Champion Communications: 45% of UK media companies say tape stock crisis is “business critical”

JCA offers production industry a solution to the tape shortage

JCA, the digital production specialist, today reveals the results from its survey on the Sony tape stock crisis. JCA asked professionals in the UK production industry how the tape shortage will affect their business.

The survey of media professionals from the UK found that 50% of respondents do not yet employ digital distribution methods, as a result 45% believe the tape stock shortage is of major concern or business critical, revealing that tape still plays an active role in today’s production industry.

40% of respondents would consider employing file based delivery methods if Sony’s HDCamSR becomes a real concern and 37% of respondents state that between 31% – 100% of their distribution needs are digital file based. These statistics show that although tape is still important in today’s production industry, there is an increasing demand for digital alternatives which have not been taken up at the same rate as requirements show.

Simon Kay, Managing Director of JCA, said: ‘The crisis in Japan is forcing many production companies to review their distribution methods and this study shows that there is a degree of panic out there as a result of tape shortages. JCA is pleased to say that the tape stock shortage need not be a major concern to the UK production industry as we have plenty of delivery alternatives along with a healthy supply of tape stock.”

Kay continues: “After careful consideration is given to digital delivery methods, the benefits in terms of archiving, transportation and cost clearly reveal the advantages of going fully digital.”

About JCA
Established in 1989 and acquired by TVP Group in 2004, JCA offers total digital, TV and film service packages encompassing ageing film and video formats through to data capture at HD and beyond. Included in the services is an end-to-end Media Asset Management platform servicing client’s file based needs including online services, both secured and open access. JCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the TVP Group.

JCA works with clients such as BBC, Channel 4, DRG, Classic Media, ITV and KidsCo to supply services including encoding, transcoding, digital transmission workflows, content management and file delivery.

For more information, please contact:
Champion Communications
+44 (0)20 268 3260
jca@championcomms.com 
www.jca.tv