Channel 4 Drops Red Bee Media, Awards Playout Contract to Encompass

Channel 4 awarded Encompass Digital Media a multi-year contract for cloud-native playout across all six of its linear channels, ending a Red Bee Media relationship that began in 2007. The switch follows Red Bee's 2021 broadcast-centre fire that knocked Channel 4 off air and triggered an Ofcom licence breach, with Encompass's Altitude platform going live in 2027 running geo-redundant infrastructure from London and Riga.