Sony Sets its Sights On News Automation Biz

At the NAB Show in 2008, Sony promised to give broadcasters looking to trim costs with news production automation another option beyond Grass Valley’s Ignite and Ross Video’s OverDrive.

A year ago, it began delivering on that promise by rolling out the Enhanced Live-production Control System (ELC). And, according to Glenn Hill, senior engineering product manager for ELC and switchers at Sony, it’s now in place at 22 stations, including outlets belonging to CBS, Fox, Gannett, Post-Newsweek and Media General.

Hill declines to say precisely how many additional systems have been sold, but for at least the next several months they will be installed at a rate of about two a month. “Sales are good; let’s put it that way.”

What’s more, there is plenty of upside in the market, he says. By his calculation, only 26% of TV news control rooms in the U.S. are equipped for automation. “I know my sales are going to continue for some time because this is still a fairly new business.”

Ross Video sizes up the market about the same way Sony does. Brad Rochon, OverDrive product manager, say that OverDrive is now installed in about 100 stations. Assuming 740 TV newsrooms in the U.S., he pegs penetration at 30%.

But Grass Valley thinks its rivals’ estimates are low. Alex Holtz, Grass Valley’s market development manager for the Americas, says it’s closer to 50%. He would not give the total on Ignite installations, allowing only that it is between 100 and 200.

Although Grass Valley, which entered the market through its acquisition of Parkervision in 2004, and Ross Video beat Sony to market, ELC is not as new as it may seem, Sony’s Hill says.

The technology derives from an automation system — integrated broadcast operations or IBO — developed for the Japanese market. Sony showed it at the NAB Shows in 1995 and 1996, but “back then, nobody in the United States really cared about automation.”

But the attitude of U.S. broadcasters toward automation began to change over the past several years, he says. One factor is the economy; another, he says, is the need to produce news for online and mobile platforms as well as for second or third broadcast channels.

“How do you get more news out on the air with the economy being the way that it is where you can’t really increase your head count?” Hill asks. “In other words, how can you be more efficient?”

ELC got its beta workout at two stations in July 2009 at Gannett’s KXTV Sacramento, Calif., and Fox’s KTBC Austin, Texas. The first units began shipping that fall.

Hill acknowledges that for many of its early customers, ELC has simply been an upgrade to an installed Sony production switcher. But, he also says, about a quarter of the sales so far have been to stations without a Sony switcher.

What distinguishes ELC from its competitors is its relative simplicity, Hill says. “We pride ourselves on having a very uncluttered user interface where just the information that you need to know at the time you need to know it is on the screen.

“So it makes it very easy for directors, producers, technical directors, whoever, to very quickly glance at the screen and know exactly what is on air right now and what [are] going to be the next two events.”

The ease of use not only keeps things simple during broadcasts, it also makes for quick installations. In all its installation so far, Hill says, “from the point in time we showed up on site until they were on the air was approximately five weeks. That includes training.”

Sony is a high-end vendor, but Hill insists that ELC can compete on price. “People are looking at a product like this to reduce costs. So it really wouldn’t be a very good marketing strategy to make it too expensive.”

Neither Ross Video nor Grass Valley seems alarmed by Sony’s aggressive push into a market they had all to themselves just 12 months ago.

“Overall, it’s a good thing; it validates the technology,” says Ross Video’s Rochon. “When you see a big brand name enter the space, it shows the market that just as master control went automation, production control is going to do the exact same thing.”

Rochon says that Ross bumps into Sony mostly at stations or groups that have already invested $600,000 in a Sony switcher. “Even though we have a more advanced, mature technology, if they have written down the switcher, it makes sense to go with the Sony solution.”

Grass Valley’s Holtz also sees Sony’s presence in the market as proof of concept. “Now what you’ll see is a transition. Instead of being the exception to the rule, [automation] will become the rule.

“I think the majority of broadcasters moving forward will have some form of automation in their control rooms because of the flexibility. These systems can do scripted and unscripted programming. It’s not restricted to news anymore.”

With the advent of Sony, opportunities for new sales in the major markets are disappearing quickly. Sony has locked up CBS and Fox, while Grass Valley has ABC and Ross Video has NBC.

That means going forward much of the action will be in medium and small markets where the economic advantages of news production automation are not as clear.

Rochon says the technology might not make economic sense for the smallest markets. But, noting that Ross Video actually has a half-dozen units on the air in markets below 150, he also says, “I might be wrong.”