Major station groups are already far along in the transition to IP and are increasingly looking to the cloud for future investment, according to top technology executives speaking at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025 conference last week. They are also working closely with traditional broadcast vendors to guide their product roadmaps as big players from the IT and digital markets eye their turf.
Executives from Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tegna, Hearst Television and Fox Corp. said their stations have already virtualized many functions by moving them from dedicated systems to common off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, and some are starting to replace aging HD-SDI infrastructures with IP routing. They already use the cloud for key applications, including distribution of OTT and diginet programming, and now plan to broaden their use of the cloud to support their main linear programming through a mix of public and private platforms.
Tegna moved back-office functions like payroll to the cloud years ago and launched its OTT programming services on the public cloud using Amazon Web Services (AWS) under the control of Amagi software. The company is now building a private cloud hub in Charlotte, N.C. to handle master-control functions, including content ingest and playout, for all of its stations.
Read more at TV News Check.
