Broadcast integrator and supplier Magna Systems and Engineering has announced that the Australian WIN Television network has made a major purchase of the Pebble Beach Neptune automation system to be installed at WIN transmission centres in Wollongong, New South Wales; Rockhampton, Queensland; and Ballarat, Victoria.
Headquartered in Wollongong, WIN is the largest privately owned regional television network worldwide reaching more than 8.5 million viewers across six states and the Australian Capital Territory via its 24 wholly owned-and-operated television stations. With 20 production centres across Australia, its transmissions span the largest geographical area in the world stretching from Cairns, Queensland, to Hobart, Tasmania; across South Australia; and all of Western Australia from Albany to Kununurra.
WIN TV Director of Network Broadcast Engineering John Smithers explained the decision to buy Pebble Beach automation, "Around the middle of 2006 we made the decision to upgrade our automation systems in Wollongong, Rockhampton and Ballarat with the emphasis being on increased functionality, control and having a common system in all three sites. As Magna Systems had previously supplied our automation solutions we began discussions with them about what solution would best suit our new requirements. As WIN is a distributed network that is growing, we wanted a system that included distributed architecture and Magna presented us Pebble Beach's Neptune which had that and more."
