it will roll out a revamped system that will make it much easier for clients to access material from AP’s archives.
Over the next year, the agency will also be developing and deploying an entirely new digital video platform for accessing, managing and delivering content to its clients. “It will tie together everything that supports the video network,” notes Cichowski.
When completed in 2012 before the London Summer Olympics, the agency believes these upgrades will allow it to better serve existing broadcast clients and at the same time boost revenue from fast-growing digital outlets. “Technology is the enabler of this transformation, but it is really a complete transformation of our video business,” says Daisy Veerasingham, senior VP at AP, who is heading the transformation of the organization’s video business.
E-mail comments to gpwin@oregoncoast.com
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