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DISCOVERY UK AND EMEA REVERSIONING PROCEDURES
See also: Technical Specifications Forensic Imagery guidelines Cultural Sensitivities Ofcom Regulations

Producer's Responsibilities
As a Reversioning Producer, you are responsible for reversioning a wide range of programmes to the highest possible editorial and technical standards. You must make sure all programmes are properly titled, correctly certified, and are fully compliant with Ofcom regulations and Discovery policies. They must be factually accurate, edited on time and ahead of any deadlines.

It sounds daunting, but it's not really, What's most important is an awareness of the Discovery brand, a keen eye for detail and a good televisual brain. A love for our programme content helps too. Yours is one of the last editorial eyes on a programme before transmission. You must make sure great programmes remain great throughout the reversioning process. Sometimes, you can make not so good programmes better. Our audience love our programmes. They're what we do best, so please handle them with care.

REVERSIONING WORKLISTS
The Reversioning Worklist documents are Excel spreadsheets, which are updated every day by the Department's supervisor and coordinator. They can be found on the S Drive in Depts\Reversioning\Reversioning Worklists. It's a good idea to put a shortcut to this folder on your Desktop - you'll be using it a lot.

The IML Worklist deals with programmes that are being reversioned by the IML in Silver Spring (mainly global commissions, for example Deadliest Catch). The Ascent worklist deals with programmes that are reversioned in the UK and processed by Ascent Media in their facility on the ground floor of Chiswick Park.

They are compiled by the Department’s Supervisor and Coordinators and lists all programmes as they are delivered and as they are scheduled. Key information includes:

•	Programme Title

•	Programme Episode Number and Title (if applicable)

•	Broadcast Reference Number

•	All Channels / Territories with Rights to the programme

•	Premier Channel ie which Channel is showing the programme first

•	TX Date

•	Sub-deadline

•	Premier TX Slot ie pre- or post-watershed

•	Premier Slot Duration eg 1 hr

•	Type of Reversion ie CTC, Light or Medium

The Worklists also detail when the source materials have delivered and are available to view, the progress of the edit, and finally when the programme has been approved for transmission. They are very important tracking documents. It is therefore essential that you copy all emails concerning the programmes you are working on to the Department’s supervisor and coordinators as appropriate, so they can keep the worklists up to date.

Using the worklists
The worklists are used by the entire department, so they contain a lot of information that is not really useful to you. Fortunately they can be filtered to only show the relevant stuff.

First of all, click on the small down arrow next to the DNE Producer column and select your name. This should produce a list of your programmes, colour coded for convenience. Next, click on the arrow next to the Subdeadline column and sort in ascending order. This will arrange the list in order of priority, with the most pressing deadline at the top.

For an in-depth guide to the Worklists click How To...Use the Reversioning Worklists

=How To... Use the Reversioning Worklists=

What are they and where do I find them?
The Reversioning Worklists are Excel documents that will tell you what programmes you should be working on and in what order to tackle them. They are maintained by the Reversioning Supervisor and Reversioning Coordinators and can be found on the S Drive in S:\Depts\Reversioning\Reversioning Worklists. Both worklists can seem fairly daunting at first. They track deliverables for all Discovery's forthcoming programming throughout the UK and EMEA and so contain a lot of information, not all of which is immediately relevant to you. Fortunately they can be easily filtered to quickly show you what you need to know.

Getting your workload info
First of all, click on the little black triangle at the top of the DNE Producer column. This will bring up a list of reversioning producers. Click your name and everyone else’s programmes will be filtered out - leaving the ones that have been assigned to you. Next, click on the corresponding black triangle at the top of the Sub-Deadline column and select the “Sort Ascending” option. This will rank your programmes in order of urgency, with the one you need to work on first at the top. Click here or scroll down the page to find out more about these deadlines and why they are important

What does everything mean?
Here’s a quick guide to each column you’ll encounter in the worklist. This should give you an overview of what everything means. Most terms that need further explanation will have a separate Discopedia page- just click on the link to find out more.

