TVB Europe UK 0115 - DIGITAL JULY AUG

JULY/AUGUST 2025

BRINGING DYNAMISM TO THE MEDIA FACILITY

DARTH FADER

Capturing the sound of Andor

EXCESS ALL AREAS

Behind the scenes at Eurovision 2025

D

A year of anniversaries

id you know that 2025 is a year of major milestones for the TV industry?

I’ll be honest, until I started researching it, I didn’t either. But actually, there’s a remarkable number!

The very first successful transmission of a moving, tonal-range television image was achieved by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird on 2nd October 1925. The following year, he demonstrated his invention in public for the first time. Just over a decade later, the BBC launched the world’s first regular television service from Alexandra Palace in London in November 1936.

Fast forward to 1950, and public service media companies across Europe come together to launch the European Broadcasting Union, the successor to the International Broadcasting Union, which itself celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025. Also in 1950, the BBC broadcast Andy Pandy for the very first time, marking the start of decades of children’s programming (more on that shortly).

Plus, in 2025 we also celebrate 70 years of Independent Television in the UK, 65 years of Coronation Street, EastEnders’ 40th anniversary, and 30 years of Hollyoaks.

Plus, CBBC turns 40, and it’s four decades since Live Aid (still an incredible feat when you think about the technology available back in the mid-80s).

All of this just goes to show the rich heritage of the industry that we are all incredibly lucky to be a part of. It also proves the durability of this industry, how it is able to adapt and adopt new ideas, because it wouldn’t have lasted 100 years without being able to do that.

Nowadays, ‘television’ incorporates both traditional broadcasters with modern streaming services, and as we go further into TV’s second 100 years, I wonder how the balance will shift towards streaming (probably quite a lot), But fundamentally, the ‘box in the corner’ is still a huge part of all of our lives. And long may it continue!

JENNY PRIESTLEY, CONTENT DIRECTOR jenny.priestley@futurenet.com

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JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 03

In this issue JULY/AUGUST 2025

Photo: Created by EBU using AI

08 A smarter approach to cloud adoption

By Simon Clarke, chief technology officer at Telestream

11 A dynamic image of broadcast’s future

David Davies explores how the EBU’s Media eXchange Layer standardises media processing functions allowing exchange of data in a containerised environment

14 Excess all areas

Matthew Corrigan visited Basel to find out how the Eurovision Song Contest’s official media services provider NEP Europe prepared to bring the event to a worldwide audience

20 Focusing on the future

11

Jenny Priestley sits down with IBC CEO Mike Crimp to hear how IBC2025 is driving innovation and collaboration

24 The more things change…

In the first of an occasional column, Matthew Corrigan has some thoughts on the pace of change in the world of broadcast technology

30 Creating the audible wow factor

Frank Foti, executive chairman at Telos Alliance, talks to Jenny Priestley about his work to revolutionise audio with an upmixing technology that transforms stereo into immersive 5.1 surround sound

34 The view from above

V2AIR’s Dr Daniel Guffarth explains how the company’s automated aerial orchestration solution is transforming drone-filmed sports broadcasting

14

38 Darth faders: capturing the sound of Andor Photo by Des Willie. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved

Kevin Emmott meets Andor’s production sound mixer Nadine Richardson to discover how its intergalactic sounds are created and captured

44 Driving efficiencies with the cloud

BBC Studios’ Emma Ellis explains the decision behind the company’s recent move to the cloud

38 04 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

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OPINION

Building for the cloud

By Golan Simani, director of cloud operations at TAG Video Systems

A

s cloud technology continues to transform modern broadcasting, success depends not only on migration but also on the strategic decisions made once operations are moved to the cloud. The goal is not simply technical execution, but long-term efficiency, cost control, and agility across every stage of the media supply chain. The cloud’s real value lies in how efficiently organisations can scale, control costs, simplify operations, and prepare their infrastructure for the future.

This requires broadcasters to shift from static, hardware-centric thinking to dynamic, software-defined architectures built for realtime agility, data-driven optimisation, and financial predictability. The following strategies offer a clear framework for building smarter, optimised, and highly sustainable cloud video workflows.

1. Architect for flexibility, not permanence Unlike traditional infrastructures, cloud environments allow broadcasters to allocate resources on demand globally. This flexibility is essential for handling fluctuating demand, whether scaling up for live events, breaking news, or special productions—and scaling down afterward to avoid idle resources.

Cloud-agnostic design further enhances this flexibility by enabling broadcasters to operate seamlessly across various platforms.

This multi-cloud approach helps optimise pricing, redundancy, and availability without being locked into a single provider.

2. Streamline complex workflows to minimise compute waste In cloud-based operations, complexity drives up both cost and risk.

Every additional format conversion, redundant encoding step, or unnecessary transcoding task increases compute consumption, storage use, and network overhead. Simplifying streaming architecture means designing end-to-end workflows with the right media services that handle multiple formats natively, minimising transformation points wherever possible. Cloud infrastructures should efficiently process ABR (HLS/DASH), MPEG-TS, SCTE, and ST 2110 within a single framework, eliminating processing layers that are avoidable.

3. Use Monitoring data for continuous optimisation Real time operational data offers broadcasters a powerful tool for ongoing optimisation. Beyond simply detecting failures, monitoring data provides actionable insights into stream performance, network health, and resource utilisation.

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Analysing these trends allows teams to fine-tune auto-scaling policies, adjust redundancy strategies, and distribute workloads more efficiently across cloud regions. Over time, these optimisations translate into stronger service stability and tighter financial control.

4. Designing for cost predictability in the cloud Cloud migration reshapes spending patterns. Without deliberate planning, costs can quickly rise due to overprovisioned resources, excessive data transfers, and unmanaged storage. Achieving cost predictability starts with precise resource planning.

Key tactics include: • Right-sizing: Choose instance types that fit actual workload needs to avoid waste.

• Storage lifecycle management: Apply policies that align storage costs with data usage stages.

• Workflow efficiency: Eliminate redundant processing across media services.

• Limit push data: Reduce unnecessary outbound transfers to control egress fees.

Cloud providers offer a wide range of configurations, so aligning them with specific operational needs is essential for sustainable cost management. Poor mapping can lead to long-term inefficiencies.

5. Automate operations to enable scalable growth As cloud video ecosystems become more complex, manual management becomes both inefficient and unsustainable.

Automation enables broadcasters to orchestrate complex deployments, monitor operations, and dynamically adjust resources with minimal direct intervention.

Using infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, and Helm, entire video workflows, from encoding to distribution and monitoring, can be deployed, updated, or decommissioned quickly and consistently. This level of automation is particularly valuable for temporary or event-driven workflows, where entire environments may only need to operate for hours or days.

Cloud-native video architecture offers enormous potential, but only when approached strategically. By focusing on flexibility, workflow simplification, real time data optimisation, proactive cost management, and operational automation, broadcasters can transform their video operations into scalable, efficient, and financially sustainable systems.

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OPINION

Cloud production “on-a-whim”

By Henry Goodman, director of product management, Calrec

O

ver the years, the broadcast industry has thrived on the adoption of new technologies. However, never has the introduction of technology presented such a quantum level of change in the fundamental business models across the media industry as now.

We have already seen the impact of cloud-based streaming technology on the distribution and delivery of media content with significant shifts in not only how people consume media content but also to the fundamental financial models the industry is built on.

As technology shifts go, the adoption of cloud-based resources for live TV production has the potential to re-model businesses across the industry from manufacturers to content creators and traditional broadcasters. The disruptive nature of IP and cloudbased technologies makes it more important than ever for us all to ask how the implementation of these technologies will impact the value proposition we offer.

I am as big an advocate of cloud resources being used in live media production as anyone, but whenever someone tells me they want to use cloud resources, one of the first questions I ask is, why?

As with all significant technology shifts in business, understanding and weighing the benefit to cost equation is key to a successful implementation and should not be taken lightly.

Significant investment in development time and money has already been made by manufacturers, system integrators, facilities providers, content creators and broadcasters, most of whom have taken a long-term view of the business case and return on investment. In contrast to the flexibility it provides, developing and enabling cloud resources for broadcast production should be anything but whimsical.

The shape of how cloud processing will be utilised in live production broadcast workflows is still being honed, but the key tangible benefits of a cloud-based infrastructure are clear and offer exciting prospects.

In a word, cloud production resources provide “agility”, both in terms of when and where they are deployed but also from a management and cost point of view.

Agility is money Cloud broadcast production allows for rapid deployment of resources, making it feasible to produce content with minimal

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notice or even “on-a-whim”. This is achieved through cloud-based infrastructure that can be spun up or down in minutes, compared to the weeks or months required for traditional setups. This agility enables broadcasters to quickly adapt to changing demands, seize opportunities and even experiment to expand their audiences. It also drives down cost. The traditional model of buying enough processing for your biggest event of the year is redundant when a virtualised DSP engine can deliver the audio quality and feature set in a cloud-native environment.

Also, by their very nature, cloud production resources can be deployed where you need them, whether this is in a public cloud or on dedicated on-premise hardware. Especially relevant to live sports coverage, the flexibility to geographically place resources without the need to transport much hardware can make the difference between covering an event or not.

A key facet of cloud production resources is that they can be scaled to cope with peaks and troughs of production demands.

This allows management of both ground and cloud facilities to utilise the equipment and human resources available. The ability to supplement existing ground-based equipment by leaning into cloud resources, as and when demand requires, to boost the processing resources you have for a specific event is a key cloud use case.

Drive utilisation Alongside remote-control technologies like Calrec’s True Control 2.0, cloud-based production facilitates remote collaboration among production teams, enabling broadcasters to maximise the usage of their talent and equipment resources from anywhere in the world.

One of the key financial drivers for cloud production is the ability to attribute costs to a specific production or event, allowing content producers and facility providers to move away from the traditional capex models. Certainly, for coverage of live sports events of limited time duration, the ability to licence cloud resources and use them when and where they are required has obvious financial and management advantages.

In summary, like any other technology implementation, creating a cloud-based broadcast production environment should be considered and planned with care. The agility cloud technology provides means broadcasters can utilise live production resources with efficiency and flexibility, even “on-a-whim”.

JANUARY 2025 2024 || 07 07 JULY/AUGUST

OPINION

A smarter approach to cloud adoption

By Simon Clarke, chief technology officer, Telestream

C

loud technology is redefining media and entertainment (M&E) operations, offering new possibilities for scalability, collaboration, and efficiency. However, cloud adoption is not without complexities. Shifting to the cloud demands a nuanced, strategic approach to manage massive file sizes, strict security needs, and unpredictable workflows.

A 2025 report by Haivision reveals that while 86 per cent of broadcasters use some cloud-based technology, only 2 per cent have fully transitioned to the cloud. Notably, half now employ hybrid workflows, combining SDI, IP, and cloud technologies.

This is why the conversation is evolving from a “cloud-first” mindset to “cloud-smart” strategies. While cloud-first emphasises comprehensive migration, a cloud-smart strategy advocates for balanced, deliberate decision-making.

What is a cloud-smart approach?

Unlike wholesale cloud migration, cloud-smart is all about prioritisation. Organisations identify where the cloud adds the most value while retaining certain workflows on-premises or in hybrid environments. This ensures that transitions are efficient and aligned with operational objectives and budgetary constraints. This often means leveraging cloud scalability for distribution, analytics, and disaster recovery while keeping post production, rendering, and realtime processes on-premises for performance and cost control.

using hybrid setups, running critical processes locally while shifting auxiliary tasks to the cloud. Productions needing scalability during peak periods can tap hybrid models without long-term financial commitments. An added bonus: hybrid cloud provides an average of 24 per cent cost savings compared to traditional infrastructure.

Simplification and strategic planning One of the biggest hurdles for media companies is operational complexity. Multiple cloud providers and fragmented infrastructures often creates inefficiencies.

To address this, organisations are turning toward solutions prioritising simplification and seamless integration. Two trends drive this shift.

First, a decoupled architecture allows workflows to operate as smaller, independent services to increase efficiency. However, this can create organisational complexity unless integrated solutions are chosen. A key benefit of cloud-native solutions is faster deployment and iteration. By contrast, lift-and-shift doesn’t change the application architecture, so updates and deployments remain slow and manual.

