Broadcast Solutions, one of Europe’s largest media systems integration groups, completed a news broadcast centre for CIBC Global in Azerbaijan. The centre supports a 24/7 English-language news channel, AnewZ, launched in time for the UN conference on climate change, COP29, hosted in Baku.

By far the biggest challenge for the project was the timescale. The initial approach to Broadcast Solutions Group, from technical and editorial consultants on behalf of CIBC Global, was made at the CABSAT exhibition in Dubai in late May 2024, with a completely immovable deadline of the opening of COP29 on 11 November.

At the time of the initial contact, CIBC Global did not even have a building ready for the new channel, nor staff, editorial policies and of course technology. From its Dubai facility, Broadcast Solutions took on every aspect of delivering the centre, from supervising civil works, interior fit out, to training the staff on system operations.

“Foremost in our minds was the time pressure on this project,” explains Rufat Hamzayev, executive director at AnewZ. “Not just in getting the system together, but also ensuring that operationally the staff were ready, given the eyes of the world were going to be on them on opening day.”

“We took the immediate decision to build around the nxtedition integrated production environment,” explained Laurent Mairet, managing partner of Broadcast Solutions operations in Dubai. “Broadcast Solutions was already in the process of establishing a centre of excellence for nxtedition implementations, and we had complete confidence we could realise the functionality AnewZ needed in a platform that was intuitive for users.”

nxtedition provides complete editorial control for all the journalists and producers working at AnewZ. It also automates operation of the three news studios built as part of the project: one studio for anchors and up to four guests, a second stand-up studio for reporters and weather presenters, and a broadcast position in the heart of the newsroom.

Integrated into the system are Ross production switchers, Tascam audio mixers, Canon PTZ cameras and the studio lighting. 24/7 outputs go to local and international broadcast feeds: AnewZ is available in more than 110 countries worldwide. Journalists can also repackage stories for social media in the same nxtedition platform.

To add to the pressure on the project, they were also asked to relocate other facilities in the same timeframe. Sister channel CBC Sports was previously based in a studio complex in the Olympic Park in Baku, but this space was needed for the COP29 event. The channel was moved into the same new building as AnewZ, and Broadcast Solutions provided support in moving all the equipment while keeping the channel on air.

To streamline the design, fabrication and installation processes Broadcast Solutions brought Master Media and LeClub to the project. Master Media handled the studios set decor design and set fabrication, while LeClub provided project governance and technical consulting services to help secure the delivery of the project on-time.

“We gave Broadcast Solutions a massive challenge, to build a complete channel from scratch against an absolutely fixed deadline,” said Hamzayev. “They came up with a technical solution which delivered all the editorial control and creativity we needed, which is fully reliable and runs on standard computers for ease of support. It is also completely intuitive to use and allows our operational teams to control our three studios from one central production room.

“While they were building the facilities in Baku, they arranged for key staff to attend workshops and sites visits in France so we could understand the capabilities of nxtedition and build our workflows,” he said. “The project ran to schedule, giving us time for good rehearsals before we went on air on 4 November to cover the US election, a week before our focal event of COP29.”

Laurent Mairet, managing partner of Broadcast Solutions Group, concluded, “This project proves that, through collaboration and teamwork, we can deliver a complete television channel, from nothing, in four months. We continue to work with AnewZ on a second phase, to introduce commercials to monetise the channel.”