Microsoft Azure

Vendors say broadcasters are increasingly looking to expand virtualization of their operations across the whole chain, and they’re also seeking to take that virtualization off-premises, either in their own master control hubs or the public cloud.

Trends driven by the pandemic are likely to persist into 2021 and beyond, while transitions to IP infrastructures will accelerate and aging on-prem infrastructure will give way to increased reliance on the cloud. NextGen TV will also likely pick up speed after COVID’s cooling effect on its rollout this year.

Email remains one of the main ways through which attackers gain entry into broadcasters’ networks, and they change their methods of attack quickly. Good training not to click on suspect links is an essential defense. Above: Akamai multi-factor authentication access control on a smartwatch. Multi-factor authentication requires multiple pieces of identification before granting access.

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 outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led stations to remotely create and produce broadcast content like never before. Considerations about a cloud or remote desktop service center on four key factors: Functionality, proximity to a data center, speed and corporate security requirements. Above, the SplashTop application Gray uses affords remote desktop access. The producer is working from home with multiple monitors producing/directing a newscast via a SplashTop connection to computers at the station. Using SplashTop, she is running Ross Remote Overdrive on the large monitor to her left, a multi-viewer video wall on the smaller monitor to her left and ENPS on the laptop in front of her. From her perspective, it feels like those applications are installed locally on her computer/screens at her house.

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.

The companies collaborate to create new ways to transform content workflows in the Microsoft Azure cloud; Microsoft becomes a Disney Studios StudioLAB innovation partner.

The inventor of TV’s first non-linear editing platform has reimagined the solution, adding a new UI, distributed processing, finishing and delivering capabilities and other features. It also brought to market a new cloud-based version of its storage platform, offering customers a free, three-month trial.

The Verizon Digital Media Services platform is designed to optimize global content workflows through its integration with Microsoft Azure. The new offering will support the accelerated consumption of online media and over-the-top services.

IP-enabled production and playout models promise cost savings and increased flexibility. And once content flows through a data center, artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to generate metadata and direct the future distribution, repurposing and archiving of that content.