Digital Interactive TV Group (DITG), a TV program producer and technical services supplier based in London, has ordered its second Pharos Playtime presentation playout system. DITG acquired its first Pharos Playtime, plus a Pharos Mediator media library management system when it took over The Money Channel's premises and facilities in 2001. DITG soon ordered expansions to the Playtime installation, expanding from a dual-channel to a four-channel system.
The new system expands DITG’s transmission playout capacity to six channels of Playtime, all accessing the original Mediator archive database. Four Pharos workstations have been installed, with playlists, offline scheduling, databases, hardware panels and Pharos Control Platform (PCP) interfaces.
DITG produces its own programs and provides technical resources plus a wide range of transmission services for third-party broadcasters.
Traditional broadcast control systems rely on a playlist of video events as their main timing reference. Pharos Playtime uses a package with independent tracks for each event sequence. Each track is displayed on the Playtime control screen as a separate timeline, typically representing main video, backup video, discrete voice-over languages, GPIs, mix/effects, logos and subtitles.
Playtime enables individual schedulers to create exciting presentation effects that could otherwise only be produced using extensive post-production facilities, according to the company.
Pharos Communications’ channels include Avago (the world's first live interactive TV gaming channel), launched in July 2002. DITG’s gaming company The Television Gaming Group (TGG), operates Avago as well as iSports TV and provides interactive TV gaming and betting services for many other operators. It recently signed an agreement to broadcast a branded interactive television channel for William Hill on the Sky digital platform starting in the fall.
For more information visit www.pharos-comms.com.
