# Ad avail blanking and blackout
<a name="ad-avail-blanking-and-blackout"></a>

You can turn on one or both of the following features to blank out the content associated with a SCTE-35 event:
+ “**Blackout**”: Blank out the content for other types of SCTE-35 messages such as chapters and programs.
+ “**Ad avail blanking**”: Blank out the content for a SCTE-35 message that is considered an “ad avail” (according to the mode, [Getting ready: Setting the ad avail mode](getting-ready-setting-the-ad-avail-mode.md)).

In both features, the handling is one of the following.
+ Replace the video content associated with the event with an image you specify or with a black image.
+ Remove the audio associated with the event.
+ Remove the closed captions associated with the event.

**Topics**
+ [Blanking is global](blanking-is-global.md)
+ [Scope of blackout of SCTE-35 messages](scope-of-blackout.md)
+ [Scope of ad avail blanking of SCTE-35 messages](scope-of-ad-avail-blanking.md)
+ [Procedure to enable ad avail blanking](procedure-to-enable-ad-avail-blanking.md)
+ [Procedure to enable blackout](procedure-to-enable-blackout.md)

# Blanking is global
<a name="blanking-is-global"></a>

Both Ad avail blanking and Blackout apply to all outputs. You cannot choose to blank out for some outputs and not blank out for others: it is an all-or-nothing decision. 

**Compare Blanking to Manifest Decoration and Passthrough**  
Manifest decoration and passthrough have a smaller scope than blanking : they apply only to outputs that support these features. 

Take important note of this fact, because if you do *not* do passthrough and do *not* do manifest decoration in a given output (because these are not supported or because you choose not to) but you do implement blanking, there are no “markers” for where the blanked content occurs.

To identify where this blanking is occurring. look for the IDR I-frames that identify where the SCTE-35 message used to be.

# Scope of blackout of SCTE-35 messages
<a name="scope-of-blackout"></a>

All SCTE-35 messages that are “Other type” are blanked out as follows:


| SCTE-35 segmentation type | Blanking | 
| --- | --- | 
| Programs | Always | 
| Chapters | Always | 
| Unscheduled events | Always | 
| Network  | See below. | 

**How Network End Blackout Differs from Other Events**  
Network end blackout is different from the other events that trigger a blackout because: 
+ With Network, blanking starts when the "Network End" instruction is encountered and ends when the "Network Start" instruction is encountered.
+ With other events, blanking starts when the “event start” instruction is encountered and ends when the “event end” instruction is encountered.

# Scope of ad avail blanking of SCTE-35 messages
<a name="scope-of-ad-avail-blanking"></a>

For Ad avail blanking (but not for Blackout), the ad avail mode you set controls which SCTE-35 events result in blanking of the content. 

**Using Splice Insert Mode**  
This table describes which message type/segmentation type combination is blanked by Ad avail blanking when the Ad Avail mode ([Getting ready: Setting the ad avail mode](getting-ready-setting-the-ad-avail-mode.md)) is **Splice Insert mode**. 

[\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elemental-live/latest/ug/scope-of-ad-avail-blanking.html)

**Using Time Signal APOS Mode**  
This table describes which message type/segmentation type combination is blanked out by Ad avail blanking when the Ad Avail mode ([Getting ready: Setting the ad avail mode](getting-ready-setting-the-ad-avail-mode.md)) is **Timesignal with APOS mode**. 

[\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elemental-live/latest/ug/scope-of-ad-avail-blanking.html)

**Ad avail blanking and restriction flags: restrictions in the input**  
SCTE-35 messages of type **time\$1signal** always contain segmentation descriptors. 

SCTE-35 messages of type **splice\$1insert **may or may not include segmentation descriptors.

If the input has SCTE-35 messages that *do* include segmentation descriptors, these segmentation descriptors always include two types of flags. These flags provide additional information as guidance for blanking in specific situations:
+ **web\$1delivery\$1allowed\$1flag**. 
  + "True" means that there is no restriction on including the ad avail event’s content in a stream intended for web delivery: you do not need to blank out content in streams intended for web delivery. 
  + "False" means there is a restriction: you should blank out the content . 
+ **no\$1regional\$1blackout\$1flag.** 
  + "True" means that there is no restriction on including the ad avail event’s video in a stream intended for regional markets: you do not need to blank out content in streams intended for regional markets. 
  + "False" means there is a restriction: you should blank out the content.

