U.S. media group Meredith Corporation has chosen to standardize its workflow on Avid’s MediaCentral® Platform. Over a six-year period, Avid will upgrade 10 stations, install new Avid workflows at two additional stations, and enable Meredith to migrate to a virtualized environment, reducing costs and boosting efficiency while also benefiting from the advantage of adopting a common platform across the enterprise.
Meredith’s Local Media Group includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11 percent of U.S. households. Meredith’s portfolio is concentrated in large, fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation’s Top 25–including Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis and Portland–and 13 in Top 50 markets. Its stations produce 700 hours of local news and entertainment every week, delivering 24/7 news coverage on digital, mobile and broadcast platforms in large, high-growth markets. Faced with the pressures of operating in a digital environment, Meredith needed to upgrade its aging infrastructure and reduce expenditures. A mix of disparate news production equipment at different stations made technology upgrades, support, training and planning complicated and expensive.
Meredith’s enterprise-wide adoption of Avid’s MediaCentral Platform will help the media company overcome these challenges. With a single platform across the enterprise and planned upgrades every two years, Meredith’s stations will benefit from advanced tools and workflows for enterprise-wide search and content sharing, and for embracing social media.
“Avid is a leader in the broadcast news industry and has been a trusted partner for many years,” said Larry Oaks, VP of Technology at Meredith. “By standardizing on Avid’s platform, we have a one-stop shop for all our technology, support and training needs across our newsrooms, which will enable us to reduce costs, save a great deal of time and effort, and give us the tools we need to succeed in today’s digital environment.”
Meredith’s new workflow comprises Avid’s comprehensive tools and workflow solutions to create, deliver and optimize media, including Avid NEXIS®, the media industry’s first and only software-defined storage platform, MediaCentral | UX, the cloud-based, web front end for the MediaCentral Platform, Avid Interplay® | Production for asset management, and Avid iNEWS® and iNEWS | Command for newsroom management. Meredith will use Media | Distribute to deliver content to social media channels, as well as Media Composer® | Cloud Remote and Media Composer | NewsCutter® Option for nonlinear editing, and Avid AirSpeed® video servers. Avid Professional Services will provide installation, support and customized enterprise-wide training.
“Meredith is the latest member of Avid’s growing community of preeminent customers to adopt an enterprise-wide single platform approach,” said Jeff Rosica, president at Avid. “With Avid’s flexible commercial options and deployment models, Meredith can keep its stations and staff at the forefront of technology, virtualize its infrastructure, and respond quickly to new challenges and opportunities–all while reducing costs.”
Director Ben Steiger Levine Joins Lord Danger For U.S. Spot Representation
Lord Danger, the creative production company that’s part of the Monstera Group, has added director Ben Steiger Levine to its talent roster for U.S. commercial representation. He joins a Lord Danger directorial lineup which includes Mike Diva, Cache Bunny, MP Curtet, and Parker Seaman.
Steiger Levine shared that he was drawn in part to Lord Danger in that it’s a small, close-knit group of creative pros producing standout work. “They’re not a huge fish but rather a stealthy, nimble piranha made of beautiful rainbow colors that can adapt on a dime and devour,” Steiger Levine said. “All the directors on the roster have a voice. Lord Danger makes original images. Images with impact. Maintaining voice all while effectively selling products is the killer combination that makes work iconic, and this is Lord Danger’s priority.”
Known for his flair for design and visual effects, complemented by his strengths as a storyteller, Steiger Levine burst onto the scene after earning a slot in the 2009 Saatchi and Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase unveiled at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. He was also named a Young Gun by the Art Directors Club. Prior to joining Lord Danger, Steiger Levine was most recently with production house Greencard.
His reel includes a visually arresting campaign for Jack Links, a campaign for Core Water featuring actress Hailee Steinfeld, work for Nintendo, and the oddly-moving “Intolerance” project for Natrel, the Canadian lactose-free dairy product line, which uses a faux documentary to tell the story of a giant of a man who owes his status to drinking Natrel milk. The effect of a towering man in his too-small house was achieved without any CGI, just using in-camera tricks and compositing. Steiger... Read More