The client’s challenge
SMMA is the government entity responsible for delivering local radio and TV services to the South Nations, Nationalities & People’s Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia – a population of approximately 16 million people. South TV, the regional TV broadcaster, was established to support and develop a strong regional identity, providing news and entertainment with a focus on local cultures. However, the broadcaster’s existing analogue TV services offered viewers only a few hours of local programming per day, with production tape-based and content transmitted from Addis Ababa. In 2011 the decision was made to strengthen South TV’s offering with the launch of free-to-air HD services. The objective was to deliver 18 hours of daily local news and entertainment, transmitted in both SD and HD from new playout facilities in the region’s capital Hawassa.
The PBS Solution
Following an international tender, SMMA awarded PBS the contract to design, supply and build HD news production and transmission facilities for South TV in Hawassa. Our experienced team of solution architects and systems engineers designed and deployed a multi vendor solution supporting a mix of SD and HD operations with a complete fi le-based workflow from field acquisition, news editing, production, automated playout, storage and archive.
From requirements capture and workflow definition, system design, equipment and technical furniture specifi cation and procurement, system pre-fabrication at our facility in Sharjah UAE, on-site installation to commissioning and training, PBS provided end-to-end project management of the solution.