TOMBOLO, Italy—Wisycom has announced further improvements to its ecosystem of professional wireless solutions with the MPR60 Wideband IEM/IFB Receiver with expanded multichannel IFB mode, MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix and PFL Portable RF over Fiber (RFoF) Box.

Together, these technologies deliver significant tech improvements for large‑scale, complex wireless infrastructures across broadcast, live events, corporate production and RF over Fiber applications.

The latest firmware update for the MPR60 Wideband IEM/IFB Receiver introduces a powerful three‑channel IFB mode, which enables up to three IFB audio channels to be transmitted over a single 200 kHz RF carrier. When paired with the Wisycom MTK982 transmitter, users can achieve up to 60 IFB audio channels within an 8 MHz TV channel or 45 channels within a 6 MHz TV channel, offering the most RF‑efficient IFB solutions available today.

Even in multichannel mode, the MPR60 maintains full wideband coverage from 470–1,260 MHz and preserves Wisycom’s renowned RF robustness. The receiver’s newly confirmed IP65 rating further strengthens its suitability for outdoor, mobile and high‑demand production environments. The new firmware, MPR60 v1.3.0, MTK982 v2.6.0 and Wisycom Manager 5.0.0, are now available. An optional multichannel IFB license enables users to replace three MTK982 transmitters with a single unit, which reduces rack space, cost and associated RF hardware.

Wisycom’s new MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, designed for complex, multi‑zone wireless infrastructures and RF over Fiber deployments, supports both coaxial and fiber inputs. It also consolidates multiple rack‑based components into a single, highly flexible unit capable of combining up to eight RF zones in diversity. There are four coaxial outputs that act as either four equal buffered outputs in 8:1 or two equal buffered outputs in the 4:2 setup, which allows more receivers to be connected without the need for additional splitters.

With a wide operating range of 170–1,260 MHz, integrated ultra‑fast Frequency Spectrum Analyzer, remote‑controllable antenna modules and Ethernet‑based system management, the MATF provides unmatched configurability for CAR/CER‑based installations, OB units, TV stations and large‑venue productions. The MATF is available in four configurations, which allows integrators to select the version that best fits their architectural and operational needs.

Wisycom has also begun shipping its new PFL Portable RFoF Box, a rugged, quick‑deploy solution designed for high‑demand broadcast, OB, location sound and live production environments. The unit delivers true diversity over fiber with a dual converter architecture, Ethernet connectivity for remote control or Dante workflows and a Neutrik opticalCON DUO interface, all operable via both mains and a V‑lock battery power source, commonly found in effects camera equipment.

Each enclosure includes dual N‑connectors, integrated power management with temperature‑controlled cooling and protected I/O for field reliability. The portable box comes in three main versions — two for wireless microphone diversity pick-up and one for IEM/IFB applications. Beyond extending the placement of antennas in remote zones from 100m (330 feet) to several kilometers (or miles), the boxes also carry additional signals over the fibers. This includes effects Gigabit Ethernet that can be used to extend signals, such as FX Data, Dante, Shure ShowLink® and Sound Devices NexLink return channel information. The RF over Fiber solutions can also be used with most other wireless microphone systems.

“With the new MPR60 receiver, MATF antenna matrix and PFL Box, we’re giving our customers powerful new tools to manage increasingly complex RF environments,” says René Moerch, group product director, Wisycom. “These solutions were engineered for the world’s most demanding productions where efficiency, flexibility and RF robustness are absolutely critical.”

All three products are available for shipping through Wisycom’s global reseller network.

ALAMEDA, Calif.—Clear-Com has announced the successful deployment and testing of FreeSpeak Cell by RTL Deutschland during a live event production at Germany’s Nürburgring race circuit. The test validated the system’s ability to deliver reliable, low-latency communications across both private and public 5G networks, demonstrating the potential of cellular-based intercom workflows for future broadcast operations, the company reported.

Conducted in collaboration with RTL Deutschland and supported by Deutsche Telekom’s 5G network expertise and connectivity, the proof of concept demonstrated how FreeSpeak Cell can extend communications coverage across large-scale production environments by leveraging existing 5G infrastructure. The test integrated with RTL's existing communications ecosystem and provided stable connectivity across areas that would traditionally require multiple DECT antennas or additional infrastructure.

“For us at RTL, the flexibility of our production workflows is one of our top priorities,” said Jens Schilder, Project-Engineer at RTL Deutschland. “The successful test at the Nürburgring proves that integrating intercom solutions into 5G infrastructures efficiently bridges the last mile of wireless communication. Thanks to FreeSpeak Cell technology, we were able to ensure stable communications coverage across almost the entire Grand Prix circuit, the paddock, and additional production areas without relying on complex infrastructure. This is a decisive step toward fully mobile remote productions that demand the highest standards of latency and reliability.”

By leveraging 5G connectivity, RTL achieved clear audio quality and reliable communications coverage across almost the entire Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, as well as the paddock and additional production areas including Hatzenbach.

Key results from the text included:

• Successful operation across private campus and public 5G networks
• Extended communications coverage using existing 5G infrastructure
• Integration with RTL's established communications workflow
• Validation of cellular-based intercom technology for live production environments

“The partnership with RTL Deutschland shows our commitment to implementing innovative solutions directly in real-world applications,” added Alex Hemme, sales manager DACH at Clear-Com. “The market demands scalable systems that reduce operating costs while increasing freedom of movement for production teams. FreeSpeak Cell delivers exactly that kind of flexibility and investment security. Demonstrating these capabilities under the demanding conditions of the Nürburgring sends a strong signal to the entire broadcast industry.”

COLUMBIA, Md.—LTN, a major provider of IP-based video transport and network services, has been selected by PBS as its IP video partner to modernize and future-proof content distribution and contribution across more than 330 public television stations.

Under the multi-year agreement, LTN will implement a fully managed IP network, providing end-to-end connectivity, ISP services, and two-way video transport across all station locations and service sites.

“PBS is modernizing and strengthening its Interconnection system to future-proof the platform and support the future of public media. Our IP network delivers the scale, reliability, and flexibility required to support that transformation,” said Malik Khan, co-founder and executive chairman, LTN. “LTN is proud to provide the network, reliability, and operational foundation required to support one of the largest and most important media networks in the U.S.”

The LTN Network will support distribution of public television content, including PBS East and PBS West feeds, PBS KIDS, Create, NHK World, and FNX with the ability to deliver up to nine linear feeds to PBS member stations.

The platform will also enable always-on content sharing among stations and support station contribution workflows for regional and national distribution of locally produced content. In addition, LTN will power contribution workflows for OTT distribution platforms, PBS Platforms like pbs.org and PBS Digital.

“Moving to a scalable, IP-based infrastructure will increase reliability, reduce costs, and enable new opportunities for content sharing, collaboration, and audience reach across the entire PBS system,” said Dana Golub, Vice President of Strategic Infrastructure Initiatives at PBS.

The deployment will begin immediately and continue through the end of 2026.

This week organizers for the annual IBC Show offered a preview of its plans for the upcoming annual event, Sept. 11-14 at the RAI Amsterdam.

IBC CEO Mike Crimp said the show will increase its emphasis on networking opportunities both at the show and online.

To that end, the show is launching the “Braindate Lounge” an initiative that will help attendees prepare in advance of the show.

Braindate Lounge will enable attendees to form their own peer groups online prior to the show and will be seeded with expert discussions from IBC consultants and from the show’s conference program around key topics, according to Crimp.

“People can go on there and form their own key topics and gather a group of people around them to do that,” he said. “I suppose the power of IBC is, in a way, is the power to convene, so all of those people will be able to take their meetings online to create an actual meeting between them on site in the Braindate Lounge, and they will be able to sit down, discuss their topics, discuss what they've seen, create their own knowledge networks.”

The show’s “Future Tech” zone, in Hall 14, will increase its focus on startups with the launch of “Future Tech Ignite,” dedicated to startups, emerging tech, future talent, and the creative community, according to Joe.

“We're also extending our partnership with EIT Culture and Creativity, and they are going to become the Future Tech Ignite innovation partner, which will really help strengthen IBC links with Europe's creative innovation communities,” said Jo Mayer, head of marketing for IBC.

Expanded from a single day to all four days of the show, “Ignite Stage”in the Future Tech area, will feature startup pitches, future-focused sessions, and talent/skills content across all four days of the show, Mayer added.

Key themes for this year’s show are: the transformation of sport, trust and authenticity, and new commercial models, which tie into the show’s three guiding pillars of shifting business models, transformative tech, and increasingly, people and purpose, according to Crimp.

“Those pillars are a consistent framework for the conversations that matter most to the industry,” he said.

Exhibition space itself should exceed 45,000 square meters this year with more than 1,200 exhibitors across 14 halls, according to Steve Connolly, IBC’s director of sales.

Last year, the show had 46,000 square meters of exhibition space and an estimated 1,300 exhibitors.

“Some key areas of the show are performing particularly strongly,” Connolly said. “Future Tech in Hall 14 and Content Everywhere in Hall 5 are both significantly ahead of last year in terms of bookings.”

Crimp said that they’re confident that attendance will be strong and that they'll be able to weather some of the issues that plagued the NAB Show in April, where attendance was softer than previous years.

“I think at the moment we are tracking really strongly against last year,” Crimp said. “We're an international show and a very welcoming show. Who knows what’s going to happen in the Middle East, if that's going to get worse, but I at the moment we're very confident that we will deliver numbers sort of in line with last year."

To register for the show, visit https://show.ibc.org.

LAS VEGAS—Pliant Technologies is launching CrewCom Flex, which the company is calling the world’s first frameless matrix intercom system and the only complete matrix IP-based intercom solution that converges wired, wireless, and virtual voice communication on a standards-based AES67 / SMPTE ST 2110 backbone.

Making its official debut at the 2026 InfoComm Show (Booth N6151), Pliant Technologies reported that CrewCom Flex represents a major evolution in professional intercom technology, seamlessly uniting Pliant’s proven CrewCom wireless intercom system with powerful new wired panels, desktop panels, wired belt packs, and browser- or app-based virtual intercom panels that can be deployed in cloud-native or local infrastructures.

Designed for demanding productions and critical communication environments, CrewCom Flex delivers a complete communications ecosystem built for hybrid, remote, distributed, and highly scalable workflows.

“With our truly distributed architecture, there is finally an intercom system with no single point of failure,” says Gary Rosen, vice president of global sales for Pliant Technologies. “CrewCom Flex delivers lower total cost of ownership, reduced hardware inventory, simplified configuration, and effortless remote production workflows. It’s intercom with fewer limitations and far more possibilities.”

At the core of the CrewCom Flex platform is the new CrewCom Flex Main Panel [CKP-16] and Desktop Panel [CDP-16], designed to combine the familiarity of traditional hardware with the flexibility and advantages of frameless distributed IP communications.

Expansion panels can be added to create highly customizable user stations, while each panel and desktop panel functions as its own intelligent distributed matrix. Unlike traditional matrix-based intercom systems that rely on centralized hardware frames, CrewCom Flex utilizes a unique distributed processing architecture, eliminating single points of failure while enabling almost limitless scalability.

CrewCom Flex is standards-based with AES67 and SMPTE ST 2110 support for seamless AoIP and VoIP integration and includes ST 2022-7 redundancy compliance for maximum reliability in mission-critical applications.

During the show, Pliant is also introducing new CrewCom Flex BeltPacks, available in two-channel [CBP-22] and four-channel [CBP-24] versions. Designed for flexible production workflows, the beltpacks feature integrated microphones and speakers, allowing users an option to communicate without requiring a headset.

The platform also includes CrewCom Flex Virtual Intercom, a browser-based VoIP communications solution available in 4-, 8-, 16-, and 36-key virtual user configurations. Flex Virtual Intercom can operate as a standalone communications system or integrate seamlessly into larger CrewCom Flex deployments. Accessible from PCs, Macs, tablets, and mobile devices, it provides unprecedented deployment flexibility for remote and distributed production teams.

CrewCom Flex integrates directly with existing CrewCom wireless intercom systems through CrewCom’s 32x32 Dante/AES-67 Digital Audio Network Interface [CXD-32CF], which provides routing and expansion capabilities into and out of a CrewNet infrastructure using EtherCon copper and dual LC fiber connectivity.

System configuration and management are handled through the updated CrewWare 2.0 software platform, featuring intuitive drag-and-drop tools that simplify deployment, control, and management of all resources within a single unified ecosystem.

“There are virtually no limits on size, geography, or project type with CrewCom Flex,” adds Rosen. “Whether your workflow requires traditional panels, desktop panels, wireless users, virtual panels, site-to-site communications, or cloud-based deployments, every user experiences the same intuitive interface and streamlined communication workflow.”

More information about Pliant Technologies is available at www.plianttechnologies.com.

BOTHELL, Wash.—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced the launch of the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program designed to help the Pro AV community better understand, design, configure, and deploy IPMX-based AV-over-IP systems. The Official IPMX Training Series is structured across three progressive levels - Foundations, Systems, and Networks - providing a clear learning path that supports both newcomers to AV-over-IP and experienced professionals seeking deeper technical insight.

The courses will balance demonstrations with business and technical information, helping participants understand not only how IPMX works, but how it fits into real-world workflows. The curriculum will also explore how IPMX relates to and builds upon complementary standards such as AES67, SMPTE ST 2110, and AMWA NMOS, while providing insight into the ecosystem clusters emerging around open, interoperable AV-over-IP deployments.

“Our new online training series is designed to provide the Pro AV industry with a practical, shared understanding of how IPMX fits into modern AV-over-IP system design,” said Sam Recine, IPMX Pro AV Working Group Chair at AIMS. “By clarifying how IPMX aligns with related standards and real-world scenarios, the courses will help integrators, engineers, and other stakeholders design and deploy standards-based, interoperable AV-over-IP systems.”

The initial chapters of the Foundations Training module are now available to public with the Systems and Networks modules set to debut in the fall and winter of this year, respectively

To register for the series, please visit training.ipmx.io.

More information about AIMS and its work is available at www.aimsalliance.org.

ALAMEDA, Calif.—Clear-Com has unveiled the purpose-built Avalon 1RU IP intercom communication platform for modern networked production.

Designed to simplify and scale workflows across broadcast, live events and production environments, Avalon supports FreeSpeak wireless beltpacks, HelixNet digital partyline, V-Series and I.V. Direct within a compact 1RU form factor. The platform features scalable licensed port capacity and flexible IP interfacing, allowing users to configure systems based on current operational needs and expand over time without replacing hardware.

Built for fully IP-based intercom environments, Avalon provides a streamlined alternative for users who do not require analog audio connectivity. The platform combines scalable licensed port architecture with a compact rack-mounted design, helping users reduce system complexity while maintaining the performance and reliability. Optimized for modern network infrastructures, Avalon expands customer choice within the Clear-Com product family as a cost-efficient option for IP-only workflows.

“Avalon represents a major step forward in how intercom systems are designed and deployed,” said Dave MacKinnon, vice president of product management at Clear-Com. “We focused on simplifying deployment while maintaining the flexibility and performance our customers expect. The result is a modern IP platform that enables teams to scale efficiently and communicate reliably across a wide range of environments.”

Avalon complements the company’s Arcadia Central Station, which remains part of the Clear-Com product portfolio for applications requiring hybrid analog and IP connectivity, front-panel control and legacy system support.

The platform supports AES67, Dante and Clear-Com’s I.V. Direct technologies for local and remote connectivity. Avalon also offers expanded IP capacity and networking flexibility for productions and installations operating on converged infrastructures.

“With Avalon, we wanted to remove traditional barriers to system design and expansion,” said Frank Linton, product manager at Clear-Com. “The licensed port architecture allows users to scale capacity over time without replacing hardware, while support for open standards helps simplify integration into existing workflows.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

MONTREAL—Grass Valley is launching AMPP Edge Live, a purpose-built production system designed to bring professional production capabilities to enterprise teams. The company will unveil AMPP Edge Live at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas, June 17 to 19 (North Hall: N7369-MR).

Media production teams within enterprise organizations such as education, government, corporate communications, houses of worship and live events are often asked to do more with limited resources, yet existing production systems often lack the flexibility to support new workflows without significant additional investment, Grass Valley said.

AMPP Edge Live addresses this challenge by providing a flexible production foundation that grows with organizational needs, by combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration and AMPP OS in a single solution, according to the company.

“Production requirements are constantly evolving as audience expectations shift, creating challenges for enterprise organizations whose production infrastructures were not designed for today’s demands,” said Jonathan Lyth, Product Director for Enterprise Media, Grass Valley. “Businesses need production platforms that combine operational agility with the confidence of reliable performance. AMPP Edge Live delivers both, enabling organizations to adapt and scale production capabilities without adding operational complexity.”

The solution is available in two models that serve different production demands:

AMPP Edge Live 4000 is ideal for live event production and provides the performance to run solutions such as Event Producer X, which brings production switching, graphics, audio mixing, recording, streaming, monitoring and production control into a single browser-based interface.

AMPP Edge Live 6000 adds processing performance for more demanding production requirements and supports Sport Producer X, which combines switching, graphics, scoring, timing, data integration and instant replay for sports production.

Across both models, operators can manage workflows that previously required multiple specialist systems and dedicated personnel, all through one production environment, Grass Valley said.

AMPP Edge Live also simplifies lifecycle management through a unified ownership model. Grass Valley designs, validates and supports AMPP Edge Live as a complete solution, managing hardware validation, software compatibility, updates and support through a single point of accountability. This removes much of the integration burden associated with multi-vendor environments while helping ensure organizations remain ready for future production requirements.

AMPP Edge Live is built on a short-depth 4 RU chassis with redundant power and modular AMPP I/O cards, so connectivity can be tailored to each workflow. It includes enterprise-grade security, centralized management and role-based access controls, and forms part of the Grass Valley Media Universe, supporting on-premise, hybrid and cloud-connected workflows.

AMPP Edge Live is available now in the L4000 and L6000 appliance models, with SDI 8 and SDI 12 AMPP I/O card options and media storage choices of 2 TB or 4 TB.

