Kronehit Partners with SLG Broadcast and Lawo for Major Infrastructure Overhaul

At NAB 2026, Austrian private broadcaster kronehit officially awarded SLG Broadcast AG and Lawo AG the contract for a comprehensive modernisation of its entire studio infrastructure. Building on a partnership spanning over a decade, the project will see kronehit's broadcast centre equipped with five state-of-the-art Lawo diamond mixing consoles paired with Power Core audio engines. SLG Broadcast will lead the system design and implementation, evolving the current setup into a fully IP-native, ultra-low latency environment. The upgrade includes expanding the existing Lawo A__UHD Core into a fully redundant central backbone, ensuring maximum reliability and scalability for the broadcaster's 24/7 operations.

The decision was publicly sealed with a handshake between Marc Straehl, CEO of SLG Broadcast, Jamie Dunn, CEO of Lawo, and Martin Holovlasky, CTO of kronehit, at the world's leading broadcast technology trade show—underscoring both the strategic importance of the project and the deep mutual trust built over many years.

The partnership between kronehit and SLG Broadcast extends back more than a decade. As early as 2015, SLG Broadcast implemented the technical infrastructure of kronehit's broadcast center based on Lawo sapphire mixing consoles. This project laid the foundation for the continuous modernization of the production environment and established a close, partnership‑driven working relationship that remains firmly in place today.

In subsequent years, SLG Broadcast continued to serve as a key technical partner for the broadcaster. In 2017, among other initiatives, an OB van was equipped with a Lawo sapphire Compact, existing studios were expanded with additional I/O capacity, and the audio platform was gradually enhanced with Power Core–based structures. Between 2018 and 2024, multiple migration and expansion phases supported the transition to IP‑based audio production. These included the integration of the Lawo A__UHD Core, the deployment of a RAVENNA‑based audio‑over‑IP network, and the adaptation of the infrastructure to evolving production and distribution requirements. Throughout this process, the focus consistently remained on a holistic and coherent system design that seamlessly integrates technology, editorial workflows, and operational processes.

Against this backdrop, the agreement concluded at NAB 2026 to renew the entire studio landscape represents the logical next step. Going forward, kronehit will deploy five Lawo diamond consoles, paired with five Power Core audio engines. The diamond platform features a fully IP‑native architecture, ultra‑low latency, and high processing power, creating ideal conditions for modern, parallel radio production workflows. The existing Lawo A__UHD Core will be expanded into a fully redundant setup, forming the highly available central backbone of the entire audio production environment.

Kronehit benefits from an infrastructure that has evolved jointly with Lawo and SLG Broadcast over many years and has been consistently designed with future‑proofing in mind. Even today, the broadcaster operates a comprehensive Lawo environment comprising sapphire consoles, IP‑based routing, centralized system management via VisTool, and a high‑performance AoIP network architecture. The high scalability of the Lawo platform enables flexible studio configurations, dynamic resource allocation, and system adjustments without disrupting live operations. Peripheral systems such as studio telephony have also been fully migrated to IP‑based solutions and tightly integrated into the Lawo infrastructure.

SLG Broadcast sees its role not merely as a technology supplier, but as a system partner with a holistic approach. Beyond planning and implementation, key aspects include workflow design, process optimization, and long‑term operational reliability. In‑house software tools such as the SLG Broadcast Suite for monitoring and analyzing complex broadcast systems complement the Lawo ecosystem and contribute to transparency, efficiency, and reliability in day‑to‑day operations.

For kronehit, the decision represents a targeted investment in flexibility, automation, and future resilience. The new diamond‑based infrastructure enables clearly structured and highly automated production workflows, allows rapid adaptation to new formats, and at the same time delivers the stability and redundancy required by a leading private broadcaster operating 24/7. The commissioning announced at NAB 2026 therefore stands as a clear commitment to sustainable innovation and reflects a long‑standing, trust‑based partnership between kronehit, Lawo, and SLG Broadcast.

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