Author: Zuzanna Lenart

testttt

Pebble to automate CobbTV

Posted on | by Zuzanna Lenart

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 16 October 2025: Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has won a contract to provide Cobb County, Georgia, with an automated playout system. The contract was negotiated in co-operation with, and was installed by, Pebble’s systems integration partner CTI.

CobbTV is a government-access television channel for Cobb County, available on Comcast cable and ATSC terrestrial. As well as county commission and other local government meetings, the programming includes educational and informational programming and, in rush hour, live traffic information including highway cameras.

The county authorities sought an easy to use, highly reliable automated playout platform, which would involve very low operational and maintenance overhead. Following a procurement exercise, the contract was awarded to CTI and Pebble.

“To meet CobbTV’s particular needs, we proposed a very simple configuration,” said Eric Paris, Project Manager for CTI. “It uses a single Pebble Integrated Channel device which is capable of supporting four concurrent channels. Under the control of Pebble Automation software it provides links to Cobb’s NAS media storage, and manages live inputs and recordings.”

Video inputs and outputs are SDI, with the capability of 12G-SDI for a future move to Ultra HD. As well as switching and routing, the Pebble platform also generates and inserts rich graphics. It also includes audio channel management and mixing.

“We are a government body with needs slightly different than a traditional broadcaster, so our chief goal was to identify a trusted partner who would give us the reliability we sought,” said Brad Plumley, Station Manager at CobbTV. “Pebble is internationally recognised as a leader in broadcast automation, yet also took the time to understand our specific requirements.

“The solution they proposed is compact and cost-effective, but comes with the Pebble reputation for reliability,” he added. “It is packaged in a single box which reduces system complexity, and they have implemented against our timeline requirements.”

CTI installed, integrated and commissioned the Pebble system in July 2025 for an on-air date in August.

For Pebble, CEO Peter Mayhead said “This project is an important pointer of the way the media industry is transforming. Once the province of monolithic broadcasters, video is now seen as the route for direct communications by businesses, sports clubs and – as seen here in Cobb County – by public sector bodies who want to ensure their citizens are properly informed.

“We designed our technology to be scalable, not just in number of channels but in the level of operational involvement,” Mayhead continued. “That means for non-broadcasters like CobbTV we can provide the highest technical and operational quality and reliability with minimal operator or engineer involvement.”

For more information on Pebble automation systems, see pebble.tv.

### ENDS ###

testttt

Pebble modernises playout at France 3 Corse

Posted on | by Zuzanna Lenart

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 3 September 2025: Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has implemented a new two channel playout system for France 3 Corse, the France Télévisions station on the island of Corsica. This is a proven platform for France Télévisions, already installed in Martinique and St Pierre and Miquelon, with a contract once again won in open tender.

France 3 Corse had a life-expired playout system in its headquarters in Ajaccio and went out to the market to find a modern, compact and efficient solution. Pebble was able to demonstrate the commercial and technical superiority of its playout in a box solution, which brings together in a single server the proven and popular Pebble Automation with the Pebble Integrated Channel playout engine.

The station transmits two channels, France 3 Corse and Via Stella. To provide complete resilience, the Pebble installation replicates the media database, automation and video servers over two physical devices. The playout and management software supports existing workflows while adding valuable new functionality.

Pebble demonstrated the complete functionality of the proposal, including the compact yet comprehensive redundancy, during the tender process. The company has local, French-speaking design and support teams, which provided further reassurance to France 3 Corse.

Manuel Brouard, Solutions Architect Manager at Pebble said “This is a great example of the way that local knowledge and market understanding helps reach a great solution. With French-speaking staff able to really dig deep into the requirements, we could give them a precisely tailored solution that delivers for France 3 Corse, now and in the future.

“That local knowledge and culture also meant that we could go from contract to on air, including workflow development and training, in just two months, a remarkable achievement,” Brouard said.

For more information on Pebble automation systems, see pebble.tv. 

