While most awards are given for past achievements, one of the 71st annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards winners offers a glimpse into what some networks believe will be the future of how TV companies will operate in the 2020s and beyond.
The award for pioneering public cloud-based linear media supply chains will be given out by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to Discovery, Fox Networks Engineering & Operations (the Fox NEO teams that are now part of Walt Disney Television), Amazon Web Services, Evertz and SDVI. (The awards ceremony, originally set for April 19 in Las Vegas, has been postponed along with the NAB Show.)
The impact of the work to be recognized goes far beyond a few networks and vendors, and demonstrates how some TV programmers are embracing new technologies to reinvent the whole idea of how video is created, processed and distributed.
When we started on this project, we wanted to really reimagine how we approach all aspects of the business because we knew we were at this tech inflection point, Discovery executive VP of technology strategy and architecture Brinton Miller said. We knew we were a few years out from what we are now calling the streaming wars. We knew that there was going to be this paradigm shift in the day-to-day business and that the volume of content we were going to be putting on all of these screens was just going to go up and up and up.
Coping with the content explosion needed for the streaming wars wasn't possible with traditional TV technologies, though. To handle that, we needed a fundamental shift in our operations, explained Chris Blandy, now executive VP of technology solutions at Walt Disney Television, who led the technology teams at Fox NEO prior to Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The vendor ecosystem [and the infrastructures used by TV networks] had to change so we could have much more flexible operations in the future.
A Fundamental Shift'
Chris Blandy, executive VP of technology solutions at Walt Disney Television
To address that issue, Blandy said, Fox NEO began exploring cloud technologies. Fox invested in SVDI in 2016 Discovery is another investor in the media supply-chain management platform and began working with Amazon Web Services to develop a cloud-based system to move all of its workflows for automatically ingesting, transcoding and checking the quality of content into the cloud. By the end of 2018, Fox NEO reached a point at which all programs, promos and commercials were flowing through a new cloud-based system.
Discovery went even further. Starting in 2015, the company began working on an inbound, cloud-based supply chain system that would allow producers to send all of their content to AWS cloud services to be automatically processed and prepared for distribution. In the second stage, it worked with Evertz for a cloud-based playout system that could send all their traditional channels, VOD content and streaming feeds out to MVPDs, streaming partners and consumers. Finally, Discovery moved post production and the middle stage of the content supply chain to AWS, for a complete, end-to-end system in the cloud.
Three vendors played a key role in those efforts. SDVI president and CEO Larry Kaplan noted they provided the two network groups with a platform that manages the resources, the third-party applications that they need to support their supply chains. You can think of it as a kind of factory floor in a virtualized facility, a kind of manufacturing plant in the sky.
For Discovery's cloud-based efforts, Evertz provided a cloud-hosted automation system along with a feature-rich playout entity, said Dan Turow, VP of file-based solutions at Evertz.
In addition to providing the cloud services for the project, AWS embarked on an extensive effort to upgrade and adapt its cloud-based service to the needs of media companies and worked closely with SDVI to convince vendors to develop cloud based services. I give SDVI and AWS a lot of credit for doing the hard work and getting the vendors to embrace this idea, Miller said.
This will make it easier for the rest of the industry to take advantage of these technologies and reap their benefits, noted Mike Callahan, head of media solutions marketing at AWS. The work we've done will give other companies the ability to innovate and move faster than they have done before, he said.
Discovery executive VP of technology strategy and architecture Brinton Miller
Already, this approach allows Discovery to handle massive amounts of content and quickly launch new services. In 2019, its cloud-based operations pulled in nearly 18,000 hours of new content. Each month, the systems run through more than 4 million automated workflow tasks for the 496 channels they play out from the cloud. We just couldn't do that with traditional systems, Miller said.
Besides handling massive amounts of content, the cloud-based systems also tap into Discovery's business software systems. As soon as a piece of content arrives, the system knows how and where it will be distributed. Then, the media supply chain systems in the cloud can automatically start creating the many different formats needed for traditional MVPDs, the different broadcast standards around the world and streaming formats for companies like Hulu and Netflix. Those systems can also check all the features, such as closed-captioning, and determine the quality needed for different outlets, ranging from standard definition to HD and 4K.
All of these distribution points can be scaled up and down as new products come online, which allows companies to rapidly respond to changing consumer demands and a rapidly shifting digital landscape.
Discovery took an architecture they had and used it to create [SVOD product], Food Network Kitchen, and they were able to do that in
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
14/07/2025
The Royal Moroccan Air Force hosted a C-130 award ceremony with L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert a...
14/07/2025
UK launch set for September, following on from recent US and Germany releases
London - UK, July 14, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, da...
14/07/2025
SHENZHEN, China Telycam has added control options for its portfolio of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of con...
14/07/2025
The awards are open to IBC2025 show exhibitors and offer a valuable platform for companies to raise awareness for the new products and solutions they will be la...
14/07/2025
Clear-Com is excited to announce a significant expansion of the award-winning Arcadia Central Station with new software updates. Together, these releases dram...
14/07/2025
Grass Valley and Daktronics today announced a strategic technology partnership that unites Grass Valley's live production expertise with Daktronics' lea...
14/07/2025
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset, and swXtch.io, provider of cloud-based multicast and reliable networking solutions, are partnering to deliver multicast...
14/07/2025
Tintri , a DDN subsidiary and leader in AI-powered data management solutions, today announces a game-changing and award-winning refresh to its global Partner P...
14/07/2025
HighField AI, the broadcast industry's first agentic and multimodal AI platform for automating graphics production, is now commercially available. Developed...
14/07/2025
Encompass Digital Media has today announced that it has been delivering a complex global services project for DAZN, the world s leading sports entertainment pla...
14/07/2025
MASV (massive.io), the fastest, most reliable large file transfer platform trusted by over 10,000 global organizations, announced today it will showcase its nex...
14/07/2025
Calrec is introducing a series of usability, customisation and system enhancements across the entire range of Argo consoles at IBC 2025, on Stand 8.C47. Look ou...
14/07/2025
Fincons Group, IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce a new engagement...
14/07/2025
Stand 5.F45, IBC2025, Amsterdam, 12 15 September 2025 Intinor returns to IBC to present the latest updates to its Direkt series. A key development on show is ...
14/07/2025
Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...
14/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for June 2025
Product
14 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
One percent of Internet Service Providers (ISP...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Begins Filming The Map of Longing With Al cia Falc , P...
14/07/2025
This July marks 100 days since I officially stepped into the role of CEO at Grass Valley, a milestone not of abrupt change, but of confident continuity.
Unlike...
14/07/2025
Enhancing Public Service Broadcasting with
Innovation, Accuracy & Sustainability
New regional detail and local towns featured...
13/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Expands B&B Universe' with Yu Jae Seok's B&B ...
13/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...
12/07/2025
Ryan Coogler accepting the 2013 Vanguard Award. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez.
Editor's Note: In honor of Fruitvale Station s 12th anniversary, we're d...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, the professional training division of Key Code Media, proudly announces a major update to its Adobe Premiere Pro Engineering and Advanced Op...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, a leader in instructor-led post production training for over...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
While most awards are given for past achievements, one of the 71st annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards winners offers a glimpse into what some networks believe will be the future of how TV companies will operate in the 2020s and beyond.
