Production firms that want to deliver programmes as files now have an application to help them provide broadcasters with the correct metadata.

The Digital Production Partnership (DPP), the cross-broadcaster initiative from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, this week released an app with approximately 70 fields of editorial and technical information.

After a period of selective pilots, file-based delivery will be the preferred delivery format for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 from 2014.

Once the app has been downloaded from the DPP website a video can be imported, with some fields pre-populated with information from the header of the video.

ITV controller of technology, production and facilities Andy Tennant told Broadcast: “The beauty is that if [production firms] don’t provide the correct information they can’t submit the programme, so it will help production companies deliver the right information at the right time by confirming that they have completed all metadata fields.”

There are five tabs to complete, including video specifications, audio data and general information. The app embeds the completed data into the MXF programme files, making them compliant with the DPP standard for file-based delivery.

The AS-11 standard was developed with the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) in January.

The DPP said the app is intended to be an interim measure until equipment manufacturers can supply the functionality in their own systems.

To encourage international adoption of its metadata standards, the DPP has mapped its metadata set to the European Broadcasting Union’s EBU-Core and TV-Anytime metadata systems.

The DPP’s app was developed by the DPP’s working group, which is made up of representatives from the BBC, C4, BSkyB, UKTV and ITV as well as The Farm Group technical director David Klafkowski and TwoFour head of facilities Rick Horne.