ITN Chooses SSL C100 Console for Main News Studio

With a rapidly expanding worldwide install base for its C-Series digital consoles, Solid State Logic is proud to announce that leading broadcaster ITN has become the first media organization in the UK to order a C100 Digital Broadcast Console. The C100 was recently installed in Sound Control One, ITN’s main audio facility at its Gray’s Inn Road headquarters in London.

To win its place at the heart of ITN’s news production studio, the C100 had to prove itself more than capable of performing within such a demanding environment.

“The decision to buy a C100 was made after rigorous tests involving a number of manufacturers’ digital consoles,” said Paul Flook, ITN’s head of broadcast engineering. “Our operators went through a typical news program on each console to see what each desk could do. The SSL C100 was the fastest and easiest to operate and was capable of coping with multiple live feeds.”

The ITN News studio handles the daily national news and current affairs programs produced for ITV1 by ITN—at lunchtime, 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.—plus the London Tonight regional program at 6 p.m. on weekdays. It also handles special news programs such as election coverage and coverage of major Royal events. The set makes extensive use of virtual reality, so it was essential that any console chosen for the studio would be able to manage complex audio delays.

“The C100 is in widespread use in newsrooms across the world and it’s great that ITN, with whom we have a longstanding relationship, is our first UK C100 client,” said SSL managing director Antony David. “When it comes to satisfying the specific requirements of mission critical operations such as those at Sound Control One, the C100 ticks all the boxes for features, ease of use, speed and reliability.”

Solid State Logic’s C100 is a robust, compact console, primarily designed for on-air and live-to-tape production applications. It supports up to 128 input channels and provides simultaneous 5.1, stereo and mono signal paths directly from source through to destination. The console features 80 mix busses for the numerous talent, communication and production area mixes that have become a standard requirement in program creation.