Customer: M6 Group

Country: Neuilly sur Seine, France

The Challenge at a Case Study Glance: » Create a futureproof MCR Leading French broadcaster Metropole Television SA (commonly known as the M6 Group) has futureproofed its new Master Control Room near Paris by placing state of the art Evertz while transitioning existing IP technology at the heart of its operation. The switch from SDI to IP (ST 2110) will allow M6 SDI infrastructure to IP (ST 2110) to easily incorporate new HD services, new delivery platforms and new video formats such as Ultra HD 4K and 8K. » Allow M6 to easily offer new HD Based in Neuilly sur Seine, M6 is the most profitable private national French TV channel services, delivery platforms, and and the third most watched television network in the French-speaking world. Its new video formats. Master Control Room now hosts playout for 11 channels including the broadcaster’s premium M6 channel and other popular channels such as W9, Série Club, 6TER, TEVA, Paris Premiere, M6 Music and M6 International. » Deploy the system and train MC operators without taking any existing channels off air. The Challenge The decision to build a new MCR was taken in 2018 when the M6 engineering team, headed by technical manager Franck Martin, recognized that the old SDI facility had been in place for more than 10 years and was reaching the end of its viable life. Most of the equipment no longer had manufacturer support and, in addition, M6 needed the flexibility to add more channels, reflecting the fact that it is a vibrant and expanding company.

“We had to imagine how M6 might look in 10 to 15 years’ time and build a technical facility that could deliver on its long-term goals,” says Franck Martin. “That meant creating space for new channels and embracing new technologies. It would have been simpler to rebuild in SDI because everyone understands that format, but after much debate we decided to switch to IP technology because it will be much quicker and easier to add more channels as and when we need them, and offer UHD channels in the future.

Alongside technological development, we also wanted to improve the monitoring and ergonomics of our playout center. We chose Evertz VUE software for this as it allows us to manage our video wall to turn on the screens when alarms are triggered. The black screen is less tiring for our technicians and its ignition on alarm attracts more attention, compared to a permanently lit wall. Also, VUE displays video sources and allows switching directly on a touchscreen for easy operation. Franck Martin | Technical Manager M6 Group M6 Group simple, effective anduser-friendly way. immediate feedback onalltheequipmentin thefacility ina interfaces thatallows operators to visualize, control andget entire system islinked to eightVUEsoftware defined Network Grand Master ClockandVideo Master Clock.The end to endnetwork managementandEvertz 5700MSC-IP Evertz MAGNUM controllers, two for VistaLINK PROservers includes theEXE-VSRmainandredundantIPswitches, two Each sectionisbuiltaroundacentral Evertz system that Central System as JPEG-2000,H.264,orMPEG-2isutilized. ST-2110, EXEsupportsupto 13,800uncompressed HD-SDIsignals–andmany morewhencompression technology such 46Tb/s of switching capacity anddelivers exceptional flexibility andscalability for videotransport over IP. UsingSMPTE At theheartof M6’snew television playout Master Control RoomisEvertz EXE-VSRIPswitch fabric, whichprovides technology partner. this challengewas crucialfor M6,andthemainreasonwhy thebroadcaster choseCanadiancompany Evertz asits requires asignificant leap of faith because the technology issonew andrevolutionary. Findinga way to successfully meet Most broadcasters would agreethatswitching to IPisalogical next butmakingthetransition step for still theindustry The Solution closely withussothatthey understood ourworkflow andhow we like to operate. knew itwould beasteep andwe learningcurve wanted apartnerthatwould work both theexpertise andthetechnology to helpusmanageourtransition to IP. We Evertz EQX.Secondly, andperhapsmoreimportantly,we recognized thatEvertz had company andthequalityof itsproductsbecause ourprevious SDIrouter was an We choseEvertz for two mainreasons,”says Franck Martin.“Firstly,we knew the SCTE104 inserter. engines, anAeromax audioprocessor system andan RossVideo graphicssuch asHarmonicmediaservers, converter. Eachslotalsoincludesthirdpartyequipment with acatastrophic errorandanEvertz ST2110to HDMI to protect theintegrity of output video,even whenfaced all common IPformats; anEvertz advanced cleanswitch IP mediagateway offering conversion between SDIand dataprocessing; ahighdensityEvertzvideo andancillary offering highdensityFPGAprocessing nodesfor audio, Evertz imageprocessing technology; anEvertz EVBlade display processor withcustomizable next generation Common to eachsectionisanadvanced multi-image channel pathandallwithsimilarsetsof equipment. The system installedcomprises 11sections – System Breakdown Franck Martin|Technical ManagerM6Group

one for each M6 Group » » » » » » » Multiviewers Switches Core Routing Orchestration &Monitoring User interfaces Technology SolutionHighlightsataGlance

3067VIP10G-3G-HW 3080IPX-12GE-4x10G 7800R4x8-ACS-3G Dual EXECores VistaLINK PRO MAGNUM VUE » » » » » » Edge Gateways V Timing

ideo/ Audio Processing 2430RX2-10G EVBLADE-Z10-AP-10G-HW 5700MSC-IP 7880IPG-NAT-6 570J2K-HW-X19 570IPG-X19-25G » » » » » » Third PartyIntegration

