US Cable Network HBO Selects Thomson For Major New HD Initiative

Thomson to provide Grass Valley HD servers, cameras and routers in $5 million order



Paris (France), Nevada City (California),– To help distribute all of its 26 channels in pristine high-definition (HD) television resolution, HBO (Home Box Office) has ordered Grass Valley HD cameras, servers, and routers from Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS). The Grass Valley cameras will be used in HBO’s digital production studios in New York City, and the servers and routers will be installed in HBO’s main playout facility in Hauppauge, NY.



“For HBO, moving to the automated K2-based distribution systems from Thomson has resulted in the development of an electronic workflow that has increased efficiencies and allowed us to put safeguards in place to ensure the reliable distribution or our programs,” said Charles Cataldo, Senior Vice President, Broadcast Operations and Engineering, HBO Communications. “We wouldn’t trust our playout operations to anything but Grass Valley server technology because we’ve grown comfortable with the mission-critical 24/7 performance they provide. Moving to the new K2 server systems is the next logical step in our evolution to high definition.”



“Thomson has a long-standing relationship with HBO that has been very fruitful for both companies,” said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of Thomson’s Broadcast & Professional Solutions business unit. “HBO has been instrumental in the continuing development of Grass Valley K2 server system from Thomson and we’re pleased to continue to support HBO and help it achieve its goals as it moves aggressively into the distribution of HD programming to meet new consumer demand.”



HBO has already begun its comprehensive migration from Grass Valley Profile XP Media Platform servers to the latest-generation K2 Media Server and Media Client systems from Thomson and expects to complete the process by the end of the year.