Adding services to accommodate coverage of occasional events is now much easier due to the greater capacity and flexibility of modern playout facilities. It is also possible to 'spin-up' channels on an ad hoc basis, such as for when a sports broadcaster needs to cover several live football matches at the same time.

These 'pop-up' channels, which include both the 'red button' option on digital terrestrial platforms and cloud-based services, allow broadcasters to offer their audiences more choice. They also bring more operational responsibilities to ensure quality of experience (QoE) and compliance with regulatory standards. Monitoring systems like Mediaproxy LogServer provide a powerful and broad feature set for checking not only the output at the master control room (MCR) but also the various programs streams along the distribution chain.

Broadcasters and playout facility operators who buy LogServer licences for their full-time channels do not want to spend money on a permanent licence for a service that is used only occasionally. With the continuing growth in and demand for pop-up channels, Mediaproxy has decided to make LogServer available as a rented option. This allows users to licence the system as and when they need it without having to commit to a minimum period of rental.

This new package includes LogServer itself plus support and covers unlimited users and all client’s apps. Pop-up channels only work with a specific range of inputs sources: TSoIP, IP, OTT HLS/DASH, SMPTE-2110, SMPTE 2022-6 and streaming sources. LogServer has full capability to work with these formats and standards. It is also able to handle video transport protocols including SRT (Secure Reliable Transport), Zixi, HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) and RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol). Another benefit is that no capture hardware is needed, only a network card. In this way a pop-up channel can be based on physical equipment 'on-prem', on a virtual machine or in the cloud.

"Modern software-based compliance systems such as LogServer have the flexibility to record pop-up or event-based channels for only the period these services need to run," comments Mark Rushton, SVP Sales and Solutions of Mediaproxy. "The advantages are that this can be done at very short notice, something that is facilitated through deployment in the cloud. Mediaproxy is pleased to offer ad hoc licences for LogServer to our users, who will have access to comprehensive compliance monitoring without having the expense of a full-time commitment for short-term operations."