WALTHAM, Mass.—Alyson Stewart has joined IP video transport software provider Zixi as senior director, sales.

In her new role, Stewart will be tasked with driving direct sales and partnerships with broadcasters, media companies and other enterprise clients in the media and entertainment industry. She’ll be responsible for growing new business across Zixi’s direct sales channel, strengthening go-to-market partnerships and supporting customers in their transition of live video workflows to IP-based delivery, the company said.

She joins Zixi from Hydrolix, where she helped establish that company’s enterprise direct sales and partner go-to-market functions.

“Alyson brings exactly the kind of experience and relationships we need as we scale our direct sales and partner motion,” Zixi CEO Marc Aldlrich said. “She has spent her career entrenched in the worlds of media and technology, and her deep understanding of both the programming and operational sides of this business will be a real asset to our customers and our team. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Alyson before, and I know firsthand the value she brings.”

A 20-year industry veteran, Stewart worked for five years in the Media, Entertainment, Games & Sports business at Amazon Web Services (AWS) before Hydrolix. She was also senior VP, global sales, strategy and operations at Gravitas Ventures, an independent film distributor; senior VP of sales for Mediamorph, a media-rights management firm; and worked for 13 years as a sales executive at VOD content services provider Vubiquity, as well as at Starz, The Weather Channel and Turner Broadcasting System.

“I’ve long admired the strength of the Zixi platform and the role it plays in live media workflows,” Stewart said. “I’m excited to join the team and help our customers navigate the shift to IP-based video delivery.”

AMSTERDAM—At IBC 2026, the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) has announced a joint initiative with the EBU to bring together leading broadcast technology suppliers to demonstrate interoperable implementations of NMOS BCP-008 Minimum Status Reporting.

The specification is designed to give operators a consistent view of device health across multi-vendor IP environments and help them identify the problems.

“The broadcast industry has always made its greatest progress through collaboration. These demonstrations show what's possible when vendors, end users, and integrators come together around open specifications to solve real operational challenges,” said Brad Gilmer, executive director of AMWA. “BCP-008 gives broadcasters a practical, standardized way to understand what's happening across multi-vendor IP facilities, helping them operate those facilities with greater confidence. Leading manufacturers demonstrating interoperable implementations together at IBC is an important milestone for our industry."

Presented live on the EBU stand (10.D21) during the show between Sept. 11 and 14, the demos will show products from multiple vendors reporting status consistently across a multi-vendor IP environment.

By giving operators a common view of device health, BCP-008 can help them distinguish urgent problems from routine conditions and resolve issues faster.

"These demonstrations aren't simply about showing technology," said Stefan Ledergerber, NMOS Control project lead and CEO of Simplexity. "They're about demonstrating that multi-vendor interoperability is real, practical, and ready for deployment."

Participating companies include:

• Arkona
• DirectOut
• EVS
• Leader
• Nevion
• Pebble
• Providius
• Riedel
• Simplexity
• Sony

The companies have spent months preparing their BCP-008 implementations to work together. Before IBC, they will convene at EVS's facilities in Belgium for an intensive, hands-on interoperability event, where they will validate the implementations before taking them live in Amsterdam.

"To have products from each of these participating companies implementing BCP-008 at once is the largest commitment to NMOS since the introduction of IS-04 and IS-05," said Ledergerber. "It shows the necessity of status reporting within our industry. We should applaud these manufacturers for having a vision for an interoperable, open, and flexible future of IP and for bringing that vision to reality."

BCP-008 complements NMOS connection management by giving devices from different vendors a standardized way to communicate operational status. Because the end device is best positioned to recognize when it is not operating correctly, the approach helps operators distinguish conditions requiring action from routine status information.

"The industry hasn’t yet mastered the complexity of ST 2110, much less DMF. Training broadcast engineers to become IT experts doesn't scale. BCP-008 is an important ingredient to scale," added Ledergerber. At IBC, visitors will see systems respond to packet loss, link disconnects, packet jitter, PTP grandmaster changes, stream validation errors, and other common operational errors.

Additional information and BCP-008 developer resources are available at: www.amwa.tv/post/developer-resources-nmos-bcp-008-minimum-status-reporting

ATLANTA—At the 2026 IBC Show, Sept. 11-14 in Amsterdam, swXtch.io will launch groundSwXtch for Audio over IP (AoIP), a software application that lets broadcasters and media organizations move audio in all major AoIP formats, including Ravenna, AES67 and ST 2110-30, between facilities and into the cloud over standard IP networks, including the public internet.

The application achieves this without codec hardware and without reconfiguring switches or routers to support multicast. By carrying audio in its native, uncompressed form end to end, groundSwXtch preserves bit-identical quality while removing the encode/decode latency, hardware cost and deployment complexity that come with traditional AoIP transport, according to the company.

Unlike current methods, which mostly rely on dedicated codec pairs to move audio between facilities by compressing, transporting over a standard connection and decoding on arrival, groundSwXtch removes that step by carrying the existing multicast AoIP streams on a facility's network across the connecting network (WAN, 5G or public internet) through a centrally managed software overlay.

A lightweight application on standard hardware/servers or virtual machines forms the overlay and moves native AoIP traffic across existing IP infrastructure, including over switches and routers that were never configured for multicast routing. Broadcasters connect studios, production centers, remote facilities and data centers into one unified fabric without touching physical network hardware, with built-in packet protection for hybrid links including SMPTE ST 2022-7 hitless failover, and a single-pane view of every flow, according to swXtch.io.

Because groundSwXtch shares its core architecture with swXtch.io's cloudSwXtch platform, the two can be paired to extend the same multicast fabric into the cloud—giving broadcasters one hybrid network spanning on-premises and cloud environments rather than separate ground and cloud workflows.

Timing accuracy across that fabric is maintained through integrated clock synchronization including support for PTP, preserving the accuracy required for live production, intercom systems and distributed audio mixing. Because groundSwXtch transports AoIP streams natively in their original format, with no compression or transcoding at any point, audio arrives exactly as it left the source.

swXtch.io has validated groundSwXtch with broadcast and professional audio partners across live sports and remote event production, intercom connectivity between facilities, distributed audio mixing, remote production for entertainment venues, and radio workflows linking studios, newsrooms and regional bureaus into a single software-defined audio network.

"For decades, the industry has focused on making audio codecs faster and more efficient," said Brent Yates, CEO of swXtch.io. "We took a different approach by asking whether broadcasters need codecs at all. If audio already exists as native AoIP and we provide an IP network that can transport it reliably, removing that encode-and-decode layer simplifies infrastructure, lowers costs and preserves the integrity of the original signal. groundSwXtch allows broadcasters to move audio exactly as it was created while making distributed production far easier to deploy and scale."

swXtch.io will demonstrate groundSwXtch for Audio over IP during IBC2026 in meeting room 5.MR13 (Hall 5) in the RAI Amsterdam.

RASTATT, Germany—Lawo will feature the latest additions to its HOME ecosystem as well as the European debut of Edge One, the company’s latest software release for the mc² production console family and Power Core during IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

The company will also showcase a live implementation of its Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) approach.

Together, the innovations show how broadcasters, production companies and media organizations can increase operational agility, maximize infrastructure utilization and adapt resources dynamically to changing production demands.

The company’s HOME management and orchestration platform enables device discovery, security, authentication and control across IP-based media infrastructures. Combined with HOME Apps, Lawo’s portfolio of server-based processing microservices, HOME allows processing resources to be deployed, scaled and reassigned wherever they are needed independent of dedicated hardware.

A key highlight will be Lawo’s live demonstration of Dynamic Media Facilities, showcasing how broadcasters can dynamically allocate processing resources across studios, central facilities, remote-production environments and hybrid infrastructures. Lawo will demonstrate a working production environment showing its software-based dynamic media facilities are a practical reality today.

It will also highlight a technology collaboration with Grass Valley focused on validating orchestration, control and media exchange integration between Grass Valley AMPP and Lawo HOME, both aligned with an open system approach and the EBU Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) initiative.

The company will also unveil two new HOME Apps dedicated to graphics processing. Designed for broadcasters, live production facilities and media infrastructure operators, the applications expand HOME’s capabilities beyond signal processing and orchestration into branding, graphics compositing and real-time broadcast presentation.

Lawo will also make the European trade show introduction of Edge One, a new approach to audio and video connectivity for broadcast and Pro AV applications. Combining video, audio, networking and processing capabilities in a compact platform, Edge One makes edge connectivity more flexible while reducing equipment footprint, cabling complexity and deployment effort.

The platform combines bi-directional SDI connectivity, HDMI, MADI, USB-C audio, GPIO, synchronization interfaces and interchangeable audio I/O modules in a single device. User-swappable modules allow rapid adaptation for studio, venue, remote-production, flypack or commentary applications.

As a native SMPTE ST 2110 platform supporting up to 25 Gbps network bandwidth, Edge One integrates seamlessly into modern IP infrastructures while also serving as a standalone solution for audio embedding, de-embedding, shuffling and signal transport workflows. Supporting Lawo FLEX, Edge One is available in Audio, Video, and Audio + Video configurations.

Lawo will also show its mc² Software Release 12.4, delivering workflow enhancements for live production and broadcast applications. New capabilities include Real-Time Analyzer support for signal analysis and visual feedback, zoom module pop-ups for improved touch operation, enhanced third-party input-stage control through a new HOME data model, external channel preset recall via Ember+, sample-based delay adjustment for finer timing precision and API-key authentication for secure MCX-to-HOME connectivity. The company will also preview mc² Release 12.6.

The company will highlight its latest Power Core software release, which adds support for the Lawo OnAir Designer and introduces a new five-band equalizer featuring four parametric bands plus an additional filter band.

See Lawo at IBC 2026 stand 8.B90.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas—Video production and integration firm QuickLink has tapped Kane Peterson for its North American team as presales, customer success and product development engineer.

In the new post, Peterson is tasked with supporting North American customers with workflow consultation, presales guidance, onboarding and product development insights, the company said.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Kane to the QuickLink family,” QuickLink CEO Richard Rees said. “His extensive industry knowledge and customer‑centric approach make him an exceptional addition to our team as we continue expanding our presence and support across North America.”

A 34-year broadcast industry veteran, Peterson joins QuickLink after 14 years at NewTek, where he supported customers and advanced product capability. He stayed with that company through its acquisition by Vizrt, gaining additional experience in integrated production systems and IP-based workflows, QuickLink said.

“I’m excited to join QuickLink and contribute to a company that’s driving innovation in remote production and broadcast workflows,” Peterson said. “I’ve spent my career helping customers solve real‑world challenges and get the maximum functionality out of their systems, and I look forward to supporting QuickLink’s partners and users across North America as we continue to advance and evolve our solutions.”

QuickLink supplies more than 800 companies with software, hardware and cloud solutions for broadcast-quality multicamera video production and has been recognized with Emmy Awards and the Queen’s Award for Innovation.

For more information, visit its website.

At IBC 2026, Utah Scientific said it will highlight NBOSS, a software extension to the Utah Scientific Control System.

