Scheduling a Live Switch Event whose Actual Duration Varies

Live events can be shorter or longer than the time you originally scheduled. For example your station might schedule a weekly, two-hour switch to the camera at the high school basketball game. If the game runs long you will want to continue to broadcast it. If the game ends early you will want to show your viewers a related program.

One way to control what you broadcast when you have switched to a live event is to schedule the event for less time than you expect it to run, then lock the switch manually until the event finishes. The server will still play the event after the switch event, but viewers will continue to see the live event.

  1. On the Config page, go to Switch Configuration configuration and make sure manual detection of switch actions is on.
  2. On the Programming page, schedule the switch event.
  3. Schedule an event to follow the switch event.
  4. After the switch event begins, go to the Dashboard and click the Lock option next to the switch output you want to lock.
  5. When the live event ends, release the switch lock by clicking the Unlock option on the Dashboard.  The event you scheduled to play at that moment is immediately visible to viewers from its current point according to the schedule.

Continuing the basketball game example, suppose you expect the game to last two hours. You could schedule the switch event to the game camera for only 90 minutes and follow it with a switch event to your news studio feed for 90 minutes. After the basketball game begins, lock the switch. As long as the game ends after 90 minutes but before three hours you can notify your news studio to begin post-game coverage, then release the switch lock.

Another possibility would be to schedule the switch to the basketball game camera for 90 minutes, followed by a 60-minute continuity playlist. After the basketball game begins, lock the switch.  Unlock the switch when the game ends. If the game ends after 90 minutes, viewers will see the entire 60-minute playlist. If the game ends after two hours, they will see the playlist from the middle to the end. If the game ends after two hours and 25 minutes, they will see just the last five minutes of the playlist.