Author: Tanya Rai

New solution ensures redundancy and seamless integration for Trans Media’s free-to-air channels

Epsom, Surrey, UK, DATE: Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has today announced that Trans Media, one of the leading television network based in Jakarta, Indonesia, has successfully launched a new playout system delivered by Pebble and their channel partner system Integrator, PT. Interindo Multimedia. The upgraded solution has replaced Trans Media’s legacy infrastructure, providing a range of more advanced features to overcome the challenges of moving to a new broadcast system for the future.

The playout system, which is now live on air, is based on Pebble Automation controlling Pebble Integrated Channel and is designed to ensure seamless broadcasting for the two free-to-air channels which are Trans TV and Trans 7. The solution offers 2+2 channel redundancy, controlled through the Pebble Automation Channel Manager. This includes the capability to automatically switch to a backup channel via a third-party router when a failure is detected in the main channel. In addition, native Flash and HTML5 graphics are now used to deliver complex visuals, while simpler PNG or TGA sequences are used for logos. Trans Media can also now insert SCTE-104 messages within its program output, with all of these capabilities under playlist control.

“We are thrilled to see both Trans Trans TV and Trans 7 go live on air with our playout system in their new central equipment room (CER) and new MCR location,” commented Pebble’s Samir Isbaih, VP of Sales Middle East and APAC. “It has been incredibly important working with our valued channel partner PT. Interindo Multimedia to deliver this project successfully. The solution will enable Trans Media to broadcast their free-to-air channels seamlessly and reliably, with the added benefit of 2+2 channel redundancy to ensure uninterrupted broadcasting.”

Alfie Torrijos, Senior Broadcast Engineer at PT. Interindo Multimedia, said: “We’re delighted to have partnered with Pebble to deliver such an innovative future-proof solution for Trans Media. Our local knowledge and expertise, together with the reliability of Pebble’s robust playout systems have enabled us to support Trans Media with their move to a new CER with new technology.”

“At Trans TV, we strive to deliver innovative and engaging content to our audience, and our new playout system is an important step towards achieving that goal,” said Sakti Lubis, Broadcast Support and Multimedia Section Head. Agung Wicaksono, Technical Operation Support Section Head, commented: “Working closely with Pebble and PT. Interindo Multimedia has delivered a high-performance solution, and we’re confident that we’re better placed than ever to meet the needs of our audience in a very competitive market.”

Trusted by broadcasters and service providers worldwide, Pebble Automation provides enterprise-level automation for powerful multi-channel delivery. The system is designed to deliver flawless control of a wide variety of channel types in any combination, whether live and unpredictable content, regional opt-outs, simulcast, or simple clip-based channels. Pebble Integrated Channel is a software-defined solution that offers audio, video, and graphics functionality to meet the requirements for ingest, channel branding, and frame-accurate multi-channel playout. With powerful signal processing capabilities, flexible configurability, interfacing capacity, and a huge variety of stream or file types, it replicates in software all the functionality of a traditional broadcast playout chain made up of single-purpose devices performing dedicated functions.

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About Trans TV                                                                              

Trans TV is an Indonesian free-to-air television network based in South Jakarta. It was launched in 2001. Programming consists of newscasts, movies, drama series, variety shows, quiz shows, and children’s television series. Trans TV was Indonesia’s main broadcaster of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, showing most group matches and all of the final matches, which led to the channel topping Indonesian television ratings as of June 19, 2018.

Al Mashhad aims to integrate digital broadcasting with television for a new generation of viewers.

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 18 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist, is delighted to announce that its automaton and integrated channel solutions have been selected by Al Mashhad for the launch of its 1+1+1 channel of the same name, Al Mashhad.

Based in Dubai Studio City and with systems integration by Diversified, Al Mashhad is a television channel and interactive digital platform that offers a diverse programme and slate of news. The channel aims to bring about change and development in Arab media, engaging younger generations and helping further enable digital transformation in the MENA region. As such it needs to be agile and adaptive and has been set up from the start with a secondary playlist providing the flexibility to launch a new pop-up to respond to market opportunities.

Pebble has provided several 12G-ready key components for the   channel, notably Pebble Automation and Pebble Integrated Channel devices. As a system dedicated to managing the continuous playout and broadcast of video material, Automation not only controls all the devices involved in the playout, but an additional workload of video servers, routers, and graphic devices. All key components (database servers, integrated device servers, etc) are fully redundant, while for business continuity both main and backup lists each playout in parallel and there is seamless movement between main and DR sites built into the system.

Pebble Remote, a web-based monitoring, management and control tool for the automation environment is also an important part of the channel architecture. NDI connectivity ensures that video previews can be played on the Pebble Remote interface, providing perfect visibility into channel output with minimal latency. Care has also had to be paid to ensure the required third-party integrations within the Al Mashhad workflow are seamless, including those to third-party traffic, content management, MAM, and graphic systems.

Using the latest SDI 12G cards, the channel is currently broadcast in HD but is also UHD-ready.

