Pike Media Lab Adopts Grass Valley Software-Defined Playout

Pike Media Lab has transitioned to a software-only playout solution from Grass Valley.

Central to the new playout capability is ICE SDC, which supports uncompressed 2022-6 video streams and enables the Russian media services provider to leverage new commercial and operational models as well as handle content from almost any source and distribute it quickly to any platform.

Pike Media Lab provides playout services to cable and OTT platforms in the Russian Federation along with access to Russian channels for Russian-speaking audiences in North America. Utilizing the business agility that software-defined solutions provide, the media services provider can now easily and quickly roll out new services, supporting the company’s plans to add more channels in Russia and North America in the coming years.

Grass Valley’s unique ability to deliver a comprehensive playout solution with integrated media asset management (MAM) and automation was a key factor for Pike Media Lab. Along with ICE SDC, which uses Morpheus automation technology, the media services provider has deployed Momentum media asset management, iQ Modular interfacing and processing solutions and Vega routing switchers.

“The types of services consumers demand is constantly changing, so we need a dynamic playout and media management system that can adapt to new service models and support innovative ways of working,” said Andrey Kovalenko, CEO of Pike Media Lab. “We have a long-standing relationship with Grass Valley and theirs was the only solution that allowed us to deploy the system in a way that we wanted. Grass Valley also gave us complete freedom to implement the commodity off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware of our choice, supplying a software-only solution that delivers the capability we need within our budget. The Grass Valley team also worked in close collaboration with us to ensure we had a playout facility that was right for our business. We now have an operation that can enable our customers to respond very quickly to what consumers want — today and tomorrow.”