Turkey's broadcasting scene is expanding rapidly. There are hundreds of analogue local stations, many of them operating ‘informally’ without licences. There are government plans to introduce digital terrestrial TV, and DVB-H is being talked about. Additionally, there is an established DTH pay-TV satellite operator (DigiTurk) with more than 160 channels on air, and about to launch four HD services in MPEG-4.

Harris, via its local agent Bilgi Elektronik, has completed work on an impressive major revamp to DigiTurk’s playout facility in Istanbul in readiness for HD. Central to the installation is Harris’ H-Class D-Series playout automation system, complete with 10 Nexio XS server units, a Platinum router and other equipment forming a seamless broadcast workflow solution for DigiTurk.

The icing on the cake was the announcement that Harris would be equipping a dedicated OB truck, fully equipped for HD and thus the first in Turkey, for DigiTurk to use on its exclusive coverage of the Turkish premier and second soccer leagues. Sony Eurasia is the systems integrator, with support on the Harris side by Bilgi.

DigiTurk’s CTO Hatice Memiguven said the total technology investment this year - excluding the cost of the OB truck - is in the region $16m-$18m. “Turkey is one of Europe’s most dynamic markets,” said Memiguven. The OB truck will contain a Harris Platinum 256x256 router, Inscriber G3 HD/SD-selectable broadcast graphics system, as well as Videotek TVM-950 test and measurement kit. The Istanbul project has been managed by DigiTurk’s Emre Uysal (head of DigiTurk’s headend operation).
DigiTurk has 1.8m subscribers and in November saw itself listed on the London stock exchange having mounted its IPO and raising about $550m to fund further expansion.

The technological advance at DigiTurk has already been rapid. Their initial concept back in 1999, when the broadcast centre was first equipped, was to supply 25 tape-based playout channels. Harris’ new installation, as well as handling all of the broadcaster’s current portfolio, of which 99 channels are wholly exclusive, is to also cope with expansion. Harris has equipped the headend with capacity for up to nine HD channels, and 18 new SD services.

That expansion is planned around the growing interest in ‘flat panel’ TV technology that’s being adopted in Turkey as elsewhere in Europe. Pace Micro is the supplier of DigiTurk’s new range of MPEG-4 PVRs with much emphasis being placed on DigiTurk’s own soccer channel, Lig TV, which will cover all its exclusive matches in HD. DigiTurk has these exclusive rights until 2010.

The Pace PVR also permits a new broadcast stream to be exploited. The Pace unit has a 250 GB hard drive and triple tuners as standard, and about 50% of the hard drive will be retained by DigiTurk to push video content to viewers. This ‘electronic video store’ is seen as representing a key marketing advantage for consumers.