Telestream CEO Dan Castles weighs in on what lies ahead for the media tech industry in 2021
By Contributor
Published: December 7, 2020
Telestream CEO Dan Castles weighs in on what lies ahead for the media tech industry in 2021
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Telestream CEO Dan Castles weighs in on what lies ahead for the media tech industry in 2021
https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/2021-supplier-consolidation-cloud-security-and-continued-remote-working title=Share via Email class=share-email>
As we head towards 2021 with anticipation of escaping the craziness of 2020, Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream, shares some insights and predictions on the year ahead for the media and entertainment industry.
A Year to Remember I don't need to tell you much about 2020 that you don't already know. I will share that with all the devastation brought to the world by Covid-19, and a US election season like nothing we could have imagined, we've learned a lot about each other for better or worse. For companies in our industry, it's been a similar situation. Some have fared much better than others. Some have survived by making very tough decisions which in the long run will make them stronger as we come out of Covid. I'm still amazed at how quickly companies were able to respond, despite all odds, and keep some semblance of normalcy. Shows continued to air, critical news and information got out there. And it's no surprise that with so many viewers isolating themselves, the appetite for entertainment (binge watching) grew enormously and continues to grow now even now. This created even more relentless competition for viewers' attention, forcing media companies to streamline operations and quickly adapt their processes with many people working from home. This strain soon exposed the weakest links in the chain. If you didn't have an infrastructure for remote working, or a business continuity plan in place, it showed. The pandemic created a different type of disaster in terms of disaster recovery than many businesses had planned for. Still, things got done and hard lessons were learned. Looking to 2021, I think we can all agree that we can only go up from here!
2021 and Pressing the Reset Button Much of what we'll see in 2021 was already in play, but if 2020 did anything positive, it was to accelerate the pace of evolution in key areas. The Cloud is always a continuous point of discussion and I could say I foresee more rapid Cloud adoption in 2021 and that would be easy to get right, but it's more nuanced than that. Telestream placed a bet on the Cloud several years ago and we've been evolving our strategy in that direction ever since. Most importantly, and underlying that strategy, is the evolution of how people work together. Remote working was a good idea long before the pandemic arrived because we don't always need people and systems in the same building and we certainly don't need to send giant teams and supporting infrastructure to every live event. The pandemic has shown us that people don't necessarily need to sit in cubicles from 9 to 5 in order to be valuable contributors. 2021 is an opportunity to press the reset button and work smarter and more efficiently. For some companies, this might be a do or die proposition.
Cloud Adoption Accelerates The pandemic has hastened the onset of remote workflows that were already beginning or even well established for some companies. Remote workflows almost exclusively make use of the Cloud in some form. And while many still associate the Cloud with media storage, it's the Cloud compute' part of the equation that really changes the game. The compute power in the Cloud allows even the smallest companies to have access to the same resources, flexibility, and scalable business models as the larger players. Using the Cloud in this way has the potential to float all boats in regard to any size and budget production being able to benefit from pay as you go' media processing and distribution workflows. More businesses are going to take a close look at the Cloud in 2021, and continued remote working will drive that.
The security of valuable media assets is a big issue for many content owners, but the truth is that it's hard to find a more secure ecosystem than the Cloud. Cloud-based workflows are inherently more secure than on-premises equivalents because Cloud-based production and distribution can utilise the robust security architecture that has been purpose-built for the Cloud and is monitored 24/7 by teams of security experts. Banks and other financial organisations know this, and everyone who uses tools from Google or Microsoft or Salesforce depends on that security every day. I think 2021 can be the year that the M&E industry makes great strides in accepting that security is not an issue in the Cloud.
Remote Workflows are Here to Stay In 2021, I believe we'll see plenty of teams continuing to work remotely as an ongoing, managed offering to employees. In this context, the Cloud will be examined for how to accomplish this while at the same time, naturally, there will be continued focus on the economics of Cloud-based computing for heavy lifting media workflows. A key component of sustainable remote workflows is not to move the media. If someone needs to QC a programme master remotely, waiting two hours for it to download is costly and inefficient. This is one of the reasons that we developed our new GLIM Media Player that allows stakeholders to play full resolution media files remotely from anywhere they have an internet connection. Even as vaccines are made available and the pandemic subsides, if companies can save money on travel expenses by not flying every single operator, engineer and supporting equipment to events, they are going to wa
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Telestream CEO Dan Castles weighs in on what lies ahead for the media tech industry in 2021
