Qvest and Nine Networks collaborate to boost Melbourne’s Channel 9
Qvest and Nine Networks, Australia’s largest media company, have expanded their collaboration and successfully upgraded the Channel 9 station in Melbourne.
In addition to the news, sports and post-production environment, the playout infrastructure was also completely renewed. The sender network now benefits from aligned workflows, increased security and an agile production environment to respond quickly to current events and needs, including content production for multiple touchpoints.
Building on the successful remodelling of news, sports, and post-production at Channel 9’s Sydney headquarters, Nine Network Australia extended its collaboration with Qvest as their trusted advisor and master systems integrator to the network’s metro station in Melbourne. As part of this project, Qvest was responsible for the design, commissioning and ongoing support for the renewal of the news, sports and post-production facilities. The project also included training all newsroom and production staff on the new tools and workflows.
“With Qvest we have found the ideal long-term partner who brings international expertise and supplier knowledge to the Australian market. The project in Melbourne was a successful continuation of this partnership, and it was clear that Qvest would handle the planning, procurement, commissioning and support of the entire Nine production system at both sites to our full satisfaction,” said Geoff Sparke, director of broadcast operations at Channel 9.
A particular focus of this project was to align workflows and technology between Nine Network’s two largest sites, in Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne is now able to be used as a disaster recovery facility, and it is possible to smoothly switch operations over from one to the other site due to aligned tools, workflows and processes.
The defined and implemented technologies and workflows aim to meet all the security criteria of a major broadcaster while providing an agile production environment for news and sports to respond quickly to current events and needs, including content production for multiple linear and digital touchpoints. The project’s design choices were guided by two key priorities: ensuring a robust solution capable of reliably delivering all major events for which Nine Network serves as the main broadcaster for Australia, such as the Australian Open and the Olympic Games, while also selecting the most streamlined and cost-effective facilities and tools.
As with the previous upgrade of Channel 9´s headquarters in Sydney, the current adjustment was implemented with the support of vendor partners Avid, EVS and Woody.
“Modern technology and agile, efficient processes are essential for media companies to thrive in today’s landscape,” concluded Thomas Grandoch, principal at Qvest in ANZ. “We’re proud to continue driving the technological innovation at Channel 9 – it’s a strong vote of confidence.”
