Author: PebbleAdmin

Weybridge, UK, November 20th, 2019 –Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, today announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain state broadcaster, Ministry of Information Affairs (MIA) has elected to deploy Pebble Beach Systems’ Stingray, a powerful and compact channel in a box solution, for the launch of its new history channel.
A long-time user of Pebble Beach Systems’ Neptune automation system for their main channels, MIA’s single channel fully redundant Stingray system has now been on air for a number of weeks.
Stingray leverages Pebble Beach Systems’ best of breed automation and integrated channel technology to deliver a full HD ingest and playout channel-in-a-box solution for systems of up to 6 channels. In addition to hosting clip-based channels, it is designed to handle complex reactive channels featuring live content, late-breaking changes and dynamic schedules. Thanks to its client-server architecture, multiple channels can be controlled from a single operator position, and user privileges and access to specific functionality can be set on a per channel basis.
“Stingray seamlessly integrates into Bahrain TV’s existing technical infrastructure, allowing the broadcaster to expand its offering without affecting the current workflow. Stingray also gives them a platform to test new technology on this channel before migrating their existing infrastructure on to their planned state of the art “Development of TV Channels Broadcast and Automation System” implementation platform,” said Samir Isbaih, VP of Sales for Middle East and APAC.

Customer-focused industry expert strengthens Pebble team
Weybridge, UK, November 18^th 2019 –Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, today announced the appointment of Yucel Timur as the company’s new Head of Solutions Architecture.
Reporting to Pebble Beach Systems’ CEO Peter Mayhead, Yucel leads the company’s talented team of Solutions Architects who are responsible for the solutions proposed and delivered to Pebble’s customers worldwide.
 
An experienced industry professional with over two decades of project management expertise in the media and entertainment technology industry, Yucel previously held senior positions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe and NOWTV (Part of Sky UK) and led key technology initiatives at the BBC.
“My experience in delivering and implementing leading-edge solutions has given me valuable insight into how best to deliver complex software and IT based projects into broadcast customers. With that comes an appreciation of how these are used in real life, and of course an awareness of the benefits to the end user. This new role comes at an exciting time for Pebble and the industry as a whole, and it enables me to leverage my experience across the organisation – from pre-sales through to development and support. I’m looking forward to playing a part in delivering the broadcast solutions we offer now, and in the future,” said Yucel Timur.
“I am excited by the potential for Pebble to benefit from Yucel’s depth and breadth of understanding of complex broadcast solutions. This, combined with his years of experience managing customer engagement, will have a significant impact on how we develop our already strong customer relationships,” commented Peter Mayhead.

Move to new premises prompts technology refresh for local station
Weybridge, UK, November 12th, 2019 – Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, today confirmed that France TV Outre-Mer (the overseas territory division of France TV), has installed a new Marina Lite automation control system at a new facility on the island of Martinique. One of only three French overseas territories to have its own local TV channel, the Martinique station features a news studio and an independent local production team. The Marina Lite system replaced an aging automation system and was installed as part of the organization’s move to a new facility.
The Marina Lite system controls two channels of playout, one for the main output and a second representing a completely redundant backup. “Prior to installing the Marina system, we had no backup playlist in case anything went wrong,” said Jean-François Laupa, Technical Center Manager at France TV. “This additional safety coupled with a new UI and tools for our operators is a great step forward for our operations.” The Paris-based France TV team handled the integration on-site in Martinique as it required additional staff and skills.
“There are many playout systems in use across France TV’s properties, so we are delighted that they chose to deploy our Marina technology in Martinique,” said Manuel Brouard, sales engineering manager at Pebble Beach Systems.
The new automation system controls Harmonic ChannelPort servers—for clip playback and graphic playouts—and a Ross video router. Lora Solutions have provided a traffic system which is fully integrated with the Pebble Beach Systems’ Marina API, enabling the Lora system to send playlists and manage Asrun formats as well as ingest and deletion requests. Marina retrieves clips from a Nearline storage system from Object Matrix.

Features full redundancy, SCTE triggering, and monitoring and control

Weybridge, UK, October 7^th, 2019– Pebble Beach Systems Ltd, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, today announced that Brazil-based Grupo RBS has chosen Pebble Beach Systems to provide playout automation and control all of its stations.
As part of the second largest commercial network in the world, RBS TV is a TV Globo affiliate group which broadcasts news, entertainment and sports throughout Brazil via their local stations, transmitting up to 12 TV broadcast playlists. They approached Pebble via local partner Videodata to architect a solution which would increase the overall efficiency of their playout operations and guarantee a consistent look and feel for all stations. Whilst local programming remains important, the goal was for each of these stations to be run unmanned if required.
Pebble Beach Systems provided an automation system that can adapt to different operating models. The solution was designed in close collaboration between RBS, Videodata and Pebble Beach Systems Ltd, and will be installed by Videodata, the system’s Integrator. It includes Pebble’s Dolphin software-defined integrated channel devices, Marina playout automation, and control via the Lighthouse web-based monitoring and control solution. The fully redundant automation includes SCTE triggering to streamline content insertion for each region.

“This advanced technology from Pebble Beach Systems allowed us to create a hub-spoke playout system that provides simple control over many domains,” said Rosalvo Carvalho, Director, at Videodata. “This gives RBS a new flexibility and the ability for remote operation never possible before.”

RBS stations can now pull media from a centrally managed location, and operators can schedule playout – and even make changes on-the-fly – from hundreds of miles away.

“This advanced automation and playout solution gives us the ability to do much more with fewer resources,” said Carlos Fini, Director of Technology at RBS.  “We’re delighted to be partnering with Pebble and Videodata, both of whom have the credibility and proven knowhow to get the job done.”

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Company reports further increases in revenues, order book and EBITDA, together with improved profitability and cash flow.
Pebble Beach Systems, a leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, released a highly positive set of results for the first six months of 2019 today.
The company reported revenues of £5.6m, a 51% increase compared to 2018’s figures for January to June, together with a 23% increase in the value of orders received for the same period. It also reports before tax profits of £0.7m, compared to a loss of £0.9m in the first six months of 2018, and a significant increase in adjusted EBITDA from £0.6m to £2.0m.
Pebble CEO Peter Mayhead said:

“I’m proud to go into this year’s IBC show with such a great set of results. It’s clear to me that following the successful restructuring we went through over the last couple of years, we are now recognized as one of the very few remaining independent specialist vendors in playout. In a turbulent market that is plagued by consolidation, we are growing and generating significant profits which allows us to make continued investments in our R&D. We are small and agile and uniquely placed to help define the future of this vital area of the broadcast industry.”

John Varney, Non-Executive Chairman of Pebble Beach Systems Group plc, said:

“We are greatly encouraged with the results for the first half of 2019. At the start of 2018, the Board put in place an aggressive plan to turn the Company around. The work that was done during 2018 was both necessary and detailed but, as is normal in turnaround situations, the numbers that we produced at the end of the year, whilst encouraging, did not reflect the scale of the progress we had made. It is therefore very pleasing indeed to be able to report such an impressive set of results for the first half of 2019. These are a huge testament to both the quality and hard work of the people within the business. Whilst the first part of the turnaround is complete, the marketplace in which we operate is fast moving and competitive and whilst we have improved our reputation and our market position, there is still a lot to do.
Looking into the second half of 2019 and beyond our focus is to continue to build on the trading performance improvements delivered in 2018 and capitalise on the opportunities presented by the changes in the broadcast market.”

Pebble Beach Systems will be exhibiting on Stand 8.B68 at IBC, and also participating in the IP Showcase in Rooms E106/107 at the RAI. Full details of the Half-year Report can be found here.
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