CHICAGO—For more than four decades, Installation Services has been synonymous with RF atop Chicago’s Willis Tower. From early collaboration with the late and esteemed broadcast engineer Jeremy Ruck to coordinating antenna systems and transmission lines to helicopter lifts and structural upgrades, our team has worked on nearly every major broadcast installation on the building since the 1980s.

Most recently, we completed one of the most complex projects in the tower’s history: replacing an aging Dielectric triple-stack antenna system with two new UHF systems serving WLS-TV, WFLD-TV and WMAQ-TV.

The Importance of Advanced Planning
The original triple-stack system dated back to the industry’s digital transition in the late 1990s. It served Chicago viewers well for more than two decades, but evolving operational requirements and long-term infrastructure planning made it time for an upgrade. The new configuration includes a Dielectric TFU double-stacked slot antenna system for WLS-TV and WFLD-TV, along with a separate single-slot antenna UHF installation for WMAQ-TV. Both systems feature vertically polarized design elements to improve building penetration.

Projects of this scale begin long before anything leaves the ground. Planning alone took roughly one year and involved structural analysis, engineering reviews, fabrication work, Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission coordination, city approvals and extensive lift planning. On a structure as prominent as Willis Tower, every component must meet rigorous engineering and Chicago building code requirements. Multiple engineering teams and third-party reviewers evaluated every detail to ensure the systems would meet performance expectations for decades to come.

Before installation could begin, we first had to remove the existing 18,500-pound triple-stack antenna system. Using Helicopter Express’ heavy-lift aircraft, we dismantled the legacy system into sections and safely lowered it from the tower. Preparation work included replacing aging hardware with new bolts ahead of the lift to ensure smooth field operations during the critical removal window.

The replacement systems required substantial site preparation as well. We removed and replaced the original top plate assembly atop the tower with a newly engineered structure designed to current standards. That alone required a separate helicopter lift and additional reinforcement work beneath the mounting structure to properly tie everything into the tower.

Once the site was prepared, the real installation work began. The WMAQ-TV installation included a massive, fabricated transition section—what we refer to as the “wedding cake”—which serves as the primary support structure for the antenna above it. We also installed rigid transmission line systems to extend multiple floors down into the transmission facilities below.

The Big Lift
Coordinating the helicopter lifts is one of the most demanding aspects of projects like this. We shut down more than a dozen city streets, halted pedestrian traffic and coordinated with dozens of workers, engineers and public safety personnel. During lift operations, virtually every major TV and FM station on the building had to temporarily power down. It’s an enormous logistical undertaking that started before sunrise and requires precision from everyone involved.

Once the antennas were installed, the work shifted toward final optimization. Our crews spent weeks torquing hardware, verifying structural integrity and preparing the RF systems for operation. Third-party inspectors reviewed the completed work, after which transmission lines were connected and tuned. Dielectric engineers then performed system sweeps and final RF optimization to ensure peak performance across the entire transmission system.

These are extremely high-power broadcast facilities serving one of the nation’s largest television markets, so every detail matters. Seeing the new Dielectric systems successfully installed and operating atop Willis Tower is something that brings tremendous pride to our entire team. Projects like this remind you how much planning, engineering and teamwork go into keeping over-the-air television operating reliably for millions of viewers every day.

For more information, visit Dielectric’s website.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—At Badger & Combes, we specialize in delivering high-quality live production for sports and broadcast, focusing on scalable, remote workflows that support complex, multilocation events. Our team regularly works on fast-paced productions where reliability, flexibility and efficiency are critical to success.

One example of that is the Dubai Rugby Sevens, an international tournament featuring top men’s and women’s teams from around the world. During the 2025 event (Nov. 28-30), 664 competitive matches were played across a large multisport venue. Every game was captured and streamed live on YouTube, the Dubai Sevens official website and the official event app.

Remotely producing a live global sporting event on the scale of the Dubai Rugby Sevens is no small feat. With hundreds of matches played across multiple locations, a production hub thousands of miles from the venue and zero tolerance for downtime, delivering uninterrupted live coverage to a global audience is a major challenge.

Livestreaming Every Match
For the 2025 tournament, we took on the challenge of live­streaming every single match using a fully remote production workflow built for seamless worldwide distribution.

A Haivision-powered workflow, designed for high scalability, efficiency and rock-solid reliability, formed the backbone of our production. With Haivision’s contribution solutions and the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol, we delivered a resilient, continent-spanning broadcast network built to meet the intense demands of live, fast-paced sports.

Rather than deploying a large-scale broadcast setup at the venue, we relied on a flexible and lightweight contribution model using Haivision live video contribution solutions powered by SRT, a protocol developed by Haivision for low-latency, secure and reliable videostreaming over unpredictable networks, enabled the live production to be driven from a central hub in Manchester, England, while postproduction infrastructure operated live in Dubai.

On-site in Dubai, we deployed 12 cameras connected to a range of Haivision mobile video transmitters across eight pitch locations. The main stadium was supported by a Haivision Pro460 mobile transmitter, handling multiple camera feeds through its multiview feature. A second Pro460 was positioned at the engineering station, ingesting feeds from additional pitches alongside an RF camera, enabling real-time bidirectional communication between teams in Dubai and Manchester.

Across the remaining pitches, we deployed seven Haivision Air mobile transmitters and a Falkon X2 transmitter at individual camera positions, providing reliable, low-latency live video contribution from each game, along with return feeds so engineers could monitor activity across all pitches.

A Haivision Air unit was also used to support audio communications and file transfer. Our team in Manchester communicated directly with the on-site team in Dubai through the Air, allowing roaming crew members to coordinate production from over 3,000 miles away. This same infrastructure supported file transfer, consolidating workflows into a unified Haivision ecosystem.

All camera feeds were sent over the internet using SRT with latency as low as 1.5 seconds, arriving at Haivision StreamHub receivers in Manchester. From there, feeds were sent to EVS for replay, graphics, and postproduction before delivery to digital platforms.

The system proved highly reliable. Every incoming feed was recorded as it arrived, creating a backup archive of all camera footage for post-event use. The flexibility of the Haivision solutions allowed full visibility of the entire production across both locations.

Really Remote Workflows
Despite the distance between Dubai and Manchester, the camera-to-production workflow enabled effective live switching, replay and real-time communication across continents.

What would once have required large crews and significant on-site infrastructure was achieved through a centralized workflow built on Haivision technology and SRT. By the end of the weekend, we successfully delivered live coverage of all 664 matches with no major technical issues, using a production footprint small enough to fit into just three cases.

The equipment was lightweight, easy to deploy and highly cost-effective, enabling us to deliver full-scale production with a minimal on-site footprint and significantly reduced operational costs.

More information is available on Haivision’s website.

LONDON—ITV Studios, the production arm of the U.K.'s largest commercial broadcaster, has deployed the Cuez live production platform to manage three back-to-back live shows from a single platform, handling live rundown and studio automation.

ITV runs three back-to-back daytime magazine, talk and lifestyle shows, “This Morning,” “Loose Women” and “Lorraine,” from the same London studio. They share a single technical crew but have different hosts, branding and graphics, and their own editorial styles.

To produce these shows, ITV Studios needed a solution to unify the three shows while handling every production role from producers building rundowns to gallery operators managing playout.

The Cuez platform allowed ITV Studios to handle the entire creative process from a single environment and employ a leaner crew, ITV Studios Executive Director Barry Thomas said. “Our production teams range in technical ability, yet suddenly they all use the same newsroom system and that's really unique,” Thomas said. “Other systems don't offer this sort of full capability.”

Adam Scott, ITV Studios gallery playout operator, added: “Using one application, we were able to play multiple graphics systems and VT playout systems together very easily. This results in the crew having a clearer view of the show, and less margin for error when transitions between programs run to minutes.”

Production team members said the Cuez platform is easy to adopt.

“From the minute I started, I noticed it was much easier to use than other systems I've used in the past,” Producer Jonathan Hughes said. “It’s really user-friendly. Once you've had just a little bit of a play-around with it, you’re completely across it. Last-minute changes are critical for all three programs.

“Cuez Rundown keeps everyone in sync,” he added. “You type something in the control room and this instantly gets on set. The live synchronization is exactly what we needed. Those changes also reach the camera operators in real time. They’ve replaced their bundles of printed rundowns with a modern iPad attached to each camera, displaying the synced Cuez Rundown.”

Thomas added: “Being able to have one universal tool that we can communicate in, and see exactly what is happening next, is a real game changer for creatives and directors.”

Cuez is a cloud-based platform for news programs and live entertainment programs that connects with and controls content creation devices via API or MOS. Its three main elements are Storydesk, Rundown and Automator.

For more on Cuez, watch the video below.

Feld Entertainment, family owned and operated, is the worldwide leader in producing and presenting live touring family entertainment experiences that bring people together and uplift the human spirit.

Properties include Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Monster Jam, Disney On Ice, Monster Energy AMA Supercross, and the SuperMotocross World Championship. Across the brand portfolio, Feld Entertainment has entertained millions of families in more than 80 countries and on six continents.

For nearly 60 years, Feld Entertainment has brought Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, The Greatest Show On Earth to audiences across the country. In 2026, the 148^th edition was introduced, reimagined for today’s families and touring nationwide, with the clear ambition to evolve the circus into a modern, high-energy experience built for a new generation.

Branded as The Greatest Party On Earth, this new production set out the audience into participants by creating a live environment that feels contemporary, interactive, and immersive, while still maintaining the precision and reliability required for a fast-moving arena tour operating in some of the largest and most technically complex venues in the world.

The Challenge
A key component of this vision was real-time audience integration. Feld aimed to capture and feature authentic, in-the-moment, fan reactions and audience participation during the show by streaming live video directly from the crowd and showcasing live reactions on the large arena (or IMAG) screens in the arenas. This required performers to move freely throughout the audience while seamlessly capturing and transmitting broadcast-quality video.

“To create this fun atmosphere for The Greatest Party on Earth, we wanted to encourage more audience interaction and get everyone up and dancing,” said Brian Hanley, Senior Video Operations Manager at Feld Entertainment. “We thought that by filming from that first person experience from a mobile phone, it would create that social media influencer vibe on the live screen for the whole audience to see.”

Delivering on this vision introduced a complex technical challenge. The solution needed to provide a stable wireless connection, ultra-low latency to ensure real-time synchronization with IMAG screens, and professional-grade video quality—all within highly dynamic, unpredictable environments.

With each performance taking place in a different arena with its own infrastructure, RF environment, and network limitations, Feld was faced with several significant challenges such as wireless congestion from thousands of audience members, varying venue layouts, and limited setup time. These challenges created a live production set up where traditional fixed cameras and infrastructure-heavy solutions were impractical for traversing the crowd and producing the immersive experience they were trying to create.

The Result
With the need for a reliable and portable solution, Feld Entertainment implemented a Haivision-based mobile live video contribution and streaming workflow to support and enhance audience interaction.

Performers now film with smartphones with the Haivision MoJoPro professional camera app installed, which captures live video and wirelessly streams it to the production control environment where a Haivision StreamHub receiver distributes it to the IMAG screens for the audience to see.

By deploying high-powered access points around the performance space, they were able to establish a controlled, high-priority WiFi environment within the venue, allowing for an effective point-to-point connection. This connection and solution enables live video to be displayed at low latency, allowing audience members to see themselves on the screen without delays.

“One of the biggest issues was latency and we did not want to deal with relying on the internet. We didn't want to have to deal with the stream coming back with too much delay. We wanted everything to stay local,” said Hanley. “We don’t always get internet in every arena, so we also needed something that could help with that.”

In addition to performers capturing footage from within the audience, trapeze artists take the experience even further—using MoJoPro-equipped mobile devices while soaring through the air to film breathtaking, first-person perspectives. These dynamic, never-before-seen angles deepen the sense of immersion and bring audiences closer to the action than ever before—something only possible with a fully flexible and highly reliable solution.

Ease-of-use was also important when choosing MoJoPro for the show. Performers are operating the app, so it’s vital that the solution is lightweight, and is very simple to use.

The deployment of the Haivision solution is enabling Feld Entertainment to deliver an immersive Ringling Bros. Circus experience that connects the audience directly to the performers and involves them in the storytelling, enhancing engagement without disrupting the flow of the performance.

DENVER—Imagine Communications has announced that France Télévisions is the first broadcaster to deploy SNP-XS, the latest addition to Imagine’s Selenio Network Processor (SNP) lineup. The French public national television broadcaster ordered 60 units of the recently launched SNP-XS several months before it was readily available.

“The SNP is an incredible Swiss Army knife that is enabling us to successfully transition to ST 2110,” said Yannick Olivier, cross-functional technical leader for ST 2110 infrastructure at France Télévisions. “With every technical challenge, SNP provides a solution, thanks to its many different applications and unique design that allows us to easily reconfigure with new functionality.

"This time, the newest hardware addition to the family is helping us address space and density challenges, allowing us to bring ST 2110 into our regional PCRs,” he added. “With SNP-XS, we’re delivering uncompressed ST 2110 to all of our France 3 regional stations, improving our remote production workflows, and achieving a real gain in quality and speed."

SNP-XS plays a central role in France Télévisions’ strategic initiative to interconnect all regional stations via two Paris‑area data centers using the ST 2110 IP standard to enable high-quality, low-latency media exchange across locations. The new deployment will also enable France Télévisions to exchange data with operations that have already migrated to 2110, such as its Paris headquarters.

The architecture is fully redundant using the 2022-7 protocol, ensuring resilience and reliability as the broadcaster continues to modernize its national media network. Implementation is now underway, with full media exchange targeted to be operational by the end of the year.

France Télévisions first selected Imagine’s SNP three years ago as a cornerstone of its progressive migration to ST 2110 IP, initially deploying SNP to support UHD coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Following the event, the broadcaster redeployed the devices to support the IP transition of the master control room at its Paris headquarters and implemented additional SNPs across its playout operations, studios, digital platform and two new OB trucks.

“Forward-thinking media companies like France Télévisions are making the move to ST 2110 IP because it gives them the freedom, flexibility, and long-term confidence they need in a fast-changing media landscape,” Imagine CEO Steve Reynolds said. “ST 2110 isn’t just another product cycle—it’s the platform for everything that comes next. With every new release, the SNP continues to pave the way for the future of broadcast infrastructure.”

SNP-XS offers all the capabilities of Imagine’s flagship SNP platform, Imagine said, including support for 12G SDI and SMPTE ST 2110, in a compact footprint perfect for environments where space is at a premium but performance can’t be compromised. It offers flexible I/O configurations and brings the complement of well-known SNP features on day one—including UHD and HDR conversions and fully synchronized 2110 adaptation. Delivering ultra-quiet operation and high-performance processing in a deploy-anywhere form factor, SNP-XS is an ideal solution for edge deployments, facility expansions, remote routing endpoints, mobile production, and any space-constrained environment. Imagine said.

MILWAUKEE—WMVS and WMVT, Milwaukee PBS’s two high-definition television stations, are licensed to the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), with their studios and offices located in the downtown campus, where students in the associate of applied science degree program in television and video production receive training.

At our MATC and Milwaukee PBS studios, television instructors have two priorities: ensuring our broadcast training labs and productions run smoothly and students receive the most practical, professional hands-on experience possible.

Supporting New Cameras
We constantly upgrade our student studio to mirror the on-air facilities of Channels 10 (WMVS) and 36 (WMVT) to stimulate student growth from training all the way to MPBS broadcasts and, finally, to the area TV stations we serve. When we recently discovered that the old heads on our Vinten Osprey pedestals could not support new Sony HDC3100 cameras, prompters and monitors, we began looking for a cost-effective solution that would ensure a truly professional student experience.

After entertaining several vendors and products and finding difficulty in satisfying all of our requirements, we contacted Vinten, who loaned us their latest offering, the Versine 360 pan and tilt heads, for a test drive. What we found was a sturdy, responsive and cost-effective solution that allows us to keep our older peds, add newer cameras and accessories and upgrade our training and production workflow with confidence.

Our studio operations were instantly upgraded when instructor Dan Brown installed the Versine 360 heads on our Ospreys. He and his fellow lab instructors, David McCoy and Traci Koller, found that the combination of precision, quality and versatility made these heads ideal for preparing our students at the fundamental stage of broadcast learning. Utilizing those skills later as crew members at Milwaukee PBS, they seamlessly supported our schedule of local productions.

Versine 360 heads are built for demanding studio environments, which is key when using them in training for hours on end. Their robust construction handles repeated, intensive use, essential in a live, multicam environment with students of different skill levels.

In live production—especially in a high-volume training lab—camera support is not just about mounting a camera; it’s about precision, repeatability and operator confidence. Dan found that the Versine heads provide excellent counterbalance, holding the camera steady with only rare needs for adjustment, which is important for longer productions with multiple rotating operators. Their adjustable fluid drag ensures pans and tilts are smooth and consistent, giving operators confidence as they learn to focus on framing and storytelling.

