Broadcastdepends

Broadcastdepends is a concept used in digital broadcasting and automated playout that describes the set of conditions and prerequisites that must be satisfied before a broadcast event can start. It encompasses timing, content readiness, rights clearance, encoding and ingest status, and transmission availability. The term combines "broadcast" with "depends" to emphasize dependency-driven playout.

In practice, broadcastdepends is implemented as a dependency graph or rule set within a playout or workflow engine. Each node represents a task or asset (for example, ingest, encoding, graphics, rights approval, cueing) and edges express prerequisite relationships. The engine evaluates the graph to determine when a given event can begin and can trigger parallel processing where possible while blocking operations that lack required conditions.

Common use cases include multi-channel scheduling, live-to-tape workflows, and complex ingest-to-air chains. It supports error handling and fallback conditions, such as delaying a broadcast until a missing asset is replaced or a rights check passes.

Standards vary across vendors; broadcastdepends concepts are typically implemented via configuration files (JSON, YAML) or within vendor-specific automation systems and MAM/ROM. Adoption emphasizes reliability, repeatability, and auditability of broadcast events, reducing manual intervention and the risk of broadcast errors.

See also: dependency graph, playout automation, media asset management, broadcast workflow.