The second trend is unified platforms. Partnering with cloud providers that offer first-party integration and out-of-the-box functionality can eliminate fragmented workflows, reducing manual configurations. Cloud-native solutions that support DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code make rapid updates and feature releases seamless.

Why cloud-first doesn’t always work for M&E M&E’s unique demands make cloud-first strategies challenging.

Media companies often face multiple roadblocks, such as massive fies, legacy infrastructure, volatile costs, integration complexity and global collaboration challenges.

Instead of treating cloud adoption as one-size-fits-all, M&E companies must customise their approach to maximise benefits while circumventing these challenges.

Cloud without compromise: the hybrid advantage Enter hybrid cloud solutions that leverage both cloud and on-premise environments to balance agility, scalability, and cost efficiency without compromising control. Quick-turn productions or live events are often more efficient with on-prem resources. For example, recording a daily show at 7pm that airs at 10pm leaves no time for cloud uploads.

Companies with legacy infrastructure avoid duplicating efforts by

08 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

The industry shift you can’t afford to miss The cloud is often marketed as the ultimate simplification tool. While cloud can indeed unlock efficiency, businesses must often manage an overwhelming number of vendors and systems.

Rather than delivering simplicity, fragmented ecosystems can compound operational challenges. This highlights the importance of custom cloud strategies, particularly for large networks, streaming platforms, and production companies tasked with juggling agility, security, and cost management.

Adopting cloud technology is no longer a question of “if,” but “how.”

Transitioning to a cloud-smart framework is an imperative to scale while remaining cost-effective and operationally sound.

By adopting hybrid models to simplify infrastructure, enterprises can mitigate complexity and make technology work for their operational needs. The future is hybrid, and it starts with “smart.”

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CLEAR ANGLE STUDIOS PUTS F1: THE MOVIE IN POLE POSITION Technical operations manager Marco Lee details the many challenges involved in capturing the sights and sounds of an active racing environment, including the use of 'Jean Claude Van Scan'.

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MEDIA MANAGEMENT

The Media eXchange Layer (MXL) standardises how media processing functions operating in containerised environments can share and exchange data with each other, writes David Davies

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JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 11

Photo: Created by EBU using AI

H

ow best to optimise the use of technology in the containerised media production environments that are now emerging is on the mind of many broadcast vendors and organisations these days, including the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Beginning with a white paper in April 2023, the EBU has been developing an initiative, Dynamic Media Facility (DMF), which fosuses on exploring how future media productions can benefit from “highly flexible and dynamic technology approaches”.

A central aim of the project is the development of a Reference Architecture that offers a structured framework for users to express and evaluate their requirements using common models, interfaces and terminology. The intention is that this will help guide the adoption of relevant technologies and practices from the broader IT landscape, while also highlighting areas where alignment on shared solutions can reduce redundant effort and remove barriers to flexibility— ultimately allowing the media industry to focus on what really adds value to its products.

There are many facets to the DMF project, but in recent weeks, the EBU has announced that one of the “key enablers” has reached fruition. The Media

MEDIA MANAGEMENT

eXchange Layer (MXL) is a code package that standardises how media processing functions in virtualised environments can share and exchange data with each other. Essentially providing the “virtualised cabling”, MXL will facilitate the DMF vision of supplanting individual hardware boxes with virtual containers running on local servers or, as is becoming increasingly habitual, the cloud.

Focusing on function The first conversations about the project that became DMF took place three years ago at an EBU meeting in Brussels. “We had this bow-tie diagram with the media function as the dot and everything in the wings,” recalls Willem Vermost, senior media technology architect at the EBU. “We realised that a lot of time is spent discussing metadata schemes and various specific details, but they may not bring a lot of value. Instead, the value is actually when you change your media, and that [stems from] the media function. So we saw that if you look at it from a very granular point of view, and

Willem Vermost

“It was agreed upon that the media exchange layer was the first thing that would bring the greatest value to everyone” WILLEM VERMOST, EBU

you then start connecting those bubbles as a graph, you can create a process flow which serves as your media workflow.”

There was also a recognition that lessons could be learned from the adoption of SMPTE ST 2110.

“When people started to build their own 2110 stacks, including the packet pacing [regulating the rate at which data packets are sent to avoid network congestion and enhance performance], you had to do a lot of interoperability tests before you could be sure that everybody was compatible,” says Vermost.

“But if you had all these media functions running in a compute exchanging media with each other through one shared SDK, you wouldn’t have to do interoperability testing on this layer anymore—saving a lot time and money.”

Ultimately, it was determined that the reference architecture would need to comprise “three major blocks: one at the bottom which talks about IT architectures that we’re not allowed to touch because this is what we want to get from the IT industry; the layers on top which are essentially the media infrastructure; and then a third block which includes the aspects that cut across all the layers, such as discovery, monitoring and security.”

The greatest value A meeting in Geneva in November 2024 was instrumental in determining that MXL should be the next focus of activity. “It was agreed upon that the media exchange layer was the first thing that would bring the greatest value to everyone,” recalls Vermost.

“There were also plenty of voices saying that it would only work if it’s open source and everybody can use

The MXL high level architecture

12 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

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MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Rebecca Hanson

Rails for an ecosystem The resulting code package is now available via Github (link here). In the words of the EBU, it provides “an open framework for real-time ‘in memory’ media exchange that allows seamless integration across compute nodes, production clusters and broadcast platforms. In essence, it is the rails for an ecosystem, and their use is free of charge.”

In terms of the roadmap for MXL, Vermost says that “the charter of this particular project is agreed upon. Within the charter, there’s a technical steering committee—comprising the people who are actually writing the code—that is also tasked with creating a

This core ‘value’ will provide broadcasters with the ultimate freedom to customise their facilities to their specific needs, and to provide options among vendors” REBECCA HANSON, NABA

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user requirements committee.” Several workshops and seminars are also on the schedule, after which it is hoped that people will “contribute to the code, look at the code, download the code, and use it.”

In the case of NABA members—most of which are large, multi-station broadcast groups—it seems likely that deployment will occur primarily within cloudbased deployments. “Most are well on their way to moving to the cloud,” says Hanson. “Regarding the DMF/MXL initiative, they are really only starting to get involved now. Since the technical steering committee has completed their initial work and the code is publicly available, now is the time for broadcasters to share their functional requirements ‘wish list’ so that the effort truly works for broadcasters and isn’t purely vendor-driven.”

Next steps Whilst MXL is an important part of the DMF project, there are still many other aspects to be addressed, not least connectivity between the virtualised containers.

“We need to include at least discovery, registration and connection capabilities; all those things you require to be able to connect your media functions and have them point to the right location in memory to exchange media flows and so on,” says Vermost.

It’s possible that existing specifications from NMOS could provide some of the missing pieces here. “A lot of broadcasters have already invested in NMOS, so there is a logical research stage in looking at NMOS and whether it’s a logical path for us. We need to find out whether it has to be changed [for DMF] or can it be used out of the box? Those are the sort of questions that we’ll be addressing next.”

There are also plans for extensive documentation, including use cases that will benefit from a DMF approach, and a high-level model for the lifecycle of media workloads as part of the Reference Architecture. But although it’s relatively early days, Vermost says there have already been broader hints that the initiative is on the right track.

“I was at an event before NAB and one of the things that was being discussed a lot [among delegates] was DMF, which completely blew my mind,” he admits. “But it did seem to be a vibrant topic already at NAB, and now with what we have announced and are planning, we hope that will continue into IBC.” To access the full archive of EBU white papers and publications, including those related to DMF and MXL, visit www.ebu.ch/home

JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 13

Photo[s]: EBU

it. So the challenge then was to create a community that could write code, within a framework that allowed everyone to work safely.”

Subsequently, a meeting at CBC/Radio-Canada earlier this year led to the Linux Foundation and the North American Broadcasting Association (NABA) becoming closely involved with the development of MXL. Rebecca Hanson, director-general of NABA, recalls: “This project was brought to us by Felix Poulin of the CBC, a member of NABA. He briefed our technical committee numerous times and generated a fair amount of interest. This prompted us to sign an MoU with the EBU regarding how we can support the project, including recruiting North American broadcasters for input.”

As to how NABA hopes MXL will help improve and streamline workflows in the future, Hanson responds: “I think of the greatest interest to NABA members is maximising flexibility and interoperability. This core ‘value’ will provide broadcasters with the ultimate freedom to customise their facilities to their specific needs, and to provide options among vendors.”

LIVE PRODUCTION

Excess ALL AREAS Matthew Corrigan visits Basel to see how the Eurovision Song Contest’s official media services provider NEP Europe prepared to bring the event to a massive global audience 14 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

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LIVE PRODUCTION

T

he Eurovision Song Contest has long topped the tables in terms of excessive performance. Every edition of the international extravaganza features a fresh line-up of flamboyantly costumed hopefuls, each apparently determined to upstage their fellow contestants in an event that grows more dazzling by the year. Yet no matter how elaborate the productions on stage may be, they can never match the sophistication of what takes place behind the scenes, as an immense broadcast operation ensures the competition is seamlessly delivered to a worldwide audience that this year reached a record-breaking 166 million viewers.

Nestling in the north-western corner of Switzerland, the city of Basel, where the Rhine forms a three-way border with Germany and France, hosted Eurovision 2025. Swiss national broadcaster SRG SSR produced the coverage, in collaboration with, as ever, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). For the sixth consecutive year, NEP Europe took on the role of official media services provider to Eurovision, having once again won the necessary tendering process.

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Planning began in earnest in December, explains Axel Engström, sales lead from NEP Sweden and Eurovision project manager, and COO of NEP Switzerland and Eurovision project lead, Christian Kosek, with a core of around 25 highly experienced crew members arriving

NEP deployed 6 RF cameras, 2 spider cameras, 3 Steadicams and a railcam

JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 15

LIVE PRODUCTION

on location five weeks ahead of the event. The company was able to call in resources from across the continent, with the team coming from Sweden, Finland, the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and, of course, Switzerland and quickly rekindling the excellent working relationship that allows them to handle whatever challenges the occasion can throw at them.

Over the years, Eurovision has developed a reputation for being predictably unpredictable.

“We try to keep the same people involved,” says Engström. “We really come together as a group.”

In the days ahead of the competition, Basel went Eurovision crazy. The hotels, cafes and bars were filled with revellers and the fan zones packed with people enjoying an apparently endless stream of free concerts. The venue for the event itself was the 12,400 capacity St. Jakobshalle arena, just across the tram tracks from the towering edifice of St. Jakob-Park, home to the FC Basel football team. Security was visibly tight. Entry for spectators was strictly controlled with a separate layer to reach the backstage area.

Another, unseen element that has become essential in protecting the contest is cybersecurity—reflecting both its inevitable politicisation and vulnerability as a massive, open, prestigious event.

Behind the venue, beyond the gaze of the lengthy

NEP's Christian Koseck (left) and Axel Engström

TFC provided SMPTE ST 2110-based centralised signal management and control across the entire ecosystem

16 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

queues of excited fans, a maze of temporary cabins were erected, creating a busy hive of activity as technicians bent over their myriad screens. Two huge NEP trucks were parked alongside, UHD2 and UHD24. “We have two big OB vans on site,” says Engström “One main unit and one backup unit and the reason for that is [the contest] is such a big, high priority event for EBU, with lots of viewers, and it’s really important that we can always broadcast the show, whatever happens.”

Redundancy is a huge consideration, with backups built in everywhere. The trucks have their own power supply, able to continue even in the event of a catastrophic failure. “Basel can go black,” says Koseck, “but the Eurovision Song Contest will continue.”

A third vehicle was parked in front of the others, there to satisfy a request from broadcaster SRG, as Engström explains: “That was a new one for us. In the past, we have tried to do it all in one audio control room but this year they asked for separate music. We have our Music 1 truck with a console where we do the music mix and then we feed into the OB van where we add on the final broadcast with the host microphones etc.”

Underpinning it all was NEP’s TFC Broadcast Control platform. Flexible and scalable to demand, TFC’s (Total Facility Control) software-led infrastructure management solution was a game changer for the team this year. Tried and tested at some of the biggest live event productions in the world, including last summer’s Paris Olympic Games, TFC provided SMPTE ST 2110-based centralised signal management and control across the entire ecosystem. Set-up times were significantly reduced and operations streamlined throughout, with continuous signal monitoring ensuring any problems could be quickly and effectively resolved.

