Tapeless delivery to broadcast stations?

[Kevin Hedin]

Yes. On a large scale, DG FastChannel is a company that delivers a spots via FTP to thier own supplied servers located in virtually every broadcast station (not all, but most). If this is a small company selling these services they have probably made arrangements with all the broadcasters in the area to deliver spots via a private FTP server.

I’ve been actively trying to do this myself, but I find that trying to accomodate a dozen or more diffferent local broadcasters requirements is too much trouble for me. I would rather use DG FastChannel since I know it’s proven. BTW, DG FastChannel charges approx $23 per spot and $7 per spot thereafter to the same station via their service. Not bad really.

The time savings alone of having to make multiple dubs vs. FTPing 1 file is pretty significant.

[Bbalser]

The movie theaters that are switching over to digital projection are begining to get movies via FTP rather than hard drives shipped overnight. They get the films sooner, and cheaper. It’s the wave of the future.

– Apple Certified Trainer
– Tutorials at http://www.bbalser.com
– South Louisiana FCP Users Group
– NOVAC Digital Filmmakers Institute
– Event DV magazine

[Walter Biscardi]

[bbalser] ”
The movie theaters that are switching over to digital projection are begining to get movies via FTP rather than hard drives shipped overnight. They get the films sooner, and cheaper. It’s the wave of the future.”

actually from what I’ve read, it’s a satellite distribution path rather than FTP. This may have changed recently, but as of last year when I read article about this it was all satellite based delivery.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Walter Biscardi]

[Reins] ”
I am a little suspicious of this. Does anyone out there currently do this, or can anyone lend any insight into this claim.”

You would need to discuss this with all the stations with whom you deliver to. If they agree to the specs that this service is offering, you’re good to go. I’ve not heard of any stations accepting anything other than tape to date.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

All Things Apple Podcast! https://cowcast.creativecow.net/all_things_apple/index.html

Read my blog! https://blogs.creativecow.net/WalterBiscardi

[Gary Adcock]

[walter biscardi] ” I’ve not heard of any stations accepting anything other than tape to date.”

true
and not just any tape, for HD delivery most only want HDCAM SR (some will take HDCam) with D5 still the favorite for most hig-end SD delivery.

No broadcast station/ network I know of in the US accepts files from anyone but their own crews, Tape is still the preferred delivery.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

[Kevin Reiner]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I’ve looked into the service at DG Fastchannel. They let you upload your spot to their FTP as an mpeg2 file using pretty strict compression standards. Then they distribute the file to the stations. The file usually comes in at about 120MB. I haven’t quite figured out their price structure as it is somewhat confusing. They say that 95% of all broadcast stations in the nation use their service. I live in Nebraska, so I’ll be surprised if some of our more rural stations use it.

Here’s the question that keeps popping into my head – why the middleman? I mean, I understand having a quality-control buffer before the station gets a spot, but why can’t I just upload these files to my own company’s FTP and have the station download from there. Seems like a sneaky way to make a buck, if you ask cynical old me.

Any thoughts?
Reins