Pike Media Lab taps Grass Valley software-defined playout
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Editor
| 02 July 2019

Aiming to roll out new services more easily and quicker as part of its plans to add channels in Russia and North America, cable and OTT playout platform provider Pike Media Lab has transitioned to a software only playout solution from Grass Valley.

The Russian media services provider offers playout services to the Russian Federation and also access to Russian channels for Russian-speaking audiences in North America. The company now believes that it can take advantage of the business agility that software-defined solutions provide.

Central to the new playout capability is ICE SDC, which supports uncompressed 2022-6 video streams and is said to enable the Russian media services provider to leverage new commercial and operational models as well as handle content from almost any source and distribute it quickly to any platform.

Grass Valley’s ability to deliver a comprehensive playout solution with integrated media asset management (MAM) and automation was said to be a key factor for Pike Media Lab.

“The types of services consumers demand is constantly changing, so we need a dynamic playout and media management system that can adapt to new service models and support innovative ways of working,” explained Andrey Kovalenko, CEO of Pike Media Lab.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Grass Valley and theirs was the only solution that allowed us to deploy the system in a way that we wanted. Grass Valley also gave us complete freedom to implement the commodity off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware of our choice, supplying a software-only solution that delivers the capability we need within our budget. The Grass Valley team also worked in close collaboration with us to ensure we had a playout facility that was right for our business. We now have an operation that can enable our customers to respond very quickly to what consumers want – today and tomorrow.”

Tim Banks, vice president of sales, EMEA, Grass Valley added: “As broadcasters and media companies have to adapt rapidly to shifting consumer demands, software-based solutions become increasingly relevant to operations of all sizes, delivering a dynamic and agile infrastructure that can be expanded fast – without incurring large costs.”