UTV 'Breaking News' Faster

News on NI's commercial TV station will now be getting to viewers faster than before.

Thanks to new equipment, UTV has radically pushed back its deadlines so that breaking news stories are "well within reach right up to on-air time".

The Ormeau Road broadcaster has become one of the first television companies in the UK to introduce Panasonic P2 cameras in conjunction with its new tapeless editing system from Avid.

This represents a significant investment by UTV in the very latest broadcasting technology which has transformed the efficiency and speed of UTV's cross-platform news production.

This removes any duplication and time consuming processes creating a workflow that maximises speed to air for breaking news stories across all platforms.

Sean Ferrin, Head of Resources, UTV, said: "The new Avid tapeless world has transformed the efficiency of the workflows within the UTV newsroom for television, radio and online.

"We now have the ability to ingest, view and edit live external feeds seconds after recordings begin and the quality of this product has enabled sophisticated packages to develop.

"We also invested in Panasonic P2 camcorder allowing news material to be ingested at up to twenty times faster than real time.

"This new system has radically changed the timeline for our staff who are working to tight deadlines."

Michael Wilson, Managing Director at UTV Television, said: "This is a significant investment from UTV which reinforces our commitment to local news, the most watched news in Northern Ireland.

"The new newscutters give us much higher quality and sophistication in our packages and the P2 cards mean loading of material is instantaneous which considerably speeds up the editing process."

Sean Ferrin added: "Technical support and training for our staff were key to these changes taking place successfully.

"The new system means there have also been changes to how footage is archived. For many news stories from shooting to transmission there are no tapes involved now and therefore a protected and secure media management tool for archive material has also been introduced."

(KMcA/BMcc)