KMH Integration Helps the“New York Post” Turn Page Six Forward

For decades, “Page Six” of the New York Post has been a “must-read” for entertainment news fans. Now the tabloid tradition is a “must-read/watch/share” destination, following a multi-phase studio and control room upgrade and expansion project led by KMH Integration.

The New York Post is a legendary title in the history of print journalism and media. The newspaper has steadily increased its digital presence, expanding its media operations from print journalism to online and social media content.

“The vernacular now for all types of social platforms and communication is ‘video,’ and so we had a key market imperative to translate what we do journalistically into video,” said Warren Cohen, Vice President/Head of Video and Audio, New York Post. “That was the basis for developing the new studios. We wanted to keep everything that Page Six is known for but also offer new formats, live production, basically everything we can do to reach the consumer with immediacy.”

The New York Post, through its parent company NewsCorp, engaged the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based KMH Integration in fall 2022, at the earliest phase of project planning and design, to consult on the most effective way to upgrade its studio operations and build new digital production facilities. The main goal was to give the iconic print page a “digital face” with enough flexibility to grow with the Post’s constantly changing production requirements.

Futureproofing with IP and Cloud Technologies

The Page Six project combined emerging IP and cloud services for archiving, media management and accessibility. New York Post editors can work anywhere in the world; with the same on-premise workflow and access as their “on-site” colleagues.

“We developed an entirely new look with new capabilities to match their future vision,” said Kevin Henneman, president of KMH Integration. “We collaborated with their management and technical teams to gather all the requirements needed to build out these spaces and achieve a higher quality output from these rooms.”

The Post previously had an existing studio that was only used for static recording and had no live video capabilities. KMH gutted the studio and rebuilt it into the new Studio 1, a virtual production space with both a green and a white cyclorama, as well as a position for recording stand ups; creating a multi-purpose recording space with a supporting control room.

The new Studio 2, which is the home for Page Six, has the key elements of a traditional production-type space with hard sets, monitors and camera positions. Studio 2 gives the Post the ability to record podcasts, acquire and distribute video content to social media and streaming platforms.

A Unified Production Platform

KMH designed a unified production platform that connects the video production capabilities of the New York Post with other News Corp media properties, allowing for greater flexibility and content sharing to expand the reach of News Corp’s creative output.

KMH consulted on implementing turn-key cloud-capable production workflows to give the Post creative teams the choice of working on-premise, remotely, or a hybrid combination. The design and planning process also included building in connectivity and production feature sets that supported integrating the NY Post’s media workflow with other business units at 1211 Sixth Avenue, so different media groups can easily access and share content.

KMH provided network design and consulting to be able to specify the correct switch fabric, install it and work with it and security teams within the NewsCorp environment to get the networks up and running.

“This project is a perfect example of embracing cloud services for archiving, media management and accessibility, and integrating them with an on-premise production system,” Henneman said. “New York Post editors can work anywhere in the world with the correct credentials and security clearance to access content in the same way as on-premise editors.”

Re-Inventing the Entertainment News Workflow

The New York Post reinvented its entire production workflow, working with the KMH team to evaluate and identify the right systems necessary for getting content acquired, ingested, edited, and delivered to a growing number of platforms.

“We want to be equipped for speed, flexibility and presence on as many output channels as possible,” Cohen said. “Our audiences rely on us for trusted and timely information. We needed to make sure we had a flexible production environment based on a seamless system that worked instantaneously and was easy to use. We have enough work to do uncovering our scoops. We didn’t want the production process to be burdensome too.”

Keeping the Post’s workflow burden-free is largely due to the KAIROS live production platform from Panasonic Connect, which Cohen described as the “infrastructure helping to bring our journalism to life.”

The KAIROS system gives the Post added flexibility to do secure, reliable video streaming, taking advantage of advancements in software-defined networks and software-controllable systems, plus IP protocols like 2110 and NDI.

“With our small but growing team, it’s important that we spend as much time as we can on the creative aspects and not on the technical aspects,” Cohen said.

The KAIROS system is complemented by three Panasonic UE160 PTZ robotic cameras, which are 2110-ready to support the Post’s future production requirements but also flexible enough to function within the Post’s new hybrid SDI/baseband plant.

“As they grow, they can easily bring in different types of signals, whether IP or baseband, into one production platform to create their content,” Henneman said. “Or they can do both simultaneously. For example, at the same time a baseband signal is going out through a national broadcast, there can be a parallel path in the IP world that is streaming the same programming. KAIROS is a flexible and powerful single production platform that that we can use to support both studios and also helps the Post prepare for whatever may be coming down the road.”

The new control rooms are also outfitted with Samsung studio displays, an Allen & Heath Avantis audio mixer, a Ross Ultrix 12G capable router, RTS Odin intercom, Shure Axient wireless mics, Cinedeck playback/ingest servers (or just called video servers), Netgear AV line network switches, and an Evertz master sync generator.

Full-service Integration and Installation

KMH led the overall New York Post/Page /Six project, developing technology budgets and managing specialized technology providers including Shalat Architects; Ron Eligator Acoustics, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) firms under the KMH contract; and a range of audio and video product manufacturers. The KHM team reviewed all the Post’s original architectural drawings and also produced renderings at every stage of the process to ensure the new designs met the Post’s goals.

“Our success is measured in seconds,” Cohen said. “We want to be the first out there with news and we want to make sure that we’re developing new products for different types of platforms. We have so many plans to get our news and formats and journalists out to the world, and now we have the right platform and a base of operations to do it.”