NAB Show Preview: Why hybrid infrastructure has become the permanent reality for broadcasters

The cloud debate that defined much of the broadcast industry’s infrastructure conversation for the better part of a decade has largely been settled, not by a decisive shift to cloud but by an acceptance that cloud is one part of a more complex operational picture.

The conversations around virtualization and software-defined production are expected to reflect that maturity: less focused on whether to adopt cloud and more focused on how to make hybrid environments function as a single, manageable system.

That shift in framing is significant. The industry spent years weighing cloud against on-premises infrastructure as competing options. The working reality for most organizations is that both coexist, and the operational challenge is managing them together rather than choosing between them.

“The industry has largely moved past the cloud versus on-prem debate. What’s emerging instead is a modular approach where cloud, edge, and physical infrastructure are combined depending on the workload. The organizations getting the most value out of virtualization are the ones designing systems to evolve continuously rather than treating infrastructure as a once-a-decade rebuild,” said Jean-Christophe Perier, chief marketing officer at Globecast.

Not everyone shares that optimism about where cloud has landed.

“The cloud has not proved the savior of the media industry as some predicted. Media producers and distributors like to have their content and their workflows where they can see them, and the business models of the big cloud providers still do not reflect the unique challenges of our industry,” said Jan Weigner, chief technology officer at Cinegy.

Weigner’s point frames a tension that runs through the topic: cloud adoption in media has been genuine and substantial, but it has also been more selective and more complicated than early projections suggested. Both things are true, and 2026 NAB Show will reflect both.

Hybrid as the permanent model

The language around hybrid infrastructure has shifted from transitional to permanent.

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Organizations that once described hybrid as a stepping stone toward full cloud migration are now describing it as the end state, not because cloud fell short, but because the workload economics and operational realities of broadcast production do not favor a single infrastructure model.

“The hybrid model is no longer a transitional architecture — it’s the permanent operating reality for most serious broadcast organizations. The question has moved from ‘can we run workloads in software?’ to ‘how do we maintain control and visibility across ground and cloud simultaneously?’ The organizations scaling fastest aren’t necessarily those with the deepest cloud investment, but those who’ve built the clearest operational layer above it,” said Michael Demb, vice president of product strategy at TAG Video Systems.

The practical implication is that orchestration, the software layer that coordinates how work moves between cloud and on-premises environments, has become as important as the underlying infrastructure itself.

“Virtualization and software-defined systems are allowing broadcasters to move beyond rigid, hardware-centric infrastructure. In practice, most organizations are adopting hybrid models, keeping continuous high-value workflows on-prem while using cloud resources for remote production, pop-up channels, and peak capacity. The key is orchestration and automation, which unify cloud and on-prem resources so operators can manage workflows seamlessly and deploy services wherever they make the most operational and economic sense,” said Steve Reynolds, chief executive officer of Imagine Communications.

“The cloud is no longer a question of if, but how. The conversation has moved on from migrating everything to the cloud to what it takes to run production environments in a way that is flexible, predictable and sustainable. Many organizations have encountered the challenges of rip-and-replace approaches and are now taking a more phased path, with hybrid models allowing them to evolve without disrupting what already works,” said Craig Wilson, principal enterprise specialist for broadcast at Avid.

Where cloud makes practical sense

Within hybrid environments, cloud resources are being applied selectively to workloads where they offer clear advantages: flexibility, speed of deployment and cost alignment with episodic or variable demand.

“There’s a realisation that it doesn’t necessarily have to be an all-or-nothing approach. Broadcasters can still extract value from the flexibility, scalability and efficiency that the cloud delivers by supplementing their existing workflows with cloud-native solutions for certain workflow functions. We’re seeing this type of measured approach with broadcasters who may be using cloud playout only for certain channels in their portfolio, to launch FAST channels or temporary pop-up channels, to experiment with new channel formats, or for disaster recovery systems even where the main channel playout may not be running in the cloud,” said Lelde Ardava, chief operating officer at Veset.

The compute-on-demand model is also changing how production infrastructure is sized and managed. Rather than maintaining permanent systems built for peak capacity, organizations are beginning to scale infrastructure to match the episodic, event-driven nature of modern media production.

“What we’re seeing now is a move toward compute-powered production, where broadcast functions that once required dedicated hardware run as software workloads wherever the appropriate compute resources exist. That approach allows organizations to spin up and scale production and distribution services as needed, aligning infrastructure with the episodic, event-driven nature of modern media rather than maintaining permanent systems built for 24/7 channels,” said Jim Akimchuk, president and chief executive officer at BitFire.

