THE BAHAMAS EXPERIENCE

WHY MOVE TO DIGITAL? We basically had little choice. Our options were move to digital or be left behind the digital divide. Our major competitor, a local cable company was digital. Secondly our audiences demanded better quality audio and video Our increasingly obsolete analog TV equipment was breaking down faster than we could find parts to make costly repairs And we needed to stay in business

OBSTACLES The first obstacle was lack of a ready source of capital funding necessary for the project estimated at $5 - $7M US. Secondly we realized that while we needed considerable capital there was little chance of realizing a significant return on investment. Such a move required a cultural adjustment, significant staff retraining in all areas, news, production, programming, engineering etc., in the new technology and a new digital workflow. And the upgrade had to be accomplished without interruption to ZNS normal daily TV news, productions and programming schedules.

To achieve our objectives required a complete redesign of the technical and operational spaces. Plus a professional training program to ensure that staff’s transition to new technologies and procedures – most notably the drastic change to a tapeless, file-based workflow environment- would be as pain free as possible. THE CHALLENGES

OUR OBJECTIVES Become competitive in news generation, local program production and recapture audience share. Reduce skyrocketing operational and maintenance costs necessitated by high cost of obsolete analog equipment and reduce acquisition of expensive tapes to archive material. Creation of a more efficient, less manpower dependent, workflow.

Installation of the new system had to be designed and installed without interrupting ZNS TV-13 normal on air presentations. It also had to be robust and reliable.

FINDING THE RIGHT INTEGRATOR We knew we needed to find an integrator who would understand our requirements and would work with us to achieve a successful on budget implementation. Unified Video Technologies (UNIV) was selected to design and install our HD TV system. They later merged with Kit Digital Inc. and have since separated again.

THE WORK Unified Video Technologies collaborated with ZNS staff to design and implement a comprehensive software based media workflow solution to:

Update all broadcast infrastructure, Build a new digital technical core, Construct production control rooms, Construct Master Control centre, Design final cut long-form editing suites, Install a digital archival system Install news production & edit suites Assist with the design and construction of news set. Provide air graphics to enhance the viewing experience

THE PROCESS The Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas, a Government Corporation secured the necessary funding from the government. However a few months after the project commenced so did the challenges; The country became embroiled in a general election held May 2, Imagine the lead up to the elections beginning in January of 2012; the mass disruptions of your television facilities, occasioned by the digital installation process at a time when every major political party is clamoring for television airtime, exposure and live mass political rallies etc.; Staff was literally working around the clock, which negated the training opportunities during this period and expanded the digital installation time frame and the costs.

This is how our analog News Set looked

ZNS news analog news set Uninspiring

THE SWITCH OVER We completed the project and launched Phase One of the digital upgrade December 28, 2012, becoming the first HD TV station in The Bahamas. The transition from analog to digital came 35 years after the station first started broadcasting in an analog format. While many regional broadcasters prefer a gradual transition model of moving to SD digital, which offers a less aggressive learning curve, and a natural progression to HD, we saw benefits in by passing SD in favour of a direct-to-HD transition. I’m happy to say that BCB’s transition from analog directly to HD, produced instant public satisfaction in terms of production quality. ZNS also became the first Bahamian TV station to broadcast in HD.

MODERN NEWS SET The entire new system was installed parallel to the old infrastructure A modern news set with Sony HCX-100 cameras, an 80 inch Panasonic video wall and an energy efficient Lite Panel LED lighting grid produced the following transformation

ZNS HD NEWS SET Modern news set uses an energy efficient LED lite panels that are 85% more energy efficient

BCB currently provides its viewers with both SD and HD signals through the local Cable Company. The move to digital was mandated by the competitive digital broadcast environment locally and internationally. The decision to transition directly from analog to HD was aggressive but in our view necessary as the station was losing its competitive edge with the new Cable Company which offered viewers 40 SD channels.

MC BEFORE AND AFTER

ZNS going straight to HD proved a winning strategy. Significant increase in on-air audio and video quality Production efficiency Decreased costs Most importantly viewers are beginning to return to ZNS. We are slowly winning back our market share.

THANK YOU