Actus Digital, a leading provider of compliance and intelligent media monitoring solutions, today announced that it has appointed Jay Gedanken as vice president of business development in the U.S. With over 35 years' experience in broadcast technology sales, technical support, marketing, and project management, Gedanken will play a critical role in increasing Actus Digital's footprint in the United States market, developing new sales channels, and driving revenue growth.

"Business development opportunities are booming in the U.S., with Actus Digital poised to fill the void left by former U.S. industry leader Volicon and its end-of-life products while also meeting the growing customer demand for compliance solutions featuring content repurposing and AI," said Sima Levy, CEO, Actus Digital. "We continue to increase the scale of our U.S. office as a result of growing sales and activities, and hiring Jay will keep us on track. Leveraging his experience in broadcast sales, Actus Digital will continue to build on its 15-plus years of providing superior compliance and media monitoring solutions."

The Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) announced today that it will be enhancing its JT-NM Tested program to improve transparency and to foster even greater industry participation. The JT-NM will publish testing criteria, and vendors will perform testing at their own facilities. The Joint Task Force is made up of a consortium of industry partners including the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE®), and the Video Services Forum (VSF).

Standards validation of vendor test results will be confirmed at a testing event scheduled for the week of March 16. The overall results will be made available to the industry via a published catalog of results and via badges that participants can display on their booths at the 2020 NAB Show. (Past catalogs are available at http://jt-nm.org.)

Custom Consoles announces the completion and installation of eight control desks and a large MediaWall monitor display support system for NEP Media Solutions BV. Located in the master control room at the company's studios in Hilversum's Media Park, the desks are configured in front and rear rows for use by up to six and four operators respectively.

"The desks are similar in style and colour scheme to a suite we produced in early 2018 for another NEP television studio facility," says Custom Consoles' Sales Manager Gary Fuller. "The forward desk centres on a dual-operator bridge with a total of eight forward-sloping 4U equipment pods. This is constructed as a rectangular unit with space for two operators. Left and right of the bridge are two units of identical design to the bridge but angled to match the curve of the 13.9 metre wide six-frame MediaWall. The MediaWall itself is one of the largest we have produced to date, each of the six frames accommodating four 55 inch UHD displays to create an 11-wide by two-high screen array with two additional pairs of 32 inch screens."

mediaClass reports a sustained acceleration in demand for subscription based services offering video content directly to connected viewers. Bypassing traditional broadcast and satellite platforms, OTT services are typically streamed over the top – meaning over any internet connection rather than a proprietary network.

"Given the rapid changes in product offerings and market trends, the choice of OTT and streaming technology is absolutely key," says mediaClass EVP Manelli Hosseini. "The established OTT middleware products on the market are incremental improvements and add-ons to older IPTV-based systems. This leaves them with a heavy footprint requiring massive servers which are inefficient and inflexible."

"Using our detailed knowledge and long experience of TV services to develop a modern, agile architecture and approach, we invested heavily to develop a full product range from scratch. The key parameters for our customer-centric view were to speed up deployment and enable a low-cost legacy IPTV path for service providers and telcos who want to move to a world-class offer which is disruptively affordable. We have developed our own software modules for functions including a content management system, digital rights management and AI recommendation engines as well as CDN and mobile clients."

The 46th biennial Tokyo Motor Show drew 1.3 million visitors in October unveiling many new vehicles and concept cars to eager crowds. The Toyota booth engaged guests with a giant LED canvas, interactive elements and live-gaming racing with help from disguise vx 4 media servers supplied by Hibino, a disguise Rental Partner.

“The booth’s main display was a seamless 77.4 meters long and 24,768 pixels wide LED wall” says Emu Hino, Technical Director. “The Future City CG on the main display, which served as the background for the entire booth, was immersive and exciting. The experience of being surrounded by it and interacting with various content in the booth was very special for visitors.”

Hino explains that, “the pixel width of the display was never shown before, and 6x 4K outputs for perfect pixel management and synchronisation was required. Instead of the conventional 8-bit 256 colours we also needed 10-bit 1,024 colours. So, this was a project where there was no compromise in terms of scale and image quality.”

Tedial, the leading independent MAM technology solutions specialist, has announced that Manuel Martínez Ruíz has been promoted to Tedial’s Regional Sales Director, Spain, effective immediately. Manuel, who is based at the company’s headquarters in Malaga, will be responsible for sales in the region and will manage customer accounts in Spain, ensuring continued profitable growth.

