Pakistan’s Public News Chooses Grass Valley for Upgraded Playout, Production

Pakistani broadcaster, Public News, has selected a range of Grass Valley solutions to underpin its upgraded production and playout operation. The new set-up gives the Urdu language broadcaster, owned and operated by Sports Star International Private Limited, future-ready capability, allowing it to seamlessly manage and operate multiple playout channels across any platform. The upgrade comes as part of a move to Public News’ new facility in Lahore.

“Our audience wants to receive breaking news updates on any device, at anytime, anywhere,” says Muhammad Azam, Public News’ CEO. “Grass Valley demonstrated a deep understanding of the requirements for a successful, future-ready news platform. The new set-up allows us to spin up a channel in a matter of hours and will support the ongoing evolution of our business.”

At the heart of the new playout and newsroom operation lies Grass Valley’s iTX integrated playout platform, delivering the increased flexibility and scalability Public News needs to meet the rising demand for more content, across more screens. With iTX, the Pakistani broadcaster gains a highly advanced platform that combines IP/SDI flexibility and scalability for future-readiness, and end-to-end workflow tools for greater process automation. Public News has also deployed the GV STRATUS video production and content management toolset, leveraging integrated social media publishing and an ultra-fast ingest to on-air timeline. Grass Valley partnered with United Broadcast to complete the project.

“Grass Valley offers us a complete, end-to-end solution that meets our needs for agility and scalability,” says Arif Hussain Rizvi, CTO at Public News. “A strong product roadmap and a solid local presence make them the perfect partner to help us take on a changing media landscape.”

GV STRATUS gives the Public News production team a single interface from which to manage content and metadata across all platforms, including social media. Also forming part of the deployment are Grass Valley’s NVISION 8500 hybrid routers, which deliver on cost, space, and power efficiency, making them perfect for a range of production and playout applications. Integrated audio processing eliminates audio to video delays, while simplified cable management ensures the reliability needed in mission-critical newsroom environments.

“Today’s audiences demand instant access to breaking news on any screen, which means news broadcasters must address a hugely diverse range of digital platforms as well as their traditional linear services,” said Greg de Bressac, Grass Valley’s vice of president sales, APAC. “To meet current market demands and adapt to changing consumer habits, newsrooms need tools and technology that empower production teams to deliver new services without increased resourcing. We are very proud that Public News has chosen Grass Valley to support this important milestone in its development.”