BOSTON—Tech infrastructure company Public Media Group (PMG) announced a major step in preparing broadcasters for a NextGen TV future with the transfer of ownership of WGBH’s Public Media Management (PMM) cloud-based master control and content-sharing platform to PMG.
“As PMG works with public and commercial stations to evolve the industry to ATSC 3.0, we feel that PMM aligns perfectly with our infrastructure and will allow us to move swiftly in this next year,” said PMG CEO Joe Chinnici.
WGBH, in partnership with Sony Electronics, created PMM. Launched in 2015, it provides master control and content-sharing for 18 public TV stations and two national programs.
Public Media Group, which acquired WGBH’s interests in PMM in late April, has along with Sony established PMM as a distinct legal entity, PMG said. With the change, the PMM Network Operations Center will transition from the Boston public broadcaster to PMG over the next few months. Stacey Decker, who pioneered the PMM service as CTO at WGBH, is serving as PMM president and CTO of PMG.
“PMM’s core structure is the perfect building block for NextGen TV. In the coming year we will add new capabilities to the platform in preparation for the ATSC 3.0 transition,” said Decker. “Moving forward, PMM will continue to evolve to serve the television industry by expanding its capabilities to create an efficient and capable platform that takes advantage of the many benefits ATSC 3.0 provides.”
A primary thrust of PMG is assisting broadcasters as they take advantage of ATSC 3.0 to boost audience and revenue. “Public Media Group is focused on expanding opportunities for the television industry by building and operating best-in-class technology platforms, including Single Frequency Networks (SFNs), digital infrastructure and edge data centers,” said Chinnici.
Recalling the “unique technology” created with Sony, WGBH President and CEO Jon Abbott said, “PMM has empowered public media to engage in new ways with their communities.”
“We’re proud to have nurtured its development at WGBH, and we’re excited to offer greater opportunity for the service to advance and further strengthen broadcasters as part of the vital and visionary work of PMG, under the continued direction of Stacey Decker,” he said.
Calling PMM “the most innovative hybrid cloud master control offering in the nation,” John Studdert, Sony vice president, media solutions, said the platform is “ideal” for enabling broadcasters to take advantage of what ATSC 3.0 offers. “We’re excited to take the next steps in growing PMM along with our new partner, Public Media Group,” he said.
More information is available on the PMG website.
