Planet TV goes on air with Quantel technology

New Slovenian TV channel powered by operator Telekom Slovenije selects Enterprise sQ for its speed, open integration and ease of use.

TSmedia, the media arm of Slovenian telecommunications provider Telekom Slovenije, has purchased a Quantel Enterprise sQ system for the production of news and sports programs on Planet TV, the new national commercial television channel launched by TSmedia this month.

The launch of Planet TV marks Telekom Slovenije's first foray into television.

Bine Lebenicnik, Head of Development at TSmedia, commented: "Media platforms are increasingly important in the telecommunications business today, and our expansion into broadcasting gives us a new market area for long-term development. TSmedia already has one of the largest news web portals in Slovenia, and entering television is a natural evolution for our brand."

Quality will be at the heart of the Planet TV brand. “Our first and last thought is for our viewers,” Lebenicnik continued. "We will respect the wishes of our viewers and we are sure that this distinguishes us from our competitors. Our market research showed that Slovenian viewers want quality, timely, well-informed documentaries, as well as all news in high definition. These requirements have helped us define the specification of our news and sports production system taking into account speed and quality, without bottlenecks. Ease of use for journalists and editors, and integration with the network in newsroom and automation systems have been others key elements. All these considerations led us to select Quantel,” said the manager.

The Planet TV system comprises 300 hours in HD, with a dozen sQ Cut and sQ Edit stations and two Qube editors. Three sQ Load applications handle the entire XDCAM/P2 file ingest flow while sQ Record handles the sources. Two sQ Play are in charge of the playout.

The system is fully integrated with the Octopus editing system on Planet TV, running the Quantel sQ Cut editors within the graphical interface of this system. Users also have instant access to media files stored in Front Porch's DIVArchive through the Quantel sQ Fileflow app.

Planet TV initially has a team of 25 journalists and editors. "Quantel is very easy to learn, intuitive and efficient. Almost all the editors came from a different background and yet we have not found any problems getting used to the Quantel interface," said Maj Jukic, head of graphics editing. “The feature, together with FrameMagic, is editing and publishing from any position, which provides a totally flexible workflow,” he added.

"Quantel is everything we expected and we are very happy with our decision. We have installed a system that is working as planned, and journalists, editors and operators are very excited about the platform, which has allowed them to spend more time working on stories in the field. We know with complete peace of mind that with Quantel we have selected the right platform for Planet TV for today and a future with rapid evolution in the media," Lebenicnik concluded.