The broadcast industry's transition from satellite to IP delivery necessitates adaptation from technology vendors, and Zixi is no exception. Following its acquisition by Clearhaven Partners, the company strategically repositioned itself. “We went around and listened to customers and the consistent thing we kept hearing was, ‘I love your technology for what I do, but I don’t understand what else you do and where else you can help me,'” said Kris Alexander, Zixi’s VP of product & industry marketing, at the 2025 NAB Show. “And then the other thing we consistently heard is, ‘Your commercial model just doesn’t work for me.’ ”
This feedback spurred a change. “There were customers who were like – I want to use you – but your pricing model doesn’t work,” Alexander explained. “And that was primarily because… we priced it like a CDN. And it just didn’t make sense.” This hindered total cost of ownership evaluation and margin prediction. Under CEO Marc Aldrich, previously of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Zixi adopted a predictable licensing model. “We can just license it for an event you’re running… for a station affiliate you’re sending it to… or channel,” said Alexander. Their software now supports 14 protocols, including SRT and REST, enabling a gradual IP transition.
Zixi prioritizes workflow integration. “This is why we spend a lot of time making sure that we can speak with SCTE-35 messaging,” Alexander stated. “That way you could use your existing as-run infrastructure, so you don’t have to throw anything away in terms of infrastructure… You don’t have to change your operational structure.” Sinclair Broadcast Group benefited from cost savings and improved reliability. “The big differentiator, [Sinclair’s Del Parks] said, was we were able to bring down the cost,” Alexander noted, highlighting efficient memory and compute utilization. Reduced troubleshooting costs were also significant. “On top of this, not only do we have that piece of software that can take the inputs and do the processing and send the targets, but we also have, think of it as a layer of software that does automated orchestration, the control and more importantly, the monitoring.”
Future growth targets include contribution and remote production, addressing the desire to avoid expensive satellite trucks and fiber. “Nobody wants to have to roll trucks with a satellite uplink. Nobody wants to pull fiber. It’s expensive, and there are also long lead times. It’s not flexible,” Alexander explained, mentioning bonded 5G or LTE. He acknowledged industry disruption, including C-band repacking, ATSC 3.0, and media consolidation. “I suspect we’ll continue to see a lot of change, especially over the next three to five years,” he said. Zixi positions itself as a key component in the IP transition: “In the move to IP, you’re going to need some software and ingredient to help in that transition. And so, regardless of the different players here, we feel that we offer something that can provide a lot of value in terms of flexibility and lowering cost as an ingredient for that final solution.”