BT Sport Installs New HD Workflow from Avid and Timeline Television

Burlington, MA, 2013/08/12

British broadcaster gains efficiencies, seamless collaborative workflow with end-to-end solution for tapeless asset management, storage, audio and video editing

Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that, in conjunction with Timeline Television, BT Sport, British Telecom's new group of sports television channels, has implemented an Avid end-to-end tapeless asset management, storage, and audio and video editing workflow to efficiently create, access and distribute the hundreds of hours of sports content that will pass through the new facility each year.

The channels, which include BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2 and ESPN, are based in iCITY, London's new digital quarter in the former International Broadcast Centre (IBC) at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,London. BT Sport went live with the new workflow on August 1, 2013.

BT Sport is one of the anchor tenants at iCITY and has refitted part of the IBC building with three TV studios, a control centre, 20 editing suites, and an audience holding area. The Avid integrated workflow at iCITY comprises: Avid Interplay® Production asset management, which will be the central hub for all BT Sport's media; Avid ISIS 7000 shared storage, and 25 Avid Symphony® Nitris® DX editing stations to handle the live feeds, pre-recorded footage and studio-based content. A dubbing suite equipped with Avid Pro Tools® | HDX and a 32-fader ICON D-Control™ mixing console has also been installed.

Timeline Television, which was supplied the Avid solutions through Avid Elite Partner Jigsaw24, provided a complete managed service to BT Sport, which includes running and management of the end-to-end sports production workflow. Timeline Television engineers and craft editors will operate the workflow onsite alongside BT Sport staff.

Tom Cordiner, vice president international sales at Avid, said: "Avid solutions are deployed by broadcasters around the globe who require total transparency across their media assets in order to efficiently access, distribute and monetize them in today's content-hungry competitive media landscape. We're delighted that BT Sport has chosen our solutions to be at the heart of its new facility to take advantage of these benefits. During the London 2012 games, broadcasters based in the IBC proved just how robust Avid solutions are at handling hundreds of hours of live media in a 24/7 fast turnaround environment, so it's fitting that BT Sport has taken up residency there."

Jamie Hindhaugh, chief operating officer of BT Sport, said: "At the core of our new studios build is a spirit of collaboration that brings the best of industry – and sometimes competitors – working together toward a common aim: to make the BT Sport studios a world-class hub for the best ideas and talent. We believe talent attracts talent and our partnership has helped us to foster that mind-set."