South Africa’s public broadcaster invests in CGI’s dira! solution for new playout, production and music scheduling system.
Munich, Germany & Johannesburg, South Africa - CGI, the leading newsroom and radio system provider in Europe, has announced the successful rollout of its dira! solution across eight of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) 19 radio stations. The rollout to the remaining radio stations continues in 2022.
The contract, won via a competitive tender process, has seen the SABC invest in CGI’s full dira! Solution Suite, including Onair Player, Highlander, Scheduler, Startrack, Orion and Broadcast Report. The proof of concept and subsequent implementation by CGI has achieved the SABC’s goal to enable dira’s use throughout the company’s radio environment - from sales, sport, news and current affairs to education and drama.
“The dira! solution provides complete integration to our music, sales and news systems, allowing users to work on an integrated platform from a single screen or workstation. Of particular benefit is the installation of a Commercial Player, which plays radio advertisements promptly within the specified window of the booked time. This will assist with accurate reporting and also ensure that skipping of advertisements which leads to revenue losses is a thing of the past”, comments Nada Wotshela, Group Executive for SABC Radio.
Established in 1936, the SABC provides a range of distinctive, creative and top-quality programs in all 11 official languages across its radio and television portfolio. The recent rollout of the dira! solution has helped the SABC to continue to achieve its mission to be a digitized national public broadcaster that provides compelling, informative, educational and entertaining content via all platforms.
Michael Thielen, Vice President – Radio Solutions, CGI says: “The current digital revolution phase of broadcasting is characterized by the transition to a unified working environment, where users can access all the applications that they need, in one place. We’re thrilled to be supporting the SABC’s full portfolio of radio stations with production workflow and visual radio solutions.”
About CGI
Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. Operating in hundreds of locations across the globe, CGI delivers end-to-end services and solutions, including strategic IT and business consulting, systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI’s merger with SCISYS Group PLC in December 2019 has brought in deep expertise in the media and broadcast sectors, as well as the space and defence sectors. CGI’s Media Solutions, formerly SCISYS Media Solutions, offer a wide range of professional news and content delivery solutions for innovative media companies across local, national and international markets. This includes the market-leading flagship newsroom system OpenMedia and the radio production solution dira, serving many key players in broadcast and delivery.
Info: www.cgi.com/mediasolutions & www.sabc.co.za/sabc
Notes: Press Release - CGI - Munich, Germany & Johannesburg, South Africa
