20 Oct 2006
Pebble Beach Systems Enters Indian Market With Zee TV
Weybridge, 20 October 2006 -- Pebble Beach Systems, a leading provider of automation solutions to the broadcast market, has won its first customer in the sub-continent thanks to a contract win from India's Dish TV, part of Zee Network.
The system being deployed by Zee Network is a classic 12 channel playout set-up using legacy equipment, such as Sony Flexicarts; Harris Nexio video server; a Harris Platinum 256x256 router; Harris HDX series of video servers; Harris LogoMotion inserters; Sony VTRs; and Miranda Imagestores.
All media is ingested from flexicarts and 4 stand alone VTRs to the video server. Schedules are provided by the scheduling department and verified against automation DB before being added to the schedules running on the system to playout the media on different channels. All items are played directly from the server to air. The servers run on Airprotect mode to provide 100% redundancy for the system. The system uses six Pebble Beach Systems transmission hardware control panels with their fully programmable, LCD backlit buttons.
Ravi Puri, AVP-Technical at Dish TV commented: "We have been analyzing different automation systems and one of the main considerations was to find a totally user friendly, open, highly reliable automation system, that can handle multiple functionalities and customizations. After reviewing and carefully studying the different options we found that Pebble Beach Systems' Neptune system meets all of our requirements and has the capacity to support our playout operations as it continues to grow."
The Neptune system was chosen for its highly scalable architecture, allowing it to be configured to perfectly meet Zee Network's workflow without losing initial investment.
"We have migrated all of our TV channels running from ADC100 Harris system to the new Pebble Beach Systems autoamtion and after commissioning and migration of the channels operational staff are quite happy to have such flexible and open system," added Puri.
The installation, which recently went live, supports two live channels, Zee News and Zee business, with a third 24x7 news channel added in January 2007. There are also plans to expand the system to support 24 channels later next year.
"We are really pleased to have secured this project with Zee in preference to the incumbent," said Rafael Dubois, Pebble Beach Systems sales manager for the region. "We see Zee as a key customer and we're thrilled to have entered into the Indian market with this contract. We're confident that the Pebble Beach Systems product will more than meet Zee's needs and that this project will lead to a long lasting relationship."