We sat down with Paul Briscoe, TAG's chief architect, to talk about why TAG is developing MXL capabilities and what it means for broadcast operations directors navigating the complexity of IP workflows.

Q: Why did TAG decide to build MXL capabilities now?

Because our customers told us they'd hit a wall. And when that happens, you listen.

We've been in the room with broadcast engineers and ops directors through their SDI-to-IP transitions for years. They did everything right: they mastered ST 2110, got PTP timing under control, built out the infrastructure. And then they ran into a new problem: the complexity of 2110 itself became the ceiling.

Every time they wanted to add a workflow or move something to cloud, they were managing exponentially more timing constraints and engineering hours just to keep things running. The technology that was supposed to give them flexibility was now the thing limiting their growth. That's not only a technology problem, it's a business problem.

Q: What do 2110 operational challenges look like day-to-day?

Here's what we kept hearing: "We need to cover more events, but we don't have the engineering capacity to stand up another ST 2110 facility." Or: "We want to scale into cloud for certain productions, but the protocol conversions and timing challenges make it difficult to achieve."

One ops director told us they were burning 60% of their engineering time on commissioning and managing system complexity, not actually improving their workflows. That's the real cost. It's what you can't do because your team is buried in technical tasks that should be simpler.

Q: So how does MXL change that?

MXL takes the parts of ST 2110 that work really well, the formats, the capabilities, and strips out the complexity that's blocking people.

Instead of managing thousands of packets per frame with nanosecond-precision timing, media moves as straightforward memory-to-memory transfers. No PTP. No specialized UDP networks. And the same workflow runs on-prem or in the cloud without protocol gymnastics. For ops engineers, that means teams stop spending the majority of their time managing infrastructure and start spending it on work that actually drives value. That's the whole point.

Q: TAG is known as a monitoring company. Why get into transport layer technology?

We're a software company that specializes in monitoring, and because of that, we've had a front-row seat watching customers wrestle with IP workflow complexity for years.

Here's the thing: you can't monitor what you can't see, and you can't optimize what's technically constrained.

We're building MXL support into TAG's platform because monitoring needs to work seamlessly whether workflows are running on ST 2110, MXL, or any other format, on-prem or in the cloud. MXL also happens to eliminate a lot of the timing and interoperability issues that created monitoring gaps in traditional IP workflows. Our job is to make operations more efficient and workflows more reliable, regardless of transport technology.

Q: Where does an ops director start?

Start by finding where ST 2110 complexity is actually costing you.

Are deployment cycles dragging because your team is navigating integration challenges? Are cloud-hybrid workflows off the table because the complexity doesn't justify the business case? Those are the places where MXL delivers immediate value. You don't need to understand RDMA specs to make this decision. You need to understand whether eliminating PTP timing constraints or multicast networking would let you deploy faster or scale more efficiently. Then have a conversation with your infrastructure partners about how to architect for flexibility.

Q: What does MXL mean for broadcasters who are still mid-way through their ST 2110 journey, or haven't started yet?

Good news on both counts.

If you're mid-transition, nothing you've done is wasted. The video formats, audio, metadata, the fundamental constructs of 2110 are exactly what MXL moves. You're not ripping anything out. ST 2110 compatibility is fully retained, and TAG's platform already monitors both.

If you haven't started yet, you get to skip some of the hardest parts of the 2110 learning curve: the PTP domains, the specialized UDP networking, the timing dependencies that have kept IT departments at arm's length from broadcast infrastructure for years. MXL is built from an IT-centric viewpoint; RDMA and RoCE are standard IT services. That means your IT team can actually be part of this, which changes the economics and the operational model considerably.

Q: What should customers expect from TAG as MXL adoption grows?

The same thing they've always gotten from us: monitoring and multiviewing that works across whatever infrastructure they're running, with unified visibility that helps them operate more efficiently.

MXL support is already in TAG's platform. As customers deploy MXL-based workflows, whether that's in six months or two years, their monitoring keeps working and scales with them.

About TAG Video Systems: TAG Video Systems is the global leader in software-based integrated IP probing, monitoring, visualization and analytics solutions. TAG enables broadcasters, content creators, and service providers to streamline operations, cut through the complexity of IP media workflows, and keep infrastructures ahead of shifting technology and demand with Zero Friction agility. The TAG platform empowers users with innovative toolsets to ensure video quality, improve overall efficiency across all media workflows, and provides invaluable business and operational insights.

MONTREAL and RASTATT, Germany—Grass Valley has announced a technology collaboration to validate orchestration, control and media exchange integration between Grass Valley AMPP and Lawo HOME.

The collaboration is aligned with the open system approach of the companies. It supports the EBU Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) initiative and the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) project.

As media organizations move toward hybrid production environments spanning on-premises systems and public cloud, media organizations increasingly require best-of-breed platforms to work together predictably and without custom integration burden. The collaboration reinforces the companies’ commitment to open and operationally flexible media infrastructures across software and hardware by connecting Grass Valley’s AMPP and Lawo’s HOME platforms.

The collaboration will initially focus on validating practical interoperability between AMPP and HOME across control, orchestration, media transport and exchange, and operational monitoring with security-first deployment principles at the heart. This includes exploring use cases such as multi-platform routing, cross-environment resource visibility and MXL-aligned exchange between software-based media functions.

“At Grass Valley, Open by Design is a foundational commitment to helping customers build the future of media infrastructure on their terms,” said Grass Valley CEO Jon Wilson. “The industry is moving toward dynamic, software-based media facilities where customers need confidence that leading platforms can interoperate across control, orchestration and media exchange. By collaborating with Lawo, we are together helping to show how DMF principles can be applied in real-world, multi-vendor deployments.”

The collaboration supports the broader strategy of Grass Valley and Lawo to enable organizations to modernize their operations while protecting choice and flexibility. Both AMPP and HOME provide a software-based foundation for live production and media workflows, enabling users to deploy across cloud, edge and hybrid environments.

The collaboration is intended to bring increased value by reducing integration friction, improving deployment confidence and accelerating the practical adoption of open, dynamic media facilities. Rather than creating another closed ecosystem, the focus is on validating the orchestration and interoperability patterns required for multi-vendor media operations to work at scale.

“Lawo shares Grass Valley’s commitment to open, interoperable media infrastructure,” Lawo CEO Jamie Dunn said. “Lawo HOME is designed to support the management and orchestration of modern IP-based media environments, and this collaboration with Grass Valley reflects the importance of practical interoperability between the market-leading software infrastructure platforms. Together, we are enabling customers to implement dynamic media facilities today without concerns about vendor lock-in or restrictions.”

More information is available on the Grass Valley and Lawo websites.

READING, Pa. and CHESTERTON, In—Miri Technologies has just signed a new distribution partnership with Midwich, a distributor of audio-visual and unified communications solutions for the United States and Canada. The agreement reinforces Miri's channel partnership strategy for meeting the rapidly growing demand for the X510 dual-cellular bonding router and the new V410 4K live encoder/decoder in the world’s largest commercial market.

The Miri X510 router enables resilient internet connectivity anywhere by forging multiple wired and wireless links—including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G and satellite—together to overcome speed limitations and withstand network disruptions even in challenging environments, according to the company. Powered by Speedify channel bonding technology from Connectify, the X510 bolsters internet connectivity for any type of data and supports use cases ranging from live streaming and remote broadcast contribution to trade shows and disaster response.

The Miri V410 live 4K encoder/decoder combines intuitive interfaces with rich functionality, robust connectivity and flexible format support for live streaming, IP-based production and AV-over-IP distribution. It can encode one 4K Ultra HD output at 60FPS or two simultaneous QHD (2560x1440) channels, and can also transcode from NDI® sources to streaming formats. As a decoder, the device can decode two 4K Ultra HD streams concurrently from most supported source formats.

Midwich sees Miri as a great addition to its offering in the Broadcast & Media/Entertainment sector.

“The channel partners we service are constantly looking to create the most complete solutions that solve problems, simplify workflows and open the door to new revenue streams,” said Rich D’Angelo, Midwich executive director of business management for Media & Entertainment. “Miri solutions will complement our existing brands in helping our resellers and integrators achieve these goals. Miri's approach to resilient connectivity and the powerful yet simple interfaces in their products combine with class-leading levels of flexibility and insight that truly set them apart.”

“We’re excited to expand the availability of our solutions by partnering with Midwich,” said David Cohen, vice president of sales and business development at Miri Technologies. “We see tremendous opportunities for synergy between Miri and the many brands that Midwich represents and we're looking forward to growing our footprint across the continent with their support.”

COLOGNE, Germany—Qvest has introduced two new solutions that the company says will help drive more efficient processing in software defined architectures.

The two new open-source projects—mxl-k8s and go-mxl—address key challenges of modern broadcast architectures in the context of Dynamic Media Facilities (DMF) and advance their practical implementation in Kubernetes-based environments.

Qvest says its solution addresses one of the key scalability challenges in DMF-based architectures. Multiple applications often access the same stream simultaneously, leading to significant bandwidth inefficiencies, rising costs, and increasing complexity that grows with each additional application.

“With uncompressed UHD streams in the range of 10 Gbit/s and more, this is not a marginal issue but a major economic factor,” says Daniel Clasen, Practice Lead – Custom Software Solutions at Qvest. “Our approach ensures that streams are processed at most once per node within the cluster. This lays the foundation for more efficient and future-proof media platforms.”

Qvest addresses this challenge with mxl‑k8s, which enables scalable, converged use of MXL across multiple nodes within a cluster. Media flows are shared within a node, regardless of how many applications access them.

On a technical level, Qvest extends the DMF architecture with a cluster-wide orchestration layer for MXL: As a software layer, MXL provides a standardized mechanism for exchanging media flows between applications and can be directly integrated into products.

The automated orchestration of this exchange across multiple nodes and systems is deliberately outside the scope of the MXL core and has so far been implemented on a project-specific basis—with corresponding effort for vendors and integrators that can be significantly reduced using mxl‑k8s.

With mxl‑k8s, crossnode transport of MXL becomes available for the first time as an automated cluster feature, without the need to implement it within each media function, according to the company. This removes a key scalability limitation of modern media architectures. For applications, the need to account for the origin or routing of a flow is eliminated.

go‑mxl, Qvest’s Go binding for the MXL libraries implemented in C/C++, further simplifies integration into modern software stacks and makes the technology accessible to a broader developer base.

“MXL is designed as a layer for integration into software products. Across multiple systems, an additional orchestration layer becomes essential. This is exactly the layer we are now adding, enabling fully automated operation across the entire cluster. Initial feedback from the industry confirms the strong demand for this type of orchestration,” summarizes Daniel Clasen.

Qvest is providing both projects as open source, enabling the industry to further develop the approaches and integrate them into their own systems.

As part of Qvest’s broader industry engagement, in May 2026, the company upgraded its membership in the industry association AMWA to General Member and is now contributing this technical expertise more actively to the development of industry standards – including throughthe Joint Task Force on Dynamic Media Facilities (JT‑DMF).

Find mxl-k8s and go-mxl on GitHub: https://github.com/qvest-digital/go-mxl

WUPPERTAL, Germany—Riedel Networks, the managed network services division of The Riedel Group, has named Gudrun Scharler as CEO.

Scharler succeeds Michael Martens, who has led the unit since 2012 and will remain to support a structured handover until the end of August, the company said.

Scharler is a veteran telecom and technology executive with experience as chief operating officer of the German cable company Unitymedia as well as in executive roles at Nets Group, E-Plus, Sunrise Communications and Télefonica Germany, Riedel said. She also held executive roles at Canyon Bicycles and P2 eBike GmbH.

“Michael has shaped Riedel Networks with exceptional commitment, entrepreneurial spirit, and a clear sense for what customers need,” Riedel Group Chief Operating Officer Frank Eischet said. “We are deeply grateful for everything he has achieved over the past 14 years. At the same time, we are excited to welcome Gudrun as the new CEO of Riedel Networks. With her strong leadership background in telecommunications, operations, and transformation, she is the right person to guide the company into its next phase of development.”

Riedel Networks provides connectivity and telecommunications services to the company’s media, sports and enterprise customers.

“Riedel Networks is a great company with a strong team, a clear customer focus, and significant potential for further development,” Scharler said. “I am very much looking forward to getting to know the team and working together to continue the company’s transformation while preserving the flexibility, speed, and collaborative spirit that make Riedel Networks special. I would also like to thank Michael for the open and structured handover and for the strong foundation he has built.”

Since Martens took the helm of Riedel Networks in 2012, the business has grown from 2.8 million euros in revenue and 12 employees to 24 million euros and 70 employees, it said.

“Riedel Networks has been a defining part of my professional journey, and I am proud of the company we have developed together,” Martens said. “Gudrun is taking over a company with strong momentum, and I look forward to supporting her as she leads Riedel Networks into its next chapter.”

SKOKIE, Ill.— Studio Technologies has unveiled Model 385, a compact, lightweight Dante-enabled beltpack designed specifically for broadcast and live-event audio professionals who use parabolic microphones, boom poles and other specialized microphones to capture critical on-air audio.

The portable Model 385 combines a high-performance microphone preamplifier with a single-talk/two-listen intercom interface, delivering a unique combination of on-air microphone and intercom audio resources in a convenient beltpack form factor, the company said.

Supporting Dante audio-over-Ethernet networking and powered via Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), the Model 385 integrates seamlessly into modern fixed and mobile broadcast environments, it said.

“The Model 385 was developed to address the evolving needs of broadcast sports and live entertainment production teams that require reliable, high-quality microphone and intercom functionality in a highly portable format,” Studio Technologies President Gordon Kapes said. “By combining exceptional audio performance, Dante networking and flexible monitoring capabilities into a single rugged device, the Model 385 gives field audio personnel an efficient and intuitive solution for demanding production environments.”

Using a standard 3-pin XLR connector, the Model 385 supports both dynamic and condenser microphones, with selectable P48 phantom power available for condenser microphone applications. A low-noise, low-distortion microphone preamplifier circuit offers adjustable gain ranging from 20 decibels to 65 dB in 1 dB increments. The analog microphone signal is converted to 24-bit digital audio and output through a Dante transmitter channel.

A 5-pin XLR connector allows connection of a broadcast headset, with adjustable gain and low-voltage electret power support for the headset’s microphone. The output of the headset’s microphone is routed through a second Dante transmitter channel, activated via a pushbutton talk switch, to provide intercom communication with other Dante-enabled beltpacks and intercom devices.

“The flexibility of Dante networking was a major design priority for the Model 385,” said Kapes. “Users can easily integrate the unit with Studio Technologies products as well as a wide range of Dante-enabled equipment from other manufacturers.”

The unit is Dante Domain Manager-compatible and compliant with AES67. Crews can quickly get up and running with just a PoE Ethernet connection, microphone and headset while maintaining dependable communications and premium audio performance, Kapes said.

Model 385 allows users to create highly customizable headphone mixes by combining up to four audio sources routed to the headset’s dual-channel headphone output. Three push-in/push-out rotary controls enable adjustment of listen levels for the main microphone preamplifier output and the two incoming Dante receiver channels.

These channels are commonly used to support intercom and program audio feeds. An integrated sidetone function provides confidence monitoring of the headset’s microphone signal.

More information is available on the company’s website.

As new advances in efficiency and vendor interoperability fuel momentum behind broadcasters’ reliance on production in the hybrid private/public cloud domain, cost challenges posed by AI resource scarcities are moving to the top of industry suppliers’ to-do lists.

The latest, frequently AI-enhanced solutions that came to light at April’s NAB Show have made the hybrid cloud model more attractive than ever amid waning enthusiasm for exclusive reliance on either public cloud or proprietary hardware resources.

In the case of Grass Valley’s customers, for example, “whether broadcasters choose to host aspects to their production workflows on premises or in the cloud can be decided on the basis of architectural complexity and what makes sense for the tasks at hand,” Chief Product Officer Adam Marshall said. “That’s what they’re looking for.”

Like just about everywhere else, AI is playing an ever-greater role at Grass Valley. Marshall said the company uses AI “to accelerate our ability to deliver what our clients need” and to provide a “third-party front door” that allows customers to add their own AI application layers.

The need to secure cloud operations, including vulnerability analysis of the type delivered by Anthropic’s new Mythos AI model, has added to AI processing requirements. Grass Valley will make the technology available if and when Anthropic lifts current restrictions on its release, Marshall said.

Inference Costs
A late 2025 report from Deloitte Insights underscored the immensity of the AI usage challenges facing all industries. That report found enterprises everywhere “are discovering their existing infrastructure strategies aren’t designed for AI’s demands,” Deloitte said.

The mismatch results from “inference,” or the incessant processing required as AI models generate new information based on changing conditions. “While inference costs have plummeted, dropping 280-fold over the last two years, explosive growth in overall AI spending… has dramatically outpaced cost reduction,” Deloitte said.

“Dependence on high-performance compute in the public cloud can get expensive,” Jonathan Gryckiewicz, business development director for cloud solutions at Ross Video, said.

Businesses are adjusting to the new realities “incredibly fast,” he said, but for now, “it seems largely the case that to get benefits from AI, we need to connect the media environment to the [public] cloud” where processing is “gobbling up GPU capacity and prices are getting higher and higher.”

Ross Video’s latest cloud- and AI-related contributions include support for its XPression real-time browser-based graphics creation and monitoring tools via a scalable on-demand service called XPression.cloud, which can be used instead of local XPression hardware. XPression.cloud uses AI to identify appropriate XPression templates and expedite graphics-related asset retrieval, creativity and generation.

XPression.cloud offers customers “a more sophisticated way to manage graphics on their own” without “shipping boxes around,” Gryckiewicz said.

Matrox Video is also riding the market surge toward hybrid cloud-optimized converged production solutions. For the past two years, Matrox has promoted its ORIGIN media-aware content transfer fabric as a way to control high-performance multiprotocol transport and scalability without dedicated hardware. ORIGIN was again a big focus for Matrox at this year’s NAB Show, but with a different emphasis this time, Product Manager Daniel Robinson said.

