SMPTE 2110

Sinclair’s Ernie Ensign says while there are numerous long-term upshots to adopting cloud switching, the group is cautiously taking its time with multiple proofs-of-concept for at least another year. Meanwhile, at least one vendor is pursuing a dramatically different approach to cloud switching. Above, Vizrt hosted a day at a beach house to show local producers how easy live production in the cloud can be.

Fox has created a modular 2110 system that ties into U.S. operations for its upcoming World Cup coverage. Both Fox and Telemundo, which has U.S. Spanish-language rights to the tournament, will see a series of firsts when the Cup launches in Qatar next week.

Fox Corp. CTO and President of Digital Paul Cheesbrough and Jeff Dow, its EVP, media & broadcast operations, offered a rare glimpse into how the company built a new cloud-centric architecture that feeds all of its broadcast and digital streams in a TVNewsCheck webinar last week.

Public cloud technology has moved into the realm of widespread broadcaster acceptance, discussions at this week’s Devoncroft Partners’ Executive Summit confirmed, although there’s wariness that legacy vendors can make the transition along with them. Labor shortages and supply chain problems also surfaced as major concerns.

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.

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.

Remotely working broadcasters are increasingly seeing the advantages of IP routing systems to easily control equipment and monitor feeds. Those who adopted IP routers prior to the pandemic were “well ahead of the game,” says one vendor. Above, the BBC’s SMPTE 2110 facility in Cardiff, Wales.

The global news giant has built the first major broadcast facility to be completely based on the SMPTE 2110 IP networking standard. “The idea behind going IP was to get everything across CNN’s facilities connected,” says Bob Hesskamp, EVP of broadcast engineering for Turner. “The other reason we did this was we wanted to build a facility that wasn’t out of date on Day One, that was software-configurable, expandable and easier to make changes to.”