“We need to distribute all the signals between the venue and be able to switch OB trucks,” Engström comments.”Everything passes through the technical operations centre on site. In the cabin where we handle all this infrastructure, the heart of the system is built on our own product, TFC. It’s like a big router, a totally IP-based control system.”

TFC is completely vendor agnostic, ensuring interoperability between all the devices and systems in use by each broadcaster. “It manages all of the 2110 streams between the different users,” explains Koseck.

Everyone at NEP is keen to praise the operational partners with which they have built excellent, almost

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LIVE PRODUCTION

cameras are actually used during performances. Four EVS live production servers were deployed and more than 320 monitors were in use across the location.

As the crews busily prepared for the evening ahead, an air of calm competence radiated through the cabins, vehicles and technical areas in the hall.

This was a thoroughly efficient operation run by a team that was

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PICTURED ABOVE: The huge rectangular LED arch provided the creative teams with a vast arry of options

Riedel Communications provided intercom services for the entire event

JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 17

All photo[s] courtesy of Alberto Morand

symbiotic relationships over the years. Riedel Communications, for example, provide intercom services for the entire event, meaning their operations are intrinsically linked. “We work really closely with them, there’s a long, good relationship,” says Koseck.

“They are supplying the equipment but we, as engineers, are supporting the intercom setup and settings and handling signal distribution,” adds Engström. In all, Riedel supplied some 230 Bolero units and more than 400 walkie-talkies for use by the engineering and creative crews—another huge number on Eurovision’s logistical ledger.

Dominating the St. Jakobshalle stage was a huge rectangular arch consisting of a number of LED panels which itself formed part of the supporting structure for additional stage elements such as lighting rigs. A Black Marble BM4 LED floor, Vanish V8T transparent LED panels and Graphite 2.6 indoor LED displays provided the creative teams with a vast range of options, bringing every performance to life in a dazzling display of visual exuberance. As in previous years, Augmented Reality (AR) enabled the producers to transition seamlessly from events on the stage to additional content, “This time, it is used much more modestly but effectively,” Engström reveals.

NEP deployed a total of 27 cameras including 6 wireless RF cameras, 2 spider cameras, 3 Steadicams and a railcam mounted to sweep across the front of the stage. While more are often in place for sporting events, Eurovision is fairly unique in that all of the

really on top of its game. It was patently obvious that everyone was working in harmony and their determination to succeed was palpable. Engström sums it up perfectly, and in doing so, captures something of the spirit of Eurovision: “The execution of a production of this magnitude is only possible thanks to the tremendous teamwork of everyone involved. From logistics and technology to onsite operations, it was a true cross-border collaboration between our NEP teams in Europe.

MEDIA MANAGEMENT

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE

cloud flavour?

T

By Christian Scheck, head of marketing content, Lawo

hese days, few people in the broadcast and pro AV industries are wary of the cloud. Outfits are either already using it or at least toying with the idea. The reason is simple: less equipment needs to go on-site and the same instances can be used almost back-to-back. Most broadcasters have been familiar with a distinction that may, or may not, change everything: on one hand, there is the so-called “public” cloud provided by universally known tech firms; on the other, there is the “private” cloud that is only accessible to carefully selected operators.

While it still happens that users of a public cloud service are taken aback by unexpected costs that adversely affect a budget everybody thought was fixed, the public cloud has its uses. Especially for essences that only leave the virtual realm after all processing has been completed. Nor is the public cloud just an American affair anymore: even respected host broadcasters have been shopping around for cloud services in other countries, whether for political or other reasons.

Some outfits have been working with data centres in different locations—i.e. private clouds—because privacy and redundancy are high on their list. Such data centres host both dedicated hardware and a growing number of generic servers that run processing and utility apps. All authorised operators, anywhere in the world, can access these processing pools over dark fibre ST 2110 lines, using SRT, WebRTC, etc.

Networks built around one or several data centres belong to an entity that has a vested interest in keeping everything humming, while keeping would-be intruders out to avoid content theft, interference with operations, and so on. With growing security concerns, a lot is being done by manufacturers of broadcast and pro AV solutions to protect both the solutions and essences in accordance with the EBU’s R143 recommendation and similar initiatives. As a result, private clouds,

“A hybrid mix of public and private cloud is possible because not all broadcast or pro AV processing tasks are created equal” 18 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

especially of the redundant ST2022-7 type, where issues at one data centre are mitigated by diverting traffic to the other, are a serious alternative to a public cloud.

A hybrid mix of public and private is also possible because not all broadcast or pro AV processing tasks are created equal. Those that do require a lot of essence transfers are best kept in a private cloud, for instance. In situations where 20 or more locations in and beyond Europe contribute to the same production, working through a public cloud might seem attractive, yet the ones using this workflow still favour a private cloud approach. This may change, of course, as the number of reasonable objections dwindles, yet redundancy implicitly means that route B is in no way related to route A. How would one handle redundancy between two public cloud providers, for instance, and what would be the cost?

Processing solutions like HOME Apps that are based on containerised microservices work equally well on generic servers both on-prem and in a public cloud. This is thanks to their all-new architecture. Despite their instantly familiar user experience, no preexisting code has been lifted from pre-existing hardware and shifted to a server or cloud as is. Such processing apps scale exceptionally well as the bare metal (or public cloud service) they run on evolves to provide ever more computing heft and bandwidth.

The open-source Media Exchange Layer (MXL) initiative proposed by the EBU looks set to become yet another major breakthrough. It relies on the ability of processing apps from various manufacturers to exchange essences on a shared-memory plane. This avoids unnecessary latency while hopping from one app to the next.

Obviously, this is first and foremost a CPU/GPU topic, and the server farms operated by public cloud providers are full of them.

Nevertheless, the first attempt to make this work will likely be in a private cloud. There is still some work to do to ensure that all apps by carefully selected vendors play together as expected, but the project looks very promising.

The decision between a private and a public cloud may also be related to scale. Starting with a private cloud, initially on-premise, may be a good first step. As the outfit expands, the HOME management platform and VSM control system are able to organise geographically distributed data centres and processing pools in such a way that there is no noticeable difference with a public cloud. Even latency is staggeringly low. Adding public cloud services is possible along the way. So, it all comes down to flavour, it would seem.

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

FOCUSING ON THE

Future Jenny Priestley sits down with IBC CEO Mike Crimp to hear how IBC2025 is driving innovation and collaboration

f

or any trade show, innovation is key. An exhibition and conference will always attract visitors, but what keeps them coming back year after year is the ability to see something new. The team at IBC have made this central to their planning for this year’s show.

In recent years, IBC has been reflecting the ongoing changes in the media and entertainment industry, introducing three central pillars across the whole show: innovative technology, changing business models, and people and purpose. As the industry faces numerous challenges, such as the macro environment or trade tariffs, the theme of IBC2025 is ‘Shaping the Future’.

“We felt that where IBC has always been successful is bringing people together to be able to actually see technology, talk about technology, experience it and move the debate forward,” explains IBC CEO Mike Crimp. “So this year, the overall theme is really about shaping the future at a time of dynamic change.”

Crimp hopes IBC2025 will be a collaborative environment where the industry can thoroughly examine not only new technologies but also innovative ideas. He believes broadcasters and vendors are eager to work together in this way, and IBC has a strong reputation for enabling such interactions.

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Doing things differently One of the biggest disruptors within the industry right now is generative artificial intelligence. This is leading to new entrants in the vendor space, bringing products and services that aren’t just applicable to the media and entertainment industry, but to other markets.

“It’s something that IBC had seen for a while, and we’ve tracked that through our ‘Content Everywhere’ experience,” says Crimp.

“We’ve seen at other shows, such as Mobile World Congress, how they can serve different verticals. So in terms of finding these companies, we’ve been much more, shall we say, hunter-gatherer than we perhaps were before.”

This move will be reflected within the new Future Tech Zone in Hall 14, where attendees can meet companies that they may not be familiar with. “We’ve almost seen it become a trend where people come to IBC and have quite a lot of interaction discussing what they found in the corner or down the alley or in the little 10 by 10 stands.”

Crimp sees these opportunities as a way for IBC itself to be disruptive and lead to things “being done differently”, enabling companies that haven’t traditionally exhibited at the show to enter the media and entertainment market.

“IBC2025 isn’t the old school trade show where you kind of lean on your stand and wait for someone to come past. It’s not just buyer/seller, the whole value chain has to interact with each other. We tried to embrace that as much as possible by creating things that people would think about rather than just receiving information.”

Away from the exhibition There’s always plenty to see at IBC Show, not least the conference, which takes place alongside the exhibition. Without giving anything away, Crimp promises this year will cover a “wide church of content and sessions” with senior executives discussing some of the industry’s current themes.

“We’ve kind of stirred that up with some more creative people and some people who might just want to challenge the conventional view,” he adds.

Other key features include the Innovation Awards, celebrating industry advances in five categories, such as content creation, social impact, and environment and sustainability.

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Winners will be revealed on the Sunday of the show.

The IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme has continued to grow since its introduction in 2019. It offers both vendors and their customers the opportunity to work together in the creation and design of a service, whether that be around master cloud control, ultralow latency live streaming at scale or creating a framework for generative artificial intelligence, as featured in some of this year’s projects.

“What’s happened is that the vendors see it as an opportunity to not sell a finished product, but to get broadcasters and streaming companies invested in that idea, literally invested because sometimes they’re sharing IP,” states Crimp.

“It’s kind of moved into being something of a ‘club’ whereby the CTOs and the vendors work together, and they get together for dinners and meetings and so on.

It’s got to the stage where the Accelerator projects almost point the way for the direction that the buying market is looking.”

While the Accelerator programme has proven its worth to the industry, Crimp describes it as a “significant sign” that IBC is also delivering on its promises. “If you look at the sandwich board of brands that are involved, it is enormous. It is so impressive.”

Visitors can check out this year’s Accelerators in Hall 14’s Future Tech Zone.

One idea that is being revived for IBC2025 is a Hackathon. The show is teaming up with Google on a challenge that will be revealed to everybody at the same time. Without giving away any details, Crimp describes it as “dead central to the themes happening in the industry at the moment”. Teams are invited to take part in the two-day event, with each invited on stage to pitch their solution and the winners receiving a prize. Crimp sees the Hackathon as an opportunity for IBC to deliver on its ‘people and purpose’ pillar, engaging with the next generation of engineers. “It will be really, really interesting to see if a group of hackers can create what they’re going to be asked to create in two days.

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PICTURED ABOVE: The IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme offers both vendors and their customers the opportunity to work together in the creation and design of a service

“It will also be in the Future Tech Zone in Hall 14. We want to make that hall a destination, so that people will go in there and be in the right frame of mind to be talking about innovation. I think the Hackathon could be really, really interesting, and something which we might be able to build on for the future. It is one of the things I’m most excited about, because I think it’s going to bring in a bit of a new audience. It’s going to show different ways of solving problems. Again, IBC is using our relationships to stage innovation.”

Essentially, innovation is what IBC2025 is all about.

Asked to sum up the show in three words, Crimp says: “Innovation, fun, collaboration.” Roll on September.

Registration for IBC2025 is now open. More details are available here.

“IBC2025 isn’t the old school trade show where you kind of lean on your stand and wait for someone to come past. It’s not just buyer/seller, the whole value chain has to interact with each other” JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 21

ADVERTORIAL

THE FUTURE OF BROADCAST IS

Remote

Remote production isn’t just a shift in broadcast workflows—it’s a smarter, faster, and more cost-effective way to produce live content. In a world where speed, scalability, and efficiency define media success, remote production is transforming how content is created, managed, and delivered

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Behind the technology stands a seasoned crew of engineers, operators, and producers with decades of hands-on experience in high-profile productions. This is not just a facility, it’s a production

22 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

powerhouse that blends innovation with reliability, setting a new standard for remote broadcasting in Europe. The hub is located in Warsaw, just 25 minutes from the airport.

