Macquarie Southern Cross Media’s (MSCM) transmission facility in Canberra has expanded its existing Harris D-Series playout automation system to support the launch of the ONE HD channel to Network Ten-affiliated stations on the Australian eastern seaboard. The 24-hour HD sports channel, which began broadcasting on MSCM’s regional stations July 2, is part of a larger expansion at Southern Cross, which includes both SD and HD channels for the primary markets. The expansion of the D-Series software at the Southern Cross facility was implemented while its channels remained on air.
The original D-Series automation system was first installed at Southern Cross more than seven years ago to handle the playout of 20 channels and has been continually expanded as the business has grown. With this latest project, the D-Series system now controls more than 80 channels and a variety of HD devices from digital servers to routers and branding products. It also includes an interface to third-party asset management systems.
The D-Series provides real-time ingest and playout automation capabilities for multichannel operations. The system manages a wide variety of playout devices to efficiently automate the delivery of content to multiple platforms and increase productivity. With D-Series playout automation, broadcasters are able to command a single architecture that optimizes efficiency, simplifies facility reconfiguration and can grow to manage more than 1000 channels.
