Sinclair Broadcast Group deploys Kahuna for HD Upgrade

Sinclair
Broadcast Group (SBG), is standardizing on the Snell & Wilcox Kahuna SD/HD
multiformat production switcher across its news-producing stations as they
transition to HD news production.
SBG, which
operates 58 television stations in the United
States, will initially deploy Kahuna switchers at a
variety of its stations in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West
Virginia. These stations include affiliates of the
ABC, CBS, and FOX networks.
“The
Kahuna has an excellent performance record in many existing news production
installations, and in terms of value, we feel it brings a lot to the
table,” said Del Parks, vice president of engineering and operations for
Sinclair Broadcast Group. “The combination of flexible SD/HD format
handling and powerful effects capabilities makes the Kahuna a good fit for our
stations’ transition to HD news production.”
Kahuna’s
powerful functionality, intuitive layout, and comprehensive DVE effects and
transition tools enable SBG to simplify the production of compelling HD news
content. Kahuna’s FormatFusion technology will allow Sinclair stations to blend
their substantial SD archives seamlessly into HD productions as they transition
their stations to HD operations.
“News
programming makes up a significant part of our revenue stream, so reliability
and quality were paramount concerns during our evaluation of production
switcher vendors,” said Mark Nadeau, senior director at SBG. “We were
very impressed with the image quality of Kahuna, and we’ve had excellent
service and support from Snell & Wilcox. We were also attracted to Kahuna
because its architecture seamlessly handles SD and HD sources at the same time,
making it an ideal choice for the hybrid SD/HD world that broadcasters
everywhere are working in as they transition to full HD operations. In addition
to these benefits, everything from the feel of the buttons and switcher layout
to its color correction and still store features to its integration with other
systems made Kahuna the right choice for producing the quality HD news content
our viewers demand.”
“We
are proud to be working with Sinclair Broadcast Group as it enhances its local
news production capabilities across the United States,” said Jonathan
Goldstein, president of Snell & Wilcox Inc. “SBG’s decision to deploy
our Kahuna multiformat production switcher across its stations is yet another
demonstration of the confidence broadcasters invest in the quality, performance,
and ease-of-use of our image processing technologies.”

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