LONDON—Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports entertainment platform DAZN with playout, live channel origination, cloud-based streaming, IP distribution and satellite-based resilience services.

Available via linear broadcast and over-the-top, the Club World Cup concludes on Sunday, July 13, with the championship match between English Premier League side Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain of France’s Ligue 1, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The tournament brought together 32 of the most successful clubs from every continent to compete in 63 matches. DAZN is the exclusive global broadcast partner, delivering every match live and free to fans worldwide—a first for a men’s international club soccer tournament.

Throughout the event, live playout is being managed from Encompass’s Stamford, Conn., facility, where its team handles workflows across three channels, integrating late-breaking content, graphics, advertising and event-specific requirements.

Reactive playout services are being delivered continuously across the live window on each matchday and then transition to thematic operations overnight. AI-generated captions, provided in partnership with AI Media, are also integrated into all feeds, Encompass said.

Encompass’ Stream TV product is architected to deliver 100% availability and provides OTT direct-to-consumer distribution for three linear channels (North America, Rest of World and Latin America) via its Altitude Media Cloud. The channels are encoded, packaged and delivered directly to DAZN’s audience.

Encompass also handles IP distribution to seven international affiliates, using a resilient setup monitored 24/7 from its custom-built London facility. The service, which replaces traditional satellite-based delivery with a fully internet-native approach, ensures high-quality broadcast output to licensees in regions including Australia, Europe and the United States.

As an additional layer of resilience, Encompass provides satellite downlink capabilities from the U.K. and the U.S. to enable DAZN to maintain access to live content in the event of fiber or IP disruption. Encompass’s integration of traditional master control and broadcast engineering with modern cloud, IP and OTT services is backed by its operational teams and technical resources, enabling it to meet the real-time demands of live Tier-1 sports.

More information is available on the company’s website.

LONDON, UK—The BBC World Service is working with Encompass Digital Media and Zixi to transition the global distribution of its content from satellite to IP-based delivery, offering “unparalleled flexibility, scalability and cost-effectiveness,” according to Encompass.

The first major milestone was reached at the end of March, and delivered the full transition to IP distribution for BBC World Service partners across Europe with the Americas, Pacific, Africa, and Asia to follow.

The BBC World Service allows the British broadcaster to reach a potential worldwide audience of 450 million, delivering news and current affairs in 42 language services including English across a mix of video, audio and online output.

The BBC World Service is using Encompass’ Altitude Connect platform, integrating Zixi’s IP delivery technology with Altitude Media Cloud, Encompass’ global broadcast cloud platform.

Encompass says its strategy towards emphasizing the modernization of broadcast infrastructure, audience resilience, and cost-effective content distribution is "a natural fit" for the BBC’s own distribution roadmap. By moving to IP-based delivery, Encompass expects the BBC World Service will:

• Expand accessibility by delivering content more efficiently across a range of digital and broadcast platforms.
• Enhance flexibility and security, ensuring uninterrupted service in regions where satellite coverage may be unreliable or cost-prohibitive.
• Support sustainability and cost reduction, moving away from legacy satellite technology to a more scalable and adaptable digital framework.
• The shift to IP also enables targeted content delivery, allowing the BBC to respond more effectively to market challenges and changing audience needs.

In migrating hundreds of radio and TV partners globally from satellite to IP delivery, the project aims to transition The BBC World Service from bespoke receiver hardware to commodity, software-based solutions. The BBC World Service is using SCTE 224 to integrate broadcast schedules, delivering precise and seamless channel switching across the global platform, Encompass said.

Nigel Fry, Director Distribution, International Services, BBC News, said: "Transitioning BBC World Service distribution to IP represents a major milestone in our commitment to modernizing how we serve markets worldwide. This shift provides another level of flexibility for our services while aligning with our long-term strategy to adapt to the evolving media landscape. With the support of Encompass and Zixi, we are ensuring that BBC World Service continues to deliver trusted news and information to audiences, wherever they are, with greater reach and security than ever before."

Marc Bruce, CEO of Encompass Digital Media, said: “We are proud to partner with the BBC and Zixi to bring a new era of IP-based content distribution to BBC World Service. This project is a significant step forward in modernizing broadcast infrastructure, allowing for greater flexibility, cost efficiency, and enhanced security. By moving away from satellite, we are enabling the BBC to reach its global audience with unmatched flexibility and precision."

Marc Aldrich, CEO of Zixi, added: "Zixi is thrilled to collaborate with the BBC and Encompass to deliver this groundbreaking transition to IP-based distribution. Our technology ensures the highest level of reliability, security, and scalability, allowing the BBC World Service to expand its reach and maintain its reputation for excellence in global broadcasting. This project is a testament to the future of content delivery, where IP distribution becomes the gold standard for efficiency and innovation."

ATLANTA—Encompass Digital Media and Telestream this week announced they have partnered to offer broadcasters and content owners accessible asset storage in Altitude Media Cloud.

