TV Azteca Transitions To IP With Imagine Communications

Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca is transitioning to IP distribution, cloud-based operations and 4K UHD with the help of Imagine Communications.

TV Azteca has deployed Imagine's next generation technology to replace its ageing playout and master control infrastructure.

"TV Azteca is evolving to create and co-create the best television for our audience, and certainly an infrastructure upgrade like this will bring us closer to our goal to have an avant-garde company," said Pedro Carmona Ortiz, technology director at TV Azteca. "The shift is part of our efforts to make ourselves better so that we can keep delivering high-quality content with top technology.

"Our ultimate goal at Azteca is an end-to-end IP workflow — from the camera to the screen of our TV viewers. Imagine Communications has provided us with an innovative and practical solution that enabled us to maintain much of our legacy equipment, while allowing us to gradually shift into a purely IP-based operation over the next couple of years."

The new Imagine Communications playout system features 20 Nexio+™ AMP® software-defined media servers, which support uncompressed and compressed IP and UHD/HD/SD SDI I/O. Three Versio™ IOX SAN high-performance online storage systems provide a total of 528 TB storage and allow scaling of storage and bandwidth without affecting existing media or interrupting on-air operations. Nexio® Media Gateway appliances enable high-speed file transfer of large quantities of data to and from the shared storage system using standard Ethernet connectivity.   

"TV Azteca takes a highly innovative but practical approach to technology implementation, which enables them to maintain a competitive edge as the industry evolves," said Imagine Communications' Sergio Yáñez, vice president, CALA Sales. "We are proud of our long relationship with this future-focused media organisation and look forward to continue supporting TV Azteca with practical solutions and migration strategies that align with their specific requirements."

As TV Azteca moves toward cloud-based operations, Imagine Communications offers multiple transition paths for seamlessly migrating Nexio+ customers to Versio Platform, the company's cloud-native, microservices-based playout solution.

www.imaginecommunications.com