VOD Channels Page Manual 3.0

Access to this menu in Betools through: Video On Demand > VOD Channels

This section lists all the VOD channels that compose the different tree structures of channels available in the different services. They are organized as different tree structures where each channel is linked to its parent through the Parent Channel field.
You can use this menu to create, modify or delete VOD channels and to manage the contents and attributes that are linked to each.

Blocks

VOD Channels

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VOD Channel basic properties

Field	Description	Restrictions
Name	Name for this Channel. Not displayed in applications, it is used for internal use only.	Mandatory
Title	Title for the channel that is show in the different applications	-
Title in Menu	Title in menu for the channel.	-
Description	Contains some text describing the channel. Currently this field is not used in applications	-
Source	Controls the access and visibility of this channel for other operators. Only operators with rights over this source or its children will be able to see it.	Mandatory
Parent Channel	Name of the parent channel.	-
Next Level	Name of level.	Mandatory
Show Branding	Pending.	Mandatory
Show Subscribed Filter	Indicates to the devices, if in this Vod Channel, the filter relative to the clients should be shown or not. If the clients have subscribed content ,this will be shown, and if they don't have any subscribed content, all the contents will be shown by default.	Mandatory
Anchor Extension Position	Position where to place Extension Channels when this channel is anchor.	Mandatory
Order	Order of this channel inside the parent channel.	-
UX Reference Layout	Pending.	-
UX Reference Search	Pending.	-
Requires Pin	Indicates if the channel contains Adult content or not. Will be used by applications to request the user for the parental/adult pin to access to its contents.	Mandatory
Special Channel	Indicates if the channel contains editorial contents or not. Used by applications.	Mandatory
Is Complex Collection	Indicates if the channel is a collection of collection	Mandatory
Is Highlight Collection	Pending.
Random Highlights Presentation	Indicates if the channel contains editorial contents or not. Used by applications.	Pending.
Content Type (Deprecated)	Indicates if the channel contains VOD, Live Programs or a mix of contents.	Mandatory
Live Default Order	Default ordering for LIVE contents belonging to this channel.	Mandatory
Vod Default Order	Default ordering for VOD contents belonging to this channel.	Mandatory
Enabled	Allows to enable or disable this channel. When modified, requieres a catalog exportation to be completed.	Mandatory
Available From	Allows to configure the start date when this channel will be displayed in applications.	Mandatory
Available Until	Allows to configure the end date when this channel will be displayed in applications	Mandatory If Available From > Available Until, an error is shown (available_from_greater)
Owner	Operator that created this channel
Collection Style	Pending.	Mandatory
Channel map filter enabled	Enable this checkbox only if this channel contains regional channels live contents.	Mandatory

Editorial Contents

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This block allows you to manage the Editorial Contents associated to a channel and order them so you highlight some contents in it.

Web home page with editorial contents

VOD Channel Editorial contents

The block displays the different Editorial Contents that have been associated to the channel and their information such as:

• StartDate and EndDate (date since/until the catalog item will be available).
• Status, which allows to review if the Editorial Content is Published or not Published, based on several properties of the Content associated to the Editorial Content:
  • For Movies, it displays the Movie Status, the Movie Availability Windows and Movie Device availability data
  • For Subscriptions, it displays the Subscription Start Date and End Date
  • For Live TV Channels, it displays the Live Channel Instance, Device Type, Enable Playback and Quality data.

Details of an editorial content with a movie associated

Add an existing Editorial Content to the VOD Channel

• Click the button and a dialog will open to select and existing Editorial Content. If you want to create new Editorial Content, it is not possible to do it from this page, you will need to go to the Editorial Contents page.
• Configure Start Date and End Date.
• You can use the button to reorder the different Editorial Contents associated.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD channel page and the subtitle will be associated.
  

Remove Editorial Content from VOD Channel

• Use the button to remove the association of an editorial content from the VOD Channel .
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD channel page. This will not delete the Editorial Content from the platform. In order to delete it, you will have to go to the Editorial Contents page.

Device Availability Mapping

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This blocks allows you to manage the availability of this VOD channel in the different device types in the instance it belongs to.

VOD Channel device availability block

The block has been totally refactored in MIB 3.0, with the objective of simplifying the operation. It has been divided in 3 different levels that can be expanded or collapsed:

1. Instance level: The first level groups all the device availabilities for an instance. It can be used to enable/disable the availabilities and configure the quality for all the device types at the same time. In a VOD Channel, it is not possible to create availabilities for different instances. It is just possible to create availabilities into the instance the VOD channel belongs to. The instance is calculated based on the VOD channel parent channel, until recursively reaches a root channel that will be linked to an Instance.
2. Device Group level: The second level groups all the device types that belong to an specific group. Device Groups are managed globally in the Device Type Groups page. You can enable/disable the availabilities and configure the quality for all the device types of an specific group.
3. Device Type level: The third level contains the specific device types, in case you want to configure the availability and/or quality of an specific device type.