A complete technical ecosystem At the heart of the facility is a high-performance production ecosystem that brings together the best in professional technology and flexible workspaces. Clients can access: • Modular workstations configured for roles including directing, editing, commentary, or remote replay • EVS VIA servers for high-speed ingest, replay, and playout • Sony and Grass Valley switchers for live vision mixing • GV AMPP tools for scalable cloud-based workflow management • Lawo, Riedel, and RTS systems for precision audio handling and real-time intercom communication The facility features two full-scale Production Control Rooms (PCRs) that can handle up to 14 camera sources, with integrated real-time graphics, multiview monitoring, and latency-free remote camera operation. These PCRs are ideal for high-end sport, live entertainment, esports, or live studio content.

For leaner operations, the Remote Production Facility supports “one-man show” configurations—perfect for podcasts, webinars, or small-scale streaming. These stations allow a single operator to control video switching, audio mixing, graphics insertion, and live streaming

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ADVERTORIAL

from a single interface. It’s a smart, compact solution that preserves broadcast quality without the traditional crew overhead.

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A smarter way to produce, without owning the infrastructure ATM SYSTEM’s remote production model is designed around one key principle: you focus on content, we take care of infrastructure.

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world validation. New technologies and configurations are seamlessly integrated into live productions as part of our ongoing development process, so when a client uses a solution, it’s not experimental. It’s already field-proven, optimised, production-ready and fully compatible with your vision.

Network infrastructure that delivers at scale Central to the remote production model is a high-bandwidth, lowlatency network architecture, connected directly to global Internet exchange points. Dynamic IP routing and signal orchestration are managed via Nevion VideoIPath, ensuring intelligent bandwidth usage, flexible control, and full visibility of all connected endpoints.

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Trusted by broadcasters, loved by production teams ATM SYSTEM RPH isn’t just a facility. It’s the cutting edge of remote production, backed by a trusted company with decades of broadcast expertise. Since 2003, ATM SYSTEM has earned its place as one of the most recognisable names in Central Europe’s production landscape.

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Why clients choose ATM SYSTEM √ End-to-end capabilities: from venue setup to final distribution √ Broadcast-complete infrastructure: OB vans, remote facilities, camera and replay systems, intercom systems, film cameras, lenses and stage light √ P unctuality and reliability: a record of delivering on time and on budget √ S calability and customisation: tailor-made solutions for large-scale events or agile productions √ O perational efficiency: reduce crew travel, shipping, and logistics costs while increasing productivity Let’s build the future of broadcast together Whether you're a national broadcaster seeking a competitive edge, an international sports federation scaling global feeds, or a digital media producer running a nimble operation, ATM SYSTEM is the partner that brings your vision to life.

With centralised remote production, you can do more with less, deploy your crew across multiple projects simultaneously, and deliver consistent quality across geographies, all while maintaining creative control and reducing costs.

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JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 23

OPINION

The more things change…

In the first of what will become an occasional column, Matthew Corrigan has some thoughts on the pace of change in the world of broadcast technology

I

recently found myself driving along the Welsh equivalent of the pace of development takes the breath away. Throughout history, in all Autoroute du Soleil, the A55 North Wales Expressway, when an manner of human endeavour, innovation evolves at breakneck speed. elderly pantechnicon-style truck emerged from a slip road and In 1885, for example, Karl Benz produced what was probably the joined the stream of traffic heading east at the end of the holiday first proper car. Henry Ford refined the manufacturing process just weekend. Hunched over a forward control cab, its plethora of vented after the turn of the twentieth century and we’ve never looked back. side panels and full-length roof rails made it resemble something At about the same time old Henry was knocking out Model Ts in that had been conjured from the imagination of Gerry Anderson. All any colour you wanted so long as it was black, the Wright Brothers became clear as I moved across to pass the slow-moving behemoth were hopping across the Kittyhawk sands and into the record books and the legend adorning its bright, silvery paintwork came into view. as the first to achieve heavier-than-air powered flight. Less than 50 Printed in a rather retro but instantly recognisable font were the years later, Chuck Yeager became the first human to break the sound words “BBC TV Colour”. I was sharing the road with a vintage outside barrier. Today, we think nothing of sipping our G&Ts at 500 miles an broadcast truck. hour, six miles above the surface of the planet, in thin metal tubes The van was registered in the early 1970s and it was tempting with fires blazing away just inches from several tonnes of volatile to imagine that it had somehow torn itself a hole in the space-time aviation fuel. continuum while filming Tom Baker on location for Doctor Who. The For every rule, however, there must be an exception. It was as likely reality, altogether more prosaic, was that the beautifully restored far back as the middle of the 15th century that a German named vehicle had been attending a display at one of the numerous resort Johannes Gutenberg produced the first ever printing machine. William towns scattered along the Clwyd coast.

Caxton brought the technology to England soon after, becoming this Allowing myself to daydream a while, I wondered what the original country’s first ever retailer of printed books. And today, some 600 production crew would have made of its modern day equivalent, had years later, as everyone who has ever found themselves driven to the they suddenly found themselves catapulted 50 years into the future. very edge of sanity by their printer as it sits there, stubbornly refusing In May, I was privileged to see such a vehicle in operation myself, to comply, can exasperatedly testify, we still haven’t managed to make thanks to an invitation from NEP Europe (more of which elsewhere the blasted things work properly. in this issue). The technology aboard was astounding, providing teams with capabilities on a level that would simply not have been possible just five short decades ago.

And that’s the thing about technology—it races. Right across the broadcast arena, advances take place at a pace that is scarcely believable. Most people are probably familiar with the well-worn adage about modern mobile phones being more powerful than the Apollo Guidance Computer used by NASA to put astronauts on the Moon, but even the most jaded of industry commentators can’t fail to have been impressed that they were used to film parts of the Paris Olympics Through some hasty research I was able to track down the actual OB truck. North 3 is Opening Ceremony for its official broadcast owned by Steve Harris of On The Air Vintage Technology Sales and Hire, who kindly last summer. provided the image. See more at vintageradio.co.uk/projects Of course, it’s not just in broadcast that the

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LIVE PRODUCTION

PUSHING THE POTENTIAL OF

broadcasting technology

By Ophir Zardok, head of sports strategy and business development, LiveU

A

s audiences demand more personalised content, traditional broadcast production faces rising costs and logistical hurdles. Improving efficiency in workflows and logistics is key, while delivering more high-quality content in the most dynamic, engaging and efficient ways has increased the demand for cost-effective, flexible IPbased production models.

Storytellers need to reach more viewers across multiple platforms whilst tailoring content to meet the varying expectations of different demographics, all while reducing costs. While fighting for eyeballs of the older generations, broadcasters and streaming services also have to win over Gen Z, who are more likely to be watching their favourite athletes, brands and shows on TikTok or YouTube. This age group wants dynamic, short, sharp authentic content packaged in a way that relates to them.

For sports broadcasters, building a genuine narrative requires careful planning, especially in the unpredictable world of live broadcast where spontaneity is key. Content creators will increasingly

Ophir Zardok

Future-proofing efficiency

PICTURED LEFT: At the International Belgian Judo Open Competition LiveU was part of a PoC that utilised a state-ofthe-art 5G standalone network slice

26 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

value innovative technologies with the flexibility that enables them to meet millennials and Gen Z’s demand for daily fan engagement.

Sustainability is another broadcast production driver.

Broadcasters are influenced by viewers’ expectations to reduce their carbon footprint. This is evident in production tenders which have seen the development of innovative remote production workflows successfully solidify their place over the last five years, with broadcasters now incorporating standards to ensure sustainable production. These standards encourage carbon-efficient practices, from minimising travel emissions to reducing equipment power consumption, making sustainability a central element of event broadcasting in future.

Cost-efficiency is also a major factor. Broadcasters and other content producers can save up to 70 per cent off their costs with a wireless remote production set-up, removing the need for costly SAT/OB trucks.

The growing use of IP technology for producing live content incorporates these factors and enables dynamic, robust and flexible workflows. LiveU’s EcoSystem provides the technology and tools to facilitate remote production workflows spanning the entire video production chain, from contribution, production to distribution. Built on an interoperable, adaptable platform it delivers business agility with a variety of on-prem and cloud-based solutions and allows broadcasters to seamlessly produce live events using efficient, simplified workflows whilst reducing costs and increasing production value. The LiveU EcoSystem is underpinned by LiveU Reliable Transport LRT ensuring rock-solid reliability and low latency over cellular and other IP networks.

As technology evolves at pace, alternative versions of IP-video bonded connectivity solutions are being

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LIVE PRODUCTION

tested in real-world environments, including private 5G, network slicing and the use of LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites, such as Starlink.

Network slicing gives telcos the ability to create a dedicated bandwidth “slice”, guaranteeing a certain amount of up and downstream bandwidth for a given period of time—the length of a football match, for example. This provides huge potential when combined with IP-bonding, creating a powerful combination across contribution workflows that overcomes previous network congestion issues.

Private 5G is also set to play an important role moving forward, especially for sports events in remote areas or other temporary scenarios. For smaller events, even without network slicing, IP-bonding works brilliantly with 5G. Further benefits of utilising private cellular networks are that they provide an additional layer of service for customers including network segmentation, prioritisation and greater security, while delivering additional capacity for expanded remote production technologies and employee communications.

Last year, LiveU won a FIDAL Open Call to take part in the ‘Large Scale Field Trials Beyond 5G’ research project, part of the EU Horizon project, co-funded by the 6G Smart Networks and Services initiative. In June 2025, it successfully completed the project, conducting dozens of meaningful beyond 5G tests and trials together with its LU800 PRO multi-cam bonding and LU-Xtend connectivity solution for three main remote production use cases. This included: cloud remote production— leveraging slicing configurations to guarantee bandwidth and latency for cloud-based broadcast workflows; edgebased production—integrating mobile edge computing within an operator infrastructure (like a private cloud); and on-site remote production with cloud-based solutions­—testing uplink/downlink slicing configurations for full production workflows.

These solutions will undoubtedly have major benefits for broadcasters who are looking to maximise the latest technology innovations in order to expand remote production workflows.

5G and cloud tech drive a fully remote production Advanced innovative solutions utilising 5G and remote production workflows are not so far in the future. In a recent collaboration, LiveU, Orange Belgium, Atmosfair,

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PICTURED ABOVE: The evolution of broadcasting illustrates a future where technology, audience engagement, and content diversity will continue to shape the world of live sports production

ID2Move and Dreamwall delivered a fully remote, cloud-based production of the International Belgian Judo Open competition. This marquee event on the European judo circuit attracts competitors from around the world. To overcome traditional broadcasting challenges such as extensive travel, high equipment costs, and logistical complexities, a new approach was essential to meet the growing expectations of modern sports audiences.

Leveraging 5G and a remote production workflow, the aim was to produce the most engaging, immersive live sports event with minimum costs and resources on-site. The production team had to ensure seamless connectivity and reliable, high-quality video feeds from remote locations while integrating dynamic visual elements.

Ensuring a streamlined workflow, with sustainable practices, was also a key factor.

The event included a PoC that utilised a state-ofthe-art 5G standalone network slice, guaranteeing dedicated bandwidth for uninterrupted transmission.

The production leveraged LiveU Studio’s latest story-centric capabilities, such as instant replay, as well as remote guests and commentaries. Real-time augmented reality graphics, provided by Dreamwall, were integrated via the cloud, enhancing the live broadcast with engaging visual elements.

The collaboration resulted in a live broadcast that captivated judo fans across Europe. Audiences experienced the event through immersive visuals and innovative storytelling, setting a new benchmark for live sports coverage.

Innovation drives success Using IP-based technologies, cloud and remote production workflows are optimised, and new standards are being set for sustainability and flexibility in live sports coverage. New tech enables new possibilities for increased personalisation with content that speaks directly to the fans, such as commentary in their own language and player stats.

The evolution of broadcasting—from the Paris Summer Games in 2024 to the global football clubs tournament in the US and next year’s Winter Games— illustrates a future where technology, audience engagement, and content diversity will continue to shape the world of live sports production.

JULY/AUGUST 2025 | 27

LIVE PRODUCTION

COUNTERING THE

GPS jammers

T

Leader Electronics of Europe’s Kevin Salvidge looks at how broadcasters can mitigate the growing threat of disruption through GPS jamming

here have been some notable live broadcast outages in the past few years—but much of the coverage of such incidents has tended to focus on cybersecurity and IT infrastructure failures. However, there is another growing risk factor that broadcasters need to start prioritising as part of their crisis planning: GPS jamming of satellite-related broadcast services.