Programme Title
Pretty self-explanatory this one. However, please check that the Programme title title on the programme and the title on the Worklist match up. If they are different in any way, then let the department coordinator and your line manager know. Pay particular attention to whether it is supposed to be a New Series. If so, “New Series” has to actually appear on the title screen – this is important as it is part of the Sky EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) rules. Sometimes the same programme will be transmitted with different titles in different regions. For example, the programme that went out as Gold Diggers: The World’s Biggest Bank Robbery in Benelux was retitled Heist: The World's Biggest Bank Robbery for the UK. It is the regional planners and channel managers who usually make the decisions on whether to change a programme title, but we are sometimes asked for ideas. If so, remember that programme titles are really important and can make a significant difference to ratings. We’ve got to consider which words and phrases work well with our audience(s). Just as important are the limitations of the EPG (28 characters in the UK), which is where many of our viewers will encounter that programme for the first time.

Programme Slot Duration
Even though programmes are often described as being (for example) 60 minutes long, technically, this is not the actual duration of the programme, but the duration of the slot that has been assigned to it. As with all commercial broadcasters, sixty minutes on Discovery includes advertising time. For the UK and EMEA, a programme should be 44 minutes long to fit a sixty minute slot.

Most slots are 60 or 30 minutes, though occasionally they can be 120 or (less commonly) 90 minutes. Sometimes you will be asked to cut a programme that would usually fit into a 120 minute slot into two parts, so it can fit into two separate 60 minute slots. This gives the planners more flexibility when scheduling it. A quick guide to this process can be found here

If you suspect that your programme has been given the wrong slot duration, for example if the source master seems overly long or short then have a chat with your line manager or colleagues.

For more info on slot times and the appropriate programme and part lengths, click here

Six Digit Broadcast Reference Number
Each programme has its own unique reference number. It is every bit as important as the programme title. These numbers are how we track the programme across the company, from delivery of the source master to transmission.

Needless to say, it’s crucial that each programme has the right broadcast reference number, so please double check that the one on your Worklist and the one on the clock of your final transmission master are the same – including prefix and suffix letters. Pay attention to the suffix letters, which denote the different versions of a programme. You don’t want a post-watershed version transmitting in a pre-watershed time slot, or a European version without subtitles on foreign language interviews going out in the UK.

Please make sure you include the correct broadcast reference number on your approval emails too.

For a more in-depth look at broadcast reference numbers, click here

Channels and Territories / Premier Channel
The Channels and Territories column refers to the channels that have the right to show the programme and in what territories. The Premier Channel column shows which one will be transmitting it first. It is important to be aware of these columns, as they can dictate the number of different Versions of a programme that are required. See below for more info on Versions and click here for explanations of what the various initials and acronyms actually mean. The Help tab contains a link to a wider glossary of these too.

Versions
If the programme is shared between the UK and other territories, the next thing to determine is how many versions may be required. This depends on the programme content, so it’s something to think of when watching the show through for the first time. More in-depth info on this subject can be found here, but here’s a general rule of thumb to work out whether the programme you’re working on might need extra versions.

[Create flowchart here]

Does it have programme content which might cause cultural sensitivity issues in any of these territories? Does it contain subtitles or dubbed voices / character voices? Is it needed for Daytime transmission?

Given that you are often the first person in the department to see the programme, it is up to you to flag up the need for any new versions to the Supervisor, Coordinator or your line manager.

For information about what you need to do to create different versions of a programme click How To…Create Different Programme Versions for UK/EMEA

Programme Versions (UK and EMEA)

•	UK solus – this refers to programmes that only have rights for the UK •	EU this is shorthand for Europe-only masters. EU encompasses Nordic, Benelux, Central and Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain & Portugal •	EMEA, is the same as EU, but with the addition of the Middle East and Africa (EMEA stands for Europe, Middle East and Africa) •	FEMEA – is like EMEA but with the addition of France. France has a specific set of requirements over and above EMEA territories •	MEATI - this means that it has been acquired for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Israel only •	Emerging Markets – this is another term that you will hear and it incorporates MEATI as well as CEE (Central Eastern Europe)

NB: When you see a programme that only has rights for the UK, please double-check with the Reversioning Supervisor or Coordinator, as rights may be pending, or may have been allocated to the following year. It makes sense to create all the different versions of a programme at once.

