Harris Broadcast has announced that Cordillera Communications will use the Harris Broadcast Versio integrated channel playout system for the launch and operation of a second over the air channel, KVOA-DT, in the Tuscon, Ariz. market.
The system is being deployed for the channel launch in late April.
Versio's system includes graphics, master control and server capabilities combined with the customer's choice of an automation system, which can come from a third party vendor or from Harris Broadcast.
That flexibility played a key role in the decision to deploy Versio, explained Cordillera Communications VP of engineering and operations Andrew Suk in a statement. Suk also cited its compact, all-in-one design.
"In the past, nobody had a comprehensive solution that was truly channel-in-a-box; it was a series of boxes," Suk said. "Versio is the first channel-in-a-box solution I have seen where everything is truly there, while giving us the flexibility to connect existing systems."
He added that "overall Versio saves us more dollars compared to our previous secondary channel launches."
For the launch, KVOA will connect Versio to its existing Harris Broadcast ADC automated content management and distribution system, which will simplify the automated distribution of primary and secondary channels to regional cable systems.
The station will also use a mix of on-board server capabilities and external Harris Broadcast Nexio servers and storage systems.
Previously, Cordillera had installed the Harris Broadcast Selenio media convergence platform at KVOA and other Cordillera television stations to help the company move to a more efficient over-the-air signal encoding platform.
That allowed several Cordillera stations to use Selenio to encode two HD channels over the air in a way that improved signal quality and bandwidth efficiency.
Separately, Harris also announced that Gray Television has standardized on Selenio as part of an effort to achieve new efficiencies in its stations' infrastructure and transmission operations.
Currently, Gray Television has installed Selenio at ten of its stations, with more deployments expected in 2014.
