Channel 4 completes major operations upgrade

Chyron Corporation have announced that major UK broadcaster Channel 4 has completed the installation of a wide range of Pro-Bel routing and control equipment as part of a major operational upgrade at the Channel's London headquarters.
Channel 4 has installed three advanced Eclipse routing switchers. The first is an Eclipse SDI equipped 192 x 192, while the second two are both Eclipse AES, one 192 x 192 matrix and the smaller fitted with 128 x 128 capabilities. The broadcaster has also installed a Freeway 128 x 128 router and a Freeway RS422 128 port.
Providing control for the routing technology is the powerful Pro-Bel Aurora system, utilising a wide range of hardware and software-based control options and allowing the user to operate the equipment according to existing preferences.
Robert Luggar, the manager of engineering projects with Channel 4, describes the reason for the major upgrade: "This is now the main routing infrastructure in our key VT area, an area used for tape duplication, quality reviews of programmes, dubbing operations, standards conversion and associated tasks - essentially, all the core processing functions that feature in our transmission operations."
With an increasing amount of content flowing through the centre, expansion was a necessity. The area where the routers were located needed to be redeveloped to make space for new facilities. With that in mind, combined with the fact that some of the existing routers were due for replacement, Channel 4 decided to replace the entire routing infrastructure for the area in one go in order to minimise operational disruption during the installation.
The newly installed routing and control technology has freed up a considerable amount of rack space. Channel 4 has a long history of using Chyron's Pro-Bel range, with equipment installed from day one when Channel 4 first moved to its current location eight years ago.
(SP)