“Adobe Premiere Pro offered multiple codec support and multiple file support with seamless graphic integration—the perfect solution to the challenges we were facing.”

Gajendra Tijare
EVP Broadcast Technology & Operations, Star TV

The changing television landscape

The Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. According to the FICCI-EY report ‘Reimagining India’s M&E Sector’, the industry was valued at ₹1.5 trillion in 2017 and is growing faster than the country’s GDP.

With increased TV and smartphone penetration, rising Internet usage and a younger viewer population, the industry is constantly striving to find innovative ways to attract and retain audiences.

One of India’s leading media conglomerates, Star TV has redefined broadcasting since its launch in 1991. Today, it has a network of more than 60 channels in eight different languages and a monthly viewership of nearly 700 million across India. this phenomenal growth can be attributed to the channel’s constant pursuit of bringing the best content and viewing experiences to its audiences.

New beginnings

In 2013, Star TV decided to shift to HD programming and launch its first high resolution and high definition sports channel. these changes were to cater to the evolving viewer demands and maintain a competitive edge in the industry.

At the time, Star TV was using Final Cut Pro (FCP) 7 and Avid Media Composer which hadn't got in-built support for HD or 4K resolution nor did they support the XDCAM50 broadcast format that the channel wanted to shift to. the lack of graphic integration added to the challenge that the video editors were grappling with. the need of the hour was a platform that would offer seamless and integrated workflows across the entire editing process—from creating graphics and compositing to the final output.

“We were looking for an editing software that would support new-age camera file formats such as the Phantom, Black Magic and Arri, with codecs for transcoding and file delivery,” says Gajendra Tijare, EVP Broadcast Technology & Operations, Star TV.

It was then that the Star team turned to Adobe for a solution. Star TV’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, was already using Adobe software for their programming. “Adobe Premiere Pro offered multiple codec support and multiple file support with seamless graphic integration—the perfect solution to the challenges we were facing,” says Tijare.

One-stop solution

Adobe Creative Cloud gave the channel access to an entire set of tools needed to create videos, including editing, colour adjustment and audio refinement on a single platform. Advanced tools such as Adobe Audition and Adobe Lumetri Colour Engine made the post-production process smoother and more agile.

Since Adobe Premiere Pro provides integration with third-party software such as Harmonics MediaGrid and VizRT templates, among others, it made processes more efficient and shaved off hours from the editing process. For example, in the case of live footage editors could start working on edits even as the footage was being ingested instead of waiting for the entire feed to come in.

this feature was especially useful during the 2014 T20 Cricket World Cup when Star Sports team was required to create and broadcast match highlights within two hours of the match getting over. With FCP 7 and Media Composer, editors could start working on the highlights package only once the entire match was recorded as a single clip. But Adobe Premiere Pro enabled editors to work on the footage in real time during ingest, cutting down the time taken to put together the highlights drastically.

“With editors across our six offices working on the same software, there is more collaboration among the teams and chances of incompatibilities go down considerably.”

Sean Wesley
AVP Broadcast Technology & Operations, Star TV

Quicker turnaround time

In the broadcasting industry, time is of utmost importance—there is no room for delays. Unlike the earlier editing software where every change needed to be rendered individually, Adobe Premiere Pro saved time by rendering many effects and transitions in real time. It also allowed editors to playback footage in real time.

Shows, promos and sporting live events are often recorded on different types of cameras and therefore have footage in various file formats and codecs. Vijay Television’s edit team faced a similar problem of transcoding footage to a specific format for editing on AVID and all this within a tight deadline. this time-consuming process was eliminated by Adobe Premiere Pro that accepted all codecs and formats and needed no conversions. It also gave the Vijay Television team the flexibility of working out of a central storage, thereby saving more time. Adobe Creative Cloud also enabled integration between applications using the dynamic link that allowed seamless switching between applications like After Effects and Premiere Pro.