In the news: Discovery, Inc to transition 300 channels to virtual playout

In this interview from Broadcast, Discovery, Inc Chief Technology Officer John Honeycutt talks about the strategic impetus behind moving playout of 300 channels around the world to the cloud:

Honeycutt said the move to cloud-based playout was part of a broader strategy to virtualise Discovery’s entire content supply and delivery chain, from the arrival of programming assets from producers through to playout to viewers.

“This is deeper strategy than just playout. It’s about how we aggregate, manipulate and distribute assets across all our platforms, not just linear TV”

International broadcasters like Discovery have traditionally used playout facilities based around the world. “The main driver for this was access to satellites – physical uplink,” said Honeycutt. “But the cloud makes geography irrelevant.”

Moving to the cloud makes sense at a time when Discovery delivers both linear channels and streaming services, said Honeycutt. “The days of having discreet supply chains for those services are over. It is too complicated and doesn’t allow us to move fast enough.”

Read full article at Broadcast.

Click here to learn more about the architecture behind Discovery’s broadcast playout on AWS via APN partner Evertz.

You can also watch John Honeycutt speak at AWS re:Invent 2018 as part of the panel M&E State of the Union: A View from the C-Suite at 21st Century Fox, Discovery, Hulu, and Hotstar