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Amagi enables virtualized playout with Cloudport 3.0
MUMBAI: Aiming to increase operational efficiency, scalability, and cost savings for broadcasterscloud-based broadcast infrastructure and targeted TV advertising platform Amagi has adopted use Cloudport 3.0, the latest version of its cloud-based playout platform.
Cloudport 3.0 enables TV networks to operate virtualized playout on the cloud. This gives TV networks greater flexibility and agility to spin new channels and create regional feeds instantly to keep pace with changing viewer dynamics and preferences. Available as a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) platform using Intel servers, Cloudport 3.0 can also be deployed at operator headends while retaining full control over operations with the broadcasters.
The new playout platform is IP-enabled, supports live broadcast, and is 4K UHD compatible. Complete with multi-feed monitoring, the platform offers remote playout management, creating a live MCR-like experience on the cloud.
“Building on the successful global deployments of Cloudport, Amagi has further enhanced the platform’s capabilities in response to the broadcast industry’s evolving needs for virtualized playout,” said Amagi co-founder K A Srinivasan. “With Cloudport 3.0, TV networks can respond to market needs quicker, as well as operate multichannel playout and delivery with zero CAPEX when compared to traditional playout and broadcast models.”
Offered as a platform-as-a-service model, Cloudport 3.0 is packed with advanced features such as near-live asset changes to broadcast playlists, real-time social media integration, and enhanced digital video effects for a better end-user experience.
“Given its flexibility to be hosted on the cloud, Cloudport 3.0 can be used to create broadcast-quality OTT feeds. It can also double up as a cost-effective option to meet disaster recovery needs of TV networks. There is no longer a need for broadcasters to stay invested in expensive, traditional delivery models,” Srinivasan added.
Cloudport 3.0 will be showcased by Amagi at the 2016 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 16 to 21.
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
