Clear-Com® Gives Finnish TV Production Houses the Cutting Edge

Blue Media and Werne Facilities Tap Into Eclipse Digital Matrix for Communication Needs

Cambridge, UK/Helsinki, Finland, June 2, 2009 – Clear-Com® Communication Systems, a Vitec Group brand, is helping two of Finland’s leading television production companies stay ahead of the curve when it comes to advanced intercom communications.  Blue Media and Werne Facilities, which provide production services and turnkey solutions to Finland’s TV, video and audio industries, have each installed Clear-Com’s Eclipse Omega 64-port digital matrix intercom system, enabling them to offer customers dependable, quality communications in even the most demanding broadcast environments.

The flexibility and reliability of Clear-Com’s Eclipse Omega matrix system come in handy for Blue Media and Werne Facilities, the customers of which on any given day might be shooting a breaking news event, reporting from a far-flung region of the globe, or pulling together the evening news. These types of projects require an intercom system that can handle frequent set-ups and breakdowns on multiple live applications.

According to Timo Kujala, managing director of TV Tools, the systems integrator on both installations as well as Clear-Com’s distributor in Finland, the Eclipse’s ability to stand up in such situations is what ultimately sold Werne Facilities and Blue Media on Clear-Com.

“Werne Facilities and Blue Media compared the main competitor [for intercom solutions] here in Europe to what Clear-Com offered and they preferred its features. Clear-Com simply offered more of them,” says Kujala. “They also liked Clear-Com’s approach to integrating the wireless system to the main system and the panels incorporated into the design. The panels have many useful features that can be easily adjusted for live situations, and you don’t have to reboot the system,” he says.

In addition to the 64-port Omega matrix frame, Blue Media’s Clear-Com configuration includes six FreeSpeak® digital wireless beltpacks, 10 V-Series 1RU 12-pushbutton-key display panels, three V-Series Desktop 12-lever display panels, and eight V-Series 2RU 24-pushbutton-key display panels. Werne Facilities has the same number of FreeSpeak beltpacks, along with seven V-Series 1RU 12-pushbutton-key display panels, one V-Series Desktop 12-lever display panel, and five V-Series 2RU 24-pushbutton-key display panels.

“We’re pleased that two of Finland’s biggest television production companies have chosen Clear-Com equipment as the centrepiece of their communications offerings,” says Karlie Miles, Director of Sales for Europe, Middle East Africa, Clear-Com Communication Systems. “The customers of Blue Media and Werne Facilities are among Finland’s premier broadcasters and production specialists. That they selected Clear-Com intercoms over the competition speaks to the great deal of confidence they have in our systems’ reliability, flexibility and ability to evolve with broadcasts’ ever-changing workflow.”

Clear-Com’s Eclipse digital matrix systems provide a flexible and scalable foundation for point-to-point and group-based multi-connections, supporting as few as 16 on a single matrix frame or as many as 3,120 user connections on a networked system platform. Key features include multiple connections over CAT5, AES3, coaxial and single twisted pair cables, management software that uses drag-and-drop panel key programming and versatile yet simple IFB programming. Crosspoint monitoring and assignment, I/O levels and event and status logging capabilities are major features, along with the ability to link matrices over fibre and digital trunks.