Digiturk Selects Harris Corporation for Major Transmission Facility Upgrade in Istanbul

Digiturk Selects Harris Corporation for Major Transmission Facility Upgrade in Istanbul

Leading Turkish broadcaster represents first EMEA installation to highlight the integrated high-definition product line-up from Harris

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) today announced that Digiturk, the largest digital satellite television provider in Turkey, has placed a multimillion dollar order for Harris broadcast equipment spanning its HD product portfolio, including the Harris(R) H-Class(TM) D-Series(TM) Playout Automation application; multiple NEXIO(TM) XS server platforms; a new Platinum(TM) router; IconLogo(TM) modular branding solution; Inscriber (R) G3(TM), an HD/SD-selectable character generator (CG) system; and Videotek(R) TVM-950 test and measurement instruments. This new equipment will be used to upgrade an existing installation, which will be supported by the Harris distributor in Turkey, Erdemir Engineering.

Headquartered in Istanbul and launched in March 2000, Digiturk now has 154 channels, consisting of pay-per-view TV services and radio services as well as interactive channels. With more than 1.3 million subscribers, Digiturk is the only authorised broadcaster of the national football league in Turkey. The company transmits its channels via eight transponders on EutelsatW3A and one transponder on Turksat satellite.

"Key to our decision to buy the H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application is that it supports the existing workflow at Digiturk. The system is very adaptable and enables us to interface to different business models," said Mr. Emre Uysal, Head of Operation, Digiturk. "The NEXIO XS servers are extremely flexible and allow us to migrate between SD and HD for our playout requirements without the need for additional devices. HD and SD material can be upconverted or downconverted, and aspect ratios easily adjusted to address the various studio requirements.

"We have complete confidence in Harris, as they have provided an integrated solution at Digiturk that enables the automation, the servers, the routers, cart machines, VTRs, branding and graphics systems as well as the subtitling and archive libraries to work together easily and effectively," Uysal continued.

Digiturk uses the H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application to control more than 30 NEXIO XS server ports spread over two server domains, where partial mirroring provides greater redundancy for the premium channels. High-speed network connectivity delivers 1.2 Gbps bandwidth between the digital archive and NEXIO XS server domains. NEXIO XS servers are configurable between HD and SD formats and include up, down and cross conversion. The H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application and NEXIO XS servers offer simplified future channel expansion.

The H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application will interface to the existing traffic and scheduling system to import channel schedules and media data as well as send "as run" logs to the database. This tight interface will constantly update all new ingest data on the automation database to highlight any upcoming problems for scheduled material.

The H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application will control 10 playout channels, the NEXIO XS servers, the Platinum router, Sony(R) FlexiCarts(TM), Sony(R) HDCAM and Digital Betacam(TM) VTRs, the IconLogo(TM) branding tool, G-3(TM) CG system and the Screen Subtitling DVB subtitling system. The H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application also will control a Front Porch Digital DIVArchive(TM) system that is controlling a StorageTek(TM) library.

Said Dave Dougall, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales for the Harris Broadcast Communications Division, "This is a terrific win for Harris, as it is the first installation in the EMEA region where our expanded product offering has been deployed, and it clearly demonstrates that our strategy of providing a total solution mirrors the market demand. It also has enabled Digiturk to achieve its business objective of working with one supplier to provide a range of integrated products. Our products are proven to be robust and reliable in mission-critical applications, and this transmission centre win underscores the broad market acceptance of our portfolio."

Designed as a highly reliable automation solution for direct-to-home (DTH) satellite delivery services platforms, cable MSOs, and global and national commercial TV networks, the H-Class D-Series Playout Automation application emphasizes workflow efficiency. With complete scalability and redundancy, the H-Class(TM) D-Series(TM) allows stations to manage complex, multi-channel operations while employing a small number of staff. In addition, D-Series(TM) customers can reconfigure and upgrade their systems while remaining "on air."

About Harris Corporation

Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. With headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual sales of $3.5 billion and nearly 14,000 employees -- including more than 6,000 -- dedicated to the development of best-in-class assured communications(TM) products, systems, software and services. The company's operating divisions serve markets for government communications, RF communications, broadcast communications, and microwave communications. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.

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Source: Harris Corporation

CONTACT: Laura Whitaker, Vice President, Marketing Communications,
Harris Broadcast Communications Division, Laura.Whitaker@harris.com,
+1-408-782-1201; Meriam Khan, MKM Marketing Communications,
Meriam@mkm-marcomms.com, +44 (0) 20 8141 4703

Web site: http://www.harris.com/
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