Program Production and Distribution Have Been Transformed

In a rapid period of time, digital technology has radically transformed the nature of television program production from a linear, sequential process to a non-linear, random access, totally digital environment. The impact is that many operational procedures in place for years no longer work. The standard preservation procedures that have served (and continue to serve) to protect analog productions on videotape cannot be used for the long-term preservation of digitally-produced broadcast programs.

Developing a new preservation approach is crucial –

• Most programs are now being shot, assembled and edited in digital form
• Programs themselves are created as digital files
• Broadcast playout is moving rapidly to a tapeless environment, where programs are stored only as files in a variety of formats which are then assembled and aired directly from a server
• With broadband networks finally able to handle large video files cost effectively and with integrity, PBS is on the verge of retiring its requirement of sending multiple versions of tapes for broadcast distribution and replacing it with an operational system that transfers digital files instead.

Not only has the process been altered, but the marketplace itself has changed. Previously, the standard for preserving programs was primarily based on saving the “national broadcast version” of a completed show. But such a definition today is open to broad interpretation. Soon, PBS is going to require producers to deliver discrete program elements rather than packaged programs, and the elements for a given program will be produced and assigned a unique asset identification. These elements may include opening credits, underwriter announcements, program segments, closing credits and similar components. In PBS’ future vision, an automated playback system would assemble the elements specifically for a particular broadcast. Future broadcasts that require changes will simply reassemble the elements as needed, so that whole segments could be customized and replaced with something else. When finished, all the various files return to their ‘disembodied’ state, with only an automation log indicating how the program actually aired.

Thus, when this plan is implemented, there will no longer be a definitive “broadcast version” of a given program, making the formerly accepted concept of a “broadcast version” of a program no longer valid - a completely new definition is needed. Such new definitions are needed network-wide, with broad implications for all the producers and distributors across the whole public television system.

The paradigm shift from preservation of a “definitive version” to preservation of assembled elements necessitates viewing public television programs at a finer level of granularity. When coupled with a digital asset management system, this offers enormous opportunities for solving long-standing problems in access and reuse, as well as in preservation.

The full life-cycle management of these assets will allow the stations to capture and save metadata regarding source and rights restrictions for every clip, still image, or sound recording, at the point they enter the station. (For example, under current practice, very little source and rights information is maintained on materials that don’t go into the final production, making it difficult to use those elements later.)

At the same time, companion websites for national and local programming are now required extensions for every featured public television program, containing far more content and audience engagement than any single broadcast can possibly squeeze onto the air. All of this is generating huge amounts of digital materials.

Once the broadcast rights to a program have expired, the public television system is generally uninterested in its disposition. By default, implementing policies for long-term archival preservation reverts back to those institutions with an investment in the longevity of the work. In this case, the interests rest with PBS, as the agent for all public television producers under its existing agreement with the Library of Congress, and with Thirteen/WNET and WGBH, which between them, produce a large proportion of the regular national program series seen on public television.

Within public television, WGBH has also been at the very forefront in developing a system for digital asset management. Since the advent of digital broadcasting (DTV) mandated by the FCC, Thirteen and WGBH have been working closely together on a number of projects to share aspects of local program operations and distribution. Both stations have also been working with PBS for more than two years to plan trials for transferring large digital files over broadband networks, to streamline national program distribution.

These tests are just getting off the ground, and they demand that these institutions come to agreement with each other on common standards for file formats and related specifications that will eventually be used system-wide. But common agreements on definitions, file formats, protocols and metadata have not yet been reached, and many standards still have to be worked out.

Apart from common distribution interests, Thirteen and WGBH are also program producers with different expectations regarding program preservation from PBS, which focuses its efforts on distribution. Working together to tackle the similar questions of long-term program preservation is a logical extension of the other problems related to digital production and distribution that we are struggling to resolve. It is imperative that we come to terms now to establish common definitions, standards and procedures, in tandem with and building on the efforts already underway.