• We interview Morten Brandstrup, Head of Newstechnology at the Danish public broadcaster, to analyze its new strategy, which revolves around two key concepts: “story-centric” and “online-first”

• This article is part of a series of reports on the television ecosystem in the Nordic countries. Click here to read the first installment, focused on Sweden’s SVT.

*This interview is included in the April issue of TM BROADCAST. You can access the full magazine here.

The era when media outlets were confined exclusively to their traditional sectors—press, television, radio—is long gone, and convergences in this regard have only strengthened in recent years, driven by new technological advancements.

Inspired by this purpose, TV 2’s news department took a Copernican turn in its workflow by adopting a new, story-centric approach. To achieve this, the Danish public broadcaster implemented the Wolftech News tool, which has allowed them to build an integrated system that promotes collaboration between the different teams involved in news production, optimizes resource management, and ultimately adds additional value to the final content received by users through various platforms.

It’s important to note that TV 2 Denmark, beyond being a traditional broadcaster, is also the most visited news website in Denmark. It also has a staff of 650 employees, reflecting its production capacity.

“Given the wide variety of content we produce, it was essential to implement a story-centric tool to ensure better coordination, prioritization, and platform-agnostic storytelling across all our different outputs”, says Morten Brandstrup, Head of Newstechnology at TV 2, who spoke to TM BROADCAST a few days after attending Haivision’s webinar on the state of technology adoption in the broadcast industry.

 

“Integrating a story-centric approach was a necessity. We needed to operate as a cross-media outlet while continuing with podcasts and various other content formats”

With this system now fully integrated into their workflows, we take the opportunity to learn more about the execution keys of this project and its final balance. “We prioritized giving our online colleagues a successful platform first, then integrating our broadcast colleagues into the same system”, he notes. As for the outcome, Morten Brandstrup is decisive: “It has been a huge success—far greater than we anticipated”.

Additionally, TV 2’s news department has carried out several notable projects in the graphics area, in line with the aforementioned strategy of prioritizing online, which Brandstrup also shares with us in this interview. “We are gradually adopting HTML-based graphics as our standard”, he reveals.

TV 2’s ongoing transition to an SMPTE 2110 production model, its high expectations regarding 5G networks, and the evolution of the broadcast industry toward a software-based infrastructure are some other trends mentioned during the conversation.

I’d like to focus on the audiovisual infrastructure at TV 2 Denmark. What have been the recent developments in your news department from a technological perspective?

The latest implementation we’ve made is definitely our story-centric workflow. For that, we chose to go with Wolftech. We have now integrated the Wolftech platform across the entire news operation.

As I’m talking about the news department at TV 2, it’s important to note that TV 2 is a commercial national broadcaster. We are solely funded by commercial ads and subscriptions, but we are owned by the government. In this sense, we operate as a public service broadcaster, but in a commercial model. The news operation makes up about half of our internal staff. Internally, we produce sports events and news, while other content is acquired from independent production companies.

The news department itself covers the prime-time news bulletin on our main channel, and we also run a successful 24-hour news channel, which we launched back in 2006. Additionally, we have a large department dedicated to documentary-style productions, creating around 30 to 40 documentaries per year. These have a significant impact on society here.

We also have an output called Echo, which was formulated five years ago as a test to reach younger audiences between 20 and 30 years old, particularly females, who at that time had little connection to TV 2. We rebranded a channel as Echo, using it to target this audience. From a news perspective, we deliver content to them via social media, including TikTok and Instagram. The news department oversees all of this.

We are the leading and largest news website in Denmark, which entails a substantial production effort. Our department has around 650 staff in total, with a few hundred dedicated to the day-to-day newsroom operations.

Considering this, integrating a story-centric approach was a necessity. We needed to operate as a cross-media outlet while continuing with podcasts and various other content formats. Given the wide variety of content we produce, it was essential to implement a story-centric tool to ensure better coordination, prioritization, and platform-agnostic storytelling across all our different outputs.

“We focus more on an online-first process, using less advanced graphics for the news show. While virtual graphics may look impressive, spending one or two days creating a 20-second scene isn’t practical for online content”

How innovative would you say this tool is?

We are not the first to adopt this approach, I must admit. In fact, we were somewhat late in fully integrating the tool. It has been a long journey—my first PowerPoint presentation on this topic dates back to 2015, and our first workshop launch was in 2017. We’ve spent several years preparing for this transition.

That said, it has been a huge success—far greater than we anticipated. Moving 600 staff members onto a shared news platform turned out to be less complicated than expected. I believe our key approach was crucial. Typically, we make decisions as a broadcast operation. However, in this case, we prioritized giving our online colleagues a successful platform first, then integrating our broadcast colleagues into the same system.

This approach turned everything upside down. Traditionally, newsroom systems revolve around the running order—the rundown used in broadcasting. But for non-linear output, a different tool is necessary. More than a third of the content we produce never even touches a rundown. So, treating the running order as the primary tool in the newsroom is a mistake; it should be seen as just a publishing tool for linear output.

“Moving 600 staff members onto a shared news platform turned out to be less complicated than expected”

What’s your current technological landscape regarding the transition from SDI to IP on the production side?

On the live production side, we are in the middle of a project to transition our in-house production platform to 2110. We’ve spent over half a year developing an embedded operation within the Danish Parliament, staffed by more than 20 people. There, we have an NDI island connected to the main broadcast center as part of a 2110 operation.

