mediaClass announces Broadcast-Pro, a new version of its end-to-end IPTV/OTT multiscreen platform. Broadcast-Pro is designed for broadcasters and content owners who are looking to launch an independent TV-everywhere service for their customers.

Nevion, award-winning provider of virtualized media production solutions, has experienced a growth in bookings in its Americas region of 34% so far in 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. Sales of software and services in the region have also more than quadrupled in the period, reflecting the increased demand for IP solutions, based on Nevion’s flagship software-defined products.

In 2019, Nevion has signed several significant deals with new and existing customers in in the Americas, most notably with a US national broadcast network and a leading international satellite services provider. These high-profile projects are currently in the process of being delivered.

To build on that growth, and to meet the surge in interest in workflow-transforming IP solutions, two seasoned and highly-regarded sales executives, Edward McGivern and Ron Rosenthal, have recently joined Nevion’s Americas team.

With 20 years’ experience selling high-value technology solutions in the broadcast market, McGivern has held senior sales positions at Snell Advanced Media, Imagine Communications and Grass Valley. Most recently, he was the director of Tektronix’s video sales division for the Americas.

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has appointed former Pac-12 Networks Sr. Director, Content Production Laura Podolak Waddell as its new Director, Strategic Partnership Management for North America. Laura joins the team to enhance brand relationships with a focus on an ongoing studio operations project that Gravity Media is overseeing for a major media and technology brand.

After nearly a decade of local news production for radio stations in Colorado and California, Laura became part of Pac-12 Networks’ launch team in 2012. The considerable amount of broadcasting experience she gained during her time there has led her to join Gravity Media where she will bring teams across the country closer together to streamline production processes and improve content output for clients. As Laura emphasises, the role comprises everything that fascinates her about production; “compelling content, a fast-paced environment and all the unique personalities of content creators.”

Laura’s past seven years at Pac-12 Networks were focused on relationship building, enhancing communication across content teams and implementing production best practices. The biggest challenge she’s seen in the broadcasting industry over that time was engaging a young audience, finding out where the younger viewers are consuming content and what sports they’re most interested in watching to entice the next generation of fans. “Nobody can predict exactly where media consumption is going, but what we do know, is that people want to watch engaging content,” she notes.

MIRRAD supplies two Avolites consoles for Ben Everett’s design for producer, songwriter and performer’s headlining tour

A lot has happened in Maggie Rogers’ world since 2016, when a video of her demoing a then-newly-recorded song, “Alaska,” for Pharrell Williams at NYU went viral. Following opening slots on major tours with both HAIM and Mumford & Sons last year, Rogers dropped her own major label debut, Heard It in a Past Life, this past January, which charted in the second highest slot of the Billboard 200. Consequently, the artist has spent much of 2019 on the road in support of the album, performing a sold-out fall headline tour in such iconic venues as Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Berkley’s Greek Theatre, and New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.

The “look and feel” of Rogers’ tour this year has been a collaborative effort between the artist and Lighting Designer Ben Everett, who first started working with her when he lit Rogers’ first-ever show in London two years ago. Having toured with an impressive roster of bands over the past five years—including Bear's Den, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Dandy Warhols—Everett is now part of the UK-based MIRRAD team, which has been supplying a pair of Avolites Sapphire Touch lighting control consoles for Rogers’ 2019 worldwide trek.

Everett notes that he’s been using Avolites lighting consoles “pretty much since I started in the live music industry,” he shares. “I was lucky enough to learn on all of the early Titan software, and mainly used the Tiger Touch II and Quartz consoles to begin with. The features that kept me attracted to the desks at first were the ability to quickly create really impressive and intricate effects, and the user-friendly and multi-functional layout of the touchscreens. And while growing with the consoles over the years, the ease of being able to create cue stacks, key frame shapes, and pixel mapping really helps me in my day-to-day programming now.”

Masstech is pleased to announce that James Whitebread has joined the company as Chief Digital Officer.

James has a 15-year background in product design and development for sports and media and entertainment (M&E), and extensive experience in telecoms and security. He has led product development and builds for diverse clients including IMG, BT, UEFA, Disney, Warner Bros., FIFA, Technicolor, Amazon Prime, TATA and Cardinal Heath Care.

Before joining Masstech, James was CTO at MarcoPolo Learning, supporting the company’s expansion into China through delivery of new products and services. Prior to that, James was VP of Product and Technology for UI Centric, leading projects for high profile clients such as UEFA, FIFA, AMC, PIX Systems and VUBIQUITY to deliver products and services such as UEFA.TV and MUTV.

Previously James was Director of Digital at Technicolor, where he designed and built the Showcase platform that went on to service clients including Canal Plus, Entertainment One and Warner Bros.

James holds a BSc in Business Systems, and is currently studying for an MBA at Wrexham University, along with a Professional Qualification in Platform Disruption at MIT.

Quantum Corp. today announced that Regan MacPherson has joined the company as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer.

