Belo's KMOV to Automate HD News Production with Grass Valley Ignite System

Looking to decrease operating costs and streamline production, KMOV, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis, MO., is now on air with an Ignite^™ high-definition scalable automated production system from Grass Valley^™ for its daily local newscasts, produced in the 1080i HD format.

"We're very attracted to the cost savings that we will realize as a result of installing the Ignite system," said Walt Nichol, Director of Technology at KMOV. "We're the first station to go with control room automation among Belo's television stations, and based on our success so far, I'm sure we won't be the last."

Belo Corporation, KMOV's parent company, is using the Ignite system in the St. Louis market as a proof of concept for its 17 other stations, with a combined reach of 14 percent of U.S. television households.

The station already had a Grass Valley Kayak HD video production switcher. This was paired with an existing HD robotic camera system, HD servers, HD news editing, and HD graphics platform. The Ignite system will also be used manually to produce a one-hour local morning show called "Great Day St. Louis," which airs every weekday.

"Basically, we're doing everything we did manually before we got the Ignite and the newscasts are running smoothly on-air," added Nichol. "We do very complex newscasts, so we're pushing the system to its limits and it is responding very well."