Bulgaria’s Balkan News Corporation (bTV), the on-air systems integrator for News Corporation’s recently launched Fox International Channels – Bulgaria service, is to implement a new automated compliance recording system designed and developed by IdeasUnlimited.tv, writes Aaron Greenwood.
The ContentProbe CRE2000 system will digitally store all Fox International transmissions in RAID 5 for up to 180 days as evidence of the broadcaster’s commitment to meeting strict Bulgarian legislation that restricts the country’s commercial broadcasters from showing more than 10 minutes of third-party advertisements each hour.
The technology constantly monitors for valid input signals and also generates Media FingerPrints of all ingested material as evidence of its source. It is being supplied by Bulgarian reseller New-Tek. bTV Technical Director Dobromir Angelov said the implementation of the new technology would safeguard Fox International from the threat of stiff financial penalties often imposed by Bulgarian regulators on broadcasters which exceeded the advertising quota.
“Without compliance recording, it would simply be a case of your word against mine,” explained bTV technical director Dobromir Angelov. “Until now, inspectors had only to suspect commercials had been broadcast for more than the allotted time to serve a fine. Now we have a low-cost means of demonstrating that we always stay within the law, which will save us significant costs.”
