Italy's Mediaset Group routes with Utah Scientific

Utah Scientific has delivered a UTAH-400 HD routing switcher system to Mediaset Group, one of the largest commercial broadcasting companies in Italy. The installation marks the first routing system in the country to leverage both fiber and coaxial cable connections in the same platform.

Mediaset broadcasts three national TV channels in analog and several DVB-T digital terrestrial channels, including a pay-per-view service.

The 288x288 UTAH-400 router configured with 216x216 fiber and 72x72 coaxial I/O ports is being used to route HD and SD signals from Mediaset's main production facility in Milan to several locations across Italy. The fiber length ranges from 1mi to more than 300mi for signal transmission to the Rome facility.

With the help of Utah Scientific and its Italian representative, CVE, Mediaset completed the transition to the new system within a few months, according to Mauro Cassanmagnago, research and engineering director for Videotime S.p.A — Mediaset Group. The company has a long history with Utah router and master control products.

The UTAH-400 will accept a variety of signal formats and automatically route them to the appropriate signal converters as needed, a major reason Mediaset chose the UTAH-400 HD. Also included in the Mediaset installation is Utah’s SC-4, a control system designed to help users configure, manage and operate Utah’s routing systems.

The SC-4 software provides interface to all third-party control and switching systems within the main production facility in Milan. The system's control panels are fitted with Ethernet interfaces to allow them to be used within Mediaset’s TCP/IP infrastructure.

For more information, visit www.utahscientific.com.