CAMBRIDGE, ON — Corus Entertainment’s Global Television Network and the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) both relied on software from Bannister Lake to drive their live election coverage during the October 21 federal election.
Using Bannister Lake’s Elector software, Global TV and CPAC were able to track election results and deliver graphic playlists for use on-air, on-set and online, Bannister Lake said in a news release on Tuesday.
In addition to providing editorial tools to producers, Bannister Lake enabled decision desks and graphic operators to identify key races, declare winners and organize graphic playlists, the company said. Furthermore, Bannister Lake provided on-set touchscreen mapping widgets and social media solutions.
This federal election marks the 18th time Global TV has used Bannister Lake solutions to drive the network’s election coverage. Global TV had multiple options to visualize election results and present them to its audience, Bannister Lake said. Graphics appeared as full frame, as part of the broadcast’s unique video wall, as regional L-bars, as augmented reality elements, and as online winner cards that were tweeted out.
In addition, the broadcast’s touch-enabled, HTML5-based widgets allowed Global TV hosts to blend real-time data with demographic information on electoral district maps and walk viewers through trends and analysis. Since the solution was built entirely in HTML5, editorial and cosmetic changes could be executed quickly without reliance on other hardware or software systems, Bannister Lake said in its release.
“Having Bannister Lake data available on various endpoints meant we had maximum flexibility to tell the election night story,” said Gerry Belec, director of news technology and operations for Global News, in the news release. “Once again Bannister Lake ensured that both our editorial and production teams had the data and the tools to execute a great election night broadcast.”
At the CPAC studios in Ottawa, Bannister Lake integrated election result feeds from the Canadian Press, and producers utilized Elector software to filter and display results. CPAC used Elector’s advanced capabilities to filter regions and quickly identify important developments, such as incumbents or high-profile candidates losing or being re-elected. In addition, CPAC was able to quickly create graphic playlists for use on-air.
“Elector race software gave us the ability to parse the incoming results quickly and zero in on important voting trends,” said Steve Rifkin, manager of digital content for CPAC. “This allowed us to instantly deliver results to our audience.”
Georg Hentsch, president of Bannister Lake, added: “Over the years we have developed a deep understanding of election data and know that producers require a straightforward approach to pull insights out of results data. It is always satisfying to see broadcasters using our tools in innovative ways to reach Canadians on such an important event.”