“We hadn’t seen very many use cases emerging until now,” Robinson said, noting uptake this year involves the likes of industry suppliers Amagi, EVS and TSL, as well as the Canadian multiservice giant Rogers Communications. The difference lies with Matrox’s success in using AI to make it easier for customers to put ORIGIN to work in their products and services, Robinson said.

“We’re not running AI on the software but using AI tools to build things quickly,” he explained, which means executing on projects that might have taken days or longer in a matter of hours. “It’s about shortcutting discovery of information. If you didn’t do that, you’d have AI searching through thousands and thousands of lines of documentation with outcomes that may or may not be the right ones.”

AI Supply Chain
Such uses of AI on the build side of supplier innovation are fueling acceleration in product development for cloud- and hardware-based solutions alike. While these applications don’t incur the ongoing inference processing costs associated with AI applications used in live production workflows, they are vulnerable to hardware capacity and cost trends, noted Stephan Stadler, chief product officer at Appear.

“Being a hardware manufacturer, the AI supply chain is top of mind,” Stadler said, citing Appear’s use of AI not only in “how we plan and build things” but in discovering new opportunities and creating sales messaging. “The big challenge is memory chips for everyone who builds hardware products in this industry,” he added.

Appear has moved into the hybrid cloud production space with the recent introduction of the VX Media (VXM) Gateway, which uses open-source interfaces to enable interoperability with other vendor solutions in commodity cloud support for the dispersed REMI production versatility enabled by its hardware-based X Production portfolio.

“VXM doesn’t replace XP,” Stadler noted. “It’s just an extension of that.”

The company’s release of VXM—even as it registered another big hardware win, with Fox Sports using its X platform to deploy its REMI production workflow for the 2026 FIFA World Cup—reflects the growing pull of the virtualized hybrid cloud opportunity across the traditional broadcast-production hardware supply chain.

Another case in point is the expanded support for cloud production introduced by Sony Electronics’ Nevion unit. Nevion has integrated MOXELA, a new cloud-native software platform, with its cloud-based VideoIPath media orchestration layer to transport, process and monitor production workflows encompassing output from cameras and other equipment supplied by Sony and by other vendors.

“The big problem we’re solving with MOXELA is producers’ need for flexibility to adapt to different workflows by running various processing functions for different streams in parallel across on-prem and public cloud clusters,” Nevion Head of Product and Solutions Jan Helgesen said.

The Impact of MXL
MOXELA aligns with common frameworks like SMPTE ST 2110 and NDI, as well as the emerging industry guidelines shaped by the European Broadcast Union’s open-source Digital Media Facility (DMF) initiative, including the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) specifying containerized microservice support for real-time, in-memory exchanges of uncompressed audio, video and metadata across multiple vendor software applications. This is a big step toward enabling cloud-based live sports and other productions, but there’s much more to come, Helgesen said.

“We’re currently on a cloud production journey from Tiers 3 and 2 to Tier 1,” he explained, noting that getting to Tier 1 still “requires some technical development that’s not completely there yet.” It’s a staged road map that will also bring AI into play to automate the complex troubleshooting, planning and setups that big cloud productions will require, he added.

Implementations of MXL in vendor product lines—facilitated by the Linux Foundation’s release of the first MXL Software Development Kit (SDK)—are fast becoming the norm. This is because the shift toward hybrid cloud production has made just-in-time activations of COTS resources with cross-vendor interoperability essential to cost containment.

Sony, along with a new commitment to the protocol by Ross Video, adds to a list of MLX supporters that includes Appear, AWS, Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Intel, Lawo, Matrox, NVIDIA, Riedel Communications and Telos Alliance.

Pay As You Go
For Lawo, the growing consensus around the hybrid cloud approach to broadcast production is right in stride with its longstanding promotion of the Lawo HOME management and orchestration platform. HOME runs on commodity servers in private or public clouds to enable discovery, authentication, security management and monitoring of all production-connected devices from a single user interface.

To address cost uncertainties as the hybrid cloud production model takes hold, Lawo has introduced Flex, a payment system built on credits that makes it easier for customers to adjust to changing dynamics in private vs. public cloud resource usage.

“You can buy and use Flex credits like chips in a casino to spend on any HOME app,” Chris Scheck, head of marketing content for Lawo, said. The hybrid cloud model “is where we’re heading,” he added, but uncertainties mandate offering customers as much flexibility as possible in choosing how to spend on cloud resources.

For example, while customers would rather maximize use of private resources, “right now, servers have almost tripled in price because of chip shortages, and it can take six months to get them,” Scheck said. At the same time, as Grass Valley’s Marshall observed, in the public cloud space “we’ve seen processing costs rising at record rates, up 40% during the first part of the year and now up 80%.”

Factor in the complications added by the AI squeeze and it’s clear the hybrid cloud model might not be the cost-saving slam dunk it once appeared to be. But in a live-production environment that needs to accommodate fragmented workflows delivered through ST 2100, NDI, SDI and other pipelines while enabling browser support for executing editing tasks across dispersed locations, the advantages of cloud-based accessibility, agility and efficiency are too compelling to be ignored.

This puts a premium on cloud cost-containment know-how. As Marshall noted, at a moment of growing confusion among producers, figuring out what will work for each customer has much to do with knowing which questions to ask.

WASHINGTON—In a wide-ranging Public Notice reminding broadcasters of their public interest obligations, the Federal Communications Commission stressed that “spectrum auctions routinely bring in billions of dollars for the same spectrum broadcasters use for free” and insisted that the agency has the authority to investigate, fine and potentially remove broadcast licenses for violations of broadcast public interest obligations.

Those public interest obligations include the requirement that "broadcasters are also prohibited from engaging in news distortion," the agency noted.

Though not signed and not explicitly issued in response to any given criticism, the document amounts to an unusual public defense from the GOP-led commission for the regulatory approach taken under FCC Chair Brendan Carr. As previously reported, he has been criticized by Democrats in Congress, former FCC officials and FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez for attempting to use the agency's enforcement powers to limit "free speech" and chill broadcast news coverage that is critical of the Trump administration.

“Federal law requires broadcasters to comply with a basic and fundamental obligation—they must operate in the public interest,” the public notice argued. “Congress first enshrined this concept in the law nearly 100 years ago, and it charged the FCC with the responsibility of ensuring that broadcasters only obtain and maintain a license to the extent they are operating in a manner that serves the `public interest, convenience, and necessity.’”

In addition to its statutory authority to enforce “public interest” requirements, the Public Notice argued that “spectrum is a finite public resource bound by the limits of physics” and an extremely valuable asset.

“Spectrum auctions routinely bring in billions of dollars for the same spectrum broadcasters use for free,” the agency reminded broadcasters, adding that “proceeds from the auction for broadcast television spectrum that was reallocated for wireless broadband use yielded $19.8 billion in revenue, including $10.05 billion for winning broadcast bidders and more than $7 billion to be deposited to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction.”

“In exchange, broadcasters are required to operate in the public interest of the communities they serve,” the agency noted. “It is this service as a public trustee—and the corresponding obligation to offer programming responsive to the needs and interests of the local communities they are licensed to serve—that makes broadcasters unique and distinguishes them from other programmers. It is an obligation that broadcasters take on voluntarily, in exchange for the privilege of holding a license to operate using the public airwaves.”

The Public Notice also laid a variety of legal arguments affirming the regulator’s controversial conclusion that it has the power to ensure that broadcast programming is in the public interest.

“Programming decisions by broadcasters must be made in service of the public and be responsive to the needs of the local community they are licensed to serve, not the private interests of national networks,” the FCC insisted.

“No broadcaster has a ‘right’ to use the public spectrum,” the notice stated, adding that “indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that certain FCC regulatory efforts in furtherance of its statutory mandate `enhance rather than abridge the freedoms of speech and press protected by the First Amendment.’” and that “the courts have recognized that there are limits on broadcasters’ First Amendment rights.”

The FCC concluded that “the mere denial of a license because ‘the public interest’ requires it ‘is not a denial of free speech.’”

“Where the Commission finds that a broadcaster has failed to serve the public interest, the Commission may take appropriate action, including enforcement action,” require a licensee to file an early license renewal application,” as it has done with ABC’s stations, and apply the “public interest” rules when considering mergers or station sales.

As examples of the FCC’s authority to regulate content, the notice cited its “main studio” rule, intended to ensure service obligations were met by placing a station’s production center within the community it served,and its “program origination” rule, which required stations to originate a minimum percentage of its non-network programming from its main studio or elsewhere within its community of license.

“The purpose of the rule was to encourage locally-oriented programming in furtherance of the Commission’s public interest standard and localism mandate,” the Notice argued.

It also highlighted rules relating to the station’s online public inspection file issues/program lists, and insisted “broadcasters are also prohibited from engaging in news distortion, must provide equal opportunity to political candidates and are prohibited from airing obscene, indecent and profane content.”

“The Commission will continue to engage in a robust review of applications to ensure compliance with our rules and determine whether broadcasters have met their obligation to operate in the public interest,” the notice concluded. “We encourage broadcasters to review their current practices and confirm that they fully align with their statutory public interest obligation.”

In the final sentence, the Notice also stressed that the agency determination to both investigate public-interest violations and enforce those rules in ways that could involve taking away broadcast licenses.

“The Commission will not hesitate to exercise its statutory authority to ensure that broadcasters either fulfill their public interest obligation or provide the privilege of being a broadcast licensee to someone that will fulfill that duty,” the Notice stated.

Carr also reiterated the agency’s authority in a post on X:

In response, Gomez asserted: “The ‘public interest’ does not mean this administration's interests. Broadcasters should ignore these latest threats and stiffen their spine.“

HEBDEN BRIDGE, England—Calrec Audio has updated its ImPulseV Virtualised Audio Mixing Engine to expand the market for virtualized audio workflows.

The ImPulseV portfolio now includes two new, smaller DSP package options—96- and 140-path configurations—alongside the existing 256-processing path option. Tailored for smaller systems that still demand uncompromising, broadcast-grade audio performance, all three packages share the same comprehensive feature set, including full processing on every path and support for 5.1 and immersive audio formats up to 7.1.4. DSP resources can also be dynamically allocated across channel and bus paths in real time, ensuring maximum efficiency for any production setup.

Calrec has also introduced shorter, more flexible licensing terms—one year, 12 weeks and four weeks—lowering the barrier to entry and allowing broadcasters to scale their production capabilities with no need for long-term commitments or high upfront costs, according to the company. This makes ImPulseV “an ideal solution for boosting resources for temporary, variable, or one-off productions,” Calrec said.

“Traditional broadcasters are reinventing their operations so that they can produce more content for less, faster and across more diverse platforms,” said Henry Goodman, director of product management at Calrec. “Remote and distributed production, combined with virtualization, reflect the broader trajectory of live production: away from fixed infrastructure and towards flexible, hybrid workflows that blend on-premise, cloud and distributed resources.

“This transition is enabling broadcasters to increase agility and cost efficiency through new business models," Goodman added. “Hybrid workflows that incorporate a blend of existing and new infrastructure allow broadcasters to build resource efficiency into every production—and that is quite an attractive proposition.”

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.—Cobalt Digital, a provider of signal processing products and a founding partner in the openGear initiative, will highlight its expanding IPMX ecosystem at InfoComm 2026 in Booth N7163.

The solutions are designed to bring broadcast quality to Pro AV applications.

The lineup includes standalone signal processors, audio monitors, multiviewers, gateways, converters, encoders, and decoders that make SMPTE ST 2110 workflows easy to deploy, manage and scale.

Designed for systems integrators as well as end users, Cobalt’s interoperable IPMX certified product portfolio provides a straightforward migration path from SDI to IP — delivering the flexibility and scalability of ST 2110 without the complexity traditionally associated with high-end IP infrastructures.

“Pro AV customers are looking for practical ways to transition to IP without overcomplicating their workflows while protecting their legacy investments,” said Suzana Brady, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Cobalt Digital. “Our goal is to make ST 2110 and IPMX approachable for integrators and end users alike. We’re providing a complete solution that combines broadcast-grade reliability with the ease of deployment and operation the Pro AV market demands.”

At the center of Cobalt’s InfoComm lineup is the new COBALT blueCORE family of fully featured standalone signal processors designed to bridge SDI and ST 2110/IPMX environments. blueCORE combines the audio and video processing functions required for live production and AV signal management into a single 1RU device.

blueCORE’s self-contained architecture makes deployment fast and simple: power up the unit, connect signals, and it is ready to operate with or without a computer. A large touchscreen front panel enables fast, intuitive local configuration, and four illuminated control knobs allow functions (such as color correction) to be adjusted without an external control panel. blueCORE can also be deployed in traditional fixed installations and remotely managed through a Web GUI.

blueCORE capabilities include up/down/cross conversion, color correction, HDR processing, audio routing and mixing, per-channel frame sync, frame rate conversion, audio embedding and de-embedding, SCTE 104 insertion, logo insertion, and numerous additional base features — delivering extensive functionality in a single compact platform.

Cobalt will also demonstrate enhancements to the Cobalt Pacific compression platform including a new ST 2110/IPMX output option for the Cobalt Pacific ULL-DEC upgradeable software-defined decoder. The enhancement allows decoded content to be available simultaneously over SDI and ST 2110/IPMX. The device includes a built-in frame sync that can be configured to emit a PTP-locked signal for ST 2110 operation.

Cobalt also leverages the Pacific line to deliver a complete solution for interconnecting IPMX sites over the Internet. The Pacific 9992-ENC “IPMX-to-Internet” gateway appears as a destination within the NMOS controller at the sending site, enabling any patched content to be transmitted instantly to the corresponding Pacific ULL-DEC “Internet-to-IPMX” gateway at the receiving end. There the signal is visible in the NMOS controller as a sender and can be routed anywhere within the facility.

When using RIST, the Pacific 9992-ENC supports one-to-many distribution, allowing the same live content to be transported simultaneously to multiple destinations. This gateway acts as a bridge between IPMX on one end, and RIST/SRT on the Internet end, while also encoding or decoding audio/video at a reasonable bitrate.

Cobalt is also introducing new, entry level fixed-function openGear® cards designed to provide cost-effective entry points with license-based scalability up to four paths for expanding workflows.

The new 9925-FSx Frame Sync openGear card is a one-path frame sync card (field-upgradable to four paths) with optional audio processing support for AES, MADI, and DANTE 64. The new 9981-LUTx Color Processor openGear® card offers options including SCALER, BBC LUT, COLOR, 4K, LOGO, ANC, and is also field‑upgradable to four paths.

Cobalt’s ARIA Audio series includes the industry’s only fully IPMX-compliant audio monitor, giving AV facilities an easy way to incorporate professional audio confidence monitoring into IP-based workflows. The customizable touch-display front panel enables intuitive operation with eight individual volume controls for mixing, while remote control is available through a web interface.

The Cobalt UltraBlue MV-SW multiviewers provide a flexible monitoring solution for facilities operating in compressed (multiple protocols), SDI, ST 2110, IPMX, or hybrid environments. Available as either a turnkey solution with four HDMI heads or as a software package running on customer-supplied dedicated hardware, UltraBlue supports compressed and baseband audio/video over IP across multiple protocols and formats with highly flexible audio routing capabilities. Native IPMX support allows facilities to transition smoothly toward either ST 2110 or IPMX workflows while maintaining support for SDI inputs and outputs.

Cobalt will also showcase multiple models in the Cobalt Sapphire family of IPMX-capable standalone mini converters. Available in single, dual, and quad-channel configurations, select models can simultaneously transmit and receive signals while converting between IPMX/ ST 2110 signals and SDI/HDMI. Supporting both baseband video and ST 2110/IPMX, SAPPHIRE converters provide space-saving, low-latency tools for introducing IPMX into virtually any workflow.

The Cobalt Indigo gateway solutions provide a powerful on and off ramp between SDI and IP with support for both IPMX and ST 2110.

Designed specifically for hybrid infrastructures, Indigo simplifies interoperability, routing, and format translation while preserving image quality and low-latency performance — essential for organizations transitioning from traditional AV and broadcast infrastructures to modern IP-based operations.

“At InfoComm 2026, Cobalt Digital will demonstrate how our expanding IPMX ecosystem gives systems integrators and AV professionals a practical, interoperable, and future-ready path to ST 2110 — proving that high-end IP workflows are no longer difficult to deploy or manage,” Brady added.

STAMFORD, Conn.—In a move that will improve the user experience for broadband applications like gaming, video chats, AI tools, Charter’s Spectrum operating brand has announced the rollout of ultra-low latency internet services powered by L4S technology (low latency, low loss, scalable throughput) in select markets, with a national rollout to follow.

“Speed gets you there, but latency determines how it feels once you arrive,” said Danny Bowman, executive vice president, product at Spectrum. “Many of today’s most popular applications require real-time responsiveness. This is about eliminating delays so customers can enjoy gaming, working or connecting with family via video in a way that feels immediate.”

The company explained that L4S technology enables smoother, more responsive connections for latency-sensitive applications including AI tools, gaming and video chatting. Spectrum’s low-latency network works with products from companies like NVIDIA and any other developers who build their applications to meet L4S standards. When both the product and network are optimized, the customer experience is improved.

Automatically included with Spectrum Internet service at no additional cost, low latency technology is already live for Spectrum customers in the Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas; Reno, Nev.; Rochester, Minn.; and St. Louis, Mo. areas.

The service will expand to additional markets across the country as the company completes its ongoing network evolution project, bringing enhanced connectivity to customers nationwide.

More information about Spectrum Internet is available at Spectrum.com/Internet.

Lawo will showcase its Edge One, which it says is the world’s only converged AV I/O system featuring integrated processing and JPEG XS compression, at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas (June 17-19).

Visitors to Lawo’s booth in North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (N6463) will see a demonstration of how software-based IP infrastructures address the needs of modern pro AV environments, the company said. They can also explore flexible, reliable and future-ready solutions designed for live events, corporate production, educational organizations, and houses of worship, Lawo said.

Edge One, the compact, converged audio and video stagebox Lawo introduced at NAB Show in April, will be a key highlight. Lawo said Edge One is designed to accelerate and simplify the connection of sources and destinations in Pro AV environments and live venues.

