Step 1 — Content Readiness
Rights, metadata, and asset packaging before anything else
What content readiness means
Before you can schedule, ingest, or distribute, your content library must be "channel-ready." This means three things are in order: rights, metadata, and packaging.
Rights audit
FAST rights are different from SVOD rights. Many catalog deals include VOD rights but not linear/FAST rights. Before anything else:
- Pull your rights agreements and identify linear/FAST territories explicitly
- Confirm blackout dates and expiry windows
- Flag any content that is SVOD-only and cannot enter the FAST schedule
- Build a "cleared for FAST" content list per territory
Metadata preparation
FAST platforms require clean metadata for EPG, discovery, and ad targeting. Minimum requirements:
| Field | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Title | Clean, no special chars |
| Description | 200–500 characters |
| Genre | From platform taxonomy |
| Rating | Content rating per territory (e.g. TV-PG, U/PG) |
| Episode data | Season/episode number for series |
| Duration | Accurate to the second |
Asset packaging
Your video assets need to be packaged for FAST delivery:
- Video codec: H.264 or H.265 (check platform requirements)
- Resolution: 1080p primary; 720p and 540p renditions
- Audio: AAC, stereo + 5.1 where available
- Subtitles: SRT or TTML, per platform spec
- File naming: consistent, no spaces, metadata-linked
Deliverable
A "channel-ready library" spreadsheet listing:
- content ID, title, duration, rights status, metadata status, asset status
- Ready / In progress / Blocked per content item
Not sure if your content is FAST-ready?
Book a FAST launch call.