Vizrt inks $1M deal with mystery U.S. network

Vizrt, the realtime graphics provider, has announced a $1 million in broadcast graphics products for an unnamed “television network in the U.S.”

Vizrt’s mysterious press release doesn’t name the network, but says the broadcaster is a “longtime” Vizrt customer and will use the purchase to “create a new channel for the U.S. market.”

Here’s the text from the release:

Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt, stated, “This deal is a good example of how our close relationship with clients drives additional sales. In this case, the client is looking to set a new station into the market, which requires substantial integrated work flow and graphics work. Our solutions are exceptionally well suited for this and the experience the client has with us and our technology led to them selecting us for this exciting new project.”

The deal includes Viz Content Pilot as a template based system for creating graphic content in the newsroom. The producers in the newsroom will have access to the templates in their native newsroom control system. Once a template is edited, it is saved into a story and becomes part of a playlist for on-air use.

The broadcaster is also using two graphics hubs, part of the Viz Engine, for storing all of their graphic content. The graphics hubs will reside at separate facilities and replicate their content so that both of the network’s locations will have access to the same graphic content.

On-air, the station will use Viz Ticker for displaying continuous updates for news and sports. There will also be a massive video wall used in the studio with multiple Viz Engines rendering content for a combined video output of 16k. The presenters in the studio will also be able to make use of a 55 inch multi-touch screen from Perceptive Pixel, a division of Microsoft, for whom Vizrt is a reseller.

Based on some clues sprinkled throughout the release, Vizrt seems to imply the deal will be used in conjunction with news programming. The company is also on record as saying the system will be used by an existing entity that is launching a new channel.

Advertisement

Two potential channels that could be a match for that criteria are Al Jazeera America and the ABC-Univision joint venture Fusion. Both Al Jazeera and ABC News are, according to several sources, Vizrt customers (along with many other major U.S. broadcast and cable news networks).

Let us know if you have any inside details on who the new customer is via email to contribute (at) newscaststudio.com or the comment boxes below.