Sundance, Quartz and Pinnacle chosen for first Maori television channel

Maori language and culture are being revitalised in their native New Zealand thanks to a new television channel, Maori Television.
Founded under the Maori Television Service Act 2003, the station claims “breakthrough” status as the first national indigenous free-to-air Maori language channel. Built and furnished with equipment and technology selected to provide and support a high-quality, cost-effective infrastructure, Maori Television chose a practical, reliable FastBreak Automation solution from Sundance Digital.
Working in conjunction with New Zealand-based Gencom Technology - the integrator tasked with designing and building the station - Maori Television installed Sundance Digital's FastBreak Automation for on-air playlist management. “We evaluated all competitive automation systems and FastBreak proved to be the best combination of functionality and value for the money,” said Ray Sanders, Gencom’s CEO. “The customer is happy with the product as well as the support received from Sundance Digital.”
FastBreak Automation is a robust, scaleable and frame-accurate controller of video servers and other station peripherals, such as Maori Television’s Sony IMX VTRs and minidisk. Maori Television’s FastBreak configuration, complete with two Prep/Ingest stations, drives a Grass Valley Profile server, a Quartz SDI 128 X 128 router and Quartz QMC Master control switcher. A Pinnacle Deko CG and a Screen Subtitling Polyscript captioning system also fall under FastBreak's device control.
Currently programmes are subtitled either in English or Maori according to the material’s original language, but plans for total English subtitling are underway. The station supports its own original news service entirely in the Maori language. Access to material from mainstream services, including international, is available; however, most content is produced locally and includes news, sports, current affairs, music, lifestyle, entertainment and classics. Maori Television is received by approximately 82% of New Zealanders via UHF frequency and 100% of the country via digital satellite.
(GB)