Remote Content Access and the Rise of the Second Screen

Abstract

Technological advances are allowing operators, editors, and producers to remotely access media production servers for content editing and repackaging for distribution and archiving—in realtime, anywhere in the world. Advanced remote production gives unprecedented capability to work remotely, enhance content on the fly, and deliver original content to viewers' second screens. This paper analyzes the technology, challenges, results, and opportunities behind new capabilities that are changing the media landscape. Real-world examples, including multimedia distribution for the 2014 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup—delivering live streams, multiangle clips, stats, and social network feeds to viewers' connected screens through broadcaster applications (apps)—are explored. The complex World Cup workflow, encompassing live streaming of six high-definition camera angles and up to 24 multiangle replays, instantly pushed to a central cloud-based platform with access to 3000 hr of stored content, on-the-go transcoding, and distribution to FIFA's media rights licensees, drives an estimated 50 million downloaded apps.