Pilat Media and Omnibus Annouce Alliance at IBC

Press Release: 3 March 2003

Two leading broadcast solutions providers are extending their established portfolios by announcing their alliance at IBC. OmniBus Systems Ltd (OmniBus) is to combine its award-winning media asset management and automated playout systems with Pilat Media's (Pilat) leading integrated broadcast management system in response to increasing customer demand for more integrated and proven business solutions from suppliers with a shared vision of the future of broadcasting.

Setting out a framework for the partnership's objectives, executives from both companies said the focus will be on tight functional integration of existing business and playout systems to offer broadcasters increased operational efficiency. Key benefits include:

Last-minute changes to the playout schedule can be based on broadcasters' business rules to avoid breaking rights agreements or broadcasting unsuitable content.
Optimisation and validation of content placement right up to the last minute e.g. rescheduling of higher yield advertising to drive incremental revenue.
Major reduction in the time and effort involved in as-run reconciliation, enabling faster reporting to compliance bodies and analysis for advertising agencies.

Vice president, marketing at Pilat, Neil Davison explains: "This alliance is designed to create competitive advantage for our customers. OmniBus and Pilat are constructively responding to the shift in broadcasters' focus to operational efficiency as a result of a downturn in advertising revenues, as well as their need to launch new channels quickly and diversify profit streams via multi-channel and digital services."

Group executive, strategy for OmniBus, Glyn Powell-Evans adds: "This alliance combines the best-of- breed capabilities of two market-leading broadcast companies. We are in an ideal position to offer customers a lower risk, lower cost, faster implementation alternative to the conventional mix-and-match approach of using multiple vendors."

Longer term, OmniBus and Pilat will continue their shared vision of a seamless flow from planning to playout to provide broadcasters worldwide with a single, integrated suite of solutions for the full broadcast value chain, from advertising campaign, or content acquisition/commission, through the broadcaster's workflow to transmission.

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Information on OmniBus Systems

Launched in 1994, OmniBus Systems (OmniBus) provides broadcasters worldwide with comprehensive automation and asset management solutions that address every area of a television facility. They deliver wide-ranging customer benefits and cost-savings across the full spectrum of operational processes. More than 100 major broadcasters around the globe now deploy substantial and individually tailored OmniBus configurations. These both enhance automation - from acquisition and recording through low- and high-resolution editing, media asset management and playout to final archiving - and facilitate the development of new business initiatives.

Headquartered in Stanford-on-Soar, Leicestershire, OmniBus also has offices in Asia and on the east and west coasts of the USA. It successfully completed an MBO (Management Buy-Out) from Management Data AG in the second half of 2001.

OmniBus was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise (Innovation) in April 2000.

Notes to editors:

Pilat Media is a UK company, currently 150 strong, operating from headquarters in London and offices in the USA, Australia and Israel.

Pilat Media's IBMS (Integrated Broadcast Management System) is a new generation software system for managing the business of broadcasting. It is the world's most comprehensive solution, designed to maximize revenues and reduce costs by integrating airtime sales, content programming and media trafficking across an unlimited number of different channels or stations, regions or even countries, all under a single centralized, scalable and digital ready system. Al these have been historically serviced by several, typically dispersed systems. IBMS' functional breadth, depth and flexibility to suit all types of broadcasters are unrivalled, making it the first truly global system of its kind.

IBMS' first version was originally developed by Pilat for BSkyB, to support their fast growing multi-channel programming needs. Pilat Media was established in 1999 to further develop and market the system as a generic product. IBMS's scope was subsequently more than doubled by adding the advertising sales functionality in partnership with Network Ten of Australia. Since then Pilat Media has rapidly established itself as a rising force in the market for business management software for broadcasters. Today, Pilat Media's software solutions have been selected by 35 broadcasters in Europe, North America and Australasia, representing a wide spectrum of business models, organizational size and transmission technologies - digital and analogue, on terrestrial, cable and satellite platforms. Additional clients include CTV (Canada), Discovery (International), five (UK), TV New Zealand, Playboy (US), Sky Italia and TV4 (Sweden).