Most of a broadcast day is unattended. Automation is not a convenience layer on top of the service — for us it is the service.
Unattended playout
Rotation, timed events and junctions run without supervision. The system is expected to make the right decision at 04:00 without anyone confirming it.
Failover you have actually used
A backup you have never cut to is a plan, not a backup. Failover paths are exercised on a schedule, in production, during the day when someone is awake to watch them. If a path cannot be exercised safely, it gets rebuilt until it can.
Timed events
News, idents, junctions and handovers are scheduled declaratively, so the running order is inspectable rather than implied.