Hope Channel Ukraine Moves Its Servers to Safety After Strikes Near Studio

Hope Media Group Ukraine began relocating its broadcast servers after strikes landed close to its studio in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Amid what the United Nations describes as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the team is working to preserve years of original programming with support from its technical partner, Hope Channel International (HCI), which provides video delivery and stores backups of part of the team’s content outside Ukraine.

Justin Woods, senior director of technology at HCI, explained that a power failure at the Kyiv studio would stop the channel’s broadcast and make its streamed content unavailable. “If it is hit by a missile, then years’ worth of original content could be destroyed, as well as the infrastructure that makes it available to the world,” he said.

“At any moment it could come down, cause damage, or take someone’s life,” Volodymyr Mykhed, chaplain of Hope Media Group Ukraine, said of the drone threat in the team’s video report. “You can hear explosions over the capital of our country, Ukraine.” He described the server room as “the heart of everything our media team does” and explained that increasing danger prompted an important relocation.

The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which has documented the impact of the invasion since February 2022, reported renewed attacks on electricity and heating infrastructure this autumn. Its account of strikes on Kyiv’s power stations on October 13 and 14 cited Ukrainian authorities’ estimate that 600,000 people in Kyiv temporarily lost electricity.

From Satellite to Cable and Streaming

Hope Media Group Ukraine operates the channel and runs eight studios. The channel had already changed how it reached viewers after its broadcasts on the ASTRA-4A satellite ended on July 1. The media group transitioned to other distribution platforms after deterioration of the signal and repeated interception intended to disrupt round-the-clock broadcasting.

Hope Media Group Ukraine confirmed that its programming was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through streaming services, cable operators, and its website. Viewers could find it on platforms including Megogo and Kyivstar TV and through cable providers such as Volia.

HCI provides the Ukrainian team with Jetstream, its video platform, along with technical support and backups stored outside Ukraine, Woods explained. Jetstream includes automatic backups, and HCI’s global server network delivers the team’s content to viewers around the world. The Ukrainian team acquired a server to run Jetstream, and HCI was already backing up the team’s content before the purchase.

Engineers Relocate Servers and Install Backup Power

“Our engineers are doing everything they can to move all the necessary equipment and get everything set up properly,” Mykhed explained. He reported that the server rack was assembled and inverters and batteries were installed, with capacity for up to eight hours of backup power. The reserve power is intended to keep the servers operating during electricity outages. At the time of the recording, the relocation was almost finished, according to Mykhed.

Alongside the work to protect the equipment and provide backup power, the Ukrainian team sought a complete copy of its content outside the country. “They called and asked us if we could back up more of their content. All of it. 100 terabytes,” Woods said. HCI was already hosting backups for the channel when the team asked it to copy the complete archive.

“We coordinate with them to ensure that the server is ready to be moved, so when it is in its new location, it comes back online healthy,” Woods said.

Mykhed explained why the team continued its work: “Despite all the difficulties and dangers, together with you, we continue to spread the good news of the gospel, through which the Holy Spirit transforms human hearts.”

The original version of this story was posted by Hope Channel International.