Programme broadcasting rights are a crucial asset for both linear and on-demand broadcasters, especially when they operate internationally or deal with new business models like revenue share, subscription TV and pay-per-view. The integrated Financial Depreciations functionality in WHATS'On allows for spreading the initial cost of these broadcast rights, both based on the passage of time or on the use of the right in a linear schedule or on a VOD service. The increase in available depreciation strategies reflects the recent history of corporate governance rules, combined with the introduction of more varied services of the broadcaster.
Michel Beke, Product Manager and co-founder of MediaGeniX: "Expanding the functionality of Financial Depreciations in WHATS'On allows broadcasters to determine and predict their stock value more accurately. Schedulers on the other hand can now also get a clear picture of the cost of using - or not using - particular assets in the schedule. This accuracy and transparency will prevent unpleasant surprises, that usually need to be resolved by decreasing the quality of the schedule at the end of a financial year or at the end of a season."
The chosen depreciation strategy, combined with the schedule and the stock operations - such as new acquisitions, waste events or exchange rate fluctuations - are used as the basis for the integration with financial systems. All these events are then translated into a format that can further be processed by the financial department. This way, closing financial periods - both for scheduling and for finance - is a lot more efficient and with fewer surprises.
Broadcasters of different countries or continents all need to comply with local accountancy standards and rules. That is why WHATS'On now supports a wide array of depreciation strategies, such as 'run-based', 'date-based', 'greater of' (which combines run and date-based), 'straight line' and 'declining balance'.
WHATS'On supports the entire schedule and content management workflow for linear and on-demand services. The contract management module is the entry point to enter and manage costs, payments and depreciation information. Together with the future and broadcasted schedules, it is the basis for calculating current stock values and for predicting the levels and values of the stock in the future.