EVS, a leader in live video production technology for the broadcast and new media industry, has announced a major agreement with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), one of Germany’s key public television networks within the ARD group. 

As part of this agreement, EVS will deliver its MediaCeption^® content management solution to streamline and enhance news production workflows for tagesschau, Germany’s most-watched news program, produced by ARD-aktuell alongside the news magazine tagesthemen, the 24/7 news channel tagesschau24, the homepage tagesschau.de and numerous social-media video-formats. 

With ARD-aktuell’s existing legacy news production system reaching the end of its lifecycle, installation of the robust and unified solution by EVS is already underway and is scheduled to go on air during 2026. 

With the VIA Media Asset Management Platform (VIA MAP) at its core, MediaCeption will provide tagesschau with a complete end-to-end news production environment for managing and editing live and near-live news content. The solution also introduces AI-driven workflows that will further modernize tagesschau’s newsroom operations. 

Certified integrations with leading technology partners, including OpenMedia NRCS, and Viz Mosart Automation, ensure a cohesive workflow, connecting the cross media tagesschau newsroom with industry-standard tools for maximum efficiency.   

Additionally, XS-VIA servers will operate alongside VIA MAP for robust ingest and playout operations. Finally, to cover the complete operation, EVS will also provide nearline storage based on XStore, and enhanced secure disaster recovery workflows with IPDirector, LSM-VIA and XNet-VIA. 

The resulting solution will empower NDR with faster content turnaround, reliable and stress-free operations, complete editing capabilities, and seamless collaboration across teams. VIA MAP’s web-based interface, flexible deployment options, and scalable architecture, ensure teams are well-equipped to handle the demands of live news production, including high-pressure situations such as breaking news coverage. 

Marcus Bornheim, Chief Editor ARD-aktuell: “News is always a matter of speed. We are pleased to have found a solution together with EVS that supports our crossmedia workflows in the newsroom and will also take us into a new phase when it comes to artificial intelligence. The EVS team gives us the confidence that our partnership will enable our newsroom teams to focus on storytelling while knowing the technology will always deliver”. 

Serge Van Herck, CEO of EVS, added: “We are proud to partner with NDR on this milestone project. As a valued customer, NDR continues to push the boundaries of modern production, and we’re excited to support them with a solution that delivers the speed, integration, and flexibility required in today’s news production landscape. This collaboration underscores our dedication to innovation, reliability, and empowering our customers’ success, and we look forward to helping NDR bring exceptional content to their audiences.” 

As part of this multi-million euro agreement, which will contribute significantly to EVS’s Big Event Rental (BER) segment revenues in 2026, the company will provide a comprehensive turnkey solution encompassing broadcast and media equipment, as well as services to support live replay operations, logging, asset management and file content distribution.

The deployment will leverage EVS’s cutting-edge live production and replay solution LiveCeption®, alongside its advanced live production asset management solution MediaCeption®, as well as the VIA MAP platform, ensuring seamless and high-quality coverage across the landmark event.

This agreement further strengthens EVS’s position as a trusted technology partner for premium live sports productions on a global scale.

MediaCeption will provide Al Jazeera with a unified workflow designed to efficiently manage and edit live and near-live news content. Each location will have the capability to ingest multiple live feeds, browse, edit, and share news packages from a centralized storage system, and seamlessly playout news as events unfold. The comprehensive solution from EVS includes XS-VIA® servers, the new media asset platform VIA MAP®, and the high-performance storage system XStore®. As a result, MediaCeption will enable faster content turnaround, reliable and stress-free operations, multi-site collaboration, and certified integration with tools from leading technology partners, including Avid Interplay and Media Composer, as well as Viz Mosart.

Commenting on the partnership, Ahmad Al Fahad, Executive Director of Technology & Network Operations at Al Jazeera Media Network, stated: “We are pleased to work with EVS to bring MediaCeption into our news production ecosystem. EVS’s proven track record of delivering fast and reliable solutions, combined with their global technical support presence, gives us the confidence to meet the challenges of modern news delivery."

Serge Van Herck, CEO of EVS, added: “We are honored to have been selected by Al Jazeera as their trusted partner for this transformative project. Al Jazeera is a longstanding and valued customer, and we are excited to deliver a solution that aligns perfectly with the demands of today’s fast-paced news production environment. This partnership highlights our commitment to innovation, reliability, and customer success, and we look forward to supporting Al Jazeera as they continue to set the standard in global news broadcasting.”

The solution is scheduled for installation in Q2, with Al Jazeera set to go on air with the new system in Q3 2025.