Edge One combines SDI and HDMI video I/O with JPEG XS encoding and decoding, frame synchronization, and a high-performance mc²-grade audio DSP engine in a single device. Audio connectivity spans analog, MADI, and USB-C, while user-swappable interface modules support mic/line I/O and commentary applications. With flexible Audio, Video, or Audio + Video packages and the option to activate additional capabilities using perpetual licenses or Lawo’s Flex subscription model, Edge One offers system designers and operators an unprecedented level of adaptability.

Central to Lawo’s software-based strategy is the HOME platform, which will be showcased extensively at InfoComm 2026. HOME provides unified device discovery, orchestration, monitoring and role-based access control across Lawo and third-party systems. Built for modern IP infrastructures, it enables engineers to manage complex setups with clarity and security. The HOME ecosystem also includes HOME Apps that deliver specialized functionality as scalable microservices running on standard COTS servers.

The HOME mc² DSP app brings the full processing power of Lawo’s A__UHD Core into the software domain. Fully integrated into the HOME platform, it allows operators to instantiate a complete virtual mc² mixing engine wherever audio processing is needed—on demand and without dedicated hardware. Despite its CPU-based architecture, HOME mc² DSP matches the ultralow latency and operational behavior of Lawo’s FPGA-based cores so closely that users are unable to tell the difference between hardware and software processing. Supporting thousands of DSP channels, immersive audio formats, and automatic downmixing, the app is designed for IP-based, cloud, and hybrid production environments, L:awo said.

Another notable solution is Lawo’s HOME Video Monitor app, a monitoring solution engineered for both broadcast and professional AV applications. The browser-based software enables secure monitoring of between one and nine concurrent video streams, with optional audio metering, from virtually any location.

Running natively as an HTML5 application, it can be accessed from desktops, tablets, smartphones, and even AR devices. The app reduces operational complexity while delivering reliable, low-latency monitoring across distributed IP infrastructures.

Integrated transcoding and native WebRTC support ensure efficient resource usage, while HOME-based authentication and encryption meet stringent security requirements.

Lawo will also demonstrate the HOME Power Core app, the virtualized evolution of its respected Power Core platform. Delivered as a HOME App, it provides high-performance DSP processing, mixing, routing, and monitoring on standard servers, with support for open industry standards such as SMPTE ST 2110, AES67, Dante, NDI, and SRT. Partially derived from Lawo’s mc² console DSP algorithms, HOME Power Core delivers uncompromising sound quality for AV and broadcast productions alike, reinforcing Lawo’s commitment to open, interoperable IP ecosystems.

Complementing these software solutions, Lawo will present its mc² hardware portfolio, including the mc²56 Audio Production Console and the mc²36 All-in-One mixing desk. Both systems exemplify Lawo’s approach to combining tactile control with highly scalable IP processing. With advanced user interfaces, deep Waves SuperRack integration, OSC support, real-time analyzer functionality, and seamless interaction with HOME-based applications, mc² consoles provide a powerful bridge between traditional mixing workflows and software-based AV environments.

For additional information, visit Lawo’s website.

“All-IP” is often framed as a clean modernization: fewer cables, more flexibility, and infrastructure aligned with mainstream IT practice. Inside real broadcast facilities, the experience has been more complicated. As media moved onto shared network fabrics, complexity redistributed itself into configuration, timing, segmentation, discovery, and the places where engineering and IT overlap.

Modern facilities blend IP-native and legacy equipment, and their behavior depends as much on commissioning decisions and vendor maturity as on the standards themselves. The result is an environment that looks simpler from a distance but demands a different kind of day-to-day understanding.

When Wiring Disappeared, Complexity Found New Places to Live
In SDI facilities, physical layout expressed most of the design. Signal flow could often be understood by following a cable between devices. Routing was predictable, and faults left visible clues in the rack.

IP systems compress those visible paths into a handful of fibers capable of carrying dozens of HD streams plus associated audio and metadata. The environment looks simpler from a cabling perspective, but the design logic did not vanish — it moved into configuration.

Address plans, multicast ranges, naming rules, VLAN boundaries, timing hierarchies, and orchestrator behavior now determine how a facility behaves. Small inconsistencies in any of these areas can produce wide-ranging effects that are difficult to interpret without a shared view of the fabric.

Responsibility for that fabric now sometimes resides with IT. Security policies often restrict direct switch access, leaving broadcast engineers working at the edges of systems they once controlled end-to-end. Diagnosing issues now depends on both groups and on how well system behavior is understood across teams.

Hybrid architectures sit on top of this reality. Many endpoint devices still process video and audio internally as SDI or HDMI. Cameras, monitors, playback servers, and audio processors often add IP interfaces only at the perimeter. As a result, most modern facilities consist of an IP core surrounded by SDI-to-IP gateways.

Those gateways are long-lived elements — frequently FPGA-based and later repurposed as converters, multiviewers, or audio tools as the environment matures. Hybrid operation reflects endpoint maturity, available budgets, and legacy workflows, not a lack of commitment to IP.

How Modern IP Systems Actually Behave — and Why It Often Surprises
Once configuration becomes the design, system behavior depends heavily on vendor interpretation. Two facilities built on the same standards can still act very differently.

Traffic models provide a clear illustration. Some fabrics rely on IGMP joins initiated by endpoints. In these environments, an endpoint requests a multicast stream and the switch forwards it, often applying bandwidth expectations based on address ranges — for example, one block for 1.5 Gb/s flows, another for 3 Gb/s, and a third for 12 Gb/s UHD.

Other platforms lean on controllers that explicitly authorize flows before the fabric forwards anything, placing the logic in software rather than in address plans. Both approaches are valid, but they require different troubleshooting instincts.

Device maturity introduces further variation. Common patterns include HD-only ST 2110 support with UHD still on the road map, a lack of redundancy, or inconsistent HDR support across levels. Discovery and NMOS behavior can deviate from orchestration expectations, creating situations where advertised capabilities exist but cannot be used as intended.

Earlier IP deployments often worked around such limitations by having external devices subscribe to the desired multicast and translate it to a single address that a problematic endpoint device could statically subscribe to — a pattern that can still surface when systems rely on older discovery implementations. Many of these gaps first appear during commissioning rather than design.

Timing follows a similar pattern of divergence. Traditional SDI systems relied on black burst — a single, stable reference that kept everything aligned in a straightforward way. PTP, by contrast, distributes timing over multicast and depends on the placement of boundary clocks, redundancy models, and a GPS source.

A facility may appear synchronized even as timing asymmetries accumulate. When they finally surface, the loss of alignment can be sudden and broad. Understanding what happened depends on visibility into how the switches handle timing and on coordination between engineering and IT teams responsible for the underlying network.

Where Hidden Complexity Emerges: Audio, Metadata, and Security Boundaries
Many of the thorniest issues in IP environments arise in places that attract less attention in early planning. Audio and metadata are prime examples.

Under SDI, video, audio, and ancillary data traveled together. In ST 2110 environments, they are carried as separate essences. A single video stream is paired with one or multiple audio multicasts, each carrying multiple audio channels within the stream, while a workflow needs only a subset.

Isolating those channels typically involves mixers, routers, or audio shufflers. Some manufacturers handle this automatically, which reduces operator burden but can obscure the paths signals actually take. Metadata introduces comparable decisions: Captions, multiple languages, SAP, and descriptive audio often require timing adjustments or reinsertion points to keep everything aligned. Early design choices determine how manageable these relationships become later.

Security and segmentation introduce their own hidden dependencies. Production VLANs must support performance while limiting exposure. Some segments cannot reach the internet; others must stay isolated from corporate networks. Contribution devices — bonded cellular receivers, remote encoders, cloud gateways — often require dual network paths to keep external risk from crossing into internal workflows.

WAN circuits add another dimension. Multicast contribution may share bandwidth with monitoring or file‑transfer workflows, and bottlenecks often appear only under actual load rather than during design.

As equipment is brought online, these layers surface most clearly. Commissioning becomes the point where theoretical design meets real system behavior. Discovery issues, timing mismatches, unsupported combinations, and vendor‑specific patterns emerge only when systems are exercised in practice.

Engineers present at this stage gain insight into why certain exceptions exist; those who join later inherit decisions without that context. Once a facility is live, operational caution limits the ability to revisit early changes. A small adjustment made under deadline can shape behavior for years if not examined before launch.

The Human Impact at the Center of the Transition
The shift toward IP reshapes engineering roles in uneven ways. SDI’s deterministic behavior created expectations that do not always match IP’s conditional, policy-driven workflows. Some engineers adjust slowly as long-familiar tools behave differently in an IP environment.

Others anticipate continuity and then face situations that require new diagnostic habits. Engineers newer to the industry often adapt quickly, while experienced teams bring operational judgment that remains essential even as the foundations shift.

Experience continues to influence outcomes, though its expression changes. As environments grow more interdependent, responsibilities expand toward interpreting workflow needs, coordinating across vendors, mentoring newer staff, and explaining why specific design decisions matter. Familiarity with on-air requirements provides context that purely theoretical knowledge cannot replace.

Organizational structure also shapes how teams adapt. Some facilities place most control within IT, reducing the level of direct access broadcast engineers once had. Others rely on engineering leads who serve as system stewards and primary points of contact for IT and security groups. Clearly defined responsibilities help teams navigate the shift with fewer surprises.

The transition to IP continues to redraw familiar boundaries inside facilities, and engineering teams absorb much of that change. Tools, standards, and roles will keep evolving, but the work of making systems understandable and supportable still falls to the people who stand between design and day-to-day operation. That is where the real continuity lives.

BOTHELL, Wash.—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) will be returning to InfoComm 2026, from June 13-19 in Las Vegas, where it will be providing Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) education for attendees..

During the show, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, AIMS said it will focus on expert-led sessions and the development of its Official IPMX Training Series that will provide the Pro AV industry with the knowledge required to design and deploy IPMX-based AV-over-IP systems.

“As IPMX moves into real-world deployment, education becomes essential to ensuring successful adoption across the Pro AV ecosystem,” said Andrew Starks, AIMS board of directors’ member and director of product management for Macnica. “At InfoComm, we’ll be focused on helping the industry move from understanding the standard to applying it in practice — through education sessions and a new training program that gives engineers, integrators, and end users the tools to design and deploy interoperable AV-over-IP systems with confidence.”

At InfoComm 2026, Starks will present the session “How IPMX Expands Live Production Beyond Broadcast” on Tuesday, June 16, from 1:30-2 p.m. in meeting room W232. During the presentation, he will explore how IPMX enables a new tier of live production, where small and mid-sized organizations can deploy high-quality AV-over-IP workflows with reduced cost and complexity, and still have a seamless path to grow into full broadcast infrastructures when required.

On June 18, Samuel Recine—AIMS board of directors’ member and vice president of global strategic partnerships at Matrox Video—will co-present “IP for Corporate Broadcast AV” from 1:30-3 p.m. in room W231. The session will provide a comprehensive update on deploying high-performance media over IP across PC/IT, AV signaling, and media production systems, with topics including the latest developments in open standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX, key strategies for bridging broadcast and corporate AV workflows, and more.

At the show, AIMS will also launch the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program designed to help the Pro AV community better understand, design, configure, and deploy IPMX-based AV-over-IP systems. Structured as a three-level curriculum covering foundations, systems design, and advanced networking concepts such as PTP and SMPTE ST 2110, the program provides a practical path for engineers and integrators building AV-over-IP infrastructures.

In booth C7487, AIMS will also provide live demonstrations of IPMX-certified products and tools, illustrating how IPMX enables seamless integration across AV systems while supporting both Pro AV and broadcast requirements.

More information about AIMS and its work is available at www.aimsalliance.org.

When most people talk about artificial intelligence (AI), they usually mean Generative AI (GenAI). While this has brought a great deal of flexibility and freedom to video, audio and text creation, it is also responsible for a substantial amount of ill-conceived or poor-quality material. This has not only sullied the reputation of AI but also overshadowed the potential of a more practical form of the technology, agentic AI.

More of a background technology than GenAI—which has also been around a lot longer, the modern iteration being formalized between 2014 and 2017—agentic AI is less generally known, even though it began to appear around three years ago. The crucial difference between the two is that while GenAI reacts to prompts or triggers to create content, agentic AI is intended to autonomously establish and control a function or situation.

AUTONOMOUS WORKFLOWS
In the context of broadcasting, agentic AI is regarded as key to the development of applications—known as “agents”—to run specific technical tasks, such as monitoring, dealing with system faults or failures, and manage a variety of functions across production and distribution chains.

"Unlike GenAI, which creates content on demand, agentic AI orchestrates entire content workflows autonomously," explains Stephanie Lone, global leader of solutions architecture, Media and Entertainment, Games and Sport at AWS. "This means systems can coordinate complex multi-step processes without constant human intervention at each decision point."

The basis for this, Lone adds, is multiple "specialized agents" working together proactively to natural language requests. This combination—and simultaneous operation of applications— forms the basis of systems from other developers, including Witbe's Agentic SDK, which was launched in February this year. Intended as a "test automation framework" to run and scale monitoring, testing and validation over video workflows, Witbe chief executive Mathieu Planche describes it "a suite of different agents" designed to automate test processes.

"Test automation used to be a script that people had to develop," he says. "We have moved away from this manual process into something that is, while not human-less because we still have [a] human to control what the Agentic SDK is doing, but it's a process that is largely simplified."

The first of the agents in the suite is Test Designer, which was developed to understand the testing strategy of the video service being analyzed and then write test cases based on that. "Agentic AI technologies can observe inputs, plan… actions and do most of the heavy lifting in different workflows that are otherwise taken care of by people," Planche adds.

As with previous methods of automation, the developers of agentic AI systems are quick to emphasize that the aim is not to replace human operators. Fares Birke, principal practice lead for Applied AI at Qvest, comments that the goal is to enable people to "work better, faster and with fewer interruptions" by automating tasks that are either repetitive or require a lot of coordination.

"Agentic AI is about achieving outcomes, while GenAI is primarily about creating outputs – text, audio, video—in response to prompts," Birke says. "This makes agentic AI far more relevant for complex media environments where speed, reliability, compliance and coordination matter as much as creativity."

‘ENRICHED METADATA’
Agentic AI-based systems are now proliferating in the broadcast sector for a variety of applications. These include: searches of archives, transcripts and live feeds; managing ingest, logging, review and delivery; triggering MAM, newsroom, post-production and distribution systems; and ensuring operational and editorial rules. This can be seen in the number of recent system launches, including ThinkAnalytics' ThinkMetadataAI. Launched at IBC 2025, with a U.S. debut at last month’s NAB Show, it uses agentic AI to automatically create "enriched metadata" for content catalogs.

ThinkAnalytics co-founder and chief technology officer Peter Docherty comments that over the past 20 years the company had focused on deep metadata enrichment for personalization and viewer engagement but in the last three to four years has moved into targeted advertising.

"A lot of agentic processes enable automation and operational efficiencies that weren't there before," he says. "That's obviously quite different from GenAI because agentic AI helps streamline operations. What we've done with our Metadata AI is combine GenAI with Agentic and other capabilities to automate processes that were previously manual. This enables huge automation at scale but with intelligence behind the decision-making."

At the NAB Show last month TVU Networks showcased “TV Cortex,” a service that uses Agentic AI to aggregate and manage the audio and video content used to create news stories. TV Cortex has the power to act autonomously and purposefully to achieve an outcome independently of our interaction with it. In theory, operating this way may involve less “human shading” of events and more factual coverage.

According to TVU Networks President Paul Shen, TV Cortex is intended to augment human productivity, not to replace it. If used effectively, the system frees up producers and editors to focus more on the creative aspects of news production, like crafting compelling stories and providing more human context.

“TV Cortex leverages agentic AI, deploying a hierarchy of master and subordinate agents that dynamically scale to handle the volume and complexity of incoming stories,” Shen said. “These agents automate the retrieval, categorization and scoring of stories based on factors such as recency, relevance, market size and customizable editorial priorities.”

KEEPING QUALITY—AND THE TRUTH IN CHECK
A crucial area of broadcast and streaming distribution that has undergone a high level of automation and streamlining in recent years is compliance and Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring. AI—and agentic in particular—is now offering the potential to take this further through new systems such as Bitmovin's Observability, which was introduced last October.

"We're leveraging AI in different areas of our product range, including the Observability product for looking at sessions, playback, QoS metrics, root cause analysis and error debugging," explains Jacob Arends, product manager for playback at Bitmovin. "AI is really good at summarizing data, for example, so we are using that in our Observability products to make it easier for customers to understand complex datasets [and] what actually went on in a session."

In the last year or so, doubts have arisen surrounding GenAI chatbots, especially with systems “hallucinating”—basically making things up— or just agreeing with a question. Because compliance monitoring is a crucial failsafe in the broadcast distribution chain, there can be no such doubts; any automation technology must be 100% trustworthy.

"Our Agentic SDK is not creating bugs within our customers' platforms," states Witbe's Mathieu Planche. "They detect errors and flag them for people to review and analyze. Then people decide if they are escalating them internally or if they just discard it."

As for the future, Planche acknowledges that agentic AI technology for broadcast is still "new for everyone" and that media control rooms, staffed by operators, are "not going away right now."

At AWS, Lone observes that the potential for Agentic AI in media production "is massive" but says the broadcast sector does have to be careful with it. "The industry still needs to establish strong guardrails around data governance, transparency, content provenance and responsible automation practices," she comments. "Once these are firmly in place, companies can have more confidence in AI-driven decisions and feel comfortable deploying the technology on a broad scale."

Standards and oversight are absolutely necessary for such an autonomous technology as agentic AI could be. But, right now, the broadcast sector appears to be weighing up whether there is already enough automation in key processes or if these new agents are the key to more efficient and fault-free operations.

July 2027 marks the next Upper C-band auction and a further reduction of satellite spectrum that has been the backbone for television distribution for decades.

This time, the challenge looks different. The previous C-band repack compressed services into a smaller slice of spectrum through more efficient encoding and additional satellite capacity.

