SRG SSR adopts Sony's Hive third-generation news production platform

The Swiss broadcaster chooses the flexible and scalable Media Backbone Hive network production platform to get its content where it is needed quickly and in an optimized way.

SRG SSR has chosen Media Backbone Hive de Sony to modernize its sports and news production operations across all of its broadcast centers in Switzerland.

The Swiss broadcaster has chosen this network production platform with the aim of improving its ability to share content between regions seamlessly, as well as to meet the needs of viewers in today's frenetic digital landscape. SRG currently produces and broadcasts programs throughout Switzerland.

Last year broadcast more than 12,000 hours of events sports on television, radio and online media. The implementation of Media Backbone Hive in SRG facilities over the next three years will optimize these operations for all users, facilitating collaboration for remote work teams. With the ability to quickly ingest, share, edit and publish any content across any platform, Hive is the perfect platform to implement an always-on journalism model, satisfying the need for news at all hours and across different platforms and formats.

Andreas Lattmann, technical director of TPC Switzerland, SRG's technical service provider, highlights that “Hive will allow us to be much more agile, as it offers the advantages of a web-based production tool that allows us to share materials between the different regional SRG entities instantly by just ingesting the content once.”

The network's decision is the result of its desire to future-proof its operations as it evolves into a pioneering digital multimedia studio with the ability to respond to the needs of new viewers.

Having implemented Sony Sonaps in their news operations years ago, the transition to Media Backbone Hive was not only easy, but training costs were low as many of SRG's users were already familiar with the workflows and operating models that Hive maintains.

Evolution of Sonaps

Building on two decades of Sony innovation in news production, Media Backbone Hive was launched in 2016 as an evolution of its popular Sonaps solution, to offer comprehensive content production and camera-to-file workflow management. The omnichannel networked production system is designed to use the latest IT infrastructure to reinvent news production. In addition, it supports fast, efficient and flexible content creation for various platforms, including the Internet, mobile devices, social networks and similar broadcast applications. Developed to easily integrate with newsroom IT systems and market-leading graphics platforms, journalists and operators can continue working with their current tools with minimal disruption.

Using a flexible cloud-based data center model and open source technologies, Media Backbone Hive offers complete scalability. Broadcasters can add or remove resources while the system is live by taking advantage of Sony's "on-demand" investment model. They can trust the platform to work for their business today and in the future, without losing any investment.

Stuart Almond, Head of Marketing, Media Solutions, Sony Solutions Europe, said: "We are delighted that SRG has chosen Media Backbone Hive and are confident that it will mark a turning point in its operations, both today and in the future. The fact that SRG has decided to invest in Sony's third generation news production system, having previously used Newsbase and Sonaps, demonstrates the broadcaster's confidence that we will continue to offer effective solutions for today's leading audiovisual companies, and That is a real victory for us.”