UK AV Registration Agency launches
November 20, 2014
By Colin Mann
The Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR) and the founders of ISAN UK (International Standard Audiovisual Number) are collaborating on a new joint ID service to the film and television industry in the UK. Under the terms of the collaboration, EIDR and ISAN UK will form the UK AV Registration Agency and expand its mission to deliver both EIDR IDs and ISANs, effectively becoming a ‘one-stop shop’ for UK organisations that wish to identify uniquely their audiovisual content to support both rights management applications and the automated digital distribution workflows.
The new joint service is expected to bring increased focus to the need for standardised identification of film and television productions to enable digital commerce while protecting the interests of intellectual property rights holders. It will minimise potential confusion in the UK market by providing a single point of registration for small and large producers alike, and it will demonstrate interoperability between EIDR and ISAN by giving all producers the choice to register in both or either system, with coordinated work flows and best practices for both rights management and digital distribution. As an additional benefit, cooperation between EIDR and ISAN UK will enable the UK AV Registration Agency to provide both IDs for less than their combined cost today. ITV will become an EIDR Industry Promoter member and take a position on the EIDR Board of Directors. EIDR and the UK AV Agency also will exchange board representatives.
“The Copyright Works report expressed concern about the inadequacy of metadata for the digital age and the pressing need for interoperability between the two major AV identifier systems – ISAN and EIDR,” said Richard Hooper, Chairman of The Copyright Hub. “I am delighted that the film and television industry has made such good progress in setting up the UK AV Agency, bringing the two identifiers together and creating a platform for further growth of the UK AV industry in the global market for digital media.”
“ITV is delighted to be the first major customer of the new joint UK AV Agency as well as joining the EIDR Board” said Dale Grayson, ITV’s Director of Archive and Information Policy. “Both these developments will improve interoperability between content IDs as well as help efficiency throughout our international digital supply chain.”
John McVay, CEO of PACT, said the collaboration would be a model for interoperability between EIDR and ISAN to the benefit of its producer members, allowing the UK to lead the way in cross-industry adoption of unique IDs for both rights management and commercial digital distribution work flows.”
“The EIDR membership has focused on best practices for using unique IDs in digital distribution,” said Kip Welch, Chairman of the Entertainment ID Registry Association. “As we begin our fifth year as a non-profit industry service, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the founders of ISAN UK to enable interoperability between digital distribution and rights management work flows.”
The UK AV Registration Agency will coordinate registration work flows for EIDR and ISAN IDs and support best practices for data validation and preparation, as well as advancing best practices for digital distribution work flows and rights management work flows. The Agency also will provide EIDR IDs directly to smaller UK producers who are not members of EIDR, similar to the way in which it provides ISAN IDs today.