Leading Norwegian Newspaper Channels its Energy into TV with Octopus

As media groups fight for audience share, cross ownership is becoming an increasingly widespread phenomena. The advantages for channels such as VG include the opportunity for shared resources and ready access to an existing audience. Octopus Newsroom will give VG the flexibility to use multiple internal and external wire sources, produce news cost-effectively and to disseminate stories and clips via television, social media networks and streaming media portals, such as YouTube.

“From the outset VG’s news journalists will be expected to feed stories to the television channel as well as to a variety of online portals. Systems like Octopus are designed to make their life easier and to connect them with every audience with a minimum of clicks.” Explained Pål Hansen CTO of VG.

VG opted for ToolsOnAir and Octopus for its ingest, news production and playout operation. Both systems were shortlisted because of their support of Mac environments and their ability to scale organically over time. With both software systems having been used jointly on a number of recent projects, the installation process, undertaken by AVIT-Systems Norge, was a straightforward process.

“The availability of professional yet cost-effective news and playout solutions means that new regional players can compete with established media groups. For organizations like VG, Octopus has the cross-platform architecture, social media connectivity and ease of use they need.” Noted Gabriel Janko, Sales Director of Octopus Newsroom.

Beginning with 20 licences, Octopus gives the newsroom the opportunity to add users at any time, whether they are studio-based, located remotely or working in the field. As the channel develops, it will be able to make use of mobile and tablet apps with new video editing tools which will give journalists control over their stories and access to the newsroom at all times.

About Octopus Newsroom
OCTOPUS Newsroom is a leading developer of newsroom computer systems (NRCS) for the TV broadcast industry. Cross-platform and with full social media integration, the NRCS is installed with more than 100 news networks around the world, including Bloomberg TV, Al Jazeera, Fox and Zee TV.