The extension enables seamless control of SMPTE ST 2110 IP media sources and destinations within the familiar Utah Scientific routing environment.

“The industry’s transition to IP is not a single event, but an ongoing evolution, and customers need technologies that support that journey at their own pace,” Utah Scientific CEO Brett Benson said. “NBOSS creates a unified control experience for NMOS-enabled devices and traditional routing infrastructure, helping facilities modernize confidently while maintaining the reliability they expect from Utah Scientific.”

Delivered on a dedicated two-rack-unit server appliance, NBOSS provides a simple NMOS-based control layer that bridges traditional SDI workflows with modern IP infrastructure, Utah Scientific said. It lets broadcasters manage IP and SDI signals together, without introducing a separate control system or changing operational workflows.

NBOSS allows facilities transitioning to IP to operate as a true hybrid SDI/IP router, preserving established operational models while enabling future-ready infrastructure.

See NBOSS and other Utah Scientific products at IBC 2026, Sept. 11–14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center, stand 10.B40.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.—Cobalt Digital will showcase enhancements to its product portfolio that simplify signal processing, monitoring and IP integration as broadcast and professional AV facilities continue to adopt hybrid SDI/IP workflows while transitioning to software-defined production environments during IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

For the first time at IBC 2026, Cobalt will show its family of 9935-AUD4-DANTE openGear advanced audio processors cards with optional fiber inputs/outputs to support Dante Audio Interface. By enabling direct fiber connectivity, Dante installation is simplified, longer-distance deployments are supported, and the need for external media conversion in fiber-based network infrastructures is eliminated.

The 9935-AUD4-DANTE is a quad-channel with up to 12G DANTE/AES/MADI/embed and de-embed functions with frame sync capabilities. The card features two gigabit Ethernet ports, a 64x64 configuration, and a full audio router mixer.

Cobalt Digital will also feature expanded IPMX functionality with JPEG XS Temporal Differential Coding (JXS TDC), enabling its portfolio of IPMX-certified products to seamlessly discover, establish and transport visually lossless, ultra-low latency JPEG XS media streams.

The enhancement strengthens IPMX environments, providing true plug-and-play deployment and enabling low-latency JPEG XS workflows while maintaining compatibility across mixed-vendor systems. JPEG-XS support is available for all Cobalt ST 2110/IPMX capable products, including SAPPHIRE and INDIGO lines, as well as the UltraBlue MV and the blueCORE processors.

The company will also feature its blueCORE processing platform, which delivers powerful, multi-function audio and video processing in a self-contained form factor, enabling users to adapt to changing production requirements while protecting long-term infrastructure investments.

The platform’s compact footprint, ease of operation and low power requirements (less than 80W for the ST 2110 version) make it well-suited to live production in trucks, OB-vans and other space-constrained environments. Its self-contained form factor makes deployment fast and simple—with or without a computer.

Capabilities include up/down/cross conversion, color correction, several varieties of HDR processing, audio routing and mixing, per-channel frame sync, frame rate conversion, audio embedding and de-embedding, SCTE-104 insertion and logo insertion.

The company will also feature:

• The Cobalt UltraBlue MV-SW IP hybrid multiviewer. A flexible software-based solution, the multiviewer now offers support for transitioning to ST 2110 or IPMX. UltraBlue MV-SW is available as a turnkey solution with four HDMI heads and as a software package that runs on customer-supplied dedicated hardware.
• Cobalt ARIA audio line. The COBALT ARIA family provides a path forward for facilities migrating to IP-based operations. The series includes a fully IPMX-compliant audio monitor and features best-in-class sound monitoring and 16 SDI or 64 MADI channels in a compact rack-mount form-factor. Sound is produced by an efficient Class-D amplifier with DSP and specially selected speaker components.
• Cobalt compression solutions. The company also will demonstrate its growing COBALT PACIFIC compression line, including the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-DEC upgradeable software-defined broadcast decoder now available with an ST 2110/IPMX output option. The enhancement allows decoded content to be transported simultaneously over SDI and ST 2110/IPMX. For ST 2110 operation, a built-in frame sync will emit a PTP-locked signal. Cobalt has added support for hybrid satellite-internet operations to the COBALT PACIFIC compression line, compliant with VSR TR-06-4 Part 7. A DVB-S/S2 factory-installed demodulator option enables decoding and passthrough of satellite signals on ASI and over IP.

See Cobalt Digital at IBC 2026 stand 8.F90.

More information is available on the company’s website.

For the better part of a decade, there's a word the broadcast industry has been using to describe the move from traditional to software-defined production.

That word is transition.

But transition implies a journey from one state to another. What broadcasters are really living through is more permanent than that. They're not crossing a bridge. They're building one while keeping traffic moving on both sides.

The hybrid reality that most production operations face today isn't a phase. It's the terrain they're operating in. And the industry is only beginning to work out what that really demands.

Two Worlds, One Team
As IP and cloud-based production matured, the assumption in most technology strategies was that organizations would eventually retire traditional hardware workflows. But that hasn’t happened. Client commitments, capital cycles, rights agreements and the genuine complexity of software-defined environments have all kept legacy infrastructure in service.

This means that production teams manage both at the same time, and engineers who once worked in a single signal chain are now expected to be fluent across various architectures. That pressure isn’t always obvious, until something goes wrong.

Client expectations are moving in different directions at the same time. Some rights holders won't compromise on premium quality. Others are under real pressure to deliver faster and cheaper, sometimes for the same content through a different window. In some cases both demands land in the same contract.

The Cost of Keeping Both Engines Running
Operating in a hybrid environment is costly in ways that aren’t always easy to quantify. Maintaining two categories of infrastructure, training staff on both and building workflows that flex between them: the obvious costs are significant. But the subtler ones are too.

Every infrastructure decision now has a strategic dimension to it. Whether to extend the life of traditional kit, push harder toward software workflows and take on the short-term risk that comes with it, or route projects through different models depending on the brief, none of it is straightforward and each path brings its own complexity.

None of these are easy calls. They involve trade-offs between cost, speed, quality and flexibility. The right answer shifts with each client and project. The teams that navigate this skillfully have stopped looking for one cohesive answer and instead relied on the judgment to make the call differently each time.

Remote and Cloud: Real Gains and Real Limits
Remote and cloud production have proven their worth. The ability to draw on the right talent wherever they are, scale infrastructure around event demand and cut crew travel has truly changed how operations plan and staff major events.

But the limits of working fully distributed are also getting clearer. Some productions benefit greatly when people are in the same room, where decisions need to be made quickly and creative judgment is built through proximity. The best hybrid operations aren’t choosing between remote and on-site. They’re developing the discipline to recognize which approach will work best for any given brief, and then investing in the infrastructure to support both.

Flexibility: The Baseline Requirement
The most important shift in thinking may be that flexibility isn’t something to sell anymore. Clients expect workflows that flex to last-minute changes, support teams who are spread across different technical environments and scale without everything falling apart.

That’s a structural challenge. Not a technology challenge. The tools exist, but what production operations are still building is the confidence to lean on them and the organizational design to deploy them well.

The broadcasters and service providers who define the next phase of this industry will not be those who complete the move to software-defined production fastest. They will be those who build the judgment and workflows to operate effectively in a world where both models coexist, indefinitely, at the same time.

Hybrid production isn’t a problem to be solved. It’s the operating environment. The sooner the industry plans accordingly, the better.

MONTREAL—Haivision will make the European debut of its Makito ONE video transport platform and Falkon X4 5G mobile video transmitter during IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

Makito ONE and Falkon X4 represent the newest additions to Haivision's broadcast contribution ecosystem for live sports, news and event production. Together, the solutions enable broadcasters to contribute high-quality, ultra-low latency live video from fixed, remote and mobile production environments over any type of network.

Makito ONE is Haivision's fully configurable video transport platform that combines dual-channel video encoding and decoding, ultra-low latency 4K UHD, HD and HDR video, and multi-codec flexibility in a single compact blade.

Used for primary contribution and remote production, Makito ONE supports H.264, HEVC and JPEG XS along with SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 connectivity, enabling broadcasters to configure the platform for encoding, decoding or mixed workflows as needed while delivering broadcast-quality video contribution over public internet, wireless, satellite and fiber networks.

Scalable from a compact single-blade system to high-density modular chassis, Makito ONE ensures rock-solid AV synchronization and highly reliable video transport, supporting productions of any size.

Falkon X4 is Haivision's newest mobile video transmitter, purpose-built for remote production of live sports and 24/7 news. Featuring a four-modem, 2x2 MIMO architecture and Haivision's cellular bonding technology, Falkon X4 delivers robust, uninterrupted connectivity across public and private 5G, 4G, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks. Supporting pristine 4K/UHD, HD, and HDR video with HEVC and H.264 encoding, Falkon X4 provides reliable video transmission with true mobility and flexible operational control, enabling production teams to capture live content from virtually any location.

Haivision will also demonstrate how its ultra-low latency bonded cellular technology is able to transmit video over private 5G networks at under 100 milliseconds. The company will highlight how it is transforming the way broadcasters are covering live events from crowded locations where public mobile networks can become congested and when cabling is not possible.

See Haivision at IBC 2026 stand 2.B32.

More information is available on the company’s website.

GENEVA—GlobalM will feature the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform that enables broadcasters, telecom operators and media organizations to deploy identical live IP workflows across public cloud, private cloud and on-prem infrastructure during IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

“Protocols such as SRT and RIST have played a major role in accelerating IP adoption, but moving video from A to B is only one part of the equation,” said Paul Calleja, CEO of GlobalM.

“Broadcasters still need to provision services, manage thousands of live connections, monitor quality, schedule events, configure edge devices and build resilient networks that can scale," he added. "That’s where we believe the real value lies.”

GlobalM’s software-defined platform provides a unified operational layer across cloud, hybrid and on-prem environments, allowing customers to deploy and manage services through a single interface regardless of where the infrastructure is located. The platform combines orchestration, automation, monitoring, scheduling, device management and workflow automation to simplify live contribution and distribution operations.

The company will highlight its GMX1 on-prem deployment platform on its stand. The platform is designed for broadcasters and telecom operators that require the flexibility of software-defined workflows while retaining full control of their own infrastructure. GMX1 can be deployed on customer-owned hardware, virtual machines or dedicated appliances. It integrates seamlessly with the company’s cloud platform to support hybrid deployments.

GlobalM will also demonstrate GMDC (GlobalM Device Control), enabling supported third-party encoders and decoders to be configured, monitored and managed through a single operational environment, reducing complexity and improving operational efficiency across multi-vendor networks.

See GlobalM at IBC 2026 stand 1.A11.

More information is available on the company’s website.

HACKENSACK, N.J.—LiveU said it achieved historic performance records during six weeks of 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage, with deployment of 1,700 portable IP transmitter units, 31,000 live transmissions and 17,000 broadcast hours for its customers in 45 countries, representing 695 TB of data.

Broadcasters, production houses, football federations and digital content creators, including independent creators and IRL streamers covering the championship for their own channels, turned to LiveU to support their coverage.

