In general, press departments have to produce and distribute their press reports several weeks before broadcasting to newspapers, magazines, electronic program guides, etc. In WHATS'On, the press module collects the programme metadata (programme titles, descriptions, parental guidance, etc.) and automatically links this information to the schedule of the different channels. This way, when changes are made in the scheduling system, the press manager is automatically informed of changes. He can then decide whether the press information needs to be updated manually or automatically.
In WHATS'On, the press information flow starts from within the acquisition and production modules, where the content's basic descriptive information is entered. This information merges with the scheduling information and the technical broadcast information - such as sound, subtitle or SD/HD information from the material pool and playlists - to finally be aggregated for the press manager. He ultimately completes the data in a so called Press Sheet.
Broadcasters operating in a multi-region or multi-language environment often have centralised scheduling for their different markets or they set up different schedules, which are partially populated with the same content. They can now drastically improve the efficiency of producing multi-media press information in different languages or for different audiences and target groups. The TV media professionals now have access to the information, either on paper, EPG's, websites or portals, which can also display stills or trailers of the content. Not only a sequential schedule listing is produced, but it is also possible to highlight and document the most important programmes for a day, a week or a season. This information can then be used for adding banners or headers in the press publications, to inform the viewer of the more important transmissions as well.
Michel Beke, Product Manager and co-founder of MediaGeniX: "Instead of keeping press sheets in a paper or file-based system, WHATS'On introduces a press system embedded in the scheduling system. The metadata of the content system can hence be repurposed for use in different languages, and for paper or electronic press publications such as EPG's, websites, portals, mobile devices, etc. Moreover, the press descriptions can be tuned to specific audiences (male versus female, young versus old etc.). This integrated press and scheduling solution - that provides change detection when updates in the schedule have occurred - will easily convince any press manager to switch from paper and pencil to an integrated database environment." (see also screenshots aside)
Once the press sheets are ready to send, WHATS'On exports them into a series of document types (Word, PDF, XML...), tailored to the requirements of the individual press companies, EPG or web portal providers.
Today, the multi-language and multi-region press support is being used by stations like MTV and TVN, and is now a standard functionality of the base release of WHATS'On Generation 3.