
Arena Television Launches New 4K UHD Trucks with All-IP Infrastructure from Grass Valley
Company invests in UHD and IP to meet changing demands of clients
MONTREAL, April 20, 2016 Arena Television is one of the UKs leading outside broadcast service providers, supporting a prestigious range of sports and events clients with a fleet of more than 20 fully equipped OB trucks plus the associated services of Arena Aviation. The family-owned company, in business since 1989, is making the move to 4K UHD and embracing developments in IP-based video production with its three new trucks that will be rolling out over the next year. To realize this vision, Arena turned to Grass Valley, a Belden Brand.
Arena is one of the first OB companies in Europe to embrace 4K UHD production based on a ground-breaking IP infrastructure in a broadcast truck. Grass Valley will supply the key product solutions in the three planned trucks, OBX, OBY and OBZ. OBX is the first truck to be equipped with this new technology. The second truck, OBY, is due later in 2016 and OBZ will follow in 2017. Arena is working closely with systems integrator Videlio to design and outfit the trucks.
This is a very significant investment. We believe that basing our infrastructure on emerging technology will deliver the most powerful and advanced OB trucks in the world, capable of providing the service and flexibility customers will be expecting and demanding in the coming years, said Richard Yeowart, group managing director of Arena. For us, the key to success in this project was partnering with a company that provides a breadth of IP solutions and understands the need to maintain the high level of production capabilities that our clients have come to expect. Grass Valley was the right choice.
Arena has committed to purchasing the new LDX 86N Series native 4K cameras with XF Fiber base stations. Other equipment powering the trucks includes one Kayenne K-Frame Video Production Center switcher with 2 panels (panels and frames are cross-compatible for cost-effective repurposing), two GV Convergent IP/SDI Router Control and Configuration Systems with SDN license, iControl Customized End-to-End Facility Monitoring, Densit 3+ FR4 Frames with IPG-3901 High Density SDI/IP Gateways, and GV Node IP Processing and Edge Routing Platforms with Kaleido KMX-4911 cards enabling expansion up to an 18x2 multiviewer.
The first of the new fleet, OBX is designed to support 32 camera productions and utilize end-to-end IP connectivity. The design is based around a Cisco IP switch, of which the core infrastructure is fiber, running 10GigE and where enabled, 40GigE. The architecture provides the ultimate production flexibility where existing baseband systems can seamlessly integrate with the new IP-enabled workflows. In addition, OBX is fully Future Ready, allowing adoption of greater network speeds as they become available.
At launch, the IP workflow will utilize SPMTE ST 2022-6 and is designed to take advantage of emerging video and audio IP standards such as VSF TR03/04, which Grass Valley is fully supporting through the AIMS initiative. Arena is running 4K UHD over 10GigE with Grass Valleys 4K 1-Wire solution that uses TICO compression. In addition to leveraging open standards, OBX is also Future Ready with regard to formats, able to accommodate emerging formats such as HDR. OBX will run UHD 2Si which provides significant benefits in resilience and monitoring for client confidence, and is able to integrate Quad-Link if required.
Latency and timing are critical in live productions and Grass Valleys awareness of the end-to-end production requirements, careful system design, adoption of technologies and targeted research and development in products such as GV Node for low latency and vertically accurate switching, contribute to this fleet of cutting-edge OB trucks and give Arena clients the production facilities they demand today, with flexibility to develop their productions in the future.
Arena is a great example of a company that is looking to the future, making decisions and investments that will position them well to deliver content that stands above what is currently on the market, explained Jan-Pieter van Welsem, vice president of sales and marketing, Grass Valley. A lot of thought and planning went into this move, and knowing that our solutions are playing a key role is very gratifying.
###
For information about Grass Valley solutions and services, please visit grassvalley.com.
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...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...