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is integrating the latest professional equipment into our tech college programs—the only TV program in the state and one of only a handful housed within a PBS station. Students seek out MATC to learn in our Milwaukee PBS studios, gaining hands-on experience in broadcast production. This practical training is invaluable, providing students the skills and confidence to step into broadcast roles immediately after graduation.

Training the Next Generation
The majority of broadcast and video professionals in our market, from TV stations to the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks, to networks and production companies throughout the Midwest, include staff trained here at MATC/MPBS. They know the combination of training, skills, gear and professional experiences afforded by an MATC education is second to none when it comes to transitioning into the professional world.

Investing in the Versine 360 heads was not just about upgrading equipment; it was about maintaining an environment where our broadcasts and our students benefit from high standards of performance and reliability. Their precision, robustness and versatility allows us to run complex productions confidently while serving as a real-world classroom for future industry professionals.

The Vinten Versine 360 heads are now an integral part of our educational experience, giving our programs polish and students a foundation that will serve them throughout their careers in Southeastern Wisconsin’s broadcast industry and beyond.

More information is available on Vinten’s website.

LOS ANGELES—I’m the founder of Rowdy Skeleton, a consulting and content agency based in Los Angeles, as well as a host and former tech journalist who has spent more than 15 years refining and updating my AV setup.

Over the years, I’ve covered all kinds of events across games, pop culture and tech, including one of the world’s biggest consumer-electronics shows, CES. When I attended CES 2020 just before the pandemic, my field kit was massive: full-frame camera, three-plus lenses of every focal length, small LED lights and a wired mic to avoid wireless interference and noise.

Covering products and stories at CES took ages to set up, especially if I didn’t have a dedicated camera operator on any given day. After a few booths’ worth of setup, recording and striking, I’d decamp to our press room to unload footage and rest before heading back to the show floor. It was truly exhausting, running from appointment to appointment carrying a heavy backpack while making sure I was still camera-ready and delivering as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

Downsizing With DJI
These days, I’m on the content creator/influencer side of things, and last December, a client booked my company for a last-minute content engagement at CES 2026. I’d been working to downsize my kit, and the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 has served me really well. It’s lightweight, extremely portable and its versatility made shooting field packages a breeze.

However, I hadn’t found a lighting solution that matched the Osmo Pocket 3’s usefulness. Mass-produced lights I had tried were small and inexpensive, but they didn’t throw enough light to make a difference when I was more than an arm’s length away from the Pocket 3’s lens. And I didn’t want to invest in a full-cage system, since they add so much weight and bulk to a shooting solution that’s meant to be extremely light and compact.

After some research, I discovered Frezzi’s PocketLight LED kit for DJI Osmo Pocket 3, a light kit designed specifically for Osmo, and convinced them to let me try it out as I covered CES 2026.

Setting it up was easy—I slid the Osmo Pocket 3’s extended battery into the minimalist-but-sturdy metal case, attached the LED’s long arm and snapped the light onto the strong magnet at the top. Heading out on the show floor, I felt well-equipped and confident, even without a more complex and heavier traditional camera setup. Moving through the crowds was so much easier, and using a magnetic LED mount meant taking a hands-free shot was as simple as snapping the entire system to it and framing my shot in the Osmo Pocket 3’s selfie modem with DJI’s Mic Mini attached to my jacket.

Frezzi’s light is an incredibly well-designed piece of equipment that makes the most of its form factor, and it rounded out my kit exactly as I hoped it would. The range of its brightness meant I was able to have exactly the right amount of light for every shot, no matter if the booth was extra dark, extra bright or backlit.

Versatile and Portable
Many times, I was shooting in areas featuring a product under absolutely beautiful light, but attempting to record in front of those displays would result in a harsh case of backlighting. The Frezzi LED completely neutralized those issues, and using it at less than 50% brightness (which is still really bright) resulted in a massive battery-life boost that was a sincerely pleasant surprise.

Because the light isn’t fixed to a cold shoe (it uses a magnetic mount instead), I can swing it around in any direction regardless of what I’m recording. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this setup has been an absolute game-changer for me as a content creator, and I’m excited Frezzi created a lighting solution that matches the capability, portability and versatility of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 perfectly.

More information is available on Frezzi’s website.

HUDSON, N.H.—Game Creek Video is a leading provider of mobile production facilities for major sports and entertainment broadcasts across the United States. Known for its state-of-the-art fleet and engineering expertise, the company supports high-profile events for networks such as Fox, CBS, ESPN and NBC. With a commitment to innovation, reliability and top-tier workflows, Game Creek builds and operates some of the most advanced remote production trucks in the industry.

We’re always looking for ways to modernize our fleet, and one of the most transformative steps we’ve taken has been deploying Riedel’s MediorNet FusioN gateways directly behind the monitors inside our trucks.

Frees Up Much-Needed Space
Previously, our monitoring designs were limited to 1080p by hybrid SDI workflows wrapped around centralized gateway racks that swallowed up valuable space and added weight. Those traditional systems also constrained how creatively we could lay out our control rooms.

When we evaluated Riedel’s FusioN platform, especially the compact FusioN 3B, the lightweight form factor immediately stood out. These devices are small enough to mount behind monitors yet powerful enough to manage the SDI-to-IP and IP-to-SDI conversions that drive our ST 2110 workflows. Balancing capability with mobility is essential, and these units offered the best of both worlds.

Placing these lightweight gateways at the edge completely changed how we build and wire our trucks. Instead of routing every monitor feed through large, centralized gateway conversion, we now mount a FusioN device directly behind each pair of screens.

This has two major advantages. First, removing large blocks of centralized hardware frees up significant space in our engineering racks. That reclaimed space gives us more flexibility in equipment layout and helps reduce overall truck weight. Since every pound affects transportation logistics and compliance, having conversion handled by lightweight devices rather than heavy racks is a major operational benefit.

Second, we drastically reduce the amount of cabling required, with no more long SDI runs snaking through the subfloor of the truck to feed every display. That reduction allows the FusioN 3B to deliver UHD to each monitor with only a six-foot run of 12G-SDI per display. This has a massive positive impact on the user-monitoring experience.

The day-to-day impact of this shift is obvious during live broadcasts. As we get into playoff runs toward the end of the football or basketball seasons, production often needs to scale up quickly, with operators requesting additional monitors or other out-of-the-box signal assignments. Because adding monitors now only requires a network link to an additional
FusioN converter, we can respond rapidly without major rework through a central point.

The monitor walls and operator workstations become far more dynamic and almost modular. The FusioN devices manage UHD and HDR conversion right at the monitor, eliminating multiple layers of processing that used to add latency and complexity. Handling conversion at the edge keeps the operator experience smooth.

Small Devices, Big Improvements
In our IP-native trucks, where ST 2110 forms the backbone of the system, this approach is incredibly valuable. The core IP fabric handles routing, but the FusioN devices allow us to drop back into SDI seamlessly whenever needed—whether we’re extending to a crowded courtside announcer table inside the venue or providing a world-class monitoring experience inside one of our mobile units. Leveraging NMOS, we can dynamically scale our broadcast infrastructure to suit the needs of our clients on any given day.

When I look at how our trucks operate today versus just a few years ago, the improvement is dramatic. By adopting these small, lightweight FusioN gateways, we’ve decentralized conversion, reduced cabling, saved space and built more flexible and responsive production environments.

What might seem like a subtle change has fundamentally redefined how we design monitor systems and control rooms. It’s a shift that improves reliability, adaptability, and day-to-day workflow and it pays off every time we roll into a new venue.

More information is available on Riedel’s website.

NEW YORK—The live sports broadcasting industry is grappling with a significant technological shift. Productions are becoming larger and more complex, and the demand for wireless cameras has outpaced the capabilities of traditional microwave RF systems that operate on increasingly crowded and limited frequency spectrums.

There’s a constant challenge to efficiently broadcast content wirelessly, which has created a strong industry-wide push to find viable next-generation solutions like 5G. All the traditional solutions still perform well, but when Sony demoed for us its 5G-powered live remote-production offering, comprised of a CBK-RPU7 encoder paired with the PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter and the NXL-ME80 media-edge processor to achieve ultra-low latency, our reaction was, “Why wouldn’t we look at it?”

Low Latency, High Quality
Sony’s solution presented an option offering ultra-low latency and high video quality, plus the ability to send back return video and control the camera and tally.

We’re always limited on the amount of RF cameras we can run on a large-scale event—at a golf major, we typically have around 120 cameras. Over the last four or five years, we’ve been creating one giant camera-control network. If we have six different trucks, the person physically shading cameras can be there, or we can extend the network to New York and have somebody paint it from there.

Our teams have also started virtualizing RF camera control with Sony Camera Control Network Adapters (CNAs), which show up as just another CCU on the network. Now, even if we have 25 video operators, they can be anywhere, in any truck, controlling anything. Having another Sony device on the system allows us to add control to the network more easily.

It’s important we continue to look for ways to transmit more content using the same number of frequencies available. Spectrum is in short supply, so being able to leverage new transmission technology is certainly an advantage, and 5G is obviously, for now, the next solution.

Typically, public networks are specified at about 80% allocation for download and 20% for upload, making it difficult to stream higher bit rates—we need much higher upload bandwidth to transmit live video reliably and smoothly. The video quality and low latency achieved through Sony’s 5G encoder are production-ready and comparable to wired fiber, making it a viable option for primary broadcast cameras.

We’ve even done side-by-side tests of the 5G feed against hard-wired fiber feeds, revealing minimal differences in quality and latency. The video quality from Sony’s 5G encoder was so high when compared to a wired fiber camera that we often could not tell the difference, even when using a high-grade broadcast monitor.

Public 5G Slicing
Production always wants more RF—that’s one of the biggest requests at major events. While private 5G networks provide excellent, dedicated bandwidth, deployment is still challenging enough to warrant further simplification for broader adoption. The potential for carriers to offer guaranteed bandwidth (slicing) on public 5G networks could be the next necessary step towards simplified deployment. Plus, the availability of a public 5G slicing option means you don’t always have to deploy a completely separate 5G system.

Even if there is some trade-off between robustness, latency and quality, it’s worth it for the ability to get more coverage easily and over a large area. The future of wireless broadcasting, at least for the near term, is likely a hybrid model with traditional RF cameras supplemented by 5G cameras placed in strategic locations or in areas difficult to reach with other technologies.

We’re definitely rounding the corner, and as we do, it will be this 5G-powered remote production technology’s time to shine.

More information is available on Sony’s professional products website.

THUNDER BAY, Ontario—Dougall Media is one of the last privately owned multi-TV, multi-radio, print paper and digital advertising organizations in Canada. We cover all of Northwestern Ontario, a land mass equivalent in size to the Greater Toronto Area but proportionally representng roughly one-tenth of the GTA population.

The Government of Canada’s 2011 DTV transition inspired a complete investment in digital television infrastructure at Dougall Media. We rebuilt the plant to be fully digital from the ground up right from the mandate. As the engineer in charge of technology decisions, I decided to take the extra steps to establish a complete captioning workflow, rather than simply add a digital encoder at the end of the chain.

Accuracy and Automation
We built several different text-to-speech environments, but as time progressed, the expectations for accuracy and deliverability evolved. That inspired a shift to automated captioning solutions that could more easily reach the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) minimums for accuracy in captions. We also wanted a system that could address more complex processes, such as speech recognition, without user intervention.

That search led us to ENCO’s enCaption solution for live, automated captioning in 2018. Deployed as a fully on-prem captioning workflow, we have continued to evolve our enCaption solution with nearly every generation, including our most recent update in 2025.

One of the first things we focus on in captioning is accuracy as a measurable outcome; automated captioning must deliver not only strong baseline performance, but consistent results across program types and conditions. As enCaption is designed for real-time broadcast environments, it continues to improve in a way that matters operationally. Our accuracy has continued to improve over time and today hovers near 99%.

This is especially impressive when you consider that the captioning workflow exists within the chaos of many separate audio layers. enCaption’s captioning engine can cleanly differentiate between speech over music, effects-heavy segments, multiple speakers, cross talk and more across our entire 5.1 signal chain.

enCaption has proved it can handle complicated audio streams without creating a constant downstream burden that can cause latency. Accuracy is essential, but if captions arrive too late, viewers lose interest and live programming suffers.

Reliability and consistency are also paramount. Captioning correlates with accessibility, compliance, and viewer experience, and everyone watching (including regulators) notice when it fails. enCaption behaves as part of our core infrastructure, as proven during a primary fiber path outage. Video and audio were restored quickly through a backup satellite feed that didn’t carry usable in-band captions.

We were able to route that baseband backup source through a secondary captioning path and regenerate captions using enCaption. Viewers still received accessible programming, and we remained compliant. That experience reinforced why redundancy and routability were non-negotiable requirements for our automated captioning workflow.

More Than Broadcast
Finally, we’re building systems for a future where linear broadcast is only part of the picture. Connected TV, apps, FAST channels and OTT distribution are rapidly becoming more important. Captioning requirements don’t disappear in that world—they expand, often into translation and multilanguage delivery.

Our continued investment in enCaption allows us to look beyond today’s primary broadcast output across our multiplatform delivery footprint moving forward.

enCaption meets the criteria broadcast engineers value, including accuracy you can measure, exceptional speed with ultra-low latency, performance under challenging audio conditions, flexibility in the signal chain and operational resilience in failures.

ENCO’s customer service has also been exceptional across every phase of our relationship, which is just one more reason we value our decision to standardize on their captioning technology.

More information is available on the ENCO enCaption product page.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—As the founder of TNDV, a Nashville-based live event and broadcast production company specializing in multicamera television, music specials and large-scale live events, I know how recording and capturing content is one of the most crucial tasks we face on any project.

For more than two decades, our team has supported everything from concert broadcasts and awards shows to network television and corporate productions. As our company has grown, our technology choices have always been driven by reliability, efficiency and the ability to scale alongside increasingly complex productions.

Practical and Affordable
My relationship with AJA’s Ki Pro line goes back to the very beginning. I was an extremely early adopter of the original Ki Pro in 2009, and it fundamentally changed the trajectory of my career and my company. At the time, recording HD content meant relying almost exclusively on tape-based HDCAM systems that could easily cost six figures per unit, and it was preventing me from moving beyond an SD-SDI workflow. The Ki Pro introduced a practical, affordable way to record broadcast-quality HD using a file-based, disc-based workflow, arriving at exactly the moment our industry was ready for change.

We quickly recognized that the Ki Pro was not only just a recorder, it was a workflow solution. As our young company expanded from a single HD production truck to three and eventually to 12, we purchased as many Ki Pro units as we could. They became a core part of our technical infrastructure and a key differentiator when pitching new clients.

As the industry transitioned away from tape formats, we were already prepared to deliver file-based media that quickly entered postproduction pipelines in file formats our clients were asking for, like ProRes.

Deployment was straightforward. Ki Pro units integrated cleanly into our trucks, worked seamlessly with a wide range of cameras and switchers and proved themselves reliable in demanding live environments. On a typical production, we use Ki Pro recorders for ISO recording, program capture, backup recording and deliverables. The ability to hand off high-quality media immediately after a show without real-time tape transfers saved hours on every production and helped our clients move faster.

When AJA introduced the Ki Pro Rack, we immediately began purchasing dozens of units. The rack-mounted form factor was a natural evolution for mobile production and control-room environments. It allowed us to consolidate recording systems, improve cable management and expand channel counts without increasing complexity. The Ki Pro Rack was built upon everything we appreciated about the original Ki Pro while offering greater flexibility for larger shows.

Ready for the Future
A few years later, we were just as eager to adopt the Ki Pro Ultra, followed closely by the Ki Pro Ultra Plus. As our productions moved into higher frame rates and 4K workflows, these units provided the performance and consistency we needed. Today, we own and operate over 100 different Ki Pro recorders across our fleet. They are trusted tools for both HD and 4K shows, whether we are covering a live concert, televised awards show or high-profile corporate event.

Over 15 years after the original Ki Pro was introduced, the Ki Pro family remains a crucial part of our workflow. We have evaluated and tested many alternative recording solutions over the years, but the Ki Pro continues to stand out for its reliability, image quality and ease of use. In live production, failure is not an option, and AJA’s recorders have consistently delivered dependable performance show after show.

For our team, Ki Pro is not just a piece of gear—it represents a turning point in how we work and how we serve our clients. From our earliest HD productions to today’s multi-truck, multiformat broadcasts, AJA Ki Pro recorders have helped us grow, adapt and stay competitive in an ever-evolving industry.

More information is available on the AJA Video Systems website.

HUDSON, N.H.—My role at Game Creek Video focuses on the design, maintenance, and long-term evolution of our mobile production trucks. In live production, especially at the scale we operate, broadcast technology must be flexible, dense and, above all, reliable. Over the last several years, MultiDyne has become a core technology partner for us, with several of their products playing distinct and critical roles in our workflows.

We heavily rely on three MultiDyne product lines: the VF9000 fiber-transport platform, the HUT camera acquisition system and SilverBullet miniature fiber-transport devices. Each one serves a different purpose, but together they allow us to move large amounts of video efficiently, both inside the truck and across stadiums.

