Turner to digitise assets and bring entertainment transmission in house

Following a thorough review of all strategic options for the future of the playout of its entertainment channels, Turner Broadcasting System Europe (TBS) Limited is bringing transmission in-house.
This decision is part of a company-wide initiative to digitise its assets and will involve building a new facility and hiring around 40 additional staff at its Great Marlborough Street, London headquarters.
12,000 hours worth of the company's entertainment content, including films and cartoons for Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami and TCM, will be digitised enabling Turner's network of channels throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to be broadcast from video servers under automated control.
The new facility is scheduled to launch on January 1 2006, replacing the company's existing tape playout services from Ascent Media. It is the start of a project which will allow the electronic delivery of films, cartoons and advertisements, facilitate the addition of new channels and ultimately enable staff to browse assets on their desktops. Cartoon Network, TCM, Boomerang and Toonami are available in the region from 17 feeds in 25 languaged versions.
"Digitising the library will put Turner in a strong position to take advantage of emerging revenue streams and new work flows such as VOD, Broadband, Mobile and Integrated Playout and Production. We have been extremely satisfied with Ascent's service but bringing the system in-house will give us total control and flexibility over the entire channel creation process," said Tina McCann, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Turner Entertainment Networks who is leading the project with Gabby Redfern, Vice President of Network Operations, and Steve Fish, Vice President of Engineering.
Turner Broadcasting System Europe delivers some of the world's most successful and well-known news and entertainment brands - CNN, Cartoon Network, TCM (Turner Classic Movies), Toonami and Boomerang - across over 50 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Alongside its TV channels TBS is at the forefront of developing its brands through the internet, broadband, wireless, DVD, E-commerce, merchandising, cinema, publishing and every other available platform.
(GB)