It’s hardly unexpected to find that the potential for broadcasting to be deliberately disrupted has expanded as the world has become significantly more unstable. With geopolitical and military tensions as a backdrop to various technological developments, the notion that a bad ‘state actor’ or extremist group might seek to employ GPS jamming to disrupt broadcast production is one that can no longer be ignored.

The threat is generally regarded to be especially high in live and/or remote production scenarios, where GPS jamming can variously disrupt transmission site synchronisation, affect transport stream timing in SFNs (Single Frequency Networks), and impair remote production tools and satellite uplink coordination. Broadcast centres that utilise GPS for their internal synchronisation needs—as with the use of Precision Time Protocol (PTP) in SMPTE ST 2110 IP standards—can also suffer synchronisation problems or sudden time changes when the GPS signal is no longer being jammed.

It’s important to note that many broadcasters and service providers have already taken proactive steps on this issue, especially those operating in some of the world’s most turbulent areas. For instance, it’s reported that broadcasters working in parts of the Middle East and near the borders of Russia are now, as a matter of routine, deploying GPS jamming detection tools and identifying redundant time sources in case of disruption.

However, there are other scenarios that should give broadcasters cause for pause, such as planned and highly sensitive events like a Papal or US Presidential visit. In this case, to help protect the VIPs involved, GPS jamming would be utilised by the security services—albeit only when the individual(s) are in close proximity to the venue. But with the broadcast set-up for such events usually beginning at least several days in advance, there would be ample time to establish connections and achieve synchronisation with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). So as long as all SPGs (Sync Pulse Generators) have previously locked to GNSS, they will transition into ‘Stay-In-Sync’ or holdover mode once GNSS is lost.

For single OB truck operations, internal timing remains stable so there is unlikely to be a problem there. But with multiple OB truck productions, it’s vital that each truck’s SPG is synchronised with the others.

28 | JULY/AUGUST 2025

This presents an unavoidable extra level of complexity that requires scrupulous planning to guarantee that timecode and genlock remain consistent across all units.

There are other steps that broadcasters can take to mitigate the threat of GPS jamming, and to help get the show back on the road as quickly as possible if they do suffer disruption. Principal among these is the acquisition of a sync pulse generator, such as Leader’s own LT4670 ‘True Hybrid’ IP and SDI SPG, with multiple constellation GNSS receivers that —in addition to the US-owned GPS—can use other satellite navigation systems including Galileo (EU), BeiDou (China), GLONASS (Russia) and QZSS (Japan).

Use of a multi-GNSS receiver brings welcome robustness into the setup; after all, jamming all GNSS simultaneously is far harder than jamming one of them. Additionally, SPGs like the LT4670 also use an internal OCXO (Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator) that can frequency- and phase-lock to a GNSS. Consequently, if and when connection is lost, the LT4670 can continue to provide reference signals based upon the internal OCXO. The name for this particular functionality is ‘Stay-in-Sync’ mode or PTP Clockclass 7. Another feature that can benefit broadcasters wishing to minimise their GPS jamming exposure is ‘Slow Sync’, which reduces the shock when synchronisation is re-established based on stay-in-sync. Thanks to its application to BB/TLS, SDI, digital audio and PTP references, ‘Slow-Sync’ supports the construction of a very reliable synchronisation system by gradually bringing the timing in-line when GNSS contact resumses.

For a variety of reasons, these are challenging times for broadcasters, and so it’s perfectly understandable if news of this further risk to operations does not receive the warmest of welcomes. However, it’s also an issue where the threat can be dramatically reduced if the correct steps are taken­—ensuring that you have the best possible chance of keeping those all-important live and remote productions on the air.

“The threat is generally regarded to be especially high in live and/or remote production scenarios”

AUDIO

G N I T A E R C E L B I D U A THE

wow

FACTO R

Frank Foti, executive chairman at Telos Alliance, tells Jenny Priestley about his work to revolutionise audio with an upmixing technology that transforms stereo into immersive 5.1 surround sound

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hile many broadcasters and streamers are moving towards higher resolutions in terms of what viewers see, sound is being left behind, with the majority of TV programming still delivered, and heard, in stereo.

But Frank Foti, executive chairman at Telos Alliance, is on a mission to change that. Foti is the driving force behind Déjà Vu, upmixing technology that can take a piece of audio to the next level, turning it from stereo into 5.1 surround sound.

The idea for Déjà Vu began in 2002, during the early

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days of digital radio in the United States. Foti and his late partner, Steve Church, noticed that the transition to HD radio lacked the ‘wow factor’ that accompanied the advent of HD television. This prompted a question: Could they deliver discrete surround sound over the existing FM HD system?

Foti and Church discovered Fraunhofer’s MPEG surround technology, which enabled surround sound transmission, and created a way to do the same on FM in America.

However, at the time, there wasn’t much content available in surround sound. Foti realised that for broadcasters to fully embrace surround, all their

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AUDIO

content would need to be upmixed. That set him on a journey to develop a method for creating a true 5.1 surround presentation from stereo audio, without relying on “tricked-up” effects. “There are other upmix items out there, and they sort of work, but they use electronic tricks like phasing and time delay and reverb and things of that nature to create the surround effect,” he says. “I wanted more than that.”

The core idea was to generate a true centre channel from stereo audio. “When we listen in stereo, what comes to our ears, and what Frank Foti we feel is in the centre, is known as phantom centre,” Foti explains. “There is no centre channel. Déjà Vu creates the actual centre channel based on the mix that’s there. There’s no steering, it’s based on the actual mix. So from that, I’m able to then derive the other channels.”

Having created what he believed to be a breakthrough, Foti sought feedback from various musical experts. He was able to showcase Déjà Vu to music producer Gary Katz (of Steely Dan fame), who immediately recognised its potential. “Next thing I know, we’re on a plane to London, and Gary booked an afternoon at Abbey Road,” Foti says. There, they met with Hugh Padgham and Giles Martin, who both gave the technology the thumbs up. “If people who have Grammys and hit records to their credit say you’ve got something, well, I think we’ve got something!”

From music to films and sport While initially focused on music, Foti and the team at Telos Alliance began to explore Déjà Vu’s potential beyond the music industry. “None of us, including myself, had ever really ventured into playing around with movies or television,” he says. Over the last year, the technology has been tested on older stereo films and sports broadcasts.

At NAB Show in April, Foti demonstrated Déjà Vu with clips from Monday Night Football. “The announcers were in the centre, the team chatter was left front, right front, the crowd was all around you, which would be what you want to have happen,” he explains. This proved Déjà Vu could be a tool for broadcasters and streamers to deliver a true 5.1 surround presentation from a stereo mix, making

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it sound as if everything was originally mic’d for surround.

The same transformative effect applies to older stereo films, placing dialogue front and centre while immersing the viewer in ancillary effects.

Currently, Déjà Vu is available as a standalone application for Mac and Windows, and as a plugin in three different formats. It can also operate in the cloud, and an SDK is available for broadcasters or streaming services looking to incorporate the technology.

The future of immersive audio Foti sees Déjà Vu as an alternative to Dolby Atmos, but it can also be used to augment the technology. “With Atmos, to get the effect, you have to start with the multiple channels; it doesn’t create them.

It’s basically a rendering system,” he explains. “Say you have some old film that’s only in stereo, Déjà Vu could render it into discrete 5.1 and then from that, use the multiple channels into the Atmos renderer, so you’re able to create an Atmos presentation.

“Also, we can take the 5.1 audio channels and route those to whatever surround encoder is going to be used in the television system. In many ways, it can serve multiple masters.”

The technology works with any encoder and doesn’t rely on data reduction to create its effects, operating in a “very linear fashion.” For the optimal experience, Foti says Déjà Vu is best enjoyed with speakers because of its multiple channels. However, it can work with headphones, and Foti has developed Déjà Phonic, a separate application that can render immersive audio for headphones, offering an even more threedimensional effect.

Looking ahead, Frank believes the future of sound in TV and film will be driven by consumer demand and the ability to leverage existing home audio setups.

“Something like Déjà Vu is perfect because you get a combination of wow factor and emotion,” he concludes. “You’re watching some wonderful scene in a movie, and the sound is just right, and it moves you to tears. At that moment, you’re not thinking, oh this is great because I heard something out of the left rear speaker. It comes about because of what you’re hearing. If we can serve that visually and audibly, we all win.”

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MEDIA DELIVERY

ST Engineering iDirect, it opens the door to truly converged media delivery. The standard was published in 2024 and enables the delivery of OTT content using broadcast technology, whether satellite or terrestrial. It allows for the seamless delivery of IPbased content to VSAT networks and low-cost set top boxes (STBs) with ultimate delivery to IP-based devices such as smart TVs, smartphones and other mobile devices.

Role of DVB-NIP

BRIDGING THE CONTENT DELIVERY GAP Rami Moussawi, senior product manager at ST Engineering, offers an insight into how the DVB-NIP standard is bridging the gap between broadcast and IP content delivery

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he transformative DVB-NIP standard is poised to have a dramatic impact on the satellite broadcasting industry.

Allowing the integration of satellite delivery into the wider IP-based content delivery ecosystem, content can be distributed efficiently and at scale.

Pioneered by an active group of DVB members in 2021, and then commercially developed by a group including Eutelsat and

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DVB-NIP helps service providers overcome the problem of congested networks that reduce quality of experience in high usage environments. The standard addresses many of the challenges that service providers face in trying to deliver a consistent user experience to a broad audience, by offering a multicast solution that allows content at its highest quality to be delivered simultaneously to multiple endpoints without overloading the network. Further optimisation is gained by caching content at these endpoints. This essentially creates micro-CDNs or media hotspots much closer to the end users that can be refreshed with content during off-peak hours and further reduces the load on networks. This not only enhances the quality of the delivery but can also be used to enhance and complement other types of networks.

It also provides satellite reach to streaming video services by allowing IP-based video services to reach users, wherever they are, helping to close the digital divide.

Market adoption and business justification DVB-NIP stands to play a crucial role in helping satellite broadcasters adapt as pay-TV continues to decline. With Native IP, gateways can act as media hotspots on the reception side, allowing broadcasters to sell a service to support businesses by feeding them with entertainment content that can be deployed to support a variety of use cases. As an example, a Native IP hotspot can be deployed in a hotel to support the distribution of high-quality content that is either live or on demand, which can be multicasted efficiently, reducing the burden of the hotel’s network from an internet connectivity perspective.

Use cases and early adoption Industries such as maritime, hospitality, and distance learning are already showing significant interest in DVB-NIP. These verticals can benefit from the ability to deliver high-quality, low-latency content to remote locations where terrestrial broadband options are limited or non-existent. For example, in maritime, DVB-NIP can provide onboard entertainment and real-time communications, while in distance learning, it ensures that students in rural or underserved areas have access to educational content.

From a technical perspective, the Native IP standard already meets the vast majority of requirements needed for full-scale commercial rollouts. Our deployment of Native IP in Peru, with our ecosystem partners EKT and EasyBroadcast, demonstrated

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MEDIA DELIVERY

that Native IP can make a huge impact in connecting Areas with limited connectivity can utilise Native IP to rural communities with critical news and entertainment deliver content at high quality to many receiving points, content, often provided for free. thanks to the efficiency of multicast. This makes it an Content security and Digital Rights Management (DRM) attractive option compared to services offering unicast, remains a challenge but sits beyond the scope of the DVB which could overload networks with high demand, standard, although it is something that the DVB Project is especially for video. DVB-NIP provides the capability to actively looking to address. There are two main challenges provide a dual-play service, including localised media and when it comes to securing content. The first is the video content alongside data services, delivered over a deployment scenario where connectivity is unidirectional, GEO satellite.

Rami Moussawi and there’s no other means of connectivity available. This makes DRM deployment and management more complex.

Final thoughts The second challenge relates to the requirements of the content DVB-NIP should be viewed as complementary technology, rather owner or provider. They each have their own view on how content than being a direct competitor to terrestrial broadband, fibre or 5G. It should be protected and what they expect from a broadcaster in complements these technologies by expanding the reach of content terms of meeting those requirements. And those requirements can delivery in underserved or remote areas. Its real value lies in its vary significantly from one content owner to another. ability to integrate satellite with other networks to create a resilient, ST Engineering iDirect has found a commercial solution to address hybrid system that delivers consistent, high-quality content to a the unidirectional scenario by partnering with a leading DRM provider broader audience. but it’s something that would benefit from being more formally DVB-NIP allows traditional broadcasters, satellite providers supported within the DVB-NIP framework in the future. and video service providers to collaborate on content delivery in That said, the Peru use case remains a strong validation of the real-world scenarios. This is helping to solve some of the existing technical capabilities of DVB-NIP and its ability to roll out a robust challenges that the industry faces, while at the same time creating solution at scale. new and exciting business opportunities.

