The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Recommended Practice for the implementation of the Broadcast eXchange Format (BXF) has been published for public review. While there has been significant adoption, and real-world deployment of the BXF specification in the field to date, the publication of this new Recommended Practice should expand implementations both in scope and across broadcast operations.
BXF is a data exchange format that standardizes interfaces among systems traffic and administrative software, automation systems and asset management platforms dealing with content metadata, content movement, schedules and as-run information. The recently published SMPTE RP 2021-9:2009 supplements the existing BXF standards and simplifies the creation of interoperable BXF applications.
The Recommended Practice document took place under the guidance of the SMPTE BXF Working Group, chaired by Chris Lennon, director of integration and standards, Harris Broadcast Communications. Lennon, a broadcasting industry veteran, has led the development of more than 100 interfacing and integration projects among broadcast systems.
Broadcast equipment vendors like Harris have implemented BXF throughout media software suites to enable interoperable systems to communicate faster and more effectively. To date, Harris has implemented BXF into 11 of its own products. Industry acceptance of the BXF standard continues, with many other vendors beginning to adopt the standard as a method of exchanging data across applications.
