UTV invests £250,000 in state of the art TV facilities

From UTV Press Office:

UTV INVESTS £250,000 IN STATE OF THE ART TV FACILITIES

Northern Ireland’s most popular TV channel UTV is investing a massive £250,000 this summer to ensure its studios and post production facilities continue to be at the forefront of the UK television industry.

UTV’s Studio One is being revamped to house its award winning news and current affairs programmes UTV Live and Insight along with a new late night current affairs series which will launch in the autumn.

Studio Two will now host the set for UTV’s flagship entertainment series Gerry Meets. These studios will be served by a new state of the art control room. In addition post production facilities at UTV will be enhanced with the introduction of the latest high tech editing systems.

Bob McCourt, Group Director of Engineering, UTV, said; “We have a track record of continued investment in technology to ensure that our facilities are top class so that our production staff have every facility necessary to maintain our position as the most viewed station in Northern Ireland.”

Michael Wilson, Head of Television, UTV, said; “This investment will ensure the quality of UTV productions remain amongst the very best in the UK.”

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For further information, please contact the UTV Press Office on Tel: 028 9026 2187


About time too! The current UTV Live set has been in use since 2002!

Is it just me thinking that £250K won't go that far to upgrade two studios and galleries?

Nope - was thinking just the same.
You won't get much for £250,000 in broadcast, very little indeed.

Nope Gavin... we're all thinking that 250,000 pounds won't stretch very far. Though that statement from them is rather woolly.

"This investment will ensure the quality of UTV productions remain amongst the very best in the UK."

"Remain"?

Will be good to see a revamp to the UTV Live set... even though it's probably the best set they've ever had. Now, if only BBC Newsline would get rid of that design car-crash it has.

This is clearly an upgrade that involves a lot of MDF. Their use of the word "massive" to describe the sum of money involved is hilarious, but then their press releases frequently are.

Maybe UTV will be out shopping in IKEA then when it opens, and on the topic is BBC Newsline not now in need so a major facelift, its starting to look tired with some of the current looks in the UK.

The present BBC Newsline look as only been on air for two years so it's not due for a change yet.

£250k - that won't go far at all...

Interesting that the statement implies two studio floors working to one gallery - is this how UTV have worked previously, or are they closing a gallery and just upgrading one a bit?

Doesn't sound like the sort of money that would cover new sound desks, vision mixers, cameras or VTRs in any great number (or quality) - could conceivably be a bit of an upgrade to the lighting and sets I guess?

I was rather hoping that the demolition of the buildings next door to UTV's headquarters on the Ormeau Road was an indication that the station may have bought the land with the intention of expanding its facilities. Silly me.

Interesting, poses a few questions though...

Isn't Studio 1 at Hav Ho the old home of the Kelly show, and Studio 2 the UTV Live studio? And isn't Gerry Meets filmed before a studio audience?

So is a) the report incorrect or b) will the audience seating be changing studios as well or c) will UTV be bunging them in a skip along with the School Around the Corner and School Choir of the Year sets?

And what about the mysterious "unilateral" studio that UTV refer to here? Or is this the CTA/continuity area? On the UTV Live report on "Day Zero", Mike Nesbitt's report mentioned that a "new studio" was opened, which I think may have been used for the likes of SUS, it's Only Telly, Healthcheck, (The)(Sunday)Issue and The Football Show.

And more importantly, will the new UTV Live set be the generic ITV regional news set or something completely different? Hence UTV using the generic ITV regional news graphics? And hence "Network Report" as its theme tune?

I was thinking to myself it should be around time for a UTV Live set revamp, the current set has been in use since April 2002 (save a few tweaks in October 2004), the longest serving set in the UTV Live era. Perhaps it will tie in with a revamp of titles, graphics etc.

Basically......

Swapping Studios, upgrading a few bits of kit in the gallery and studio (to be shared) and bringing in a new Final Cut Pro shared editing setup for editing, including news.

Oh and maybe a new bit of MDF for a set

So the non-news studio cannot be used for production while news is being made? Is that not a bit constraining?! When were rehersals conducted for Kelly when he used to go out at 8pm?

Agreed about the budget - £100,000 would barely get you a decent sound desk, let alone anything else.