Exterity hired to relay video content on demand to attending global media

Cannes, France, 18th May 2011: Organisers of the Cannes Film Festival are making fundamental changes to the way daily content from the event is being distributed to attending broadcast media by switching to IPTV technology from Exterity, the Building IPTV specialist. For the first time the event’s IT management has decided to transmit Festival TV in digital form to each attending journalist as well as selected broadcasters such as CanalSat, the Canal Plus channels, Orange TV, orange.fr, the Orange World mobile portal as well as on cable in the town of Cannes itself.

Marc Tayar, Head of IT at KM which is responsible for the management of editorial content (subject to ratification by the Cannes Festival) and executive production, explains: “Up until now, the production team and the journalists could watch Festival TV on three screens set up in the open space area at the heart of the Palais des Festivals, which had the effect of making the workplace noisy and that was becoming off-putting for the members of the team.”

The solution was Exterity’s AvediaStream HD encoders, installed within fifty metres of the control room and is taking live feeds from broadcast cameras and equipment and distributing via IP to each workstation. Video streams are available on demand to workstations with additional distribution to central TV screens using AvediaPlayer receivers specially provided for the purpose. With an editorial team of more than 30 journalists and a control room of 200 technicians offering 20 to 25 videos every day, images can now be watched at any time, depending on individual requirements.

To further enhance the solution, Exterity’s IPTV streams share the network with a VoIP system. This allows each workstation to provide on demand access to video footage from the Exterity system, while allowing journalists to make crucial voice call all using the same IP network. Each workstation is also equipped with a micro-headset so that users are able to make voice and video calls thanks to the inbuilt VoIP features which sit alongside the IPTV streaming and complete the upgraded communications package.

“The eyes of the broadcasting world are on Cannes this week so while that’s certainly a lot of pressure it’s also the perfect showcase for our communications technology in terms of reliability for world leading live events, multi-user distribution and ease of installation. We’re confident the attending media will appreciate the added value we bring,” comments Exterity’s CEO Colin Farquhar.

Internationally recognised, Exterity’s IPTV expertise offers guaranteed capture, storage and distribution of live TV and video sources. Exterity’s IPTV solutions maximise the IPTV network to a significant degree, regardless of the size or format of the workspace. They facilitate high-quality distribution of video and digital TV content on the IP (LAN) network to an almost unlimited number of users with no loss of picture quality, while offering the extra advantage of centralising management, set-up and inspection.