Coverage spanned prematch briefings, official training sessions, press conferences, in-stadium editorial positions, fan zones, team hotels and IRL creator streams from city centers and public viewing areas. Broadcasters also deployed LiveU technology across additional camera positions to capture unilateral feeds for richer multi-angle coverage. The range reflects a fundamental shift in how broadcasters of all sizes and independent creators are now building distributed, IP-first workflows around a major tournament, the company said.

LiveU’s LU800 multicamera field unit and intelligent production unit, LU900Q—both of which are powered by the smart routing capabilities of LiveU IQ (LIQ) AI-driven connectivity technology—anchored multisite broadcasts. The combination enabled ultra-low-latency, 4K-ready content to be delivered directly to millions of viewers worldwide.

“The sheer scale of this cross-border deployment reflects a joint collaboration with our global customers and partners to push the boundaries of live sports productions,” said Gideon Gilboa, chief business officer and general manager of the Americas at LiveU.

“We didn’t just supply equipment; we worked in partnership with our customers in advance to design and refine workflows to meet their operational needs and budgets,” Gilboa said. “By shifting heavy infrastructure to the cloud, our customers could expand their tournament footprint, capture more angles and maximize ROI without compromising on broadcast quality. LIQ and the LU900Q both demonstrated LiveU’s focus on robust, high-performance field connectivity, helping broadcasters maintain reliable live transmissions in demanding sports production environments.”

Field coverage of the tournament relied predominantly on LiveU’s LU800 portable field units running LiveU IQ (LIQ), LiveU’s intelligent connectivity solution that analyzes real-time and historical network data to optimize every transmission. LIQ dynamically prioritized and load-balanced cellular connections through predictive network analysis, enabling critical resiliency in crowded stadium environments.

On average, broadcasters leveraging LIQ during the tournament achieved bit rates up to 35% higher than average and maintained near-zero packet loss, even within those highly congested environments.

LIQ's performance in the U.S. market made a measurable difference for broadcasters operating across multiple cities and time zones. LIQ was complemented by LiveU Mobile Data, LiveU’s cellular connectivity offering, connecting teams to multiple networks. All LiveU rental units came with Mobile Data as default, saving international teams from the hassle of sourcing local SIM cards in the U.S.

“When it was announced that Boston would be a host city, we knew this event would be massive," said Adam Liberatore, chief photographer at WFXT, Boston’s Fox affiliate. “As rightsholders, we immediately planned for a collaboration with LiveU to assist with giving us the bandwidth necessary to put on a flawless in-stadium newscast. The LU800 helped turn this platform into a mobile newsroom with one unit handling up to four video sources. The LU800 and LIQ connectivity helped our lean production crew make this global event memorable for our viewers.”

Field transmission was only half of the story. Broadcasters relied heavily on the LiveU EcoSystem, a unified suite of cloud-native tools spanning the entire live production workflow, to execute sophisticated REMI workflows without sending massive, expensive production trucks to every venue.

LiveU Central gave operations teams a single point of visibility across every unit in the field. LiveU Ingest automated file-based recording and metadata tagging for rapid highlights and LiveU Nexus handled ingest, conversion and distribution of live streams from traditional encoders to social media. LiveU Matrix routed live camera feeds to global newsrooms, production hubs and distribution partners.

With deployments built around remote production, there was less of a need to have massive crews on-site. LiveU estimated the number of traveling crew members was reduced by around 40%.

LiveU’s team was on the ground in all key tournament locations. When urgent deployments arose, they hand-delivered equipment directly to stadiums and production hubs to keep broadcasters on-air.

LiveU's partnership with One Media was central to managing that complexity in Mexico, where close to 200 systems were coordinated, staged and tested more than a month before the opening match.

“The 2026 World Football Championship was a true proving ground for modern sports broadcasting, demanding unmatched logistical agility and flawless network resilience,” Gilboa said. “By combining our purpose-built hardware, open architecture and global footprint with AI-driven cloud orchestration, we showed that broadcasters don’t need a heavy physical presence on-site to deliver world-class coverage. We're already deep in preparations for 2030. Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Uruguay present an even greater logistical challenge, and we intend to meet it the same way.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has revealed some of its plans for the next Summer Olympics, taking place in Los Angeles in 2028.

At a meeting of rights holders last week, OBS said it intends to provide approximately 3,800 to 4,000 hours of competition and Ceremonies coverage.

The host broadcaster added it is expanding its use of first-person-view (FPV) drones, real-time 360° and stroboscopic replays, point-of-view (POV) cameras, microphones on officials and coaches, dynamic graphics, back-of-house access and enhanced digital content at LA28.

The broadcast ecosystem will be designed around virtualization, cloud-based workflows and AI-ready infrastructure, said OBS, to deliver increased flexibility, resilience and operational efficiency across broadcast operations.

Plans include expanded cloud services, AI-assisted production workflows, enhanced digital content delivery and new approaches to content distribution.

Work on the IBC fit-out will begin in early 2027, added OBS.

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope.

AMSTERDAM—Pebble will discuss its future-facing developments for the new generation of media operations at IBC 2026, Sept. 11-14, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

Development leaders will be on hand to discuss Pebble's roadmap for virtualization and cloud-based playout, alongside the technologies, standards and operational models, including Dynamic Media Facility (DMF), cloud infrastructure and AI-assisted operations.

“Broadcasters and media enterprises around the world are changing fast, and they're asking us for more adaptable infrastructures, more flexible deployment and more intelligent workflows,” said Pebble CEO Peter Mayhead. “At IBC, we'll show how we're answering that, with a virtualization and cloud roadmap that lets operators deploy on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid environments, on their own terms. The same principle applies to AI."

"Used judiciously, AI can be transformative, but in playout it earns its place working around our core engine, not inside it,” Mayhead continued. “Frame-accurate execution has to stay deterministic, so we’re adding intelligence around that engine. Since NAB we’ve continued to develop that approach, exploring how AI can support monitoring, operational workflows and decision-making."

“Our approach to cloud and hybrid architectures is no different,” he added. “They build on the security and reliability our customers already trust from their on-premises systems.”

Pebble continues its active engagement with industry bodies including the DPP and JT-DMF, the Joint EBU/AMWA Task Force on Dynamic Media Facilities. Through its involvement in these initiatives, Pebble is helping shape the standards and operational approaches that will underpin future media infrastructures, ensuring its product roadmap reflects the real-world expectations of broadcasters and media organizations.

Those expectations include the agility to support new business models, operational methods and content delivery workflows. In turn, they will drive the deployment of increasingly flexible software architectures and the tactical choice of on-premises, cloud or hybrid environments.

That flexibility is reflected in Pebble's roadmap, with ongoing work to evolve Pebble Automation towards a cloud-native architecture while continuing to enhance Pebble Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote.

See Pebble at IBC 2026 stand 8.C58.

More information is available on the company’s website.

LOUISVILLE, Colo.—CableLabs said Mark Bridges, currently executive vice president and chief technology officer, has been named the R&D consortium’s president and chief technology officer as of Aug. 1, and will assume the role of president and CEO on Jan. 1, 2027.

Phil McKinney, who has served as president and CEO since June 2012, will retire at year-end. McKinney will remain CEO through the end of 2026 and will continue to advise the CableLabs board of directors and Bridges throughout 2027.

“Phil transformed CableLabs from a North American research and development organization into a global innovation leader,” said Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey, chairman of the CableLabs board. “Under his leadership, CableLabs expanded its membership, accelerated technology development and strengthened its impact across the connectivity industry. The board is grateful for Phil’s leadership and service, and we are confident Mark is the right person to build on that foundation and lead CableLabs into its next chapter.”

Bridges has served as CableLabs’ executive vice president and chief technology officer since June 2023, leading the organization’s technology and strategy teams. Since assuming the role, he has overseen CableLabs’ core research and development programs, technology investment decisions and the strategic direction of its innovation portfolio.

As a member of the executive team, he has worked directly with member company executives on technology strategy and the development of industry specifications. Prior to becoming chief technology officer, he served as vice president of the Future Infrastructure Group and vice president of software.

"Mark has been central to CableLabs' technology strategy for more than a decade, including helping lead our expansion into cloud-native architectures, network convergence and AI,” McKinney said. “He knows this organization, he knows our members and he knows what it takes to lead at this level. I am proud of what this team has accomplished and confident in where Mark will take it next."

Said Bridges: "CableLabs has always brought the industry together to solve hard technology problems and open new frontiers for advancement,"."That mission drives us forward. I'm committed to accelerating the strong foundation Phil and our team built, and to pushing into what comes next. I look forward to working with our members, partners, employees and the broader industry to pioneer the technologies that will define the future of connectivity."

CableLabs' executive leadership team will remain in place throughout the transition.

McKinney joined CableLabs in June 2012 from Hewlett-Packard, where he served as CTO. During his tenure, CableLabs expanded its membership from 19 North American operators to more than 50 companies worldwide. Under his leadership, the organization led the development of DOCSIS® 3.1 and 4.0 technologies and the 10G suite of technologies. CableLabs also brought SCTE under its umbrella in 2021.

The organization’s patent portfolio grew from fewer than 70 patents to more than 1,000 during McKinney’s 14 years at CableLabs. The annual rate of patent generation increased more than 20-fold, extending CableLabs’ innovation impact across a broader range of technologies and markets.

More information on the transition is available here.

T-Mobile was found to offer the fastest mobile network and fastest 5G network in Ookla’s latest Connectivity Report on the state of U.S. mobile and fixed networks in the first half of 2026.

Cellphone provider T-Mobile was deemed to have the Best Mobile Network, with a median download speed of 275.55 Megabits per second across all technologies combined, and the Best 5G Network, with a median download speed of 314.38 Mbps, Ookla reported.

The speeds have important implications for broadcast journalists and news organizations in the field who rely on 5G networks to deliver video feeds and stories to newsrooms.

To earn its top rankings, T-Mobile recorded a Speedtest Connectivity Score of 80.12, and a Speedtest 5G Connectivity Score of 73.52. Speedtest Connectivity Score combines key metrics to evaluate a mobile provider’s overall user experience offer. It includes Speed Score, indicators for web browsing performance and Video Streaming Score, Ookla said.

T-Mobile also offered the best gaming and video streaming experiences in the United States during 1H 2026, across all broadband technologies and 5G, according to Speedtest Intelligence data.

Ookla found that AT&T Fiber offered the Best Internet and was the Fastest Fixed Network in the U.S. during the first half, with a median download speed of 374.75 Mbps and a median upload speed of 320.65 Mbps.

Among the most populous cities in the United States, Lincoln, Neb., recorded the fastest median mobile download speed of 395.83 Mbps, while Durham, N.C., outpaced other cities to record the fastest median fixed download speed at 380.47 Mbps.

Ookla is a research firm best known for Speedtest.net, which tests and tracks global internet and mobile network speeds.

More data and the full report can be found here.

