Warner Bros. Technical Operations and Pathfire have teamed up to create a full-service, file-based HD content distribution network, which they say is capable of delivering content to more than 1,400 broadcast facilities. This partnership will allow Warner Bros. to deliver syndicated HD content by using Pathfire's Digital Media Gateway network of servers. Warner said the move represents "a giant leap forward for the television industry."
The syndication service ramped up last week when Warner Bros. delivered long-form programming encoded at its Los Angeles-based Global Digital Media XChange facility across the country to WSB-TV in Atlanta. The Cox station is an ABC affiliate.
The delivery used the existing Pathfire infrastructure to enable satellite delivery of the content, which arrived on a Pathfire DMG Server at WSB and was transferred to a Grass Valley Group K2 Media Server using Pathfire's DMG HD Server Connect for Programming. Warner Bros. said this completely file-based process enables local stations to benefit from a streamlined workflow by cutting the effort required to get a program ready for air.
Pathfire enables native integration into play-to-air servers and transcoding to 1080i or 720p, depending on a station's infrastructure.
