News and Updates

Broadcast Networks upgrades SBP OB vehicle to HD

Winchester, UK – June 2006     Broadcast Networks has been awarded a contract by Rome-based SBP to refurbish an existing 20-camera Outside Broadcast vehicle (OB6) and upgrade it to full HD production capability. The OB trailer, built by A. Smith Gt. Bentley, has been in constant operation throughout Europe since it came into service three years ago.

The contract is to be completed at the end of July 2006 ready for an immediate roll-out in Italy in August. Broadcast Networks was contracted earlier this year to project manage the build of a brand new 24-camera OB vehicle (OB20) for SBP through Sony Broadcast (Italy).

As a leading European broadcast services company with offices in Rome, Milan, and Turin, SBP is proud to be leading the HD revolution in Italy.

This latest contract involves the refurbishment, design, build and commissioning of SBP’s existing OB6 expanding side trailer based on a design by SBP’s Technical Director Sergio Nuvoloni. Major new equipment is being installed including 20 Grass Valley 6000 HD cameras, a Snell and Willcox Kahuna HD vision mixer, four Sony HDCAM High Definition VTR’s, four HD LSM EVS 6.6.6. XT(2) and a central Grass Valley HD router. A tight deadline has been set for the refurbishment, which also includes the installation of a brand new Studer Vista 8 audio mixer, now an industry standard for live OB productions.

Tom Haye, Director of Broadcast Networks, says: “We’re very thrilled to be working on this exciting addition to the SBP fleet. The project is based on a very tight timescale and we are putting in maximum effort to realise the completion date of the end of July. Our project team is carrying out this refurbishment at the SBP OB facility in Rome, which means we can do the work in a very short timescale and get the vehicle back on the road as quickly as possible.”

Antonio Balsamo, SBP president and CEO, adds: “We worked very closely with the BN systems integration team during the build of our brand new 24-camera OB20 at Sony in the UK earlier this year, and their expertise and build quality was second to none. We chose to work with Broadcast Networks again as we are confident that once the team completes this project, the vehicle will be ready to roll out on HD productions immediately. The team has a lot of experience in HD and it is because of this experience that we know we have the right team on board to ensure a timely completion.”