Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE)
The Business Problem
The Federal Electoral Institute, or Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), is an autonomous government agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, specifically, the election of the President of Mexico and the members of the Lower and Upper Chambers that constitute the Congress of the Union. To enforce new federal regulations that place limits on the frequency of political commercials, including matched coverage for political parties and a quiet period leading up to election day, the IFE required a capable, proven turnkey broadcast monitoring and logging solution to monitor, record, and report on all political commercials, including all TV and radio transmissions spanning 2,376 stations in over 150 cities nationally.
The solution needed to be reliable enough to allow the IFE to impose fines and prosecute those violating these regulations, and it had to meet mandatory Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) standards for electronics products entering into Mexico. Other requirements for the solution included a distribution and synchronization fingerprint database of 3,000 commercials of varying lengths, content matching to detect preconfigured cues, integration with Xen Data for near-line storage, encoding and streaming at variable bit rates, and a Control Center interface that would need to be localized into Spanish.
The Solution
IFE evaluated a number of solutions as part of the international bidding process and chose the Volicon Observer® digital video content monitoring and logging system for use in IFE offices throughout Mexico, based on its reliability, cost-effectiveness, and ability to meet all the IFE requirements. At IFE, the Observer-based installation acts as a large-scale media monitoring tool to ensure that political candidates comply with recently enacted Mexican election laws. The 219 Volicon Observer systems were configured to continuously monitor a total of 2,376 television and radio stations 24x7. The Observer systems are equipped with Volicon’s Content Matching Module, which detects a segment’s unique audio stamp to enable operators to flag and access a specific advertisement when it appears in a broadcast.
Whenever the commercial appears, the Observer automatically issues a “content matched” alert with a link that gives the operator immediate access to the video clip in which the segment occurred. Custom software developed by Excelencia en Communicaciones generates reports that detail when each commercial runs, how often, and on which stations. Operators are able to view the reports, as well as the flagged video clips, from any computer in the network via the Observer’s browser interface.
The Results
The installation, which has received an award for “best alignment of technology to the business” from CIO Mexico magazine, enables IFE to monitor compliance with federal regulations concerning political advertising. The IFE received this recognition for the development and implementation of technologies for verifying and monitoring spots by political parties and electoral authorities.
“The Observer is well known in the industry for its reliability and technical excellence, and its superior performance in field tests gave our clients at IFE the confidence they needed to proceed with such a large-scale project.”
- ─ Jorge Castañeda, president at Excelencia en Communicaciones, the Volicon dealer and systems integrator that supplied the solution
Volicon’s Observer® products scale to meet the needs of a wide range of broadcast workflows and budgets.
Volicon’s new Observer video monitoring and logging product family sets a new standard for providing scalable functionality that meets a variety of price points. Now television stations, networks, and production facilities can choose from a wide range of features and functionality based on their broadcast monitoring and logging needs.
Observer Professional
The Observer Professional provides video content monitoring, logging, and compliance workflows for broadcast facilities. Streamlined features and an intuitive user interface allow budget-conscious television stations to quickly schedule, record, and search key media mentions.
Observer Enterprise
The Observer Enterprise provides a comprehensive range of video content monitoring, logging, and compliance workflows for television station groups and broadcast networks. It is a fully redundant, enterprise-grade, 24x7 automated record and search appliance with several intuitive features that can save valuable time and resources.
Observer Enterprise Plus
The Observer Enterprise Plus provides production facilities with a comprehensive range of video content monitoring, logging, and compliance workflows, supporting up to full-resolution 1080i/720P 9 mbps HD for fast, efficient content repurposing.
Volicon
Volicon® is the broadcast and cable industry’s most efficient, reliable, and cost-effective automated multichannel video content logging and monitoring system for compliance, media analysis, content repurposing, and quality of service. Volicon’s Observer® product family encompasses video content logging, monitoring, and compliance for a wide range of broadcast workflows and budgets. Observer real-time, digital video monitoring, and logging solutions are based on Volicon’s patent-pending Video Monitoring Architecture (VMA). VMA comprises a multichannel video streaming engine, interactive search, content analytics, and service monitoring and alarming capabilities. Currently, Volicon’s flagship Observer Enterprise system is actively monitoring over 3,000 video channels for more than 300 broadcast and cable companies and government/corporate organizations worldwide. Volicon products and services meet the demanding requirements of broadcasters, cable and IPTV service providers, and enterprise and government organizations looking to improve broadcast product quality, enhance video management, and lower costs.
For more information, go to http://www.volicon.com.
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