BURLINGTON, Mass., June 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avid (Nasdaq:AVID), the leading technology provider of software tools and platforms that power the media and entertainment industry, today announced that leading independent sports marketing, event management and production firm, Raycom Sports has chosen to standardize its workflow on Avid’s MediaCentral platform. Raycom Sports will upgrade its existing Avid workflows, enabling it to leverage existing, high-value media assets to deliver outstanding Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) coverage that drives viewership.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Raycom Media, Raycom Sports has been producing and distributing NCAA’s ACC sports – primarily football and basketball – since the early 1980s and holds the syndicated television rights through 2027. Raycom Sports manages all the ACC’s digital assets, as well as some 60-70 years of historical footage that has never been digitized. It needs to digitize these assets to monetize the content when it starts supplying assets to the new ACC Network on ESPN in 2019. In addition to its inability to ingest, archive and access this vast library, its aging infrastructure made it challenging to support integrated workflows and remote teams, slowing production and increasing costs.
To overcome these challenges, Raycom Sports invested in a complete end-to-end sports production workflow based on MediaCentral, with ingest and archiving capabilities for monetizing assets. The fully integrated workflow will support multiple production departments and broadcast teams, and allow users to quickly access, manage, repurpose and monetize content.
“Avid’s reliable technology allows us to focus on telling compelling stories,” said Alex Farmartino, Coordinating Producer at Raycom Sports. “Whether it's the story of a game or a feature about a player off the field, the main reason we’ve stuck with Avid is it works. If you have something that you know is going to work, it allows you to do your job better. That’s been a common theme throughout my experience with Avid for as long as I’ve worked with them.”
Avid channel partner Marshall Graphics Systems will help Raycom Sports implement the new MediaCentral workflow, which will support a collaborative working environment by providing access to content across departments and geographies, while supporting ingest and archiving of historical assets. It will also support Raycom’s future UHD/4K needs. The new workflow, which includes Avid NEXIS, the media industry’s first software-defined storage platform, MediaCentral | Asset Management and Avid FastServe™ media servers, will be central to its efforts to thoroughly digitize the Raycom Sports ACC library in an efficient and seamless manner.
“In the competitive world of sports broadcasting, media companies can offset increasing operation costs and create new revenue streams by being able to quickly search for and repurpose existing content,” said Ray Thompson, Director, Broadcast and Media Solutions Marketing at Avid. “With its new MediaCentral workflow, Raycom Sports can facilitate remote production and collaboration by enabling staff across departments and locations to search for and access the same media, while streamlining media lifecycle management and ensuring historical content is preserved for future generations to enjoy.”
About Avid
Avid delivers the most open and efficient media platform, connecting content creation with collaboration, asset protection, distribution, and consumption. Avid’s preeminent customer community uses Avid’s comprehensive tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and monetize the most watched, loved and listened to media in the world—from prestigious and award-winning feature films to popular television shows, news programs and televised sporting events, and celebrated music recordings and live concerts. With the most flexible deployment and pricing options, Avid’s industry-leading solutions include Media Composer®, Pro Tools®, Avid NEXIS®, MediaCentral®, iNEWS®, AirSpeed®, Sibelius®, Avid VENUE™, FastServe™, Maestro™, and PlayMaker™. For more information about Avid solutions and services, visit www.avid.com, connect with Avid on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or subscribe to Avid Blogs.
© 2018 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid, the Avid logo, Avid NEXIS, FastServe, AirSpeed, iNews, Maestro, MediaCentral, Media Composer, PlayMaker, Pro Tools, Avid VENUE, and Sibelius are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Product features, specifications, system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice.
