The Thomson Grass Valley K2 HD Server Most of NBC Universal's O&Os and its Local Media Group are now using an automated high-definition playout system constructed with Thomson Grass Valley's K2 HD Media Servers.
With the system, HD commercials are centrally managed at the operation's Burbank hub, with content delivered to servers installed at the local stations. Work on the new FTP delivery system was completed in August, in time to be used in support of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
"We chose the Thomson Grass Valley K2 servers because of the versatility of the platform design that we needed to create for our stations and the ability of the K2 system to expand as our digital requirements continue to change," said Jason Kornweiss, vice president of TV stations broadcast operations with NBC Universal's media distribution services division. "We were pleased that Thomson was able to meet our very aggressive timeline ahead of the Olympic Games."
The system is referred to as "the Local Media Content Server (LMCS) project" and has been implemented at eight of the network's O&O stations. Each station now has four of the K2 HD Media Servers to support the new content delivery system. Each O&O can download content at their convenience, at a previously scheduled time, or immediately, depending on individual requirements.