LENEXA, Kan.—The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) has announced a new agreement with Minerva, a provider of cloud-based IPTV and OTT platforms, that will expand the range of technology solutions available to independent operations and to work to improve their video offerings and strategies.

Minerva powers video services for Tier 2 and Tier 3 operators, delivering a comprehensive platform that integrates subscriber management, content aggregation, and user experience into a single, cohesive solution.

The deal will give NCTC members access to a cloud-native platform that serves as the control and experience layer between video infrastructure and end-user devices. It enables operators to deliver a unified, branded viewing experience across live TV, on-demand content, streaming services, and more.

“Our role is to ensure members have access to the right partners and solutions to stay competitive in a rapidly changing video landscape,” said Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC. “Minerva brings a strong track record of supporting broadband operators with modern IPTV and OTT solutions, and this partnership expands the options available to our members as they evolve their video strategies.”

Minerva’s platform is designed to allow operators to maintain ownership of the customer experience, with tools to customize the user interface, integrate multiple content types into a single experience, and deliver consistent viewing across devices— including smart TVs, streaming platforms, mobile, and web. It also includes built-in capabilities such as cloud DVR, catch-up TV, and AI-driven content discovery, designed to increase engagement, improve retention, and unlock new monetization opportunities.

“We are excited to partner with NCTC to support its members as they modernize their video offerings,” said Mauro Bonomi, CEO of Minerva Networks. “Our platform was built to help operators deliver a seamless, high-quality entertainment experience while maintaining full control of their brand and customer relationships. Together with NCTC, we look forward to helping members accelerate their transition to next-generation TV services.”

Minerva and the NCTC said that the partnership will be particularly valuable for operators transitioning from legacy video platforms to IP-based delivery, as well as those looking to launch new OTT offerings like NCTC Broadband TV. Minerva’s cloud-based approach supports faster deployment timelines and reduces operational complexity, while providing a scalable foundation for future growth.

The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) is a Kansas-based, not-for-profit corporation comprised of more than 650 independent broadband and cable operators serving one-third of the connected households in all 50 United States and territories. The NCTC negotiates content, connectivity, and technology solutions for its member companies that create operational efficiencies, new products, and revenue streams for sustainable growth. For more information, visit: nctconline.org.

RICHARDSON, Texas—Aurora Networks has announced that Liberty Puerto Rico has expanded its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network architecture using solutions from Aurora.

More specifically, Liberty has deployed Aurora Networks’ RD2322 operating as Remote MACPHY (RMD) in the NC4000 optical node. The distributed access architecture technology will improve network performance and lower latency while streamlining network operations

For Liberty Puerto Rico’s fixed services subscribers, this network enhancement is designed to improve connectivity experience with an infrastructure built for multi-gigabit speeds and a future-ready path toward 10G services to residential and SOHO consumers.

By bringing key network functions closer to homes and businesses, Liberty delivers lower latency, enhanced gaming performance, seamless high-quality streaming, and greater consistency during peak usage periods.

Aurora also reported that the upgrade enables Liberty Puerto Rico to operate its network more efficiently by minimizing infrastructure footprint and reducing energy consumption across operational sites. These gains support the development of a more sustainable and resilient network, reinforcing Liberty’s commitment to delivering reliable, high-quality broadband services to customers while helping meet the evolving connectivity needs of communities across Puerto Rico.

“This network enhancement underscores our commitment to delivering an enhanced broadband experience for customers across Puerto Rico, supported by capabilities that will enable speeds of up to 10 Gbps,” stated Chuck Page, vice president of technical operations, Liberty Puerto Rico. “By boosting capacity and responsiveness, we are delivering more reliable performance today while paving the way for next-generation, higher-speed services.”

“The deployment of our Remote MACPHY solution, building upon Aurora Networks’ existing technology within Liberty Puerto Rico’s network, exemplifies our commitment to helping service providers drive meaningful value for both operators and their subscribers,” added Guy Sucharczuk, senior vice president and president of Aurora Networks. “We are proud to support Liberty Puerto Rico as it enhances capacity, improves operational efficiency, and strengthens service reliability across its footprint. This expansion reinforces the importance of Remote MACPHY in enabling operators to modernize HFC networks, optimize costs, and deliver high-performance broadband services to meet increasing demand.”

WALTHAM, Mass. and PHILADELPHIA—Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) today announced a strategic new integration to deliver C-band replacement solutions for linear broadcasters and content distributors. The collaboration brings together the end-to-end video management capabilities provided by Comcast Media360 with the Zixi Software Platform to give operators a direct migration path from C-band satellite to IP-based content distribution, they said.

With the C-band satellite transition underway, programmers and distributors are exploring solutions to migrate linear workflows to IP while maintaining the kind of reliability, rights compliance, and affiliate distribution control that C-band has historically provided. At the core of the joint Zixi and CTS solution is a technical integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360, which provides customers with a 24/7 managed service backed by the proven reliability and scale of Comcast Technology Solutions.

“The C-band transition is not a distant deadline for our customers. It is a decision they are making now. Working with Comcast Technology Solutions means that we can offer broadcasters a solution that does not ask them to trade rights compliance and reliability for IP flexibility. The integration between the Zixi Software Platform and Comcast Media360 is the kind of joint engineering that makes a real operational difference," said Marc Aldrich, CEO, Zixi.

"Broadcasters are looking for ways to operate their linear channels more efficiently while continuing to scale distribution as part of their C-band transition efforts,” said Bart Spriester, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Streaming, Broadcast, and Advertising at Comcast Technology Solutions. “Comcast Media360 helps make that possible across broadcast and IP workflows and, together with Zixi, delivers a satellite replacement option that gives programmers and distributors a manageable path to IP and unlocks new monetization opportunities."

Notably, CTS’ linear rights management normalizes rights metadata using the SCTE 224 standard, enabling content providers to manage alternate content delivery, ad insertion windows, and audience-based content restrictions across broadcast and streaming destinations. Zixi ZEN Master orchestrates the live video workflow across cloud or hybrid network environments, with native support for SCTE-35/224 signaling, blackout enforcement, and schedule-driven source switching.

Together, the integrated platforms can provide broadcasters a single, intelligent, rights-aware distribution chain that combines signal orchestration, affiliate distribution, and rights enforcement enabling new monetization and distribution capability, while removing the dependency on satellite infrastructure and maintaining compliance and control.

As C-band satellite capacity is reclaimed and transition deadlines approach, the need for end-to-end IP workflows has become a near-term business imperative for broadcasters, the companies said, adding that the combined Zixi and CTS solution gives broadcasters a migration path that preserves existing investment in rights management infrastructure while moving to the flexibility and cost structure that IP distribution offers and simplifying the path from ingest to monetization.

BOTHELL, Wash.—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), the Video Services Forum (VSF) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have announced the second IPMX Product Testing and Certification Event.

Scheduled for Aug. 24–28 at the EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the week-long gathering is open to AIMS and VSF member companies and will expand the growing IPMX-certified product ecosystem while introducing formal certification of new capabilities developed as part of the IPMX roadmap.

The Geneva certification event follows a "dirty hands" interoperability session scheduled for July 20–24 at the Matrox Video facility in Montreal, Canada. That members-only session will give AIMS participants hands-on testing of new IPMX developments ahead of the formal certification event, continuing the model of pre-certification interoperability work that has proven effective throughout the IPMX program.

The August event will introduce certification for capabilities that have been in active development prior to the launch of the full realized standard in 2026. These include Host Key Exchange Protocol (HKEP) and HDCP handling for protected content, and the Privacy Encryption Protocol (PEP) security layer, which enables interoperable content encryption across multi-vendor deployments. HEVC and AVC compression profiles, which have seen strong industry interest in enabling efficient transport across existing infrastructure, are also progressing toward certification.

“The first certification event in January established that IPMX works across vendors at scale,” said Sam Recine, IPMX Pro AV Working Group Chair at AIMS. “The August event is where we take the next steps, expanding the certified product base and validating the capabilities that integrators and end users have been asking about since certification launched. Each event builds on the last, and the momentum we’re seeing from member companies reflects real confidence in where IPMX is headed.”

IPMX is a set of open standards and specifications designed to bring ST 2110-based media transport and NMOS-based control to a broader range of markets, including Pro AV, live events, corporate media, education, and beyond. Building on the certified product base of 48 products from 11 manufacturers introduced at ISE 2026, the certification program continues to evolve with new capabilities that address the practical requirements of deployed systems.

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

As broadcasters continue transitioning to IP-based workflows, industry leaders are exploring new approaches that could improve interoperability, collaboration and operational flexibility.

At the heart of these discussions is the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and related Media eXchange Layer (MXL), emerging frameworks intended to help broadcasters determine how the next generation of software-defined workflows could work.

The topic was explored during a panel hosted by the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), in conjunction with the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), featuring moderator Steve Reynolds, CEO, Imagine Communications, and guest speakers Naveed Aslam, senior vice president of Production Technology and Engineering, CBS/Paramount; John Mailhot, senior vice president of Product Management, Imagine Communications; Willem Vermost, senior IP media technology architect, EBU; and Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear.

“Much of media processing now runs in software, in a combination of on-premises and in the cloud,” Reynolds said. “And so, if everything is now moving to software, we have to ask the question: are we still designing our facilities in the right way?”

Panelists said DMF was created to address this question, driving the industry forward while solving key business challenges such as how to improve efficiency and allow broadcasters and their partners to share “very expensive resources” amongst more productions.

“I think, from our perspective, SMPTE ST 2110 and IP-based workflows have largely been understood and embraced as being the next industry evolutionary step,” Aslam said. “From our perspective, the DMF initiative is truly the key to start unlocking the practical and technological benefits that we can derive from an IP infrastructure, the opportunities that arise from that, and it just truly starts to give us an opportunity to explore what IP workflows can be.”

The panel explained that neither DMF nor MXL are meant to replace SMPTE ST 2110, the technical standards that gives broadcasters a means to transport broadcast-quality signals over IP networks, enabling them to scale workflows and providing a foundation for interoperability.

Rather, all three are designed to work together: DMF provides a framework for the next generation of more dynamic, software-defined facilities, while MXL provides a specific mode for connecting applications and services, effectively enabling interoperability inside of a computing cluster.

“It’s really the goal of the DMF to organize those upper layers so that you can actually have a dynamic facility,” Mailhot said. “I think that 2110 and MXL will work together to achieve that, but there’s a lot of work to do to fill in all those blanks.”

“If we work in an asynchronous way, suddenly more media functions can be run than ever before. Within the same time frame, of a frame, multiple operations can be run,” Vermost said.

“If you look at it from that point of view, it seems like a revolution. But, if you look at it from your broadcast plant and how you operate it, it’s an evolution. We’ll get there step by step.”

Panel discussion is available on demand on NABA's YouTube channel.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — As media technology workflows become increasingly software-defined, IP-based, and interconnected, organizations need professionals with the skills to implement, manage and support them. To help meet that need, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is expanding access to practical, industry-focused education through open standards, foundational learning, instructor-led education, and hands-on training.

