OmniBus automation to streamline 24-hour news delivery

OmniBus Systems, the award-winning provider of comprehensive automation and asset management solutions to the broadcast industry, has been chosen by Bay News 9 of Tampa, Florida, a 24-hour news channel, to provide automation systems for the channel’s new broadcast facility, currently under construction in nearby St. Petersburg.
The OmniBus system will integrate with other leading broadcast technologies to enable rapid production and improved delivery of news, weather, and sports from around West Central Florida.
Bay News 9 will be using OmniBus automation along with a Pinnacle Systems Vortex video server, AP’s ENPS newsroom production system, and VertigoXmedia graphics automation for round-the-clock local news coverage presented in the familiar 'wheel' format. The station will air a combination of live and recorded segments to provide continuous, up-to-the-minute newscasts for viewers. An identical control room configuration will be installed at the new facility to support Bay News 9 En Español, a 24-hour news service offering local news coverage in Spanish.
The OmniBus system will serve as the facility’s central interface for controlling devices, getting feedback, and relaying playout messages. The OmniBus Desktop Control (ODC) interface will give Bay News 9 reporters and other staff the ability to search and browse archived material, create graphics, put production elements for studio events into the script, and control a variety of other functions from a single desktop. An ENPS system located at the station’s main facility and connected via a dedicated WAN will allow OmniBus applications to be used at remote bureaus in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, and Polk counties.
“In designing our new broadcast facility, we looked for an automation system that had proved itself in a 24-hour local news environment - there aren’t many automation vendors that can stake that claim,” said Bay News 9 Director of Operations Steve Weitekamp. “OmniBus automation is a proven system that will allow us to maintain our existing functionality with personnel and news production. It simplifies production processes and gives us the ability to pause recorded events and switch to live programming and back as necessary. This functionality is essential because we must be able to make last-minute changes as breaking news dictates.”
(GB)