TSL PAM IP Harmonic (NMOS) MediaMetrie Prism Tektronix (PrismAPI) Ross XPression Aeromax Audioprocessor M6 Group much smoother. to theEvertz technical team, makingtheentireprocess thisroleand fulfilled was able to translate M6’srequirements Frédéric Loup,Evertz Managerfor FieldService France, we prefer to work withpeopleface to face,” hesays. specified thisbefore we signed theorderbecause, inFrance, was anotherkey factor inthedecisionto gowithEvertz. “We Fabrice Tauziesaddsthathaving local supportinFrance Support team ontheground have alreadybeeninstalled. technology. They alsovisited otherEvertz customers suchasHBOandAMC(New Jersey) to seeworking systems that the playout centre, spenttwo weeks atEvertz headquarters inCanadafor in-depthdemonstrations of thenew Delivering aprojectof thismagnituderequiredcareful planning.Franck MartinandFabrice Tauzies,Chief Engineerfor The Transition understand this,butonce they did,they were fantastic andincrediblyscrupulous like comparing Haute Couture withhighstreetfashion. Ittook Evertz awhileto need to optimize ourresource high–itis management.Plus,ourstandardsarevery job because itistoo expensive. We have fewer operators andtighter budgets,andwe different to CanadianandUSbroadcasters. We don’thave justonepersondoing third partymanufacturers,” Franck Martinsays. “Also,theway Europeanswork isvery with software versions thatneededto berefined andimproved andintegration with It was asteep andwe learningcurve, hadalotof issuesto overcome, particularly Evertz IPtechnology. is now agreatEuropeanreference for equipment andItrulybelieve thatM6 project asanopportunityto improve our FrédéricLoupsays.useful,” “We usedthis elements of theEvertz system, was so us, particularlyabouttheoperational this projectandthefeedback they gave It was apleasureworking withM6on Frédéric Loup|Evertz Manager-France FieldService Franck Martin|Technical ManagerM6Group M6 Group with eachchannel creatingspace for thenext channelasitmigrated to thenew system. equipment andusetherack space that was created for thenext two sections.Fromthere,itwas arolling progression As soonasSerieClubhadmigrated to thenew system andwas were upandrunning,M6staff ableto move legacy first two channel pathsections–one for the SerieClubchannelandoneasabackupslot(Secours2). installed theEXE,MAGNUM intwo andVistaLINK servers of thesethreeracks. The remainingfreeracks were usedfor the existing racks, thenthey moved someexisting aroundsothat theracks servers were intherightlocation. Finally,they around theissueby working instages. Firstly,they swapped out theirHarmonicNAS mediagrid,whichfreedupthree the space issuebecame aproblembecause therephysically wasn’t roomto installnew ones.M6technical got staff One rack was alreadyavailable intheoldMCRbutthreemorewere requiredfor thenew equipment,andthisiswhere wanted to doitproperlyandwe were notinahurry.” handling playout for allourchannels,sowe hadto work aroundit.Itwas achallenge,butwe took ourtimebecause we Fabrice Tauziesexplains. “Obviously, we couldn’t simplyshutdown andstripouttheoldMCRbecause thatwas still “We builtthenew MCRinthesamelocation astheoldone,sowe faced somepractical issueswithregardto space,” the channelsto migrate over to thenew system. the Covid-19 pandemicandsubsequentlockdown –delayed theprojectandittook untilSeptember of thisyear for all Work onthenew MCRbeganin2019withthefirst cable installedinApril.However, various external factors –including Workflow Migration The Transition Continued channels inthefuture. “This meanswe have plentyof roomto expand whenM6decides to addmore much morecompact, andwe now onlyneedonerack per channel,”Tauziessays. With ouroldsystem, eachchannelrequiredtwo racks, butthenew equipmentis Fabrice Tauzies|Chief Engineer-Playout Centre M6 Group been hugelyvaluable. now working perfectly andalthoughIPstilloccasionally has presents challenges,bothmenfeel thatthelearningcurve Despite itscomplexity, Franck MartinandFabrice Tauziessay they aredelighted withtheendresult.Allchannelsare The Results broadcasting. and we definitely thinkthisisthe way for IP forward operator systems. Ourworkflow isnow much faster, here. We justhave VUEto translate IPsystems into cialists to operate itbutwe don’thave any specialists Normally anST2110solutionwould requireIPspe- face, whichallows usto doeverything we needto do. view andwe areespecially happy withtheVUEinter - completely transparent fromanoperator’s pointof operate it.Evertz madesurethatthetechnology was system works internally –we justneedto beableto equipment orunderstandeverything abouthow the need to managewhatgoesoninsidethe work. Itisnotourjobto beITexperts andwe don’t but itdoesn’tchangetheway technical operators says. “IPmay bethetechnology we areusingnow, We learnsomethingnew every day,” Fabrice Tauzies Fabrice Tauzies|Chief Engineer-Playout Centre The Future

Evertz is also delighted with the success of this project, which has now given it a strong reference for its IP technology in Europe. Robert Peter, the company’s VP International Operations, says: “We are pleased to continue our relationship with the management and engineering group of M6 as they use Evertz IP technology in their upgrade and transformation project. As this was one of the larger IP / ST 2110 installations in Europe, we were able to work closely with M6 in all stages of the project from solution and design to the deployment and training. We are very excited to continue to provide local support for the deployment of remaining channels and participation in any future M6 projects.”

Having a solution that can be used for future projects was always M6’s plan, and there is now talk of building a second backup IP playout facility although this is still some way off in the future.

“We have made a big investment and we need to get used to what we have before we build anything else, but we now have a roadmap and any future system will be much easier to implement,” Franck Martin says. “Having an IP based MCR has already brought great benefits in terms of future channel expansion and format expansion with UHD and we are very happy with what we have achieved.” M6 Group

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