Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) announced that Sky Deutschland, the pay-TV market leader in Germany and Austria, has significantly expanded its investment in the MediaCentral® Platform. Now, with the most open and integrated platform comprising solutions from the Avid Media, Storage and Artist Suites, Sky’s news and sports production teams are empowered with the most comprehensive individual products at every stage of the workflow to create, collaborate, distribute, optimize and monetize its content..
Recognizing the need to update its infrastructure to meet the demands of today’s fast-turnaround, high-quality content-driven environment, Sky needed a future-proofed workflow flexible enough to take advantage of and monetize new and emerging technologies such as Ultra High Definition (UHD).
“Our goal is providing customers the very best TV experience, delivering highly engaging content,” said Kevin Hughes, director of broadcast engineering at Sky Deutschland. “Investment in the MediaCentral Platform provides us with a more scalable, secure and flexible production and delivery environment, future-proofing us to meet the next wave of broadcast industry demands and significantly increasing our efficiency.”
By investing in Avid NEXIS™ | E4 software-defined storage platform connected to Avid Media Composer®, Sky is able to quickly and easily acquire, edit, and deliver content in any resolution—including 2K and Ultra HD.
Facilitating collaboration and enabling producers and editors in remote locations and the newsroom to connect more efficiently was another key driver for Sky. Using Avid MediaCentral | UX, the cloud-based web front end to MediaCentral, Sky editors have the freedom to write scripts, view and edit video, record voiceovers, add and preview graphics, search across multiple systems simultaneously, send stories straight to air, and publish to social media platforms or the website, from anywhere, significantly boosting productivity and efficiency.
Prior to adopting MediaCentral, Sky’s audio team operated in a silo. Investment in seven Pro Tools® | S6 modular control surfaces networked and running on the same platform as the news and editing rooms enables the broadcaster to place creativity at the center of its audio workflow, allowing mixers to work more efficiently and fluidly.
“With a catalog of premium sporting content to deliver, including the German Bundesliga, the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League, Sky Deutschland’s investment in the MediaCentral Platform places the best individual tools at every step of the workflow enabling it to create, distribute and monetize content,” said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Avid. “Now, with a unified approach to optimize production, Sky’s delivery of this compelling content empowers the broadcaster to engage with and motivate increasingly sophisticated audiences.”
Sky’s investment includes a five-year support contract with Avid Global Services and software upgrades for Avid’s Interplay® Production Asset Management with Avid Interplay Capture and Interplay Archive modules, Avid AirSpeed®, Avid iNEWS®, Avid Pro Tools® and Avid Media Composer® with Avid NewsCutter.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More