Independent broadcast playout facility ABS Broadcast has designed its ABSolute Delivery Platform transmission service to offer new services to assist its customers to better monetize their content by leveraging the integrated capabilities of the Grass Valley K2 Edge automated playout system.
ABS Broadcast, based in West London, handles channel management and playout for a number of broadcasters, transmitting to the UK and beyond, with an increasing number of channels going to India and South-East Asia. With more than 20 years’ experience servicing the broadcast industry ABS was the first server-based playout facility in the UK, and has a long history of early adoption of new technologies in the sector. It identified the need to drive efficiency but, more importantly, to also provide an enhanced service offering to its clients with access to stored content to help them better monetize their assets.
“We were already somewhat familiar with the Grass Valley K2 Edge, as we have a number of PubliTronic channels on-air,” said Sass Jahani, CEO of ABS Broadcast. "Rather than a simple playout system, Grass Valley offered us a complete, integrated playout solution.”
The ABSolute Delivery Platform transmission service developed by Grass Valley in conjunction with ABS Broadcast uses K2 Edge playout servers and the Grass Valley K2 TX/MAM asset management system. The first phase of the project saw 10 channels go on-air with the new technology progressively between February and May. The second phase, starting later this year, will add 10 additional channels. The K2 Edge system will support continuing expansion as ABS Broadcast's business grows.
This flexibility is seen as an important benefit to ABS Broadcast: “We are in a highly competitive business, and the ability to get new channels on the air quickly gives us a significant competitive edge,” added Jahani. “With K2 Edge, we can get a new channel on-air in as little as 24 hours.”
