Mediapro adopts Haivision SRT for low-latency distribution

Canadian Sports and Control Rooms

Executive Summary

• Mediapro Broadcast Services Canada used Haivision encoders with SRT to address latency in live sports return feeds and to distribute match coverage to international rightsholders, including a workflow shift away from satellite and fiber.
• Akamai implemented a unified control room design for BOCC and NOCC operations, using Haivision video wall and application-streaming components to enable operators to access applications and streaming device interfaces from anywhere in the room.

Key Industry Developments

• IP contribution and distribution using SRT in live sports workflows
• Mediapro Broadcast Services Canada reported using Haivision encoders and SRT for IP transmission in its live production environment.
• The deployment included Makito X4 encoder and decoder units used for broadcast contribution during live matches and for distribution to rightsholders in multiple countries.
• Mediapro described a transition away from traditional satellite and fiber delivery methods for international rightsholders distribution, moving to Haivision-based IP workflows.
• Control room convergence and application sharing across a room network
• Akamai planned a single control room to house both a Broadcast Operations Command Center (BOCC) and a Network Operations Command Center (NOCC), with a requirement to access and drill into applications from anywhere in the room during demonstrations.
• Haivision introduced CineAgent as part of the solution design, with CineAgent Server positioned to stream, interact with, and share web-based or locally installed applications across the control room network.
• The installed environment included Haivision video wall components and related processing/management elements, including Alpha FX video processors, Site Managers, CineAgent servers, and CineLink encoders and decoders.

Real-World Use Cases

• Canadian Premier League match production and distribution (Mediapro Canada + Haivision)
• Mediapro Canada worked with the Canadian Premier League beginning with its inaugural season in 2019, providing broadcast facilities focused mainly on live sports production and other content types.
• A key operational issue involved latency affecting return feeds from trucks, which impacted the ability to support graphics and audio/commentary workflows.
• Mediapro used Makito X4 to support return feeds from trucks for graphics and commentary, and described reducing latency to “a fourth of a second,” compared with prior latency that could reach up to a second and a half.
• The deployment scale described included nine encoders and seven decoders used for distribution and live integration.
• Mediapro Canada covered 165 soccer matches in six and a half months, using Haivision solutions for about a year and leveraging Makito X4 encoder/decoder for contribution and distribution to rightsholders in multiple countries.
• Unified BOCC/NOCC operations and interactive demos (Akamai + Haivision)
• Akamai’s control room plan combined BOCC and NOCC functions into a single space, with workflows spanning monitoring network/server health (NOCC) and monitoring raw content streams and playback (BOCC).
• Operators required access to streaming devices such as Apple TVs and Roku boxes, with a stated need for direct UI access to device controls for all operators in the room.
• The solution incorporated a large video wall installation described as a 25×3 panel video wall, alongside multiple Haivision components intended to support both BOCC and NOCC operations.
• CineAgent Server was used to enable streaming and sharing of applications (web-based or locally installed) across the control room network, supporting the requirement to run demonstrations by accessing applications from any handheld device anywhere in the room.

Why It Matters

• Latency and operational coordination in live production
• The Mediapro case ties return-feed latency directly to production workflows involving trucks, graphics, and commentary; the reported reduction to “a fourth of a second” is presented as an operational outcome associated with using Haivision encoders and SRT for IP transmission.
• A move from satellite and fiber to an IP-based distribution approach using Haivision for international rightsholders distribution indicates a change in contribution/distribution transport choices within a live sports context.
• Control room flexibility for mixed operations and demonstrations
• Akamai’s requirement to “access and drill into” applications from anywhere in the room implies a workflow need for interactive, room-wide application visibility rather than fixed-console access.
• CineAgent Server’s described capability to stream and share “any web-based or locally installed application” across a control room network aligns with multi-operator collaboration needs in BOCC/NOCC environments.

Sources

• https://www.haivision.com/case-studies/canadian-premier-league/
• https://www.haivision.com/case-studies/akamai/