46 TVBEurope The Workflow Icelandic excitement
The island’s largest media group, 365 Media, is upgrading to HD. Philip Stevens looks at the systems choices it has recently made
BASED IN the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, 365 Media operates eight television channels, a number of radio stations and the country’s largest newspaper. The television channels reach about 99% of the population and are available via conventional terrestrial broadcast and over IPTV (ADSL). In addition, the group has recently introduced an offering of OTT available via tablet devices.
“The TV side of the business has been in operation since 1986, when it started with what is today the premium channel, Channel 2,” explains Jón Ívarsson, senior broadcast engineer at 365 Media. “Stöð 2 (Channel 2) is a subscription channel to which about half the population typically subscribes. The channel offers premium programmes, both Icelandic and foreign, for all age groups. However, special emphasis is put on ambitious Icelandic programming and Stöð 2 has been leading in the field of scripted programmes and entertainment.” Ívarsson reveals that the news
programmes on Stöð 2 typically get the highest ratings of all TV news programmes in the age group 12-54. Other channels in 365’s line-up include Stöð 2 Gull (Gold), Stöð 2 Krakkar, (Guys), Stöð 2 Bíó (movies), Stöð 2 Sport and Stöð 2 Sport 2. These sports channels
broadcast major events, both Icelandic and foreign, the most popular of which are the English Premier League, the
Champions League, the Europa League, FA Cup, Spanish football, Formula 1, NBA, along with the Icelandic Premier League and cup. The market share of the 365 Media TV channels is, on average, about 50% in the age group 12-54. Ívarsson adds, “All subscribers to Stöð 2 have access to Netfrelsi (
www.netfrelsi.is), where you can access all new programmes on Stöð 2 up to four weeks back, plus movies, programmes, documentaries and children’s programmes from the history of Stöð 2.”
Studio in production: Grass Valley cameras are used throughout
All studios and galleries will be upgraded to HD during 2014
model selected was the LDX Flex system,” explains Said Bacho, GV’s senior vice president of EMEA. “These cameras include upgradeable software and include the in- house developed Xensium-FT CMOS imager. These imagers are based on a 5T design of the pixels that permits the isolation of the exposure period from the transfer period. “This feature means the Xensium-FT imager provides
“We have used Ross previously and this unit had the right number of inputs and outputs — and, importantly, at the right price”
Moving into HD Plans call for the switch to HD to be completed by 2014. As part of the upgrade to high definition, 365 Media has just introduced its first HD truck on the island. “The first booking for the new truck was towards the end of August,” reports Ívarsson. “Measuring 7m in length, it has been built on the chassis of an extended version of a Mercedes Benz Sprinter. The interior was constructed locally.” Much of the equipment for
The first HD OB truck to be used in Iceland was built by Grass Valley’s partner, Exton, in a Mercedes Benz Sprinter
the vehicle has come from Grass Valley through its local partner, Exton. “The OB unit can handle up to eight cameras, and the
needed. With the exception of the power and triax/fibre connection, all connectivity remains in place within the cradle. The cradle stores the previous XCU settings and automatically re-configures the incoming unit to the requirements of the production environment. Grass Valley K2 media
servers are installed in the new truck, with a K2 Dyno dynamic replay controller that includes an intuitive touchscreen interface. The system is designed to integrate with third-party applications to provide efficient overall replay management. When it came to selecting a
Jón Ívarsson, 365 Media
what is called global shutter behaviour, similar to all CCDs. However, the Xensium-FT imagers do not have any of the limitations of earlier CMOS imagers with a rolling shutter, such as sensitivity to fast camera movements with short exposure time, and sensitivity to short light flashes.”
Also included in the GV equipment list is the XCU WorldCam eXchangeable Camera Control Unit. Designed around a unique cradle concept, the pre-mounted and pre-wired unit provides an easy ‘slide-in’ and ‘slide-out’ of the XCU, as
vision switcher, 365 media opted for a Ross Carbonite. “We have used Ross previously and this unit had the right number of inputs and outputs — and, importantly, at the right price,” explains Ívarsson. “The audio equipment is partially reused from a recently decommissioned site. The mixer is a Yamaha DM 1000, while the auxiliary equipment is a mix of Sonifex and Focusrite. Although for the most part these were units that we already owned, it would have been a likely choice for new equipment anyway.” He goes on to say that the
group has standardised on ClearCom equipment for its comms requirements, and a 36 channel Pico Matrix has been
www.tvbeurope.com October 2013
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