Grass Valley Delivers Ethiopia’s First-Ever HDTV Experience

Ethiopian government-owned Amhara TV has selected Grass Valley to provide several solutions to build Ethiopia’s first HD terrestrial TV broadcast station. Grass Valley solutions will be used to outfit two HD studios and a master control room (MCR). Amhara TV is an important part of the developing media landscape in Ethiopia, and will be available both terrestrially and via the Nilesat free-to-air satellite service.

“This project with Grass Valley holds real importance for Ethiopia because it will offer our 50 million television viewers their first ever HD experience. With this in mind, it was crucial for us to select a partner we could trust and that could offer us the best HD solutions,” said Leykun Mekonnen, Vice General Manager and Media Technology Head, Amhara TV. “Grass Valley’s reputation precedes it as a provider of high quality, flexible, and cost-efficient solutions which enable broadcasters to give their customers premium services.”

Amhara TV selected six HD LDK 3000+ cameras for their flexibility and high picture quality, and a Kayak HD video production switcher for its advanced HD capabilities. The master control room will be based around a Grass Valley Maestro SD/HD branding and master control system for multichannel control. At the heart of the HD infrastructure will be a Concerto Series routing switcher with Prelude router control. A GeckoFlex Signal Processing System will provide the necessary modular platform for signal control, complete with an integrated browser-based control system.

While the majority of Ethiopia’s television viewers use standard definition televisions, they will be able to benefit from the oversampling of HD-to-SD down conversion for improved picture quality over SD-originated programming.

“Africa is a key area of growth for Grass Valley and it’s exciting to see our solutions being used by customers like Amhara TV to deliver new and better quality services to viewers in the region,” said Said Bacho, Regional Vice President EMEA at Grass Valley. “As broadcasters continue to look for ways to maximize efficiencies without compromising on quality, Grass Valley is uniquely positioned to offer its customers turnkey solutions that meet their requirements and offer integrated flexibility so that business models can be successfully built around them.”

With the assistance of local partners, Grass Valley is providing Amhara TV full systems integration service, training, project management, and ongoing consultation to ensure a successful implementation.

Grass Valley Opens Rome Office
In order to strengthen its presence in Italy, Grass Valley has established a new central office in the region’s capital, Rome. The new office, which includes a state-of-the-art Solutions Center, reinforces Grass Valley’s commitment to the Italian market and its customers.

The office combines sales, support, and administrative staff, as well as a demonstration room showing the latest Grass Valley solutions—including the innovative LDX Series™ software upgradable camera range, the GV STRATUS nonlinear production platform, and many other offerings that support live production, news, and playout.

Grass Valley has always had a strong presence in the region, having previously shared offices with Technicolor (previously known as Thomson) in Milan and Rome. With existing offices in Milan, the new central Italian office not only underlines Grass Valley’s investment in the market, but also its commitment to its customers.

“Italy is a strategically important market for Grass Valley, and our offices in Italy allow us to support our customers more actively on the ground and to be more closely in touch with key market developments,” said Said Bacho, Senior Vice President EMEA, Grass Valley. “Our Solutions Center, showcasing our latest technologies, provides a great opportunity for our broadcast customers and partners to experience the Grass Valley portfolio first-hand as we continue to develop it in line with the rapidly changing media landscape.”

Grass Valley has opened state-of-the-art Solutions Centers in a number of its new offices across Europe, Middle East and Africa, including its offices in Paris (France), Weiterstadt (Germany), Dubai (UAE), Madrid (Spain), Moscow (Russia) and at its regional headquarters in Stockley Park, London.