The IBC Podcast: Sky Studios, UKTV and live content moderation

On the second episode of the IBC Podcast, Sky Studios chief executive Gary Davey speaks about the impact of coronavirus on the Sky division’s production output. 

“We couldn’t see Covid coming - we had to shut down 29 productions and we’ve got nine back in production now, but we couldn’t have done it without a really sophisticated set of safety protocols.”

And while some productions have restarted, he explains how Sky Studios is braced for a second wave of coronavirus.

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“It’s been a really interesting exercise to rethink the editorial of a lot of the shows, especially the bigger shows. So for example, we’ve rethought the number of episodes and had a good look at the editorial to figure out, if there were another crisis, is there a way of managing the script in such a way that you could get out after only a few episodes?”

And one of the most significant outcomes of the restrictions imposed following the spread of coronavirus has been in post-production, Davey said during a recent BPG event. 

“Out of necessity the whole industry has moved to remote editing and post-production, and it has worked brilliantly. As a result, I think that will become much more business as usual.” 

Resiliency and reassurance

The issue of reacting to coronavirus and the lessons learnt because of the industry’s response to the pandemic is also a key theme of the interview with UKTV chief technology and operations officer Sinead Greenaway. 

She speaks about the need for resiliency and reassurance from suppliers, and about how the need for greater remote working has hastened the shift to the cloud. 

And we hear from two of the Champions leading an IBC Accelerator Live Content Moderation project, with Grant Totten from Al Jazeera and Ian McLaren from Thompson Reuters discussing the use of AI to ensure live content adheres to regulatory standards.