Playout Director

Contract: 6 month fixed term contract

Reporting to: Supervisor, Operations

Hours of work: Day and night shifts, averaging 40 hours per week

Main Purpose:

The Playout Director plays a critical role in ensuring the smooth delivery of channel playout and content prep requirements within the transmission suite. This position incorporates three fundamental functions; channel playout monitoring and control, spot check QC and preview and live line up and records for a tier 1 public service broadcaster.

The role will be working across a shift rotation of dayshifts and nightshifts 24/7/365 and at any one time working on one of the three positions per shift that delivers the core functions. Effective communication skills and professionalism is required to deal directly with the client, routinely managing both server playout and high-profile live events and working alongside a live continuity announcer. The team of Playout Directors will be working together across the service requirements, implementing and maintaining ‘best practice’ SOPs and delivering maximum service levels to ensure client satisfaction.

Principal Responsibilities:

Media Management

• Coordinate any missing material
• Deliver transmission master material to playout in a timely manner, some programming may be delivered within a few hours of transmission.
• Coordinate the handling of proxy files for ‘late and live’ content, commercial copy or any material failing Auto QC and/or integrity checks
• Manually ingest content, including but not limited to, recordings of incoming live content.
• Multi-point spot checks per all programme content. Any faults detected will need to be reported back to key stakeholders.
• Coordinating quick turnaround content for TX, including recording line feeds, playing as lives or fast track ingest. Logging timecodes and making sure the scheduled playout is updated.
• Overseeing automated content management processes and responding to any issues.
• Manually push material to playout for TX if required.
• Spot check failures notified to the key stakeholders to facilitate correction and/or redelivery of the material.
• Coordinating the delivery, ingest and processing of both advanced schedules and the daily final TX Schedule
• Supplying content to the client as and when requested
• Managing commercial content with the commercial suppliers and arrange and manage any redelivery due to QC failures.
• QC checking access services content.

Live Event preparation

• Working knowledge of the BT and client OS lines
• Knowledge of television specifications in HD and SD, analogue and digital and audio specifications.
• Understand the EDM and client network and facilities in order to enact back-up procedures in case of emergencies.
• To operate the playout automation system to enable video recording and playback of material.
• Initial point of contact between any outside source and EDM playout.
• Coordinating with the contribution partners to perform a line up and communicating clear and precise details with the client and playout.
• Monitor and manage the incoming feeds during any live events.
• Escalate any technical issues relating to incoming lines to Support Engineering.

Playout

• Appending, monitoring, and maintaining routine daily schedules provided by the client as they play out from the broadcast automation.
• Understanding and routinely monitoring the various core elements of the Service, including video, audio, graphics, SCTE, delay services, access services, blanking events.
• Monitoring the various hand-off points, including OTT and reporting and escalating any issues
• Exceptional knowledge of the playout automation, understanding the levels of manual intervention available and confidence to use them.
• Quick and direct response to resolve any issues with any element within the playout chain that will impact the service delivery.
• Clear understanding and efficient enactment of escalation procedures both internally and to the client.
• Coordinating with the Playout director handling Media coordination and Live event MCR
• Monitoring missing material within the playout automation.
• Responding to client requests for schedule amendments and maintaining the schedule integrity.
• Running live events within the automation system, switching to the incoming feed, communicating side by side with PA’s or over talkback with the clients live production teams to coordinate taking commercial breaks, coming off at the end of the live and timing out the schedule as per client provided guidelines.
• Recording the live event ahead of content QC and managing the schedule ahead of a quick turnaround repeat airing.
• Working closely with the on-site continuity announcers to coordinate both live and pre-recorded voiceovers for air.
• Clear and informative logging and reporting of all service impacting incidents and deviations from the delivered schedule.

Experience / Knowledge:

• Proven experience of operating channels within live playout operations environment
• Strong understanding and experience of media management processes.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of playout automation systems (Grass Valley AMPP preferred).
• Extensive experience of running high-profile live events.
• Excellent understanding of the playout chain including distribution to the affiliates.

Personal Skills:

• Enthusiasm and commitment to adopt modern technologies and best practice operations solutions.
• Strong work ethic and comfortable with shift work and unsociable hours.
• Excellent communication and people skills.
• Able to work under pressure and prioritise workload.
• Eager, quick to learn and a collaborator.

Benefits include:

• Competitive salary
• 25 days Annual Leave per annum (pro-rata)
• Matched up to 5% pension contributions and independent pension advice
• Medical benefits including; Eye care vouchers, Health Cash Plan, Income Protection & Life Assurance
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Season Ticket Loan
• 6 monthly Wellness Weeks including; independent pension / financial advice, health & BMI checks, massages and flu vaccinations
• Performance Recognition Awards and many more!