News Express India goes HD with Quantel

News Express, the New Delhi, India-based national broadcaster and a division of the Sai Prasad Group of companies, has purchased a Quantel Enterprise sQ production system to power its new all-HD national news broadcasting operation, which is slated to go on air in July 2011. This will be India’s first national HD news broadcast service. The Enterprise sQ system is being supplied through Quantel’s Indian reseller, Shaf Broadcast.

“News Express is leading the way in India with HD national news,” said Martin Mulligan, Quantel Sales and Marketing Director. “Enterprise sQ will enable them to get great quality images to air quickly and easily.”

News Express plans to produce twelve 30-minute news bulletins a day on the system with country-wide story input from approximately 25 contribution centers spread throughout the sub-continent. The system will also be used to produce other channel output, including regular 20-minute documentary programs.

The Enterprise sQ system is configured with 350 hours of DVCPRO 100 storage and 10 sQ View and sQ Cut journalist viewing and desktop editing applications. These will run as Active-X applications within an ENPS Newsroom computer system. Craft editing is handled by 10 Final Cut Pro editors fully integrated into the Quantel workflow. Ingest is handled by Quantel sQ Load (files) and sQ Record (video) applications, and playout will run under Omnibus Colossus automation.

“The key competitive advantage in news is getting to air first, and the Quantel solution has by far the fastest flight time in the industry, so they are the natural choice for our new channel,” said Balasaheb Bhakpar, Chairman and Managing Director of Sai Prasad Group.