Configuring availability
The sliding button allows you to enable/disable that specific level, affecting the containing sub-levels. It has 3 different positions:

The devices contained are enabled.

The devices contained are disabled.

Mixed. Some devices contained in sub-levels might be enabled and others disabled.

Now on TV Live Channels

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This block allows managing the associated live channels.

Now On TV Live Channels block

APPs

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This block allow manages the applications that are linked to the VOD channel.

APPs block

Add existing App

• Click the button and a dialog will open to select a existing App.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD Channels page.
  

Delete App

• Use the button to remove the relationship between App and VOD Channel.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD Channels page.

Movie Criteria

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This blocks allows you to select those VOD Contents (Movies, Series, Seasons and Episodes) that will be available inside this channel. To do this, the operator is able to define a set of rules, called Content Criteria Filters that will be evaluated during the Catalog Exporter process. All the Movies that match the specified filters will be linked to this VOD Channel.

Movies content criteria block

Create new Content Criteria
It is really easy to create a new content criteria. You only have to build an expression by combining filters that will be evaluated to select the movies that match. The expression will be composed of one or more Groups each of them composed of one or more filters and the AND/OR relationship between them. We can clone a group with the button. Example:

Group1 = FilterA OR FilterB
Group2 = FilterC
Content Criteria = (Group1 AND Group2) = ((FilterA OR FilterB) AND FilterC)

1. First add a new Group by clicking on the button.
2. Then add a new Filter by clicking on the button.
3.  Select the type of filter from the list and fill the value for the filter. There are multiple filter types available and you can combine them as you want. Some examples of filters are:
   • Commercialization Type
   • Content Category
   • Distributor ID
   • Episodes by SeasonID
   • Episodes by SearieID
   • Genre ID
   • Instance ID
   • Last X days
   • Movie Type
   • Person Role
   • etc.
4. Continue adding as many filters as desired to build the first group expression.
5. When you have added all the filters for the first group, select the operator (AND / OR) that will be used to link the filters for that group.
6. Now you can add a new group, go back to 1. When you have finished adding groups, select the operator (AND / OR) between the different groups.

Once finished you can continue to the Highlights section, Orders section or Preview. Save changes at anytime by clicking on the in the VOD Channel page.

Highlight content
In the new content criteria, you can select some content to be highlighted. This highlighted content will be returned first when ordering the Default order is selected in the VOD channel. To do it, follow this steps:

1. First click on the button to select movies to be highlighted.
2. A page will open allowing you to search over the different movies you have access to. Important: You will be able to select ANY movie from the list of movies you have access to. The movie will be returned independently on the Content Criterias that you have defined in the block. Of course, if duplicated, the content will be returned only once, highlighted.
3.  Select one or more contents to be added. It is important to understand that the highlighted contents will be ordered depending on the order they are added. So add first the contents you want to be highlighted first. In the current version of this block, it is not available the [manual ordering of highlights], it will be added in future versions.
4. Save changes at anytime by clicking on the in the VOD Channel page.

Highlights selection in Content Criteria block

Define default ordering and maximum number of results
In the new content criteria, you can also define the maximum number of results to be returned and the behavior of the default ordering and select what ordering criteria should be applied for those contents.

1. First click on the Default Order section
2. Select the primary ordering criteria from the list available:
   • Default: Ordered by ID
   • Editorial Rating : Ordered by movie Editorial Rating value
   • Episode / Season Order: Ordered by movie.order value
   • Most Rated: Ordered by rating value
   • Popularity: Ordered by views value
   • Release Date: Ordered by movie release date value.
3. You can also select a secondary ordering criteria, in case some movies match the primary order criteria
4.  It is also possible to define a maximum number of results to be returned by the criteria. By default, it is set to 0 (unlimited).
5. Save changes at anytime by clicking on the in the VOD Channel page.

Order section in Content Criteria block

Content Criteria Preview
At any time you can go to the Preview tab and evaluate the results of the Content Criteria.

Preview section in Content Criteria block

LiveSchedule Criteria

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This block is very similar to the Movie Criteria block but instead of selecting movies, it can be used to select what Live Schedules will be included in this VOD channels. The way of creating this content criteria is very similar.
The only difference is the Content Criteria Filters available:

• Genre ID
• Instance ID
• Live Channel ID
• Program Type
• Schedule Starts now until X days

And the Content Criteria Orders available:

• Default: Ordered by ID
• Editorial Rating : Ordered by Live Schedule Editorial Rating value
• License Availability End: Ordered by Live Schedule end value.