Building on its open-access Standards Library, SMPTE's education offerings help professionals progress from learning the fundamentals to applying them in real-world IP media environments. The journey begins with the free, self-paced ”Essentials of Media over IP (EMIP)” course available on-demand, and continues with the instructor-led “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110” virtual course, beginning July 21.

Developed in collaboration with EVS, the free EMIP course introduces the fundamentals of IP networking for media. Participants can then continue with “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110,” where live instruction, demonstrations, and interactive discussions explore the standards, technologies, and workflows used in professional IP media facilities.

Graduates of Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 are eligible to participate in the SMPTE ST 2110 Practical Lab, an immersive hands-on experience developed in collaboration with Lawo. Understanding SMPTE ST 2110 is a prerequisite for the Practical Lab, where participants configure, synchronize, test, and troubleshoot IP media systems using technologies from leading industry partners including Lawo, Arista Networks, Meinberg, Bridge Technologies, Matrox Video, AJA Video Systems, Macnica, Leader Electronics, NVIDIA, Embrionix, and others.

The course is led by Willem Vermost (EBU), Wim Van Roy (Lawo), Gerard Phillips (Arista Networks), Chris Lapp (Cisco) and Leigh Whitcomb (Meinberg). Guest lecturers include Felix Poulin (Radio-Canada), Andreas Hildebrand (Lawo), Olivier Ettlin (Simplexity), Pedro Ferreira (Bisect), Stefan Ledergerber (Simplexity) and François Legrand (Radio-Canada).

“Making SMPTE standards freely accessible was the first step,” said Maja Davidovic, director of education at SMPTE. “We’re building on that foundation with a connected learning experience that takes professionals from foundational knowledge to practical application, helping them develop the skills needed for today's evolving media technology landscape.”

Beyond its online courses and hands-on training, SMPTE delivers immersive education through the SMPTE Roadshow at NAB Show New York, technical programming at IBC and the annual SMPTE Media Technology Summit, giving media professionals opportunities to continue developing their expertise throughout the year.

Registration is now open for the next session of “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110,” beginning July 21. Learn more and register here.

LONDON—Gravity Media, a global provider of production, content, media services and facilities, is powering an innovative reverse remote production setup for ITV’s FIFA Football World Cup coverage, connecting Gravity Media’s London Production Centre with ITV Sport’s live studio operations in New York through a fully integrated workflow.

In this three-hub production model, match feeds are received via the International Broadcast Center in Dallas and transmitted to Gravity Media’s London Production Centre, where production galleries are operated and enhanced with live editorial and presentation content.

Meanwhile, ITV Sport’s presenting team based in New York delivers the live studio segments, creating a seamless workflow across three international locations rather than a traditional single-site production. The result is a highly resilient, flexible production model that brings together transatlantic collaboration and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

The production also incorporates venue injects, with game-side presentation elements seamlessly integrated into Gravity Media’s London galleries, elevating storytelling and live coverage.

This project highlights Gravity Media’s continued investment in advanced remote production technologies and its ability to deliver complex, multi-location workflows at scale for major international sporting events, according to Kate Rendle, Global Sales Director at Gravity Media.

“This is a perfect example of how Gravity Media is redefining what’s possible in remote production. By integrating our London Production Centre with live presentation in New York, we’re able to deliver a seamless, resilient and highly creative workflow for one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Our investment in infrastructure ensures that we can support our clients with true operational flexibility and continuity, no matter what challenges arise. It’s about delivering innovation and reliability at scale, and we’re proud to be doing that for ITV.”

ITVX says it achieved its strongest monthly performance to date in June, crossing the 400 million monthly streams milestone for the first time in its history.

ITV Sport showed seven out of the top ten biggest matches in the group stages, including England's two winning games, with peak audiences of 16.4 million and 13.8 million respectively, as well as the opening match of the tournament, Mexico vs South Africa, Norway vs France, Netherlands vs Japan, Scotland vs Morocco, and Germany vs Cote D’Ivoire.

JERSEY CITY, N.J.—Fox Television Stations, XR (Extreme Reach) and LTN completed a successful four-week live syndication initiative in May for game show “25 Words or Less LIVE,” using IP-based distribution to deliver the program to stations and let viewers play along.

“Live programming creates unique opportunities for stations to engage viewers in real time,” said Stephen Brown, EVP Programming and Development, Fox Television Stations, Fox First Run. “This initiative demonstrated how innovative distribution strategies can support new programming models while maintaining the reliability broadcasters require.”

Produced for Fox First Run and hosted by Meredith Vieira, “25 Words or Less LIVE” aired weekdays from May 4–28, originating from Parlay Studios in Jersey City, N.J. More than 38 live episodes were delivered twice a day to 18 stations, many of which were Fox-owned-and- operated stations in key U.S. markets.

The workflow was powered by Extreme Reach’s syndication services and LTN’s managed IP video transport network.

The milestone project proved the viability of live syndicated television workflows that let broadcasters create more immediate and interactive viewing experiences, the companies said. Live delivery created new opportunities for stations to engage with viewers through social media, local promotions and real-time audience participation, allowing fans to play along with contestants.

XR and LTN delivered a live syndication workflow that allowed Fox to distribute the programming to participating stations nationwide. XR managed the show’s distribution through its syndication platform, while LTN provided fully managed IP transport and master control services connecting Fox’s production facility to local stations.

Together, the companies leveraged XR’s content-delivery expertise and LTN’s proven broadcast infrastructure to bring the excitement of live television to viewers nationwide, allowing fans to watch, interact and play along with the show as it happened.

“Delivering live syndicated programming requires coordination, precision and dependable technology partners,” Matt Pagen, general manager of XR Media, said. “Together with Fox and LTN, we created a workflow that helps broadcasters and syndicators engage audiences in new ways while maximizing their content investments. This combined offering delivered the performance we needed, while providing a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional satellite distribution.”

The initiative received positive feedback from participating stations. It showed how cloud-based and IP-enabled distribution models can support live television workflows that typically depend on legacy infrastructure. It also highlighted the potential for significant cost savings compared to traditional satellite distribution, without sacrificing the reliability, scale or viewer experience required for live television.

“This project represents the kind of innovation content creators and broadcasters are actively exploring as they modernize their distribution strategies,” LTN Senior Vice President of Global Products Rick Young said. “By combining Extreme Reach’s syndication expertise with LTN’s managed IP network and operational services, we enabled a reliable live television experience to stations across the country.”

More information is available on the XR Extreme Reach and LTN websites.

HACKENSACK, NJ—LAt the 2026 IBC Show, Sept. 11-14, LiveU will showcase what it refers to as its "Q Era," which uses AI-driven connectivity intelligence in a modular, open IP-video EcoSystem to automate live production workflows across news, sports, entertainment and other live events.

Among the highlights at its booth are the LU900Q, LiveU's Intelligent Production Unit, the first unit built natively around LiveU IQ (LIQ). The unit applies AI-driven connectivity intelligence and smart operator selection to optimize performance in real time, helping crews stay reliably connected in challenging conditions, according to the company.

Built for multi-camera workflows, the LU900Q combines native LIQ connectivity, advanced eSIM technology, optimized 5G modems and a MIMO antenna array with support for SDI, HDMI, USB and IP camera input. It delivers HD/4K transmission with 10-bit HDR 4:2:2 encoding, up to 32 audio channels, dual video return, dual intercom with built-in Bluetooth audio and wireless file transfer for faster field-to-production turnaround.

LiveU will also showcase its expanded collaboration with Sony Corporation, first announced at the 2026 NAB Show. On display, and currently available, will be the LiveU TX1—a compact, camera-mounted unit purpose-built for Sony's professional camera range—delivering fast, reliable bonded file transfer directly from the camera. Also demonstrated will be the Sony RXS Connection License, enabling direct file transfer from compatible Sony cameras to the PWA-RXS solution via supported LiveU field units, starting with the compact LU300S.

LiveU has also announced that Cuez has signed up as its latest EcoSystem partner, extending workflow automation into cloud-based newsroom and rundown management.

As a member of the EBU's working group, LiveU is actively involved in advancing the MXL shared-memory architecture – enabling multiple applications to access the same video frame simultaneously, eliminating redundant processing and reducing latency.

Together, these developments reflect the broader LiveU EcoSystem approach, supporting the full arc of live production, across live and file-based workflows.

Also at the LiveU booth is LiveU Nexus, a universal gateway for digital and IP workflows that converts, normalizes, and routes feeds across LRT, SRT, and RTMP, bridging social, online, and remote sources with traditional broadcast operations. As well as offering seamless digital source integration for Zoom, Teams and YouTube, it can be used as a scan converter for any web content, the company said.

LiveU Studio is a cloud-native production service for video switching, audio mixing, graphics, and more. It enables multi-output cloud production, allowing teams to deliver multiple feeds in multiple formats from a single production. Together, Nexus and Studio give newsrooms and digital teams a faster, leaner path from live event to published content—across every platform simultaneously.

Also on tap, LiveU Ingest, which replaces fragmented, manual processes with a single story-centric workflow for live and file based—from planning and scheduling through ingest, and metadata enrichment.

Actus Digital, a LiveU company, will showcase the latest capabilities of Actus X – a modular, browser-based platform that unifies compliance logging, low-latency multiviewing, QA monitoring, clip creation, and AI-powered media intelligence.

LiveU will be in Stand 7.C24 at the RAI Amsterdam.

Editor's note: This article was written prior to the FCC's formal announcement on June 30 of the planned auction of 160 MHz of midband spectrum.

As broadcasters wait for the FCC to release the ground rules for the congressionally mandated upper C-band auction in July 2027, the gap is widening between what their lobbyists and suppliers say will happen if they lose all 180 MHz of the high-value block.

The contrasting perspectives, ranging from near panic to sanguinity that—with enough transition time—broadcasters will be fine—played out in interviews, recent Federal Communications Commission filings and a high-level executive C-band panel at NAB Show. It’s still unclear how much spectrum will end up on the auction block, how long stations will have to make whatever transitions to alternatives are necessary and what they can expect in the way of compensation for the costs.

The View From NAB and NABA
Messaging from the National Association of Broadcasters, the North American Broadcast Association (NABA) and other industry representatives expressed deep concerns on all points, starting with the possibility of losing more than 100 MHz of upper C-band spectrum. After 60% of the overall C-band total vanished in the 2021 lower C-band auction, losing all 180 MHz in the upper band could cause irreparable harm, NABA Director-General Rebecca Hanson said.

“We have members already suffering after the first auction,” Hanson said, citing evidence submitted in an FCC filing by the North American Spectrum Alliance, an independent project launched last year under NABA management. “I hesitate to say broadcasters will be just fine if we can keep 80 GHz. Current constraints are already having an impact.

“There are no viable alternatives that match what C-band delivers,” she said. “Ku-band has rain-fade problems; fiber has penetration problems; there can be multiday outages on internet connections. In research you find claims to the contrary, but what’s in the NAB filings challenges those claims.”