All-in-One Design
The VF-9000 has become the backbone of our inter-truck fiber transport. Over the past several years, we transitioned to this platform after using other solutions, and it’s now installed across six of our mobile units, with multiple frames per truck. What drew us to the VF-9000 was its compact footprint and all-in-one design. Previously, we needed separate products for fiber transport and copper video conversion. The VF-9000 consolidates that into a single, dense and extremely stable platform.

From a production standpoint, we use the VF-9000 to move large volumes of SDI video between trucks. In a typical configuration, we’ll take up to 32 video signals from one truck, transport them over just a few strands of fiber and break them back out in another unit. That level of density allows us to share signals efficiently without running excessive fiber, which is especially valuable on large, complex shows. We primarily use the VF-9000 for video transport with embedded audio, and its CWDM (coarse-wavelength division multiplexing) capabilities allow us to maximize bandwidth while keeping our infrastructure clean and manageable.

Monitoring and troubleshooting are also major strengths of the VF-9000. The platform exposes SNMP (Simple Network Monitoring Protocol) data, which allows us to integrate it directly into our broader monitoring environment. Instead of walking into racks or checking front-panel indicators, our engineers can see real-time status, alerts and performance metrics through dashboards and web-based tools. We can even monitor the far end of a fiber link from another truck, which saves time and reduces on-site coordination during live events.

Out in the field, camera acquisition is handled primarily by the MultiDyne HUT system. HUT has proven to be one of the most universally compatible camera-transport solutions we’ve used—we haven’t encountered a camera platform in our fleet that it doesn’t support. Using SMPTE connections at the camera and single-mode fiber back to the truck, HUT allows us to leverage a venue’s existing fiber infrastructure while maintaining signal integrity and flexibility.

Alongside HUT, the SilverBullet plays an equally important role. While HUT focuses on camera transport, the Silver Bullet is our go-to solution for moving individual video feeds long distances throughout a venue. We frequently deploy them to carry monitoring feeds, auxiliary signals, or other video paths that need to travel alongside camera signals. Many venues are moving away from copper entirely, and the Silver Bullet allows us to run tactical fiber everywhere and convert back to SDI exactly where we need it.

NBA Cup Coverage
This gear was recently deployed together on high-profile broadcasts, including Prime Video’s NBA Cup coverage in Las Vegas, and it’s also in regular use on major productions like “Monday Night Football,” “Thursday Night Football” and Fox primetime football. These are demanding shows with zero tolerance for
failure. The HUT and SilverBullet are rugged, field-ready devices that just work. The VF-9000, despite its density, is modular enough that we can replace individual components without taking an entire system offline.

Our goal is to build trucks that are flexible today and ready for tomorrow as we support a variety of live productions for sports and live events. MultiDyne’s technology has helped us achieve this through reliable transport, smart monitoring, and the confidence to deliver world-class live broadcasts.

More information is available on MultiDyne’s website.

BALTIMORE—Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the regional sports network owned by Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, broadcasts both teams’ games to fans across a seven-state region. On top of 24/7 access to all its core live baseball coverage, MASN covers a breadth of exclusive pre- and postgame shows, documentaries, and annual collegiate events spanning from basketball to poker and fight sports.

Lower Costs, More Control
Faced with high satellite costs and other issues, we turned to LTN to explore a full migration to IP delivery. Leveraging its experience supporting IP transitions for TelevisaUnivision, MSG Networks and Tennis Channel, we successfully migrated all our channels from satellite to IP ahead of the 2025 MLB season. The result was a nearly 60% reduction in distribution costs, with greater control, flexibility, and visibility over our transmission feeds.

We decided to move from satellite to IP because regional sports networks like ours face mounting pressures to control operating costs, maintain consistent signal quality and navigate the shrinking C-band spectrum capacity for video distribution. These factors are prompting many of us to look at alternatives to satellite to ensure reliability and low-latency delivery that meets today’s ever-increasing viewer expectations. MASN faced these same challenges.

We needed to modernize our network distribution model without disrupting existing partners or viewers. We set out to reduce delivery and maintenance costs, preserve satellite-grade reliability for consistent streaming experiences and gain deeper insight into how our networks perform. At the same time, we wanted to ensure continuous, high-quality coverage of our traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and newer virtual MVPD partners to keep our live sports delivery uninterrupted throughout the transition.

We needed a trusted partner that understood our key priorities and could deliver uninterrupted high-quality video throughout the transition. Our long-standing collaboration with LTN built the trust that allowed us to make the move, and we were delighted when LTN completed the transition from satellite to IP in just 60 days, including a dual-illumination phase where satellite and IP ran in parallel to ensure an effortless switchover.

The LTN team worked with our engineering teams to plan, test and implement the new delivery workflow. This process included hands-on project management as well as on-site configuration, logistics and testing. One of LTN’s key differentiators was its relationships and direct coordination with MVPD headends to ensure all end points were ready to receive IP feeds before the switch.

We now distribute four variants of our two full-time channels, including MASN1 and MASN2, via LTN’s purpose-built IP video network. This setup enables MASN to insert localized advertising and tailor content for our two core markets in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Event-Driven Transport
As many networks assess their next steps with the C-Band spectrum auction approaching, we moved quickly to secure a future-ready model.

With the added flexibility and control that comes with IP, we can monitor signal integrity in real time and collaborate far more efficiently with our partners. More broadly, our transition demonstrates how rapidly sports networks can embrace IP once they commit to the shift. Today, fully-managed, SLA-backed IP distribution stands out as the most dependable way to deliver multiple channels across a range of platforms while maximizing ad revenue. In addition, LTN’s 24/7 customer service makes this fully-managed service stand out.

Beyond delivering our core channels, we also rely on LTN for event-driven IP transport, including the MLB spring training series. LTN’s low-latency IP transmission lets us centralize production at our control facility while pulling live camera feeds from venues nationwide.

We’re now stronger and more focused than ever following our move to IP, and excited to bring fans an even better viewing experience.

More information is available at https://ltnglobal.com.

HINTERSCHMIDING and MUNICH, Germany—At MMO Managed Media Operations, our teams manage cloud-native live production and playout infrastructure across Europe. We specialize in stream ingest, signal monitoring and multiviewing for broadcast customers, handling everything from linear channels to event-based live coverage. Our workflows are built entirely in Amazon Web Services (AWS), using TAG’s platform across multiple use cases from signal acquisition to visual QC.

Our Business Needs
Our biggest challenge is maintaining signal quality and availability at scale without introducing operational complexity. We ingest dozens of contribution feeds from multiple customers (delivered via SRT) and monitor signal health throughout each signal’s life cycle, from preprocessing and metadata injection through packaging and final distribution.

In a cloud-native environment, we needed a solution that supports dynamic scaling, provides granular probing and alerting and enables real-time response. Our major pain point: the time-to-resolution when something goes wrong. We can’t afford to spend minutes determining if a problem is upstream, inside our infrastructure or downstream at the handoff point.

For deployment, we use TAG’s Realtime Monitoring Platform to monitor incoming and outgoing SRT contribution streams, plus intermediate handoffs, metadata overlays and packaging status. Everything is deployed 100% in the cloud, containerized and fully orchestrated in AWS.

TAG provides a unified view of signal health at every critical point. We can ingest contribution feeds, decode and display multiviewers for operational staff and create mosaic views for stakeholders across different functions. TAG’s open APIs integrate with our tools, and our infrastructure-as-code approach means TAG can be spun up or down quickly as needed.

In terms of use cases, we primarily support 24/7 playout and live-event ingest for multiple European broadcast customers. Our signal-acquisition team monitors all incoming SRT streams using TAG, with alerting tied to key thresholds (loss, jitter, decode errors). We can also visualize packaging and encoding stages downstream, ensuring signals are clean and synchronized before handoff.

More specifically, we get the signals via SRT from several customers, then send them to a partner that does distribution or playout. For one broadcaster, we created a special layout, the customer could connect from their side to TAG, and they could view it on their own.

TAG’s SRT support and ability to decode and visualize mosaic views in the same environment are key strengths. We leverage TAG’s layout editor to quickly create custom displays for different departments and events, from election night coverage to regional sports.

Operational Impact
Since deploying TAG, we’ve reduced time-to-visualize issues from several minutes to under 30 seconds. Operators rely on TAG’s mosaic displays to identify stream issues in real time and take immediate action. Our engineers appreciate the detailed metrics, which pinpoint whether issues stem from ingest, transcoding or handoff. Because everybody on the team is remote, it was important that it’s cloud-native. TAG helps us go deeper into the error and zoom into the signal.

TAG enables us to offer higher confidence and SLAs or standard-level agreements to broadcast customers. When a customer asks whether their feed is live and stable, we don’t jump between dashboards. We open TAG and see everything at a glance.

As for next steps, we plan to expand TAG’s footprint into more event-based workflows and integrate its data into our monitoring and ticketing systems. We’re also exploring deeper integration with scheduling metadata to automatically trigger layout changes based on time of day or event priority.

In short, TAG has become critical to our live operations and engineering workflows. It delivers confidence, speed and flexibility across highly dynamic cloud-native production environments. Most importantly, it allows us to focus on managing signals, not managing tools.

For more information, visit tagvs.com.

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—For over 45 years, arts and media organization BRIC Brooklyn has shaped the borough’s cultural landscape across visual arts, performance, media and civic engagement. Our public media center and arts spaces are complemented by Brooklyn Free Speech, a public-access platform, and BRIC-TV, a community TV channel and digital network. As one of the nation’s largest community media centers, we support hundreds of local creators who submit weekly programming, expanding access to cultural content.

Given our high volume of local programming contributions, we found that our traditional playout system could no longer keep pace with our organization’s growth.

The Hypercaster
In 2024, we left our top-name legacy broadcast equipment behind, with its opex and training needs, and replaced it with TelVue’s HyperCaster AIO (All-in-One) playback server and cloud services Connect and CloudCast for contribution, transcoding, scheduling and automation.

TelVue’s new system offered more flexibility, scalability and cost efficiencies, but most importantly, significant time-saving workflow adaptations and improvements. The upgrade delivered greater efficiency and eliminated a complex workflow in which our producers emailed download links and staff manually downloaded, sorted, transcoded and reuploaded files for scheduling. Any missing files had to be reimported from storage for playout.

TelVue Connect now handles submissions through a cloud portal, giving producers individual moderated access to login, drag-and-drop programs directly into BRIC’s cloud media library and tag the metadata. Connect automatically transcodes files to consistent, broadcast-ready presets, while staff members moderate submissions and control delivery to the HyperCaster, including series scheduling.

With over 100 active content contributors sending BRIC hundreds of video files each week, TelVue’s dynamic, seamless cloud-based workflow for contribution, approval, delivery and scheduling files for playout has been a huge timesaver for the organization’s team, as well as their contributors, freeing them up for more creative work.

Rhonda Alexander, producer of “Tomorrow’s World,” said, “As one of the first producers to use this TelVue Connect system, it has made it so easy to upload our programs and track what we’ve released and what’s upcoming.”

We recently expanded our Connect licenses to encourage and enlist program submissions from more community members. TelVue supports our goals of streamlining submissions and future-proofing distribution across platforms. Our content will soon reach viewers on Apple, Android and Roku, and this shift allows us to curate more cohesive programming on our channel with content themes and create richer interstitials, rather than spending hours managing file logistics.

Over the next two years, more than 400 contributors will move to Connect for a YouTube-like submission experience. TelVue has helped us reimagine how channels operate through transcoding and easing scheduling, and allowing staff to focus on curation and the overall viewer experience.

We’re also excited to use TelVue’s paywall options and AI tools for summarization and indexing to improve discoverability.

Branded OTT
Our operational shift reflects the broadcast industry’s transition to cloud-driven contribution, automated scheduling and multiplatform distribution, and TelVue enables our organization to onboard producers easily, eliminate bottlenecks, and publish across cable, OTT, mobile and social media from a single platform.

TelVue provides a full broadcast ecosystem, simplifying high-volume submissions and optimizing scheduling and playout through its HyperCaster platform with integrated graphics and multi-streaming. TelVue also helped us launch branded OTT and mobile apps, giving audiences access to live channels and on-demand content with search.

By leveraging innovative broadcast and cloud technology solutions like TelVue’s, we can continue to build on our legacy of supporting local artistic and creative communities in their efforts to drive positive social change through digital media platforms and more.

More information is available at https://telvue.com.

CHICAGO—Weigel Broadcasting’s mission is to bring audiences the best in classic and contemporary entertainment. From MeTV, America’s leading classic television network, and Catchy Comedy to Movies!, Heroes & Icons and more, we deliver programming that connects generations of viewers across the United States.

To support our expanding portfolio of networks and affiliate stations, we needed exceptional-quality programming and modern technology to efficiently scale our operations. Managing a network of 25 television stations and multiple digital networks using hardware-heavy systems—with standalone encoders, playout servers and PSIP generators—was becoming increasingly complex. Each new station required more “pizza box” appliances, adding costs, maintenance and interoperability headaches.

It was time to rethink our broadcast infrastructure and break free from hardware limitations.

VOS Media Software
Our goal was clear: consolidate workflows, reduce hardware and create a future-ready foundation to sustain our rapid growth. We wanted a unified solution that would simplify our operations, eliminate redundant equipment and provide the flexibility to scale efficiently as we expanded into new markets.

From the start, we knew that a cloud-native approach to playout and delivery would be key to transforming how we operate. We chose Harmonic’s VOS Media Software to modernize our broadcast distribution, centralize control and simplify operations.

Harmonic’s VOS Media Software allows us to integrate automation, advanced playout, premium encoding and all the broadcast-grade capabilities we rely on into one streamlined platform. Instead of a patchwork of hardware at every site, everything is managed centrally, with greater control and efficiency.

With VOS Media Software, we can preassemble all channels and distribute air-ready signals directly to our owned stations. This change eliminates the need for local hardware at each station and dramatically simplifies channel origination.

Today, we manage 41 ATSC 1.0 signals, spanning both HD and SD channels, from a single, centralized environment. Our operations and engineering teams now control 24/7 linear channel origination, branding, statistical multiplexing and content delivery, all through a unified web interface.

What once required multiple systems for captioning, watermarking, graphics insertion and delay-line programming now lives entirely within the VOS platform. Harmonic’s containerized architecture makes it easy to scale resources up or down dynamically. If we need to launch a new channel or expand services in a market, we can do so almost instantly without new hardware investments or long deployment cycles.

Efficiency and Scalability
The results were immediate. By consolidating workflows into a single software environment, we’ve reduced hardware costs, eliminated interoperability challenges and simplified management for our engineering teams. Previously, adding a new station required weeks to procure and install hardware; now, it’s as simple as allocating more software capacity.

The shift to a subscription-based model has brought predictability. We can align costs with usage and redirect savings toward content creation and audience engagement—freeing up funds to invest in innovation.

Beyond cost savings, the transition to Harmonic’s VOS Media Software has modernized our operations. The same system now supports ATSC, streaming and split-signal workflows, positioning us to evolve alongside the industry and successfully meet our viewers’ needs. We’ve created all ATSC 1.0 multiprogram transport streams with well over 100 separate channels powered by VOS Media Software that feature SCTE-35-based ad insertion, opening new monetization opportunities.

Collaborating with Harmonic has reshaped how we think about broadcast operations. By embracing this playout-to-delivery transformation, we’ve not only simplified our workflows but also unlocked new creative and business potential. For Weigel Broadcasting, it’s the start of a new era that is defined by agility, efficiency and growth.

More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

LANCASTER, Pa.—Pocono Television Network (PTN) is operated by the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau (PMVB), a private, nonprofit organization that serves to promote, educate and attract visitors to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Launched in 2017, the channel showcases the region through original segments such as “Pocono Perspectives” and “Pocono Mountains Magazine,” weather updates, live webcams and features on local businesses and events.

The PMVB created its own television network in order to drive content development with a focus on storytelling about the destination and the organization’s 600 members. As president and CEO of the PMVB, I also serve as the executive in charge of production for PTN, which, over the past eight years, has grown substantially in its broadcast, cable and streaming coverage to now reach more than 50 million households.

By 2022, we had exceeded the technical limitations of our third-party distributor and decided to expand our existing partnership with Take One Productions. Under the new arrangement, Take One’s team and PMVB’s in-house staff produce content for the network, while Take One oversees content aggregation, scheduling and playout across cable, OTT and digital platforms.

Broadcast-Grade Upgrade
Supporting continuous multi­platform distribution of PTN would require more than a basic file-based system that simply creates playlists from uploaded content. We needed a broadcast-grade solution that we wouldn’t outgrow, supporting the complete workflow—ingest, media asset management, playout, graphics and master control—while delivering the scalability and long-term reliability needed for a 24/7 network.

Just as important, the platform had to be cloud-based. With Take One’s studio in Lancaster and the PMVB located two hours north in Stroudsburg, relying on physical infrastructure wasn’t practical. The Versio integrated playout system from Imagine Communications, combined with the company’s cloud-native Aviator Automation, turned out to be the perfect solution.

