WCIU-TV increases
station productivity with
automation upgrade
Chicago independent station WCIUTV
operates six broadcast channels.
Syndicated programs are a
major part of the station’s schedule.
On a typical day, dubbing and prepping
of Pathfire syndicated program content can
take about 16 hours. On high-volume days,
up to 50 programs need dubbing, requiring
even more resources and time. To keep up
with six channels, WCIU has multiple media
preparation workstations — 70 devices that
have to be controlled.
WCIU was looking for a solution to eliminate
the need for human intervention so that
Pathfire’s syndicated program content could
be sent seamlessly to the video server and the
metadata to VCI’s Xe automation platform.
The station also sought an efficient way to
control and manage workstations in a compact
and scalable manner.
The station found solutions to both issues
with VCI automation technology. WCIU addressed
the issues of human intervention
with the Pathfire system with Xe’s Intelligent
Transfer Technology. This advanced architecture
and database allows the Xe system to direct
the file-based workflows in today’s digital
operations. Xe manages and tracks content
across the operation. It controls the devices
to store and move content. The system moves
content where it needs to go, when it needs to
be there to provision the workflow requests,
including on-air channels or streams, with
little or no human intervention. It moves
Pathfire programs or channels rear-line, archived
content to the on-air transmission
chain to fulfill scheduled playout. It automatically
moves expired content to the nearline
archives or deletes expired content.
The engineering staff can now focus on
areas that require engineering intervention,
such as satellite downloading and quality control
rather than spending time on repetitive
tasks.
The Xe system also brought new efficiencies
and savings from reduced video tape usage
and wear and tear.
To address the device control and resource
management needs, WCIU used the VCI eXtensibile
Device Server (XDS), a reliable IBM
server with dual power supplies and system
drives. A dual XDS server and three 32-port
device master units use standard Cat 5 cable
to communicate and connect to all 70 devices.
All devices can be shared and available in a
pool. They are locked when in use. The system
has flexible resource management in that
priorities can be set and adapted for each individual
device.
The functionality of the Xe system allows
WCIU to be proactive, rather than reactive.
Now the station operates more efficiently and
reduces the errors made as a result of manual
data input. | 