Indeed, earlier this year NAB advised the commission, “The record consistently demonstrates that claims of ‘viable alternatives’ are overstated, unsupported, and incomplete.” It went so far as to cite discussions with broadcasters that showed one vendor’s claims of offering a terrestrial alternative to C-band with “zero downtime” over several years “to be false, or at least misleading.

“Terrestrial circuits are vulnerable to physical cuts, congestion, vendor outages and first-mile failures, with restoration times measured in hours or days—conditions completely incompatible with broadcast operations,” NAB said. “No one offers a universal, one-for-one [C-band] replacement capable of delivering the same reliability, coverage, scalability and resilience nationwide.”

‘So Many Options’
But the no “one-for-one replacement” caveat is beside the point for many broadcasters hoping to orchestrate various combinations of these transport solutions to meet NAB’s requirements. Even if the whole C-band sky falls, they said there’s reason to believe technology will open ways forward that could even work to their advantage.

“If we lose all or substantially all of the spectrum, which I think we probably will, our plan will be to forklift the traffic to Ku-band and then supplement that with some number of terrestrial paths,” said Alastair Hamilton, senior vice president of distribution engineering and architecture at Fox, who spoke on the NAB Show C-band panel. “I’m glad we have so many options.”

On the satellite front, along with the Ku-band option, broadcasters could also use low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite capacity, Hamilton noted. Deepak Mathur, president of media at SES, said the satellite operator is aggressively working with suppliers to design and build a new set of Ku-band satellites enabling higher power outputs in heavy rain zones and “cross-strapping” tie-ins to uplinks that work in the C-band.

“We believe that we can come very close, not exactly all the way there, but very, very close to the network reliability that you’ve enjoyed with C-band,” Mathur told the NAB Show panel audience. Setting 2030 as the target date when broadcasters would be able to deploy retrofitted Ku-band antennas for the uplink strategy, he added, “We’re on a good track to get there.”

The ‘Last-Mile’ Challenge
For many broadcasters, a comprehensive C-band replacement solution will have to include support for off-shore connectivity, which in CBS’s case includes service in the Caribbean, parts of Latin America and Canada. Whatever the hybrid replacement solution turns out to be, “it’s going to put more onus on us to make sure the carriers and the service providers are indeed routing the paths and have the proper resiliency within their networks,” Fuller said, noting that the last-mile transition is the “hard part.”

Hamilton agreed. “That’s the bit that worries us the most,” he said. “Our broadcast markets for the most part have some reasonable connectivity, and we can go to the top five or six MVPDs on the cable side with fiber, internet, satellite. We’ve got whatever the number is, 90%, but it’s that extra 10% that’s going to be the real challenge. I think we’re going to have to get creative.”

Just how hard that will be remains to be seen.

There’s a well-proven solution readily at hand, said Rich Young, head of global products at LTN, who appeared on a second vendor panel at the NAB Show C-band session. Station groups and multichannel operators can “bring one feed in” on the IP network and “deliver it with synchronized latency to every location,” he said, noting the LTN Network coverage was on course to connect customers accounting for an aggregate 1,700-plus broadcast station affiliates plus multichannel video programming distributors reaching 98% of “the MVPD eyeballs.”

The range of possibilities was well illustrated by last month’s announcement that 330 PBS member stations are adopting LTN’s IP platform. Without mentioning the upper C-band issue, PBS said the move was aimed at “modernizing and future proofing” the PBS Interconnection system. The LTN Network will deliver up to nine linear broadcast feeds from PBS and affiliated networks to member stations while enabling always-on support for inter-station content sharing and contributions of locally produced content to regional and national broadcasts.

LTN is tackling the C-band replacement issue with multivendor integrations and network enhancements aimed at improving reliability, scalability and operational visibility. For example, a collaboration with Appear integrates that firm’s high-density X Platform to support encoding and decoding IP-native live video contribution and distribution payloads on the LTN network.

Harmonic is another supplier partnering with LTN, in this case through a tie-in with Harmonic’s XOS Advanced Media Processor software appliance used in MVPD headends to unify encoding, playout and delivery. As Andrew Hildenbrandt, Harmonic’s solutions director for broadcast and primary distribution solutions, makes clear, LTN is just one of the paths XOS customers can take in their adjustments to C-band replacement.

“At the affiliate edge, XOS acts as a ‘headend-in-a-box,’ offering a flexible and
future-proof solution for distribution via Ku-band satellite, managed IP through partners like LTN or Zixi, CDN or hybrid workflows,” Hildenbrandt told TV Tech. “With XOS media processor, we are embracing a very straightforward but powerful idea: broadcasters and programmers can deliver any content, over any platform, to any affiliate.”

Multiplatform Approach
Other suppliers said it’s possible to fashion a seamless flow of live-event feeds into production and out to affiliates without relying on C-band, but doing so requires a means of orchestrating support from more than one platform.

Synamedia, for example, has long enabled use of its workflows in multiple transport environments, including “delivering content over satellite securely for over 30 years,” noted Synamedia Director of Distribution Kenelm Deen, another NAB Show C-band session speaker.

“There’s no one technology that will solve this,” Deen said. “There will be multiple technologies for different use-case applications.” He said Synamedia, with an edge platform “that can receive across any network technology, be it Ku with BSF [bandstop filters], IP, Zixi, SRT—any protocol,” is working with broadcasters to shape post-C-band paths precisely to their needs.

Zixi is also working with broadcasters making the transition from C-band on the assumption that “there’s no one technology that can replace it,” as Alan Young, vice president of strategic business development, put it during the NAB Show session. “We act as a trust boundary for a lot of traffic as it passes through the workflow,” he said.

Zixi’s Zen Master manages all the complexity of orchestrating hitless switching across multiuse IP networks so latency is deterministically fixed “everywhere at every receive site” with transmissions in and out of multiple vendor workflows, Young said. “Doing that, you can create five 9s or maybe even better if you add more paths,” he added, noting that Zixi “is working with pretty much everyone on this panel and many others.”

Blended Connectivity
Coming from a different perspective on support for C-band replacement through hybrid transmission solutions, Dejero has been showing broadcasters how its TITAN Command platform can be used to orchestrate video flows at high performance across 5G and LEO networks utilizing the blended connectivity enabled by its field-based EnGo 3 transmitter.

At the NAB Show, Dejero teamed with other suppliers, including Clear-Com, GlobalM, Matrox Video and Ross Video, in a live “field-to-air” demo that leveraged use of the TITAN Command orchestration platform to combine cellular and Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO constellation into a resilient alternative to C-band in a multivendor environment.

“We have the right technology and are in the middle of trying to understand what the business model looks like and what the next steps should be,” said Kevin Fernandes, Dejero’s chief revenue officer, adding that working out the business model includes figuring out a way that LEO network capacity can be monetized for as-needed broadcast industry use.

“These discussions don’t happen overnight,” he added. “Right now, we’re putting TITAN out there and showing it works.”

Other suppliers are bucking the perception that C-band replacement requires hybrid multiplatform approaches by offering single-platform solutions they say can do the job with C-band-caliber performance on the internet. One such advocate is BCNEXXT. In an interview, Graham Sharp, its sales and marketing vice president, noted successes in the playout arena, including providing Sky Europe with cloud-based playout support on 220 channels, as a foundation to providing a C-band alternative.

“Our whole system is developed around reducing CPU power and distribution costs,” Sharp said, noting BCNEXXT is hoping to close on its first large U.S. station group deal by year’s end. “That’s why we think it’s a good alternative to satellite distribution.”

Another executive expressing confidence in a single IP-based platform solution to the C-band replacement issue is Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of Eluvio. At the NAB Show event, Munson said Eluvio’s global broadcast fabric supports any-to-any networks at global scales “built on top of TCP/IP with a novel decentralized content routing protocol that allows distribution meeting latency targets…with deterministic global switching” and “multipath SMPTE 2022-7 routing throughout.”

“One distribution serves all receivers, and along with that, each receiver is dynamically able to become a new output,” she added. “We have the flexibility, I think, this is really about. It’s not just about replacing satellite. It’s the transformation of the industry into what could be a truly over-the-top, flexible, simple, data-driven kind of workflow that we’ve really not been able to take advantage of before.”

Learn more about the challenges facing C-band users in the TV Tech Talk, “C-Band Spectrum Changes: The Next Infrastructure Shift for Broadcasters,” July 29 at 2 p.m. ET. To register, click here.

The technology toolkit available to broadcasters has evolved dramatically over the past quarter-century.

During television’s digital and HD transition era, “future-proofing” became a favorite phrase among systems integrators designing 3G-SDI facilities. Yet television has never actually exceeded 1080i/720p over ATSC 1.0, which is effectively half-bandwidth HD, or 1.5G.

So why did Arizona Public Media (AZPM) choose to build a 4K facility, deploy virtual production capabilities and install 4K cameras in radio studios? The answer lies in understanding where content creation and distribution is headed.

Analyzing the Need
Recent industry research shows audiences are consuming streaming media at a greater rate than traditional broadcast-delivered content. Our own metrics at AZPM reflect the same trend. OTT consumption continues to grow while over-the-air viewership remains relatively flat.

As AZPM began planning the $65 million Paul and Alice Baker Center for Public Media (with a tech budget of about $10 million), we examined our current and future needs across TV, radio, streaming and digital media production. Our goal was to eliminate traditional silos and create technology-agnostic production spaces that support current workflows and can adapt to future requirements.

Quality was also a major consideration. AZPM already captures field content in 4K HDR using Sony FX6 and FX9 cameras and edits in DaVinci Resolve to leverage its advanced color-grading capabilities. Historically, however, field-acquired footage never fully matched in-house studio productions due to limitations in our 1080i SDR infrastructure.

While a migration to 3G HDR would have been the simpler path and would have produced solid results, we chose to push further by designing our internal production environment around 4K HDR. That decision naturally led to discussions about adding a dedicated color-correction suite and a Dolby Atmos mixing room.

We wanted to eliminate the traditional silos that often separate TV, radio, cable television and conference-room AV systems. Too often, these systems coexist without integrating effectively. We believed there had to be a better way.

Searching for the Answer
Because the AZPM facility was funded entirely through donor and member support, one of our earliest goals was to create a facility that donors would be proud to invest in while supporting our long-term mission.

Research became a critical part—the AZPM team visited numerous recently completed media facilities, observing operations and asking candid questions about what had worked well and what they would do differently.

Some organizations had committed to HD and 3G-SDI as their long-term strategy. Others aspired to deploy 12G infrastructures but were constrained by budget realities.

My vision for broadcasting’s future has always included both over-the-air and streaming delivery. Each platform offers distinct advantages. With ATSC 3.0 now approaching a decade of deployment, I remain hopeful that NextGen TV, coupled with integrated streaming experiences, can elevate OTA broadcasting by bringing content quality and user experiences closer to what audiences expect from streaming services.

AZPM currently broadcasts in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 and chose to deploy a 1080p HDR NextGen TV signal. In doing so, we planted our flag firmly where we believe the industry must go to remain competitive and relevant.

