Through its extensive presence across the Middle East and North Africa region, Sky News Arabia broadcasts comprehensive 24/7 regional and international news coverage across its TV, radio, and digital platforms. When the broadcaster enhanced its radio offering from a simple audio simulcast to unique, radio-specific content, they selected the DAD automation system from ENCO to enable intuitive audio workflows with their existing Avid iNEWS® newsroom computer system (NRCS).This project was developed in line with the network’s aim to consistently enhance its services. As Sky News Arabia was already using the iNEWS system for its TV broadcast, they also wanted to integrate their TV and radio operations through the same NRCS to keep the workflow streamlined, and ensure ease of use for its journalists and producers.ENCO’s iNEWS MOS Interface plug-in enables Media Object Server (MOS) protocol integration between iNEWS and the DAD automation system, allowing journalists and news producers to access DAD audio asset libraries directly within the iNEWS client interface. Users can search the ENCO library, preview clips, trim media as needed, and bring the results into their stories by simply dragging and dropping the desired items. iNEWS rundowns are automatically synchronized as playlists on the DAD automation system to keep everything effortlessly updated for subsequent playout.Audio clips can be recorded into Sky News Arabia’s DAD system in the studio, or imported as files either manually or through watch folders using the DAD Dropbox utility. Journalists interact with the DAD system primarily through the iNEWS plug-in, while studio personnel take advantage of the intuitive DAD Presenter interface for managing playout.ENCO’s world-class customer support and installation services proved extremely valuable in ensuring a smooth deployment for Sky News Arabia’s technical requirements. ENCO personnel ensured the project was implemented successfully in a timely manner, and played an active role in helping Sky News Arabia resolve third-party workflow and technical issues unrelated to DAD itself. The broadcaster has been very satisfied with the results of the integrated DAD and iNEWS solution, and continues to add DAD licenses at more journalists’ desks as their radio news operations have grown.Suresh Kumar, Director of Technology, Sky News Arabia, commented: “The process of deploying DAD radio automation and integrating it with our iNEWS newsroom system was done in line with our aim to constantly enhance our technical efficiencies. This seamless integration will enhance our ability to deliver content quickly and efficiently to our audiences through our radio channel, and we were pleased to partner with ENCO who acted as an extension of our own team throughout this project.” […]