“Manuel has been working with Tedial since 2010 and is an integral part of the team. He has a deep knowledge of the company’s products and solutions and has been involved in many projects delivered across Spain over the last ten years. He will support customer needs ensuring that requirements are married with Tedial solutions and services and will continue to position Tedial as the leading MAM provider in Spain”, says Emilio L. Zapata, Tedial CEO.

Gravity Media, the leading global provider of complex live broadcast facilities and production services to content owners, creators and distributors, has promoted Ed Tischler to the position of Acting Managing Director. In this new role, Ed will be responsible for the strategic direction and commercial performance of all Gravity Media’s UK-based operations, which include Media Services & Facilities, Production & Content and Equipment Rental & Sales. This appointment follows the recent move to the single brand of Gravity Media late last year and Ed will take the lead in integrating the former Gearhouse Broadcast, HyperActive Broadcast and Input Media businesses in the UK. In addition, Layla Cook has also been promoted, becoming Gravity Media’s new UK Broadcast Equipment Rental Manager. 

Ed will report directly into John Newton, Gravity Media’s CEO. In the UK he will work closely with James Gander who continues to oversee Gravity House, the Soho post-production facility, as well as the integrated workflows service for live broadcast and feature film post-production and Steve Norris, the new Director, Production and Content. 

Layla will now oversee Gravity Media’s extensive inventory of the latest professional equipment which includes 4K-ready lenses, cameras and live production tools.

Scale Logic, the global leader in advanced media workflow solutions, announced today that it is embarking on a new agreement and relationship with industry veteran Polar Graphics, a leading UK-based manufacturer’s representative for the broadcast, post-production, and professional audiovisual industries.

Under the newly forged partnership, Polar Graphics will begin managing Scale Logic's entire European sales operations, making it responsible for penetrating European markets and providing comprehensive sales management of Scale Logic’s products and services. With this new partnership, Scale Logic, which currently boasts many of the world’s top brands as clients, will be able to mirror its already tremendous global success.

Furthermore, the Polar Graphics partnership will also see a highly scaled expansion of the Scale Logic European team, enabling Scale Logic to make significant and further inroads into the European market.

Industry veteran Jared Timmins joined TVU Networks as senior vice president of solutions in late Dec. 2019. Based in the Atlanta area, he will lead the company’s Global Solutions Team, which will partner with TVU customers to help them quickly adapt to changes in consumer media consumption.

LiveU’s wireless video encoder, Solo, is being used by Isha Foundation – a non-profit, public service organization founded by Sadhguru – to connect with millions of well-wishers and volunteers in India and around the world. The Foundation uses Solo to stream live events, notably the night-long Mahashivaratri festival at Isha Yoga Center – which is watched by around 50 million viewers – and the Cauvery Calling and Rally for Rivers projects to revitalize India’s depleting rivers.

Rally for Rivers was launched by Sadhguru in September 2017 when he personally drove over 9300 kms in 30 days to raise awareness about the dire situation of Indian rivers. Today it is the world’s largest ecological movement, supported by over 162 million people, and is a major force in shaping river revitalization policy in national governments and world bodies such as the United Nations. Cauvery Calling is an on-ground implementation of Rally for Rivers, to revitalize river Cauvery, the lifeline for 84 million people in southern India.

Custom Consoles announces the completion and installation of eight control desks and a large MediaWall monitor display support system for NEP Media Solutions BV. Located in the master control room at the company's studios in Hilversum's Media Park, the desks are configured in front and rear rows for use by up to six and four operators respectively.

"The desks are similar in style and colour scheme to a suite we produced in early 2018 for another NEP television studio facility," says Custom Consoles' Sales Manager Gary Fuller. "The forward desk centres on a dual-operator bridge with a total of eight forward-sloping 4U equipment pods. This is constructed as a rectangular unit with space for two operators. Left and right of the bridge are two units of identical design to the bridge but angled to match the curve of the 13.9 metre wide six-frame MediaWall."

"The MediaWall itself is one of the largest we have produced to date, each of the six frames accommodating four 55 inch UHD displays to create an 11-wide by two-high screen array with two additional pairs of 32 inch screens positioned to form vertical columns immediately left and right of the front-centre bridge desk. The result is a very elegant solution which can justifiably be termed state-of-the-art."

