South African Broadcast commissions fifth largest ENPS newsroom

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has commissioned ATG Broadcast to design and install a networked ENPS newsroom. With 1,100 user licences, the new system will be the world’s fifth largest of its kind. Its primary role will be to prepare content for all SABC television and radio news operations, including regional stations and international bureaux.

“The project commenced in July and is scheduled to take nine months to complete,” details ATG Broadcast Managing Director Graham Day. “The core installation will be located in SABC’s headquarters at Auckland Park, Johannesburg. Training is obviously a key element of the transition. We will be arranging ENPS super-user instruction in Johannesburg for about 1,500 operators using dedicated demonstration terminals attached to the core.”

The system will also include a Quantel sQ server and editing infrastructure for ingest, postproduction and playout. Ingest and playout will be controlled using a Miranda Omnibus Columbus. SABC’s entire news operation will migrate to ENPS from an outgoing Dynatech Newstar system.

Projects Manager Dave Whitaker is supervising and directing the installation from ATG Broadcast’s Letchworth headquarters in conjunction with UK-based and SA-based colleagues. The work is being done in co-operation with ATG Broadcast’s regional agent, Questek, which is itself based in Johannesburg.