Encompass’ Altitude Media Cloud is an optimal environment for video processing that offers immediate access to content, industry-defining service-level agreements (SLAs) and a dynamic, interactive relationship with stored assets, Encompass said.

“Encompass has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Telestream due to the perfect symmetry we share; both bringing critical elements to the broadcast space – Telestream’s rich video supply chain of solutions, and Encompass’ delivery expertise and global reach,” said Encompass CEO Bill Tillson.

“Encompass has made a significant investment in Altitude, a multi-geographic, diverse cloud, that addresses a need in the industry, and with this partnership, Encompass completes this key foundation, offering our broadcast clients more accessibility, exposure to more markets and more efficiency in managing their assets. Notably, the solution is more cost-effective than LTO, truly a critical milestone.”

The combination of Altitude Media Cloud and Telestream tools offers broadcasters “unparalleled access” to their content and “complete control” over them, said Telestream CEO Dan Castles. 

Together the companies are providing a cloud service built for content owners and distributors. It offers immediate access to files, no transaction fees, diverse location storage, a broadcast SLA and an environment in which latency is not an issue, they said. 

Telestream’s existing storage software solutions, including Masstech and Diva installations, are used for media management. Altitude storage is compatible with and connects to existing clouds, such as AWS, Azure and GCP, they said.

The offering is more cost-efficient, resilient and purposeful in meeting the requirements of broadcasters and other content owners than LTO, they said.

More information is available on the Telestream and Encompass Digital Media websites.

ATLANTA—Encompass Digital Media has partnered with Zixi to deploy a solution for 24/7 linear, live events and OTT.

“We have enjoyed great success working with Zixi’s platform to provide our clients with even more choices and business flexibility for media acquisition and distribution options,” says Encompass CEO Bill Tillson.

The company’s clients now have the ability to take advantage of universal reach while maintaining broadcast quality regardless of the platform, he adds.

The addition of Zixi to Encompass’s transport solutions portfolio enables its customers with multiple acquisition and delivery needs to deploy the company’s solution across media and broadcast ecosystems.

“We are delighted to go to market with Encompass, pairing our powerful video over IP technology with their renowned operational management excellence,” said Gordon Brooks, executive chairman, Zixi.

More information is available on the Encompass website.

LONDON and ATLANTA—Encompass Digital Media recently announced it has agreed to acquire Babcock's Media Services, an international media distribution company and division of Babcock International Group. Encompass says the acquisition will expand Encompass' scale in EMEA and extend the company's combined channel playout, transmission and digital products portfolio while adding international radio distribution to its suite of services.

[Read:Expanding Sports Radio Options Via IP]

"Acquiring Babcock's Media Services business increases our presence in the EMEA region, expands our video services offering, specifically in the live streaming sports arena, and bolsters our collective relationships with some of the most important media companies and public service broadcasters around the world," explains Chris Walters, Encompass CEO. "We are thrilled to be adding a large number of highly regarded industry professionals to the Encompass team."

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BOTHELL, WASH.—The Alliance of IP Media Solutions is making room at the table for its four new members: Juniper Networks, Atos, Encompass Digital Media and sonoVTS.

AIMS is an organization representing a group of broadcast and media companies with the goal of assisting the transition from SDI to IP through industry standards and interoperable technology. Currently, the organization officially endorses an IP transition that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67, VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04, and AMWA NMOS IS-04.

Juniper has joined the alliance as a full member, while the other three companies have signed on as associate members.

ATLANTA—Global provider of end-to-end video system Encompass Digital Media has announced that it has launched its new cloud-edge playout platform, ChannelReady. This new device handles channel playout that is designed to accelerate time to market.

ChannelReady offers access to channel data from anywhere, per Encompass. The CaaS model system manages all steps from schedule conversion, as-run management and discrepancy reports through an access portal, allowing clients to prepare, manage and deliver content faster.

Encompass will debut the ChannelReady platform first in the Asia Pacific and EMEA markets; the product will then expand globally.

LONDON—Encompass Digital Media has turned to Damon Group │ United Kingdom to provides its U.K. operations facility in central London with an integrated ingest platform. The facility serves as a 24/7/365 broadcast hub for multi-national media companies, broadcasters and corporations.

Part of the new integrated ingest solution at Encompass in London

“We designed, integrated, supplied and installed a complete solution based on Dalet’s AmberFin Ingest software and Broadware’s Flexis control software products,” said Chris Elson, product sales manager for Damon Group. “There are six ingest servers arranged in pairs, all of which are housed in the Encompass EMEA tape archive. Each pair is easily transportable and connected to a Flexis controller ingesting from two VTRs running inside a Flexicart.”

Damon Group designed an upgrade for the barcode readers in Flexicarts for Encompass’ tape library that support a wider range of barcodes. VTR error data logging has also been integrated so ang VTR ingest errors can be called using a REST API.

Encompass Digital Media is a content capture, process and delivery provider with locations in Latin America, North America, Asia and EMEA.