Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., television station operator and a leading local news provider in the United States, has chosen to standardize on Avid’s MediaCentral Platform, the centerpiece of the Avid Everywhere vision, to transform content creation and distribution workflows in every one of its 64 local news producing stations. This agreement represents a record-setting contract for Avid where the company will deliver advanced end-to-end newsroom production and content management solutions under a ten-year comprehensive agreement that uniquely addresses Sinclair’s business needs, and in the process, replaces legacy technology from other vendors.
“Moving to a common production platform across all of our news markets provides us the platform to create a content sharing news community across Sinclair increasing efficiency and productivity,” said Scott Livingston, VP of News, Sinclair Broadcast Group. “Having defined and more frequent technology upgrade cycles will enable us to keep our newsrooms current across the enterprise and allow us to respond to rapid changes like new digital distribution models in a more cost effective way.”
Operating efficiency is a major pressure point for media companies, as rapidly evolving technology and audience behavior make staying at the forefront of technology essential. Sinclair expects to realize meaningful economic benefits through this agreement by standardizing on the Avid platform, driven by efficiencies from a standardized technology and operational footprint across all of its stations. This not only enables Sinclair to keep its newsroom technology consistent, continuously refreshed and on the leading edge across the enterprise, but also provides much greater flexibility in responding to industry changes and new business opportunities.
“Sinclair has always been at the forefront of industry-changing events and technological advances, and this agreement with Avid is another example of that,” added Delbert R. Parks, III, sr. VP and CTO of Sinclair Broadcast Group. “Avid’s forward thinking approach to technology acquisition, deployment and support delivers the agility and scalability we need to deliver a higher value product to all of our news markets.”
“The unique commercial model Avid is applying – along with the enterprise-wide platform approach – allows us to operate in a more cost effective and capital efficient way, yet remain technologically forward in a manner that makes sense for our business today and in the future,” said Christopher S. Ripley, CFO, Sinclair Broadcast Group.
“Our agreement with Sinclair is an outstanding example of how Avid Everywhere can help media organizations overcome the challenges of managing technology, staying competitive, and maximizing the value of content,” said Louis Hernandez, Jr., chairman, president and CEO, Avid. “With our enterprise-wide thinking, innovative commercial approaches to support longer-term business models, and the industry’s leading open technology platform, Avid is uniquely positioned to help media organizations address the business challenges of today – and tomorrow. We are very proud to be working with Sinclair, who is well-known as a technology innovator in the media space. We couldn’t think of a better partner with whom to launch this groundbreaking managed services deployment model.”
Powered by the MediaCentral Platform, the next-generation IP-based workflow for Sinclair’s news producing stations will feature Avid’s Artist Suite, Storage Suite and Media Suite solutions with third-party and custom workflow integrations. Avid Professional Services and Training teams will provide project and fleet management, commissioning, workflow consulting, and a comprehensive training curriculum. Avid’s Customer Care team will deliver a tailored 24/7 support program across the enterprise.
“We’re excited that the Avid Everywhere vision has led to the largest contract in our company’s history. We expect this contract will have a material positive impact on our bookings for the fourth quarter and may lead to updated 2015 bookings guidance or pre-release in early January 2016,” said John W. Frederick, executive VP, chief financial and administrative officer for Avid.
