#4: Preparing your scheduling system

The scheduling system is the component responsible for creating Content Replacement slots (MediaPoints) and automating the creation of Content Replacement slots on broadpeak.io to make sure that different sets of audiences watch the content they are allowed to watch.
At this stage, one might have created sources and content replacement services via the web app, and it is time to leverage the use of broadpeak.io API to create slots according to the ESNI specifications.

Generate your API key

If you have not generated your API key yet, you can do so in the Account Settings section under the API keys tab.
Make sure to save it somewhere safe as it will not be shared with you again.

Please see the API reference documentation to understand how to use the key in the calls to the platform.

Time synchronization

Content Replacement application and program scheduling are all based on timing. Inaccurate timing between the programing system and broadpeak.io can lead to unexpected behavior and can have commercial and legal impacts.
To avoid this consequence, it is best to ensure the accuracy of the synchronization between systems, so we invite you to use a time synchronization mechanism (NTP, Chrony).

You can find more information in the Understanding broadpeak.io behavior section and in the Contextualization Process section.

Scheduled events

In typical Content Replacement applications, most events are known in advance and planned several days ahead. For most of them (about 80%), the exact time of the switchover is known in advance and can be applied automatically to the planned time. In some cases, already planned slots also need to be updated. This can happen right before the initial slot start time, or even after a slot has already started. broadpeak.io gives you the tools to address these scenarios with the flexibility you need.

Your scheduling data is not always in SCTE224 format. This does not mean you cannot use our solution!
Some of our customers are using XLS, DBS or CSV files to populate their schedule and trigger our platform. In this case, the solution is to convert the original scheduling data into SCTE224.
Please contact your broadpeak.io representative to explore what options you may have there.

Code and requests samples

If you don't feel like jumping straight into coding to build the logic to interop your programming system with broadpeak.io, there is a tool powered by swagger.io available on the API reference section, that can help you send sample requests to broadpeak.io! Give it a try, it's pretty cool!

In the same section, you can find code suggestions that you can use to build your application faster. A set of the most adopted languages is available.

Alternatively you can try our Postman Collections as well 🚀