We are gradually transitioning our studios and galleries to the IP world.

In which resolution are you currently broadcasting?

We are currently broadcasting in HD, and we don’t have any plans to go beyond that resolution. The reason is simple: we don’t see a viable business case for improving resolution, as viewers wouldn’t be willing to pay more for higher quality.

Another topic I’d like to discuss is graphics, a key element in news production. How do you approach this area, and what role do immersive technologies or augmented reality play in your productions?

This is an area where we’ve undergone significant transformation. We used to produce graphics using templates, with dedicated graphics staff working on them daily. However, we’ve changed our approach. Our graphic designers now primarily work with Adobe, creating graphics that are suitable for both TV and online platforms, following an online-first strategy.

We need to be able to reuse graphic elements across all platforms. This has significantly increased the value of our digital products, which were previously deprioritized. Now, we have a completely different set of priorities for our main linear broadcast output. As a result, we reuse more two-dimensional graphics for prime-time shows while reducing our use of virtual or immersive graphics.

We focus more on an online-first process, using less advanced graphics for the news show. While virtual graphics may look impressive in the studio for prime-time news, spending one or two days creating a 20-second scene isn’t practical for online content.

On the other hand, we have recently started using a virtual studio for some of our magazine-style programs, which we produce for both live and on-demand viewing. This format is also used on our news channel. These programs have transitioned from traditional sets to virtual studios, proving to be highly effective and offering greater flexibility in content production.

Additionally, we are gradually adopting HTML-based graphics as our standard. We have been actively working on this, participating in the IBC Accelerator program from the start. Last year, we collaborated with the BBC on a project aimed at standardizing HTML graphics for live production. We have also taken the lead in this work alongside the EBU. Currently, there’s a working group focused on HTML graphics for live production, and we strongly believe in this format due to its flexibility across different outputs. HTML graphics are key to this transition.

About IP: “On the live production side, we are in the middle of a project to transition our in-house production platform to 2110”

I’d also like to hear your thoughts on key technological trends and how you are implementing them in your workflows. First, what is the current state of 5G adoption in the broadcast industry and within your company?

In Denmark, we have a strong 5G infrastructure. It’s a small, flat country, making it relatively easy to establish this type of network commercially. At the same time, we have conducted extensive experiments with private 5G networks. Tomorrow [March 22], we will conduct a multi-camera production using this technology to cover a political convention. We handle around 40 such events annually. Instead of deploying an OB truck, we set up our private network in the conference center, allowing for quick deployment without the need for cabling.

For this particular event, we have deployed a four-camera production as a front-of-house setup, alongside a studio set that is also running entirely on 5G. We are adapting to this technology for multi-camera production. Just yesterday, I was at a football match at our national stadium [Denmark vs. Portugal in the Nations League], where we used 5G millimeter waves for certain parts of the production. We leverage this technology for alternative camera angles and additional production elements.

We are actively engaged in international forums like IBC, EBU, PSME, and other 5G groups. The broadcast industry is relatively small, which makes it difficult to present a strong business case to commercial telecom providers for specialized services.

However, what is really interesting is that 5G networks provide low latency and high-quality video streaming for uplinks, which is essential for applications like police body cams, security systems, facial recognition, drones, and other professional use cases. In many of these scenarios, it’s about having a sensor that needs to upload data in real time so that someone can monitor and react accordingly.

This is where 5G becomes a truly valuable technology. As broadcasters and media professionals, we may be a small industry, but we have extensive expertise in transmitting video from point A to point B, which many other sectors could benefit from.

We may not be adopting 5G as quickly as some would expect, but on the other hand, it’s also about building the right business cases. The key here is that, as an industry, we should engage with other sectors to ensure we get the right services and help them understand that what we do is valuable—and that they, too, can benefit from our expertise.

About resolution: “We are currently broadcasting in HD, and we don’t have any plans to go beyond that resolution”

What about the impact of AI in the industry? Are you implementing it in your workflows?

We use AI mainly for text-related tasks such as speech-to-text transcription. That is the extent of our AI integration in news operations at the moment. I look forward to seeing AI more integrated into live production. AI could help streamline operations in galleries, especially as we move to IP and network-based workflows. AI assistance in areas like routing, network control, and live production recommendations would be incredibly valuable.

Lastly, what is your level of confidence and adoption of cloud technologies compared to on-premise systems?

For me, it doesn’t matter much whether the servers are in the cloud or on-premises. What really matters is that production is software-defined. The physical location—whether in the cloud, on-premises, or in our own VM—is not a big deal for us. What’s more important is transitioning to software-defined production, and that’s what’s truly interesting.

I’m sure it’s a big challenge, but it’s also something we are looking forward to because there is huge potential for better integration and a more user-friendly UI for those producing content. Additionally, the wider adoption of API-driven, data-driven workflows can greatly enhance efficiency.

So, do you believe the broadcast industry is shifting toward a software-based infrastructure?

Yes, I believe this will be the biggest transformation in the industry.

About 5G: “The broadcast industry is relatively small, which makes it difficult to present a strong business case to commercial telecom providers for specialized services”

“We should engage with other sectors to ensure we get the right services and help them understand that what we do is valuable—and that they, too, can benefit from our expertise”