Australian Sky News leap ahead with generationQ system

Sky News Australia recently announced the purchase of a Quantel generationQ News system to upgrade and extend its Sydney-based news operation.
Newbury-based Quantel said that the system for Sky News, the first of the new generation systems to go online, will comprise an sQServer with QEdit and QCut software for server-based editing by craft editors and journalists.
Since 1995, Quantel Clipbox has been the engine room of Sky News said Sky News Managing Editor, Angelos Frangopoulos: “We could not have operated with such efficiency and speed had it not been for the brave decision in late 1995 to commit to Quantel and this technology.”
Since then, Sky News has worked closely with Quantel to advance the capabilities and facilities of the system. When the time came to upgrade their system, however, Sky took a careful look at the options before coming to a decision. “We looked around but generationQ offered all the answers,” adds Frangopoulos, “and there’s also no greater delight than to see other broadcasters make the same decision that we first made seven years ago.
Julien James, Quantel’s Broadcast Sales Manager in Australia, said: “generationQ gives Sky News the ability to integrate and lock together broadcast and browse video within the same server, under a single SQL database.
“This means that they can completely avoid one of the biggest headaches in broadcasting, the integration problems of separate browse and broadcast servers.”
Frangopoulos added, “What has also made the sQServer so good for Sky News is that we will be taking advantage of the sQServer’s flexibility to provide our own commercials playout while also adding an additional level of redundancy to our news system.”
Integrated with Sky News’ sQServer will be Quantel’s QEdit and QCut software.
With Sky News marking their 50,000th news bulletin to 1.7 million viewers, Frangopoulos said that later this year the programming would be expanding, increasing from more than 100 hours per week of Australian content.
Although the BBC has already ordered generationQ news systems for two of its English Regions news operations, these will not be installed until later this year, making Sky News the first in the world to go on air with the new system.
(SP)