The line between broadcast and AV continues to blur, and for a growing number of global financial institutions, that shift is changing how they think about control systems.
At IBC 2025, TSL CEO Matthew Quade described how three of the world’s largest banks are approaching interoperability in an era where AV and broadcast technologies increasingly overlap. The conversations reveal a common theme: end users want unified control without sacrificing flexibility or vendor choice.
From Studios to Systems Integration
TSL, long known for its interoperable broadcast control systems, has spent the past few years expanding into corporate AV, live events, and performing arts. Its latest offering, Hummingbird, is a modular suite of applications designed to unify control across multiple technologies.
That modularity recently proved useful for a financial institution equipping its offices with new in-house broadcast studios. The company’s AV partner turned to TSL for control interfaces but discovered the client already had a Q-SYS infrastructure throughout the facility. Rather than introducing another proprietary layer, TSL integrated its broadcast systems directly into the existing Q-SYS panels allowing users to manage both AV and broadcast workflows from the same touch interface.
The Closed-Ecosystem Dilemma
Not every organization has that level of flexibility. Another major bank, also investing in in-house studios and an auditorium, wanted a unified interface capable of managing SDI, NDI, and SMPTE ST 2110 endpoints. According to Quade, the bank’s integrator sought an open, software-based interface rather than a “locked-in” system from a major control vendor.
TSL’s approach allowed the client to configure a single soft-panel interface on their own enabling end users to manage mixed technology environments without needing to replace existing systems.
Multiple Paths Toward Openness
A third institution is reportedly considering a move away from its closed-ecosystem control provider altogether. Options on the table include switching to platforms like AMX or Q-SYS, with TSL managing the layers that fall outside those ecosystems.
These scenarios illustrate how financial institutions, historically conservative technology adopters are now driving change in control system strategy. Their needs go beyond boardrooms and auditoriums, touching broadcast, signage, and even facilities infrastructure.
Beyond Finance: A Wider Industry Shift
TSL’s projects extend well beyond banking. The company recently collaborated with Fuse Technical Group on video routing for U2’s Sphere concert, supported IP routing for Berklee College of Music’s recording studios, and provided control layers for IHSE KVM systems and BrightSign digital signage networks.
According to Quade, the industry’s growing comfort with mixed-vendor environments mirrors the transformation underway in broadcast itself. “Big broadcast systems used to be closed ecosystems,” he noted. “Now even companies like Grass Valley, which has its own Orbit control platform, are reselling interoperable solutions like ours.”
That shift reflects a broader movement toward collaboration and flexibility values that resonate with IT leaders accustomed to open standards and API-driven architectures.
As AV broadcast convergence continues to reshape enterprise technology strategy, the decisions of these financial giants may signal what’s next for the rest of the market: control systems built for interoperability, not isolation.
