WHATS'ON

Rights-driven Scheduling & Release Planning

If content is your company’s lifeblood, we enable you to optimise its life cycle across linear and on-demand channels with a single powerful toolset. With our software platform WHATS’ON at the heart of your operations, you can optimise the complete workflow from initial programme idea to publication and beyond. Whatever your content or business model is, everything is geared towards achieving the best possible value with your content rights.

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Our content lifecycle platform WHATS’ON manages the flow of your content as it moves from first concept in the long-term plan to fully prepared and formatted material — complete with promos and secondary events — allocated to diverse linear channels and VOD services. Through the process WHATS’ON ensures you stay within the budgets, maximise your rights, deliver quality media, reach your editorial targets and comply with regulatory requirements.

OPTIMALLY EXPLOIT YOUR CONTENT ON ANY VOD SERVICES

  • Create on-demand schedules for multiple platforms, devices and outlets.
  • With rights verification and business rules monitoring.
  • For Catch-Up/Preview/Start-Over services: define the availability of content on the on-demand platforms directly from within the linear schedule.
  • Multiple file-format management driven by VOD schedule and integrated with asset management.
  • Drive the transcoding and material workflow.
  • Prepare delivery to multiple platforms.
  • Publish schedules to CableLabs export.

MANAGE SMART LINEAR CHANNELS END TO END

  • Create long and short-term schedules, with automatic rights verification and business rules monitoring.
  • Make multiple simulations of the schedule with stock, budget and quota forecasts.
  • Prepare alternative schedules for contingencies or just to keep your options open.
  • Maintain several versions of a programme.
  • Craft the continuity schedule including time codes, secondary events and transitions. Make last-minute playlist changes.
  • Manage and monitor the material workflow for Linear publication.
  • Schedule promotions — automatically, manually or combined — based on ratings and targets.
  • Maintain metadata of produced, purchased or live programmes, with multilanguage press descriptions.
  • Publish an up-to-date programme listing with multimedia content for any publication system.

On the basis of the rights, time windows and restrictions specified, WHATS’ON automatically calculates which run or free rerun to use in what period, on which channel. During the scheduling process your planning will be checked for contract validity and you will be notified in case of issue.

EFFORTLESSLY STAY WITHIN YOUR RIGHTS AND LEGAL BOUNDARIES

Always be sure your scheduling is in compliance with parental ratings, and observes licence conditions and government regulations.

MONITOR YOUR COMMITMENTS

Define and monitor the commitments with distributors and. The commitments can be expressed as a minimum or maximum number of runs or titles, or a total duration. The system indicates whether the expected values have been reached, exceeded or failed. A comprehensive overview reveals current or predictable discrepancies. If desired, you can drill down to the contract details.

HIT THE TARGETS AND REPORT ON EVERYTHING

Calculate and report on statistics, quota values, financial information, content and all other kinds of information.

KNOW THE REAL-TIME VALUE OF YOUR SCHEDULE AND THE PROGRAMMES IN STOCK

With WHATS’ON you can at any time determine the costs of your schedule on the basis of contract, run and amortization information. It is also possible to get the real time stock value of programmes, in multiple currencies. In fact, you can drill down to the actual cost, status and expected cost of each run, even for each episode of a series. These costs not only cover license rights, but also programme-related costs, such as versioning, dubbing and subtitling costs.

MONITOR YOUR BUDGET AND CASH FLOW WITH AMORTIZATION PLANS AND PAYMENT SCHEDULES

The cost calculation takes into account initial cost, exchange rates and all amortizations. Amortizations can be date or run based, they can be nominal or in percentage, in straight line (fixed value) or accelerated, or in any combination imaginable. At all times you can get an overview of accumulated amortizations.

Also, you can enter payment schedules in different currencies. This means you can monitor and predict your budget and cash flow, ensure accurate payments and billings, and communicate the need for foreign currency.

Want to know more? Contact us.