The move is the latest step in a two year-process that will eventually see all of Discovery’s computing and storage requirements transferred to a virtualised environment.

For playout, Discovery has bought Evertz’s Mediator-X MAM and automation application and the Overture RT-Live-VM virtualized channel playout engine.

System control and routing will be achieved using Magnum SDVN while VistaLink Pro will provide network management and monitoring.

Discovery chief technology officer John Honeycutt said of the move to the cloud: “In order to distribute content on every screen and launch new and innovative products, the ability to scale our technical operation is critical.”

A Discovery spokesperson added that at least “some” of the European channels that are played out from Chiswick Park in London would utilise the virtualised platform.

Discovery migrated its content supply chain infrastructure into Amazon Web Services earlier this year.