Subscription Criteria

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This block is very similar to the Movie Criteria block but instead of selecting movies, it can be used to select what Subscriptions will be included in this VOD channels. The way of creating this content criteria is very similar.
The only difference is the Content Criteria Filters available:

• Subscription ID
• Instance ID
• Live Channel ID
• Program Type
• Schedule Starts now until X days

And the Content Criteria Orders available:

• ID: Ordered by Subscription ID (ascending)

Images

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This block allows you to manage the images associated to the movie and the information associated, such as the Type and Quality.

Images block

Add new images

Upload image dialog

• Use the button and a new row will be added so you can upload the new image.
• Then click the button and a dialog will be open so you will be able to select the image to be uploaded.
• Now fill the rest of the image information.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the edit page and the image will be created and associated.
  

Add existing images

• Click the button and a dialog will open to select and existing image.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the movie page and the image will be associated.
  

Image preview

Remove images

• Use the button to remove the association of a image from the movie .
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the movie page. This will not delete the image file from the platform. In order to delete the image, you will have to go to the Images Page.

Preview images
By clicking in the button in each image, you can access to the image preview.

Collection Layout

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This block allows you to configure the height, width, shape and construction of visual elements and metadata. The configuration is at the VoD Channel "collection of collections" level.

Collection Layout block

Collection Assets

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This block allows you to configure the types of images to use. The configuration is done at the VoD Channel "collection of collections" level.

Collection Assets block

External Url by Device Type

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In this block it is possible to configure an external URL, so devices can take the user to an external VOD Channel page instead of taking them to the VOD Channel page. The operator will be able to define a default url that will be applied to the selected device type.

External Url by Device Type

Add new External Url by Device Type

• Use the button and a new row will be added so you can upload the new External Url.
• We fill the Url and the device information.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD Channels page.
  

Anchor Extensions

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This block will allow managing the corresponding Anchor Extensions to this channel.

Anchor Extension Block

Add new Anchor Extensions

• Use the button and a new row will be added so you can upload the new Anchor Exxtension.
• We fill in all fields.
• Use the button to accept the new record.
• Press the button if we want to discard the new record.
• Once finished, save changes by using the in the VOD Channels page.
  

Actions

Create	Edit	Edit in List	Bulk Edit	Copy	Copy with Relateds	Edit History	Delete

Create

VOD Channel creation is enabled by default for most of the Content operator profiles.

1. Use the button to create an empty VOD Channel.
2. Fill all the VOD Channel data and the related blocks.
3. Once finished, save changes by using the button in the VOD Channel page.

Edit

VOD Channel edit is enabled by default for most of the operator profiles. It can be used to perform modification in the VOD Channel data and related information. Once finished modifying the VOD Channel, save changes by using the button in the VOD Channel page.

Edit in List

Edit in list is enabled for VOD Channels, allowing the operator to Edit basic fields from the list view. You can modify any of the non read only fields and you can also delete any channel by clicking on the button. Once finished, save changes by using the button in the VOD Channel page.

Bulk Edit

Bulk Edit is enabled in the VOD Channel page, allowing you to modify several VOD Channels at the same time. However, not all the relateds blocks will be available for performing a bulk edit operation. The blocks available are:

• Basic channel information
• VOD Channels
• Editorial Contents
• Device Availability Mapping
• Movie Criteria
• LiveSchedule Criteria
• Subscription Criteria
• Images

Copy

Copy is enabled for VOD Channels. Using the button, you will be able to clone the basic information from the channel into a new channel. The relateds will not be copied using this mode. Once the VOD Channel is copied, review that all the fields have been copied properly and press Save button.

Copy with Relateds

Copy is enabled for VOD Channels. Using the button, you will be able to clone a VOD Channels and the relateds blocks into a new channel.
The copy with relateds will behave differently for each block:

• Editorial Contents: Use same IDs (Shallow Copy).
• Device Availability Mapping: Copy objects (Deep copy).
• Movie Criteria: Copy objects (Deep copy).
• LiveSchedule Criteria: Copy objects (Deep copy).
• Subscription Criteria: Copy objects (Deep copy).
• Images: Use same IDs (Shallow Copy).

Once the VOD Channel is copied, review that all the fields have been copied properly and press Save button.

Edit History

Edit History is enabled. This slide shows the history of the modifications made on this page. By default, the results of the main entity are displayed. But there is also a dropdown where the user can display the changes applied to a particular related entity.

Delete

You can delete a channel either from the Edit in List or from the VOD Channel Page, using the button. A confirmation popup will be shown before excluding it.