CNBC Goes Live With Grass Valley

CNBC has launched a new, fully integrated high-definition news production solution from Grass Valley. Now the network will be able to deliver programming in a multi-platform media environment more quickly and simply.

“As the world’s leader in business news, it is imperative that CNBC have the fastest, most efficient way to share content across all our platforms,” said Steve Fastook, SVP, Operations & Engineering, CNBC. “With this new solution, we have successfully deployed an infrastructure that optimizes our performance and helps us future-proof our ecosystem.”

The solution includes the only full set of production tools in one application available on the market—GV STRATUS, K2 Summit 3G multichannel media servers, EDIUS nonlinear editing systems, and 17,000 hours of HD K2 SAN storage capacity. This package of products and services allows CNBC staff access to stored media regardless of location, immediate access to content as it is being recorded and a collaborative work-in-parallel asset management layer for all aspects of content movement throughout CNBC’s systems, ranging from desktop browsing to the final filing of finished content into an archive system.

“With consumers now wanting to access news content when and where they desire, it’s imperative that CNBC be able to simultaneously edit stories for first and second screens, regardless of channel or geography. The deployment of GV STRATUS, K2, and EDIUS allows CNBC to create a multiplatform HD and proxy content network which enables this kind of multiplatform service delivery—be it for viewers who still enjoy traditional television or for individuals and organizations viewing content via the Internet,” said Tim Thorsteinson, President and CEO, Grass Valley. “We are delighted CNBC has chosen us once again to enhance its quality of service to 395 million households worldwide.”

“CNBC’s implementation of Grass Valley’s Stratus solution allows for immediate operational workflow efficiencies for current production requirements as well as future-proofing for collaborative production initiatives required for growth of the news operations,” said Andy Jackson, Senior Vice President North America Region, Grass Valley.

Grass Valley professional project managers, services engineers, and trainers were involved throughout the project, ensuring a seamless transition to the new production solution, while optimizing CNBC’s required workflows and ensuring that the team was ready to use the powerful GV STRATUS toolset.

Grass Valley Wins CSI Award for GV STRATUS
Grass Valley won the Cable & Satellite International (CSI) Award for its GV STRATUS nonlinear media production tool in the “Best workflow/asset management/automation solution” category. Now in its eleventh year, the awards attract over 150 entries from companies across the broadcast community and are judged by an independent panel consisting of industry leading experts and thought leaders.

Introduced in 2011, GV STRATUS is a full set of tools in one workspace offering end-to-end support for all aspects of news and production delivery in one framework. It supports ingest, editing, content aggregation, logging, transfer, and playout. GV STRATUS fully integrates with Grass Valley’s K2 media server and storage platform to offer an expandable foundation for new applications and workflows.

Presented at IBC 2013, the CSI Awards are one of the most comprehensive and competitive technology awards, recognizing excellence for technical and product marketing in the cable, satellite, terrestrial broadcasting, mobile, and IPTV sectors.

“We are honored to have GV STRATUS recognized by our fellow industry professionals,” said Mike Cronk, Senior Vice President Marketing, Grass Valley. “This award reflects our on-going commitment to deliver powerful and streamlined workflow tools for playout, news, and sports production. GV STRATUS is a cost-effective, highly flexible solution that offers the right tools for any job to any desktop—it’s great to kick off IBC 2013 with this award.”