As the media industry transitions from hardware to software, network operations centers play an increasing role in the distribution of programming. While pioneering network groups continue to explore that terrain, TV station groups are faced with the question of how such hubs might streamline at least some of their operations, particularly as the industry consolidates and NextGen TV opens possibilities for personalized programming.
To tap into the latest thinking on this question, TVNewsCheck will gather leading industry technologists to share their perspectives during a Working Lunch Webinar set for 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 5.
Executives from Tegna, Hearst Television, Gray Television and E.W. Scripps will examine how master control hubbing is being updated in a more multichannel world. They’ll look at what parts of the TV production workflow can be hubbed and the role the cloud or hybrid cloud approaches will play in the process.
“TV station groups have hubbed master control operations for many years,” said TVNewsCheck Publisher and Co-Founder Kathy Haley. “We look forward to hearing about how the design of such facilities in changing as groups grow larger and cloud providers improve their ability to facilitate live TV playout, production and other operations.”
Speakers:
David Burke
David Burke, SVP, CTO, Gray Television — He joined Gray on Jan. 1, 2019. Prior to that, he was the VP, CTO of Raycom Media since January 2015. Burke held various IT and technology-related positions since his employment began with Raycom Media in September 1997. Prior to Raycom Media, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and then held various technology related positions in private industry. Burke has been involved in several industry and professional associations over his career. He graduated from The Citadel in 1983 with a degree in Mathematics and earned an M.B.A. from the University of West Florida in 1986.
Stefan Hadl
Stefan Hadl, VP of Engineering, Hearst Television — He was named vice president of engineering for Hearst Television in 2019 after serving as the company’s director of engineering, eastern region, since 2017. He joined Hearst Television in 1995 as a broadcast engineer at KCRA, later to become part of the company’s Sacramento, Calif., duopoly, KCRA-KQCA. After subsequently serving as director of engineering at Hearst Television’s WMUR Manchester, N.H., he returned to KCRA-KQCA as director of engineering. In 2015, Hadl became director of engineering and operations of Hearst Television’s WCVB Boston.
Hadl began his career in broadcast engineering while in the United States Air Force, earning his discharge as a television equipment specialist noncommissioned officer in charge at Los Angeles Air Force Base. He holds an associate degree in electronic systems technology from the Community College of the Air Force. He is a member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
Kurt Rao
Kurt Rao, SVP and CTO, Tegna — He is charged with working across Tegna to drive the development and implementation of the company’s next-generation client and customer technology solutions in the areas of content, advertising, data and insights and media distribution.
Previously, Rao was chief information and technology officer for Time Inc., where he led the transformation and growth of the media publishing organization into a digital content platform company. In addition, he optimized technology operations across the organization and built platforms to support content across video and digital while enhancing consumer data analytics.
Ray Thurber
Ray Thurber, VP, engineering, The E.W. Scripps Co. — He is responsible for guiding the technical operations for Scripps’ 60 local television stations. Previously, Thurber served as director of engineering at WXYZ, Scripps’ ABC affiliate in Detroit. In this position he successfully led the development of newsroom tech innovations for WXYZ and other Scripps stations across the country.
Sam Peterson, GM, core business unit, Bitcentral — He has P&L responsibility and directs all activities for both core news and central control, including product management and development/QA. He is a career broadcast professional with more than 32 years of experience in various leadership roles and company types.
Sam Peterson
Peterson spent more than 20 years at Grass Valley, with positions spanning product management, marketing, solutions architect, direct sales and sales engineering. His management roles spanned automation, master control and playout, news production, signal management and live production. As director of product for playout, he worked on integrating the discrete products involved in content distribution into a single integrated device. He has successfully overseen the integration of several products from international acquisitions into the North American market.
On the OTT side, Sam has networking expertise in contribution and distribution networks for live streaming and video on demand; as well as managing a live production instant replay product. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Austin College.
Glen Dickson, contributing editor, TVNewsCheck, will moderate the webinar.
To attend the webinar, please register here.
Comments (0)