But the next phase is unlikely to offer that same flexibility. Even under more conservative scenarios, with the FCC required by statute to auction at least 100 MHz of Upper C-band, many broadcasters now assume current distribution models will not be sustainable within the remaining C-band allocation.

That challenge sits against a deeply embedded infrastructure. Satellite has set the standard for decades, delivering consistent, predictable performance across vast affiliate footprints. Today, there are still over a thousand registered earth stations supporting video broadcast distribution.

For those who are carrying premium channels and live events, replacing satellite is being assessed and scrutinized around reliability, and more specifically, how to maintain broadcast-grade delivery as the underlying infrastructure changes.

Approaching the Transition
Broadcasters are no longer evaluating distribution options in theory. They’re testing them in live environments, where performance failures are visible, measurable, and have commercial impact.

These considerations play out differently depending on the type of service in play. Occasional-use contribution feeds and lower-risk channels are often the first to move, where flexibility and cost carry more weight. Higher-value full time channels, where disruption has immediate commercial impact, tend to follow a more gradual path, introducing IP alongside existing satellite capacity before making larger moves.

A managed IP solution that offers service level guarantees is increasingly forming a core part of the delivery model, either as a primary or a back-up pathway. Deep monitoring of both the end-to-end network connectivity, as well as the video, audio, and metadata payload is critical transparency that allows programmers and networks to know the state of their content as received by their partner platforms.

Where Alternatives Break Down
Ku-band satellite is one of the most immediate options open to broadcasters. It has the advantage of providing additional capacity and can be integrated into existing workflows, but it comes with a known trade-off: greater sensitivity to weather than C-band. For some use cases, that trade-off is manageable, but for high-value live services, it often means that another layer of protection is required.

A second option is public internet delivery, which presents a different set of challenges. Although it’s widely available and easy to access, video cannot always be transported consistently, and unmanaged internet paths do not give broadcasters the same confidence around performance and protection that they would expect. This is why content owners preparing for migration are looking into the architecture that is powering these services, focusing on how a provider handles redundancy, what level of service assurance exists, how issues are identified, and who is responsible when a feed is degraded.

One further pressure lies in the compression of the remaining satellite services. As more channels are packed into less spectrum, managing that environment becomes a lot harder. Planning early gives broadcasters greater scope to sequence migrations sensibly, maintain continuity and avoid unnecessary disruption as timelines tighten.

The Growth of Managed IP Distribution
In response to these challenges, purpose-built IP distribution is gaining ground because it addresses the areas broadcasters are focused on most closely: reliability and control. That includes fully managed networks designed for live video, with built-in redundancy, clear service-level commitments, and continuous monitoring from origination to hand-off.

Broadcasters and MVPDs do not want a replacement model that makes things more complex at the receive site or turns every new channel into an engineering nightmare. They need manageability, support, simplicity, reliability, transparency, and scale, all of which makes IP migration more manageable for programmers and platforms.

Reliability as the New Benchmark
When it comes to high-value content, premium channels and live events place tolerance on delivery problems is effectively zero. This reality is shaping how broadcasters plan their transition. Hybrid models will persist in the near term, with satellite continuing to play a role in certain markets and for some content. But as C-band capacity continues to contract, the direction of travel is clear.

The next phase of distribution will be defined by which solutions can deliver broadcast-grade reliability in an increasingly complex environment. In the post-C-band era, broadcasters will need the deterministic certainty offered by proven managed IP solutions with performance Service Level Agreements and backed up by 24x7 human and automation support that responds swiftly to remediate any issues with the network or the content.

The “5G Broadcast vs. ATSC 3.0” conversation is often framed as a binary choice: embrace 3GPP and abandon ATSC 3.0 or defend ATSC 3.0 as if mobile-first delivery is someone else’s problem. That framing is outdated — and it is needlessly slowing deployment.

ATSC 3.0 was designed from the beginning as an IP-native, one-to-many platform capable of delivering a wide variety of services to fixed, portable, and mobile receivers. In that sense, it is already the better “broadcast-IP” foundation. Meanwhile, 3GPP contributes a familiar mobile services vocabulary and a powerful toolchain for building applications and workflows that the wireless ecosystem understands.

We do not have to choose. We can put them together — now — because there is a documented, repeatable way to time-multiplex LTE-based 5G Broadcast payload windows inside an ATSC 3.0 RF channel while keeping primary ATSC 3.0 services intact.

ATSC 3.0 Was Built for Flexible IP Services, Including Mobile
ATSC 3.0 is not a “prettier TV” standard. It provides a service delivery architecture designed to support multiple service types and multiple receiver classes. That flexibility allows broadcasters to deliver — in the same RF channel — combinations of video, audio, files, software updates, map data, public safety objects, and enterprise payloads, with robustness tuned per service.

This matters because the datacasting opportunity is not limited to the living-room screen. The winning market is cross-device: vehicles, tablets, gateways, industrial IoT, digital signage, and yes, phones — wherever one-to-many economics and resilience beat unicast.

So, when someone says, “we need 5G Broadcast to get into the datacasting world,” the right response is: ATSC 3.0 already provides the broadcast downlink, and it was designed to carry IP services to fixed, portable, and mobile receivers at scale better than any other broadcast standard.

The path ahead is straightforward if one wishes: share a single RF channel in time. During one window, transmit a valid ATSC 3.0 frame. During another window, transmit the LTE-based 5G Broadcast waveform. Receivers on both sides see a predictable cadence. Coexistence is time sliced — not theoretical.

The sidebar below details the three engineering parameters that govern this scheduling — the challenge is coordination, not physics.

The Device Reality: ‘Chips in Phones’ for ATSC 3.0 Exist Today
A lot of the current rhetoric is framed as a race: which technology will reach commercial handheld devices first? That question misses something important: ATSC 3.0 demodulator chipsets optimized for handheld/mobile receivers exist today, including implementations coming out of the Saankhya Labs lineage (now Tejas Networks). They are designed to output IP streams and to fit within the size and power constraints of mobile and portable devices.

At ONE Media, we have worked across multiple vendors to design and build phones and tablets with what we shorthand as “chips in phones.” That phrase does not mean “a chip alone.” It means the full reception system: demodulator, RF front-end components (antenna, filter, LNA, matching), integration, and the software stack required to make reception a product feature — not a lab demo.

This is why the right question is not merely “will a 5G Broadcast modem appear in a system-on chip?” A baseband capability is not the same as a complete, properly enabled reception subsystem for broadcast bands. The phrase that matters is still “chips in phones” — meaning a whole receiver and antenna system that actually works.

What Really Holds Back the U.S —And Why India Can Unlock It
In the United States, getting any new receive feature into mainstream mobile devices is multifaceted. Three factors matter most:

A business proposition that drives commercial success (clear use cases, measurable value, repeatable revenue).

A business reason for mobile network operators (MNOs) to allow and support it. In practice, nothing significant lands in a U.S. carrier handset portfolio without their direction.

Sufficient success in the business proposition to drive a “bring your own device” pathway —where properly enabled devices enter the market via retail and enterprise channels, not only carrier certification.

This is exactly where the third condition—a BYOD pathway built on market-proven devices — makes India’s Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) trajectory so important. Success at real scale in a major market creates supply chain momentum: reference designs, manufacturing volume, and confidence that can spill into other regions — including the U.S. — via BYOD and enterprise procurement. If India normalizes “chips in phones” for ATSC 3.0-based D2M, it becomes much harder to argue that U.S. markets cannot follow.

A Constructive Plan to Get the Show on the Road
Some 5G Broadcast proponents privately admit their push is partly a hedge: "What if 5G Broadcast gets into phones first?" Hedging is rational—but it shouldn't freeze the deployed broadcast ecosystem while chasing a lengthy regulatory process: new waveform authorizations, service rule updates, contentious policy debates.

The subtext is often that broadcasters should adopt a new waveform while shedding the public interest obligations that historically justified broadcast spectrum. That's a non-starter. Expanding into datacasting should extend broadcasting's public-interest value — not escape it. Instead of debating which logo wins, align on a three-phase deployment plan that gives everyone wins:

• Phase 1 (now): Ship ATSC 3.0 datacasting outcomes at scale
  Launch IP data services using existing ATSC 3.0 deployments. Pick two or three high-value use cases (software/firmware updates, map and data refresh, edge caching for streaming, public safety objects) and deliver them with clear APIs, security primitives, and measurable SLAs. Build the business case in-market. This is exactly what Edgebeam is doing — today!
• Phase 2 (next): Publish a coexistence profile for “ATSC bearer + 5G Broadcast windows”
  Define the scheduling profile (cycle lengths, allowable jitter budgets, configuration guardrails) and publish a simple interop test plan so transmitters, analyzers, and receivers can validate behavior consistently. This is how you turn “clever” into “deployable.”
• Phase 3 (later): Expand handheld device pathways where they truly add value
  Use India-led scale and proven business outcomes to expand “chips in phones” adoption, including BYOD and enterprise channels. Where MNO support is required, approach it with a demonstrated business case and a clear public-interest story — not hypotheticals.

Conclusion
The industry does not need another standards feud. It needs deployment, results, and visible wins. ATSC 3.0 was designed to carry IP services to fixed, portable, and mobile receivers — and mobile-grade ATSC 3.0 receiver subsystems exist today. At the same time, the technical path to carry LTE-based 5G Broadcast windows inside an ATSC 3.0 RF channel is now documented and repeatable.

So let’s stop debating hypotheticals, publish the coexistence profile, modernize the infrastructure where needed, and ship.

Mark Aitken is senior vice president at Sinclair Broadcast Group and President of ONE Media.

MIAMI—The first-quarter edition of the OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report highlights a number of important trends in broadband usage, including the finding that median downstream fiber consumption is 3.15 times that of DOCSIS-based cable broadband networks during the four-hour evening period.

The study found that the highest ratio between fiber and DOCSIS median downstream use during Q1 2026 was 3.6 times at 6 p.m.

The report also notes that the widest absolute gap during any daypart is at 8 p.m., when median downstream fiber usage is 1.346 GB for fiber and DOCSIS is at 0.456 GB—a difference of 0.890 GB.

Using data collected by OpenVault’s network-agnostic broadband optimization solutions, the 1Q26 OVBI examines how fiber is becoming a pivotal factor in new consumption trends. The report also uses data from Aispire, a provider of consumption-centric intelligence, to provide insights into applications driving growth, particularly in the upstream.

Among the 1Q26 OVBI findings:

• Power Users: More than one-third (33.8%) of fiber customers are consuming 1 Terabyte or more of data per month, an increase of 35.1% over the 25.0% of Power Users on DOCSIS networks.
• Downstream: Average downstream fiber usage was 837.0 Gigabytes, 26.1% more than the 664.0 GB recorded by DOCSIS subscribers.
• Usage Drivers: Aispire data shows that cloud sync—especially for ChatGPT reasoning models, MS365 Copilot, Apple Intelligence and agentic AI workflows—is the dominant upstream category at 15–16% of classified upload volume, and up to 25.5% of upload traffic at the 1 Gbps-plus tier.
• Residential vs. Non-Residential: Residential subscribers run at a 23-to-1 download-to-upload ratio, with video comprising 48% of downloads. Nonresidential subscribers run at a 7.3-to-1 ratio, with cloud connections accounting for 20% of uploads.

“While almost half of residential traffic is video downloads, non-residential subscribers use cloud services that require symmetric fiber. Thus, the two market segments should be modeled separately for capacity planning,” the report noted. Further, “as fiber footprints expand, operators should anticipate a structural uplift in overall network demand.”

The entire report is available here.

OpenVault executives will be at Fiber Connect 2026 May 17-20 in Nashville, Tenn., and at ANGACOM May 19-21 in Cologne, Germany. Meetings at both shows can be arranged via email.

OpenVault Vice President, Operations Lauren Trudeau will speak on the “Leading the Future: Where Innovation Meets Influence” panel on Wednesday, May 20 (3 p.m. CET) on the ANGACOM Innovation Stage.

WUPPERTAL, Germany—Riedel Communications has announced that it will be a sponsor of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, serving as the Official Connectivity Integration Provider and Official Partner for Team Scotland.

Riedel will deliver the complete end-to-end design, installation, and integration of a comprehensive connectivity and communications ecosystem that will ensure the entire games infrastructure is connected when the event returns to Glasgow from July 23-August 2, the company said.

As part of Riedel’s Managed Technology offering, the deployment provides a fully managed turnkey solution covering planning, implementation, and live operations.

"It’s a real honor to support Glasgow 2026 and contribute to an event of this magnitude that brings people and communities together through sport”, said Jan Sander, senior account manager multisport events, Riedel Communications. “As the Official Connectivity Integration Provider, we take the same approach to technology—bringing together networks, services, and workflows through our Managed Technology approach and DIVA+ for seamless and reliable operations across the Games."

As the Official Connectivity Integration Provider, Riedel will supply communication solutions to ensure reliable data transfer, seamless communication and spectator safety, aiming to reduce the event's environmental impact, the company said.

For the first time at the games, Riedel will implement its fully integrated data system, known as the Glasgow 2026 Games Integrated Network (GIN).

GIN is powered by Riedel’s DIVA+ solution, the company’s holistic media backbone designed to scale from smaller deployments to the most complex live events. DIVA+ unifies fiber-based infrastructure, wireless Easy5G extensions and centralized orchestration into a single IP-based network supporting communications, audiovisual signals and data transfer, Riedel said, simplifying complexity from planning through live operations. It meets all operational requirements, can be remotely controlled and adapted in real time, offers increased flexibility, and includes smart cable management that reduces environmental impact across the event, the company said.

As part of this approach, Riedel will provide a fully integrated communications solution across all competition venues and operational sites, combining intercom and radio communications into one unified system. This system is part of the Games' integrated communications strategy, seamlessly working with all partners to prioritize safety and operational efficiency.

Riedel will link the venues via its Wide Area Network (WAN), ensuring reliable transmission of live broadcast images from the venues to the Broadcast Operations Center, where rightsholders will access the feeds for global distribution. Within the venues, Riedel's Local Area Networks (Venue LANs) will deliver connectivity for all operational requirements, including reliable Wi-Fi.

As industry leaders, Riedel offers extensive global sporting experience and expertise with the Commonwealth Games, having provided radio communications networks for Birmingham 2022 and Glasgow 2014, as well as managing the venue intercom project for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

SIEGAN, Germany—Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and Netgear AV have announced a new solution that simplifies deployment of professional KVM-over-IP systems by removing one of the most time-consuming steps in the process: manual network configuration.

Through the G&D KVM-Over-IP Plugin for the Netgear AV ecosystem, integrators and KVM administrators can apply a dedicated KVM-over-IP profile directly to ports or sections of Netgear AV Line infrastructure. In a single step, the plugin automatically activates key network parameters such as VLAN configuration, IGMP Snooping Querier, QoS, and other required settings for G&D KVM-over-IP deployments.

The result is a faster, more consistent and more reliable setup process, the companies said. Planners benefit from greater configuration certainty from the outset. Integrators reduce repetitive manual work at the switch level and minimize the risk of inconsistencies across installations. KVM administrators can provision expand, and maintain infrastructure with significantly less effort, G&D and Netgear said.

This is especially important in broadcast, Pro AV, and mission-critical control room environments, where device categories, switch types, and bandwidth classes must operate reliably within a shared IP infrastructure. By turning complex network configuration into a structured and repeatable process, the joint solution helps teams deploy scalable KVM-over-IP environments with greater confidence, the companies said.

“The partnership with G&D was a logical step for us, as we share a common understanding of the requirements of modern, mission-critical IP workflows,” said Laurent Masia, senior director of product line management at Netgear AV. “By combining G&D’s proven KVM expertise with Netgear AV’s networking technology, we are creating powerful, scalable, and easy-to-deploy solutions for control rooms, broadcast environments, and other professional applications. Together, we are helping our customers make the transition to KVM-over-IP efficiently, reliably, and with a future-proof approach.”

G&D contributes its longstanding KVM expertise to the collaboration, including advanced security features, high video quality through bluedec, ultra-low-latency transmission, and workflow-optimizing capabilities such as FreeSeating and CrossDisplay-Switching. Resilience concepts such as DirectRedundancyShield further support reliable operation in demanding professional environments.

Netgear AV provides the network infrastructure for these workflows, with AV-optimized switches, high-performance networking, PoE++ support, redundancy options, and centralized configuration through an intuitive user interface. The ability to combine different switch types and bandwidth classes within a single environment also gives customers greater flexibility when designing scalable IP-based infrastructures.

“In contrast to DirectKVM, with KVM-over-IP we hand over the core of KVM distribution – in other words, the central part of signal distribution – to the network infrastructure,” said Andreas Gerlach, executive vice president of innovation at G&D and VuWall. “If the network does not function correctly or is configured incorrectly, the KVM data cannot perform with the level of quality users expect from G&D. This makes us all the more pleased to be working with a partner like Netgear AV, which has specifically optimized its expertise and versatile networking hardware for G&D’s KVM-over-IP projects.”

More information is available at www.gdsys.com.

When you’ve spent enough time around broadcast systems, you start to notice a pattern: every facility grows in layers.

A new requirement comes along, so another piece of gear gets added. Then another. Over time, what started as a clean design becomes harder to follow, harder to maintain, and harder to change. Nobody plans it that way. It just happens. You solve the problem in front of you, then move on to the next one.

For a long time, that was simply how infrastructure evolved. And to be fair, it worked. Broadcasters built serious, dependable operations that way. But the downside always showed up eventually.

More hardware meant more cabling, power, cooling, and space which means more things to manage when something went wrong not to mention trying to sort your way through the additional cables that have accumulated on top of your neatly dressed cable bundles. A modest change could potentially have a large impact. That’s why the conversation around infrastructure has changed over the last few years.

The Consequences of Changing Focus
Reliability and speed are still the primary drivers in live production. However, there is a lot more attention on flexibility and efficiency, and for good reasons. Production teams are being asked to support more formats, take on more responsibility, all while dealing with more variation in how a show gets managed from one day to the next.

