Sports Content Management Forum Covers Current State of MAM, Looks Ahead to Next-Gen Technologies

Day-long event features execs from broadcasters, sports entities, OTT outlets, vendors

More than 300 media-asset–management (MAM) leaders from major broadcasters, leagues, teams, OTT outlets, and vendors convened this week at the Westin New York at Times Square to share first-hand perspectives and behind-the-curtain looks at their respective workflows. The day-long Sports Content Management Forum covered a wide range of pressing topics, from the current state of MAM and archiving to cloud and virtualization, AI and machine learning, and object-storage and next-gen–storage technologies.

Welcoming attendees to the 14th annual event, Tab Butler, senior director, media management and postproduction, MLB Network, and this year’s Sports Content Management Committee Chair, noted how far the industry has come in a few short years and what he expects the future to hold.

More than 300 media-asset–management execs gathered to share first-hand perspectives and behind-the-curtain looks at MAM operations.

“I cannot help but feel a sense of awe at the challenges ahead for preserving the visual history of the past century, and the years ahead. … There is so much content and all of it a snapshot in time, a story to be told, a memory to be cherished,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us as we navigate the future, defining and capitalizing on the technological advancements that assist us in preserving history.”

Immediately afterward, a panel of industry leaders representing NBC Sports and Olympics, NHL, Fox Sports, WWE, and IBM Aspera discussed the state of the industry and how the multiplatform revolution has changed sports-content–management workflows.

Two late-morning sessions shone the spotlight on AI and machine learning. A presentation by Genre-X Consulting Partner Xena Ugrinsky addressed obstacles in data science and management, and a panel of experts discussed the financial drivers, workflow advantages, and obstacles that influence AI and machine-learning decisions.

After a networking lunch, a panel of technology providers and M&E end users from SwiftStack, Caringo, Object-Matrix, NFL, and Turner Sports took the stage to discuss object storage. Leaders from Quantum, IBM, Media Translation, Spectra Logic, and MLB Network followed with a conversation on high-capacity archive storage. The decision on whether to store assets on-premises or in the cloud was debated by representatives of Masstech, Nutanix, A+E Networks, University of Notre Dame, and WWE.

The day concluded with a Vendor/Broadcast Q&A, which paired leading content-management executives from sports leagues and broadcasters with their respective MAM vendors for one-on-one conversations. Attendees heard from MSG Networks and CineSys-Oceana, NFL and Levels Beyond, and St. Louis Blues and CatDV.

In addition to the full program of panel discussions, the Sports Content Management Forum offered a series of case studies: Arizona Coyotes Score a Hat Trick With Sony’s Intelligent Media Services (Presented by Sony), YES Network’s Virtual Migration: Reality vs. Perception (Presented by Avid), and NASCAR Revs Up Cloud and AI Workflows With AWS (Presented by AWS Elemental).

The Sports Content Management Forum was made possible through the support of the SCM Advisory Committee, as well as Title Sponsor Quantum; Diamond Sponsors AWS Elemental, IBM Aspera, Masstech, and SwiftStack; Gold Sponsors Arvato Systems, Avid, Cloudian, DigitalGlue, creative.space, IBM, Nexsan, and Nutanix; and Event Sponsors Caringo, Object-Matrix, OpenDrives, Signiant, Sony, Spectra Logic, TVU Networks, and Veritone.

Stay tuned to www.sportsvideo.org for more coverage from the Sports Content Management Forum!