“When launching Al Mashhad we had to balance the demands of robust reliability with the flexibility to accommodate new demands on our broadcast workflow, both now and into the future, and Pebble’s solutions do that,” comments Srinivas Kuppa, Head of Technology, Al-Mashhad.”

“We are delighted to be providing such key components to the new Al Mashhad channel and adding it to the growing list of broadcasters basing their systems on Pebble playout and automation in the region,” comments Samir Isbaih, VP Sales for Middle East and APAC, at Pebble. “SDI remains a popular choice for many new broadcasters, and it’s brilliant that Pebble is providing a future-proof 12G system that will enable Al Mashhad to adapt and evolve its service over the years ahead.”

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Pebble’s leadership team expands to include new strategic hire and key internal promotion

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 17 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist is thrilled to announce the expansion of its leadership team. Neil Maycock joins Pebble as Chief Commercial Officer and Alison Pavitt has been promoted to Chief Revenue Officer following a successful two years as Director of Sales and Marketing at the company. Following the recent announcement of Jon Briggs’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer, the leadership team has been strengthened to reinforce its position as a leading provider in the playout automation market.

As CCO, Neil is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s ambitious market-led strategy. Neil has extensive industry expertise built up from over 30 years’ of working in senior positions for some of the most innovative and transformational technology companies in the broadcast industry. These include the position of EVP & General Manager at Snell Advanced Media and prior to this he served as President of the Americas at Pro-Bel. In his last role as ex-CMO and EVP Delivery and Support for Grass Valley, he was responsible for its global marketing and customer service operations. He has a history of successfully leading companies through mergers and acquisition, building brands in complex broadcast markets.

Alison Pavitt moves into the role of Chief Revenue Officer delivering a focus wholly on the sales function for the organisation, to build on the success garnered as Director of Sales and Marketing where she was responsible for global sales and marketing. A long-standing figure in the industry, she is a board member of the IABM and sits on the IBC Exhibitor Steering Group.

Alison first joined the industry in a sales role with broadcast graphics specialists Aston. Here she grew a network of international resellers, whilst also being hands-on with product demonstrations, as well as operator and reseller training. She joined Pebble in 2009 as Marketing Manager where she played a key role in the evolution of the company’s marketing, as well as overseeing its recent rebrand and being closely involved in company-wide initiatives to establish brand values and ensuring focus on the customer journey.

Peter Mayhead said of the appointments: “The expansion of our leadership team is another exciting phase of the business as we move forward with our ambitions as a market-led organisation. I am delighted Neil has joined us and with Alison’s promotion, this brings a fantastic mix of experience between them to support our customers and be the expert partner for hybrid cloud playout and transition to IP. Together with Jon’s recent appointment as COO, this creates a solid and significant intention to drive our ambitions for continued business growth.”

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Pebble provides Intigral, the media and entertainment arm of stc Group with powerful multi-channel delivery

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 16 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist, has been engaged to design, supply and build its playout solutions for a new headend facility for leading Saudi digital entertainment company Intigral. The facility will combine Pebble Automation, Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote for multichannel ingest, content management and playout.

Intigral, a leading provider of digital entertainment and sports in the MENA region and a subsidiary of stc, has partnered with Pebble since 2012. After winning a competitive tender for the contract, Pebble completed a technical evaluation for the new site taking into account Intigral’s desire to maintain the continuity of their workflows.

At the core of the new system is Pebble’s scalable software-defined Integrated Channel. This provides audio, video and graphics functionality in a compact, cost-effective format to meet Intigral’s ingest, channel branding, and frame-accurate multi-channel playout requirements.

The solutions incorporate the latest NDI standard inputs and outputs for video and audio monitoring, in addition to Advanced SCTE Insertion for AD Replacement and monetisation.

Multiple HD and SD feeds will ingest directly into shared storage for live recording and playout. Enterprise-level automationwillensure continuity on air with robust and fully redundant content monitoring and management. Web-based monitoring, management and control across the new automated environment will be provided via Pebble Remote. Another customer requirement is the restoration of multilingual subtitle files, a process enabled by Pebble’s automated workflow solutions. Delivery of this solution is scheduled for later this year.

Eyad Al Dwaik, Director of Engineering operations at Intigral said, “Intigral is dedicated to delivering exceptional digital entertainment experiences and seeks to proactively innovate to continue to thrive in this space. Working with innovative partners like Pebble over the last decade has empowered us to enhance our home grown channel generation capabilities and create high-value experiences for our audiences across the region. Today, we are delighted to be extending this collaboration to design and implement ingest and playout for our new OTT head-end facility which we are looking forward to going live with later in the year.”

Samir Isbaih, VP Sales for Middle East and APAC at Pebble says, “Pebble is dedicated to delivering top-tier solutions for our clients and we were delighted to work with Intigral – part of stc Group – on this major new project. The new OTT headend facility features a uniquely flexible channel pipeline design for ingest, monitoring and management of multiple feeds and multiple file formats. Broadcasters and service providers worldwide entrust the automation of their playout operations to Pebble because our proven solutions offer our customers the confidence that we can launch their channels to air reliably.”

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