David Stanger & Associates, more commonly known as DSA Media, has been sold to Chickadee Media Inc. David and Mary Stanger co-founded the company in 1997, growing DSA into a successfull media planning and buying business with offices in Langley, Victoria, Calgary and Regina. Chickadee Media is a limited partnership created by DSA President Samantha Richardson, who has been with the agency since 2007 and served as its president since 2017. Earlier this month, DSA went from sole proprietorship to a partnership of five that includes Richardson, Lynn Hoffman, Shannon Schafer, Zac Goodman and Tom Shipman. The agency will continue to operate under the DSA Media banner.

Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) is using Embrionix emMODULAR, emFUSION, and miniaturized emSFP IP-processing modules to realize the benefits of real-time media over IP to deliver content. The Embrionix solutions have been installed as part of CPAC’s shift from an aging CWDM system to a modern and more efficient IP-based video transport system. With CPAC’s studios located just two blocks from Parliament Hill, CPAC’s CWDM system, previously used for daily live HD production, connects CPAC studios to the Parliament Buildings over a single dark fiber pair. The new IP-based video transport solution is non-blocking with inherent routing capability, and it boosts capacity from eight signals in each direction to a maximum capacity of 50 signals in each direction over the existing single dark fiber pair. As built, the system uses only one of the eight 100 GE aggregation ports on the switches and only uses 14 of the 48 ports on each switch.

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark LLC, manufacturer and supplier of DTV transmitters, encoding systems, and associated field services, has signed a partnership agreement with BitRouter. The agreement appoints Comark as an authorized reseller and service provider of BitRouter’s ATSC3pro Linux based ATSC 3.0 professional receiver product line. Tim Hosmer, director of Comark Digital Services, says with a scarcity of available commercial off-air DTV receivers on the market, the ATSC3pro fills a void for end-user reception devices for over-the-air technology trials, lab testing, and early adopters of ATSC 3.0 technology. The ATSC3pro device runs BitRouter’s ATSC3pak middleware, which can integrate the functionality of multiple ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 tuners, OTT, interactivity, and mobility. The professional receiver is a versatile video and data distribution solution that uses HDMI and wi-fi connectivity for both legacy DTV sets, smartphones and tablets.

Lawo will debut its AES67 Stream Monitor, a new software product for Windows PCs at IBC 2019. AES67 Stream Monitor displays detailed information for as many as 16 user-definable audio streams, each of which can contain multiple audio channels. The main display presents audio levels and alarm indications at a glance for all monitored streams, while selecting an individual stream display allows users to do a “deep dive” to discover detailed stream information. Functions include the ability to audition AES67 streams on-demand using the PC sound card; monitoring of two Ethernet NICs simultaneously for true ST2022-7 compatibility; a Stream Health Monitor that keeps track of jitter, dropped packets and data errors; and alarms for silence-sensing, under-level or over-level alerts, with user-definable thresholds. The program runs on standard Windows 10 PCs, and is VMWare compatible, allowing multi-instance deployment on virtual machines to facilitate high-density stream information.

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has released a significant update to the AIMS roadmap for a standards-based approach to applying IP technologies in broadcast operations. It includes the addition of JT-NM TR-1001-1, also known as the JT-NM Tech Stack Part 1. Developed by the Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) to automate installation and eliminate complexity, JT-NM TR-1001-1 provides specifications and guidance designed to make SMPTE ST 2110-based systems easier to deploy and operate, leading to greater efficiencies for broadcasters. JT-NM TR-1001-1 enables the creation of network environments in which end users can take delivery of new equipment (compliant to the recommendation), connect it to their networks, and configure it for use with a minimum amount of human interaction. The update will be highlighted as part of the IP Showcase at IBC 2019, Sept. 13-17, at the RAI Amsterdam.