NFL Network Scores with Signiant’s Digital Media Distribution Solution

The NFL Network has deployed Signiant’s digital media
distribution technology to transfer game footage for broadcast on weekly highlight
shows including the NFL Replay. Using Signiant, NFL Network is meeting
last-minute deadlines, saving on physical distribution and associated labor
costs, and increasing the production quality and number of clips aired during
programming.

The NFL broadcasts up to sixteen games per week, with each game averaging more
than three hours in length. That adds up to nearly 50 hours of footage that
needs to be reviewed, bookmarked, filed, retrieved and edited into NFL Replay,
a 90-minute highlights program.

Using Signiant, NFL Films footage from each game can be uploaded to a secure,
shared, digital storage folder, where they can then be reviewed and edited by
NFL Network employees. These clips are then securely sent across a high-speed,
Wide Area Network (WAN) spanning almost 3000 miles.

After game footage is shot, it is converted from film into digital video and
tagged with metadata to make the content easily cataloged and searchable. This
content is often combined with other archival footage and becomes accessible by
the production staff at NFL Network, NFL Films, and partners.

For NFL Replay, game highlights are transferred from NFL Films to NFL Network
in California where, with a four-hour turnaround deadline, editors can then
search metadata tags attached to each clip, make selections, and assemble
edited sequences. The edited content is then placed in a shared access folder,
where it is automatically transferred back to
New Jersey for play-to-air at 7:00 pm. In
many cases, the show is still being assembled at 4:30 pm. Moving HD content
from coast-to-coast in an accelerated and secure fashion makes working within
tight deadlines possible.

“Using Signiant’s digital media distribution management solution, we are
seeing real-time transfer of HD which has resulted in a reduction in
post-production time and cost, while increasing the quality of NFL Replay and
other NFL Network produced programming,” said Jeff Howard, senior
executive, Engineering and Broadcast Technologies at NFL Network and NFL Films.
“Not only are we moving our game footage where it needs to go quickly and
securely with Signiant, we’ve also increased our productivity levels and freed
up employee time to do other tasks which is helping our entire business to run
more efficiently.”

“Signiant is proud to collaborate with such an innovative group of people
and contribute to entertaining millions of people weekly,” said Tony
Lapolito, vice president of marketing at Signiant. “After assessing the
needs of NFL Network for collaborative production, Signiant delivers the speed,
reliability and security that NFL Network needs to move their media to the
right place at the right time.”

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