Real-world deployments are beginning to illustrate how the satellite-to-IP transition and hybrid cloud adoption intersect in practice.

Open Broadcast Systems worked with SpoTV, a sports streaming service operating across Asia, on a transition from satellite to IP workflow that the company said improved agility and reduced costs while maintaining reliability and low latency across its distribution chain. “Cloud-based workflows are also changing primary distribution models, enabling distribution to transition from costly satellite and fiber infrastructure to IP, which is delivering cost savings, as well as increased agility and scalability,” said Kieran Kunhya, founder and chief executive officer at Open Broadcast Systems.

Weigner’s counterpoint is relevant here as well.

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Modern software running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware, he argued, can deliver high performance and flexibility without the cost and operational complexity that cloud can introduce, a perspective that will find an audience among broadcasters who have encountered unexpected cloud costs or latency constraints in practice.

Visibility across environments

As infrastructure spans cloud, on-premises and edge environments simultaneously, maintaining clear operational visibility across all of it has emerged as a defining challenge. The organizations managing hybrid environments most effectively are those that can see everything happening across the full infrastructure in a single operational view.

“In 2025, Iconik customer deployments remained split with 71% cloud and 29% on-prem environments, reinforcing that media organizations still need to operate effectively across both. The opportunity in 2026 is to make infrastructure more software-defined, adaptable, and resilient so teams can place content where it makes the most sense. That only works if you have clear visibility across environments — a single pane of glass to understand where content lives, how it’s being used, and how to manage it effectively at scale,” said Kathleen Barrett, chief executive officer of Backlight.

“The real opportunity is creating environments where workflows can move between locations — facility, cloud, or venue — without forcing operators to change how they work,” said Joyce Bente, president and chief executive officer of the Americas at Riedel Communications.

Timing and synchronization in virtualized environments

One of the less visible but operationally significant consequences of moving production workloads into virtualized and cloud-based environments is what it does to timing and synchronization.

Hardware-defined broadcast infrastructure was built around deterministic timing. Software-defined environments introduce variability that can affect the entire signal chain if not actively managed.

“As production infrastructure moves into virtualized and cloud-based environments, timing and synchronization are becoming harder to predict and manage. Software workflows introduce multiple processing stages, buffers and network paths, meaning latency can vary significantly depending on where and how signals are processed. The priority now is moving beyond isolated measurement points toward a unified view of timing behaviour across the entire chain, from capture through to final delivery, because that is where the difference between a stable workflow and an unpredictable one becomes visible,” said Anna Hurd, head of sales at Hitomi Broadcast.

This is a problem that does not resolve itself as cloud adoption matures. If anything, it becomes more acute as more of the signal chain moves into software, and as productions draw on a wider mix of infrastructure types simultaneously.

Standards and interoperability

Underpinning the move toward software-defined production is a set of emerging standards and frameworks that enable components from different vendors to work together in virtualized environments without requiring custom integration at every boundary.

“Cloud virtualization and software-defined production are redefining how media workflows are built, orchestrated, and scaled across modern infrastructures. Initiatives like the EBU’s Dynamic Media Facility, alongside technologies such as MXL, TAMS, and Matrox ORIGIN, enable modular, interoperable systems where media services, storage, and processing operate independently yet cohesively across distributed environments. This software-defined approach gives broadcasters greater agility to deploy, manage, and scale production workflows while maintaining the performance, precision, and reliability expected from broadcast-grade solutions,” said Francesco Scartozzi, vice president of sales and business development at Matrox Video.

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The EBU’s Dynamic Media Facility is a reference architecture developed by the European Broadcasting Union designed to define how software-defined broadcast components should interoperate in cloud and hybrid environments. Media Exchange Layer is an open framework that allows media applications from different vendors to share audio and video directly within the same memory environment, reducing the processing overhead of repeated encoding and transfer.

TAMS, the Timeline-Addressable Media Store, is a specification for storing and accessing media using timeline-based references rather than file-based ones, enabling more flexible and efficient access to content across distributed workflows.

These are not yet universally adopted standards, but their presence on the NAB Show floor, in proof-of-concept demonstrations, and in vendor implementations will indicate how quickly the industry is moving toward a more interoperable software-defined infrastructure model.

NAB Show 2026 opens April 18, with exhibits running April 19-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Make sure to check out the latest NAB Show News in our dedicated section or visit the NAB Show website to register for the show.