MLB Tonight Leverages Grass Valley Kayenne

MLB Network, the 24/7 cable television home of Major League Baseball, available in approximately 70 million homes, has purchased a new Grass Valley™ Kayenne™ Video Production Center switcher to serve at the heart of a newly upgraded high-definition (HD) video production control room to support its Emmy® Award-winning flagship studio program “MLB Tonight.”

In January, MLB Network took delivery of a large frame (4.5 M/E) Kayenne system with a 4 M/Epanel. The Kayenne now installed includes: 96 inputs, 48 outputs, six keyers per M/E channel (30 total), FlexiKey™ (programmable clean feed mode), and DoubleTake (split M/E mode). DoubleTake effectively increases the number of M/Es to a total of up to 10, all within an 8 RU frame.

“The system power provided by the Kayenne switcher’s advanced functionality and speed fit MLB Network’s content like a glove,” said Mark Haden, Vice President of Engineering and IT at MLB Network. “We wanted the best technology for today and going forward, which led us to the Kayenne, and our operators agreed. The flexibility to rapidly change our effects is second to none, allowing us to create a multiple looks that makes “MLB Tonight” unique throughout the entire day.”

“The fact that MLB Network is entrusting its signature studio program to the Kayenne switcher says a lot about the faith that the staff has in Grass Valley switching technology,” said Jeff Rosica, Executive Vice President of Grass Valley. “MLB Network is just one of a growing list of customers around the world that produce the best television available with Kayenne—the world's most powerful switcher.”

A Grass Valley customer since it launched in January 2009, MLB Network’s facility also features a collaborative editing environment based on 15 Grass Valley Aurora™ editing systems and multiple Grass Valley K2 HD media servers, configured as a flexible and highly reliable storage area network (SAN), and is one of the largest K2/Aurora systems in the world.