The production and audience changes, but the core need remains the same. Teams want systems that can handle change quickly without requiring significant downtime. That sounds simple, but it has real consequences for system design. It affects how much functionality can be tied to software and whether a system has room to grow without major changes to the tech stack.

And it affects costs in a very practical way. This is one reason software-defined infrastructure is getting so much attention. There is a steady interest in systems that can do more over time without demanding a new hardware investment every time the workflow shifts. That matters because most facilities are not static anymore.

A production may still be based on-site, but some of the people operating it may be somewhere else. A plant may still be centered on SDI, but some form of IP may already be part of the picture. A system may be installed for one main use case, then quickly be asked to support something broader once people see what is possible.

Infrastructure is Becoming Part of the Solution
That last part is important. In my experience, users almost always find applications and ways to use equipment that they did not fully predict at the start. Once they get comfortable, they push. They ask for more I/O, processing and monitoring. More ways to adapt the system to the work at hand. That is usually a good sign. It means the infrastructure is becoming part of the solution instead of something they must work around.

It also explains why software defined hardware keeps coming up in these discussions. When teams can reduce the amount of separate gear needed to accomplish the same job, the benefits are immediate. The system takes up less space. It draws less power. It is easier to deploy and easier to support and typically provides significant cost savings. The net effect is that the efficiency adds up.

That is really where broadcast infrastructure is today. Not aiming at a complete reinvention or some theoretical universal model that fits every operation. The smarter path is usually more measured than that.

Build systems that leave room to move. That may be the most useful lesson right now. Because the facilities that will hold up best over time are the ones that can adapt without becoming more complicated. That’s where the industry is headed. Not through a dramatic reset, but through smarter decisions made one practical step at a time.

NEW YORK—Amagi has launched In-Content Ads, a new offering in its Ads Plus marketplace designed to provide ad placements separate from traditional ad pods using programmatic selling.

In-Content Ads is now available across hundreds of streaming channels, including premium news, sports and entertainment content.

Amagi In-Content Ads uses the company’s Thunderstorm server-side ad insertion (SSAI) and dynamic ad-stitching platform, which has been deployed across premium streaming environments for more than a year. This latest expansion marks the next phase of the offering, designed specifically to streamline programmatic access for advertisers via Amagi Ads Plus.

In-Content Ads connects sponsors to unique ad formats stitched directly into linear video content in real time. This alignment can significantly boost overall campaign results, the company said, while the breadth of Amagi’s technology footprint enables seamless activation across the streaming ecosystem.

Available ad formats at launch include overlays, squeezebacks and picture-in-picture (PIP) ads, high-impact formats that can provide advertisers with powerful options to boost performance in tandem with existing midroll campaigns, Amagi said. Content owners and streaming platforms can benefit by growing ad revenue without increasing pod length or interrupting the viewer experience, it said.

“Today’s dynamic CTV advertising marketplace demands innovation that delivers results at scale,” said Srinivasan KA, co-founder and president, global business at Amagi. “By building upon our proven platform technology and ecosystem connections, our new In-Content Ads Marketplace enables advertisers and content owners to unlock more value from streaming audiences while preserving the viewer experience.”

Amagi said it saw success on that front in a collaboration with CTV decisioning platform Olyzon on a campaign for a European luxury fashion house. According to company data, the In-Content Ad formats resulted in a 2.9% lift in brand desirability and a 2.1-point increase in brand awareness.

“The L-Band format proved highly effective in driving brand awareness, thanks to its strong visibility and seamless, nonintrusive integration within content,” Olyzon CEO Jules Minvielle said. “Its placement within premium content environments offered by Amagi, particularly well-suited to luxury brands, enhances message impact while preserving brand image and exclusivity.”

Amagi said In-Content Ads have gained traction with a range of premium platforms and content partners, including Plex, TCL, Telus, Banijay, Racer Select and OTT Studios.

BRIGHTON, UK—Mavis has launched Mavis Studio, a new live production app for iPad that gives creators, broadcasters and production teams a new way to build and deliver professional multi-camera content affordably, with a highly portable setup.

Mavis Studio combines multicamera video switching, playback, integrated graphics, audio mixing, recording and streaming in a single iPad app. The product is positioned as a portable, mobile-first platform for live video workflows, with Mavis Camera integration, NDI certified with HX3 support for high-quality IP video workflows, internal recording and streaming output to all popular social platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch. For custom streaming, RTMP and SRT protocols are also supported.

Mavis Studio’s touch-first interface makes live production feel immediate and intuitive, with interactive multiviews for fast source selection, revealable control panels for extended functionality and support for professional codecs such as Apple ProRes, the company said. It is aimed at a wide range of real-world workflows, from video podcasts and music performances to corporate events and house of worship.

“Mavis Studio is designed for productions that want the quality and features typically associated with a traditional broadcast production but with the ease of use and pricing model of a consumer-based app” said Patrick Holroyd, CEO of Mavis. “There are now huge numbers of content creation teams and event producers who need professional live output, but do not want to be tied to large, fixed systems. With Mavis Studio, we are giving them a flexible, portable production tool built around the power of the iPad.”

At the heart of the app is a powerful production switcher with support for live and internal sources. Users can manage up to four live inputs and combine those feeds with multiple integrated playout tools. Video packages can also be rolled from the built-in media players, stills displayed from the image players, and HTML5-based graphics overlays and web presentations incorporated.

Support for alpha-aware graphics across the application allows for lower thirds, branding and other visual elements to be layered cleanly into the live output. Preset and custom scene layouts allow operators to build anything from simple two-way interviews to richer multi-layer productions with graphics and branded visual elements.

Audio is also central to the app, which is particularly important for podcasts, house of worship and music productions. Mavis Studio includes a 16-channel audio desk with channel strips, pan, gain, EQ, grouping and master output control, enabling users to create a polished live mix directly inside the app.

Mavis Studio is NDI Certified, allowing it to take advantage of high-quality IP video running over a conventional network for events such as university lectures, corporate events or brand live streams, which often need more than a single camera but may not justify the expense of a full outside broadcast rig.

The app supports receiving up to four synchronized NDI feeds and sending an NDI output, enabling compact, flexible IP-based workflows for live events. As with other outputs, NDI can also be configured from the internal video matrix, allowing users to record a clean PGM feed while simultaneously sending a branded feed out via NDI.

"Over the past few years, we have seen NDI adoption expand well beyond traditional broadcast, and Mavis Studio is a natural reflection of that shift," said Miguel Coutinho, Head of NDI. "Creators who want professional multi-camera output should not have to invest in fixed, expensive systems to get it. By building NDI certification into Mavis Studio, that level of production quality is now accessible to a much wider audience."

The Mavis Studio app is a free download available from the App Store. The free version applies a watermark on all outputs, which can be removed for $24.99 per month or $79.99 per year. To remove the watermark and activate NDI costs $39.99 per month or $129.99 per year.

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.

BRISTOL, UK—Ocean Blue Software, a developer of software for Smart TVs, has launched ATSC 3.0 Inspector, a purpose-built tool designed to provide clear visibility into ATSC 3.0 broadcast streams and simplify analysis, debugging, and validation.

As ATSC 3.0 adoption accelerates, engineers working across the smart TV ecosystem face increasing complexity when interpreting and validating broadcast data. The ATSC 3.0 Inspector addresses this challenge by

The ATSC 3.0 Inspector is designed to give engineering teams deeper insight into the structure and behaviour of ATSC 3.0 streams, enabling faster issue identification and more efficient development workflows, according to the company.

Key capabilities include:

• Detailed inspection of ATSC 3.0 broadcast components
• Clear presentation of complex data structures
• Rapid identification of errors and inconsistencies
• Improved debugging and validation efficiency

By making broadcast data easier to understand and navigate, the tool helps reduce development time and minimise integration challenges, Ocean Blue said.

The ATSC 3.0 Inspector has been developed to support a wide range of organizations working in the broadcast eco-system across the smart TV value chain, including:

• Smart TV manufacturers and OEMs want to validate device behaviour
• Broadcasters and operators looking to ensure service integrity
• Semiconductor and platform providers test integrations and compliance

By enabling faster analysis and more accurate diagnostics, Ocean Blue Software helps teams move from issue identification to resolution more efficiently.

“ATSC 3.0 introduces significant advances in broadcast technology, but also increases the complexity of analysing and validating streams,” said Andy Carr, Chief Product Officer, Ocean Blue Software. “The ATSC 3.0 Inspector is designed to give engineers clear, actionable insight, helping them resolve issues faster and accelerate smart TV development.”

ATSC 3.0 Inspector is available now.

AEQ has announced it will be showcasing its latest technologies for professional audio production and broadcasting, including Forum IP Plus, its new AoIP digital console for radio and television, and Systel Max, an advanced call management and multiconferencing system for broadcast and corporate environments, at the 2026 NAB Show, April 18-22 at its booth C3106

The company said that the Forum IP Plus and Systel Max both illustrate the company’s focus on flexible, scalable solutions designed for today’s workflows, where IP connectivity, system integration, and operational efficiency are key.

Forum IP Plus is AEQ’s new AoIP digital console, designed for radio and broadcast production environments that require maximum flexibility and seamless integration into modern IP infrastructures.

As part of the company’s Forum series, it combines ease of use with extensive configuration capabilities that are capable of adapting to all types of scenarios, from compact studios to complex installations.

It features 32 mix and processing buses and 10 N-1 buses, along with multichannel connectivity via AoIP or MADI. Optional features include telephone hybrids, a virtual control surface, and a touchscreen for control and monitoring. Its modular 3RU FR_CORE engine allows configuration of up to 24 motorized faders in groups of four and management of up to 180 channels.

In addition, AEQ will present Systel Max, its next-generation call-in and multiconferencing system, developed for radio, television, and professional environments that require efficient, high-quality communications.

Based on VoIP technology and the SIP protocol, Systel Max enables the integration of broadcast communications with existing IP PBXs, corporate telephony systems, and IP service providers.

This helps reduce operating costs and eliminate the need for traditional dedicated lines, AEQ said. The system is highly scalable, with the capacity to manage up to 128 lines distributed across multiple studios.

Its architecture, which is based on a non-blocking digital matrix and Dante / AES67 connectivity, means Systel Max ensures that multiple calls can be on air simultaneously without compromising audio quality, AEQ said.

It also offers various control options through software applications and touchscreen terminals, adapting to the workflows of producers, engineers, and presenters in both radio and television.

2026 NAB Show attendees will be able to see demos of Forum IP Plus and Systel Max firsthand, along with other AEQ solutions, at stand C3106.

Skyview Networks has launched Cirocast, a cloud-native, broadcast-grade audio distribution platform that the company says is designed to provide broadcasters with greater versatility, control and new revenue opportunities.

The launch comes at a time when upcoming FCC C-band auctions are pushing broadcasters to find alternatives to their traditional satellite distributions and adopt new IP solutions.

Skyview said that the new Cirocast cloud-based system is designed to help with that transition and in the process move from capital-intensive platforms to a scalable cloud platform that offers broadcasters the reliability they expect from mission-critical delivery systems.

“We built Cirocast because the economics of broadcast distribution are shifting and networks deserve a platform that takes advantage of this transition,” said Aaron Mellis, senior vice president, technology of Skyview Networks. “For years, broadcasters have been asked to accept tradeoffs between reliability, flexibility and revenue. Cirocast challenges that thinking by delivering the operational confidence broadcasters expect while unlocking the flexibility and monetization opportunities of cloud-based workflows. With built-in ad insertion and copy split capabilities, distribution becomes a strategic revenue platform rather than a fixed cost.”

Unlike IP audio platforms focusing solely on point-to-point transport, Skyview reported that Cirocast offers a different approach to how broadcast feeds are built.

The platform delivers broadcast-quality audio over IP with the low-latency performance required for live and linear programming. Fully mixed, market-specific audio feeds are assembled in the cloud before delivery, moving ad targeting, copy splits and content personalization upstream.

This approach, Skyview said, allows broadcasters to unlock new revenue from programming that connects directly to virtualized environments, cloud-based automation systems or on-premises infrastructure.

Skyview Networks will demonstrate Cirocast live at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 18–22.

For more information or to schedule a demonstration, visit cirocast.com.

Microsoft is no longer content being the silent backbone of the media industry. Heading into the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, the tech giant is pivoting from 'enterprise provider' to more of a software-defined broadcasting leader, powered by Agentic AI and high-profile sports partnerships.

In a recent Q&A with TV Tech, Simon Crownshaw, Worldwide Media and Entertainment Director at Microsoft, discussed the company’s plans for the NAB Show and how he thinks the company’s role in M&E is evolving.

Crownshaw admits that although Microsoft has been a household name for decades, the company wants to do a better job telling its story.

“Microsoft has been a bigger part of the media and entertainment industry—and sports, for quite some time,” he said. “I think we may not be the most vocal about how we engage and where our customers spend time with us, but obviously, we're one of the largest enterprise platforms in the world, and a lot of media companies over the past five years are really looking to extend how they think through that enterprise platform.”

The Increasing Value of Partnerships
Crownshaw says the value of Microsoft’s impact comes through its partnerships with some of the more “pure-play” media tech companies.

“We partner a lot with the likes of Avid and Adobe and we have other extended partnerships with Evertz as well and we’ve partnered with Vizrt and Ross Video, where we spend a lot of the time helping customers think through their production workflows,” Crownshaw said. “And I would argue that, as we've become more and more known for AI and everything else we're doing in that realm, we've now started to figure out ‘how do we bring the kind of core elements of our platform closer to media?’ But also with the expectation that our customers—who either have a traditional linear broadcasting feed or a stream platform—want to leverage more of their linear platform, more of their broadcasting platform, to do more with their enterprise components.”

Microsoft also has a large role in sports broadcasting as well, Crownshaw said.

“We have some pretty amazing sports partnerships; we do a lot of things with the NBA, NFL, the Premier League in the UK, everything from thinking through broadcast production workflows with partners like MediaKind for example,” he said. “And thinking about how we transform processes for SRT feeds using AI optimization of workflows and network components, and infrastructure to deal with issues of disaster recovery, and making sure that we can optimize for personalization at every level.”

Being that live sports is among the most valued franchises in media and entertainment, security is paramount. Although Microsoft retired its Azure Media Services in 2024, moving towards a partner-ecosystem model rather than a first-party service, Crownshaw stressed that its platform continues to emphasize the critical role Azure continues to play throughout its M&E offerings.

“With Azure Front Door, we have PlayReady from a DRM perspective, so for anything running on Windows it’s obviously using PlayReady from a DRM,” he said. “We spend a lot of time with customers, thinking through how they can use that security foundation and obviously, we're streaming platforms with a lot of leakage, whether that be through IPTV or others and working through that in a more rigorous way with new partners—that's the focus of our work with the NBA going on right now. And we're also working through the very first direct-to-consumer experience for the Premier League in Singapore with Premier League Plus.”

A Holistic View
For broadcasters who want to bridge the gap between traditional media and online streaming and social media, Crownshaw says Microsoft has the capability to help its customers view their media ecosystem holistically.

“Traditional broadcasters, especially the ones that we work with, have struggled to figure out how to modernize their technology stack,” he said. “They realize the platform proliferation, the fact that speed of service is really critical—especially if you're trying to compete with TikTok, for example—we spent some time with local broadcasters trying to figure out how we can do multiplatform publishing at the speed and size that like a Tiktok would do.”

“On our end, I think it's realizing that there is a place for everybody and those systems have to modernize,” he added. “There's security around data, there's security around content. There's also speed and agility around the systems that need to update and to be modernized to some degree. We do a lot of analysis on the content that comes in, figure out the metadata that could be deployed, make sure people can search for a faster client, and automate some of those processes. We also work with partners to figure out how to build new architectures.”

NAB Show Buzz
Crownshaw discussed what he thinks will be among the most important conversations will be around artificial intelligence at the NAB Show, including the use of agentic AI in the media production chain via its Copilot AI.

“We're leveraging Copilot to replace some of the automation that goes in or replacing some of the workflows that exist,” he said. “We may use Copilot Studio to build custom copies, where we can use agentic or agent-to-agent type workflows. We can basically start to replace commodity hardware or other processes with Copilot.”

Crownshaw used newsrooms as an example of how Copilot can enhance operations and workflows, highlighting the use of Copilot Studio to build "agent-to-agent" workflows that can replace commodity hardware. In a newsroom setting, this means a producer can task an AI agent to validate archives or run origination tasks automatically, significantly cutting down on manual search time, he added.

Microsoft’s message at the 2026 NAB Show will focus on the company’s role throughout the media chain, from origination to distribution, as well as its role in software-defined production, Crownshaw said.

“Microsoft plays a pretty critical role between what we do from a hyper-converged infrastructure perspective, and enabling the connective tissue between the intelligence of all of the different layers that exist within media—from everything coming directly off the camera, all the way to the the ingestion process, through to the production and through the distribution component,” he said. “I would argue that if you look at the things that we enable across our platform, we play a pretty important role. I cannot overstate the importance of the software-defined broadcasting process that I think we are at the forefront of.”

Microsoft will be in Booth W1731 in the West Hall of the LVCC.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—TVU Networks is reporting that Big Ten Network (BTN) has deployed the TVU Remote Production System (RPS) platform to bring super slow-motion replay to a broader range of collegiate sports—extending the capability beyond football and basketball to events like baseball, soccer, and volleyball.

BTN has also expanded the role of TVU RPS Link encoders in its field production trucks, using them as a hot backup to fiber-based workflows and as an early access network that provides connectivity before venue fiber is even activated.

"The primary hurdle for moving our super slo-mo workflows to a remote model has always been the synchronization drift over the open internet," said Nick Smith, VP of Engineering, Big Ten Network. "TVU has allowed us to take super slo-mo replay where it wasn't previously possible."

BTN's football and basketball productions already rely on established, high-end replay workflows. But fans increasingly expect the same caliber of 3x, 4x, and 6x super slo-mo replays from a collegiate wrestling match or soccer game. Until now, the synchronization demands of high-speed replay cameras made that impractical for events without dedicated fiber infrastructure, or having replay hardware on site, which isn't practical for all events. The TVU RPS platform now gives BTN a new option to extend super slo-mo to more sports and more venues—complementing its existing production model rather than replacing it.