Building the Team and the Plan
At AZPM, the transition began well before the move into the new facility. We migrated field-production equipment and editing systems to 4K HDR workflows while still operating from our existing location. Giving teams time to become comfortable with new tools and processes before introducing a completely new facility significantly reduced organizational friction.

My internal design team included leaders from engineering, information technology and production. Together, they transitioned to 4K acquisition, DaVinci Resolve workflows, LUT-based color management and enhanced audio production techniques.

The results were evident. This year, AZPM received eight regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in journalism. While great storytelling remains the most important factor, there is little doubt that improved production quality helped strengthen audience engagement and presentation.

As a result, when our production teams moved into the new facility, they encountered familiar workflows enhanced by better spaces, newer tools and expanded capabilities. The transition proved remarkably smooth.

Of course, adopting new technologies also introduces new support challenges. High-bandwidth IP-based production environments require expertise in software, networking, cybersecurity and systems integration that extends well beyond traditional broadcast engineering disciplines.

AZPM invested heavily in staff development while simultaneously upgrading portions of our existing facility to serve as a testing environment. Moving from HD to 4K requires more powerful editing systems, increased network capacity, improved monitoring and measurement tools, and significantly more storage.

Concept testing also played an important role in validating new operational models. One example was transforming a radio program into content that could simultaneously serve radio broadcast, podcast, vodcast, streaming and traditional television audiences.

To test the concept, we equipped an old radio studio with PTZ cameras, upgraded lighting and branded visual elements. A small flypack in an adjacent control room enabled student operators to produce the program efficiently with a much lighter operational footprint.

The experiment proved successful. Today, our new Press Room studio provides expanded space, dedicated cameras, planned lighting and digital signage capable of supporting a wide range of productions while maintaining operational efficiency.

Finding Partners
Successfully delivering a project of this scale while maintaining normal operations is an enormous challenge. Choosing the right partners was therefore one of the most important decisions we made.

We issued an RFP seeking a fully integrated design-build team capable of addressing construction, power, HVAC, acoustics and media facility requirements as a unified effort.

After selecting our construction partner, we completed a Phase 0 broadcast design study. I cannot overstate the importance of providing architects and builders with detailed requirements regarding space allocation, cable pathways, cooling capacity, power distribution and equipment density.

Our builder had recently completed a Meta data center and a film school production facility. Even so, assumptions can be dangerous.

For example, their initial studio-floor specification mirrored what had been used in film production environments. Television production places very different demands on floor surfaces. Pedestal-mounted cameras require strict flatness and levelness tolerances as defined by ASTM E1155-20. Without those standards, camera movements can become unstable and unlocked cameras can literally roll across the studio floor.

Perhaps the most important long-term partner in any facility project is the systems integrator. During installation, we routinely had 10 systems integration specialists on-site for six months to complete cabling, infrastructure deployment and equipment commissioning.

We ultimately selected a midsized systems integrator that demonstrated a willingness to innovate, collaborate and help us achieve our goals.

Building one of the region’s first fully IP-based media facilities—from VITEC-powered cable and digital signage systems to TAG multiviewers and an EVS-managed SMPTE ST 2110 infrastructure—is no small undertaking.

I must commend KCM (Key Code Media) for their collaborative approach and commitment to project success. On multiple occasions, we activated studio resources for live productions before formal project acceptance. KCM staff worked alongside our teams to ensure everything operated successfully, including complex 11-camera productions that occurred before final commissioning was complete.

From Skepticism to Enthusiasm
Few organizations are fortunate enough to build a greenfield media facility of this scale.

No project of this magnitude proceeds without challenges, compromises and occasional disappointments. Throughout the process, my goals remained straightforward: keep the team engaged, provide clear direction to our partners, maintain rigorous oversight and ensure that our staff remained healthy and focused.

One of the more amusing aspects of the transition was watching some of the strongest skeptics become enthusiastic advocates. Several longtime employees initially doubted that the new facility would improve their work, enhance quality or make their jobs more enjoyable.

Today, many of those same individuals enthusiastically explain to colleagues how they use the new tools, appreciate the new spaces and cannot imagine returning to the workflows of our previous facility.

In the end, most obstacles proved manageable and ultimately minor in the context of the overall project.

What I will carry forward from this experience is not only the accomplishment itself, but also the belief that the investment made by our donors, members, staff and partners has provided AZPM with a platform for innovation that will serve the organization for decades to come.

If we have done our jobs well, this facility will enable Arizona Public Media to create, innovate, educate and thrive for the next 75 years.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic—CS live is a Czech Republic–based outside broadcast company that covers domestic soccer and ice hockey leagues, international UEFA competitions and large-scale mixed martial arts events. As our production work has grown in scale and complexity, we reached a point where our existing setup no longer matched how we needed to operate day to day.

When we started planning our newest OB van, the real question wasn’t just what equipment to use but how it would all work together once it was in the truck.

OB trucks have always pulled from multiple vendors—audio consoles, switchers, replay, monitoring—and each comes with its own way of working.

In practice, that often means juggling several control systems simultaneously. Operators learn each one separately, and even small changes, such as swapping out a device or reworking a setup between shows, can take more effort than necessary.

Streamlined Control
That complexity was becoming harder to manage across productions, so we set out to simplify it.

After thorough planning with Czech integrator Smart Informatics, we went for a Riedel solution. including the company’s “hi human interface” control system, a browser-based, platform-independent control layer that enables operators to manage a wide range of devices. Part of that decision came from prior experience with Riedel technology, but just as important was their approach to tying systems together rather than treating them as isolated components.

At the core of the truck is a MediorNet-distributed network built on 12 MicroN UHD nodes. Seven nodes handle signal routing, while five are configured as multiviewers. Two additional MicroN Standard nodes act as stageboxes, linking the truck to stadiums and other sources over a single fiber connection. SDI, MADI and Ethernet all run together, which helps keep the physical side of the build manageable.

For us, another advantage is flexibility going forward. We’re still working in baseband today, but the system gives us a way to move toward IP at our own pace without having to rethink the entire build.

On top of that sits hi, Riedel’s control system, which we use as a single layer across the truck. It brings control of audio, switching, replay, monitoring, GPI triggers and signaling together into one interface. Instead of moving between systems, operators stay in the same environment.

The setup includes five hiPush18 panels, a hiPush32 Shading panel, a hiPush36 panel and three hiContact panels, along with tablet control where it makes sense. We also use Riedel 1200 Series panels, where the intercom can sit on one layer and routing or device control on another—a practical option when space is tight.

From Days to Just Hours
The biggest operational change for us has been how hi separates the operator experience from the underlying hardware. The interface behaves the same way regardless of what’s behind it. In most cases, when a device changes or is reassigned, that update carries through automatically across the system.

What used to take days to reconfigure can now usually be handled in hours. That shows up most clearly in how we manage tight production schedules. Moving between venues or back-to-back events often means adjusting sources or workflows quickly. With a unified control layer, those changes are easier to implement without forcing operators to adapt at the same time.

There’s also a practical benefit in staffing. Because the interface stays consistent, operators don’t need deep familiarity with each system in the truck. That gives us more flexibility in how we crew productions.

This is the first deployment of hi in the Czech Republic, and it’s already shaped how we think about future builds. Moving to a distributed signal backbone combined with a single control layer changes the day-to-day experience of working in the truck in a meaningful way.

The system we’ve put together—MediorNet, hi, Artist intercom and Bolero wireless—isn’t tied to a fixed way of working. Instead of locking ourselves into one approach, we’ve built something we can adjust over time as our needs evolve.

More information is available on Riedel’s website.

To improve efficiency, reduce travel and make better use of specialized staff, TV broadcasters are moving away from traditional facility-bound control rooms toward remote, distributed and hybrid production models.

“Broadcasters are rethinking the traditional control room,” said Costa Kokorogiannis, product manager at Matrox Video, a global provider of AV-over-IP solutions for live, remote and distributed broadcast workflows. “Instead of tying operators to dedicated hardware in a single facility, they want IP-based KVM and control systems that allow teams to access production resources from anywhere without sacrificing responsiveness.”

“Broadcasters are looking for flexible environments,” added Greg Lenczycki, chief operating officer of IHSE USA, which offers secure, zero-latency KVM and matrix switching solutions for 24/7 mission-critical environments. “The future of the industry is relying heavily on hybrid workflows—keeping latency-sensitive or high-resolution processes on-premises while leveraging IP for scalability and remote access.”

Layered Systems and Distributed Workflows
Today’s remote production architectures involve multiple layers of technology, combining on-premises equipment, transmission infrastructure and localized monitoring with virtualized or cloud processing utilities.

“It’s now common for production teams to work across multiple studios, broadcast centers or remote venues, requiring secure, low-latency access to equipment and resources regardless of location,” said John Halksworth, senior product manager at Adder Technology, which develops high-performance IP KVM (keyboard, video and mouse) solutions for the secure control of local and remote live production systems. “As a result, they’re looking for technologies that not only provide reliable remote access, but also integrate seamlessly into the wider broadcast ecosystem.”

Given this new operational reality, “broadcasters are no longer looking for one single ‘remote production product,’” said Matt Keske, director of business development, North America, at G&D and VuWall, which provides integrated KVM hardware and video wall management software for secure control rooms. Instead, “they are building layered hybrid infrastructures that combine on-site systems, IP-based transport, centralized control, monitoring, and cloud or virtualized services.”

Why Low Latency Matters
In this remotely connected world, fast data speeds are essential. This is why, “as broadcasters continue to adopt hybrid workflows and remote operations, they are increasingly seeking equipment that enables secure, low-latency access to systems and resources regardless of location,” said Thomas Tang, founder and president of Apantac, which offers multiviewers, KVM-over-IP and video processing solutions for the broadcast and pro AV industries.

“KVM-over-IP solutions have become a critical component of this transition, allowing operators, engineers, and production staff to remotely access and control servers, workstations, replay systems, graphics engines, and other mission-critical equipment as if they were sitting directly in front of them,” Tang said.

Connecting these low-latency solutions over standard IP networks lets remote operators feel as if they are sitting right next to the machines even when they are hundreds of miles away. In some KVM-over-IP deployments, standard 1 Gigabit Ethernet networks with transparent USB support can deliver responsive control with little or no perceptible delay, provided the network is properly designed for the workflow.

“Remote production really only works if operators can forget that they’re remote,” Kokorogiannis said. “In live environments, there’s no tolerance for sluggish keyboard response, delayed video or inconsistent switching between systems.”

The Challenges of REMI
In an idealized remote operational environment, the transition from a localized setup to a Remote Integration Model (REMI) workflow goes without a hitch. In the real world, there can be issues.

A case in point: “One of the biggest challenges in REMI workflows is maintaining visibility and control as operators, systems, and signals become distributed across multiple locations,” Kokorogiannis said. “In a traditional control room, everything is physically nearby. In a remote production model, broadcasters need to manage routing, monitoring and operator access across facilities without introducing latency or operational complexity.”

