Omneon Video Networks today announced that its Omneon Spectrum™ media server system has been deployed by ABC affiliates WDAY-TV of Grand Forks, N. D., and WDAZ-TV of Fargo, N. D., for playout of targeted news and advertising, as well as ABC programming, from a new tapeless infrastructure. WDAY-TV and WDAZ-TV have consolidated playout operations in an upgraded master control room that includes the Omneon server system operating in conjunction with Sundance Digital FastBreak Automation™.

“The Omneon server system has proved to be a reliable and space-saving solution, and it allows for fast and flexible playout of material when we need it,” said WDAY Engineer Dave Johnson. “Along with Sundance automation, the system handles playout for both stations easily, enabling almost instant playout of IDs and last-minute topical insertions during news broadcasts. We also chose the Omneon Spectrum™ server because the advanced architecture offers built-in redundancy and scalability that will enable easy expansion of the system in the future.”

Though their operations have been united within the WDAY master control room, WDAY and WDAZ broadcast from separate towers/transmitters within their Fargo designated market area. Both stations reach the entire market, but each tailors its news, sports, and weather to its own trade area. Advertisers benefit from being able to target both Grand Forks and Fargo, or focus their efforts on just one of the two cities.

The Omneon server system installed at the WDAY facility has approximately 0.5 TB of storage capacity, plus hot spares for additional reliability. The Omneon Spectrum™ server system is built on an open architecture that allows it to support a broad variety of third-party applications for control and transmission, media management, archiving, and collaborative production. Stored media can be shared among many users and applications. System components and capacity may be scaled in small or large increments as desired, and the server system may be reconfigured easily to adapt to changes in playout or storage requirements.

Learn more about Omneon’s server solutions at www.omneon.com.

About Omneon
Omneon is a leading provider of flexible media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in 45 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.Omneon.com.

About WDAY-TV and WDAZ-TV
ABC affiliates WDAY-TV of Grand Forks, N. D., and WDAZ-TV of Fargo are owned by Forum Communications, a Fargo-based company with newspaper, broadcast, interactive, and print holdings in North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The company’s involvement in “giving information life” began in 1878 with the founding of The Republican, a semi-weekly paper launched by Major A. W. Edwards and H. B. Hall. The Republican became the first newspaper owned by the Fargo Forum, the publishing and broadcasting company now known as Forum Communications. The company has grown substantially over the past century to include numerous daily papers, television broadcast stations, radio stations, publishing facilities, and Internet service providers.

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