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SBS to begin cloud-based playout by late January

58 SBS employees will be re-employed by Deluxe Australia under new deal.

2014-10-17_1633SBS will become the first Australian media company using a digital cloud-based playout of its television channels under a new contract with global media and content company Deluxe Australia.

Deluxe Australia, formerly Atlab and Cinevex, will manage broadcast playout operations for SBS ONE and SBS 2 from 27 January, 2015.

58 SBS employees have been offered employment with Deluxe, at “similar, or on an overall basis no less favourable” contracts from their current terms of employment.

SBS advises the arrangements have been in progress for over 18 months and are unrelated to govt. funding cuts.

A new custom-built facility is being constructed at Lane Cove, to act as Deluxe’s regional Broadcast Hub. During the transition period, current SBS teams will continue in their same roles, using the same equipment, at the existing SBS headquarters in Artarmon.

SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid: “This decision is the outcome of 18 months of rigorous work to determine the best way forward for SBS and is about keeping ahead of the curve of global developments, in a competitive landscape.

“These new arrangements will position SBS to take full advantage of digital convergence and better focus on curating content and design of our programming for delivery not just on TV, but also on the web, mobile devices and smart TVs.

“One of the biggest priorities in negotiating our new arrangement was looking after our SBS employees involved in the transfer of business. I’m pleased we’ve secured an outcome in which SBS teams will be offered transfers to Deluxe under an agreement which will see them employed by a progressive company specialising and innovating in their fields of expertise.”

SBS Technology and Distribution Director Noel Leslie said: “Our current playout infrastructure was nearing the end of its life which gave us the opportunity to explore a future playout arrangement for SBS that can best service our organisation going forward.

“This move is about keeping pace with global trends and a major shift we are seeing in the industry internationally to managed serviced arrangements. The use of a cloud-based platform will give us greater flexibility, resilience and agility around our playout service while still continuing our core functions in the broadcasting chain.”

Deluxe Australia Managing Director Alaric McAusland said: “Deluxe Australia is pleased to enter this exciting partnership with SBS and looks forward to working with SBS and its talented technical team to migrate content and programme management to the innovative Deluxe MediaCloud platform.The transferring team will make a valued contribution to Deluxe’s long-term growth.”

Deluxe MediaCloud Managing Director Maurizio Cimelli said: “The MediaCloud platform is designed to transform broadcasting from content acquisition through to playout and delivery. Its agility, cost effectiveness and resilience is designed to offer broadcasters far more flexibility without compromising quality. We are proud to be working with the SBS team who have shown a great deal of commitment to embracing this new and innovative approach to broadcasting.”

Deluxe Australia is a privately owned company that employs 450 people in Australia and 5500 internationally with its head office New York and an operational HQ in Hollywood.

Deluxe Australia became a wholly owned subsidiary of Deluxe in 2008 with acquisitions including MR PP, Digital Pictures, Corner Post, Flagstaff Studios and Iloura.

5 Responses

  1. David-my apologies to you, but I have no idea what the article is about-what is ‘playout facilities’ for instance, and what is the effect of doing whatever is being done to whatever they are?

  2. @Jason, no doubt SBS will move the playout of NITV and World Movies to Deluxe over time as well? Meaning the channel count at Media Hub continues to shrink, I count 7 less channels at Media Hub after they lost NWS-9, NWS-Go!, NWS-GEM, STW-9, STW-Go!, STW-GEM and Studio when Foxtel closes Studio down next March. Plus the two ABC Australia Network channels which I think has now been replaced by a single ABC Australia + channel?

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