Grass Valley To Deliver New HD-Ready Production Infrastructure for Tunisia

Grass Valley has won a contract to modernize the television
infrastructure of la Télévision Tunisienne (TT), the public broadcaster in Tunisia. The
prime contract was awarded to Sumitomo Corp.,
a
leading general trading company boasting 150 locations in 70 countries
throughout the world. Grass Valley is the exclusive broadcast partner
to Sumitomo and is providing the systems design, integration, and much of the
equipment as a subcontractor.

“We
entrusted Grass Valley to assist us in the achievement
of our huge modernization project as we prepare for high-definition and are
pleased to partner with them,” says an official spokesperson from TT.

“For this
contract, it was vital we had a partner who could deliver the latest technology,
had the skills to integrate equipment from multiple vendors, and who was
acceptable to TT,” says Shindo Tachi, general manager, telecommunication project
department, Sumitomo Corp. “Throughout all the negotiations, Grass Valley
impressed us with their professionalism and attention to detail, and we are
looking forward to seeing this project reach fruition.”

The project
will create a new high-definition production and playout center. Included
in the facility will be a news studio and a virtual production studio;
graphics, audio, and video postproduction facilities; newsroom automation; two
playout-control rooms; and a central apparatus room. Much of the interconnection
between production, post, and storage will be based on IT connectivity, with the
Grass Valley K2 media server at the heart of the facility.

The project
also uses multiple Grass Valley Trinix and Concerto Series routers, together
with a Jupiter control system. The two studios feature Grass Valley Kayak HD
production switchers, and the playout-control rooms have the high-performance
Grass Valley Maestro continuity/master-control switchers.

The project
is financed with a Japanese ODA (Official Development Assistance) loan and
includes additional third-party Japanese equipment. Grass Valley
is providing all the systems integration to ensure that TT achieves the functionality
it has specified. The contract also includes commissioning and training. The
order was placed in September 2008. The completed project will be handed
over to TT and on air within a year.

“Whatever
the nature of the project, Grass
Valley is always
determined to match the user’s requirements with the best solutions in the
market,” says Jeff Rosica, SVP of Grass Valley. “All our technology is
built on open architectures, and, where the nature of the contract requires us
to use third-party products, we have the systems-integration skills to make it
all work as seamlessly as possible. TT has been a good customer for decades
now, and we are really pleased to be helping them move into the HD era.”