SKY NEWS IN MAJOR STUDIO UPGRADE WITH SONY PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS GROUP
Full studio upgrade including station automation and robotics
Sony Australia’s Professional Solutions Group today gave details of the full studio upgrade it is carrying out for leading ANZ broadcaster SKY NEWS. The upgrade, that came about after discussions at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, is one of the largest and most comprehensive the broadcaster has ever carried out.
National Sales Manager – Broadcast & Production Professional Solutions Division for Sony Australia Luke Simpson explained, “We discussed the studio upgrade with Australian News Channel CEO, Angelos Frangopoulos and SKY NEWS Director of Engineering and Technology, Rick Zecevic over several meetings that began at NAB and continued back in Australia. It became evident that it was going to be a very large project that involved upgrading and integrating robotics, studio automation, new control rooms and more. So, instead of solely providing Sony equipment, we agreed the Sony Professional Solutions Group would also be systems integrators for the entire project.”
SKY NEWS’ requirements fell into two categories. Firstly the broadcaster needed to perform a technical refresh of some of the key equipment in the main SKY NEWS production control room. The control room also needed an upgrade that would provide the increased levels of flexibility and functionality essential for modern day news production. Secondly, the broadcaster concluded that studio automation was going to be the critical technology which would enable it to broadcast new channels and services at its existing site whilst simultaneously streamlining its overall live production process. In order to achieve these key goals the broadcaster needed to build and integrate four new automation suites to control the on-air services for SKY NEWS National, SKY NEWS Business Channel, SKY NEWS Weather and SKY NEWS New Zealand.
Australian News Channel CEO Angelos Frangopoulos said, “Due to the fact that SKY NEWS is a 24/7 broadcaster, any equipment changeover had to happen with the absolute minimum disruption to on-air operations. In order for this to happen we needed an experienced and well resourced systems integration partner, which is why we chose the Sony Australia Professional Solutions Group.”
With the new system design and plan agreed Sony began the project by installing and commissioning a Sony MVS-7000X production switcher in the main SKY NEWS production gallery and replacing the existing CRT monitor wall with 55" Sony LCD panels and an AXON Multi-view system. The new systems were initially installed in parallel to the existing studio control room to allow for equipment familiarisation, off-line operational training and a smooth transition to full on-air operations.
For the new control suites, SKY NEWS chose Mosart to provide automation of live production equipment including switchers, audio mixers, video servers, graphics and camera robotics. One of the more complex parts of the system, the Mosart installation and integration involved Sony and SKY NEWS working in close collaboration to design, install and integrate four custom automation suites all under Mosart control.
Angelos Frangopoulos added, “Mosart was chosen because of its proven track record at worldwide installations, along with its ability to control equipment from a number of different production equipment manufacturers.
Mosart’s history combined with Sony’s SI expertise and both teams working together so well in partnership has allowed SKY NEWS to successfully integrate production equipment from a wide number of manufacturers including Sony, Ross, Yamaha, Quantel, VIZRT, Euphonix and Vinten.”
The new SKY NEWS studio and automation control suites also feature a state of the art equipment list that includes a Sony MVS-7000X 3ME production switcher, Sony FWD-S55H2 HD LCD panels, Sony FWD-S46H2 HD LCD panels, a Sony MVS-6500 2ME production switcher, a Yamaha DME64N audio mixer, AXON Multi-view processors, Harris VTM-2400 Rasterisers, an Avocent KVM switch and Vinten Radamec camera robotics.
Angelos Frangopoulos concluded, “The main SKY NEWS system is already using Vinten Radamec robotics and Sony are also upgrading these with a new IP-based control solution to allow for direct Mosart control of the Studio 1 robotics. Additionally, new Vinten robotic heads and controls are being installed in the Sky Business News studio to also enable automated Mosart control of this facility. All in all our upgraded studios and new facilities are highly efficient, state of the art and put us in a very strong position to best manage and report the news of today and the issues of tomorrow.”