This is where IP KVM technology plays an important role. “By providing secure, low-latency access to systems regardless of location, operators can interact with remote resources as if they were local,” Halksworth said. “Combined with centralized management and monitoring platforms, engineering teams gain a single view of users, devices and system status across the entire environment, helping them identify issues more quickly and manage operations more efficiently.”

Ultimately, successful REMI deployments depend on more than moving signals between sites. “They require a consistent operational layer that allows people to monitor, access and control distributed resources with the same confidence and simplicity they would expect in a traditional facility,” Halksworth said.

Mixing Old and New
The move to remote workflows comes as money is tight in the TV industry. “Most broadcasters can’t afford to rebuild their entire infrastructure overnight, nor do they really want to,” Kokorogiannis said. “The reality for many facilities is that SDI, IP, and cloud-based workflows will coexist for years.

“That’s why flexibility and interoperability are so important,” he added. “Matrox Avio 2 is designed to integrate into existing environments using standard IP networks, allowing broadcasters to centralize and extend systems gradually rather than forcing a complete operational overhaul. Support for ST 2110 and NMOS also helps broadcasters align KVM workflows with the broader evolution of their IP infrastructure.”

Other companies interviewed for this article cited similar product flexibility. “Broadcasters can easily turn their existing Draco control infrastructure into a hybrid or fully remote platform by simply adding a tera IP gateway,” Lenczycki told TV Tech. “This addition to current systems allows users to effortlessly gain remote access to their matrix without a total replacement of their system.”

Added Keske: “G&D systems can be introduced step by step because they sit at the access and control layer, not as a replacement for the entire broadcast infrastructure. A broadcaster can start by centralizing existing computers in a technical room and connecting current operator positions via KVM. Later, additional workstations, systems, or KVM-over-IP components can be added as the facility grows.”

For most broadcasters, modernization isn’t a single project, but an ongoing process—including the transition from localized production to full REMI.

One of the key requirements is ensuring that operators can continue to work efficiently throughout this transition. “Broadcasters can’t afford to disrupt production workflows every time new technology is introduced, particularly in live environments where reliability is paramount,” Halksworth said. “This is where IP KVM can provide significant value.

“Because it sits at the user access layer, it allows broadcasters to connect operators to a wide range of systems regardless of whether those resources are based on legacy infrastructure, modern IP networks or cloud-hosted platforms,” Halksworth continued. “From the operator’s perspective, the workflow remains familiar even as the underlying infrastructure evolves.”

As for the future? Improvements in automation, artificial intelligence, network speeds and transport latency levels are all going to make REMI faster and more invisible than ever. In fact, the day may come when there is no perceptible difference between local and remote production for operators or viewers.

“Broadcasters are already demonstrating that talent, systems and resources can be distributed across multiple sites while operating as a single production environment,” Halksworth said. “Perhaps the most significant long-term trend is that physical location will continue to become less relevant.”

WUPPERTAL, Germany—Riedel Communications says it's expanding its partnership with SKAARHOJ, a Danish provider of tactile controllers for media production, bringing official SKAARHOJ panel support to SimplyLive production workflows. Enabled through the latest SimplyLive 2.1 release, the integration expands SimplyLive’s control options with a tactile switcher panel experience, complementing both its touchscreen interface and existing RCU-based workflows.

The integration addresses customer demand for dedicated hardware control in live production environments where operators want the speed, confidence, and familiarity of a classic switcher panel, Riedel said. With SKAARHOJ panels, SimplyLive users can control key live production functions such as source switching, program output switching, transitions, auxiliary output control, keying, graphics, and macros.

“SKAARHOJ was the obvious partner for this integration because of their strong reputation for high-quality products designed with the user in mind,” said Paul Macklin, Senior Product Manager, SimplyLive at Riedel Communications. “Their collaborative approach allowed us to tailor the solution around the specific needs of SimplyLive operators, especially in single-operator environments where speed, confidence, and ergonomics are essential.”

This operator-focused approach extends beyond the panel integration itself. To support fast deployment, Riedel and SKAARHOJ said they provide a curated starting configuration that helps customers get up and running quickly while preserving the flexibility to adapt the setup to their preferred production workflows.

“We're excited to expand our collaboration with Riedel through the SimplyLive integration,” said Kasper Skårhøj, CEO, SKAARHOJ. “Having previously integrated with Riedel SmartPanels and MediorNet, this is another great example of how our technologies can come together to create new and flexible workflows. While the solution is tailored for the Master Key 48, users can choose any SKAARHOJ panel that best fits their production needs.”

SimplyLive 2.1 introduces official support for SKAARHOJ panels through a gRPC API, enabling responsive communication between the panel and the SimplyLive ViBox application. Alongside a range of other enhancements and new features, the release also adds a new Venue Gateway license for SimplyLive Production Suite Flex customers, allowing the same server hardware to support Venue Gateway applications in addition to All-in-One, Replay, Ingest, and Review workflows.

Additional SimplyLive resources, including the curated starting configuration, are available via the MyRiedel portal. Further guidance on SimplyLive 2.1 workflows, including instructions for implementing the SKAARHOJ configuration, is available in the SimplyLive 2.1 user guide.

CAMBRIDGE, England—Adder Technology, an IP, KVM and connectivity solutions provider, has tapped Neil Hillier as CEO, effective July 1.

Hillier’s appointment to succeed Adrian Dickens atop the company is part of a planned leadership transition that also includes changes to Adder’s executive structure intended to support its continued growth, innovation and global expansion, the company said.

Dickens steps down as CEO after 42 years leading the business and will transition to founder and executive chair. Chief technology officer Nigel Dickens will also shift to emeritus CTO. Adder said the appointments align with the long-term stewardship principles established through its recently announced Employee Ownership Trust.

“I am honored to take on the role of CEO, and I recognize my responsibility is to build on the foundations established by Adrian and Nigel,” Hillier said. “Adder’s commitment to being at the forefront of technology innovation remains unchanged, with continued investment in engineering excellence and product development central to the company’s long-term strategy. We have a relentless focus on customer success and remain the trusted technology partner our customers rely on around the world.”

Hillier joined Adder in 2016 and has played a key role in driving more than 70% revenue growth, building on its global market position and shaping its long-term strategy, the company said. His two decades of experience in the KVM industry span engineering, technology, operations and commercial management, Adder said.

“Neil has played a significant role in Adder’s growth and success, and I have complete confidence in his ability to lead the business into its next chapter,” Adrian Dickens said. “Adder enters this transition from a position of strength, supported by exceptional people, loyal customers and a culture of innovation developed over more than four decades. The future is bright, and I look forward to watching the company thrive with the next generation of leadership.”

Supporting Hillier is a revamped leadership team, including:

• Paul Allen as chief financial officer, who will take on a broader financial remit across the Adder group and support continued investment in operational and sustainable long-term growth.
• Jamie Adkin, an 18-year Adder veteran, as the newly promoted vice president of global sales.
• Duncan Miller as the newly promoted vice president, global marketing and customer experience, whose expanded responsibilities bring together marketing, customer experience and professional services and support.

“As we look ahead, our focus remains on helping customers operate more effectively in some of the world’s most demanding environments,” Hillier added. “We have an outstanding team, a strong culture and significant opportunities ahead. I believe the best chapters of Adder’s story are still to come.”

TVTech and its sister brand TVBEurope and Caretta Research have joined forces to launch an industry-wide survey looking at where the broadcast industry is on the road to IP.

The survey aims to discover how broadcasters and vendors are transitioning to real-world deployments, and understand more about the extent to which operations are transitioning towards IP-based and software-defined infrastructure and live production.

It is open to vendors and broadcasters, with the results due to be published in the run-up to IBC.

“After a long period where the industry’s primary focus was investing in streaming, our market data clearly shows that broadcasters are now doubling down on live production. We are seeing a significant wave of investment in live infrastructure, particularly in IP and software-defined solutions,” said Caretta Research CEO Robert Ambrose.

“As IP technologies like ST-2110 firmly enter the mainstream, we’ve partnered with TVBEurope and TV Tech on this survey to reveal exactly how this shift is translating into real-world deployments across broadcast, production and service companies of all shapes and sizes.”

You can take part in the survey here.

FOUNTAIN INN, S.C.—Kyocera AVX has released a new web-based RF engineering tool, the Antenna Integrator Studio. It is designed to streamline, accelerate, and optimize the antenna selection and placement processes for RF engineers and, in turn, improve product quality, performance, and go-to-market timelines for manufacturers.

“Our new Antenna Integrator Studio is a powerful online tool designed to help RF engineers make smarter, faster, data-driven decisions during the antenna selection and layout process and deliver higher-quality, higher-performance wireless products,” said Carmen Redondo, director of global marketing for Antennas at Kyocera AVX. “Competing solutions often require engineers to manually select and place antennas on their digital board layout to evaluate results. The Antenna Integrator Studio eliminates that guesswork — saving valuable time — and makes it quick and easy for engineers to optimize their designs for performance or cost effectiveness and evaluate simulated performance, which helps accelerate go-to-market timelines.”

In addition to simplifying the processes, the new Kyocera AVX Antenna Integrator Studio, is also designed for easy, intuitive use. Users simply enter the PCB size and the number of antennas needed, select target frequency bands, choose your optimization priority and click “Analyze” to instantly reveal the most suitable antennas in the most optimal positions for the PCB layout, along with interactive performance charts.

Users can then analyze the results in detail — evaluating efficiency, return loss, peak gain, and radiation patterns across frequency bands — and download DXF and 3D files for seamless integration into your PCB design.

The Antenna Integrator Studio also makes it easy to order samples and begin prototyping and includes a roughly four-minute video tutorial that walks users through a workflow to further enhance ease of use.

This first version of the new Kyocera AVX Antenna Integrator Studio includes thousands of simulations of board-mounted embedded antennas. Future versions will include additional features and antenna technologies.

For more information about Kyocera AVX’s intuitive new web-based RF engineering tool, the Antenna Integrator Studio, and its extensive selection of tested, proven, and globally trusted antenna products and services, please visit https://ais.kyocera-avx.com/.

TitanTV, Inc. has announced that Mark Hadley has joined the company as a Technology Specialist.

In his new role, Hadley will support TitanTV’s technology infrastructure and help ensure the company’s systems, tools, and services continue to meet the needs of broadcasters, partners, and customers across the country.

Hadley brings a strong foundation in network and systems administration, server infrastructure, virtualization, technical support, enterprise networking, routing, and security to the new post.

He is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and CompTIA Security+ certified professional. He also completed the full Cisco Networking Academy CCNA coursework, further strengthening his hands-on knowledge of networking and security.

In addition to his technical background, Hadley has served as president of a college Cyber Defense Club and is an Apple Certified Technician. His professional experience in finance adds analytical problem-solving and customer service skills to his technology expertise.

"Mark joined us as a promising new graduate and has already become an integral member of the TitanTV team,” said Michael Brown, IT director at TitanTV. "His enthusiasm for effective cybersecurity practices will help strengthen our ongoing commitment to providing safe and secure services for all of our clients."

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.”