Broadcast Solutions has revealed details of its work to create a news broadcast centre for CIBC Global.
With a requirement to be ready ahead of the launch of COP29, CIBC Global approached Broadcast Solutions to provide an Azerbaijan centre to support news channel AnewZ at the end of May 2024. The conference was scheduled to begin on 11 November, placing a fixed deadline on the project.
“Foremost in our minds was the time pressure on this project,” said Rufat Hamzayev, executive director at AnewZ. “Not just in getting the system together, but also ensuring that operationally the staff were ready, given the eyes of the world were going to be on them on opening day.”
Taking on responsibility for the entire project’s delivery, Broadcast Solutions selected nxtedition as the basis for its production environment. Three news studios were created: one for anchors and up to four guests, a stand-up studio for reporters and weather presenters and a broadcast position set in the heart of the newsroom. Aiming to provide users with an intuitive platform, nxtedition enabled automated operations and editorial control for producers and journalists.
The system integrated Ross production switchers, Tascam audio mixers and Canon PTZ cameras, enabling output to more than 110 countries around the world. nxtedition’s platform allowed journalists to package conference stories for distribution across social media.
Commenting on the Baku project, Hamzayev said, “We gave Broadcast Solutions a massive challenge, to build a complete channel from scratch against an absolutely fixed deadline. They came up with a technical solution which delivered all the editorial control and creativity we needed, which is fully reliable and runs on standard computers for ease of support. It is also completely intuitive to use and allows our operational teams to control our three studios from one central production room.
Laurent Mairet, managing partner of Broadcast Solutions Group, added, “This project proves that, through collaboration and teamwork, we can deliver a complete television channel, from nothing, in four months. We continue to work with AnewZ on a second phase, to introduce commercials to monetise the channel.”
