INX Media India has invested in ON-AIR Systems' playKast solution as part of its integrated workflow system. INX Media India completed its review of playout automation solution in July.

The challenge was to implement a system which worked with a range of existing channel facilities and systems, and to achieve this within a very tight working schedule. The challenge was taken up by Cineom Broadcast, who suggested an ON-AIR Systems workflow solution, as the flexibility of the channel in a box playout system would enable rapid development, integration and deployment.

The challenge was to implement a system which worked with a range of existing channel facilities and systems, and to achieve this within a very tight working schedule.
Cineom has commissioned state of the art playout facilities for INX Media, allowing for up to 16 channels of fully digital broadcast, and playKast from ON-AIR Systems is at the heart of this. ON-AIR worked with TSS and Isilon to rapidly deploy system interfaces allowing files to be scheduled, ingested, stored and played out. Further integration with Apple Final Cut Pro editing systems allows for the full range of editing from simple cuts on the playout servers to full post-production on short form content.

Shailesh Parab from Cineom said: “We were challenged with an almost impossible time-frame for channel launch, but when we saw the speed and simplicity of the integration ON-AIR were able to achieve during the testing programme, we were confident that they’d be able to deliver a fully working solution within days. The development and support team at ON-AIR gave INX Media an incredible amount of confidence with their response times, suggestions and solutions.”

Mark Bayley, executive vice president technology - network operations at INX Media said: “The delivery and commissioning of the solution surpassed anything I’ve seen in the industry, and the support during our initial broadcasts has been first class”.

The playKast system allows INX Media India to schedule and playout all primary and secondary content including channel branding, news feeds, subtitles and file and live events all from a single PC system, giving them complete control over their output without the need for ancillary equipment.

INX Media and INX News, two companies launched in 2007, are collectively termed the INX Network, which is one of India’s leading independent satellite television broadcasters. The network operates mega Hindi General Entertainment Channel 9X; 9XM, which is the world's Number One Bollywood Music Entertainment Channel; and India's first HDTV-ready premier English News Channel, NewsX. Today, these channels are a byword in world class C&S entertainment and news in India, and 9X and 9XM are also available in the UK on the BSKYB platform. The INX Network also plans to take its entire bouquet of channels across the Middle East, South East Asia, USA, Europe and beyond.