### ENDS ###

testttt

The R&D and product development landscape 2025: Pebble

Posted on | by Zuzanna Lenart

Miroslav Jeras, CTO at Pebble, believes the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) reference architecture and the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) are the areas which R&D needs to be laser-focused on in the coming years

What impact have the current global uncertainties had on Pebble’s R&D and product development in recent months?

Since the dark days of 2020, Pebble has been a completely remote company. Our staff, including our development teams, can be located anywhere. Equally, our customer base is also global: our successful installations can be found around the world.

This gives us a large degree of isolation from perturbations in specific geographies and markets. Our agility means we can quickly shift to address opportunities and avoid challenges.

More widely, the disruption of international trade has caused everyone to look carefully at how their businesses are structured. In our industry, what advertisers decide has a big impact on broadcasters, who in turn will either pause or, better, advance plans for technology, seeking the right platform to help them manage increasingly unpredictable complexity.

What do you foresee as the biggest challenges in R&D and product development/deployment in the coming years? 

Our business is software. We are continually evaluating the latest in software design techniques and functionality to best support our products. Our customers choose Pebble because we have a long-established reputation for reliability, so we only adopt new ideas and new ways of working when we are absolutely certain they meet our high standards of resilience.

One key issue that affects the media industry is the need for standards in interconnectivity. In the rush to software-defined technology, the temptation was for each vendor to push ahead with an architecture that best suited their specific needs. Our role in providing automation and orchestration often involves integrating signal and control flows across the products of multiple vendors, which potentially means providing the bridge between different control layers and operating systems.

It has become clear that interoperability through open standards in the area of control results in the ability to deliver reliable and feature-rich solutions even when working on large-scale systems with multiple vendors and platforms. The AMWA NMOS suite of specifications have, over the years, enabled discovery of media nodes (IS-04), establishing stream connections (IS-05) and more recently the ability to control various processing functions and monitor relevant status parameters that indicate health issues impacting workflows (IS-12 and BCP-008).

As industry bodies continue to lay out their vision for the future of software-defined media, initiatives like the Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) reference architecture and the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) aim to guide the industry by fencing off areas which are in immediate need of interoperability. These are the areas which R&D needs to be laser-focused on in the coming years by engaging with the initiatives, actively contributing, or even leading them.

Where do you see the most opportune areas for innovation in your area of the market?

Broadcast automation systems were originally created–even before we entered the market 25 years ago–to simplify and secure playout operations. Everyone recognised that the principal driver was to ensure accuracy in playout, gain a commercial edge through the ability to add or change commercials late, and to control operational costs and redeploy staff to more creative, fulfilling roles.

Broadcasters and media enterprises now need much more. They need support to make smarter decisions and to do so more quickly. Live content, and particularly sport, remains the killer app for broadcast, and delivering the best experience for audiences while maximising revenues opens new opportunities and brings new challenges.

Agility is a word used perhaps too often these days, but broadcasters are looking for more than just management of complexity; but actively driving innovation in unpredictable environments.

What are you working on that excites you as a product team, and what can we expect to see at IBC2025?

Our development programme is dependent on a dialogue between the product team and our users worldwide. It must be a genuine dialogue to combine today’s demands with the potential of new technology. Remember the quote (probably incorrectly) attributed to Henry Ford: “If I gave my customers what they asked for, it would be a faster horse”.

What can you expect to see at IBC? Of course, I’m going to say it will be really interesting but you’ll have to be in Amsterdam in September to find out the details.

This article was originally published in TVBEurope.

### ENDS ###

testttt

Pebble looks to the future of playout automation at IBC2025

Posted on | by Zuzanna Lenart

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 17 July 2025: Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, is turning its vision to the future of automation with its demonstrations at IBC2025 (stand 8.C58, Amsterdam RAI, 12-15 September). The company will showcase its solutions for managing increasingly complex operations.

“In this hugely competitive field, broadcasters need to be able to react to unpredictability,” said Peter Mayhead, CEO of Pebble. “Operations are complex, but viewers expect the highest standards and precise control. Live events only amplify these demands, requiring real-time decisions, rapid response, and flawless execution. Pebble’s automation solutions are designed to handle this pace and complexity, giving operators the confidence to deliver with speed and accuracy.”

