RTV Oost selects Media Backbone Hive when moving to an 'online first' news operation

RTV Oost selects Media Backbone Hive when moving to an 'online first' news operation

Regional Dutch broadcaster chooses the flexible, scalable network production platform to get its content where it needs to go seamlessly and quickly

RTV Oost has selected Media Backbone Hive to streamline and future-proof its news operations, becoming the first European regional broadcaster to introduce the end-to-end media production solution from Sony.

The regional Dutch broadcaster has chosen the award-winning network production platform to deliver the flexibility required to meet the needs of its audience in today’s fast-paced content landscape. RTV Oost currently delivers news through a ‘24/7 online’ radio and television channel, a website (www.rtvoost.nl), their own mobile applications and several social media channels. The Media Backbone Hive platform and tools will enable RTV Oost to support the quick, efficient creation of content for Internet, social and broadcast applications alike, so its journalists can concentrate on the most important factor of their job, storytelling. 

“We first saw Hive at NAB last year and we immediately knew it was a system that could move our operations forward,” said Jaap Hilbink, Facilities Manager at RTV Oost. “We will be able to be much more agile than we were before, as we’ll have the ability to quickly ingest, share, edit and publish any content to any platform. This is particularly significant in today’s ‘always on’ journalism environment, where the appetite for 24/7 news and diversity of broadcast content means we need to be prepared to deliver content in multiple formats across multiple platforms.”

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RTV Oost purchased the platform through Dutch broadcast reseller Vocas Sales & Services BV, which has a long-standing relationship with the broadcaster. RTV Oost worked closely with Vocas and Sony to understand the current capabilities of the platform, and Sony’s development plans for Media Backbone Hive. The broadcaster shortlisted three solutions, but Media Backbone Hive stood out as the choice that would meet its needs now, and have the agility to evolve into the future.

Regional Dutch broadcaster chooses the flexible, scalable network production platform to get its content where it needs to go seamlessly and quickly

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Drawing on two decades of Sony innovation in news production, Media Backbone Hive was launched in 2016 as an evolution of its popular Sonaps solution, providing end-to-end, camera-to-archive content production and workflow management. The omni-media network production system has been designed to use the latest IT infrastructure to re-invent news production, supporting the fast, efficient flexible creation of content for multiple platforms including Internet, mobile, social media and broadcast applications alike. Developed to easily integrate with market-leading newsroom computer systems and graphics platforms, journalists and operators can keep working with their existing tools with minimal disruption.  

By using an agile cloud-based datacentre model, and open source technologies, Media Backbone Hive offers complete scalability. Broadcasters can add or remove resources while the system is live by taking advantage of Sony’s ‘on demand’ investment model. They can be confident the platform will work for their business both today and tomorrow, and no investment is wasted. And through Sony’s collaboration with software partner Sobey (Sobey Digital Technology Co. Ltd) Hive enables the seamless integration of third party tools for flexible file management.

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“In today’s world audiences won’t wait for the next TV broadcast to see the day’s big news stories, they’ll already have seen the video on social media or the story online,” said Dave Hedley, Marketing Lead for Software Workflow Solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe. “Broadcasters need to be able to adapt to this constant evolution and RTV Oost really understands this. By choosing Media Backbone Hive, RTV Oost is leading the way in The Netherlands in modernising its operations to meet its audience’s needs. We believe Hive is a real game changer and we’re excited to see how the solution transforms RTV Oost’s news workflow.”