Digital Production Partnership’s Technical Standards For Delivery Of Television Programmes TECHNICAL STANDARDS FOR DELIVERY OF TELEVISION PROGRAMMES TO This document is a complete guide to the common technical standards agreed by the BBC, BTSport, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky, S4C and TG4. The first seven pages of this document outline parts of the specification that are unique to Sky. The main body of the document outlines the main specification as adopted by all members. The fundamental standards in black text apply to both Commissions and Acquisitions. The requirements in light blue text are necessary for Commissioned content and discretionary for Acquired content. The Standards include: Technical Specifications, i.e. the technical production methods which must be used, and the parameters which all material must meet to be acceptable by Sky. Picture and Sound Quality requirements, which also form a binding obligation on producers of material. Assessment of quality is by nature subjective, and is highly dependent on the nature of the programme. Some of the Quality Requirements are expressed in relative terms (“reasonable”, “not excessive” etc.), and it will be necessary to make a judgement as to whether the quality expectations of the intended audience will be fulfilled, and whether Sky will feel that value for money has been achieved. Delivery Requirements, which specify the form and layout of the programme material. Every programme submitted for transmission must satisfy a Quality Control process specified by Sky. Any programme failing the QC process on tape or file may be rejected and returned to the supplier for repair. Please ensure you are using the current version of this document, available at: http://sky1.sky.com/production-team Content must be made compliant to these technical standards. Queries around the compliance of content must be discussed with the broadcaster in advance of delivery (see contact details in the ‘Technical Responsibility and Contacts’ section below). Failure to do so will result in the rejection of material. Technical Responsibility and Contacts Technical, program content and delivery queries should initially be sent to the below contacts and they can direct it to the relevant team within Sky. Content Email Phone Number Entertainment [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 2158 Movies and Trailers [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 0486 Note: Content intended for international distribution through Sky Vision, will have additional requirements covered in Sky Vision’s Delivery Specification document. Please contact [email protected] for more information. Page 1 of 64 UK Version 4.3 - 2014 Broadcaster Version 4.8 - 2017 Digital Production Partnership’s Technical Standards For Delivery Of Television Programmes File Naming Requirements – Programme Files Files to be delivered to Sky must be named with the unique Delivery ID for each asset. Filenames must be in upper case, with extension in lowercase. Contact Sky for programme specific identifier information. Requested Programme File Name Format Example Filename Notes M0 + numerical ID. M#######.mxf Contrary to the file delivery instructions in the body of this document; as a temporary arrangement Sky will continue to accept a Sky specified sidecar xml whilst suppliers transition to DPP delivery. Therefore content suppliers wishing to deliver via file must first contact DL- [email protected] for our specific guide until both parties agree migration to DPP delivery; at which point the method will change to the DPP standard specified in the body of this document. File Naming Requirements – QC reports All reporting files will follow the same naming convention as the MXF programme files with the report name as a further identifier after the underscore. The PSE Report = _PSE The AQC Report = _AQC The Eyeball QC Report = _EYE Some AQC devices combine the PSE and AQC reports and others allow manual entry for comments from the Eyeball test. Sky can accept all options as long as it is clear from the filename what is included. Quality Control (AQC, Eyeball and PSE) reports delivered to Sky must have the same Delivery ID as the programme file. Requested Report Name Format Example Filename Notes M0 + numerical ID_PSE.pdf M#######_PSE.pdf M0 + numerical ID_AQC.pdf M#######_AQC.pdf M0 + numerical ID_EYE.pdf M#######_EYE.pdf M0 + numerical ID_PSE_AQC.pdf M#######_PSE_AQC.pdf For example in the case of combined PSE and AQC reports The QC reports should be emailed to [email protected]. Live Programme Delivery Sky’s primary MCR and Playout Centre are both located within: Sky Studios Harlequin Avenue Brentford TW8 9EW In most cases live program delivery will be received at Sky Studios via fibre or satellite. On exception, delivery to Sky