Mayhead continued, “We see the future for automation as providing support so that the smartest decisions are made, creating valuable competitive and operational benefits.”

For more than 25 years Pebble has been a leader in enterprise-wide playout automation, building a seamless environment for assets and delivery at any scale from a single channel to the largest multi-service, multi-tenanted facility. Its core software is equally adept at controlling best-of-breed component architectures or its Integrated Channel all-in-one engine, across SDI, SMPTE ST2110 and NDI content flows.

Pebble is an active supporter of industry initiatives to standardise interoperability in IP architectures. “The real benefits of software-defined architectures lie in responsive agility,” Mayhead said. “Intelligence in the automation platform, combined with a readily reconfigurable architecture, give broadcasters and content enterprises the flexibility to respond instantly.”

A core requirement for businesses today, Pebble Automation 2.0 supports multi-site working and remote access, providing a single solution for complex operations, real-time decision making and perfect synchronisation for disaster recovery facilities. Through Remote, a web-based monitoring and control environment, the ability for authorised users to interact with the system from anywhere in the world, at any time.

The architecture is inherently resilient and supports as many layers of redundancy as the business requires. High levels of security are built into the software, hardening operations against attack and protecting access at all times.

“The future will be built on innovation in content, presentation, and monetisation,” Mayhead said. “Broadcasters and network operators around the world turn to Pebble because they recognise our ability to not only provide a solid technological foundation but also to help them navigate the increasing complexity of live, real-time broadcasts, enabling them to maintain precision, reliability, and speed in this ever-evolving industry.”

Meet Pebble at IBC2025 on stand 8.C58, and find more information at www.pebble.tv.

### ENDS ###

testttt

TV Novo Tempo transforms operations with Pebble

Posted on | by Zuzanna Lenart

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 11 June 2025: Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has upgraded its installation at TV Novo Tempo to provide a complete transformative update for the channel. The new system allows the broadcaster to move from a traditional discrete architecture to a compact software infrastructure, migrate from SDI to IP, and add new functionality while retaining operational familiarity.

Novo Tempo, based in São Paulo, Brazil, creates and delivers radio and television, and is owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The television channels are broadcast 24 hours a day on cable and satellite, and on DTH in some regions, providing programming in Spanish and Portuguese.

The broadcaster has relied on playout automation from Pebble for 15 years, and the core functionality continued to meet their need and had the obvious benefit of familiarity. But the rest of the hardware infrastructure was life-expired, and Novo Tempo took the opportunity for a complete refresh, improving operational flexibility, quality and reliability, and sustainability.

The new system uses the latest version of Pebble Automation, and the legacy hardware is now replaced by Pebble Integrated Channel playout engines. These software appliances include high quality graphics and visual effects, along with redundancy for very resilient playout.

The new architecture is primarily based on SMPTE ST2110 IP standards. For operational flexibility preview outputs use NDI, allowing operators to tap in wherever needed.

“What we have achieved is to bring our multi-channel operations into one point of contact, simplify our engineering, add important new tools like SCTE signalling as well as live graphics, and do it all in a very small footprint,” said Wendel Percia, CTO at TV Novo Tempo. “Our new system is compact, with a very low power demand and carbon footprint, but at the same time we retain the familiar Pebble automation user interface, so we have no complications in the transition.”

The system was designed and implemented by Videodata, a leading Brazilian systems integrator and Pebble’s distribution partner in Brazil. “We have worked with Novo Tempo for a long time,” said Rosalvo Carvalho, General Director at Videodata. “They worked with us on their ideas for updating and augmenting their playout operations.

“They view Pebble very much as a trusted supplier, and we showed how the latest technology brought all the tools they needed in a single box,” he continued. “The familiarity with their existing operations was another powerful benefit, and we showed that we could integrate with the rest of the operations simply and securely, meeting all their goals.”

For more information on Pebble Automation, Integrated Channel and other solutions, see www.pebble.tv.

### ENDS ###