TVU RPS units at each venue encode multiple super slo-mo camera feeds and transport them over standard internet, 5G, or Starlink connections to BTN's central production hub, where they arrive perfectly synchronized with zero drift. The hub's Evertz DreamCatcher replay servers then create the super slo-mo content viewers see on air. TVU's synchronization has proven stable over multi-day continuous operation—a level of precision that competing transport solutions have been unable to match, often drifting or requiring manual resets that disrupt live coverage.

For these additional sports, the system also gives BTN full remote control of cameras in the field. From the central studio, operators can adjust cameras, manage tally and intercom, and produce shows across different venues without anyone traveling—allowing BTN to extend its production quality to more events without scaling up on-site crews.

Separately, BTN has also integrated TVU RPS Link units into its regional field trucks as a hot backup for its existing fiber-based productions at major events. If the primary fiber connection fails, the TVU system seamlessly takes over, maintaining the synchronized super slo-mo feeds. The units also run TVU Router, which provides immediate high-speed connectivity to production trucks before venue fiber is activated—giving crews operational access from the moment they arrive on site.

"Big Ten Network's implementation is a brilliant example of total network orchestration," said Matt McEwen, VP of Product Management, TVU Networks. "They saw an opportunity to use TVU RPS to bring super slo-mo to more sports and more venues, while also adding resilience and flexibility to their existing fiber-based productions. It's a smart, layered approach, and we're proud to support their vision for expanding what's possible in collegiate sports production."

To learn more download the white paper: Super Slo-Mo Anywhere: The Democratization of Elite Sports Production via TVU's Bonded RPS REMI Ecosystem.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Netgear has announced a global technology partnership with EVS Broadcast Equipment to deliver certified, interoperable AV–over–IP solutions for broadcast and live production teams. The companies have validated EVS live production systems on Netgear AV switching platforms, giving customers a pretested network foundation for IP–based workflows.

The partnership focuses on open, standards–based deployments that help customers adopt SMPTE ST 2110 and related IP workflows with less integration effort and more predictable results in real–world productions, the companies said.

“When productions shift to IP, the network can’t be an afterthought,” said Dieter Backx, Vice President of Control and Orchestration at EVS. “We’ve validated our media infrastructure solutions on Netgear’s AV switches so customers can spend less time tuning infrastructure and more time running shows. It’s a practical and efficient path to SMPTE ST 2110 workflows, or any other IP transport mechanism such as NDI or Dante, whether on site, remote, or distributed environments.”

Netgear and EVS jointly tested EVS technologies—including Cerebrum, Neuron and Strada—across Netgear M4350 and M4250 series switches. Netgear also provides supported configuration guidance and Netgear Engage Controller profiles, backed by AV–focused technical support services, so teams can bring validated configurations online faster.

The validated approach supports fully IP–based live production workflows and improves day–to–day deployment consistency. Customers can use out–of–the–box configurations designed to shorten setup and reduce risk. The result is more predictable behavior across key network requirements such as broadcast–grade timing, QoS, and bandwidth handling, the companies said.

Beyond lab testing, the partnership includes joint work on customer deployments, training, and global technical support. Netgear and EVS are focused on helping broadcast teams build interoperable AV–over–IP environments that scale as production needs evolve. The partnership is global in scope, with no geographic limitations, and becomes effective upon the joint announcement.

“As live production continues its transition to IP, customers want proven solutions they can deploy with confidence,” said Richard Jonker, Vice President of Commercial Business Development at Netgear. “By validating EVS live media infrastructure solutions on our AV switches, we’re providing a reliable, standards–based network foundation that simplifies deployment while delivering the timing accuracy and performance required in mission–critical broadcast environments.”

CHESEAUX-SUR-LAUSANNE, Switzerland and PHOENIX—Nagravision today announced the launch of a new fully managed, event-based watermarking-as-a-service solution with Harmonic, extending a long-standing collaboration. The solution will be available as an upgrade for existing Harmonic VOS 360 Media SaaS customers or as part of the NAGRA Streaming Security solution.

The combined, event-ready watermarking-as-a-service solution builds on deep technical integration between Harmonic’s VOS 360 Media solution and NAGRA NexGuard forensic watermarking, a core component of the NAGRA Streaming Security solution that allows rights owners to quickly identify and mitigate illegal restreaming during live events. Together, they enable major live sports and OTT event streamers to activate A/B watermarking— increasingly mandated by content rights holders — with dramatically reduced operational burdens, complexity, and cost.

In addition, the solution removes the challenges of deploying and maintaining the infrastructure required for high-volume, low-latency switching. By deploying NAGRA NexGuard forensic watermarking as a fully managed service on Harmonic’s cloud-native SaaS solution, operators pay only for the events where forensic watermarking is required. Harmonic manages the end-to-end orchestration, scalability and service up-time. This new operational model significantly reduces both per-event cost and internal engineering overheads, Harmonic said.

“As consumers increasingly turn to streaming to watch live events, our customers need powerful security solutions that are effortless to deploy and deliver strong business outcomes,” said Gil Rudge, Senior Vice President, Solutions and Americas Sales at Harmonic.

“Through our long-standing collaboration with Nagravision, we are delivering watermarking-as-a-service that eliminates complexity, lowers costs and activates only when needed. This is exactly the type of agile, event-based security model the market has been asking for.”

“As our industry continues to face high levels of live sports piracy, our customers need solutions that deliver uncompromising security to protect their investments in premium content,” said Stéphane Le Dreau, senior vice president, Global Product Management & Sales Development at Nagravision.

“Our expanded solution with Harmonic makes our well-established edge-based forensic watermarking accessible as an on-demand service that fits the operational realities of today’s major event streamers. It is the pragmatic innovation that the market needs as more live events are delivered via streaming.”

Harmonic will be in Booth W2831 and Nagravision will be in meeting room W2379MR, both in the West Hall of the LVCC during the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS—PSSI Global Services, a provider of live event transmission solutions, has acquired Beagle Networks, a developer of mission-critical IT infrastructure and onsite technical support for media and enterprise customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

For more than a decade, Beagle has helped develop bespoke, robust IT and networking solutions for some of the largest live broadcasts in North America, including the World Series and the Super Bowl. Beagle has built its reputation on designing secure, resilient networks with both onsite and remote support, along with immediate, 24/7 responsiveness to its customers, PSSI said.

Ryan Werber, Founder and President of Beagle Networks, will continue to lead the team of network engineers and field technicians.

“We could not be more excited about PSSI’s investment in our company,” said Werber. “We’ve been working alongside PSSI for years on TV compounds, and their reputation in the industry is second to none. Combining PSSI’s transmission engineering and project management expertise with Beagle’s IT and network capabilities creates an impressive solution platform for the live events industry.”

One early initiative of the PSSI and Beagle teams will be a consolidated effort to more comprehensively support Fox Sports, a legacy customer of both companies.

“Complexity and innovation are standard across live productions, which is why Fox Sports trusts Beagle Networks and PSSI," said Brad Cheney, vice president of Field Operations and Engineering at Fox Sports. "We’re excited to see how this partnership evolves to navigate the increasing demands of today’s broadcast landscape."

In addition to its service to existing customers, including INDYCAR, NASCAR, and numerous enterprise customers, Beagle will leverage PSSI’s extensive engineering and project management expertise to expand its service capabilities. Beagle will also lend its know-how to ongoing IT upgrades at the PSSI International Teleport (PIT) and PSSI’s professional services portfolio.

“As soon as we met the team at Beagle, we knew they would be a perfect fit for the culture and spirit we have at PSSI Global Services,” said Derek Blount, CEO of PSSI Global. “We’ve been looking for the right opportunities to expand PSSI’s reach in the live event marketplace and beyond. Bringing Beagle into the family will enable us to provide so much more to our customers and their valuable content, from the TV compound to the teleport and to their viewers around the world.”

The PSSI/Beagle team will be in Booth W1543 of the West Hall of the LVCC at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 19-22.

LAS VEGAS—Sony Electronics has announced its lineup of new and returning products and services that it will be showing at the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, demonstrating the latest technologies designed to address emerging challenges and needs in broadcast and production.

“At this year’s NAB Show, Sony’s theme is ‘The Power Behind Your Story’ which demonstrates how our technologies are the driving force behind various forms of storytelling,” said Anthony Kable, CCS Group Manager, Sony Australia. “From products to workflows, and acquisition to delivery, Sony has the right people, tools and expertise to enable creators to capture their vision and communicate their truth with quality and authenticity.”

Sony says its new solutions address the entire production workflow, providing authenticity and provenance, creating more personalized and emotional viewing experiences, and supporting XR and spatial content creation.

At the Sony booth, the company will showcase its live production solutions including the evolution of Sony’s “Networked Live” ecosystem, as well as new system cameras, enhanced workflows for news production, the latest in virtual production tools and processes, and a comprehensive lineup of imaging solutions.

Cameras and Production Workflow
Sony will present its new “R Series” system camera range, which join the company’s existing HDC-5000 and HDC-3000 series camera lineup. The “R Series” significantly enhances image performance, allows system expansion through additional transmission pathways and infrastructure options, and usability that enables consistent color matching across models.

Additionally, the new series features an expanded dynamic range for enhanced details, and operation modes to address different lighting environments. Models include HDC-5500R, HDC-5500RV, HDC-3500R, HDC-3500RV, and HDC-3200R, along with related products such as the HDCU-3500R Camera Control Unit and the HKCU-LUT35 3D LUT option board. The models are expected to be available in mid-2026.

Sony will also demonstrate newly released firmware updates for the PTZ auto-framing cameras BRC-AM7 (Ver. 3.0), SRG-A40, and SRG-A12 (Ver. 4.0). Leveraging Sony’s latest AI technologies, these updates expand functionality to support increasingly diverse production needs, including sports broadcasting, education, and corporate content creation.

For the first time at NAB Show, Sony’s recently launched PXW-Z300 XDCAM handheld AI-powered camcorder—the world’s first to support the C2PA standard for video authenticity—will demonstrate the growing demand for trustworthy news reporting through authenticity and provenance.

Sony will also present an end-to-end workflow that leverages camera-originated authenticity files and metadata from the field through immediate production and editing. This workflow is achieved with the LiveU TX1, a compact IP bonding-capable data transmitter (announced in September 2025), the PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter, and the newly announced PWA-RXS Network RX Station.

In addition, LiveU has announced a further expansion of its integration with Sony’s PWA-RXS through an optional license. A reference demo will showcase a new workflow powered by Sony’s cellular connectivity management system, featuring real-time carrier optimization and seamless global connectivity for creators.

Sony will also show an expanded lineup of Alpha cameras and lenses, including the Alpha 7 V capable of 4K 60p capture without crop. The 33 MP (approx.) full-frame hybrid model incorporates a BIONZ XR2 processor with an integrated AI processing engine to facilitate subject recognition and Auto Framing. Additionally, the latest version (Ver. 2.6) of the Monitor & Control app, which enables video monitoring and remote control from smartphones, tablets, and Macs, will be showcased.

Sony’s diverse Cinema Line cameras will enhance their functionality. The FR7 cinematic PTZ camera recently added AI-based Auto Framing and support for OpenTrackIO protocol through a Ver. 4.0 firmware update, while the FX6 full-frame Cinema Line camera rolled out BIG 6 home screen display support for easy access to top functions.

Additionally, experience spatial content creation brought to life through the VENICE Extension System Mini (Rialto) combined with the glasses-free 3D Spatial Reality Display.

Media Processing
Sony will also demo MOXELA, a new software-based media processing platform running on COTS (commercial off the shelf) servers or in the cloud, designed to transform how broadcasters, production companies, and media organizations transport, process, and monitor live video, audio, and data.

Additionally, attendees will see demonstrations of new features for the MLS-X1 multi-format switcher, enabling efficient production by sharing input and output signals across multiple studios. Sony will also debut the ICP-X7000A, a control panel featuring a newly developed XPT operation panel that significantly improves visibility and operability and is planned to be available in late 2026.

Virtual Production and Spatial Content Creation
To manage its ecosystem of virtual production solutions that include cameras, camera tracking and LED walls, Sony will showcase firmware updates to its Virtual Production Tool Set Ver. 3.0.

Sony will also launch the XYN Spatial Capture Solution, which generates photorealistic 3DCG (3D Computer Graphics) assets from photographs taken with mirrorless cameras. This professional solution, which will be shown at NAB Show and is expected to be available mid-2026, is comprised of three tools designed for use across virtual production and a wide range of 3DCG content creation workflows. XYN Spatial Scan Navi is a smartphone app[5] that guides efficient image capture. XYN Spatial Scan is a web application that delivers studio-grade generation quality. Finally, the XYN Renderer Plugin, enables highly realistic rendering for virtual production studios.

Additionally, Sony will host many engaging presentations and talks on trending topics throughout the show featuring notable industry voices. For more details about the company’s presence, visit Sony’s NAB Show website.

Sony will be in Booth C8401 in the Central Hall of the LVCC.

PRINCETON, N.J.—Triveni Digital today announced that it has added ISDB-Tb capability for its StreamScope MT-70 MPEG analyzer platform. Designed specifically for Brazilian broadcasters, the solution provides comprehensive monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities for ISDB-Tb services while supporting the country’s transition to TV 3.0 (also known as DTV+), according to the company.

Triveni will showcase StreamScope MT-70 with support for ISDB-tb and TV 3.0 at the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22, in Las Vegas in ATSC booth C1655.

In 2025, Brazil announced adoption of the physical layer of the ATSC 3.0 protocol for TV 3.0, its next generation broadcast standard.

“As Brazil transitions to TV 3.0, broadcasters need reliable, end-to-end visibility across both legacy and next-generation broadcast television services,” said Mark Simpson, president and CEO at Triveni Digital. “With StreamScope MT-70 ISDB-Tb, we’re extending our proven monitoring and analysis capabilities and empowering Brazilian broadcasters to deliver exceptional quality, quickly resolve issues, and confidently manage the complexities of operating in a dual-standard environment.”

The new version of StreamScope MT-70 seamlessly integrates with Triveni’s StreamScope Enterprise centralized quality assurance system, enabling broadcasters to monitor and analyze quality across their entire broadcast operation—from ISDB-Tb to TV 3.0 services. This unified approach is critical as Brazil enters a lengthy simulcast period where both standards will coexist on air, Triveni said.

Built with Brazil-specific support for SBTVD ABNT NBR 15603 tables and descriptors, StreamScope MT-70 ensures accurate validation and deep visibility into regional broadcast requirements. The solution is available in multiple deployment options, including rack-mount systems, software, and in the cloud, giving broadcasters the flexibility to deploy it based on their operational needs.

Lawo and swXtch.io, a provider of software-defined networking for media workflows, have announced that groundSwXtch, swXtch.io’s software-defined multicast overlay for on-prem and hybrid ground/cloud networks will be integrated into Lawo’s HOME management platform for IP media infrastructures.

This integration integration “enables high-performance multicast IP networking across hybrid cloud and on-premises environments, delivering greater flexibility, scalability, and efficiency for live production, remote workflows, and compact infrastructure deployments,” the companies said.

groundSwXtch extends swXtch.io’s cloudSwXtch technology to physical, ground-based networks, providing software-based multicast capabilities, protocol flexibility, and low-latency media transport without reliance on traditional hardware switches.

“Partnering with swXtch.io allows us to further enhance the software-based capabilities of our HOME ecosystem and deliver even more agile solutions to our customers,” said Axel Kern, Senior Director of Cloud and Infrastructure Solutions, LAWO. “By integrating groundSwXtch, we hope to turn on-prem and cloud networking into a unified fabric, empowering broadcasters to handle dynamic production demands.”

The envisaged partnership supports several key customer use cases that will be highlighted during the NAB Show:

Use Case 1: Private Cloud-Based Production with Remote Contributions. Building on private-cloud-centric workflows, this scenario incorporates contributions from external remote sites such as arenas, town halls, or mobile production units.

Essences generated at remote locations feed into the local production environment, which is orchestrated and controlled from a central site. Program-ready signals are distributed to the main facility for final output and dissemination. The integration of groundSwXtch ensures reliable, low-latency transport between remote sites, cloud resources, and on-prem infrastructure.

Use Case 2: Peak Utilization and Cloud Bursting. Customers facing sudden spikes in demand — such as breaking news coverage or major sports events — can rapidly provision additional compute resources. Lawo HOME Apps run in the cloud with management and workflow control from the main site.

Media essences (audio and video) feed production tools including DSK/switchers, multiviewers, and video processors. IP streams return program signals and visualizations to the main facility, and finished program feeds route directly to distribution channels.

“groundSwXtch brings the power of software-defined multicast and hybrid networking directly to on-prem media operations,” said Brent Yates, CEO of swXtch.io. “Our collaboration with Lawo demonstrates how combining our virtual overlay technology with Lawo’s renowned open HOME platform create powerful new possibilities for broadcasters transitioning to IP and cloud-native workflows.”

Details about the LAWO-swXtch.io integration will be given at the NAB Show in Las Vegas (April 18–22, 2026). Interested visitors are invited to contact Axel Kern (Lawo, booth C2108) or Jerry Schall (swXtch.io, booth W1377HS).

For more information, visit www.lawo.com and www.swxtch.io.

GRASS VALLEY, Calif.—AJA Video Systems has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Comprimato, a live video encoding and processing software provider for virtualized and cloud productions and broadcasts.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The move will unify the AJA and Comprimato development teams behind AJA’s Bridge Live family of IP streaming products. Upon closing, it will help accelerate streaming innovation to bring customers enhanced workflow efficiency, improved content monetization opportunities, and more, AJA reported.

As part of the agreement, AJA will acquire Comprimato’s comprehensive portfolio of software solutions. This includes Live Transcoder for video encoding and transcoding, Live Standards Conversion for flexible frame rate conversion, the Twenty-One Encoder SMPTE ST 2110 encoding appliance, and the JPEG 2000 Codec SDK.

