Amagi

Most engineers feel the cloud isn’t quite ready to handle the dynamic nature and complex timing requirements of local stations, which frequently go live, and concerns linger over centralizing their content in cloud storage in case of connectivity failures or other emergencies. Pictured: Encompass provides multichannel playout services from its operations centers in Atlanta, London and Singapore.

Noticeably heavier crowds filled a conference swinging back from the pandemic, while strategic partnerships between vendors signaled a new tack for the industry.

RSNs carried by pay TV services are struggling in the face of cord-cutting and are looking for new ways to reach fans old and new. Pictured (l-r): Adam Wiener, Dan Marshall, Ed Desser, Kerry Bubolz, Lee H. Berke and Brian Lawlor. (Alyssa Wesley photo)

TV stations are still putting most of their dollars into on-prem hardware for master control functions, with their cloud investments aimed at OTT and disaster recovery. Pictured: Imagine recently partnered with Vizrt to integrate its cloud playout software with Vizrt’s live production tools.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Marco Di Giacomo, CMO of Amagi, about why he believes all broadcasters need to be on FAST channels post haste, the growing revenue opportunities there and where artificial intelligence will play a role in improving their UX and popularity.

Technology executives from Disney, CBS Television Stations, Fox’s WTTG Washington and Amagi said they’re turning to private and public clouds to find new efficiencies in production workflows at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum on Tuesday, a transition one sees as “scaling” in. Pictured (l-r): CBS Television Stations’ Jeff Birch, WTTG Washington’s Jim Beahn, Disney’s Fabian Westerwelle and Amagi’s Stephen Bach (Alyssa Wesley photo). Read a full report here and/or watch the video above.

In Amsterdam this week, there was plenty of talk about broadcasters’ ongoing transition to IP and the cloud, along with the supply chain issues and labor shortages hampering it, but most people were too grateful to see old friends, colleagues and clients to complain.

Executives from E.W. Scripps, Fox Television Stations, NBCUniversal Local and Cox Media Group told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week that hiring challenges are frustrating their efforts to swiftly build out robust streaming channels, but forays into automation and hub-and-spoke models are easing some of the pressure.

TV stations and groups are increasingly turning to the cloud for playout solutions, and vendors are meeting them there with SaaS options. Above: Imagine’s Aviator control interface. The cloud-based system is designed to support both linear and OTT playout.

While previous Devoncroft conferences took place at off-site hotels, the 2022 edition was co-located with the NAB Show and held on the Main Stage of the North Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It drew hundreds of senior executives for an afternoon of panel discussions on everything from cloud migration and IP connectivity to virtual production and blockchain technology. Above, Devoncroft Principal Analyst Josh Stinehour (left) and Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley talking technology.

Executives from ABC News, NBCUniversal Local, ABS-CBN and Avid told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week that they’re not reversing steps to build distributed production environments, regardless of how many people are returning to the office. But the road still has its bumps, such as persistent issues with latency and intercom and confidence monitoring.

Journalists who have made the switch from traditional TV news to streaming media have found room to experiment and rewrite the rules in a medium that offers live linear and on-demand opportunities. Comparing notes during a TVNewsCheck webinar were (clockwise from upper left) Amagi’s Brian Ring, Atmosphere’s Micah Grimes, Cox Media Group’s Matthew Dominguez, AccuWeather Network’s Sarah Katt and LiveNOW from Fox’s Shareef Abul-Ela. 

The proliferation of news on live linear streaming has set off an explosion of innovation in television news. TVNewsCheck will turn a spotlight on this trend during a webinar set for March 24 at 1 p.m. ET. Sharing their experience and insights during the event will be: (clockwise from upper left): Micah Grimes, VP news and sports, Atmosphere TV; Shareef Al-Ela, VP and head of LiveNow from Fox; Sarah Katt, general manager of AccuWeather Network and OTT streaming services; Brian Ring, senior director, product marketing for news, Amagi and the webinar’s moderator; and Matt Dominguez, senior manager, streaming distribution and partnerships at Cox Media Group. To join us at the webinar, please register here. 

Streaming News 2021 will wrap up Wednesday with a roundtable on technology and the free ad-supported TV approach to building a business on OTT. Register here.

Technology executives from WarnerMedia, Sinclair, Amagi and Grass Valley said at a TVNewsCheck webinar last week that while broadcasters are drawn to the cloud’s flexibility and scalability, moving away from on-prem hardware means workflow changes often better suited to a hybrid model.

Technology managers from Sinclair Broadcast Group, WarnerMedia, Amagi and Grass Valley will talk about their progress at designing IP and cloud playout operations during a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar. Set for Thursday, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m. ET, the webinar’s speakers will be (clockwise from upper right): Matt Azzarto, director of media technology, Production Engineering Group, WarnerMedia; Srini Srinivasan, co-founder, Amagi; Walid Hamri, senior director of media systems at Sinclair Broadcast Group; moderator Glen Dickson, TVNewsCheck contributing editor, and Karl Mehring, senior director of product management for playout at Grass Valley. Please register here to join the webinar.

Broadcasters such as Sinclair and Vice are increasingly shifting playout functions to cloud platforms, seeking more flexibility and agility there and testing the waters with disaster recovery strategies, OTT channels and diginets. “In the cloud, you can build up a whole separate system in parallel, test it, then cut over to it,” says one consultant.

The pandemic created an opportunity to stress-test distributed and virtualized workflows right now that stations and networks were already considering for the future. The industry’s shift may now be ahead of schedule because of it. Above, NBC Universal’s Boston Media Center is one of the latest all-IP broadcast facilities.