Versio gives us the core playout engine and pulls the workflow together, but the bonus is in how seamlessly it works with Imagine’s Aviator Automation to create a unified, cloud-based operation.

Aviator Automation simplifies the programming process, offering remote login capabilities that enable programming from anywhere. In addition, the platform provides as-run logs to reference what has played, while its built-in Content Portal makes managing content simple. For additional visibility into PTN’s inventory, special fields were added to the metadata so content can be quickly identified by season and region.

Versio and Aviator Automation are incredibly easy to operate and have been exceptionally reliable—in more than two years of 24/7 broadcasting, there hasn’t been a single minute of downtime due to system failure. And when there have been any issues, the Imagine team is available within minutes, and the issue gets resolved on the spot.

Easy to Scale
The Versio platform’s cloud capabilities have enabled us to expand PTN’s cable footprint to nearly a dozen providers across Pennsylvania. At the same time, we’ve built a strong OTT presence through Vimeo’s enterprise platform—allowing the network’s live stream from Versio to be delivered to a wide array of consumer devices. Viewers can download the app to watch live programming or explore on-demand content from anywhere.

Last year, we added over-the-air broadcasting to the distribution mix. The channel is now live in six markets—with a seventh on the way—reaching audiences in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Lancaster and Philadelphia, as well as Wilmington, Del., and even areas near the New York State border.

With cable, OTT and OTA distribution, PTN has the potential to reach millions of households, not including international audiences streaming online. For a regional tourism network, that kind of reach is a big step forward. We’ve even discussed launching a second channel, and with Versio, that’s now a realistic option. What once took nine months can now be done in just a few weeks.

More information is available at https://imaginecommunications.com.

SAN DIEGO—Visaic has deep roots in video and sports media. Our team of industry veterans has worked with some of the biggest brands in sports. We founded the company in 2020 to build a fast-growing sports business anchored by the Visaic Interactive Platform (VIP), an AI-powered engine that helps sports properties own their audience and elevate their brand.

Today, VIP is a fully managed, turnkey solution built on three core pillars: Fan Experience, Data IQ and Monetization. We deliver premium fan experiences across any device, apply advanced data science to deepen engagement, and provide flexible hybrid monetization models. VIP is purpose-built for sports, and we believe it is one of the most advanced platforms on the market.

To support VIP at true sports scale, we needed a reliable and flexible live-video workflow foundation—in 2025 alone, we surpassed 55,000 live games. During peak periods, we manage close to 2,000 games a week, so operating at this volume requires a partner that can support large-scale, flexible ingest and full automation.

API Forward
We evaluated several workflow technologies early in our development, but Zixi offered the combination of reliability, automation and partnership that we required. Zixi gives us the reliability and insight we need to scale efficiently. With a unified view of our live workflows, we have been able to grow distribution while keeping operational complexity firmly in check.

Three factors made Zixi the right choice for us. The first was the API-forward design. Even before ZEN Master’s API set reached its current level of maturity, it was clear we could automate the full life cycle of each event. We needed to create, configure, monitor, and tear down live events entirely through automation. Zixi gave us the means to build that system.

The second factor was the flexibility on ingest and delivery. We work with hundreds of venues and a wide range of production tools, which means we see all types of ingest formats. Zixi’s support for RTMP, SRT and the Zixi protocol allowed us to create a consistent and reliable workflow regardless of how a venue originates its feed.

The third factor was the partnership itself. Live sports requires rapid response, so our NOC works closely with Zixi support through established Slack workflows. The speed of that collaboration has been essential, whether an issue is minor or significant. The pace of live events does not allow slow turnaround times, and Zixi has consistently met the urgency of our environment.

Our workflow starts at the venue—across college campuses, arenas and automated camera systems, we ingest signals using RTMP, SRT or the Zixi protocol. Zixi Broadcaster instances, i.e. a virtual server running in the provider’s data center that is deployed in our cloud environment, handle transcoding, packaging and feed into our multi-CDN workflow. ZEN Master provides orchestration, but we rely on the ZEN Master APIs to automate the process. We also have AI agents that monitor the games for QoS and automatically trigger responses based on the incoming signals.

Automated Fall Sports
A typical Saturday during the fall sports season demonstrates how this works. Our platform may be processing hundreds of simultaneous games. For each event, our automation activates Zixi Broadcasters, assigns them to specific games, applies the correct transcoding settings, configures redundancy and monitors stream health. If a Broadcaster instance shows issues such as packet loss or increased latency, our system uses telemetry from Zixi to automatically reassign the event to another instance. The process is automated and does not require repeated operator input.

This level of automation allows our team to manage tens of thousands of games per month. Whether we’re powering large, aggregated sports platforms spanning many leagues and thousands of games or a branded university athletic conference with dense schedules and high live-viewer concurrency, Zixi enables consistent quality across widely varied venues and customer segments.

By integrating Zixi solutions with VIP, we have helped our customers achieve strong results and bring broadcast-level experiences to audiences of all sizes.

More information is available at https://zixi.com/.

LONDON—As Europe’s largest media company, Sky Group delivers premium content at a scale few media companies can match. Operating across multiple markets has meant managing a patchwork of siloed systems, inconsistent tooling, different operational practices and varied compliance requirements, preventing us from fully leveraging economies of scale.

Our challenge required not only a technically innovative approach to future-proof Sky’s content supply chain, but also a long-term strategic solution that would unify operations across the Group.

In short, we needed a radical shift onto a single platform.

One Group, One Platform
To address this, we built Media­Mesh, a unified cloud platform that centralizes QC, enrichment, conversion, and distribution at scale. The MediaMesh architecture—an API-driven, modular framework—brings together a curated ecosystem of in-house built microservices and products from leading industry partners, each selected for their ability to solve specific pain points.

For this project, we partnered with several companies, including SDVI, whose Rally platform provided the base layer that integrates with new and legacy tooling to retrieve metadata and media from dispersed systems and storage, in order to orchestrate content through the group’s platform.

Telestream’s Qualify serves as the automated quality control (QC) function at ingest, validating assets against Sky’s technical standards before proceeding further. Through close collaboration with operations, years of QC data were audited to optimize a system that flags issues early and reduces false positives compared to legacy tools, significantly minimizing manual review effort and downstream issues.

AWS ran AI to identify on-screen subtitles and spoken language to automatically identify localization requirements to fast-track downstream dubbing and subtitling efforts. This language detection has also allowed Sky Italia viewers to filter content by precise audio language, unlocking new levels of discoverability and personalization.

Codemill’s Accurate.Video platform not only plays back content, but provides a collection of audio controls, the ability to enable/disable subs and dubs for review and can present different time-based markers along a timeline (e.g., segmentation points, QC errors, sections needing localization).

We also deployed TMT Insights’ Polaris, which provides operations with a single platform identity, abstracting them from the multiple backend services, to streamline their operational practices. The Polaris UI provides visibility into metadata, end-to-end monitoring, workflow anomalies, prioritizes task management for steps requiring human intervention, communication threading and launching specialized functions such as editing tasks, various exports and ad hoc workflows. These functions help operations meet critical SLAs with confidence, reduce touchpoints, and speed up time to air.

Whether it’s ingesting content from over 300 content partners, enriching it with metadata and access services, or distributing it to platforms like Sky Glass and NOW, MediaMesh ensures every step is automated, observable, and streamlined. And the elastic scalability allocates sufficient system resources to meet the changing business demands.

To deliver a platform as ambitious as MediaMesh, we had to rethink not just our technology stack, but our internal capabilities. This meant evolving from a traditional broadcast engineering mindset to a software-first organization. TV engineers retrained as software engineers, embracing cloud-native development and modern DevOps practices. This transformation has not only accelerated delivery but fostered a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Business Benefits
By centralizing workflows, we can develop and deploy features once, rather than duplicating effort across multiple systems, delivering consistent benefits across the entire group. This streamlines internal investment and speeds up our time-to-market when delivering new features. Today, MediaMesh processes more than 2.7 million assets annually, equating to more than 10 million minutes of content, and manages around $2 billion worth of media across our ecosystem.

As we continue to evolve MediaMesh, we’re exploring new ways to enrich content, streamline compliance, and personalize viewer experiences across markets. The platform’s modular design ensures we can adapt quickly, whether it’s integrating new services, responding to regulatory changes or supporting future product launches. MediaMesh has laid the foundation for a more agile, scalable and collaborative future at Sky, and we’re excited to build on this momentum to shape next-generation content processing.

More information is available at www.telestream.net.

ORLANDO, Fla.—I started my first TV job in 1985 in the Orlando market at WESH-TV, loading 2-inch carts into an ACR25 for commercial playout and news playback on ¾-inch tape. At the same time, Florical Systems released its first product, TimeShifter. Since then, I moved on to Betacart, live shot acquisition and master control while Florical stepped up the technology with ShowTimer and AirBoss.

Forty years later, we’re both still here—my employer, Hearst Television, which acquired WESH in 1998, operates 35 stations nationwide. Every day, we manage the flow of syndicated shows, network feeds, commercials and promos that need to reach the air without fail.

My current role is to make sure that content is prepared, validated and delivered to our stations in a way that is both reliable and efficient. Ingest and media asset management sit at the center of this process, and over the past two years, we’ve transformed how we handle them with Florical.

The Deployment
We began rolling out Florical’s ingest and asset management module in 2024 with the goal of creating a stronger foundation for how content enters our ecosystem—whether that content is coming in from distributors, agencies or internal production teams. By putting ingest and asset management in place first, we were able to establish group-wide consistency in how files are received, cataloged and validated.

Earlier this year, we completed the next phase of that transition, moving our stations onto Florical’s AirBoss automation for playout. Having the ingest and asset-management tools already in place made that transition much smoother, because the content feeding automation was already standardized and predictable.

Stephanie Sobiech, our content coordinator, is on the front line every day, handling program and promo distribution and working directly with incoming feeds from Pathfire, PitchBlue, Extreme Reach, OTSM and our networks. With Florical, she no longer has to manually track whether a file is complete or in the right format; the system validates incoming content automatically and flags any problems before they reach the air chain. That has freed her to focus on higher-level coordination instead of chasing technical errors.

Commercials and syndicated programming represent another critical part of our workflow, and Florical has helped us bring real efficiency to that process. At Hearst, we operate on a “touch-once, distribute-to-many” model.

A single program or commercial may need to be delivered to 25 stations, and Florical’s workflows allow us to handle that with economies of scale. The content is ingested and validated once, then mapped and distributed to all the stations that need it. Our dedicated commercial preparation and approval team depends on these workflows every day to ensure spots and shows are delivered consistently group-wide. Instead of repeating the same steps, they can focus on confirming the content is correct and ready, knowing the distribution piece is handled efficiently.

The benefits extend to housekeeping, as well. Because the system manages distribution centrally, we can avoid duplication and unnecessary storage at the station level. At the same time, archived content remains accessible through AWS, so if a station needs to pull material back, it can be retrieved quickly without adding complexity to the local workflow.

Error Reduction
Since completing the rollout, the biggest change I’ve seen is consistency across the group. Whether it’s Stephanie managing syndicated feeds, the commercial team approving spots or operators checking final playlists, everyone is working under the same ingest and distribution standards. We’ve reduced manual errors, shortened turnaround times and freed people to spend more energy on coordination and quality control rather than on chasing missing files.

Looking forward, the metadata foundation we’ve built with Florical puts us in a strong position for the next phase of automation. AI-assisted workflows that can reconcile traffic logs, detect anomalies, and even self-correct ingest issues will depend on having robust and consistent metadata. For us, that future starts with the reliability we’ve already gained from
Florical’s ingest and asset-management tools.

More information is available at www.florical.com.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore.—In 2007, I began filming Mark Warmer restoring an Mopar Muscle Car and the “Graveyard Carz” series began. Shortly thereafter, Warmer and I co-founded production company The Division, focusing on reality television, and today “Graveyard Carz,” a reality show chronicling the restoration of Mopar Muscle Cars that are often deemed beyond repair, is the longest-running series on MotorTrend’s linear network.

Over the years we’ve learned a lot, particularly when it comes to streamlining workflows and increasing efficiency. We’re a small crew, handling virtually everything in-house: shooting, editing, mixing, color correction, producing, mastering, delivering and social media. (I even do voiceover for the show.)

Better Collaboration
Previously, our post workflow was hampered by the fact that any last-minute edits involved changing multiple projects and tracking multiple changes across multiple versions. In moving to DaVinci Resolve Studio, I was most excited by team collaboration via Blackmagic Cloud. My hope was that I could color-correct while my fellow executive producer, Jeffrey Osborns, could mix—in a proper DAW [digital audio workstation], like DaVinci Resolve’s Fairlight. Even more, I hoped that our talented editor and animator Nick DeAngelo would be able to add b-roll—all simultaneously. We still have some details to iron out, but overall, I’m very pleased with the improvements to our workflow.

While the move to DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud was an essential step forward, I thought why not streamline further by bringing editing into production (vs. just post) for larger, multicam shoots with an ATEM Television Studio HD8 ISO switcher?

I knew the ATEM ISO model shined when used with DaVinci Resolve for postproduction, so why not direct and capture episodic shoots in a live production style, with pre-edited segments enhancing efficiency, while maintaining the flexibility to further edit in post?

For these shoots, we record onto the local hard drive, saving the .DRP file (i.e., a DaVinci Resolve Project file) along with it. This enables us to switch cameras and direct the shoot in a “live” style while maintaining the flexibility to edit afterwards. The ability to edit with proxies and then switch to Blackmagic RAW at the push of a button for final grading is unique. This can be a fast and appealing workflow if you don’t mind working with multiple cameras in the sync bin.

Pre-Editing Segments
Now, we can pre-edit larger segments while making sure we have coverage of the action. We use headsets to communicate during the shoot, with the ATEM operator informing the crew which camera is being used or how to adjust a shot. While this live directing approach is something we’ve done without a switcher, it’s a terrible waste of resources when it’s so easy to have someone simply push buttons and edit the segment live. It gives the editor a huge leg up when they have a large segment.

Additionally, it’s much more pleasant for a producer to watch something that appears to be edited. It’s also possible to mix cameras in this workflow, and even to process the resulting .DRP in such a way as to produce a classic multicam clip, if that workflow is more appealing.

As an independent production company, we have leveraged social media for promotion from the very beginning—so using the ATEM for multicam live streams is also exceptionally valuable to us. We’ve used it to live stream on social media platforms, and I am confident we will continue to do so.

For more information, contact Blackmagic Design at
408-954-0500 or visit www.blackmagicdesign.com.

ALLENTOWN, Pa.—Owned by Maranatha Broadcasting Co., WFMZ-TV is an independent station based in Allentown, Pa., that also operates Maranatha-owned MeTV affiliate WDPN-TV Philadelphia. We are a unique operation, airing more than 10 hours of local news daily, covering the northern tier of the Philadelphia DMA and 12 total subchannels across our stations.

As sponsorships have become more graphics-intensive, we realized that our old automation was showing its limitations. Managing playout and graphics across multiple facilities and monitored channels also became increasingly inefficient with our existing system. We needed a cohesive platform from a single vendor that could handle automation and graphics with ease.

Linked Deployments
Imagine Communications offered exactly that. We adopted the company’s ADC automation and Versio Graphics solutions, deploying the automation across three sites: our main studios in Allentown, a disaster recovery site, and a separate onsite disaster playout server at the MeTV transmitter site in Philadelphia.

With the Imagine solution, we gained a unified workflow that aligned perfectly with how we already created content. The built-in Adobe After Effects integration was especially valuable.

Once we chose Imagine and went online, the benefits were immediate. Our syndicated content comes from sources such as Extreme Reach and Pitch Blue. For years, we segmented shows manually, a slow process of recording and segmenting each program by hand.

That changed with Imagine’s Motion feature, which reads BXF metadata from syndicators to segment programs automatically. Even when issues arise, we can reingest and resegment within minutes. The improvement in efficiency and reliability has been tremendous.

Versio Graphics has also transformed how we engage with our viewers. We now use a wide range of on-screen graphics, L-bars, snipes and more in our newscast and sponsored snipes on various channels. Each month, we partner with a local client for an awareness campaign tied to that month’s theme.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, for example, we created educational snipes with rotating facts about Hispanic history and culture. The system randomized which fact appeared, keeping content fresh and engaging.

We realized another example of the system’s flexibility when our Reading, Pa., newsroom celebrated the 30th anniversary of its “Berks Edition” newscast. Using Versio Graphics, we created a dynamic on-screen bug that animated from our standard logo to reveal the anniversary emblem. With the dynamic branding feature, the automation recognized when the Berks Edition newscast was live and automatically switched to the special bug, no reprogramming required.

That same efficiency extends to our weather channel, which runs nearly 300 graphics, all based on a single Adobe After Effects template that lets us quickly swap in client logos and publish updates. The process saves hours of production time and keeps every graphic consistent with our design standards. Versio Graphics made it easy to maintain, even with the many updates we manage each week.

