Clear-Com Provides Flexible Communications Solution for the Philippines' TV5

Clear-Com®, a global leader in critical voice communication systems, is helping support the diverse communications requirements of the Associated Broadcasting Company, also known as TV5, at its two Quezon City facilities in the Philippines. TV5 staff members employ Clear-Com’s Eclipse-Omega digital matrix intercom, V-Series IP-enabled user control panels, Concert intercom-over-IP software, Encore partyline intercom, FreeSpeak Integra and Tempest®2400digital wireless intercoms to maintain consistent, effective communications while coordinating the widely different production needs of the broadcaster’s programming mix.

The comprehensive Eclipse-Omega, Median and FreeSpeak Integra systems can adapt to any type of production setup required by TV5. This is especially critical for the network, one of the Philippines’ major national broadcasters, as it produces and broadcasts a diverse array of programs—everything from news, variety and sports shows to reality television series—from its Novaliches and Broadway facilities in Quezon City. With their IP capabilities and ability to interface with telephone hybrids, two-way radios, two-wire and other systems, Clear-Com intercoms offer TV5 a wide variety of communications options, enabling the broadcaster to choose the communications method that works best for each individual program.

For remote productions, TV5 crew members use the Eclipse and FreeSpeak in the studio to collaborate effortlessly with those in the field on the Tempest2400. For those productions in more distant regions, the Tempest2400 system is employed in the station’s flypacks. TV5 finds the Tempest2400 to be especially useful in these situations, as the intercom’s Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology ensures interference-free communications in regions that are RF hostile.

The Eclipse-Omega and Eclipse-Median systems are located in the central equipment room at TV5’s Novaliches and Broadway facilities, respectively. Via an E-Que card installed in the Eclipse frames, FreeSpeak is in use at both locations on multiple studio floors and in the newsrooms. With six antennas installed per studio, FreeSpeak offers wireless mobility across the TV5 complexes. If for some reason, an intercom panel or system is not working, TV5 has Clear-Com Concert, an intercom-over-IP conferencing software, as a secure communications backup. Concert interfaces with the Eclipse and FreeSpeak systems from a virtual intercom panel on a PC or laptop.

“We are proud that TV5, one of the most prestigious broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region, has chosen to go with a full range of Clear-Com products,” says Edmund Song Clear-Com’s Regional Sales Manager, Southeast Asia. “It’s an excellent real-world example of the inherent adaptability and interoperability of the Clear-Com products. As a consistent industry leader with a market coverage matched only by our reputation for innovation, Clear-Com provides intercom systems that are the fundamental building blocks for any broadcast stations’ success.”

Currently, the Novaliches and Broadway facilities’ intercoms are only connected via IP within each site, but TV5 has plans to link both matrix frames via fiber in the future.