MaltaMedia.com

GO – Malta’s leading quad-play communications provider – has invested heavily in an upgraded sports playout facility and is now fully equipped for the exclusive transmission of the English Premier League and Italian Serie A due to kick off in August. GO has won exclusivity to air matches from these two leagues as from the football season 2010/11 onwards. GO will broadcast up to six simultaneous live events during every match day.

This was announced during a press briefing held at GO’s headend in Maghtab to coincide with the official visit by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. During the visit the Prime Minister was given a tour of GO’s tv operations facilities at the Maghtab tv headend where he was given an explanation on the intrinsic functions of the new high tech equipment at the upgraded sports playout facilities, as well as the renovation works carried out over the past months.

During the visit, GO’s CEO David Kay announced that GO is planning to invest €100 million over a six-year period starting from this year as part of its technology roadmap which will see it launching next generation networks such as fibre-to-the-home, mobile network upgrades and investments in its tv infrastructure to cover new services and applications. In addition, My Kay said that €7 million were invested in GO’s tv infrastructure since GO started off its tv operations in 2007, focused mainly on providing close to 100% DTTV coverage around Malta and Gozo, and the improved headend facilities. Mr Kay explained that GO’s tv customer base has increased considerably from just under 10,000 subscribers in 2007 to over 53,000 current subscribers.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s official visit at GO’s headend marked also the occasion when GO launched the transmission of some of the latest sports channels it acquired, namely Inter Channel, Juventus Channel and Roma Channel. Milan Channel will start broadcasts in the coming days. These channels continue enhancing GO’s sports offering given it already broadcasts exclusively the channels of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Moreover, during the visit, GO launched GO stars, a premium pay channel which carries movies of all genres, series and other entertainment programmes. All GO tv (Free, Silver and Gold) customers will have open viewing to GO stars for a period of one month.

With regards to the works carried out at the Maghtab headend, these include a new HD-ready playout system which allows the company to play out up to 6 simultaneous live feeds, while being able to receive and record a further four feeds for delayed playback. As a result, all GO sports customers can rest assured that they will not miss a minute of action from the English Premier League and Italian Serie A. In addition, GO recently introduced a state-of-the-art Media Control Room at its Maghtab headend that enables the company’s tv team to monitor and direct all transmissions effectively. The facility boasts fully redundant power generators, uninterrupted power supplies, satellite antennas and video processing equipment that guarantees the fastest recovery time in case of any fault.

During the visit, Dr Gonzi met GO’s top officials as well as the team of engineers and technicians responsible for the manning of the state-of-the-art equipment at GO’s tv headend.

In his comments, the Prime Minister thanked GO for its commitment to investment in its technology and infrastructure. ‘The telecommunications is an important enabler for the economy and is pivotal for Malta to reach the Vision 2015 targets. The €100 million investment programme is a sign of confidence in Malta’s potential and will further enhance Malta’s investment attractiveness. The investment that GO has undertaken further confirms that liberalisation and privatisation processes have been important catalysts for investment.’

Referring to the television service, David Kay, GO’s CEO said: “The newest upgrade involving the sports playout facilities – one of many carried out by GO in the past months – further underpins GO’s reputation as the leading telecoms operator in the Maltese Islands. GO thanks its board of directors, management, employees and suppliers who have made this investment possible.”

“GO is committed to provide customers with the best level of quality digital TV service – offered through its DTTV platform – both in terms of content as well as service provision. All English and Italian sports enthusiasts can watch their favourite games and matches to their hearts’ delight thanks to GO sports.”

“GO sports is the exclusive sports package for GO tv customers, offering a variety of international rugby, football, tennis, golf, horseracing, boxing and other sports at affordable prices. We have already secured live and exclusive rights for major international events for the next years, and our plan is to enhance this offering, through ongoing value-for-money propositions,” he said.

Joseph Bugeja, GO’s Chief Technical Officer added: “We have partnered with the best of breed TV equipment suppliers including Ericsson Television, Playbox TV and Harris which together with GO’s engineers and highly skilled technical team have managed to deliver this state of the art facility”.

Kelvin Camenzuli, GO’s Senior Manager Video & Network Operations Centres, said: “Our customers can rest assured that we have not spared any effort to ensure that the reliability and production quality of our sports channels is of world-class standard and without doubt it will open up the way to new quality standards on the Maltese Islands.”

“With the English Premier League and Italian Serie A starting shortly, GO sports customers will have the peace of mind that the best action will always be available live on its six GO sports channels,” Mr Camenzuli said.