PROVYS is expanding to Greece

Star Channel, Greece, has decided to install PROVYS TVoffice for its station management software. The project was started in February 2004 and is expected to roll-out in May 2004.

NEA TILEORASI S.A. (STAR CHANNEL) was founded in 1989 and started broadcasting in December 1993. With the TV licence for country-wide broadcasting having been issued by the Greek government, Star Channel´s coverage currently amounts to 98% of the total Greek population.

Star Channel's programme is structured around US produced series and feature films of high production value, complemented by local productions, such as morning and afternoon information shows, prime-time shows, game shows, news and various special events. Due to the nature of the programmes, it is predominantly targeted on viewer age range of 15 - 44 years, which is considered the most potent group of consumers. Star's weekend morning cartoon zones, aimed at children, are also very popular and Star is the dominant leading station in this genre.

Star Channel has steadily had a leading position in the Greek TV market with 12% - 14% viewership (rank 4) and 14% - 17% advertising share (rank 3). The company employs approximately 600 persons and the headquarters together with Star´s main facilities (studios and transmission) are located in a 5.000 m2 building in Tavros, Athens. It operates six fully equipped studios, twelve mobile microwave radio link sets, END vans, a new SNG van and an OB van.

Star's main objective is to retain and to further improve its dominant position in the domestic television market and to increase its profitability by making significant investments in TV programmes, equipment and infrastructure, specialised software for Channel Management and back-office business functions.

The purchase of PROVYS is another step in Star Channel's strategic effort to renew its IT infrastructure. PROVYS has been chosen after evaluating several other channel management systems on the market. The solution will support core processes of Star Channel such as licence management, strategic programme planning, transmission microscheduling, tape management, and transmission evaluation. PROVYS will be integrated with the Star´s existing air-time sales solution tailored exactly to the Greek law and the needs of the station´s air-time selling strategy.

PROVYS TVoffice is an integrated software solution supporting major daily operations of broadcasters including schema scheduling, long term programme planning, programme library management, licence management, self-promotion management, transmission scheduling, tape management, and transmission evaluation. There is an extensive set of services included as part of the product from business processes analysis, system deployment and customisation up to user support. PROVYS users are provided with 24-7 support in advice and problem solving performed by a team of highly experienced technical and user experts.