The GV Forum offers broadcasters and other media professionals the chance to address the pressing issues of the day.
At this year’s forum, April 18 at the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas, those issues ranged from software-defined workflows and new operating models for live and linear media production to artificial intelligence and aligning business and tech strategies.
The following snapshot from GV Forum offers a glimpse into some of the insights and experiences of media pros who spoke at the event.
Dynamic Streaming
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy, offered CBC/Radio Canada a chance to see if the concept of a Dynamic Media Facility could deliver on its promises of agility, flexibility and scalability, said Francois Legrand, the broadcaster’s senior director at its Innovation Hub.
“We wanted to find a way to improve the production value of our digital streams without increasing the cost and maybe at the same time generate additional revenue,” said Legrand.
For its streaming coverage of curling, CBC replaced an entire production control room with a Grass Valley AMPP-based software-defined production workflow running on a server and an operator controlling the production from a laptop via a custom, CBC-built interface.
“We wanted graphics, video, audio—everything—in the same tool to have the same unified interface, not multiple windows and multiple screens,” he said. The operator could also add commercial breaks via the interface.
CBC found it to be much easier to build the interface than expected due to the “great API,” said Legrand, adding the interface enabled the operator to do bumpers and stings, add graphics, lower-thirds and perform squeeze backs.
The broadcaster targeted operational simplicity when creating the interface, providing only “the right amount of tool to do the job assigned,” thereby minimizing the amount of training time needed and operator expense, he said.
The software-defined workflow proved to be a success. Not only did it support insertion of 676 branded promos during multiple games, production of 144 hours of content and delivery to some 500,000 streaming viewers for some matches, but it also proved to be quite agile and flexible, said Legrand.
Automation, Orchestration and AI
Globo, like other broadcasters, is being asked to address the appetite of viewers for more live sports coverage without significantly larger budgets, creating the need “to do more with less,” said Mauricio Felix Vasconcellos, Globo executive director of technology.
The first step in achieving that goal is to have the right technology in place. “We need a platform that can guarantee that we can orchestrate it and change quickly,” he said.
“We believe we can reduce the operational requirements a lot with automation, orchestration and using artificial intelligence,” said Vasconcellos.
While technology costs money, it can also enhance the efficiency of staff to enable Globo to do more with less. “Today we operate in a control room with six or seven people,” he said. “How can we reduce that to two multi-skilled people so we can do more events at the same time?”
The right technology can make workflows more efficient, transforming the business to achieve this productivity goal, he said.
Getting to a platform that can unlock these workflow benefits, however, will require Globo to transition to IP to leverage the benefits the IT world brings to the table, he said.
“With IP, we can have the flexibility to use the network and infrastructure as we want,” said Vasconcellos. “This is where we want to get, and that is why it is important we keep focusing on our partners.”
The technical component to workflow efficiency also involves an orchestration layer with the intelligence to enable production of multiple sports at the same time or multiple newscasts simultaneously while accommodating the specific capabilities and characteristics of different operators, he said.
The cloud, too, will play an important role going forward. “I see that three years from now, we are going to improve the interoperability between cloud and on premise. MXL is coming. I think in two or three years things are going to get simplified and streamlined.”
Software-Defined Live Production
Enhancing production efficiency is a priority at Warner Bros. Discovery, said company vice president, operations, Chris Brown, and the media giant’s “integration rooms,” the production control rooms sitting between multiple sites, game sites and its studios, have been a great place to start.
“We looked at where we could save a little bit of money, become a little bit more efficient because of all of what it [software-defined production] promises as far as the reduction of staffing,” he said.
Deployed for “some time now,” the GV AMPP-based software-defined live production workflow is enabling Warner Bros. Discovery to run those rooms consistently with no engineering.
To a casual observer, the Warner Bros. Discovery’s integration rooms look a lot like a traditional control room. But upon second glance, there are only control surfaces and some monitoring—no other equipment. “There are just HEVC streams coming from the cloud or on-prem, depending on where you’re running it,” he said.
Production teams simply enter an integration room, decide what they want to do and provision the room as required via GV AMPP’s API orchestration, he said.
Pressing a single button provisions the room to the production requirements of a specific live show. “It will spin up an AWS machine, deploy the GV workspace, spin them all up and wire them all together,” he said. “Then what you see are monitors light up and pictures appear so you can do the production.”
“What we’re hoping to be able to get to is a place where we can then begin to realize an economy of scale with the [Elgato] Stream Deck [control surface] in conjunction with AMPP,” said Brown. “Ideally, we are hoping to keep it that simple.”
AI and simplification: It’s not so easy
One of the biggest challenges facing Sky is the complexity of delivering content across multiple platforms via IP, said Dave Travis, group director of content, broadcast and platforms, at Sky.
“That puts a lot of pressure on our team,” said Travis. “So, our biggest priority is managing that demand and trying to simplify. Simplification is absolutely critical, not just to Sky but to the industry at large. I think in the future, we need to make it easier across the board.”
Artificial intelligence holds the key to simplification, but it is not without risk. Noting Sky would like to introduce AI to address a range of issues, including its software development lifecycle where it could accelerate how Sky develops code, Travis said adopting artificial intelligence remains a challenge due to concerns over security and corporate compliance.
“It is a real big challenge. Some are doing AI really quickly,” he said. “If you're a small organization and don't seem to have the same corporate compliance obstacles, that may be possible. But we're a big organization, and we want to protect ourselves.”
One path forward may be promoting collaboration among various stakeholders in the industry. Still, he fears even these collaborations could lead to “an arms race patching” vulnerabilities—something he is unsure about managing. “I think our CTO conversations and technology leadership calls are going to very much focused on that properly for the foreseeable future. We have to really learn together and find a solution for that problem.”
About Grass Valley
Grass Valley drives the future of media production with seamless, scalable solutions that empower top content creators. Its integrated ecosystem—featuring industry-leading hardware, the AMPP Media Operating System, and a robust Alliance Partner network—enables efficient content production, management, and distribution.
From live global events to browser-based independent projects, Grass Valley maximizes content value, streamlines workflows, and future-proofs media operations.
With over 65 years of innovation and a commitment to open, agile solutions, Grass Valley is leading the media revolution and shaping the future of storytelling. https://www.grassvalley.com/
