TV3 Group Relies on Encompass Digital Media for Cloud-Based Services

Encompass Digital Media has announced a five-year renewal with Baltic-based broadcaster TV3 Group. Encompass will provide TV3 Group with end-to-end cloud-based playout and media management services for 17 channels, together with disaster recovery and archive storage.

Central to the renewal is a comprehensive technology refresh, moving TV3 Group’s services onto Encompass’ Altitude Media Cloud platform. TV3 Group is upgrading its channels with Altitude Playout, enabling a full range of on-air functionality that provides the commercial and technical flexibility broadcasters require. In addition, four petabytes of TV3 Group’s LTO tape-based archive, representing 160,000 hours of content, will migrate into Altitude Archive, a cloud storage solution offering instant access to a range of media applications.

“We are excited to continue working with Encompass as channel origination provider and custodian of our content,” says Ausra Sidaraviciene, CTO of TV3 Group. “Encompass is aligned with the strategic vision of TV3 as we continue to grow in the Baltic region. The team at Encompass have demonstrated their capability in terms of service management which is why we selected them to deliver our new channel TV3 Sport Open at the start of 2021. This renewal comes on the back of a requirement for more commercial flexibility around our services, which Altitude Media Cloud is capable of providing.”

Altitude Media Cloud is designed around broadcast media protocols, performance and service levels. The TV3 channels will be deployed across diverse geographic regions, supporting both pre-recorded and live events with built-in disaster recovery. Not only does Altitude solve the issue of running critical broadcast applications on virtualized infrastructure, it also provides exclusive and direct access to Encompass’ global satellite and video fibre footprint.

“We are delighted that TV3 Group has chosen Encompass to continue delivering services into the future and that Altitude Media Cloud will play a significant part in the service design,” says Nick Thompson, Encompass’ Managing Director, EMEA. “As a strategic technology partner, we offer continuous innovation that supports our customers’ business needs as the next generation of media workflows evolves to a fully-managed virtual environment.”

The cementing of the Encompass-TV3 Group relationship comes as TV3 continues its expansion into the Baltics with the Go3 OTT platform which features the content stored and delivered by Encompass, as well as the successful coverage of the 2020 Games in Tokyo and EURO 2020 in the summer.