Sky Italia Extends Its Robotics Studio Capabilities

Vinten Radamec, a Vitec Group brand, has won an order for three Vinten Radamec Fusion FP188 robotic camera pedestals with FH100 heads, together with a control system, from Sky Italia for a new studio in Rome.
This is the fourth Sky Italia studio that has been equipped with Vinten Radamec robotic camera supports, and the first of its studios to use moving pedestals.
Studio B in Rome is an addition to the capabilities for SKYTg24, Sky Italia's 24-hour rolling news channel. Located in a building away from the news production centre it provides resilience to the service as well as adding capacity. For coverage of major news events, such as national elections, Studio B can be linked to the robotic camera systems of the main newsroom, allowing the two to work as a single virtual studio by one operator.
The Vinten Rademc Fusion FP188 is a fully robotic camera pedestal that senses its position based on a compact L-shaped floor target which is unobtrusive and works with any floor surface. When required, the FP188 can be quickly switched for manual operation with all the characteristics of a conventional Vinten pedestal. The FH100 pan and tilt head is a complement to the FP188 for full axis camera movement, including links to digital servo lenses to control or monitor zoom and focus settings.
Paul Vickerage, Head of Studios for Sky Italia, said: "We have developed a strong working partnership with Vinten Radamec and its Italian distributor and systems integrator TAV, which has led to two robotic studios for Sky Sports 24 and now two for SKYTg-24.
"The ability to provide seamless integration, not just with newsroom systems but with other studios is very important to use. Our sports team controls a studio in Rome from its main production base in Milan and now the news team will be able to go over to Studio B whenever it needs, with everything under a single point of control."
TAV, the Vinten Radamec distributor in Italy, has installed and supports all the robotic systems for Sky Italia. The order for Studio B was concluded following demonstrations at IBC 2009. Sky Italia also uses products from Vinten, Autoscript and Sachtler - sister brands of Vinten Radamec, operating within The Vitec Group. The new pedestals and control system will be on air in November.
(KMcA/BMcC)