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Ikegami Electronics (Europe) GmbH

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LIVE PRODUCTION

THE VIEW FROM

above

With its FleetCast automated aerial orchestration solution, V2AIR is aiming to transform drone-filmed sports broadcasting.

Dr Daniel Guffarth gives Matthew Corrigan some insight into the technology which has already been used at a number of high-profile events

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evelopments in drone technology have opened the door to a world of possibilities for the media and entertainment industry. Lightweight, robust UASs (unmanned aerial systems) enable operations that would once have been impossible without the use of a helicopter. Use cases range from newsgathering to live sports production and beyond, with new applications regularly emerging.

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Formed in 2023, V2AIR (Vehicle to Air) is at the forefront of UAS automation technology, with its integrated platform seamlessly connecting innovative technologies to meet the real-world needs of a diverse industrial base. A Riedel Communications business, V2AIR is steeped in the company’s technology, and is working to revolutionise the sports broadcasting market, integrating its FleetCast solution with Riedel’s Easy5G private network.

Dr Daniel Guffarth leads the development of automated aerial systems for applications in live broadcasting, mobility, and media. His work focuses on enabling automation at altitude, particularly through autonomous drone operations and airspace integration. Bridging strategic innovation and technical implementation, his role aims to establish V2AIR as a relevant actor in the evolving landscape of unmanned systems and revolutionising live broadcasting.

As an introduction to the company’s work, Dr Guffarth begins by providing an explanation of what exactly is meant by the terminology.

“When we speak of Aerial Automation, we fundamentally mean the automation of all airborne and moving vehicles in the air. While the term may be seen as a neologism, it is increasingly used in professional contexts. It means removing the human from the direct control loop and dissolving the traditional 1-to-1 relationship between drone and pilot, in favour of a 1-to-X model. This shift is crucial both for improving cost efficiency on-site and for enhancing the reliability of flight manoeuvres,

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LIVE PRODUCTION

which are executed by systems rather than relying on used. “V2AIR is our company, and V2AIR FleetCast human decision-making. is our product,” he clarifies. “This product is currently “However, it is equally important to stress that being deployed primarily in race track environments, the final authority in critical decisions remains with whether on land, water, or dirt tracks. We are a human operator. Humans retain the ability to preparing a full rollout over the coming months. assess and react to hazardous situations—supported Beyond motorsports, our aerospace expertise in by robust technical systems. In the event of unmanned systems also opens up opportunities to communication loss, it is vital that each autonomous expand into other sectors and industries with our Dr Daniel Guffarth aerial unit is equipped with deterministic fallback services and solutions. While I can’t share specific strategies. That’s why our drones include proprietary details at this time, we expect to announce further onboard logic, enabling them to react according to predefined developments in the near future.” scenarios. This does not rely on artificial intelligence for decisionHe continues by outlining how the system is used on a typical making, but on reliable, rule-based autonomy.” broadcast project. A race track application might, for example, involve three free-flying and a number of tethered drones, the latter providing Meeting the challenges overview shots or all-round views of the event. “In the broadcast Dr Guffarth offers an insight into the reasons behind V2AIR’s formation, sector, there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution, and we are prepared explaining the factors that have thus far driven the company’s success. for a wide range of scenarios. Additionally, tethered drones are being “Three years ago, we began exploring the market for unmanned explored for the establishment of temporary communication networks systems, commonly known as drones. During this analysis, we at event sites. However, we are still in the testing phase and cannot identified three key barriers that we aim to overcome through the yet provide reliable estimates on how many of these relay drones are expertise of our aerospace engineering team: optimal per location.”

• Regulation: We address this in a structured manner through collaboration with experts within our team and by engaging directly Choosing the right platform with national aviation authorities as well as the European Union For productions, the self-evident cost benefits in comparison with Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). chartering helicopters are significant, but the question arises as to • Connectivity: As part of the Riedel Group, we bring strong capabilities whether there are any other advantages over a traditional manned in this domain. A specific example is our integration of Easy 5G aircraft, or, indeed, the opposite. “I don’t believe the central question is technology to ensure reliable and high-performance communication whether drones can fully replace helicopters,” says Dr Guffarth. “Take for unmanned systems. racetracks as an example: our drone system is best understood as a • Lack of Professional B2B scalability: We are tackling this together complementary tool for capturing aerial footage. It fills a gap between with our colleagues at Riedel Managed Technology, who ensure traditional helicopter shots and trackside camera systems such as professional ramp-up and operational readiness, while our team cable cams or cranes.” focuses on the corresponding technical implementation.”

“In my view, this represents a new class of aerial imaging that He goes on to explain how Riedel technology is integrated with the operates between these two established layers,” he continues.

UAS platform. “As a Riedel venture, we are part of the Riedel Group and “Replacing helicopters one-to-one, especially when it comes to carrying work closely with our colleagues across all levels of the organisation. heavy broadcast equipment, is currently not feasible with conventional With our solutions, we provide a strategic expansion of Riedel Group’s battery-powered drones—and it’s not our goal. However, a significant product portfolio, complementing its existing offerings with aerial capabilities for media, broadcast, and event technology applications.”

V2AIR's FleetCast “Our second focus lies in integrating aerial solutions like ours solution into Riedel’s core operational areas, unlocking new potential for airborne technologies within existing business fields. For example, we are currently developing solutions that will allow Riedel to offer its customers RF video live production latency and coverage surveys, as well as general 3D RF propagation planning and analysis tools. In addition, through the integration of Easy5G, our aerial systems can also be used as relay platforms at event venues, helping to enhance communications network coverage in real time from the air.”

Working in tandem with Riedel in this way, V2AIR’s solutions have already been utilised at a number of high-profile sporting events. Dr Guffarth considers recent use cases and how the systems have been

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LIVE PRODUCTION

number of shots currently captured by helicopters can already be covered by our system, offering a more flexible and cost-efficient alternative in many scenarios.”

Some years ago, drone-shot content was very obvious to the viewer, and it sometimes seemed that productions deployed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) for no other reason than they had them. Sometimes, for example, they were simply sent up into the air with a fixed camera pointing in a single direction—an effect that could realistically have been achieved with a long pole. Dr Guffarth explains how the technology is being put to much better use today. “We’ve progressed significantly in this area,” he says. “In principle, our system allows for full threedimensional movement design; within regulatory boundaries, of course—but otherwise fully customisable in terms of trajectory and speed.”

“In fact, our system enables creatives to design what we call ‘Virtual Dolly Shots’ directly on a touch interface. Using their fingertip, they can intuitively define drone movements within a 3D environment, preview camera angles during the pre-production phase, adjust paths in real time, and structure the entire shoot with a high level of precision and creative freedom. This approach allows for highly efficient and predictable production planning, bridging the gap between creative vision and technical execution.”

Considering what might be the best use cases for the technology, Dr Guffarth takes a modest approach, and says. “I don’t claim to define the ‘best’ shots or the most suitable use cases for drones in media and broadcast. However, for our system, one thing is clear: automation becomes especially valuable wherever camera movements need to be repeated. In such scenarios, a technical system like ours can perform with significantly greater precision, efficiency, and safety than a human pilot—both today and in the future.”

Navigating the regulations Naturally, jurisdictional airspace regulations form an essential facet of V2AIR’s operations, with different authorities applying different rules over, for example, line of sight flight. “We maintain close dialogue with aviation authorities such as EASA, the FAA, and national regulatory bodies, and strictly comply with all applicable regulations,” says Guffarth. “At the same time, we are actively involved in shaping the future regulatory landscape to support a more automated aviation ecosystem.

“We are members of industry associations such as UAV DACH [European Association for Unmanned Aviation] and see ourselves not only as participants in the regulatory discourse but also as technical enablers and trusted partners to aviation authorities. Our shared priority is safety. Our goal is to ensure that this emerging industry is not compromised by irresponsible behaviour or unsafe operations. In that sense, we view ourselves as implementers of legal and technical compliance — both at the national and international level — to support a safe and sustainable evolution of unmanned aviation” Looking to the future, it has been posited that UAVs could one day

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V2AIR’s solutions have already been utilised at a number of high-profile sporting events

replace helicopters entirely in the broadcast sector. Here, Dr Guffarth has a more nuanced perspective. “It ultimately depends heavily on the specific production and use case,” he comments. “Whether traditional helicopters can be replaced by drones—particularly as they are commonly understood today, i.e., battery-powered multicopters— remains questionable in my view.”

“What is far more realistic and valuable is the automation of camera-carrying aerial platforms, including unmanned helicopters, especially in event environments. In such scenarios, automation and control via a system like ours can be implemented just as efficiently as with smaller drones. Larger unmanned helicopters—often powered by combustion engines or fuel cell technology and equipped with flat rotor configurations­—offer significantly higher payload capacities. This makes them ideal for high-end broadcast applications, while still being compatible with automated operations.”

“The key point here is not the replacement of current helicopter platforms or technologies per se, but rather the introduction of automation as the underlying enabler. That automation is our driving force — it’s at the core of our approach and the basis for unlocking benefits such as improved efficiency, reduced operational costs, and increased reliability.”

Finally, and once again looking forward, Dr Guffarth considers potential future opportunities for the technology. “We are still in the midst of developing our broadcast use case—the journey is far from complete. One of the key next steps, from our perspective, is the increased integration of artificial intelligence, not for flight control or safety—which remain rules-based—but for image recognition, object detection, and the use of overlay technologies directly on the drone and within the captured visuals. We see this as a crucial advancement, and we plan to demonstrate these capabilities later this summer.”

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AUDIO

Darth faders:

CAPTURING THE SOUND OF ANDOR

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AUDIO

When your preparation involves the recording of not just different environments but different planets, you have to be on top of your game. In the first of a two-part interview, production sound mixer Nadine Richardson tells Kevin Emmott how preparing for intergalactic travel is the most important part of the job

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hatever planet you are on, the key to capturing authentic audio footage is always about planning and preparation; it not only determines the right equipment to use, but how and where it should be used. Is it windy? Is there any background noise? Is there a team of five people controlling a massive animatronic head in the middle of a rye field?

These things are important. Thankfully, having worked on some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of recent years, Nadine Richardson is an old hand at this sort of thing. More recently, she spent seven months entrenched in the Star Wars universe as the production sound mixer on season two of Andor, and wherever she was in the galaxy, she knew exactly what to expect before a microphone was even plugged in.

Photo by Des Willie. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved

Meticulous preparation

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to deal with as you go through the job. For example, is it a windy planet or a rainy planet? What might the sound issues be? Where can we use boom mics, can they be painted out, and what is the cost of all that?

“These conversations are important and prep is the best time to speak with the SFX, VFX and costume departments, as well as the director and the DoP about how they are going to shoot it.”

The wider team Having previously worked on a number of high-profile Marvel projects before moving into the Star Wars universe, and with both brands now under the Disney umbrella, Richardson is already a member of a tight production community that has worked together on a number of projects. Which is just as well, because it’s a real team effort, and it’s one of Richardson’s jobs to keep everyone in the team talking to each other. On a show like Andor it’s even more important.

“The attention to detail on Star Wars properties is incredible, and they like things to be realistic with real props and creatures created from scratch,” says Richardson. “On Andor there was even a standalone creatures department, and one creature can require up to six people performing at the same time. Once you’re wearing a big animatronic head, you may need to be told what your other limbs are doing, and we provided the comms so that all the performers could talk to each other.

“Each comms system was designed for its specific purpose as either one-to-one or one-to-many, or a full duplex system so the teams could all talk to each other at the same time, and we had to plan for independent comms systems with separate frequencies whenever there were multiple creatures in any one scene."

Charting Cassian Andor’s life leading up to the events of 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Disney+ series is set in the same time period, and both the visual and sound design are identical. The creature FX, costumes, and overall look and feel are the same, with set builds that Richardson describes as “unparalleled and meticulous.”