Here’s a breakdown of what goes into the various different versions. More info on all of these can be found in the DCE Technical Specifications. Currently, versions for all territories must be 44 minutes long

UK only These are segmented, meaning that they transmit in separate parts, divinded by commercial breaks and texted, meaning that they contain Lower third name captions plus texted titles and break bumps. They may also include subtitles, character voices or texted graphic elements such as maps or diagrams as editorially appropriate.

EU-only These are also segmented and texted. but will not include English SUBTITLES or CHARACTER VOICES. This is because of the very complex feed structure and the multiple languages in which Discovery broadcasts across Europe. For clarity:

•	Burnt-In English Subtitles: these will clash with subtitles later laid down during language customisation on specific feeds such as MEATI where Arabic and Hebrew are subtitled.

•	English Over-Dubbing: if you don’t remove character-voice translations during reversioning, and create a programme with clean and undipped audio, then any over-dubbed interviewees will be re-dubbed for feeds where dubbing is the norm ie France, Italy, Poland. This will obviously cause problems if the contributors are already speaking French, Italian or Polish on camera.

Pending any cultural sensitivity edits, MEATI TX Masters will be the same as the UK for Discovery ie with either character-voicing (over-dubbing) or subtitles: if cultural sensitivity edits are required, the MEATI TX master will be a new version. For the Emerging Networks (ie Science or World), MEATI TX masters will be a clone of the EMEA master – either without the character-voicing or subtitles as appropriate.

UK / EU Shared If a programme is to be shared between the UK and any EU territory, then it cannot contain subtitles or character voices. This is because these will clash with the new European subtitles or dubbing that are added to the programme during languaging. If you are working on a shared programme that does contain subtitles or character voices, then this means that two versions are required. Let the [Reversioning Coordinator]] or Reversioning Supervisor|Supervisor]] know straight away.

FRANCE (both Discovery Channel and (RealTime) and ITALY (RealTime) are generally clones of the UK or EMEA master but all TEXT (including captions, programme titles, bumpers and end credits is replaced with clean covers to create a clean or textless master for languaging. Any English character-voicing is also removed. All of the texted elements which have just been replaced are then added 30 seconds after the end of the programme for reference by the languaging companies. This clean master is then sent out to either France or Italy where all onscreen text is translated into the local language.

The original source materials should always have clean covers at the very end, which can be used during editing to cover all the texted elements. Sometimes clean covers are not available ie for the titles. You’ll need to reach a decision with the Reversioning Manager and the Planners for the region, as to whether or not the English texted titles should be retained ie Miami Ink, or whether a new graphic sequence should be created. Holding, or freezing, the title sequence at a particular juncture, or masking the text ie Little People Big World, can sometimes be sufficient to create the requisite clean graphics bed for further language customisation.

NB: When dealing with very long running series, it is good practice to create a Graphics Dump Reel that can then be sent ahead to the Languaging House. It will need an ESM reference created by Net Ops.

TX Date & Sub-Deadline
The Transmission or TX date is when the programme is scheduled to go out. The Deadline is a more important date for Reversioning producers though. This is when the reversioned [[TX master and scripts need to be with Network Operations for ingest, QA and / or language customisation. This is NOT the date when the programme is edited or voiced unless complications arise with deliverables.

•	The UK deadline is 3 weeks before TX •	The European languaging deadline is 6 weeks before TX •	Ascent’s deadline for ingest is four days before TX – any later, and ingest will not be guaranteed

Please always keep an eye on the deadline: if you feel that you will not make it, please notify the appropriate person in Net Ops as well as the appropriate Reversioning Managers and Supervisor.

SCHEDULING aka CERTIFICATION
This indicates what time of day a programme can be transmitted.

