BSkyB selects Grass Valley for 24-hour sports news channel
Grass Valley has announced that British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has gone live with the Grass Valley Ignite Automated Production System to provide sports Bnulletins into its Sky News channel. The Ignite HD scalable solution integrates with BSkyB’s existing Grass Valley production solutions, including two LDK 8000 cameras and a Karrera Video Production Center switcher, as well as additional third-party technologies.
“As a major broadcaster in the UK, it was crucial for us to have a highly sophisticated automation system that would be delivered on time and on budget and could be integrated with our existing production infrastructure and workflow,” says Mike Ruddell, head of technology, Sky Sports. “Grass Valley has met our expectations in all of those areas. We required a solution designed to handle dynamic live production as well as event programming. With our new Ignite system in place, we now have a central point of management within our control room and we’re able to produce content efficiently.”
The comprehensive, file-based Ignite system delivers a single workflow and multi-distribution model. It tightly integrates with BSkyB’s newsroom computer system (NRCS) and provides the production staff with greater control and efficiency while delivering a high-end on-air look that its viewers have come to expect. Production staff can now easily control on-air timing, accommodate last-minute show changes, and direct any type of production on-the-fly to produce more and enhanced content. The scalable Ignite platform supports a wide range of third-party devices making it highly cost-effective and reducing the time required to go live with breaking news.
“We’re so pleased to announce BSkyB as the latest in an ever-growing list of broadcasters around the world who have tapped into Ignite’s powerful capabilities for their control rooms so they can take full advantage of the streamlined workflow it offers,” said Tim Thorsteinson, president and CEO, Grass Valley. “We designed Ignite so that broadcasters can generate greater value from their existing resources and allocate more of their staff to the field which, in turn, increases their programming opportunities.”