Adobe Showcases Advances in Broadcast Workflows at IBC 2011

“At Adobe we understand the issues professional broadcasters and media publishers face throughout the entire creation-to-delivery workflow, at a time when others in the industry are focusing on one piece of the puzzle or shifting their focus altogether,” said Jim Guerard, vice president and general manager for professional video and audio, Creative and Media Solutions Business Unit, Adobe. “Adobe is dedicated to helping our customers streamline their entire video workflows for any screen, and looking out for their bottom line with new ways to monetize their content on mobile devices.”

Groundbreaking New Ways to Stream Media and Protect Content to a Myriad of Devices

IBC 2011 attendees will be the first to see significant new versions of Flash Media Server and Flash Access video delivery and content protection solutions, which enable video businesses to deliver scalable, protected streaming content online, including new support for mobile devices (see separate release). With Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5, media publishers now have a single, simple workflow for delivering content using the same stream to Flash-enabled devices or to the Apple iPhone and iPad. Adobe Flash Access 3.0 gives media publishers a streamlined workflow to easily protect, monetize and scale the delivery of premium video content, for the first time reaching Android mobile devices, the first of many mobile platforms.

Adobe Pass for TV Everywhere Gains Momentum

Further exemplifying Adobe’s strength in video delivery to any screen, Adobe is demonstrating Adobe Pass, the leading TV Everywhere authentication solution, which now supports top U.S. pay TV providers. Adobe Pass makes it easy for TV programmers and media companies to validate that users are entitled to content based on their pay TV subscription package. This enables content owners to have direct relationships with consumers; Pay TV providers to add more value for their customers; and Pay TV subscribers to watch the content they are already paying for anytime, anywhere. This is the promise of the broadcast industry’s TV Everywhere initiative.

Adobe Pass is now offered as a TV Everywhere implementation option to content providers serving approximately 90 percent of the U.S. pay TV market via Comcast Corp., DirecTV, Dish Network Corp., Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Inc.., Verizon Communications, Inc.., Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Suddenlink Communications and others. Content providers can leverage Adobe Pass to help pay TV subscribers to easily access TV Everywhere content via content provider websites and mobile applications. Adobe Pass is also seeing rapid and widespread adoption with popular programmers and over-the-top services including Fox Networks, Hulu, Turner Broadcasting (including the CNN app for iPad), MTV Networks, Scripps Networks Interactive and AMC Networks, which have chosen the solution to seamlessly and securely establish a user’s entitlement to premium content anywhere, anytime and on virtually any device.

Further Advancement in Industry Leading Content Creation Tools

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium software has taken the industry by storm with breakthrough new features and performance that help video professionals deliver content to virtually any screen. Demand for Adobe’s video content creation tools has exploded, growing 22 percent year-over-year with 45 percent growth on the Mac, fueled by the large number of Apple Final Cut Pro customers switching to Adobe Premiere ® Pro. Adobe continues to show its commitment to streamlining video workflows and announced the acquisition of certain assets of IRIDAS, an industry pioneer with a family of software products that cover all aspects of a unified color workflow, from on-set to finishing.

Strong Industry Adoption by Leading Broadcasters and Universities

Highlighting the growing demand for Production Premium across the broadcast industry, Adobe is also announcing that leading U.K. broadcaster ITV has selected Adobe Story, an online and offline collaborative script development tool, to manage preproduction of over 500 episodes per year of ITV’s popular programs Coronation Street and Emmerdale (see separate release). The beginning of the Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium script-to-screen workflow, Adobe Story integrates directly with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 and other Adobe software to streamline the planning and preproduction phases. As the script is drafted, Adobe Story reduces production costs by automatically turning script content into relevant metadata that travels with the content and can be used throughout the Adobe digital video workflow.

Also from the U.K., the University of Salford, a leading higher educational institution offering strong opportunities in research and innovation, will engage in a strategic alliance with Adobe. The integrated collaboration will encompass the opening of a new Adobe branded, dedicated VFX studio standardized on Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5 Production Premium and the introduction of CS5.5 within its campus-wide NLE technology platform for future teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The partnership will also encompass training, research and development with a focus on new broadcast workflows. A prestigious school for leading U.K. broadcasters ITV and the BBC, the University of Salford is at the heart of MediaCityUK, a new media hub for content creation in the northwest of England.

Expanding Broadcast Partner Ecosystem

Recognizing that multiple third-party technologies are mission critical to many professional broadcast video workflows, Adobe has also expanded its ecosystem of broadcast solution partners and banded together with leading solution providers Active Storage, Primestream, Chyron, FilmPartners, Harmonic, IPV, S4M, SeaChange and Red Giant, among others. These dynamic partnerships are driven by strong customer demand to ensure the tightest possible integration with Adobe’s professional creation-to-delivery workflow.

For more information: www.adobe.com.