Snell & Wilcox has signed a multiyear agreement with Raycom Media to become the exclusive supplier of production switchers and modular infrastructure to the entire 36 television station group. For Snell & Wilcox, which has sold switchers to network O&O stations before, it's the first major sale to an independent station group.
The agreement covers Kahuna — the Snell & Wilcox SD/HD multiformat production switcher — and IQ Modular — the company's line of infrastructure products. Raycom stations will use Kahuna to produce local news broadcasts as well as other local programming.
Raycom, an employee-owned company employing 3500 people in 17 states, said it chose Kahuna because it allows stations to mix and match various definition sources as the broadcast industry transitions to HD.
Kahuna offers simultaneous SD and HD operations in the same mainframe with the same control panel. It enables the seamless integration of SD sources into HD productions without outboard upconversion.
With more than 300 available modules, Snell & Wilcox's IQ Modular broadcast infrastructure system features built-in RollCall control and monitoring technology, dual-redundant power supplies and scalability from the smallest to the largest broadcast operation.
For more information, visit www.snellwilcox.com.
