MUMBAI:The international creators and producers of television programmes FremantleMedia has implemented Open Text's Artesia Digital Asset Management solution (Artesia DAM) for a new Web-based system that will dramatically speed up access to programmes for broadcast customers in countries around the world.

The international creator has deployed the Digital Asset Management to speed up access to television shows globally.

The announcement was made at the National Association of Broadcasters conference, NAB 2006, the electronic media show at Las Vegas.

The Open Text's Artesia Digital Media Group has a major presence at the event as sponsor of the Digital Asset Management Pavilion and the DAM Theater.

According to an official release, with this Web-based application, all of FremantleMedia's regional offices have the ability to preview more than 1,000 hours of programming as well as new shows in more than 20 countries where FremantleMedia has production offices.

The solution initially supports the worldwide drama department and will soon scale across other departments.

"This is already one of our most important sales tools, letting broadcasters around the world tap into the breadth of our programming quickly and easily. We look forward to expanding the system across all of our departments," said FremantleMedia Production executive VP production Worldwide Entertainment Rob Clark.

An important aspect of FremantleMedia's business is identifying and selling "formats" globally. For example, the company reviews programmes when they are aired and determines whether the programmes have potential for remarketing in other markets.

A recent example is The Apprentice, which FremantleMedia brought to the UK and other international markets. A traditional format like The Price is Right, the world's number one game show, took about 40 years to get to the point where it is now broadcast in 40 different countries.

Today improved communications and digital broadcasting mean that a format like Pop Idol in the UK has reached 30 countries in three years. By using Artesia DAM, the company is compressing this time even further.

"From the outset we were looking for a DAM solution that could meet our needs for at least the next five years. That meant it had to scale in two dimensions by volume and by the nature of the content used," said FremantleMedia information systems & technology head Nigel Dixon.

"Other critical factors that led to the selection of Artesia DAM were the ability to integrate into our existing systems and other products, and production deployment within a six-month timeframe. We worked closely with the Artesia team to deliver the solution on time and under budget, " briefs Dixon.

The initial implementation of Artesia DAM will give the company's sales staff and broadcasters around the world immediate access to shows shortly after they are broadcast. At present, this is done by the distribution of DVDs which results in significant delays.

The company is already seeing a significant time-to-market advantage using the new system. In addition, more than 1,000 hours of FremantleMedia's extensive programming archive is available in Microsoft Windows Media format through the Web application.

"FremantleMedia is leading the trend globally toward central management of program content and distribution using digital asset management along with Web-based user interfaces," said Open Text's Artesia Digital Media Group president Scott Bowen.

"Across the board we're seeing that Artesia DAM delivers significant business value, helping to lower operational costs and improve the bottom line."

Artesia DAM is a leading solution for managing large volumes of digital content, such as video, audio and graphics files, in global organizations. The solution helps customers manage this content more efficiently, and helps them to reduce costs, safeguard copyrights and derive new revenue streams by re- expressing and reusing existing content. It complements every phase of the video asset lifecycle including production, review and approval, distribution, and content preservation.

The company has a cliente based which includes leading media and entertainment companies, such as Comcast, Discovery Communications, DreamWorks, HBO, and MLB.com, informs the release.