Earlier this year, the platform played an instrumental role in overhauling our weather channel, enabling us to replace a complex system of external machines and contact closures. The system’s new “play from folder” feature lets us integrate video playback directly into the graphics engine, turning what could have been a costly rebuild into a quick, affordable transition.

Versio Graphics
Choosing Imagine for our operations was absolutely the right move. Versio Graphics and ADC automation have brought reliability, flexibility, and creativity to everything we do. Viewer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and Imagine’s support team has been outstanding. Whether troubleshooting or tracking down the source of issues, they’ve always been responsive and professional, even during late-night calls.

As an independent station preparing to celebrate our 50th anniversary during Thanksgiving week of 2026, we continue to chart our own path, guided by a forward-looking management team that’s always planning for growth. Our infrastructure gives us room to expand, and with Versio Graphics and ADC automation at the core, we’re well-positioned to keep innovating and delivering high-quality local content.

More information is available at https://imaginecommunications.com/.

KEIZER, Ore.—Municipal broadcaster Keizer City Television, K23 TV, has deployed four Telycam PTZ cameras to upgrade the visual quality of its live meeting coverage.

The government access broadcaster plays an important role in connecting Keizer officials with citizens. Broadcasting and streaming from council chambers in the Keizer City Hall, the channel, operated by Ambition Pictures, provides live coverage of city council and other municipal activities, including planning commission, transportation and parks advisory board sessions.

This past summer, the broadcaster set out to replace and improve its aging, first-generation NDI PTZ cameras.

“At KeizerTV, we do our best to maintain a high level of production for everything we do, to give our viewers an optimal experience,” KeizerTV Producer Phillip Wade said. “Our existing cameras were starting to have issues, such as focus drift, but we also wanted to improve our overall quality to meet our high standards.”

Wade’s quality goals included increasing the visual fidelity captured by the cameras. “The resolution of our existing cameras was 1920x1080 HD, but we wanted better color reproduction, exposure and sharpness,” he said. “Being able to get better color and exposure in our council chambers improves the overall production quality.”

The broadcaster also wanted to increase the number of cameras deployed to enable more comprehensive coverage and to have a greater optical zoom range to allow better close-ups across the council chamber space.

Systems integrator Mid-Valley Media recommended Wade evaluate Telycam’s Vision+ N3 cameras with 30x optical zoom. He found the camera delivered the performance K23 TV was seeking. The city purchased and deployed four of the cameras, which went live in August.

At the front of the city council chambers, up to seven meeting participants are seated at a forward-facing, curved dais. Smaller offshoots on each side seat additional participants. Two Telycam cameras at the back of the room capture close-up and wide shots of those on the main dais, while the other two cameras are positioned at the sides of the room to capture people seated on the offshoot wings. The side cameras also cover the area where members of the public present or speak during city meetings.

The cameras are connected to a Vizrt TriCaster TC1 Pro production switcher in an IP-based workflow using NDI HX3 connectivity. In addition to being broadcast on television via Comcast, the output of the TriCaster is also streamed live on the city’s Facebook and YouTube channels in both English and Spanish. The Spanish streams are created by sending the NDI feed of the TriCaster’s program output to another room where it is translated by interpreters. A Spanish audio translation is mixed in with a TriCaster Mini.

KeizerTV initially controlled the pan, tilt and zoom functions of the Telycam cameras through the TriCaster TC1, but found it cumbersome to do so with the same control surface used for switching.

“The TriCaster control surface has an integrated joystick, but it’s not positioned ergonomically for camera control,” said Wade. “You have to reach across all the other buttons on the panel to get to the joystick and press two buttons on the other side of the panel to activate which camera you want. It was awkward, which delayed getting the subject into frame.”

Wade added a Telycam V-Joy+ AT controller to the installation. “It’s important for us to be able to quickly select a camera and move it, and the Telycam controller lets us do that efficiently,” he said.

The Vision+ N3 cameras have met the broadcaster’s objectives and expectations. “We’re very happy with the quality of the video they produce,” Wade said. “I also appreciate being able to manually set the aperture of the camera. That gives us some control of the depth of field, which makes the footage look and feel higher-end.”

Wade also praised the speed and precision of the Telycam cameras’ autofocusing. “The cameras adjust very quickly,” he said. “When I move the camera position, it’s already in focus by the time I’m ready to cut to that camera.”

More information is available on the Telycam website.

NEW WINDSOR, N.Y.—PRG is a global leader in production technology, powering creativity across every corner of the live and entertainment industries. While our roots are on Broadway—and we remain deeply entrenched in theater—we now partner with the world’s biggest names in live events, concert tours, corporate experiences, television and film. Today, more than 80% of our work is in 4K or higher.

Clients come to us with an idea, and we turn it into reality. That might be the setup and rental of a couple of digital cinematography cameras for an episodic shoot, or it could be a massive production infrastructure. We’ve even delivered productions on a record-breaking scale—like season one of “Beast Games,” for which we provided more than 300 cameras.

Flyaway Systems for Scale
To support the nature of our business, we build flyaway systems that can interconnect to give us the scale we need. We include all of the video and audio processing, along with routers from Evertz or Ross Video in racks under 63 inches in height so they can fit on a plane.

We have to work within tight space constraints, but we also have to remember our ultimate goal of ensuring the highest possible quality all time. So, our systems include signal-measurement kits, and for that we rely entirely on Leader. Typically, our racks will include the LV5350 waveform monitor and the LT4670 sync generator.

That means we can easily provide complete timecode, video quality monitoring and measurement, right where the production needs it. Where there needs to be quick adjustment, users can have confidence in what they are seeing. Indeed, the Leader name is widely recognized as the one to choose for video test and measurement, so our clients feel confident knowing we use these instruments.

Our quality control starts before the kit gets to the venue. Our camera team, led by Kenny Kato, checks every camera before it goes out. Where necessary, we have built on the manufacturers’ video standards to develop our own PRG quality baselines to deliver the best possible quality and ensure consistency. A large production will have cameras in multiple formats from many manufacturers, and we ensure that they are matched as closely as is technically feasible. This reduces stress on-site and time in edit.

All the Data at a Glance
Our camera workshops use the Leader LV7600W rasterizer. This means the engineer can precisely see the measurements they want in the layout they want on a large monitor on a workbench. That includes SDI packet timing as well as waveform and vectors to ensure the perfect signal is being delivered. Being able to see all the information simultaneously is obviously a huge time-saver, and more convenient and cost-effective than buying multiple instruments from multiple vendors.

Where we are lining up high-quality cameras for episodic shoots, the LV7600W allows the engineer to fully evaluate the output against a CIE diagram. It helps me confirm whether we’re hitting Rec. 709 or BT2020. The ability to display precise code value, rather than just a waveform, speeds accuracy.

We first used Leader test and measurement equipment in 2015 when we provided the facilities for one of the world’s largest sporting events. It worked well for us, and we have seen no reason to change. Leader Instruments offer us quick and clear access to precision measurement in the form that works best for us and for our clients. They’ve proven to be reliable, efficient tools—and in our view, they’re some of the best products in the industry.

More information is available at https://leaderphabrix.com/.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—WUFT-TV, a PBS member station operated by the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, is both a vital public broadcaster and a training ground for future media professionals. We provide trusted news, educational content, PBS programming and critically important public-safety information from WUFT’s Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (FPREN), which provides hurricane and other significant safety information to the state. WUFT-TV’s service area extends from the Florida-Georgia state line to The Villages and coast to coast in North Florida.

The initial need we set out to address with Actus Digital, a LiveU company, was compliance. WUFT had relied on a memory card-based workflow for air check recording that left the station and university vulnerable, as we could not prove compliance during FCC inspections.

Proof of Compliance
When evaluating technology options, the Actus platform stood out for its comprehensive feature set—particularly its Compliance and Quality Assurance tools. The interactive multiviewer further solidified Actus as the clear choice. As an existing LiveU user station, we’re also excited about the potential for deeper integration in the future.

The Actus QA Compliance Logger has become the backbone of our compliance strategy. It reliably captures everything required to demonstrate FCC compliance, including recordings, closed captioning, CALM Act loudness monitoring and Emergency Alert System messages.

As our chief engineer, Larry Bornacelli, explained: “One of the worst things that can happen to a media property is getting fined by the FCC. Actus protects us by proving we are compliant for both TV and radio.”

Beyond compliance, Actus vastly improves our quality with effective QC monitoring. The Actus multiviewer, accessible anywhere, displays a real-time panorama of our over-the-air broadcast, HDMI set-top box returns and our radio station. It immediately identifies frozen video, missing captions, audio dropouts and other issues with visual/audible alerts on the multiviewer, while also routing notifications through Active Directory via email and SMS.

This integration means our engineers know instantly when there’s a problem and can quickly pinpoint the source of an issue, which dramatically shortens troubleshooting time. Additionally, transport stream analysis gives packet-level visibility into our broadcast, letting us assess latency, jitter and encoding errors.

The Actus system was installed in our technical center alongside our existing encoders and decoders, with Actus technical staff logging in remotely for the configuration. We were so eager that we started using it even before official training, and it quickly replaced several piecemeal systems. Integration with Active Directory simplified user management, and within days, our staff was actively using the system.

Ethan Magoc, interim director of the Innovation News Center at the College of Journalism and Communications, described the overall impact. “Actus is a professional, reliable, industry-standard system that allows our engineers to maintain the quality of our broadcast…while also enabling our students to train on the same state-of-the-art systems they will find in the market after graduation,” he said.

EAS Compliance
In addition, our Actus system plays a vital role in public safety, delivering undeniable proof that WUFT is meeting its FCC EAS obligations. Actus provides a clear timeline of events, supports post-event investigations and verifies performance with reports according to FPREN. This also applies to our BEACON 24-hour, AI-based alerting system, which allows us to deliver timely and accurate messages during hurricanes and other emergencies.

For WUFT, Actus has become an indispensable tool on many levels. It strengthens quality control, assures us of compliance and streamlines engineering operations across the broadcast chain.

Before Actus, we relied on multiple disparate systems. Now, one unified platform gives us a single point of access and confidence in our compliance and quality, across all media properties. With Actus, WUFT has the tools to meet our challenges head-on, confident we are maintaining standards, complying with regulations and continuing to lead our community as a trusted broadcaster and world-class teaching facility.

More information is available at http://actusdigital.com.

LAS VEGAS—At Creative Technology, we deliver mission-critical monitoring and multi­viewing solutions for some of the world’s largest live events, from international product launches and corporate meetings to major tech conferences. Our workflows span on-premises compressed and uncompressed IP, OTT and remote production over public internet.

To keep pace with the speed and diversity of these productions, we needed a software platform that was flexible, scalable and capable of delivering high-quality, low-latency multiviewers for every team—on site or remote.

Today, the TAG Realtime Monitoring Platform from TAG Video Systems provides the scalable probing, monitoring and multiviewing backbone for our operators, engineers and directors. It’s helping us to reduce friction, accelerate deployment and gain complete confidence in every signal we manage.

TAG’s zero-friction model gives us the flexibility to scale in any direction, from a single server with dozens of sources to multiple servers handling smaller, dedicated workloads.

The Deployment
We initially deployed TAG to support our remote and virtual operations in the U.S. Since then, we’ve supported productions across Europe, Asia and South America. As the needs of each production can vary significantly, we were able to spin up and down environments without the overhead and limitations of fixed hardware—replacing traditional multiviewers with TAG’s IP-native software platform.

That flexibility made TAG an ideal fit across our use cases: Large-scale corporate, sports and entertainment events; complex workflows with tally, UMD control and data integration; and hybrid setups involving multiple networks and locations.

TAG’s orchestration layer allowed us to scale up quickly. Our network operations center (NOC) team handles layout adjustments and signal routing centrally, while field operators and directors get real-time, tailored views. Whether we’re running TAG on bare metal or in the cloud, the consistency and quality of experience are the same.

We use TAG everywhere we can—on prem or cloud, compressed or uncompressed, we just stand it up and go. It’s that flexible.

What stood out most during implementation was TAG’s simplicity and speed. We had new instances running in minutes—not days—and configuration was intuitive enough that multiple engineers across locations could operate in parallel.

We rely on TAG’s orchestration tools to manage layouts, swap sources, and deliver exact multiviews to various users without duplicate effort. Operators receive only what they need, and directors are seeing camera shading, tally indicators, and graphics timing in real time.

Our team also appreciates the operational independence TAG provides. We’re able to make multiview changes on the fly without touching routers or interrupting the production flow. “It’s not just the layout flexibility,” Sarah Wright, project engineer at Creative Technology said. “It’s the user interface, the orchestration. It’s brilliant.”

Operational Benefits
TAG has become a key part of our live production strategy. We can deploy, configure and reconfigure in minutes—giving us the ability to handle last-minute changes and multiple show formats.

Probing and multiviewing across video, audio and metadata lets us spot issues immediately and take corrective action. Layouts, tallies and source changes are handled remotely by our NOC, giving field teams what they need with zero disruption.

We can also scale up and down as required without having to worry about moving licenses around.

TAG also lets each department—engineering, operations and technical directors­—get the view they need, how they need it. This makes us more efficient, responsive and more confident. TAG just works.

We enjoy working with the team at TAG and look forward to continuing our partnership. We’re exploring even deeper integrations with our telemetry and orchestration layers. We also see the potential to add advanced features like smart recording and content matching as our workflows evolve.

At Creative Technology, we’re committed to engineering the best solutions for our clients. TAG helps us do that—with less effort, more flexibility, and total confidence in our signal chain.

More information is available at https://tagvs.com/monitoring/.

ALAMEDA, Calif.—Northern Michigan broadcaster WWTV recently completed a major IP-based upgrade that connects its new Traverse City studio with its control room nearly fifty miles away in Cadillac.

Spearheaded by systems integrator Key Code Media, the ambitious project included the installation of a new Clear-Com Arcadia Central Station to enable fully distributed communications across the two sites.

WWTV has served the region as both a CBS and FOX affiliate since 1954. It moved into a new, compact Traverse City studio to consolidate operations and modernize its broadcast capabilities. The station faced a unique challenge: operating a live, on-air studio with no on-site engineers while keeping all technical staff based at its Cadillac control room.

To solve that problem, Key Code Media delivered an end-to-end IP infrastructure, integrating networked cameras, audio, video routing, and control systems between the two facilities. At the heart of the communications upgrade was the Clear-Com Arcadia Central Station, which replaced WWTV’s decades-old party-line system.

“The old building was too big, too costly, and no longer served our needs,” said Ben Scripps, assistant operations manager at WWTV. “Our team made the decision to consolidate and move our studio closer to our offices in Traverse City but we had to keep the Master Control in Cadillac. That’s 50 miles apart. How do you make that work?”

Arcadia’s scalability and Dante integration were instrumental in Key Code Media’s design, helping WWTV to route intercom audio alongside video and control signals with minimal latency. This modernized intercom backbone ensures that talent and production staff remain in sync across geographically separated facilities.

“The whole setup had to be intuitive. We don’t have engineers on site,” added Scripps. “Key Code made sure we could walk in, touch a screen, and the studio would be lit for our show.”

“Clear-Com’s Arcadia was a critical part of making this distributed IP workflow possible,” added Jon Rutherford, director of broadcast solutions at Key Code Media. “It provided the flexibility, reliability, and ease of integration we needed to unify communications for a team working across nearly 50 miles of distance.”

The project also included robotic Sony PTZ cameras, Autoscript prompters, Sennheiser wireless audio, Planar LED displays, and a Ross Ultrix router, all tied together through a robust IP network architecture.

With Arcadia at its core, WWTV now operates with streamlined communications, enhanced production efficiency, and the flexibility to scale for future needs, the station reported.

ALAMEDA, Calif.—Clear-Com has announced new software updates to its Arcadia Central Station that enable connectivity across Clear-Com products as well as third-party Dante/AES67 devices.

Arcadia Central Station is a scalable, IP-based intercom that seamlessly integrates wired and wireless systems across digital, analog, Dante/AES67, and Clear-Com’s I.V. Direct, according to the company.

The latest enhancements include support for V-Series IrisX Panels and flexible port allocation. Users can now connect up to 32 V-Series IrisX panels directly to Arcadia, enabling high-density keypanel workflows traditionally reserved for expensive and complex matrix systems. Port allocation flexibility also lets operators balance HelixNet digital partyline and I.V. Direct connections as needed, for the flexibility to suit almost any workflow.

“With this release, Arcadia moves beyond party line communications into a true communications hub,” Clear-Com Vice President of Product Management Dave MacKinnon said. “It’s a complete communications solution that grows with customer needs, integrates easily into existing infrastructures, and supports everything from partyline to IP matrix keypanels, all in a 1RU device.”

Arcadia’s robust architecture supports nearly any operating environment, on analog XLR, IP networks or fiber, and accommodates wireless across 1.9-GHz, 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz spectrums. Many different industries including broadcast studios, houses of worship, live theaters and sports arena users can deploy sophisticated, multichannel communications without the need for traditional matrix frames. As with all of Clear-Com’s products, the company said.

SYDNEY—RTS has announced that Channel 7 Sydney has deployed a new comms system from the intercom vendor as part of a larger ST-2110 upgrade.

