Driving automated local news for 9News Australia

TL;DR: To continue to cater to the demand for local news across Northern NSW and Gold Coast, NBN News, a 9News multi-market regional news service, uses a compact and innovative single-operator automated control room solution to pre-record ‘windows’ of content that is later played out during the flagship primetime bulletin.
Equipped with Viz Mosart, Vizrt’s studio automation solution, the operator controls the production using pre-defined templates ensuring consistency and accuracy. Viz Mosart automates the control of studio hardware including a TriCaster Mini 4K for vision switching, a Yamaha CL1 Audio Desk for audio mixing, and router control of Lawo VSM – with NDI® as the video infrastructure.

Nine’s content production challenge

Nine’s local news service, NBN News, spans six separate markets, so producing individual news bulletins for each region isn’t sustainable or cost-efficient. With a desire to considerably streamline the overall production process but still serve the content demands of multiple markets, Nine needed to continue to have a flexible approach to production.

Introducing Project CR45

Control Room 45 (CR45) was Nine Broadcast Technology’s answer to this problem; the commissioning of a single, small production suite designed to enable the pre-recording of local news segments and weather windows that could then be played out on NBN News – the local edition of the nightly news bulletin that services six separate regions across Northern NSW and Gold Coast.

But building a dedicated production suite was only half the challenge. Nine needed a production setup to enable the most cost-efficient news and weather productions while maintaining the quality and consistency audiences were used to.

Enter Viz Mosart, TriCaster® Mini 4K, and NDI®

Acting as Solution Architect for the project, Jun Ye, Nine’s Graphics & Automation Technology Manager, was responsible for designing the technology solution to make this new control room possible. Drawing on years of experience using Vizrt solutions and working closely with Nine’s production expert and Studio Automation Supervisor, Ben McMurray, the team settled on a setup consisting of Viz Mosart controlling a TriCaster Mini 4K, Yamaha CL1 Audio Desk, and router control of their Lawo VSM system, sitting on an NDI network setup. Using Viz Mosart, a single operator or ‘Pilot’ can easily pre-record content for multiple local regions, that would otherwise require a manual control room with multiple staff. This streamlines the production process, resulting in substantial cost savings and resource optimization, and ensuring high-quality, consistent productions.

With Viz Mosart already in use across several of Nine’s control rooms, it was an easy decision to design any new solution with it at the centre. “Nine’s production staff was already well-versed in using Viz Mosart, making it the obvious choice to continue with these established workflows, albeit on a smaller scale,” says Ben.

Jun adds that “Viz Mosart stands at the forefront of studio automation technology. Coupled with Vizrt’s unparalleled support, we were assured it would help us maintain a competitive technological edge.”

“The choice of the TriCaster Mini 4K was driven by its compact and optimal fit for Nine’s smaller-scale production needs, with its accessible and user-friendly interface making it easy for all staff to use, regardless of their technical expertise”, Jun says. “Likewise, the TriCaster Mini 4K offers a balance of features and affordability, ensuring a cost-effective solution without sacrificing quality”.

Combining the TriCaster Mini 4K with Viz Mosart meant that operators were already familiar with our show templates and existing workflows. From camera switching, mic audio fader control, taking graphics or external sources – every aspect of a traditional broadcast was available to the operators at the press of a button. The pilot simply taps on a keyboard to progress through to the next story in the show, automatically triggering complex production sequences.

Thanks to these pre-made templates, shows are consistent and error-minimized. They allow the operators and producers to concentrate on editorial content rather than the complex nature of the broadcast systems involved.

Harnessing NDI for plug-and-play simplicity

To further simplify the setup and integration, Nine implemented Vizrt’s NDI infrastructure – the inaugural use of NDI technology for the Network on the scale of an entire control room setup.

As the native video format within TriCaster systems, NDI allows for the transmission of high-quality, low-latency video over standard IP networks. Video, audio, tally, metadata, and control signals can be transmitted over a single Ethernet cable, significantly reducing the complexity and cost associated with traditional SDI workflows. The TriCaster Mini 4K’s NDI output is converted into SDI and leverages the existing news workflow built on the Network’s SDI infrastructure. Jun explains that “the decision to adopt NDI for this project was easy as it allows for easy scalability and integration of various video sources, simplifying the overall production process and enhancing the efficiency of our broadcast operations.”

Jun adds: “Choosing NDI for this project was a natural decision, given its native integration with TriCasters and the simplicity of its setup. It truly is a “plug-and-play” and “set-and-forget” system that worked seamlessly with Viz Mosart. Our commitment lies in maintaining flexibility and fostering innovation, enabling us to deploy a wide array of video infrastructure where it is most beneficial.”

Not your typical client-vendor relationship

Working closely with Vizrt’s Customer Success organization to achieve production goals, Nine has found that working with Vizrt goes far beyond a typical vendor-client relationship. Jun explains:

“Vizrt’s exceptional commitment to customer success is characterized by responsive and knowledgeable support and a drive for continuous innovation in their tools. This customer-centric approach is evident in the user-friendly design of their products, seamless integration with existing systems, and their willingness to tailor solutions to specific needs, making them not just a vendor but a vital partner in the broadcasting industry.”

Speaking of future projects and plans, Jun adds that the Network is “looking to possibly expand our production with a cloud-based studio largely powered by Vizrt’s products and solutions. This move is in response to fast-changing business requirements and challenges. By leveraging the PAYG fee model with cloud computing resources, we aim to achieve greater flexibility and cost efficiency.”