Sky Sports News embraces Abekas Mira replay servers

Abekas announced today that Sky has installed two, eight-channel Mira Instant Replay servers and two Mira Control Surfaces. The new Mira servers form part of a major upgrade to the Sky Sports News HQ studio facilities and deliver news highlights from live content broadcast across the six Sky Sports channels.

The Mira Instant Replay servers are operated by a team of news production assistants round the clock, seven days a week. The Mira operators are not traditional live Instant Replay production team members, so they needed an intuitive, easy-to-use and comfortable interface.

The operator makes programming decisions based on the live content and creates a playlist for each Sky Sports channel in real time. All six playlists are simultaneously played back to the new, giant display on the set of the Sky Sports News HQ studio.

“The replay system we’d usually select for live coverage wasn’t chosen for this application because of the requirement for non-specialist operators to be at the controls” explains Mike Ruddell, Sky Sports’ Head of Technology. “We are impressed with how the Mira is performing and pleased with the way Abekas has supported us on this project.”

”We are delighted that Sky has chosen the Mira Instant Replay server for such a demanding and high profile project,” says Junaid Sheikh, CEO of Abekas. “We are very pleased with the reception Abekas and Mira have received from both the operators and technical staff at Sky Sports News HQ.”