When Channel 7 made its big move from Martin Place to Eveleigh, one of the most important equipment upgrades it had to make was transitioning its intercoms to full ST-2110. For that, the station turned to Magna Systems and a new RTS comms solution.

“Intercoms are one of the most critical parts of kit for a broadcaster as you really can’t produce content without it,” Channel 7 Broadcast Support Manager Chris Spalding said. “When we moved, we required all the new intercoms to be ST-2110 compliant and compatible. Our operators love RTS kit, its ease of use and how logical its keypanel functions are, so we asked Lucas Bohm at Magna Systems for a proposed solution.”

Along with ST-2110 compatibility the new upgrade came with RTS’ latest feature set including new color displays, a raft of new and improved features and an easy transition from Channel 7’s legacy system.

“The solution that Magna Systems proposed and that we installed gives us ultra-high-quality comms, the scale and functionality to produce any amount of content small or large and to manage the coordination of comms across our key programming including news and Sunrise,” Spalding said. “We were able to seamlessly trunk the new system with the old legacy system and ended up with an overall even more efficient and reliable solution.”

The new Channel 7 RTS system included multiple ODIN-64 matrices linked with full intelligent N+1 redundancy software, KP5032 2RU color LCD keypanels, KP4016 1RU color LCD keypanels, EKP4016 1RU universal color LCD expansion panels, DKP4016 desktop colour LCD panels, PAP5032 2RU color LCD program assignment panels, MCP90-12 mics and PH-88R single sided lightweight headsets.

“This new RTS kit and solution is state of the art and fulfills all of our requirements,” Spalding said. “The ODIN matrix is particularly flexible, enabling us to easily transition between analog, Omneo, RVON and 2110. It’s great for connecting between offices and the ST-2110 compatibility is far better than it was with older systems. This means it still does everything we used to do and more without issues. The quality and the reliability of the RTS system really stand out.”

Spalding said he sees comms as the heart of Channel 7’s operation, and every media, MCR and edit suite has RTS intercoms. “The RTS kit handles every aspect of comms at Channel 7, including in-studio and remote IFBs and all network crosses between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane,” he added.

The ODIN Digital Intercom that Channel 7 has chosen is a highly scalable intercom system in a 1 rack-unit package. As the network’s capacity needs to evolve, a single ODIN can grow from 16 ports to a maximum of 128 ports. A maximum of eight ODIN units can be interconnected via an optical Inter-Frame Link creating a single matrix with up to 1024 ports.

“We have always had a good experience with RTS comms and that has definitely continued with this new ST-2110 compatible kit,” Spalding said. “ST-2110 gives us a real edge as it easily manages everything we did before but now also gives us more flexibility, via ease of configuration, to be agile when we have special requirements. It also integrates far more quickly with other systems. We wanted an industry standard and we got it with this new RTS solution. Whether we use it in a small OB truck or large TV station, it provides us with the same level of flexibility and functionality. I have to also make mention of RTS, Lucas Bohm and Magna Systems as their support and help with commissioning and integration has been excellent.”

LAS VEGAS—Sphere Entertainment Co. has released new details around the sound, score and infrasound haptic seats for The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, a fully immersive experience designed to make audiences feel like they have stepped inside the film.

For the experience, Sphere Studios is leveraging Sphere’s audio technologies, along with newly discovered archival material, to create an experience that remains true to the filmmakers’ intent while layering in technologies that bring it new life.

“There’s Dorothy and ‘Over the Rainbow’ as you heard them before, and there will be Dorothy and ‘Over the Rainbow’ as you hear them now, with the film’s classic music taking on new clarity and immersion through Sphere Immersive Sound,” said Carolyn Blackwood, head of Sphere Studios. “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, heard and felt through our cutting-edge technologies, will create a new emotional connection to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ that is only possible at Sphere.”

(Also: Toto... We're Not in Kansas Anymore—'Wizard of Oz' Hits the Vegas Sphere)

To take advantage of Sphere Immersive Sound’s 167,000 programmable speakers and ability to direct sound anywhere in the venue, the original film’s monoaural score was rerecorded to take on new clarity via Sphere Immersive Sound, while preserving the casts’ vocal performances.

To achieve this, the mono audio had to first be separated into individual stems of vocals, dialogue, and sound effects. This process, a collaboration between Sphere Studios and Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, used advanced audio technologies to create the individual components without distortion or artifacts. Inside Sphere, the stems are being layered together to create a sound mix that reveals a depth and clarity unheard in the 1939 film.

They also rerecorded the score on the same scoring stage as the 1930s original—retaining the same acoustic environment.

To further maintain the integrity of the original score, the re-recorded score features more than 80 musicians playing in the 1930s style of film music, including techniques such as pizzicato and vibrato that were standard for the era, but are less common in modern scores.

Additionally, an ocarina, a small wind instrument used during the original recording session of “If I Only Had a Brain,” was also used for “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere” recording, having been passed down through generations of musicians.

While re-recording the score, each section of the orchestra was also recorded individually with state-of-the-art miking. Coupled with Sphere Immersive Sound’s directional capabilities and the vocal and sound effect stems, it will seem as though sound travels around the venue. For example, as the Tin Man tilts back and forth during his number, the isolated sound of the strings will also oscillate to emphasize his movement in visual and sonic unison, the venue reported.

“We approached the recording and mixing process for ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Sphere with a deep reverence for the original music, resulting in a breathtaking blend of legacy and innovation,” said Julianne Jordan, Grammy Award-winning music supervisor of “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere. “Sphere Immersive Sound offers opportunities for sound mixing that go well beyond a traditional theater, and this score will now be heard and felt with a level of clarity and immersion that was previously impossible.”

To enhance the immersion in “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere, Sphere’s infrasound and haptic seat technology is being used for the first time to not only create vibrations, but also emit tones that emphasize moments in the film experience. For example, when the characters enter the haunted forest, an eerie tone will emanate from the seats, bringing the audience into the foursome’s perspective and imposing the same ominous feeling.

“This is the first time sound technology has been used in this way in any venue,” said Paul Freeman, vice president and principal audio artist, Sphere Studios. “We developed a physical way of delivering sound that allows us to not only vibrate the seats, but also place tone in them that puts you in the film—audiences will literally feel what they are hearing.”

The venue stressed that the vibrations, infrasound and Sphere Immersive Sound will come together for maximum impact during key moments of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere. For example, when the main characters visit the Wizard in his throne room, his voice will boom throughout the venue, complemented by tremors and low-frequency sounds from the seats. Intentional reverberations will be created within the venue to completely immerse the audience in sound—and anticipation.

As part of the experience, the original film, shot for a 4:3 movie screen in the 1930s, will fill Sphere’s 160,000 sq. ft. interior display plane, which wraps up, over and around the audience to create a fully immersive visual environment. The Wizard of Oz at Sphere will utilize environmental effects and custom scents to make audiences feel as if they are part of the movie and have landed in Kansas and Oz.

The sound creative team for The Wizard of Oz at Sphere includes: Grammy Award-nominated music producer/sound designer Paul Freeman (“Spies”); Grammy Award-winning music supervisor Julianne Jordan (“A Star Is Born”); Academy Award- nominated composer David Newman (”Anastasia“); Academy Award-winning sound engineer Shawn Murphy (Jurassic Park“).

And from Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services: sound engineer Tony Pilkington (“Sinners”); Academy Award-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Richard King (“Dune: Part Two’); and Cinema Audio Society-nominated rerecording mixer Tim LeBlanc (“Superman”).

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere opens Aug. 28 with multiple showtimes daily. Tickets start at $104 and are on sale now at thesphere.com.

DALLAS—CBS Stations has expanded its use of an in-house developed augmented reality and virtual reality solution for news and weather with the launch of a new AR/VR studio at CBS Texas.

The launch makes CBS Texas the first station in the region to introduce this technology. It is the eighth market where CBS Stations has launched the solution since it was first developed at its Bay Area operations.

CBS Texas debuted the AR/VR system on-air Monday, June 23, during the CBS News Texas 5 p.m. newscast, led by First Alert chief meteorologist McKenna King, who guided viewers through the first immersive weather segment using the new platform.

The AR/VR-enabled studio, measuring approximately 20,384 cubic feet, transforms storytelling by offering a dynamic, visually rich experience that brings weather to life. From hyperrealistic weather simulations to immersive storytelling environments, the technology enhances both presentation and viewer comprehension of complex topics, the station group said.

“The launch in Texas further underscores our commitment to investing in the future of local journalism,” said Jennifer Mitchell, president of CBS Stations and CBS News and Stations Digital. “Through the expansion of our technological capabilities, we continue to deepen how we serve our communities, elevate the viewer experience and shape the future of broadcast journalism.”

“Over the past year, we’ve evolved every part of our newsroom – from refreshing our newscasts, updating our brand and building a multiplatform coverage strategy,” said Raquel Amparo, president and general manager of CBS Texas. “This technology is the next chapter and allows us to enhance meaningful content for everyone we serve.”

The launch follows successful implementations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver and Miami.

ABILENE, Texas—Following a severe June 8 storm that knocked down a tower onto the Sinclair-owned KTXS building, the initial scene at the site was devastating. The collapsed roof had destroyed the ABC affiliate's studio, wrecking a lot of equipment and making it impossible to produce newscasts.

Luckily, no one was injured in the disaster, and the station’s news operation was able to quickly recover thanks to a recently deployed cloud-based master control system that allowed Sinclair’s corporate, regional and local engineers to rapidly restore programming.

David Ostmo, a San Antonio-based senior regional engineering director at Sinclair, said he arrived in Abilene midday on Monday (June 9) with two engineers from the company’s San Antonio stations to help two engineers at KTXS survey and restore the damage.

By Monday evening Sinclair’s local, regional and corporate engineers had restored the station’s feed to cable; by Wednesday evening, less than three days after the wind storm knocked down the tower and ripped the roof off the KTXS building as its meteorologists watched in horror, the ABC affiliate was once again offering over-the-air broadcasts.

“Despite all the devastation, we were able to recover quickly, because we are a cloud based master control that is hubbed out of market,” Ostmo said. “We just made that transition about two months ago. If this had occurred earlier this year, we would have been off the air for a very long period of time because we would have had to spin up another master control from scratch.”

Sinclair has set up regional hubs for different network affiliates and is currently hubbing all of its ABC affiliates like KTXS out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is using Amazon Web Services for a cloud-based master control system.

“Our station [KTXS] is hubbed up from Chattanooga,” Ostmo said. “The Chattanooga hub was able to fiber over [a feed] to our station in Amarillo, and our Amarillo station then handed the signal off to the local cable provider, which returned our signal back to the air on Monday evening.”

This operational structure also helped quickly restore the over-the-air broadcasts.

The KTXS transmitter, which is about 25 miles from the station’s studio and building, was not damaged in the storm.

“We brought in a satellite truck from San Antonio and parked it at the transmitter site, which was a whole challenge in and of itself, because it's up on top of a fairly tall mesa. It’s a very rough road to get to the transmitter site,“ Ostmo said. “Fortunately, our truck was able to navigate the twists and turns and hairpin curves and make its way up to the top so that we could get it set up.”

Engineers they used the “satellite truck parked at our transmitter site to downlink the signal,” he continued. “Our hubbed signal is being uplinked at our corporate headquarters and then downlinked at the transmitter site [by the satellite truck]...where we are handing it off to the transmitter. Fortunately, the ATSC encoders at the station were not wet, and we were able to move them out to the transmitter side to encode the signal coming from the satellite and feed it to the transmitter.”

Newer workflows and some local help have also helped restore the station’s news coverage and operations.

Following the storm damage, nearby Abilene Christian University kindly let the station set up its news operations temporarily at its facilities.

KTXS also uses an anchorless news format, which makes it easier for reporters to put together stories and package them into a newscast.

"The newscast is done through Amagi automation,” he said. “So the reporters create their packages and essentially insert them into an Amagi playlist. [Initially] San Antonio was just feeding a newscast to the Chattanooga hub, and the Chattanooga hub inserted it into the program stream. After we reestablished our newsroom there [at Abilene Christian University], they continued using the Amagi workflow to put packages together.”

The station can continue to operate out of the university until early August, when students return. Sinclair is currently analyzing the pros and cons of rebuilding at the same site or moving to a new location.

Newer cloud-based workflows will also play an important role in that decision. “As long as we can access the cloud, we're golden,” Ostmo said. “We can set that up in any number of places. All we needed was some tables and internet access and we can get to work.

“It's kind of mind-boggling to think that we don't have to build out a great, big, huge studio to get up and running again,” he added. “We will have a studio at our new facility, but it's not going to have the same intensive requirements we once might have needed.”

WUPPERTAL, Germany—Riedel Communications has announced that London’s Royal Albert Hall has installed a new Bolero wireless intercom system. The deployment was made as part of the venue’s continued expansion and upgrade of in-house audio equipment and services.

Visiting productions at the Royal Albert Hall use the Bolero intercom system for behind-the-scenes communications during live shows.

“After renting communications systems from a different manufacturer, we chose Bolero for our permanent in-house wireless intercom,” said Ben Evans, audio operations manager at the Royal Albert Hall. “It’s a user-friendly system that gives our clients clear, reliable audio, and it integrates seamlessly with the gear most of them use. The fact that there’s no complex license management was also a significant factor in our decision, and the system's network-based flexibility was a key advantage over competitors’ point-to-point solutions.”

A 153-year-old London venue, the Royal Albert Hall is a highly flexible space with various stage configurations and performance locations. It hosts diverse events, such as rock/pop concerts, orchestral performances, spoken word performances, sports, ballets, ballroom dancing, book launches and poetry. Events rotate in and out quickly, so the venue requires a reliable, scalable communication system that can accommodate the high turnover.

The Royal Albert Hall’s in-house technical services—lighting, rigging, audio, communications—are a selling point for production companies and attract high-profile productions. In 2018, the venue formed an in-house audio team to improve the audience experience. The venue partnered with manufacturer d&b audiotechnik for a permanent PA system, with additional investments in sound desks, microphones, and monitors. Then came the communications system.

“We have a reputation as a trusted technical partner in the events industry,” Evans continued. “Working with Riedel — and having the Bolero comms system onboard — bolsters that reputation and helps us to generate revenue.”

Riedel said the Bolero provdes more channels, better infrastructure and better range, compatibility, and connectivity than the hall’s previous system. It also offers efficient configuration for a range of different events. Interoperability with other equipment means that it is ready to go should issues arise. For example, when a visiting production’s own wireless communications system failed midshow, the crew maintained continuity by switching to the Bolero system employed by the Royal Albert Hall.

The Bolero is used daily as a production communications and talkback system. Communication extends beyond traditional stage teams and show callers. A “shout system” allows front-of-house and monitor engineers to communicate. Separate communication rings simplify interaction for lighting/show callers, audio teams and production. The venue can increase the size of the system for complex productions by adding extra rings.

Likewise, when a large-scale event requires more than the 10 wireless packs already in permanent inventory, the venue can easily scale up by renting additional packs or antennas, it said. For example, the 2024 Olivier Awards needed 30 packs, plus additional Riedel Artist mainframes and panels. In that scenario, the in-house system interfaced with a large Artist setup serving 30-plus users across various site locations.

“The Royal Albert Hall’s technical services are a key part of its brand, and we’re grateful to play a role in the venue’s technical excellence and reliability,” Nacho Lee, program manager of global events at Riedel Communications, said. “The traveling productions that visit the hall can trust Bolero to work with whatever equipment they bring in, and its reliability allows teams to focus on events without worrying about communication failures.”

More information on Riedel Communications products is available at www.riedel.net.

RAYMOND, Maine—Dielectric and Philippines partner 90 Degrees North said they have been working to extend the digital television service for BEAM (Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media) beyond Mega Manila to cover secondary and tertiary cities.

The second phase of the expansion deployed complete ISDB-Tb Powerlite antenna systems with filters and flex transmission line to the major metropolitan regions like Cebu and Davao over the past 18 months, with subsequent shipments to cover the secondary emerging cities of Baguio, Naga, Ilo-ilo, Laguna, Batangas, General Santos and Zamboanga over the past year.

Dielectric also reported that it has now shipped Powerlite turnkey antenna systems for 2.4 kW to 5 kW low-power sites in the cities of Legazpi and Cagayan De Oro, bringing the third phase of the project closer to completion. Once installed and commissioned, BEAM will officially strengthen DTV service in Southern Luzon complementary to Naga, and offer DTV service to Northern Mindanao.

In addition, the two companies reported that BEAM’s DTV network expansion will continue as its programming extends into new cities, marking a fourth phase of the project.

90 Degrees North owner John Achilles “Achie” Denna said the network will reach up to 30 cities by the end of this phase, which will be completed in mid-to-late December.

“These are full-service projects that begin with RF network planning and constructing new or rehabilitating existing cabins/shelters. That is followed by electrical system installation, retrofitting of towers, and then installing transmitters and filters in the shelters,” said Achie Denna, who adds that site development accounts for “60 to 70%” of each project. “Dielectric has been nothing short of exceptional with aligning their manufacturing and delivery timelines to my installation schedules, which conclude with running line, adding antenna mounts and support, and installing the antennas.”

