Channel 4 extends relationship with Red Bee for playout and access

Channel 4 is extending its relationship with Red Bee Media, so the latter can deliver fully resilient dual site playout and access services for all the British broadcaster’s channels.

In renewing the contracts, Channel 4 will be moving to Red Bee’s software-defined playout platform, which will be available for demonstrations at IBC 2019 in Amsterdam.

Playout services will be delivered from Red Bee’s facilities in Broadcast Centre, London and Media City UK, Salford. Access services will continue to be delivered from a number of locations across the UK.

Red Bee’s software-only playout platform running on the company’s new state of the art hybrid cloud platform, enables rapid configuration and deployment of new TV services, creating opportunities for customers like Channel 4 to quickly launch new channels and features. The platform also enables greater workflow visibility and increased possibilities for collaboration.

“We are proud to have established a renewed confidence with Channel 4 for the years to come and we are looking forward with excitement to helping them transition to a software-only playout deployment. As a managed services provider we aim to deliver services that help our customers focus on their content and their audiences and we appreciate the trust Channel 4 has bestowed on us to do just that,” said Steve Nylund, CEO, Red Bee Media.

By distributing Channel 4’s services between London and Media City UK in Salford, Red Bee is creating a number of new roles in the North West, further supporting its commitment to the region as well as Channel 4’s ambition to generate employment opportunities across the UK.

“RedBee have been a key partner for many years and we are delighted to be renewing our Playout and Access Services relationship,” said Orpheus Warr, CTO at Channel 4 “The move to a flexible, resilient and fully virtualized dual-site playout solution clearly demonstrates Red Bee’s commitment to delivering customer value and quality through service innovation.”

The renewed relationship between Red Bee and Channel 4 includes multi-year contracts with delivery of playout, disaster recovery and access services (captioning, visual signing and audio description) for all six Channel 4 channels (including regional, platform and time-shifted versions) and Box Television.

All services provided to Channel 4 will be showcased within Red Bee Media’s ‘Leader in Live’ demonstration at IBC 2019, September 13-17 in Amsterdam, along with the company’s full end to end offering of next generation media services, asd well as unique real time demonstrations of full-service live remote production workflows with football games from Leyton Orient Stadium in London streamed and broadcast on the tradeshow floor at IBC.

Red Bee Media will exhibit on booth 14.D26, in hall 14, Content Everywhere at IBC 2019.