Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced that Virgin Media, an existing customer, has turned to the company to provide a robust and flexible playout solution for its ‘pop-up’ HD exercise channel Get Moving.

During these ongoing difficult Covid times, online and TV-based exercise classes and workout recommendation shows have become extremely popular as people want to get, or maintain, fitness and to feel part of a group. Virgin Media initially launched the channel itself but then decided that a more robust, flexible and fully managed playout solution was needed and turned to Globecast.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, announces that Botswana-based production company Plastique enlisted Globecast as its technical partner to supply a turnkey OTT service for Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), Botswana’s wholesale provider of national and international telecommunications infrastructure.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced Chris Pulis as new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Americas, effective immediately. As CTO, Pulis is responsible for all technical aspects for the Americas including establishing Globecast’s vision and growth through the use of technical resources.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced that Denis Genevois and Olivier Zankel are moving into new marketing roles. Genevois, who joined Globecast in 2001, is now VP Marketing Group and Zankel, who joined Globecast in 2011, is now VP Communications Group. They will both report to Philippe Bernard, CEO, Globecast, with the two also now sitting on the Executive Committee. They replace Juliet Walker who has moved to take up a role at parent company Orange Business Services.

Philippe Bernard, Globecast, CEO, said, “It’s even more important in today’s exceptional environment that we communicate clearly our commitment to our customers and the diverse range of media services we offer. We are seeing an acceleration in customers fully embracing all the digital ecosystem has to offer from contribution, through cloud processing, to distribution and we continue to lead this transformation.”

As VP Marketing Group, Genevois is now overseeing the defining of service strategies and the way that services work with, or alongside, one another as well reporting sales performance. He is also in charge of defining sales strategies by market and region. Since 2018, Genevois has been in charge of marketing and business development for broadcasters handling international pre-sales activity at Globecast.

Germany-based broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 has chosen Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, for the licensing of its ProSiebenSat.1 Welt German-language TV channel exclusively in the US for MVPD, cable operator, OTT platform and IPTV distribution and non-exclusively in Central and South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Technical delivery of the signal is being managed from Globecast’s Media Center in Culver City, CA.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced that it has successfully received security assessment from Trusted Partner Network (TPN) for its Digital Cinema business to address video piracy and content redistribution.

Formed in 2018 by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA), the TPN program is a high-level, industry-wide film and television content protection initiative that helps companies safeguardtheir content. “The TPN program helps companies prevent leaks, breaches, and hacks of their customers’ movies and television shows prior to their intended release and seeks to raise security awareness, preparedness, and capabilities within our industry,” says TPN.

Through a single benchmark of security preparedness, it enables vendors to assess the security readiness of their facilities, staff and workflows against industry best practices. Once a vendor completes a TPN assessment, they are then published in an online directory of trusted partners that’s accessible to all production, post-production and distribution operations involved, allowing content owners to quickly and easily assess their level of security.

Globecast’s Digital Cinema service handles the transferring of digital content quickly and efficiently to 1,300 theatres in France (representing over 5,100 screens) through the public internet. It is also expanding this business across other international markets. Globecast manages everything from ingest and storage of the DCP files on premises to monitoring quality control and delivery notification via SMS or email.

“With content security being a top priority for the media industry and with new forms of piracy surfacing all the time, content protection methods are always being revisited and revised with premium content online enforcement programs and new forms of security services. Working through the TPN benchmark program means that content owners can easily see that we have the proper safeguards in place to make sure that our customers don’t fall victim to piracy and that their content is kept safe through the supply chain,” commented Frédérick Rochette, Globecast’s Director of Cinema Delivery.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced a multi-year partnership with United Kingdom/Netherlands-based Outdoor Sport Channel for the worldwide distribution of its HD and 4K content to MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) and as the exclusive distributor in the US. The deal includes the distribution of the linear channel and video-on-demand content on all platforms including CATV, DTH, IPTV, OTT and smart TVs for North America, South America, Europe, the Russian Federation, Asia-Pacific, and exclusively in the US.

Globecast is a leading provider of both content aggregation and end-to-end media delivery for network programming from around the globe. Globecast is a preferred content provider to most US major MVPDs with direct and dedicated fiber feeds from its broadcast center in Culver City, CA. This latest deal further adds to Globecast’s growing Content Acquisition, Aggregation, & Distribution (CAAD) business.

Henk van Meer, Founder & CEO of Outdoor Sport Channel® commented, “In order to further maximize our worldwide distribution, we teamed up with Globecast as they are the ideal partner to help us ‘go global’ because that is what they do best. Globecast understands today’s operator and TV audience needs and we are keen to market, offer, and sell our channel to each and any distributing operator on the planet with a long-term vision.”

Outdoor Sport Channel® HD is an international, 24-hour global sports television networkfeaturing a vast array of outdoor, action, summer, winter sports and sports news. It distributes its HD programming worldwide via CATV, DTH satellite, IPTV, OTT, broadcast over IP, VOD, and mobile platforms.

“This distribution agreement demonstrates our value in delivering content to all types of operator platforms and our ability to partner with quality programmers to extend their reach to distributors globally. We’re eager to be working with Outdoor Sport Channel® to bring its exciting and unique international sports content to the world. It continues to affirm our successful approach to our CAAD business line,” said Berto Guzman, VP, Head of Content Acquisition, Aggregation and Distribution for Globecast Americas.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, is haling the emergence of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) as a gamechanger for the media entertainment industry and has begun deployment of the technology.

IaC is the process of creating and managing cloud-based technologies using scripts – hence code – to do so. The script is then “read”, or accepted, by systems like AWS’ CloudFormation or the cloud-agnostic solution from Terraform. The systems created using IaC can be as simple or as complex as required i.e. entirely cloud-based complex playout infrastructure can be generated far more quickly and cost-effectively via this method.

Ian Redgewell, Head of Media Management, Globecast, said, “Take the example of deploying a new cloud-based platform for a customer using Infrastructure as Code. Everything that needs to happen – the 50 servers we need, the software we need to run on those servers, the network, all the IP addresses, the user accounts, the security permissions – all of these can be written into a single document using the correct code. That is then run through the aforementioned systems and the infrastructure is created.”

On show at NAB 2020 (Booth SU9910)

The new reality of cloud play-out

Globecast will be highlighting its latest global cloud playout technological and service model developments as the company continues to lead the way across the next phase of real-world deployments. Globecast has worked with a portfolio of clients over the past two years or more on a range of cloud services; not least using cloud playout for the launch, in the UK, of Virgin’s TV Ultra HD channel in the fall of 2018.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced the launch of Globecast Managed Cloud Network (Globecast MCN), responding to pressures across the sports broadcasting market for more content more of the time, to affiliates and viewers.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced the appointment of Ken Fuller to the post of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Globecast Americas, effective immediately. Ken will lead all aspects of the companys technical development and will work closely with the executive management team to establish a clear and strategic technical vision.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has announced the appointment of Sylvain Merle to the post of CTO, effective immediately. Sylvain assumes overall responsibility in ensuring that the companys technical and economic approach with clients is aligned with the latest industry developments.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, has today announced the appointment of Timothy M Jackson to the role of Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, the Americas. Jackson joins Globecast at a time of unprecedented opportunity in the broadcast and media industry, as Globecast looks to further expand its reach across the Americas.

DigitalGlue today announced completion of a state-of-the-art IP stream monitoring platform for Globecast, a global provider of media processing and transmission services for television broadcasters and content owners. Based on Bridge Technologies' monitoring and analysis tools, the new installation gives Globecast technicians comprehensive visibility into the status of more than 300 North American IP video streams for heightened video quality and customer satisfaction.