The project started in 2018 with the Mega Manila system, anchored by a TFU-WB UHF antenna for the UHF Channel 31 single-frequency network (SFN), with low-power DLP and TLP single-channel antennas filling out the flagship network. BEAM relays programming from Mega Manila to UHF Channel 31 frequencies in Cebu, Davao and Zamboanga; Channel 26 in Baguio and Iloilo; and Channel 32 in Naga. The General Santos transmission operates on Channel 51 with Dielectric Powerlite TLP antennas to radiate signals.

“With assistance from our partners at PROGIRA and using their market-leading RF Network Planning Software, we have optimized coverage patterns and areas, performance and efficiency through three specific design elements,” said Cory Edwards, OEM, distribution and Southeast Asia sales manager at Dielectric. “All antenna designs feature elliptical polarization to improve ISDB-Tb penetration into buildings and homes, the majority of which have concrete metal roofing. That added vertical element also strengthens coverage to mobile devices. We chose slotted antenna designs to reduce tower loads and streamline installation, and provided simple tunable coaxial filter designs with patch panels, components and loads that fit comfortably next to the transmitters. That is especially important in shelters that share rental space.”

Achie Denna added that Dielectric’s market share in the Philippines continues to rise as the country’s DTV transition moves forward, which includes a nearly wholesale shift from VHF to UHF frequencies. “Dielectric has captured approximately 35-40 percent of the digital TV transition business here in the Philippines to date, and we expect the DTV transition to continue through the year 2030," he said.

More information can be accessed at www.dielectric.com.

NOVI, Mich.—ENCO said it will showcase new AI innovations, including two automated captioning and real-time translation solutions at InfoComm in June.

Those solutions are a new speaker-identification feature for ENCO’s enCaption systems and enTranslate Mobile, which delivers real-time translations to personal devices. Along with providing BYOD or “bring your own device” accessibility and multilingual inclusivity to live events, the technology workflow is available for cloud, on-prem or hybrid connectivity for live captioning.

“In-room captioning and translation services are paramount to the live event experience because they enhance accessibility and improve engagement for diverse, multilingual audiences,” ENCO President Ken Frommert said. “We have steadily gained traction with integrators and technology directors who recognize ENCO’s leadership in delivering fast, accurate and accessible captioning and translation services to all audiences. This is the proven value we bring to AV environments.”

ENCO will offer live demonstrations of enCaption presenting automated English captions on screens and sending them to a cloud environment for immediate translation to Spanish, French, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese and German, the company saodd.

Attendees can access all six languages via enTranslate Mobile upon scanning a QR code on ENCO’s InfoComm booth (2870) and the FORTÉ booth (1742). FORTÉ specializes in the delivery and support of communications and collaboration solutions for AV and the modern workplace.

Introduced at last month’s NAB Show, enTranslate Mobile is a novel, disruptive solution to the challenge of making in-venue content accessible to every audience member, without the need to download or install an app. enTranslate Mobile offers direct access to multilingual translations through QR codes that redirect users to a mobile- and browser-friendly website where captions populate. Users can choose from enTranslate Language Selector to access the text stream of what’s being said on their personal devices. Users can also scroll back in time to read what was said while viewing that language, the ENCO said.

For large multilingual events such as city meetings or university lectures, enTranslate Mobile solves the problem of how to caption and translate what’s being said in the room in the languages most common to attendees. enTranslate Mobile also benefits the facility hosting the event through a mobile-friendly alternative to erecting large translation screens for live group events. Meeting organizers can simply display QR codes on signs or walls in adjacent areas, ENCO said.

enTranslate Mobile is the latest application representing the latest for ENCO’s enTranslate product range, which automatically translates and captions words for meetings, presentations, live streams, VOD assets and live broadcasts. enTranslate solutions, including enTranslate Mobile, can be used separately or with ENCO’s market-leading enCaption solutions, the company said.

ENCO said it will also show the latest improvements in its enCaption solutions for real-time live stage captioning, including a dynamic AI voice-fingerprinting solution that detects and identifies each speaker at live events with more than one contributor. The technology is delivered through a single-stream audio mix that dynamically identifies each speaker, a function that enCaption can pass through to translations powered through all enTranslate systems. enCaption identifies each speaker and then seamlessly inserts their names when identified, automatically labeling their captions and associated translations in real time, the company said.

enCaption’s new speaker identification feature was also introduced at NAB Show, taking home a Future Best of Show Award from TV Technology; enTranslate Mobile received a Future Best of Show Award from TVB Europe.

InfoComm runs June 11-13 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

More information is available at enco.com.

STAMFORD, Conn.—Spectrum, Charter Communications’ operating brand, has announced that the Spectrum TV App is now available on LG and Vizio smart TVs.

With the Spectrum TV App on LG and Vizio smart TVs, customers can access their full lineup of cable channels and thousands of on-demand shows and movies. They can also take advantage of Spectrum’s Cloud DVR service.

The Spectrum TV App is also available on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Kindle Fire, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Xbox, Xumo Stream Box and Xumo TV.

“We are meeting our customers where they are, making it easier than ever for them to enjoy their favorite content," Spectrum Senior Vice President of Video Elena Ritchie said. "The Spectrum TV App brings additional value and convenience to our services and, by adding the app to popular platforms like LG and Vizio TVs, we are providing our customers with even more flexibility."

To start using the Spectrum TV App on Vizio smart TVs, customers can launch the app directly from the home screen. On LG sets, customers must download the app from the app store.

In announcing the launch, Charter cited Comscore data showing the Spectrum TV App is the most-viewed streaming service in the U.S. on an hours-per-household basis.

For more information about the Spectrum TV App, its features and compatible devices, click here.

DENVER—Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers have chosen Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) to provide Managed Channel Origination for its team-controlled regional sports network, Rangers Sports Network (RSN).

“Comcast Technology Solutions has been instrumental in supporting our vision to establish a more independent and efficient broadcast platform,” said Angie Swint, senior vice president of broadcast at the Texas Rangers. “Their expertise in managed services and comprehensive broadcast solutions enables us to focus on delivering an unparalleled experience for Rangers fans, while also providing us with more control over our distribution channels and future growth.”

RSN will deliver live broadcasts of Rangers’ games and related content across selected broadcast, cable and satellite television platforms in the team’s designated viewing areas.

Rangers Sports Media & Entertainment Co. and RSN produce and distribute games and other content. As the exclusive local television home of the Rangers, RSN will oversee the production and distribution of game broadcasts, including selecting on-air talent, managing camera and audio resources, directing broadcast technical elements and coordinating behind-the-scenes staffing, CTS said.

CTS’s Managed Channel Origination delivers a fully managed service aimed at improving operational efficiency, reducing capital expenses and future-proofing the ability of users to monetize high-quality viewing experiences at scale, it said.

Managed Channel Origination provides media companies and broadcasters with a platform for a unified video workflow from content acquisition through delivery and is a core capability of the CTS SportsHub, it said.

Through this solution, CTS will manage the origination of live events, including content acquisition, commercial insertion and distribution to MVPD partners. RSN features a broad range of live game broadcasts, pre- and postgame coverage and other team-related content that will leverage the MCO solution, the network said.

RSN said it has partnered with cable and digital providers to televise Rangers games this season, with each distributor offering a specific channel for pregame, game and postgame coverage.

For the first time since 2014, Rangers games will be available for free over the air. Fifteen telecasts, primarily Friday home games, will air in Dallas on WDAF and other stations in the team’s home territory. Fans outside of the Rangers' television territory can stream games via MLB.TV.

More information is available on the CTS website.

WASHINGTON—As part of an ongoing push to strengthen local reporting, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded a $649,703 grant to the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom (AMSN).

AMSN is a collaboration of public radio and television stations, led by Louisville Public Media, that was launched last fall to provide relevant, fact-based information to local communities across Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

One example of their work occurred when deadly floods swept through the region in the wake of Hurricane Helene last fall. In the wake of that disaster, AMSN and nine partner stations moved quickly, deploying a veteran journalist to cover storm damage in Eastern Tennessee, while statehouse reporters in Nashville provided useful information and context from the capital.

In addition to Louisville Public Media, the other stations in the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom are: WKU Public Radio (Bowling Green, Ky.); WEKU (Richmond, Ky.); WKMS (Murray, Ky.); WPLN Nashville Public Radio; WUOT (Knoxville, Tenn.); and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“Local journalism is essential to the civic health of America’s communities,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “In addition to providing fact-based reporting and emergency information, public media stations respond to the information needs of the communities they serve, reflecting and respecting local voices and perspectives, including stories of civic pride and engagement. These stations are committed to working together with the communities they serve, and they have already started.”

The grant builds on the nearly $50 million CPB has invested in journalism collaborations across the country during the past 15 years. The collaborations, which involve public media stations working together to provide information and news to residents in rural areas of the country, cover topics of regional concern, such as agriculture, veterans and active military issues, and rural life.

“We’re thrilled to have CPB’s support to extend shared services and capabilities that will make our journalism more impactful and sustainable,” said Ellen Oost, co-interim CEO of Louisville Public Media. “This collaboration allows us to coordinate journalism resources to strengthen local news across our region, which covers a swath of rural America as well as population centers—each with a distinct culture and common concerns.”

In awarding the grant, the CPB noted that the 2024 Medill State of Local News Report found that 13 counties in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have no local news sources, and 187 counties have only one local news source.

It also stressed that rural communities are at especially high risk of losing local news and this region is no exception. The Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom provides access to local and regional news to all these counties, connecting rural communities and nearby population centers.

“West Virginia Public Broadcasting can only strengthen our storytelling by working with other stations in greater Appalachia,” Eddie Isom, executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said. “We see this collaboration as a positive step in working together to tell the important stories that are happening in an often overlooked region.”

Each station in the collaboration contributes the equivalent of one reporter’s time to producing stories for a regional audience. CPB support over three years will fund a video journalist and a project manager and support four shared positions.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—WPSD-TV, the NBC affiliate in Paducah, Ky., has selected Bitcentral’s Central Control playout system to upgrade the station’s master control operations. The station is relocating its operations to The Paducah Sun newspaper facility; both are owned by Paxton Media Group.

WSPD is a longstanding Bitcentral customer, leveraging multiple solutions including the Core News suite, ViewNexa Channels, Fusion Hybrid Storage, and now adding Central Control for its playout/master control system.

This move marks a major step forward in WPSD’s digital evolution, equipping the station with the tools to engage audiences across all platforms and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced media landscape, the station said.

Central Control includes a full suite of advanced features, such as automated feed recording, traffic integration, and system monitoring, all designed to maximize efficiency and deliver seamless playout across multiple channels.

“With Bitcentral’s Central Control, we are ready to transform how we deliver high volumes of broadcast content to our communities,” said Bill Evans, President of the West Kentucky Media Division at Paxton Media Group. “This technology allows us to deliver full linear channels to people faster and more reliably, fulfilling our goal of becoming a regional media hub that’s closer to our audience than ever before.”

"Central Control is the ideal solution for media companies which are looking to modernize their business,” Bitcentral Chief Operating Officer Sam Peterson said. “Central Control navigates this complexity through a set of tools that are organized around the logical best practices for handling high volumes of content, traffic coordination, and playout. We have long been committed to WPSD’s success through our extensive product portfolio, and this is the latest step on that journey.”

Game Creek Video has selected EVS’s Neuron View multiviewers to equip three of its trucks: Webby, 9 4, and Discovery. These multiviewers will replace older systems in the trucks, which are used for high-profile national and regional sports productions.

Facing the need to modernize its multiviewer infrastructure while maintaining cost efficiency, Game Creek Video said it was looking for a solution that would allow continued SDI operations while providing a seamless path to IP. EVS’s Neuron View was chosen for its ultra-fast processing, ease of configuration, and ability to function in both SDI and IP environments—ensuring Game Creek Video can transition at its own pace.

"Choosing EVS's Neuron View was a strategic decision for us," said Jason Taubman, senior vice president of technology at Game Creek Video. "Its performance, flexibility, and ease of use align with our current workflows while keeping us ready for future IP transitions. Given our longstanding collaboration with EVS, we trust in their expertise and reliability."

Neuron View is designed to meet the high demands of live production environments, offering ultra-low latency, high operational efficiency, and seamless IP stream monitoring. The deployment of EVS’s multiviewers in these three trucks expands the company’s existing partnership with EVS, whose LiveCeption replay and highlights solution is already a key component of Game Creek Video’s fleet, EVS reported.

"We’re honored that Game Creek Video has chosen EVS for this important technology upgrade," said Nestor Amaya, senior vice president of customer development, media infrastructure at EVS. "This collaboration highlights our growing role as a trusted provider of not just replay solutions, but also media infrastructure technology that helps broadcasters navigate the transition to IP."

EVS made the announcement at the 2025 NAB Show, where it is exhibiting at booth #SL3316.

LONDON—Sony One, a new video-on-demand service offering a wide selection of content from Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) library, has selected an integrated solution from Simplestream to power its expansion into Latin America.

Simplestream reported that Sony One selected a comprehensive end-to-end service from Simplestream to increase the distribution of its premium content across multiple devices, including Android, iOS, LG, Samsung and web platforms.

Simplestream’s service for Sony One also includes integration with Bitmovin’s Player which includes support for Digital Rights Management (DRM) feature, along with third-party authentication, payment gateways, video streaming workflows and real-time analytics.

Using Simplestream’s Media Manager and App Platform products, the Sony One platform has broadened its reach to Argentina, giving viewers access to the extensive SPE catalogue of family favorites, such as “Men in Black”, the Spider Man movies, “Peter Rabbit” and “Jumanji”.

The Simplestream platform supports multilingual content, allowing Sony One to ingest and display content in English, Spanish and Portuguese simultaneously. DRM is handled via the common encryption CENC scheme.

This latest project for Sony One expands Simplestream’s growing customer base in the Americas. The announcement follows similar projects that the company has recently undertaken across multiple broadcast verticals and regions for the likes of Virgin Media Television, News UK, GB News, Hearst Ventures, AMC Networks, GAA, URC, Telus, and TVSN among others.

“This was another fantastic project to work on with the Sony team, which we delivered on budget and on time,” Dan Finch, Simplestream’s co-founder and chief commercial officer stated: The telco authentication workflow and support for multi-lingual content, with functionality such as progressive downloads, enhances our capabilities as a leading OTT provider in the market.”

“This is our first collaboration with Simplestream in Latin America, and we’re super excited to work together to simplify Sony’s One’s live and on-demand media workflows and provide secure, high-quality streams to audiences across Argentina and help meet the growing appetite for digital content in the region,” added Stefan Lederer, CEO and co-founder at Bitmovin.

Bitmovin is exhibiting at the 2025 NAB Show in the West Hall at W3221.

MONTREAL—Grass Valley has announced that Cloudbass has selected its LDX 150 series cameras and K-Frame VXP production switchers for two new IP remote production vehicles, set for completion later this year.

The deal is part of Cloudbass’ plans to expand its IP production capabilities.

Cloudbass is one of the UK’s leading providers of outside broadcast solutions and services, with an extensive fleet of UHD, 1080p/1080i, HDR/SDR OB trucks, and scalable SMPTE 2110 and 2022-6 IP units.

The two new vehicles, which are being built by integration partner dB Broadcast, will include 32 LDX 150 cameras, three LDX C150 compact versions, and one K-Frame VXP production switcher.

“Designed specifically for remote production, Cloudbass’ new trucks leverage Grass Valley’s technology for its seamless integration into IP-driven workflows, flexible format support, and superior image quality. Grass Valley’s solutions are the perfect fit for our operational needs,” explained Mike Beaumont, technical director at Cloudbass. “Deploying an all-IP workflow, reducing weight and energy consumption, and delivering outstanding image quality will enhance our efficiency and production capabilities”

Built in collaboration with dB Broadcast, the trucks are designed for both on-site and remote production workflows, ensuring flexibility while optimizing space, weight, and power efficiency, the companies said.

Reducing energy and operating costs were a core part of Cloudbass’ brief for the new units. The benefits will include significant weight reduction leading to lower fuel consumption and emissions, while faster deployment times will reduce the need for prolonged power usage and crew on-site. The scalable, software-driven workflows will enable Cloudbass to optimize energy consumption based on production needs, while the remote production-ready technology minimizes travel requirements for production crews, the companies explained.

“It’s our mission to lower energy consumption and operational costs in live broadcasting even as we increase our operational capability,” said Beaumont. “Grass Valley’s NativeIP camera transmission removes the need for traditional base stations, helping us to streamline systems and improve efficiency, which is very important to us.”

To optimize space, the trucks are compact builds with limited rack space, yet they are designed to handle a mix of HD, UHD and super slow-motion cameras with the flexibility to configure camera outputs as needed – including producing SDR versions of the feeds alongside the HDR versions directly from the head.

