News Express India Goes HD With Quantel

News Express, the New Delhi, India-based national broadcasters and a division of the Sai Prasad Group of companies that trades as Sai Prasad has purchased a Quantel Enterprise sQ production system to power its new all-HD national news broadcasting operation which is slated to go on air in July 2011.
This will be India's first national HD news broadcast service. The Enterprise sQ system is being supplied through Quantel's Indian reseller, Shaf Broadcast.
The Quantel solution won the highly competitive tender process on two principal attributes - its unbeatable speed to air and low cost of ownership. News Express plans to produce 12 x 30 minute news bulletins a day on the system with country-wide story input from around 25 contribution centres spread around the subcontinent. The system will also be used to produce other channel output including regular 20-minute documentary programmes.
The Enterprise sQ system is configured with 350 hours of DVCPRO 100 storage and 10 sQ View and sQ Cut journalist viewing and desktop editing applications. These will run as Active-X applications within an ENPS Newsroom computer system. Craft editing is handled by 10 Final Cut Pro editors, fully integrated into the Quantel workflow. Ingest is handled by Quantel sQ Load (files) and sQ Record (video) applications, and playout will run under Omnibus Colossus automation.
Balasaheb Bhakpar, Chairman and Managing Director of Sai Prasad Group, said: "The key competitive advantage in news is getting to air first and the Quantel solution has by far the fastest flight time in the industry, so they are the natural choice for our new channel."
S.L. Shrivastav, Sai Prasad Group CEO, added: "We always strive to offer the highest possible quality to our customers, which is one reason we are introducing the nation's first HD news service. Quantel's picture quality is second to none." Mukesh Kumar, News Express Channel Head, said: "Ease of learning and use for our journalists was another important factor in our selection process and Quantel's progressive user interface elegantly combines simplicity with powerful tools. Quantel also integrates seamlessly with both our newsroom computer system and playout automation, giving us a truly integrated workflow."
Martin Mulligan, Quantel Sales and Marketing Director, said: "News Express is leading the way in India with HD national news. Enterprise sQ will enable them to get great quality images to air quickly and easily."
(KMcA/GK)