Comprimato CEO & Co-founder Jiří Matela and the entire Comprimato leadership, development, and operations team will join AJA once the deal is closed. Comprimato will continue to operate as a separate brand under AJA and retain its European offices. Sales structures, including sales, channels, customer support, and currently shipping products, will not be impacted.

“Comprimato has proven to be a trusted, strategic AJA partner for years now, supporting us through the continued evolution of our Bridge Live line of IP video solutions. This agreement sets our R&D, support, sales, and manufacturing on track to become tightly intertwined, which will allow us to accelerate development of the Bridge Live and Comprimato lines,” shared AJA Nick Rashby. “The synergies between our companies and technology are undeniable, and together, we’ll be able to address rapidly evolving customer needs faster than ever and break new ground in broadcast production.”

“We've built Comprimato with a bold vision for the future of live encoding and media production - making broadcast-quality video processing more accessible, flexible, and powerful. AJA is the ideal partner to accelerate that vision,” shared Matela. “AJA’s global reach, hardware expertise, and manufacturing capabilities combined with our software innovation is expected to enable our team to move faster and bring solutions to market that neither company could achieve alone. The latest agreement marks an exciting next chapter for our team and our customers.”

For much of its history, the multiviewer has served a straightforward purpose: Provide a quick visual check that channels were present and behaving. Operators watched feeds, listened to audio, and scanned captions for obvious issues. That approach worked when facilities monitored a relatively small group of linear channels.

Today’s environment is more demanding. Operations span linear broadcast, OTT, FAST, and pop-up services, often supported by teams that haven’t grown at the same pace. Add hybrid SDI/IP infrastructures and issues that don’t show up visually, and the limitations of traditional monitoring become clear. In response, the multiviewer has had to grow into a far more capable operational tool.

The Classic Multiviewer: What It Solved — and What It Missed
Legacy multiviewers excelled at confidence monitoring. They confirmed feed presence, audio activity, and the basic health of captions and formats. Their shortcomings became more visible as operations expanded.

Many were hardware-bound, difficult to scale, and reliant on constant human attention. Operators could easily miss issues that weren’t visually obvious, such as loudness violations, subtle compression problems, caption sync drift, or packet-level instability in IP streams. These systems also sat apart from deeper monitoring tools, forcing operators to jump between systems to determine the cause of an issue.

As more services came online and distribution moved across multiple platforms, that model stopped being sustainable. The traditional multiviewer simply couldn’t keep pace with the volume and complexity of signals in play.

Why Operations Teams Are Feeling New Pressure
Operations teams today face a convergence of added responsibilities and tighter resources. Channels have multiplied across linear, OTT, and FAST workflows, yet staffing often remains flat. Many teams now work across facilities, regions, and time zones, making coordination more complex and increasing reliance on automation.

Hybrid SDI/IP environments add challenges of their own. Timing drift, jitter, packet loss, and hardware instability can degrade service even when the video looks fine. Operators don’t just need to see that something is wrong on a multiviewer; they need insight into what’s driving those issues across the chain.

The Evolution of the Multiviewer: From Passive Display to Integrated Intelligence
The expanding scope of modern operations forced the multiviewer to evolve. Alarms and basic QC overlays were early additions, but they didn’t go far enough. Teams needed a clearer understanding of what was happening behind the picture.

Modern multiviewers now incorporate QoE and QoS metrics, loudness levels, caption behavior, SCTE-35 markers, transport stream data, network timing, and encoder/decoder health. Seeing these signals alongside video transforms the multiviewer from a passive display to an intelligence tool.

That change shows up in everyday workflows. Compression artifacts that appear intermittently, caption drift that worsens over time, or missing SCTE markers that disrupt ad delivery are often overlooked during visual monitoring alone. When these conditions are visible in the same place as the video, operators spot patterns sooner and can move more quickly toward root-cause analysis.

Enhancing Situational Awareness for Lean, Distributed Teams
Teams overseeing growing volumes of content need tools that help them focus on what matters. Modern multiviewers use metadata stacks, color cues, and KPIs to help operators evaluate issues at a glance. These cues highlight whether a problem affects the viewer and offer clues about its origin without requiring multiple toolsets.

The way alerts are handled is just as important. When thresholds and priorities are tuned correctly, automated alerts elevate meaningful events and help operators avoid distraction from less critical noise. Automation doesn’t override human judgment; instead, it supports exception-based monitoring, which has become essential for teams working across different locations. Shared dashboards also give operations, engineering, and IT a unified view of system health and service performance.

Multiviewers in IP Architectures — and the Arrival of Intelligence Platforms
As more facilities move toward IP-driven workflows, the link between network behavior and video quality becomes impossible to ignore. Packet loss, jitter, buffer instability, congestion, and PTP timing drift can disrupt service even when the picture appears stable on screen.

A modern multiviewer needs to surface transport—and network-level insight directly alongside video feeds so operators can interpret issues more accurately. This combined visibility helps close the long-standing gap between traditional engineering and IT/network teams.

At the same time, software-based, scalable multiviewers are replacing fixed hardware systems, giving teams the flexibility to run monitoring on standard servers or in the cloud. This makes it easier to expand monitoring capacity as workloads increase or change.

More advanced analysis capabilities are following the same path. Pattern recognition and intelligent correlation can help highlight trends or emerging failures before viewers notice anything is wrong. To support modern operations, next-generation multiviewers should unify monitoring and visualization, provide real-time actionable insight from anywhere, and correlate issues across the entire workflow. The aim is simple: help teams identify problems sooner, resolve them efficiently, and maintain high-quality service without adding operational burden.

As channel counts rise and workflows become more distributed and IP-driven, teams need tools that reveal insight rather than simply presenting imagery. For many organizations, the multiviewer is increasingly becoming that central surface — a place where video, metadata, network signals, and diagnostic context come together. For teams evaluating new platforms, the focus should be on flexibility, integrated intelligence, and the ability to support lean, distributed operations with confidence.

NEWARK, NJ—Panasonic Video and Audio Systems North America has announced a partnership with NEP Group, integrating Panasonic’s Kairos IP live production system with NEP’s recently announced NEP Platform, a new software orchestration system.

The companies said the integration enables media companies and live events service providers to deploy flexible and scalable production workflows that bridge traditional and IP-native infrastructure without vendor lock-in.

“Media, broadcast, and streaming companies are rapidly shifting to software-defined, IP-based production architecture. Operators face mounting pressure to reduce infrastructure footprint, increase workflow agility, and support hybrid cloud–on-premises models without compromising the frame-accurate reliability live production requires,” said Steve Milley, Vice President, Professional Video and Audio Systems at Panasonic. “Our partnership with NEP marks a meaningful step forward for Kairos’ open-platform vision, giving customers a clear, validated path to IP. With flexible, scalable workflows, Kairos is designed to eliminate the integration challenges that have slowed adoption of software-defined production.”

NEP Platform allows broadcasters to customize and optimize their production environment, saving valuable time and resources. By achieving certified interoperability with Kairos, the two platforms share a unified control and data plane that allows operators to dynamically allocate production resources, trigger Kairos' multiviewer and production switching events, and synchronize metadata from a single interface.

The integration between Panasonic and NEP delivers operational advantages for production teams by streamlining control, scaling flexibility, and reducing deployment time, according to the companies. Operators can manage Kairos production switching, NEP routing, and resource orchestration through a single unified interface, eliminating the need for constant context switching. Additionally, the pre-validated integration was created to significantly reduce system commissioning time, with the goal of a faster, more efficient deployment.

“Through our ongoing partnership with Panasonic, we've been able to bring together best-in-class technologies into a unified, software-driven ecosystem,” said Dan Murphy, VP of NEP Platform. “Integrating NEP Platform with Kairos demonstrates how open, standards-based innovation can simplify complex workflows and deliver the performance and reliability live production demands.”

The collaboration builds on Kairos’ open architecture and established use across broadcast and live production environments worldwide. The platform exposes fully documented APIs through the Kairos Alliance Partners program, enabling third-party integrations and interoperability. Built on standards including SMPTE ST 2110 and NMOS, Kairos supports true software-defined workflows without legacy SDI constraints. The platform also aligns sustainability goals through its COTS-based, software-first approach, designed to reduce power consumption and physical infrastructure requirements.

The companies will showcase a joint demonstration at NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas from April 19-22 at Panasonic’s booth (#C3509).

NOVATO, Calif.—In advance of its Pre-NAB 2026 Technology Event, April 17-18 at Flamingo Las Vegas, JB&A, a leading value-added distributor of broadcast, AV and IP workflow solutions, is previewing what attendees can expect from this year’s exhibitor line-up, including a headline workflow showcase from Barco.

Pre-NAB brings together leading technology partners and industry professionals for two days of hands-on demonstrations, technical insight, and meaningful conversations ahead of NAB Show.

JB&A has also announced the headline Pre-NAB Workflow Showcase, led by Barco Entertainment – Immersive Experiences and centered around its powerful SwiftAgent platform.

Taking place live on the Pre-NAB stage, the showcase will demonstrate a complete, real-world workflow built around SwiftAgent, integrated within a projector-heavy environment to reflect the demands of modern live production and immersive experiences. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience the workflow in action and gain deeper technical insight through dedicated demo sessions, hosted by Barco engineers throughout the event.

Exhibitor Highlights: Control and Live Production
This year’s show floor will feature a strong focus on control systems and live production workflows, with exhibitors including:

• Barco - showcasing Encore 3 screen management, alongside its headline SwiftAgent-powered Workflow Showcase on the Pre-NAB stage
• Elgato - demonstrating Stream Deck Studio control workflows and Wave audio tools for enhanced operator performance
• Bitfocus - presenting Buttons v1.6, with updates supporting more structured, enterprise-ready control environments
• LiveU - highlighting IP contribution and orchestration workflows, including LU900Q and Nexus for resilient live feeds
• Bluefish444 - featuring IngeSTore 2.0 multichannel recording for production and archive across formats and IP workflows
• PTZOptics - introducing Move SE and AI-driven PTZ solutions for simplified multi-camera production
• Bolin Technology - presenting PTZ workflows for broadcast and AV teams, alongside new product developments

Spotlight on the LED Wall Ecosystem
A key area of focus for 2026 is the continued rise of LED display deployments. At Pre-NAB, attendees can explore complete LED deployment workflows and gain practical insight into planning and implementing LED environments- from display to processing, mounting, and networking. Featured exhibitors include:

• INFiLED - LED wall solutions
• Matrox Video - processing and video infrastructure
• Peerless-AV - mounting systems
• NETGEAR - network foundation

PTZ and Motion Control in Focus
For teams building studios, live event kits, or hybrid environments across broadcast and corporate environments, PTZ cameras and motion control remain a key area of innovation. Attendees can connect with:

• Lumens - showcasing the VC-TR60A Dante AV-H and a 4K dual lens PTZ camera
• Mark Roberts Motion Control - demonstrating the Atlas Slider and Bullhead modular motion system

Find out more and register here.

MONTREAL—Haivision has launched Falkon X4, the newest addition to its Falkon family of 5G mobile video transmitters. Purpose-built for remote production of live sports and news, Falkon X4 delivers robust, uninterrupted connectivity, even in congested network environments, making it the ideal solution for capturing content with dynamic camera angles from virtually any location, the company reported.

“We are excited to unveil Falkon X4 as the newest member of our groundbreaking Falkon series,” said Jean-Marc Racine, chief product officer and executive vice president of broadcast at Haivision. “Falkon X4 meets the demands for performance and live workflow versatility required for efficient productions over public and private 5G, as well as 4G and LEO satellite networks.”

Falkon X4’s four-modem architecture, each with 2x2 MIMO for eight total cellular antennas, is designed to provide exceptional connectivity, throughput stability, and multi-network resilience. When operating on private 5G networks, Falkon X4 delivers end-to-end, ultra-low latency, a critical requirement for live sports productions where interactivity and responsiveness are needed.

Haivision’s advanced SST technology also enables bonding 5G, 4G, WiFi, Ethernet, and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connections, ensuring continuous, reliable transmission even in the most challenging environments.

Falkon X4 also supports pristine-quality video and outstanding image fidelity. With Falkon X4, broadcasters can confidently transmit 4K/UHD, HD, and HDR video streams from anywhere. Powered by advanced HEVC and H.264 encoding, Falkon X4 maximizes bandwidth efficiency while maintaining exceptional image quality.

Designed for both camera operators and broadcast engineers, Falkon X4 can be easily managed and configured in the field using either an intuitive touchscreen for fast, on-site operation or a responsive browser-based interface that works on laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

Furthermore, Falkon X4 can be managed and controlled remotely, freeing camera operators to focus on capturing the action. With a rugged, portable design, Falkon X4 can be camera-mounted or carried in a backpack and includes an internal backup battery to ensure uninterrupted transmission during battery swaps.

Key features include:

• Robust Transmission: Live streaming over public and private 5G, 4G, 3G, WiFi, and LEO satellite networks with HEVC and H.264 encoding.
• Ultra-Low Latency: End-to-end latency performance allowing production mixing between Falkon X4, Falkon X2, and other Haivision wireless or wired cameras.
• Pristine-Quality Video: Up to 4K/UHD, 4:2:2 chroma subsampling, 10-bit color depth, and HDR (PQ and HLG) video.
• Built for Mobility: Lightweight, portable, camera-mountable design supporting both V-Mount and Gold Mount systems.
• Advanced Production Capabilities: Local recording, file forwarding, audio intercom, video return, and data bridge.
• Remote Production Ready: Advanced remote camera control including camera shading, PTZ adjustment, and embedded timestamps for precise synchronization.
• Multi-Camera Contribution: Frame-accurate synchronization across multiple Falkon X4 transmitters enables remote production, simplifies event setup, and reduces equipment footprint and on-site staffing.

Haivision will showcase Falkon X4 at the 2026 NAB Show between April 18 to 22. To learn more book a meeting at: https://www.haivision.com/events/nab-2026/.

LONDON—Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BBC World Service has selected its decoders for IP television distribution.

Robert Webber, senior distribution manager, BBC International Services explained that they needed "to deliver reliable IP video to BBC World Service partners in various locations across the world. Open Broadcast Systems decoders were flexible enough to deliver and monitor reliable IP video to our global partners, whilst meeting local needs.”

In several regions, the decoders were installed by Open Broadcast Systems’ network of local partners, with local knowledge and skillset, enabling rapid implementation across multiple regions. The decoders support a wide range of IP video protocols including SRT, RIST and Zixi.

The high-quality, low-latency IP decoders are designed with a small form factor, allowing for easy global deployment to deliver flexible, reliable, and cost-effective decoding for distribution across the BBC World Service network to its global rebroadcast partners.

“Delivering content across the globe comes with a number of significant challenges for broadcasters. Software-based solutions provide the flexibility to deliver content reliably over IP,” said Kieran Kunhya, founder and CEO of Open Broadcast Systems. “This, coupled with the local knowledge and expertise to ensure seamless implementation, was a key factor for BBC World Service TV.”

Open Broadcast Systems will be exhibiting at 2026 NAB Show from April 18 to 22 on booth W2217.

For more information, visit https://www.obe.tv/

NEVADA CITY, Calif.—Telestream has announced a strategic collaboration with Grass Valley to enable deeper interoperability between Telestream’s workflow automation, processing, and monitoring solutions and Grass Valley’s AMPP (Agile Media Processing Platform).

Telestream Vantage for file-based workflow orchestration, Pulse for end-to-end observability and Telestream UP for cloud-native media processing are being integrated with AMPP, Grass’s software-defined production platform enabling live and distributed workflows across on-prem, cloud or hybrid environments. The integration supports modern media operations, giving customers greater flexibility to build scalable, hybrid infrastructures without vendor lock-in.

The collaboration builds on existing integrations between Telestream Vantage, DIVA and Grass Valley solutions, extending these capabilities to include Telestream UP and Pulse within AMPP-based workflows.

“Media workflows that were created 10 years ago are now becoming a constraint to forward progress,” said Charlie Dunn, vice president of Product, Telestream. “By working with Grass Valley, we’re helping customers bridge live production and file-based processing within a unified, open architecture. This collaboration is about giving media organizations the power to streamline existing workflows and deploy them in the most cost-effective environments, with the flexibility to scale as the business grows."

“Open, interoperable workflows are now a requirement for modern media operations,” says Adam Marshall, chief product officer for Grass Valley. “Our continuing collaboration with Telestream further extends the AMPP ecosystem, enabling customers to connect live production, playout and file-based workflows within a unified, hybrid architecture. By integrating capabilities such as orchestration, processing, and monitoring, we are giving media organizations the flexibility to build workflows that scale, adapt, and operate efficiently across any environment.”

The companies said their strategic partnership “ensures robust interoperability within customer environments, combining Grass Valley’s leadership in live production, content management, and playout solutions, with Telestream’s strength in workflow automation and observability.”

Grass Valley’s Framelight X plays a central role in this vision, enabling the full content lifecycle—from capture and access to editing, collaboration, and publishing—within a browser-native, story-centric environment. Rather than relying on fragmented toolsets, Framelight X brings content into a unified workspace where stories can be shaped and delivered faster, with less friction.

Built on AMPP’s open and extensible architecture, Framelight X integrates with best-of-breed technologies across the content lifecycle—storage, graphics, AI services, automation, and distribution. Telestream’s workflow automation, processing, captioning, and quality control capabilities extend this ecosystem, ensuring that content moving through Framelight X can be automatically processed, quality-controlled, and delivered across platforms, at scale.

Telestream’s ability to integrate across the media supply chain, from ingest and processing to QC, metadata, and delivery, positions it as a key enabler of hybrid workflows that span multiple systems and environments. Grass Valley AMPP enables flexible deployment models, allowing customers to optimize for performance, cost, and operational requirements. This alignment ensures that workflows can scale dynamically while maintaining visibility, control, and consistency across distributed environments.

Both companies are aligned around a hybrid-first approach to infrastructure, recognizing that media organizations must operate across a mix of on-premises systems, private infrastructure, and public cloud environments.