MAE303: Discovery Channel's Broadcast Workflows and Channel Origination on AWS

Media delivery requirements are continually changing, driven by accelerating mobile, tablet, smart TV, and set-top technology advances. Broadcasters need agile solutions to the changing media and entertainment landscape that don't require multiyear projects with large upfront investments. In this session, we walk through Discovery Communications' migration of its broadcast playout and channel origination to AWS. Discovery Communications is a leader in nonfiction media, reaching more than 3 billion cumulative viewers in 220 countries and territories. Traditionally, broadcast origination for content delivered to telecommunications companies, cable TV, and satellite has existed only in on-premises data centers. In this session, we walk through Discovery's migration of broadcast playout supporting hundreds of channels worldwide to AWS. We show how Discovery has not only reduced their TCO but also has improved their agility by launching new channels on demand. We also walk through how channel origination is being deployed in a secure, automated fashion, and with a level of high availability that exceeds what is possible in a traditional data center.