“We wanted to bring the same meticulous depth of work to the sound, and prep is the most important part of every production,” says Richardson. “Each episode of Andor is almost the length of a film so there’s a lot going on and there are many things to think about. It all comes down to reading the script at the beginning and breaking it down into its individual elements. You have to get involved early and if you’re not speaking to other departments at this stage, then Nadine Richardson you’re going to discover issues you need

B2EMO “For B2EMO, for example, there was a

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AUDIO

team of people controlling the droid as well as the main puppeteer who voiced it. In the UK there is a tradition for live dialogue on set with performers who do the voicework, so we would also mic up some of the performers or puppeteers to provide dialogue for reference or for use in post. And because it is always better for them to be on set with line of sight to the droid, I had the puppeteer’s dialogue for timing within my mix, and their voice on a hidden loudspeaker on the droid so it comes out in the right space on set.

This helps the actors interact with it in a way that they couldn’t if it was someone behind the camera just speaking the lines.”

Similarly, Richardson worked closely with the props department to develop specific comms circuits for performers in Andor’s high-tech ships, and they were also exploited to encourage more nuanced performances from the talent.

“Again, we aimed to get them into the space where they’re supposed to be coming from, and we often had cast members with handheld mics, which we could feed into the ship so that we could capture their dialogue clean and the actors could interact with them authentically. Similarly, if it’s the real person they are reacting to rather than someone else just feeding the lines, it’s easier to get a more authentic performance.”

PICTURED ABOVE: Creature comms set up in the morning before being placed on the puppeteers

Kit list Such comprehensive coverage demands a comprehensive equipment list. For comms, the team used Sennheiser gear for the handheld mics and inear monitors. The radio transmitters were Wisycom MTP61s, while the actual radio mics were DPA 6060 and 6061s. “They sound amazing and they are half the size of the 4000 series, which makes it much easier to hide them in tight Imperial clothing,” says Richardson.

“For the boom microphones we used Sanken CS-3e mics and Schoeps CMC 6 + MK41s, or the DPA 4017s.

Having a selection to hand is very useful; for example, if you are working on an interior scene, then a DPA 4017 and a DPA radio mic can mix really well and make for a really nice ambience.”

Size really does matter on productions like Andor and it’s the little things that can make a big difference.

Utilising the same super sharp, straight, and tight-fitting uniforms as in Rogue One, mic’ing the Imperial officers were a particular challenge—and once agan teamwork was key. ​​“We had to be very careful with those costumes,” says Richardson. “They are pencil sharp and I was lucky to have Jim Hok and Tom Fennell on my radio mics

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Jim Hok and Nadine RIchardson at the main cart and mini cart team. Tom did all the radio mic’ing for Rogue One, and Jim joined him on the additional photography, so they both already had experience in that world. And both are meticulous with their design of placing radio mics!

With the Imperials you might see some pockets with pens, and we placed the mics right next to the pens. All the Imperials were also double mic’ed so that if they moved their head away from one mic, I could pick them up on the other. It meant that if you have eight people speaking in a scene, it’s 16 mics! On Andor there was a much higher radio mic count due to this, and I would have a high track count on my Cantar recorder.”

In part two, which will be published in TVBEurope’s September issue, Richardson explains how all this effort enabled her to ground the whole soundscape in reality— because even working in a galaxy far, far away, you have to keep it real.

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PRODUCTION AND POST

What is your job title and what does it entail?

I am a director and writer who also does camera work. For most of my projects, I am responsible for writing the scripts, directing, filming on location, and handling all the associated administrative tasks.

My work also includes writing and directing TV programmes. This is always carried out in phases over a set period of time. While these individual jobs are constantly changing, they all have one thing in common: the creation of moving images.

Tell us about your most recent project.

A day in the life…

In the latest of our series focusing on the day-to-day realities of working in media and entertainment, TVBEurope meets Sas Kaykha, an independent camera operator/ director based in Hamburg

While I´m answering these questions, my editing computer is running in the background. I’m currently editing several commercials for a company that produces protective gear for extreme sports. The shoot took one day; and editing will take about four.

Furthermore, there are other things like tracking and creating 3D titles to do.

One special thing was shooting the packshots on location, even though they are usually created in 3D or shot in a studio. This was particularly challenging due to the unpredictable weather. The advantage of this approach is that the packshots blend in perfectly with the other shots. Since I come from the extreme sports sector, I always enjoy projects like this.

Describe your daily working routine.

During production, I get up far too early. Thereafter, I meet with the client to discuss that day`s scenes.

Depending on the size of the project, I either work with a team or shoot alone.

Nowadays, a lot of things must happen quickly, so a tight schedule is usually necessary. Between takes, I entertain the clients. It makes things much easier and more relaxed when both the customers and our team are enjoying ourselves.

I usually schedule editing time for the evenings or at night, when things are more relaxed. I divide my time between the rough cut and fine cut according to customer approval, as well as for colour correction and effects. Depending on the project, I spend between one and 10 days editing.

What sort of technology do you work with on a daily/ frequent basis?

When I travel alone, I’m accompanied by the Canon

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PRODUCTION AND POST

R5C, a gimbal and an FPV drone. That’s all I usually need. For larger productions, we usually rent the equipment. In the advertising sector, the RED camera has become the norm; if you’re lucky, you might get to shoot with an Arri. In addition to lighting, we use dollies, gimbals, drones and cranes.

I recently switched completely from the Adobe Suite to DaVinci Resolve for editing. After more than 25 years with Adobe, this was a big step, but it has worked wonderfully. Now, apart from photos, I do all my post production with DaVinci.

How has technology changed your life since you started your career?

I started editing wedding videos when I was 14. Back then, we used Beta or SVHS, and sometimes even 8mm. At university, we also shot on film. Then came digitalisation, which opened up an incredible number of possibilities: suddenly I could shoot films on a very low budget that would previously have cost a lot. Gimbals and drones also made expensive film technology more affordable.

Today, I can carry everything that would previously have required a van in my backpack. The most recent big step has been AI. In practical terms, this has simplified many things, especially in audio editing.

What piece of equipment can you absolutely not do without?

As I often need to take photos or create hyperlapse alongside filming, Canon’s R5C camera is the best choice. It also ties in well with my old 5D Mk3. I travelled the world a lot with it for BMW, and I grew very fond of the camera. I was really sad when I sold it.

However, the R5C is a worthy successor. As it also Sas at work on a music video

can film in RAW, I can always get the job done with it, even if the rest of the equipment has been forgotten at the airport. In addition, the R5C is much more inconspicuous than larger cameras. This allows you to capture images that would otherwise be impossible or very difficult.

And what do you wish someone would invent to make your job easier?

Have you seen the film, Click? In it, Adam Sandler has a remote control that can stop time, among other things. Not having enough time for a scene and being under pressure often turns an emerging masterpiece into an average product.

However, there is also something that can be implemented for real. AR (augmented reality) technology will soon be available in regular glasses.

As a director, I would find it useful to have a pair of glasses that can show the current camera image with relevant information and display the script alongside the dialogue for reference, and so on. A simple tap could switch between the camera image, the script and a clear view.

What has been your favourite/most memorable assignment?

Two customers regularly send me all over the world.

So, it’s not just one job, but rather the nature of these assignments: Me, my backpack and possibly a trolley. Every time the plane takes off and I feel the acceleration, I think: ‘Oh, mankind!’

Then there are the foreign countries, the relaxed video shoots in great locations and the speed tourism - quickly checking out as many sights as possible before the flight back. I love this kind of job and I look back on every single one of them with pleasure.

I do many of them with my colleague Markus, a photographer and concept designer from Munich.

What do you see as the next big thing in your area?

Artificial intelligence. Not in the sense of creating entire films, but rather as a tool that can assist in many areas. For example, it makes preparing audio much easier in editing. You can also access various assets much faster and generate 3D files. The quality and consistency of creations are improving all the time.

In terms of cameras, AI-based tracking and focusing will be a great help. I think short videos and campaigns generated entirely by AI are likely to become interesting for social media, while real footage and real people will continue to be used in scenic films.

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MEDIA MANAGEMENT

Driving efficiencies with the

Cloud

BBC Studios is working with 7fivefive and AWS to scale its virtual architecture, supporting post production and content-based workflows.

Emma Ellis, creative services technology manager, global technology at BBC Studios, explains why Why was it important for BBC Studios to make the move to the cloud?

As the Operations and Supply Chain Technology Product Group within Global Technology, our priority is to align creative technology capabilities to meet business goals. Our strategic objectives adhere to the MovieLabs 2030 Vision by bringing creative services and applications directly to the content. By reimagining workflows within a cloud-native framework, we have modernised our post production processes and built a centralised location for accessing and managing our content. This brings significant efficiencies, enables global collaboration and ensures we stay agile.

Which workflows have you transitioned to the cloud?

A core focus is our remote edit workflow, which provides the capability to tailor appropriate cloud resources to different editing types. Content that needs to be ring-fenced for long-term retention is archived in Amazon S3, with a tiering policy that ensures cost optimisation.

How has that increased productivity?

Our goal is to focus on creating engaging content for our audiences and not be impaired by repetitive and often time-consuming manual processes. Driving efficiencies via cloud automation means we can remove common operational bottlenecks that often hinder productivity. The ability to dynamically scale and adapt our compute resources in the cloud is also a huge benefit. Being able to control how resources are deployed ensures accurate ‘right-sizing’ to meet our creative requirements, while also guaranteeing access as and when the teams require it.

Why choose 7fivefive and AWS? 7fivefive’s consultative expertise and insight has been key throughout our cloud journey. The team are trusted partners that have helped us to design and implement solutions which allow us to dynamically scale based on business need, maximise utilisation, and enhance

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creativity. 7fivefive is embedded in the AWS ecosystem and this interoperability provides an important foundation for future development. AWS has invested heavily in R&D for the media sector and understands the unique requirements of creative workflows, so we wanted to take advantage of those benefits as new capabilities are rolled out.

How are you dealing with security?

As I mentioned, we are bringing services and applications to the content, but we are also bringing people. We have identity-based access that incorporates both user provisioning and gated rights. Our remote edit environment is integrated with BBC Single Sign-On as a mandatory requirement across all BBC Studios staff members and freelancers. The system is designed to ensure a high level of security, and we operate centralised logging for audits and reviews.

How has the cloud helped you work more efficiently with other regions?

Enabling cross-regional access to the remote edit environment has greatly enhanced collaboration across our geographically located creative teams. With automated file transfer workflows, teams can effortlessly share and update in-progress content, streamlining collaboration and accelerating delivery timelines.

How do you see BBC Studios continuing to use the cloud in the coming years?

This project has provided a foundation for innovation and resilience in a changing media industry. We have scaled virtual post production over the past five years with a future goal to increase our cloud presence further by implementing a cross-regional ‘follow-the-sun’ approach, allowing our creative teams to collaborate effortlessly on assets and projects across multiple geographic locations. We are very keen to build on this success and have committed to an ongoing partnership with 7fivefive until 2028.

PRODUCTION AND POST

GIVING

Trash A

SECOND LIFE

Ordures is a 48-minute film that blends stop motion and live action to tell the story of discarded singleuse objects. Produced by Darjeeling, ARTE, Foliascope, Inthebox and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, the film follows Gobi, a disposable cup on a journey to find his owner, Marie, while addressing themes of waste, recycling, overconsumption and environmental sustainability

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T

he project emerged from discussions between Parisbased production company Darjeeling and their longtime partner, French-German public broadcaster ARTE, driven by a shared desire to tackle the ecological absurdity of single-use items.

“We had long wanted to tackle the subject of waste, specifically our relationship with single-use items, which are an ecological absurdity,” explains Marc Lustigman, producer at Darjeeling.

“From the beginning, the goal was to reach both young adults (from around high school age) and adults. We decided to lean into comedy, crafting a fantastical and absurd story that allows audiences to laugh together without guilt, while still encouraging meaningful reflection on our relationship with waste."

For Foliascope, the project aligned perfectly with their mission.

“Foliascope has always supported audiovisual works that carry human, historical, and environmental messages," notes Nicolas Flory, artistic and technical director at Foliascope, who served as supervising editor on the film. “Ordures takes the unique perspective of trash to tell stories about us as people. It sheds light on waste management, overconsumption, and our throwaway culture.”

