DB Broadcast Builds Two Channel Digital Playout Centre For SPORTSMAX

Independent system integrator dB Broadcast has built a new, two-channel digital playout centre for SPORTSMAX, Jamaica’s 24 hour sports-dedicated TV channel.
The total, ten-rack system was prefabricated and tested at dB’s purpose-built manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire, before being shipped to Jamaica for installation at a newly-located media centre. The new media centre will be fully operational prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, beginning in March 2007, and is expected to be used for the Cup by outside broadcasters as well as by SPORTSMAX.
A brand of Caribbean-based International Media Content (IMC), SPORTSMAX is Jamaica’s first and only TV station dedicated to sport, which it broadcasts live, in real-time, 24 hours a day via cable.
The company is the rights holder (in many cases exclusive) in Jamaica and the Caribbean for live broadcast/distribution of major sporting events. These include Barclays English Premier League football, English FA Cup, NBA, West Indies Cricket Overseas tours, Ashes Cricket-Australia v England, IAAF Grand Prix events and the PGA (Pro-Golf) tour events.
The new playout centre will be one of the first digital systems in Jamaica and is based around Miranda presentation mixers, branding image stores, and distribution equipment. Also included in the system are GVG video disk recorders, with storage of 64 hours, while monitoring is on Panasonic plasma screens, fed from Zandar multi-viewers.
Consultancy for the project was provided by London-based Ten Ten Digital. Commenting on dB’s contribution, project manager Mike Severyn said: “Having worked with dB before, I knew how organised the company is and the care and detail it puts into its back-office work. At the same time it is capable of giving a highly personal service. Another factor influencing the choice of dB,” says Mike, “was the ability to prefabricate and test off-site - a very important consideration.”
(DS)