Televisa chooses Lawo IP and Ravenna for a profound update of its facilities

The Mexican broadcaster installs Lawo mc² production consoles, a central IP-based router with redundant and fail-safe architecture, and Ravenna/AES67 I/O and AoIP interface systems.

Televisa is renovating the San Ángel, Mexico City facility used to produce telenovelas and other live programs, moving from a stand-alone studio to a fully networked production environment. Using production consoles Theirs mc², an IP-based core router with redundant and fail-safe architecture, and Ravenna/AES67 I/O and AoIP interface systems, Televisa is moving into a new dimension of flexibility, scalability, efficiency and reliability, as well as establishing an intelligent solution for future growth and development.

Having previously purchased two 64-fader mc²66 audio production consoles for their OP Audio trucks, Televisa was familiar with Lawo prior to this current update. An evaluation of several manufacturers – along with their four years of experience in Lawo's people, products and services – saw that Lawo's proposed solution for the large network that Televisa envisioned came out better. In addition, he established that Lawo would be the ideal strategic partner for Televisa's future projects.

Another decisive factor in this determination was Lawo's commitment to industry standards, ensuring that Televisa's systems are not only in harmony with current IP standards, such as SMPTE 2022-6/7, 2110 and AES67, but also with any IP standards that exist in the future. Additionally, Lawo's comprehensive monitoring, using solutions such as Ember+, VSM and SmartDASH, as well as real-time IP telemetry, is a must for today's IP infrastructure.

The project

Televisa's new installation includes four Lawo mc²56 consoles and additional DSP and routing devices in three of the company's large production areas. These mc²56 desks, configured with 64, 48, 32 and 16 faders and including their respective HD cores and SoundGrid integration, are now installed in the Forum 3, 15 and 16 facilities. Multiple Lawo Dallis I/O systems power each unit, completed by a row of high-quality A_mic8 and A_digital8 AoIP interfaces.

Currently, Foro 3 provides support services for the shows of Little Giants, The Voice y The Voice Kids during the last season, while Foro 15 produces the novel For Love Without Law, among others. Forum 16 manages the program Tell me now daily, as well as Tell me now at the end on Saturdays, along with big productions like the 2019 Grammy Awards.

The technical update for two additional areas - Forum 8 and Forum 9, dedicated to the production of soap operas - includes two Lawo mc²36 consoles in a 24-fader frame, as well as compact I/O units for maximum connectivity. The Nova73 HD central router and all production units are now fully operational and networked via a Ravenna/AES67 infrastructure.

Nacho González, Lawo's sales director for South America, says: "The main challenge for an infrastructure like this today lies in the integration of IP with the rest of the client's infrastructure. Major broadcasters understand that proprietary protocols are a technological dead end, since they do not allow working with third-party systems. If you can't control, you can't integrate; and if you can't integrate, you can't expand in the future. Lawo's commitment to standards-based IP networks and future-proofing are key. reasons why Televisa decided to partner with us, because outside the network, life does not exist.”