The television business is continually in a state of flux.
Advances in technology, viewer appetites, and the expansion in consumption platforms and behaviours keep us constantly on our toes. Underlying this permanent progress is one constant; craft and quality still differentiate, so there will always be a growing appetite for professionally created, managed and distributed content of the highest standards, demanding significant capital and human investments.
The challenge for our segment of the industry is to ensure the best technology decisions are being made to allow broadcasters and educational or corporate content creators to achieve the optimum lifetime value for their assets, whether technical systems or elements of content.
Getting the correct answer to this tricky conundrum starts with ensuring the right questions are being asked. Equally central to a successful partnership, understanding the customer’s existing practices and future operating models allows companies like TSL to deliver operational efficiency. Investments are made for the long term, so a key consideration in any engagement is to ensure a partner is there for the whole lifecycle, not just the duration of a delivery project, thus optimising value from the outset by supporting in-life operation from launch right through to the next technology refresh, expansion or upgrade.
Technological innovation continues apace. The industry is seeing a rapid migration from dedicated, bespoke equipment to software-enabled functionality running on standardised computing platforms. The same holds true for the market disruption coming about with the integration of cloud services. The compelling benefits offered in terms of flexibility, scalability, accessibility and cost efficiency are self-evident.
Regardless of technology, the industry will always be fast-moving and pressurised. Who would have it any other way? Customers engaging in new projects will always have tight timescales and tight budgets to work within.
By Jeremy Rees, managing director, TSL Systems
