Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. has tapped Mercury voice-over-IP (VoIP) communications equipment from Andover, U.K.-based Trilogy Broadcast Ltd., providing infrastructure for flexible and powerful "intercom style" WAN communications across its enterprise.
The first phase is to supply user interfaces at the assignment desks of 24 TV stations and Hearst-Argyle's Washington, D.C., news bureau.
Allowing news personnel to instantly coordinate events among any and all of their sites across the U.S., the installation will also provide connection between the existing production intercom systems at all their sites. This allows Hearst-Argyle to extend its current intercom reach to configure local, regional and national users, together with mixed groups, regardless of physical location.
Later this year, the system will be enhanced to allow all sites to feed their local production IFBs into the Mercury system. Using the Mercury telephone interfaces, this will allow any field reporters to call into the system from mobile phones or land lines-allowing them automatic selection of any of the 25 IFBs from telephones' DTMF dial pads without operator assistance.
