Building on its recent seven HD OB van success in Africa with Algerian broadcaster ENTV and Egyptian company ERTU, Sony has achieved new HD milestones with the delivery of a further four vehicles in Eastern and Central Europe from Poland to Kazakhstan, writes Fergal Ringrose.
Poland’s leading broadcaster Polsat is the first state broadcaster to move to HD. It took delivery of its first HD OB truck earlier this year, its second was on the Sony stand at IBC this year and a third is scheduled to arrive in spring 2008. Polsat is the first Polish broadcaster to purchase HD-equipped OB vehicles as it undertakes the upgrading of its entire broadcast infrastructure to transmit in HD.
Commenting on its relationship with Sony, Aleksander Myszka, president, Telewizja Polsat S.A, stated: “We chose Sony to help us make the leap to HD because we were excited by the expertise and partnership it offered. From discussion through to delivery, Sony worked with us to develop HD OB vehicles that met both our broadcast and budget requirements.”
Similar success has been achieved in CIS, where Sony delivered a 10 camera HD OB van to the Kazakhstan TV and Radio Corporation, the first CIS country broadcaster to choose this type of production facility, for broadcasting live sporting and musical events to audiences in HD. In neighbouring Russia, the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, home to Russia’s world renowned opera and ballet productions, has ordered a 26 camera OB van to enable the theatre to capture and broadcast multi-stage open-air performances in full HD as its tours around the world.
Existing OB customers have also returned to Sony with additional business, one of these being UK’s Arqiva Outside Broadcasts.
“We were very impressed by both the service and solution the Sony Professional Services team provided last year. Sony delivered two HD trucks on time and on budget, and successfully created a tailor-made solution for our current and future needs. This year we are working with Sony to deliver our third HD OB truck to meet the growing demand to capture HD content,” said Mick Bass, MD, Arqiva Outside Broadcasts.
