Future-proofing broadcast facilities – Insights from ABC News, C-Span & Versant Media
Why modernize now?
At the recent NAB Show New York 2025 conference, the conversation among media executives centered on a massive, high-stakes project: how to overhaul a major broadcast facility without disrupting any time of on-air content. How do large organizations transform their infrastructure to be ready for the next decade while the engine is running at full speed?
During the panel session, "Future-Proofing Your Facility: A Phased Approach to Broadcast Facility Migrations and Upgrades," moderator Tim Day, SVP of Broadcast Transformation at Qvest, led a discussion with executives who are navigating this journey: Concetta Maratta, VP of Media Engineering at ABC News, Ahad Bhatti, CTO at C-SPAN, and Michael Hopper, VP of Business Operations at Versant Media. They framed facility projects not merely as a cost, but as a necessity to modernize their facility to keep pace with production demands, industry trends, and competition.
Core to the transformation blueprint is risk mitigation and change management. While the decision to modernize is driven by a need for agility, the speakers stressed that the process is focused on streamlining workflows and maintaining live production across operations, navigating the technology, and investing in people to equip them to leverage the new, agile systems.
Process: Executing the phased migration approach
This means breaking the larger project into smaller, easier steps with key checkpoints. Changing the technology process is vital for future needs.
Ahad Bhatti, CTO at C-SPAN, explained the philosophy behind their transformation:
The opportunity was mainly that it can scale without any problem. SDI is physics; you have to have point-to-point connectivity. ST 2110 is IP-based; it's a one-to-many solution. Our guiding principle is to keep whatever we install cloud-ready. So, when the time is right, we can just simply unplug them and move them. 
AHAD BHATTI, CTO AT C-SPAN
The panelists also stressed the importance of selecting technology partners based purely on their capabilities, rather than brand loyalty. Ultimately, this required prioritizing agile, cloud-ready solutions based on capability, securing the facility's future against rapid industry change.
Technology: Navigating the IP transition
The panel offered practical advice on moving past SDI. The shift to SMPTE ST 2110 IP is seen as necessary for building a future-proof broadcast infrastructure due to its scalability.
Michael Hopper, VP of Business Operations at Versant Media, explained how IP enables competitive workflows:
The advantage is a trickle-down production mindset: something done in New York can be picked up by someone in Los Angeles, Singapore, or London, without having to do the work twice. We need to enable our staff so that no matter where they are, they can access any tool. In the near future, we’ll be talking about totally virtualizing control rooms accessible via VR headset. MICHAEL HOPPER, VP OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS AT VERSANT MEDIA
He noted that the transition requires thought-out planning around network architecture and precision timing. Learn more about the story centric newsroom workflow.
While not all production moves to the cloud, cloud solutions heavily influence architectures for agility and cost, especially for enabling capabilities like remote access and disaster recovery. The future, the panelists agreed, is a more virtualized facility running on COTS hardware.
People: The organizational challenge in driving cultural adoption
The final, most crucial element is the human factor. The panelists spent significant time on the necessity of effective change management.
Leadership must fully align on the vision and sustain morale through transparent communication. To prevent operational bottlenecks, structured efforts to upskill talent were crucial.
Concetta Maratta, VP of Media Engineering at ABC News, shared a key lesson regarding the human cost of transformation:
Managing the human element was absolutely critical because change fatigue is real. We were moving buildings, workflows changed, and everyone still had their day job. We mitigated this by setting up a direct, daily feedback loop, instantly connecting struggling teams with engineers who could fix and adjust workflows. CONCETTA MARATTA, VP OF MEDIA ENGINEERING AT ABC NEWS
The executives proved that the hardest work isn't installing the technology; it's securing cultural adoption among team members.
So what does this strategically mean for broadcast?
The message is clear: the greatest risk is standing still.
Modernizing your facility is not an IT cost, but a strategic transformation attained by mitigating risk. The executives proved that a successful buildout relies on three pillars: careful, step-by-step migration, adopting IP and Cloud solutions for agility, and dedicated change management to ensure cultural adoption of new workflows.
The future of broadcast is agile, decentralized, and highly automated. Don't let the complexity of today's technology prevent you from capitalizing on the opportunities of tomorrow.
Plan your facility's next move with confidence. Find the right partner to help you plan, execute, and transition your entire operation with a seamless flow.
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