If neither flag is present (usually the case with **splice\$1inserts**), then both are considered to be false: blanking should occur.

If both flags are present (which is usually the case; it is unusual to have only one flag present), then a “false” for one flag takes precedence over a “true” for the other flag: blanking should occur.

Typically, in any given message in the input only one of these flags would ever be set to "false", so only one restriction would ever be in place. There would typically never be *both* a regional delivery restriction and a web delivery restriction. This is because, if content is considered restricted for regional delivery, then it would not also be considered restricted for web delivery (where the concept of a region does not relate).

To summarize, this table shows the blanking logic that applies to each ad avail event that is encountered:


|  | Content of corresponding SCTE-35 MessageWeb delivery allowed? | Content of corresponding SCTE-35 MessageRegional delivery allowed? | Result | Comment | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 
| S1 | Flag is not present. | Flag is not present. | Blanking will occur. | This combination can occur only in a message type splice\$1insert (where the segmentation descriptor is optional). | 
| S2 | True | True | Blanking will not occur. |   | 
| S3 | True | False | Blanking will occur. |   | 
| S4 | False | True | Blanking will occur. |   | 

**Ad avail blanking and restriction flags: Elemental Live handling of restrictions**  
You can modify this default blanking behavior by instructing Elemental Live to ignore a restriction flag that is set to "false", so that blanking will not occur for this ad avail event. In other words, to use this logic: “Even if the message indicates to blank content because a regional blackout is in place, do not follow this instruction. Ignore the fact that a regional blackout is in place and do not blank content.”

You modify the behavior by setting one or the other of the **Ignore** flags to:
+ **Cleared**(default ). The logic as above applies: so continue to observe the restriction.
+ **Selected**. Ignore the restriction and do not blank video for the ad avail event.

**Warning**  
Never set both fields to **Ignore**\$1 

To summarize, the Ignore flags make a difference only to the scenarios in this table:


|  | Content of corresponding SCTE-35 MessageWeb delivery allowed? | Content of corresponding SCTE-35 MessageRegional delivery allowed? | Restriction field in Elemental Live | Result | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 
| S3 | True | False | Ignore “regional delivery” restriction | Blanking will not occur. | 
| S4 | False | True | Ignore “web delivery” restriction | Blanking will not occur. | 

**Ad avail blanking and restriction flags: restriction flags with “splice insert”**  
If you selected Splice Insert as the Ad Avail mode, then you can assume that the SCTE-35 ad avail message not include the two restriction flags described above. Every SCTE-35 ad avail message should result in an ad avail. 

Therefore, if you know that input contains splice inserts (not time signals), you should leave both Elemental Live fields cleared.

# Procedure to enable ad avail blanking
<a name="procedure-to-enable-ad-avail-blanking"></a>

**To enable ad avail blanking**

1. In the Profile or Event screen, click Advanced Avail Controls (in the Input section towards the top of the screen):

1. Select or clear the two restriction fields:
   + **Cleared** (default): Observe the restriction and blank the content for the ad avail event.
   + **Selected**: Ignore the restriction and do *not* blank the content for the ad avail event.

1. Go down to the Global Processors section and complete the following fields:
   + **Ad Avail Blanking**: Click to turn on. The **Blanking Image** field appears.
   + **Blanking Image**: Specify a `.bmp` or `.png` file to use for the blanking. If you leave this field blank, a plain black image is inserted.

# Procedure to enable blackout
<a name="procedure-to-enable-blackout"></a>

**To enable blackout**

1. In the Profile or Event screen, go down to the Global Processors section and complete the following fields:
   + **Blackout Image Insertion**: Click to turn on. The Blanking Image field appears.
   + **Blanking Image**: Specify a `.bmp` or `.png` file to use for the blanking. If you leave this field empty, a plain black image is inserted.

1. If you want to enable network end blackout (in other words, blank content when network transmission has ended and remove blanking only when network transmission resumes), complete these fields:
   + **Enable Network End Blackout**: Selected.
   + **Network ID**: The** Entertainment Identifier Registry** (**EIDR**) **ID **of the network in the format 10.nnnn/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-c (case- insensitive). Only network end events with this ID trigger blackout. 
   + **Network End Blackout Image**: Specify a `.bmp` or `.png` file to use for the blanking. If you leave this field blank, a plain black image is inserted.