“We ticked all the boxes for remote production with NativeIP, while delivering the high-quality results their clients require, such as flexible output configuration, no UHD compromise, color space and HDR support to successfully bring the project together”, explains Daragh Bass, Grass Valley’s director of business development, EMEA. “The collaboration with Cloudbass reflects the growing adoption of Grass Valley’s market leading cameras and switchers across the industry, and we’re proud to support them in enhancing their production capabilities while delivering the flexibility and efficiency needed for modern broadcast workflows.”

Grass Valley reported that Cloudbass selected Grass Valley’s K-Frame VXP and LDX camera systems to meet demanding broadcast requirements with limited space, daily redeployment, and IP-based workflows. The K-Frame VXP offers Cloudbass a powerful combination of advanced HDR/SDR color mapping, flexible keyer configurations, integrated multiviewers, and native 100G IP connectivity, all in a compact 6RU frame. On the camera side, the NativeIP support, flexible output configuration and 3x/6x super slow motion capabilities make the LDX Series ideal for hybrid HD/UHD workflows, with robust image quality and custom HDR color space handling. Combined with intuitive control and remote configurability, these solutions enable Cloudbass to deliver high-performance live production with agility, quality, and creative control, Grass Valley explained.

Cloudbass’ new trucks are scheduled to make their debut in top-tier English football coverage this coming fall, supporting high-speed, multi-format workflows for one of the most watched leagues in the world. Mike Bryan, technology director at dB Broadcast, added that “Grass Valley’s IP-based architecture is a perfect fit for this project, helping Cloudbass maximize both operational efficiency and sustainability. We’re excited to be working with them to deliver trucks that are not only powerful but also future-proof and energy efficient.”

SAN JOSE, Calif.—XL8, an AI-driven real-time translation technology company, has announced that it is has successfully deployed a real-time solution to translate English captions to Spanish.

The company reported that the breakthrough, which was achieved in collaboration with the Public Media Venture Group (PMVG), marks the first commercial deployment of AI-based real-time translation in U.S. public broadcasting.

XL8 will demonstrate this offering in collaboration with DigiCAP at the NAB Show 2025 in Las Vegas in April.

XL8 said that the technology was seamlessly integrated into the broadcast system of a television station in Cookeville, Tennessee, where it delivered live translated captions to viewers for the first time. This milestone represents a significant step in making content more accessible to multilingual audiences, utilizing the ATSC 3.0-based NextGen TV standard, the company said.

XL8’s AI-powered translation engine detects English closed captions in live broadcasts, instantly translates them into Spanish, and reintegrates them into the broadcast stream (multiplexing).

The system is compatible with existing production and transmission systems, including NextGen TV, allowing viewers with ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs to switch captions to Spanish via TV settings, with no additional equipment required.

The project was carried out in collaboration with DigiCAP, the Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA), and PBS station WCTE, with XL8 serving as the core provider of real-time subtitle translation technology. XL8 served as the core provider of the real-time subtitle translation technology, demonstrating its ability to integrate into existing workflows and deliver high-performance solutions in real broadcast environments.

As the number of Spanish-speaking households in the U.S. continues to grow, live broadcast captioning remains largely English-centric. XL8’s real-time translation now makes Spanish captions available for the first time in a U.S. public broadcast, enhancing accessibility and inclusivity for Spanish-speaking audiences, the participants in the project said.

“We serve a large number of Spanish-speaking households in our coverage area,” Avery Hutchins, president and CEO of PBS station WCTE, stated. “Thanks to this real-time captioning technology, they can now access our content more easily and comfortably. We’re thrilled with the result.”

XL8 also stressed that the integration of XL8’s real-time translation technology into live broadcasts sets a global precedent for AI-powered language accessibility. It showcases how AI language technologies can be seamlessly embedded into broadcast systems to engage multilingual communities and enhance public service.

“This project was not just a technology test, it’s a meaningful milestone that proves XL8’s real-time translation can be integrated into live broadcast production and delivery,” Tim Jung, CEO of XL8, stated. “We’re excited to continue improving our solutions to provide greater language accessibility for all viewers.”

XL8 will be attending The NAB Show 2025 (National Association of Broadcasters) where they will provide demonstrations of this technology at TechConnect on April 4, 2025 LVCC West Hall in Room 108/109 from 9am-5pm PT. XL8 will be located with its partner, DigiCAP.

To make an appointment at the show for a demo contact contact@eventcat.com.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Interra Systems has announced that Norway’s public service broadcaster, NRK, continues to see improvements in its operations as a result of its use of BATON, Interra Systems’ AI/ML-enabled QC platform for audio and video. NRK uses the solution for checking finished edited programs and analyzing file sets that the company transcodes and publishes.

NRK is a longtime user of BATON, and over the years, it has seen the solution evolve to accommodate customer feedback. “We have been using BATON successfully for many years,” said Kjell Ove Nordlien, senior engineer from the Technology Division of the Production Systems Department of NRK. “These days, we use BATON internally to check the high-res files of finished edited programs, and we’ve been using it externally for several years, to analyze the ABR MP4 file sets that we transcode and publish to our origin partner, and further, to our web service,” “Our engineering team depends on BATON a great deal for our video quality.”

BATON automates QC processes, supporting high standards for quality and compliance. NRK has deployed the most recent version of the solution, which includes framework updates, enhanced video quality checks for 4K files, support for RDD59 specifications, direct analysis of image sequence formats, optimized MXF file verification, advanced diagnostic tools for system health monitoring, and improved API. The technology stack operates on Python 3.x with a Postgres database and the Django web framework, resulting in a more responsive interface, increased scalability, and optimized resource management. It also features enhanced performance for UHD content QC, optimized IMF analysis, support for Sony 360 RA analysis, improved cloud support, advanced video and audio quality checks, comprehensive Dolby Atmos support, and expanded format support, Interra reported.

“NRK is a highly respected broadcaster in Europe; it was an early adopter of BATON among the preeminent members of the European Broadcasting Union. Over the years, we have seen NRK broaden its use of BATON,” said Ashish Basu, executive vice president of global sales and business development at Interra Systems. “We invest a lot of research and development effort into BATON based on customer feedback. NRK’s expanded BATON usage is a result of that customer orientation.”

Interra Systems will display the BATON QC platform, along with its full suite of compliance and content monitoring solutions, at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-9, in booth W1921.

More information about Interra Systems solutions can be found at www.interrasystems.com.

NRK’s web service can be found at tv.nrk.no.

MIAMI—CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual reality set in its CBS Miami station WFOR-TV.

It will be used initially for both March Madness coverage and weather reporting for streaming and broadcast feeds and will eventually expand to the full newscast, explained Kim Voet, president, and general manager, CBS Miami explained.

“We really look at this as an opportunity to present March Madness, but more importantly, present our weather in a way to viewers and users that they've never seen in Florida before,” she said. “It's going to be a tremendous tool for our storytelling.”

Starting this Sunday, March 16, when the teams for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament are announced, CBS Miami ( WFOR-TV) will be debuting its new AR/VR technology with exclusive March Madness coverage led by sports anchor Mike Cugno in a streaming-only special.

Later that night, at 11 PM, during the regular broadcast newscast, chief meteorologist Ivan Cabrera will deliver live weather from the AR/VR studio, followed by an 11:30 PM March Madness segment from the Sports Desk.

Then, on Monday, March 17, the AR/VR system will start being used Monday through Friday for regular weather reports in the local newscasts.

As previously reported by TV Tech, CBS News & Stations initially developed the AR/VR solution at its San Francisco stations. It has since been deployed at CBS New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Colorado in addition to San Francisco. Those stations will also be using it in their local coverage of March Madness.

CBS Bay Area president and general manager Scott Warren provided an extensive discussion of its development during a panel on news and sports technologies during the March 13, TV Tech Summit.

This work, which involved a lot of inhouse coding at the station group, allowed the system to be deployed relatively quickly in Miami. “We started right after the holidays and will be live with it on March 16,” Voet said.

The transition involved creating a new set for their news and then gutting a space where the old set had been located to create a bare space with green walls.

Looking forward, Voet is particularly excited about the opportunity the set will create for them during Hurricane season to provide potentially life-saving information. “I don’t think anyone has seen anything like this in the state or even the Southeast,” she said. “And its more than just the technology. It’s about how you use the technology. It’s about the consumer, the viewers, and using the technology in a way that will engage them and give them a new look and a more informative look in our storytelling.”

“We’ve been rehearsing for about a month for weather and March Madness,” she added. “But our goal this year is to move the entire newscast to this. It will be a new way of presenting local news.”

LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—Nebraska Public Media is deploying the Digital Alert Systems DASDEC Emergency Alert System (EAS) messaging platform at all of its radio and TV stations as part of its implementation of an IP infrastructure to prepare for transitioning to ATSC 3.0.

The public broadcaster is installing about 20 DASDEC units for redundancy and to support regional emergency messaging around Nebraska.

“We’ve been redesigning our signal distribution out to all our sites, and part of that redesign was to move to an IP workflow. We’ve also got ATSC 3 on our horizon. We knew our old equipment wasn’t up to the task,” said Al Krause, network operations manager at Nebraska Public Media.

“Not only are we futureproofing our system by going with all DASDECs into the future, but we’re gaining function and efficiency that we never would have had with our old gear," he added. "The plan going forward is to do more regionalization, which will enhance the precision and relevance of emergency communications across our 500-mile-wide state. I think that’s going to be easier to do with the DASDEC if for no other reason than the IP connectivity.”

The DASDEC platform gives Nebraska Public Media more flexibility in sending alerts and targeting specific regions. In the past, Nebraska Public Media could only trigger events across the entire state. Now, it can send statewide messages as well as use DASDEC units at specific radio transmitter sites to regionalize emergency alerts.

Beyond regionalization, the DASDEC system makes it possible for Nebraska Public Media to add a satellite-redundant mode for Emergency Action Notification (EAN) coverage if the IP network —the broadcaster’s primary method of alert delivery— fails.

In this scenario, the DASDEC units serve as backups for delivering critical emergency alerts. DASDEC devices installed at each FM site can receive alerts via SiriusXM, a secondary source of presidential alerts and EAN messages independent of the IP network. Linking SiriusXM with the DASDEC devices ensures continued primary alert delivery, thereby eliminating the IP network as a single point of failure, Digital Alert Systems said.

The DASDEC platform is easier to program, offers a test mode to ensure settings perform as intended and includes internal tuners, modern audio connections, programmable GPIO and a streamlined user interface—all improvements over its previous system, the company said.

“I have to sing the praises of DASDEC because it’s so much more efficient and flexible. My favorite thing is the alert node simulator. I can check to make sure that the filters are set correctly and that it’s going to fire off the right message at the right time. There’s also the programmable GPIOs. Unlike our previous system, which was pretty much just open/close, with the DASDEC you can program those GPIOs to do so many different things,” said Phil Gebers, broadcast engineer at Nebraska Public Media.

“I've also really liked working with the internal tuners. The less external gear you have to buy the better, and with the DASDEC we get three tuners built right into the box. Just plug in an antenna, set the frequency and off you go. I love that so much. No extra power supplies, no extra rack space and no extra cabling.”

Nebraska Public Media has also purchased a Digital Alert Systems HALO enterprise-level EAS device management system, which it will implement after the DASDEC rollout is completed.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Harmonic has announced that Weigel Broadcasting has deployed Harmonic's VOS Media Software, which offers playout-to-delivery capabilities, including ATSC 1.0 centralcasting, that are producing significant cost savings and greater efficiency for Weigel.

"As we continue to grow the number of stations we own and operate, we wanted a scalable, software-driven approach — not more racks of hardware," said Kyle Walker, vice president of technology at Weigel Broadcasting. "With Harmonic's end-to-end playout-to-delivery solution, we can easily add new stations by scaling compute power rather than piecing together stand-alone appliances. This has streamlined our workflows, increased efficiency and given us the flexibility for expansion without the complexities of a traditional broadcast infrastructure."

Harmonic's VOS Media Software improves cost efficiencies for Weigel with a fully software-based, end-to-end workflow for ingest, centralcasting, advanced playout and branding, encoding, transcoding, statistical multiplexing and distribution, the companies reported.

A built-in user interface enables seamless playlist monitoring and automated channel delivery via the web without requiring a complex automation system. Designed to scale, VOS Media Software empowers Weigel to expand its station lineup at any time, depending on data center capacity. Weigel can also enhance its broadcast channels by leveraging advanced capabilities on VOS Media Software, such as delay-line, PSIP fetch, Nielsen watermarking, Dolby upmix and AI captioning integration, they reported.

"By adopting our cloud-native VOS Media Software, Weigel is at the forefront of innovation as one of the first broadcasters utilizing a next-generation playout-to-delivery solution," said Gil Rudge, senior vice president, products and Americas sales, video business at Harmonic. "With advanced capabilities and support for ATSC, OTT and split signal all on one platform, Weigel is leveraging VOS Media Software to streamline operations and future-proof its video delivery."

Harmonic will demonstrate its innovative cloud solutions at the 2025 NAB Show, April 6-9, in Las Vegas at booth W2821. Further information about Harmonic and the company's solutions is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

LOS ANGELES—Disney's KABC-TV station has restored its broadcast feed after the Eaton Wildfire in Los Angeles knocked it off the air earlier on Friday, Jan. 10.

Several news reports noted that the station's broadcast feed was unavailable on Friday morning. Following up on those reports, the station has confirmed to TV Tech that as of 1:40 p.m. (PT) that the broadcast feed was still down.

The station was, however, cautiously optimistic that it would be restored in the afternoon, which it was.

Earlier in the day, the station’s website noted: “ABC7's over-the-air signal was having issues Friday morning as the Eaton Fire burned near the Mount Wilson Observatory and communication towers in the Angeles National Forest. If you watch ABC7 over the air and you lost our signal, you can still watch us at abc7.com or by downloading the ABC7 Los Angeles app on your mobile phone or smart TV.”

In addition, the station is also available on pay TV operators and streaming services like Hulu + Live TV.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, a ABC spokesperson said "The issue was related to the fires," but equipment was not burned.

TV Tech learned that the station was back on the air at 3:30 p.m. PT.

NEW YORK—ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) Commercial has selected Amagi for the launch of a suite of free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels.

ABC Commercial will leverage its content catalog to reach international audiences in new and dynamic ways with the launch, Amagi said.

The channel suite’s rollout is expected to lead with North America, including the United States, where FAST channel household penetration is higher than 40%. Plans call for expansion into English-speaking territories, Europe and Asia.

“This partnership with Amagi represents a significant milestone for ABC Commercial as we expand into the global FAST market, opening new doors for Australian content to thrive on international FAST platforms,” ABC Commercial Digital Sales Manager Brian Lee said. “Our channels will allow audiences to access Australia’s most-loved and unique stories in innovative ways, whether they’re seeking family-friendly content, compelling dramas or captivating documentaries.”

ABC Commercial has a catalog of more than 4,000 hours of premium content across a wide range of genres, including scripted, factual entertainment, lifestyle and children’s. Among its popular programs are “Aftertaste,” multiple seasons of “Restoration Australia,” “Wild Australians” and “Reef School.”

“We know how much international audiences have opened up to Australian content over the last decade, and we are confident that platforms will embrace our new channels with enthusiasm, allowing them to provide audiences with the opportunity to enjoy the best Australia has to offer,” Lee said. “We look forward to announcing further details on our new channel launches in early 2025.”

Calling the broadcaster’s entry into FAST distribution “an exciting step forward,” Srinivasan KA, Amagi co-founder and chief revenue officer, said his company is “enabling ABC to expand its reach, engaging audiences worldwide with high-quality content while creating new revenue opportunities through precise, targeted advertising.”

Amagi provides a complete suite of channel creation, distribution and monetization solutions.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SEATTLE—Amazon Web Services (AWS) said Comcast has moved its 5G wireless core from an on-premise infrastructure to a cloud-based network using its technologies.

The new cloud-based network is designed to provide Xfinity Mobile and Comcast Business Mobile customers with next-generation 5G wireless services using Comcast’s licensed spectrum across the U.S.

The two companies said AWS’s global infrastructure and telecom automation framework is helping Comcast provide wireless customers with an even more scalable, secure and cost-effective service.

AWS technologies, including analytics, telecom-specific features, and continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), provide a platform that enables Comcast to innovate and deploy new features, autoscale network capacity and perform lifecycle management, the companies added.

Looking ahead, Comcast and AWS also said they are exploring new ways to work together to improve customer service, optimize network performance and automate additional 5G operations.

“AWS’s extensive cloud infrastructure, together with their understanding of telco network requirements and ability to support production-grade 5G networks, will help us to continue delivering the highest quality service to our wireless customers,” said Tom Nagel, executive vice president, wireless strategy at Comcast.

Jan Hofmeyr, vice president of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Edge at AWS, said: Moving Comcast’s 5G core to the cloud will enable greater resiliency, faster innovation and enhanced security, leveraging AWS's secure global cloud infrastructure. We’re excited to work with Comcast to power this state-of-the-art 5G network that will give their customers a better wireless experience, as well as meet the needs of future applications running in this new environment.”