Olympusat CEO Tom Mohler applauds PlayBox Neo’s completion of a large-scale playout system upgrade for Olympusat, a leading provider of broadcast media services. The project includes the enhancement of 26 servers to the latest-generation Version 19 Channel-in-a-Box Neo, TitleBoxNeo and SafeBox Neo.

"We invested in PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box two years ago with an installation at our engineering center in Culver City, California, and we are very pleased with it," said Olympusat Operations Manager Michael Kohl. "Van Duke and his colleagues at PlayBox Neo worked closely with us during the original install to integrate our existing ad sales management tools. Upgrading to Neo-19 software makes our workflow even more efficient. The PlayBox Neo team has added extra engineering features including support for SCTE commands and N+M redundancy."

Olympusat CEO Tom Mohler congratulated both the Olympusat and Playbox teams for the seamless upgrade process: “I want to thank both sides for their teamwork and professionalism as we continue to deliver high quality content to our network audiences."

QYOU Media (TSXV: QYOU; OTCQB: QYOUF) today announced the launch of The Q India on Airtel Xstream, a converged digital entertainment experience offering a wide catalog of Live TV channels, movies, TV shows, and more across 14 languages. 

Airtel Xstream is part of Airtel’s vision of building a world-class digital entertainment ecosystem for Digital India and making it accessible to customers through innovative devices and exciting applications. Airtel Xstream features an enhanced streaming experience and integrated UI across devices. The Q India content will be available to Airtel customers (Prepaid/Postpaid/Broadband/DTH) across Airtel Xstream app, Airtel Xstream Hybrid Box and Airtel Xstream Smart Stick.

The Q India is designed to deliver to Young India a true multi-screen experience featuring India’s most popular digital content creators and series, anytime, on any device.

Gravity Media, a leading provider of outside broadcast trucks and flyaway production kits, is building further systems in preparation for premier sporting events in 2020, including a major football competition in Europe. Central to the new flyaway kits is the Platinum™ IP3 router from Imagine Communications.

The key to success in building flyaways is to create a system which provides all the resilience and reliability needed for live broadcasting, but in a compact footprint. As the name suggests, these often have to travel by air freight to meet deadlines, where additional space and weight can be prohibitively expensive.

“We picked the Platinum IP3 because we know it is reliable — we know what it does,” said Peter Newton, technical and operations director at Gravity Media. “Because of the established partnership with Imagine, we knew that we would get good support if we need it, and we will get ample utilization of the equipment. It is a good solid product that does what it says it will.”

Gravity Media has used equipment from Imagine Communications for over 15 years, which has established Imagine as a trusted partner. When it came to choosing routers for the new flyaways, Gravity Media compared all the popular models on the market, but was confident in selecting the field-proven Platinum IP3. The new flyaways will use both the 15RU and 28RU routers.

The key project for which these flyaways are designed requires support in 12 locations over a four-week period in June 2020. The kits will provide live production functionality. The Platinum IP3 routers incorporate integral multiviewer technology, reducing space in the racks and simplifying setup. The order also includes a number of modules from Imagine’s Selenio 6800+™ processing range, along with Magellan™ router control panels.

“While the headlines are about the transition to IP, it is important to remember that a lot of broadcasters and production companies need to extend and enhance existing, SDI-based systems,” said Mathias Eckert, SVP & GM EMEA/APAC, Playout & Networking, at Imagine Communications. “Because of our close partnerships with major operators like Gravity Media, we clearly understand the need for high-functionality, high-reliability SDI solutions, as well as IP technology, and we are committed to supporting our customers for as long as they need SDI, as part of our ‘your path, your pace’ approach to the IP transition.”

For more information about Imagine Communications’ products and solutions, please visit https://www.imaginecommunications.com.

Mediaproxy, the leading provider of software-based IP broadcast solutions, has appointed Bright Installation Oy as its representative in Finland. The distribution and integration company will initially focus on the Australian manufacturer's compliance and monitoring systems, including the LogServer IP logger, monitor and analyzer.

Bright Installation is a standalone company within Bright Group, a rental, installation and distribution company serving the live performance, entertainment and event markets. Bright has its headquarters in Vantaa, a city in the greater metropolitan area surrounding the Finnish capital of Helsinki, and offices in the regional cities of Tampere and Turku. It also runs subsidiaries in Sweden and Norway.