Grass Valley Helps Launch Ghana’s New HDTV Channel

As part of its on-going development in Africa, Grass Valley is supplying a turnkey HD TV production studio, complete with cameras, video production switcher, routers, and a shared-storage editing environment to Multimedia Group Ltd. (MGL), operators of Multi TV, a new digital satellite multi-channel TV station based in Ghana.

This new multi-faceted project (“Phase II”) will expand the existing radio studio production and news editing room facilities with two additional TV studios that will feature Grass Valley LDK 3000 HD cameras, a Kayak HD switcher, Acappella router, and a variety of Grass Valley GeckoFlex signal processing modules. For its collaborative news editing and production activities, Multi TV has installed 10 Grass Valley EDIUS workstations connected to existing K2 media servers—installed last year and now configured in a shared storage network.

“We have had a lot of success with the Grass Valley servers we have been using for the past year and wanted to expand our capabilities to include producing our own shows,” says Mr. Kwasi Twum, CEO, Multimedia Group Ltd. “Our new TV channels have received great response from our viewers and we give credit to Grass Valley for their equipment and technical support that helps make it all possible.”

The contract, which was signed at the recent NAB Show in Las Vegas, also includes system design and integration by Grass Valley engineers — as well as supplying local system support going forward. The installation will be completed this month.

“Broadcasters of all sizes need a cost-effective way to launch new services in the shortest amount of time, and we’re helping them do that with our flexible technology, affordable products, and a full range of locally-based engineering and system integration services,” said Jeff Rosica, SVP of Grass Valley. “Multimedia Group is proving to be very successful at attracting a new audience with quality programming. Grass Valley is pleased to be helping them achieve their goals.”

Multimedia Group Ltd. owns and operates Joy 99.7 FM and five other radio stations in Ghana and obtained a TV broadcast license in 2008, going on-air with an automated playout system based on Grass Valley K2 media servers in the summer of 2009.

“Working with Grass Valley on this project has been phenomenal and using Grass Valley’s technology, skills and tools have resulted in a professional system that compares to standards at CNN and Al Jazeera,” says FitzRoy Brown, Managing Director of Broadcast Solutions Africa Ltd., and local representatives of Grass Valley. “We hope to bring our experience and expertise to bear in similar projects for the Nation’s broadcaster GBC and other private broadcasters.”

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