dB Broadcast commits to having Jordan's new independent TV station on-air by March 2006

dB Broadcast, one of the UK's leading independent systems integrators, recently won a multi-million pound contract to build a totally new TV station in Amman, Jordan, and has committed itself to an ambitious timetable.
Given the scale of the project, and an on-air date during the first quarter of 2006, this is a major undertaking and dB will be assisted by Electronic Media Systems (EMS), the London-based independent systems integrator. The two companies are said to have a close working relationship, and both have recent experience of working on projects in Jordan.
The station will initially consist of one channel, on-air 24x7, broadcasting a mixture of entertainment and regional and international news. Part of the highly successful Al Ghad newspaper/magazine publishing group, this will be the first independent TV channel in Jordan.
Technical facilities will include three studios. Studio one will be 750 square metres, with 300 removable seats, and equipped with six cameras. It will be used for general entertainment programmes.
Studio two will be 500 square metres in size and also equipped with six cameras. Used for general programming, it will have similar facilities to studio one and will feature a combined production control/lighting gallery, with separate sound control room.
A third, 250 square metre four-camera news studio, will also be used for weather reports, interviews and panel discussion programmes. It will have a single, integrated control room and voice-over booth.
The newsroom will have a capacity for 30 journalists, with a networked computer system for desktop viewing and editing.
Tom Swan, dB's director of sales and marketing, said: "Committing to such tight timescales requires a substantial pool of resources and it is anticipated that we will require 12 engineers and 15 wiring technicians. dB has 40 full-time staff, making it the biggest integrator in the UK, but it is company policy not to use more than 50% on a single project. However, the combined staff of dB and EMS is nearly 50. Therefore this policy will not be broken and the company will still be able to carry out other major projects simultaneously."
Swan concluded: "Given the size of the Jordan project and the tight deadlines, off-site pre-fabrication and testing is essential. With our purpose-built 16,000 square foot facility in Cambridgeshire, we have successfully pre-fabricated numerous major projects. This enables us to carry out comprehensive testing while building work is still under construction. Recent examples include the BBC's facilities in Lisbon for coverage of the Euro 2004 football competition, the glass-fronted MTV studio in London's Leicester Square and QVC's control rooms."
(GB)