With over 200 customers and 50 MOS partner companies, Octopus Newsroom this year celebrated a highly successful 17th anniversary. Highlights included intensive use of the Octopus Mobile App by broadcast networks covering the summer sports in Rio de Janeiro and covering the US elections.
The past 12 months have seen a series of new Octopus system installations plus major extension of the company’s global presence. New offices have been opened in the Thai capital, Bangkok, (headed by APAC director Miro Rusko) and in San Francisco (headed by Gene Sudduth as national sales director for North America).
New projects
This year Octopus learned a lot and it was due in large measure to the projects the company took part in that showed how conventional formats of news storytelling are evolving. Octopus is at the core of supporting that evolution. Projects which commenced or concluded during 2016 included :
- New York based 24/7 broadcaster NTD TV chose the Octopus 8 newsroom computer system for its television and online teams. This project includes a large number of Octopus App licenses enabling the channel’s journalists to access news production facilities via mobile devices such as iPads, iPhones and Androids.
- Octopus 8 technology has been chosen by Riot Games to power a television news channel devoted specifically to electronic sports. Riot Games’ League of Legends is a huge phenomenon worldwide which has sparked World-Cup-style competitions. A central system will be installed in Los Angeles with links to Berlin, set up in such way that Riot Games newsroom staff in the USA and Germany can use it independently.
- Multiplatform news and entertainment network TheBlaze has ordered an Octopus 8 newsroom system for installation at its headquarters in Las Colinas, Texas. This project is scheduled for early January 2017 follow the network’s relocation of its radio broadcast facilities from New York.
- 24-hour television channel LifeNews has ordered two Octopus 8 systems, one for its headquarters in Moscow and one for its sister channel, Life78, which broadcasts from studios in St. Petersburg. Both projects are being supervised by Moscow-based system integrator Studio Systems.
Major show demonstrations
Octopus version 8 software was demonstrated at major industry shows around the world, including NAB in Las Vegas, BroadcastAsia in Singapore, IBC in Amsterdam and Broadcast India in Mumbai. Octopus 8 streamlines operations and workflows by allowing newsrooms to collaborate with other teams and deliver stories in multiple formats for the widest possible audience. Tweets and Facebook posts are treated like any other news story with team managers able to assign and share tasks, and to approve posts before they go live.
Also demonstrated was the new Octopus Mobile App. This offers journalists full news production capabilities on tablets and mobile phones running Apple iOS or Google Android. Reporters and editors working remotely gain instant access to all wires, rundowns and assignments. They can also edit stories within a rundown, preview prompter text as well as create wires and reports in the field. The new app supports both Octopus 8 and the most recent versions of Octopus 7.