Amagi Breaks New Ground in Live Broadcast with Debut of BLIZZARD
Launches a centralized, on-demand, broadcast-grade live events orchestration platform on cloud
New York(06 Sep 2018)
Amagi, a global leader in cloud-based technology for media processing, today announced the launch of BLIZZARD, a centralized, on-demand, broadcast-grade live events orchestration service platform. Amagi BLIZZARD streamlines live broadcast management by dramatically reducing infrastructure costs while offering unparalleled flexibility, efficiency and scale powered by advanced cloud technologies.
“More mid-tier TV networks and new-age ‘digital first’ media companies are venturing into live content across Sports, News and reality entertainment shows. However, cost prohibitive infrastructure and complex operational requirements are limiting the scope and content portfolio for many of these broadcasters,” said Deepakjit Singh, CEO, Amagi. “By moving the entire live orchestration to the cloud, Amagi BLIZZARD platform makes live broadcasting simpler and cost-effective yet delivering the same on-premises superlative content experience for the viewers. One can spin up the cloud broadcast infrastructure only for the duration of live events, saving on upfront physical infrastructure costs – A true game-changer for the broadcast industry”.
Sitting directly before playout in the broadcast workflow, Amagi BLIZZARD ingests onto the cloud multiple input streams -- including audio/commentary, video streams and graphics keys -- from multiple sources anywhere in the world and make these available to a remote human operator through a web browser interface, with no on-site infrastructure needs for managing the event. This not only increases flexibility for the broadcasters but also makes live content ingest simple and easy. Operators are then able to prepare event run-downs offline and during the event signal ad-breaks, commercial/score-card graphics, rich metadata for ad-insertion, editing and for upstream usage. The system natively supports ganging of multiple playouts to access the same event and the operator actions, and have different pre-determined actions. The entire cloud service is optimized for end-to-end low-latency and ensures frame-accurate signaling of ad-breaks and graphic insertion actions. Further, BLIZZARD can be configured to offer high redundancy that prevents any blackouts.
“BLIZZARD can connect to not only to broadcast playout, but also to server-side ad insertion platforms such as Amagi THUNDERSTORM. This enables content owners to plug in mid-roll ads on their live events on online platforms, for better content monetization”, added Deepakjit Singh.
Amagi will be showcasing the BLIZZARD platform at the upcoming IBC 2018 in Amsterdam from September 14-18, Stand #2.B19. The company has deployments in more than 40 countries and delivers nearly 150 feeds to audiences worldwide. Amagi clients include industry heavyweights such as VICELAND, Scripps Networks, Discovery Communications’ DSPORT, Turner Broadcasting and more.
For more information about Amagi and its cloud-based broadcast solutions, visit www.amagi.com.
About Amagi (www amagi.com)
Amagi is the world’s leading cloud-managed broadcast services and targeted advertising solutions company. Amagi brings simplicity, advanced automation, and transparency to the entire broadcast operation, be it for traditional TV or next-gen multiscreen platforms. Amagi has deployments in over 40 countries, enabling TV networks to launch, operate, and monetize channels anywhere in the world. Amagi also provides targeted advertising solutions to 3,000+ brands, shaping the future of TV advertising. Amagi Corporation is based in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Delhi, Mumbai, and a R&D center in Bangalore.