The White Room trains 700 Sky production staff

MEDIA technology training firm The White Room has been hired to train 700 BSkyB broadcasting and production staff for its shift to a digital file-based production system.

The training not only tackles the hands-on, button-pushing aspects of the new technology but also the cultural and contextual issues involved in Sky’s workforce moving to file-based production.

Sky is the first major UK broadcaster to transfer all its production to a digital workflow and has developed a new tapeless environment at its West London base to enable this transition.

Manchester-based The White Room is working with media technology company Mediasmiths, which designed the new tapeless file-based infrastructure at Sky, to train 700 technical and production staff. They will be introduced to the new concepts, workflows and terminology involved in adopting an entirely new way of working.

Chris Whatmore, deputy head of broadcast operations at Sky, said: “The shift to a totally file-based environment is exciting but also very challenging for Sky. Going tapeless will streamline the traffic of incoming and playout media, allow more effective collaboration and enable more efficient working. But it also presents significant perceptual and functional challenges which this training has helped us overcome.”

Paul Collins, programme manager at The White Room, said: “Sky wanted us to focus on the change management aspects of moving away from physical tapes, helping staff to see why such a fundamental shift was being made and the benefits. We’ve also been working with employees to demystify file-based technology and the jargon that surrounds it. Tackling the cultural issues, as well as practical hurdles, that arise from people no longer having physical media to carry from room to room, is key to ensuring an organisation adapts quickly to digital workflows.”