Crown Media Family Networks partners with Globecast for disaster recovery
 

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, is partnering with Los Angeles-based Crown Media Family Networks to supply a cutting edge, twofold disaster recovery (DR) system for Crown’s leading family-friendly networks — Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries — which together reach more than 150 million homes in the United States. The collaboration, which safeguards the continual security of the channels, represents a powerful recognition of Globecast Americas’ cutting edge capabilities.

Under its DR plan, Globecast Americas is providing continuous channel origination services using its 24/7 server-based playout system and associated storage, controlled by advanced automation technology. This end-to-end service includes content aggregation and tracking, playout and distribution including 24/7 monitoring and long-term content storage.

Globecast’s DR service includes the encoding and transmission for both channels in the event of a failure. This entails encoding for MPEG-4 HD and DVB-S2 satellite transmission to Crown’s transponder on the AMC-11 satellite.

Crown’s disaster recovery plan is being serviced by Globecast’s Media Center in Los Angeles. The Center boasts the company’s sophisticated Media Factory technology, which manages ingest, media logistics, transcoding, and order/schedule management for linear and VOD content to satellite, fiber, cable headends, CDN, IP and OTT. It features state-of-the-art technology from leading providers centred on the Evertz Mediator platform.  

Eddie Ferraro, Managing Director at Globecast Americas commented, “In today’s competitive viewing landscape, automated channel redundancy is a crucial factor for broadcasters because being off-air for even a few seconds is catastrophic. By entrusting Globecast, Crown Media can go to air with a greater sense of confidence knowing that a proper backup plan is in place. This project illustrates our unique position in safeguarding against failures and delivering the high calibre playout and automation solutions that our customers expect.”