Chilworth may be requested for operational needs Sky has connectivity to many major service providers and the choice of provider will be selected at the time of booking. Once the commission is awarded, contact should be made with the appropriate Satellite Operations department who will begin planning the delivery. Page 2 of 64 UK Version 4.3 - 2014 Broadcaster Version 4.8 - 2017 Digital Production Partnership’s Technical Standards For Delivery Of Television Programmes Contact Email Telephone Heather Crane (Sport / Entertainment) [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 2620 Lisa Robson (Sky News) [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 4480 Francesca Grosso (Sky Sports News) [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 0153 From the initial contact, it is very probable that a meeting will be required to discuss the requirement in detail. This should involve production staff including the production manager along with key Sky technical and operational personnel. Technical considerations regarding live delivery can be directed to: Contact Email Telephone Marc Johnson (Sky Broadcast Centre) [email protected] +44 (0)20 7032 0750 Line up and co-ordination will take place at one of the following Sky control rooms: Contact Email Telephone MCR – Sports and Entertainment +44 (0)20 7032 8800 (24 hrs) MCR – Sky News +44 (0)20 7032 8500 Schematic Diagram When requested the Production companies should provide a schematic diagram to the Delivery Quality Manager documenting the end to end signal path, including back up circuits, between the remote location and Sky no later than 1 week before the transmission date. This should include circuit numbers and contact details for key Technical / Production Staff working on the live programme. Resilience Levels Grade 1: Major live event or contribution This will have diverse main and reserve links geographically and electrically separated wherever possible. Prime delivery should be via fibre where the circuits shall use different providers and be delivered to Sky diversely on campus. An alternative may be one prime link via fibre and a backup link via satellite fed from separate distribution areas. Grade 2: Standard live event or contribution This will have diverse main and reserve links geographically and electrically separated wherever possible. Prime delivery should be via fibre where the circuits shall use different providers and be delivered to Sky diversely on campus. An alternative may be one prime link via fibre and a backup link via satellite fed from separate distribution areas. Should the delivery link be satellite only then two separate trucks should be used, each with diverse and self-contained back up power. Grade 3: Minor live contribution This may be a single leg delivery to Sky either via fibre or satellite. Sky should have standby material supplied or a studio to deliver redundancy. Surround Audio Requirements This is a supplement to Section 3.4, and applies to all Sky programmes with Surround Sound. The stereo mix of a commissioned surround sound programme should be an automated down-mix in Lt/Rt ProLogic format, created from the 5.1 mix of the surround audio made using the down-mix metadata parameters. An Lt/Rt mix may be within the capabilities of the mixing console, otherwise a Dolby DP563 unit will produce such a down-mix in real time. Page 3 of 64 UK Version 4.3 - 2014 Broadcaster Version 4.8 - 2017 Digital Production Partnership’s Technical Standards For Delivery Of Television Programmes Drama, Music and Documentary content may be produced in Mode 1 (all dialogue present in each of the front three channels) or Mode 2 (out of vision speech in Centre channel only). All Sky audio content for Sport and Entertainment should conform to Mode 2, as described in paragraph 3.5.1. The front Left and Right channel levels should always be 6dB lower than the Centre channel level for in-vision speech ‘diverged’ across Left, Centre & Right channels. In all cases the audio mode used must remain consistent throughout a series or set of programmes. The table below shows the Dolby 5.1 metadata settings which will be applied to content delivered to Sky. These setting should be applied when mastering a mix. The settings refer to the “See Broadcaster Recommendation” sections of the Dolby E settings table in Appendix 3. PARAMETER SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT MOVIES Dialogue Level -23dB -23dB -23dB Line Mode Compression Film Light Film Standard Film Standard RF Mode Compression Film Light Film Standard Film Standard Centre Down Mix Level -3dB -3dB -3dB Surround Down Mix Level -6dB -6dB -3dB Surround 3dB Attn. DISABLED DISABLED ENABLED Dolby Surround Mode Surround Surround Surround Preferred Stereo Down Mix Lt/Rt Lt/Rt Lt/Rt Surround Phase Shift Enabled Enabled Enabled