{"id":16157,"date":"2011-12-14T09:47:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T14:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=16157"},"modified":"2011-12-14T09:50:59","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T14:50:59","slug":"multi-million-dollar-digital-upgrade-for-zns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2011\/12\/multi-million-dollar-digital-upgrade-for-zns","title":{"rendered":"Multi-Million Dollar Digital Upgrade For ZNS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
ZNS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASSAU, The Bahamas — The multi-million dollar digital upgrade of outdated analog television facilities at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (ZNS) will not only improve the quality of on-air presentations, but also reduce operational and maintenance costs, and increase ZNS\u2019 capacity to produce quality, local programmes, Minister of National Security the Hon. O.A.T. \u201cTommy\u201d Turnquest said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Turnquest said the digitalisation process will also enhance ZNS\u2019 brand identity; provide a significant improvement in productivity, workflow, creativity; and enhance professionalism.<\/p>\n

He said the signing also \u201cadvances\u201d the Government\u2019s stated objective \u201cof causing ZNS to become a producer of local programming, using the works of Bahamian writers, directors, artists, musicians, producers, and technicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas Tuesday signed a multi-million dollar deal with Kit Digital Inc., a publicly traded digital integration company, with significant expertise and assets, for the upgrade of ZNS\u2019 television facilities from analog to high definition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis marks a significant step in ZNS\u2019 development,\u201d Mr. Turnquest said.<\/p>\n

Kit Digital has been awarded a $2.4 million ($2,447,081.51) contract to design, engineer and install ZNS\u2019 digital television facility in New Providence. An additional $2.6 million ($2,641,850) has been approved for the acquisition of a mobile TV vehicle, the digital upgrade of ZNS television facilities in Grand Bahama, supplemental works necessary to accommodate the upgrade, and staff training.<\/p>\n

The money is part of a $5million allocation the Government of The Bahamas has approved for the overall upgrade of ZNS television facilities from analog to digital.<\/p>\n

The last upgrade of ZNS television equipment occurred in 1997 when in excess of $4 million was spent.<\/p>\n

Mr. Turnquest, who has oversight of public broadcasting, said the agreement to upgrade ZNS television facilities satisfies the FNM\u2019s 2007 Manifesto commitment to transform ZNS into a 21st century multimedia Corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cZNS will now be able to operate with state-of-the-art digital television equipment to provide (its) national audience with video and audio capabilities more in keeping with current television industry standards,\u201d Mr. Turnquest said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBahamians everywhere should benefit appreciably from the improved digital television quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Turnquest said the communications environment has undergone a \u201cradical conversion\u201d to digital technology over the past 14 years, particularly with respect to television.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, television facilities operate in a computer-based environment, however, ZNS TV-13, the national broadcaster, continues to function in the challenging environment of analog technology. Today, we are changing that. This will ensure that ZNS is able to effectively carry out its mandate,\u201d Mr. Turnquest added.<\/p>\n

The project, Mr. Turnquest said, comes at a time when the Corporation continues its transformation to a public service broadcast operation to provide improved quality Bahamian-produced digital programming to a national audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cA critical factor for success will be the Corporation\u2019s ability to generate sufficient revenue from the private sector to provide sustainable funding of operational and programming needs.\u00a0 This will depend on the ability to produce quality programming in both content and presentation,\u201d Mr. Turnquest said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to note that particular attention will be paid in this agreement to the training and development of the Corporation\u2019s staff to enable them to take advantage of the new digital technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish to express my thanks to the staff for their effort and support. I encourage them to embrace the change that today\u2019s contract signing heralds and I urge them to fully exploit this opportunity to display their creativity and talents through the production and presentation of quality programmes for the benefit of all Bahamians,\u201d Mr. Turnquest added.<\/p>\n

By Matt Maura
\nBahamas Information Services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The upgrade from analog to digital facilities will not only improve the quality of on-air presentations, but also reduce operational and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[153,56],"class_list":["post-16157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","tag-business-2","tag-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}