Time Warner's NY1 expands OmniBus automation system

OmniBus Systems has announced that NY1, a 24-hour Time Warner Cable news channel covering New York City, has expanded its Columbus automation system to accommodate locally originated news programming and advertising in other areas of the region.
As part of the system expansion, OmniBus worked closely with Avid Technology to develop and deliver an enhanced interface for Avid news editing systems and playout servers. NY1's expansion involved the addition of regional bureaus that produce locally originated programming tailored to viewers in Staten Island and Bergen County, N.J.
The bureau studio designs are virtually identical to the NY1 studio, and by using the same graphics and automation packages, NY1 is able to maintain continuity in the look and feel of its programming, as if the bureau anchor were sitting at NY1's desk in the Chelsea Market building instead of miles away.
Significant cooperation between OmniBus and Avid was required to meet the workflow needs of NY1. Content created at the Staten Island and Bergen County bureaus is edited by reporters using Avid's NewsCutter XP software and published to Avid AirSPACE servers, where it can be accessed by the NY1 control room and played out via the OmniBus Columbus automation control system. At the quarter hour, NY1 broadcasts several minutes of bureau-originated content to viewers in those locations. Households in each region receive programming that covers local news and events, and local businesses are able to purchase advertising specific to their locality.
"We chose OmniBus to handle our automation because their systems delivered top performance in handling the complex GPI clip triggers that our studio relies on," said Joseph Truncale, NY1's director of operations and engineering. "We are very pleased that the system has been able to accommodate our needs as we've grown. OmniBus and Avid have been extremely responsive and cooperative, and the system is performing to our expectations."
Time Warner Cable's NY1 station was the first 24-hour news station to employ an OmniBus-based production template, which has since been reproduced in similar Time Warner Cable local news outlets across the country. These templates feature an OmniBus automation system integrated with a Pinnacle Systems Vortex video server, AP's ENPS newsroom production system, and VertigoXmedia graphics automation.
The OmniBus system serves as the central interface for controlling devices, getting feedback, and relaying playout messages, and the OmniBus Desktop Control interface gives users the ability to search and browse archived material, create graphics, put production elements for studio events into the script, and control a variety of other functions from a single desktop.
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