The film is an absurdist adventure where audiences meet Gobi

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PRODUCTION AND POST

alongside other discarded characters: Odette, a jaded old cup; Jordan, a teenage-sounding smartphone; and Sasha, a can repurposed as an ashtray. “Together, they reflect on their existence, their place in the world, and us, whom they call the movers,” Flory explains.

Foliascope was initially brought on to produce animation tests before moving into a comprehensive breakdown of the film's technical and creative challenges. “One of the biggest was creating a photorealistic hybrid film that blended live action with stop motion on a TV series budget,” Flory reveals. For this, the team chose to build its post pipeline around DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Cloud to facilitate collaboration."

The pre-production phase required meticulous planning through animatic breakdown to limit the number and complexity of stop motion shots. Key challenges included designing a puppet cast from manufactured objects, gathering technical data from live action teams regarding lighting, camera angles, and lens information to faithfully replicate conditions in the stop motion studio, and coordinating between live action and stop motion teams. One of the most complex elements proved to be animating stop motion characters in aquatic environments, including city sewers.

The creative team had to develop a unique approach to character design and production workflow. "First, we had to design our characters, recycled objects with added eyes, noses, and mouths, to bring them to life. These seemingly simple puppets are actually highly detailed: waterproofed, reinforced, rigged, and built to be animated,” Flory explains.

From the storyboard stage, the team strategised ways to preserve photorealism while keeping costs manageable. This meant mixing live action shots with animation, doing live manipulation using rods or

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The filmmakers' goal was to "make the trash feel truly alive" fishing lines, and avoiding unnecessary set builds. Many locations— Parisian streets, sewers, garden sheds—were real environments that didn't require construction.

“For most sewer scenes, we built a custom tank at Foliascope to better control both the live action and stop motion shooting. Some backgrounds used 3D, and we brought in animation studio Inthebox for compositing, VFX, and 3D expertise,” Flory notes.

Unlike traditional stop motion productions where everything is tightly planned before filming, Ordures required flexibility due to its live action component. “Animating characters in water or interacting with humans and animals forced us to adapt on the fly both narratively and technically,” Flory explains.

Managing complex workflows with cloud collaboration The hybrid nature of Ordures necessitated coordinating multiple teams: a live action unit in the Paris region, a live action team working in-studio at Foliascope, a stop-motion team located in Valence, France, and a 3D/compositing/VFX team at Inthebox in Annecy. In most cases, live action scenes were shot first As animation and edited, then pre-graded and proceeded at Foliascope, new exported for stop motion animation live action shots at Foliascope. were being filmed "Blackmagic Cloud was crucial and edited in Paris to the production, especially for remote collaboration between the director and Foliascope. It also ensured we could share each production phase with the director, DoP, colourist, VFX/compositing team, and production team,” Flory explains. “We made a deliberate choice to place Blackmagic Cloud at the centre of the creative process for Ordures, helping us organise and streamline production. Department heads could track progress daily,

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Photo[s]: ARTE France, DARJEELING, Auvergne Rhône Alpes Cinéma

Blending live action with stop motion

Photo: ARTE France, DARJEELING, Auvergne Rhône Alpes Cinéma

PRODUCTION AND POST

Ordures took full advantage of DaVinci Resolve's cloud collaboration workflow capabilities and it allowed us to collectively troubleshoot and make technical decisions across live action, animation, and post production teams.”

Foliascope leveraged its extensive experience with DaVinci Resolve Studio and Fusion Studio across multiple productions.

“Given the hybrid nature of Ordures, it felt like the right project to take full advantage of DaVinci Resolve's cloud collaboration workflow capabilities,” Flory notes.

Throughout production, the workflow enabled seamless coordination between distributed teams. “While animation and editing were happening at Foliascope, the director was still shooting and editing new live action material in Paris. We shared the evolving timeline with the colourist remotely to pre-grade the live action base before importing it into Dragonframe for stop motion animation.”

The team used DaVinci Resolve Studio for editing, plan labelling, and workflow tracking, while Fusion Studio helped previsualise shots before stop motion began, then cleaned up shots afterward—removing rigs and green screens, stabilising, and colour correcting before sending them to Inthebox for final compositing. “Resolve and ShotGrid became our hubs for technical and creative tracking. We also used Resolve's Presentation mode for review sessions with the production team. It would render out a timeline or segment that we could easily share.”

While embracing cloud-based workflows, Flory maintained clear boundaries around creative control. “Blackmagic Cloud makes it easy to review dailies and share sequence drafts remotely. It gives everyone visibility into the work-in-progress. That said, for the main timelines,

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I prefer to keep control locally. Those are moments where I need full hands-on involvement.”

The team found particular value in the flexibility of its cloud-based workflow during tight production schedules. “After the first live action shoot, we shared the edit with our remote colourist to do a pre-grade before importing it for animation. As animation proceeded at Foliascope, new live action shots were being filmed and edited in Paris. Thanks to Blackmagic Cloud, we stayed on schedule despite a tight turnaround.”

Environmental impact and partnerships Beyond its technical innovations, Ordures serves a larger purpose in environmental education. “As the characters reflect on their lives, viewers are gently encouraged to think about their own habits—how we consume, discard, and value objects,” Flory explains.

The film has attracted support from environmental organisations including Syctom (Greater Paris waste agency), Alcome (anti-cigarette litter organisation), Gestes Propres (litter prevention agency), and Refashion (textile recycling organisation), who joined to support the series' message as it rolled out.

“Ideally, viewers are immersed in the story and don't dwell on how it was made. But blending live action and stop motion was a daily technical and creative challenge. Our goal was to make the trash feel truly alive. Whether interacting with people, animals, or water, those scenes were complex to execute, but they had to feel effortless to serve the emotion,” Flory concludes.”

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AUDIO

Equality

for audio in remote production

By Kathryn Taub, product marketing manager–audio at Audinate

A

s broadcasters seek more flexible, scalable, and costeffective workflows, many are shifting toward remote and cloud-based production models. Much of the focus in these transitions tends to land on video, including how it is transported and switched. When audio is not prioritised, the viewer experience suffers, and operational efficiency breaks down. In broadcast, audio communicates the message. Video shows what is happening, but without audio, there is no context or meaning. A press conference without sound is just a silent room. Commentary, dialogue, and ambient sound help the viewer understand what they are watching.

This matters even more today, as content is often consumed passively on second screens or in the background. In these situations, audio becomes the primary connection. If it fails, the audience quickly tunes out.

More signals, more complexity Remote and hybrid production models offer flexibility but introduce new layers of complexity for audio. In a studio, routing and monitoring are handled on-site by a dedicated team. In a distributed environment, those signals may span multiple locations, networks, and cloud systems.

A typical broadcast may include host microphones and ambient or crowd sound for the on-air mix, as well as return audio, intercom, and IFB for internal communication and monitoring. Each of these must be routed with low latency, clearly monitored, and kept in sync with video, even in unpredictable environments.

Audio-video sync remains a major challenge. Small delays cause lipsync errors that undermine professionalism and viewer trust, especially during live broadcasts.

Comms infrastructure is mission-critical Audio also powers the production team itself. In remote or hybrid environments, comms systems are essential for coordination between directors, producers, camera operators, and on-air talent. Any delay or drop in comms slows production and increases the risk of missed cues. Teams working in distributed control rooms, OB units, or at-home setups need reliable systems that match the quality of their programme feeds. In this context, audio is not just what the audience hears; it is what keeps the production running.

Modern audiences expect more than basic stereo, increasing complexity. Broadcasters are delivering a variety of audio streams, including language-specific commentary tracks, alternate mixdowns for streaming platforms and monitoring feeds for production staff in different locations. These are not fringe use cases. They are becoming standard for tier-one productions and are rapidly filtering down to midtier workflows.

Planning for audio from day one Audio is often planned after video, causing inefficiencies and limiting flexibility. Integrating audio planning early ensures systems are built to support scalable networked audio, interoperability between on-prem and cloud-based systems, and redundant paths for critical audio feeds.

Audio deserves the same planning rigour as video because it carries the same risk when it fails.

Achieving reliable audio depends on designing audio and video systems together from the outset. To do this, teams should: • Involve A1s and audio specialists early in workflow design • Choose platforms that support remote routing, monitoring, and configuration • Test IFB, intercom, and return feeds under realistic network conditions • Maintain audio-video sync through proper system setup and workflow design • Include audio systems in redundancy and failover planning • Provide operators and engineers with tools and training for fast issue resolution Successful broadcast operations do not silo audio and video. They bring both together under a shared strategy, where collaboration and alignment lead to better outcomes on air.

Broadcast is about delivering a clear and cohesive experience to the audience, and audio is half of that experience. In remote and hybrid production, getting audio right is essential to maintaining editorial control, team coordination, and viewer trust.

The tools exist to make audio as flexible, scalable, and reliable as any video system, but that only happens when it is given equal weight in the planning process. Prioritising audio is key to delivering broadcasts that connect with audiences.

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THE FINAL WORD

Cloud: why size may not matter

By Steve Brewer, VP of development and technology, Pixel Power

C

loud and IP-based workflows have been regular discussion topics in our industry for over a decade, but for all the early talk of cloud as a ‘cure-all’ solution offering a host of attractive efficiency benefits, it’s clear that the majority of broadcasters and content producers have taken a typically conservative and selective ‘pick and choose’ approach to cloud.

The arguments on paper look compelling—wider access to fibre and ultra-fast broadband have opened up the possibility of low-latency live production in the cloud, as well as making it easier for remote teams to share and collaborate, edit and approve. However, in 2025 the idyllic world of seamless end-to-end workflows in the cloud still feels some way off.

Standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 have taken time to bring all of the major players into their orbit, and the recurring (hidden) costs associated with moving data around in the cloud remain stubbornly high.

Another aspect of the cloud argument relates to how cloudbased production and playout solutions are presented to broadcasters by vendors, and it seems that different players have decided on different approaches. Some have chosen to make their products available as browser-based platforms, whereas others (including Pixel Power) have provided their solutions as native applications. It is our view that the native app model is the preferable way of architecting solutions because it recognises the fact that there are two main types of system user: 1. The IT/technical/support user who is happy using a webbased interface for overall setup and configuration, and values remote access, instant deployment, free licenses and ‘any platform’ independence.

2. The daily operator who needs a ‘full-fat’ rich and responsive user interface offering low latency, full customisation and access to unique features.

The needs and priorities of these two users are different, and we believe that native apps more readily cater to the operational requirements of the operator persona, offering the best possible UI for these frequent users.

To expand further, native applications are more likely to be optimised for local hardware and offer full access to functionality even when offline, unlike web apps. They also tend

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to offer better system integration, providing deep access to file systems, peripherals and operating system APIs. In addition, they are not restricted or limited by the capabilities of the browser. While browser interfaces can make sense in certain applications—where frequent updates are expected, where there is a need for many users or where the underlying application is relatively simple and not pushing the envelope of performance and useability—the user experience of native apps is generally more integrated, more robust and therefore preferable.

A side-effect of cloud adoption and increased traction has been the emergence of microservices, but it is worth noting that these are not always preferable to macroservices when the bigger picture is considered. Microservices can be expensive and inefficient (in terms of creating multiple copies of data), and they are not best suited for complex workloads. Microservices are also not necessary when we are discussing scalability and resilience. Macroservices still enable a ‘meaningful amount of work’ and can offer both scalability and resilience.

So, are we suggesting microservices are a bad idea? We wouldn’t go that far. For very large applications with sizeable and/or geographically remote development teams they offer a solution to these organisational challenges.

When considering product and platform development roadmaps, experience shows that solutions vendors have difficult decisions to make depending on their previous ‘browser versus native’ architecture choices. Those technology companies that have chosen the browser approach may well find themselves lagging behind in terms of user experience, performance and capability compared to those that have remained with native applications which can take greater advantage of the underlying technology, especially where high fidelity graphics are involved.

This is especially true for high complexity, smaller user number applications such as broadcast playout where only a few operators tend to be using the system at a time.

Equally, companies that have chosen a microservices solution will pay the price in terms of quality. These applications are rarely developed by large teams and a fully microservices architecture introduces complexity that is not needed, resulting in lower quality and longer resolution times when there are problems. Choose wisely!

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