Grass Valley has formed a partnership with SPL Media House (SPL MH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
This collaboration marks a significant milestone with the deployment of Grass Valley’s cutting-edge AMPP SaaS Platform in the region.
Content Production and Distribution
As the media arm of the Saudi Pro League, SPL MH has started using Grass Valley’s AMPP to produce and distribute content. In addition, SPL MH utilizes Grass Valley’s Framelight-X cloud-native asset management solution to create various video packages featuring Saudi Pro League clubs, players, and highlights. These packages are streamed via multiple digital platforms.
Challenges and Solutions
When the Saudi Pro League assigned SPL MH the task of distributing match content, there was no existing broadcast hardware. With the first match set to begin in just six weeks, they required a cloud-based infrastructure that could be quickly deployed without complicated third-party systems integration.
Statements from SPL Media House
Peter Van Dam, COO of SPL Media House, stated, “Grass Valley’s AMPP proved to be the only end-to-end SaaS platform in the world that could be run in the cloud and ‘built-out’ in our very tight timeframe. It is also the only ‘tried-and-tested’ solution that is reliable and robust enough for our demanding application. AMPP’s SaaS model also enabled an ‘OpEx’ model versus the traditional hardware-based ‘CapEx’ model. AMPP’s workflows can be easily integrated, modified, and scaled as needs change.”
Global Audience and Cloud-Based Deployment
Van Dam further mentioned, “With a global audience of roughly 140 million viewers, there is strong interest in watching our matches and following our teams and players. We were free to deploy an all-native-cloud solution because we weren’t locked into any traditional hardware or infrastructure.”
Technical Implementation
To deploy AMPP, SPL MH converted a small room in their production facility into an international broadcast Network Operations Center (NOC). Feeds from the nine matches produced weekly are sent to AMPP via Haivision & LiveU SRT or NDI from the outside broadcast (OB) trucks stationed at the stadiums. From AMPP, these game feeds are distributed from the NOC to several social media and service platforms used by SPL and rights holders. Additionally, remote commentary and distribution for the WPL “Saudi Women’s Premier League” is fully controlled via AMPP.
About Grass Valley
Grass Valley is a leading provider of media technology for the media and entertainment industry. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company specializes in manufacturing television production and broadcasting equipment, including cameras, live production switchers, replay and highlights products, media storage, editing, asset management, and routing and conversion equipment. Grass Valley offers these products as hardware, software, and software as a service (SaaS)