Most programmes premiere in primetime, but are then repeatedrepeated throughout the day. It is therefore your responsibility to check your programmes for any problematic content that would preclude them from TXing during the daytime, and to ensure that the Planners are notified about the correct certification as soon as possible. Do not assume that, just because the programme is a strong crime show, it will remain in a post-watershed slot: you have to ensure this happens by correctly certifying the programme. Some minor editing may enable the programme to be shown during an earlier slot, but please also ensure that you do not water down the content at the expense of the programme’s impact.

Ofcom now takes into account a Channel’s specific remit, and thus audience expectation, when reaching any determination about possibly problematic content. For example, Discovery is an adult male-skewed channel; Home & Health, skews female; and Animal Planet (AP) targets families and children: what may deemed to be less problematic for TX on Discovery during the day, would not necessarily be appropriate for TX on AP at the same time.

If a programme is considered suitable for daytime but has potentially difficult subject matter, it may require a Low Child Index certification to be added to IBMS. This means it cannot play at a time when children are free to view ie breakfast or tea time, weekends or school holidays. It is your responsibility to notify the Planners, Department Supervisor and Coordinators (also copying to the generic email address: DNE Certification) and IBMS will then be updated. Please also bear in mind that this information is essential to correct scheduling. It needs to be with the relevant parties as soon as possible and is really the first thing you do on viewing.

Ofcom Certification: 5.30am - 10am 		High Child Index 10am - 3pm		Low Child Index unless School Holidays or Weekend 3pm - 7pm 		High Child Index 7pm - 9pm 		Low Child Index unless School Holidays or Weekend

NB: To complicate matters, France’s post-watershed starts at 20:45, whilst Spain and Portugal’s schedules go across two time-zones! Regardless, all feeds are regulated by Ofcom.

ON-AIR WARNINGS
It is also your responsibility to advise the appropriate Departments (see below) as to any On-Air warnings that may be necessary given the nature, tone and content of your programme. These warnings should address anything that may be deemed as gratuitous, sexual, or adult in nature, including real operations, bad language or nudity as well as graphic reconstruction sequences that may leave viewers wondering what they have seen, or flashing imagery that may cause harm to unwitting children. This information may also help Press to create the appropriate EPG listing. Please remember that text disclaimers often found at the beginning of American programmes need to be removed and the information then conveyed via On-Air continuity announcements or incorporated into the script (as appropriate). Also, when removing this kind of text disclaimer, please consider legal obligations.

VIEWER INFORMATION
Occasionally, a programme may require a Viewer Advisement. Such advisements are often placed around programmes that are suitable for an earlier slot. This may include (i) Animal Planet content – aimed at a family audience – which shows scenes from nature where animals killing other animals, and which may upset the more sensitive viewers, or (ii) Forensic content, where dramatic reconstruction has been used in order to convey the story and so it is important that the viewers are given adequate guidance accordingly.

Viewer Advisements are NOT On Air Warnings: Ofcom stills holds the view that if a pre-watershed programme has been given an on-air warning, the Broadcaster has recognised that it is problematic and should not be shown in an early slot.

NB: If a programme needs either an On Air Warning or Viewer Advisement, please contact the Planners, Network Presentation and On Air Production Management with the channel and territories, title, episode, and programme number, and information as to the appropriate wording of the warning or advisement. Please see DCE Contacts for details.

SHORT PROGRAMMES / OFF-CLOCK PARTS
If your Programme contains off-clock parts, or is shorter than the requisite duration, please notify the Planners, Network Presentation and On-Air Production Management teams. They will then know to schedule additional content such as promos to ensure that the time is correctly filled, and in keeping with Ofcom’s guidelines regarding the 20 Minute Rule. Please also make sure that any off-clock parts can be editorially justified and that you keep a record of your decisions accordingly. This is applicable for CTCs as well as full reversions.

Reversioning Checklist
Is the programme title correct?

=notes=

Getting Started category FAQ category Ask Me? How To category

Getting Started in Reversioning (UK and EMEA)
Reversioning FAQ How do I know what programmes I'm working on?

How do I watch the programmes I'm working on?

Who books my edits? How do I know whether I need to attend an edit or not? What do I do once I've finished an edit?

Reversioning Worklists

How to use the worklist