Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

To cope with the demand for these and other high-quality broadcast events, the company is spending more than £1 million building additional HD trucks and upgrading its second teleport in Milton Keynes – the other is in London – to provide even more extensive facilities.

Two HD trucks are currently being built in Milton Keynes at approximately £500k each and the company’s MK teleport has expanded with more antennas and connectivity to London.

The new contract further strengthens the relationship between SISLink and ITV, which began with the award of the contract to provide 17 uPod systems across the UK for ITV Regional News in 2005. Since then SISLink has worked with the ITV group on many projects and major events, the latest being the coverage of the Super Bowl in Miami in early February.

SISLink, Europe’s primary satellite service provider, has proven its capabilities in the domain of major sporting events, including Champions League football, athletics and horse racing. It is also currently halfway through a significant contract to supply complete coverage for the European PGA Golf Tour as it makes it way across the world.

The company has developed a dedicated dual antenna HD truck which it is building exclusively for the eight European events on the F1 Grand Prix circuit.

The vehicle is set to become one of the most complex and highly specified uplink trucks ever built. Every part of the truck will be fully redundant with uplink diversity to include separation of RF chains, power supplies and baseband connectivity.

Additionally, it will comprise a complete UPS system to prevent any picture loss and deliver a totally reliable and robust solution.

With the largest independent fleet in the world, now comprising over 100 such trucks, SISLink is in the process of increasing its capabilities for covering the most crucial sporting events internationally.

MD David Meynell said: “We will be supplying ITV Sport with the most advanced satellite uplink truck we have ever produced, using new technologies allowing us to offer an unrivalled level of service at extremely cost effective contract rates. Our relationship with ITV Sport will allow us to showcase our capabilities to the industry.”