MacPherson joins the company as it builds on a growing reputation for leadership in the high-speed processing and management of video and video-like data, and the long-term, low-cost archive of unstructured data. The new role underscores Quantum’s commitment to corporate governance as the company prepares to resume public trading on a national stock exchange.

“Regan joins Quantum at a time when the company is transitioning from its reorganisation phase and resuming a growth posture,” said Jamie Lerner, President and CEO of Quantum. “As we set the stage for more sustainable success, Regan’s track record for strong corporate governance and broad experience managing complex transactions makes her a welcome addition to a refreshed executive team.”

Appear TV, a leading provider of next-generation high-quality video processing platforms for broadcast and streaming, has launched Zixi input and output support on the X platform.

The Appear TV X platform is a dedicated solution for high speed video networking, enhanced IP security, video distribution and contribution. Designed for near limitless capacity, extensive video awareness, enhanced security, operational simplicity and exceptionally high reliability, the platform redefines video delivery.

“We see an increased demand for modular video transport solutions over IP, providing the flexibility broadcasters and operators require, whilst maintaining ease of use, power efficiency and density,” says Thomas Lind, product management director, Appear TV. “Our partnership with Zixi allows our customers to tap into the Zixi cloud service for broadcast-quality video delivery over public IP networks, presenting a natural extension to our X platform.”

The X platform consists of a compact 1RU - X10 as well as a capacious 2RU - X20 option. The products can both be fitted with a range of input, processing and output modules that enable bridging between commonly used legacy video platforms and an all-IP infrastructure. With support for MPEG TS multiplexing, DVB scrambling/descrambling and high-density/low-latency AVC/HEVC encoding/decoding, the X platform is ideal for video processing in legacy DVB network such as cable, satellite, terrestrial and IPTV, as well as OTT. The dual IP IO modules provide native 10G uni- and bi-directional port connectivity, and the software-defined hardware allows for a variety of software features to run on identical hardware modules. All modules, power supplies and fans are of course hot-swappable.

Ariana Grande’s Sweetener World Tour is underway with disguise 4x4pro media servers and OmniCal projector-calibration engine playing a key role in facilitating the ethereal, galaxy-themed visuals on stage.

The tour supports the artist’s fourth and fifth studio albums, ‘sweetener’ and ‘thank u, next.’ It kicked off in March 2019 in New York and wraps in December 2019 in California, comprising three legs and a total of 102 dates in North America and Europe.

“The tour was designed to highlight the range and femininity of Ariana and create an ever-transforming space for her to perform her latest albums and give the audience an immersive experience to dive into as they witness Ariana's journey through her music,” says Loren Barton, Media Department Director with Lumentech. He has overseen the projection and media departments in support of many recent projects by Production and Lighting Designer LeRoy Bennett. Possible Productions produced the motion graphics for the show, which sees the stage brought to life with visuals of space during the song ‘NASA’, the visuals then turn the stage into a planet, a moon and a galaxy. From conversations with Ariana herself, Michael Figge and his team at Possible created a stage theme for each song that reinforced the choreography and lighting.

Tyrell, a leading broadcast, professional video and audio solutions provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland, has announced the expansion of the team, with the appointment of Tony Rhodes as Account Manager, based in London. The appointment of Tony reflects Tyrell’s continued investment in the UK team.

Black Box Emerald® Unified KVM Platform
At 2019 NAB Show New York, Black Box will highlight its Emerald® Unified KVM platform, which provides the exceptional flexibility and network security essential to state-of-the-art KVM extension and switching. The low-latency, high-performance Emerald 4K and Emerald SE transmitter-receiver pairs connect workstations with remote computers and servers over distances up to 10 kilometers over single-mode fiber, or even farther over IP, while the new Emerald Remote App facilitates convenient anywhere, anytime access. With uniquely robust capabilities for reliable extension and switching of video, audio, USB, and serial signals across any number of physical and virtual servers, Emerald lowers users' cost of ownership and helps them preserve existing IT investments.

disguise is celebrating its most successful year to date with multiple awards wins, and industry-first product launches. disguise is also pleased to announce the expansion of its EMEA sales and support teams with a number of new appointments.

NEP UK, the leading provider of outside broadcasting, fixed rig, remote production and media workflow solutions, has appointed a raft of new commercial and technical leads who will be key to accelerating growth within the expanding divisions of the world renowned company.

Hitomi Broadcast, manufacturer of MatchBox, the industry’s leading audio video alignment toolbox, is partnering with Broadcast Wireless Systems (BWS), manufacturer of the ultra-low latency BWS NanoPRO TX camera-back transmitter, to showcase remote production capabilities featuring Hitomi’s new ‘Matchbox Glass®’ iOS app at IBC 2019.

MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions has added another broadcast industry veteran to its global business development team with the appointment of Sebastian Mucha as Director of Business Development, EMEA, effective immediately. Based in Poland, Mucha reports directly to MultiDyne headquarters in the USA.