Harris Broadcast announced that Grupo Televisa has purchased eight Harris DiamondCD high-powered DTV transmitters, as the broadcaster is launching ATSC digital television in four metropolitan regions. The transmitters were dispatched and installed during the last quarter of 2005 to begin broadcasting DTV programming to the towns of Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tijuana in the first months of this year.
Mexico formally adopted the ATSC standard in October 2004 after years of testing on DTV. Last year, the Mexican government issued an 18-year deployment schedule, which provides for transition plans to DTV for both private and public broadcasters over six- and three-year periods. The first three-year segment foresees coverage in major cities, especially those near the U.S. border, in which private broadcasters launch the service before public ones. The 1.8 kW Harris DiamondCD broadcasts allow Televisa to maximize coverage in each region.
Televisa selected Harris DiamondCD transmitters as part of the initial launch following positive technical evaluations, also pointing to the leadership in its share of the U.S. market, and its marked experience in digital terrestrial transmissions. DiamondCD transmitters have been among the most popular in digital TV deployment in the United States, with more than 300 installations with power levels from 1.8 kW to 35 kW. Harris equipped each transmitter intended for Televisa's operation with its advanced, market-leading digital TV exciter Apex. The exciting Harris Apex continues its successful career in the DTV market with more than 400 installations since its introduction in 2002. Televisa is also equipped with the improved harris eCDi transmission network control and monitoring system, which allows remote operation of each transmitter from a central location in Mexico City.
"The structural design of harris DiamondCD transmitters, which allows easy access for our technicians to perform preventive maintenance tasks, optimizes airflow for proper temperature control. It can be seen that the construction of the product and assembly includes high-quality components in its design to optimize performance," said Arturo Mignon, director of transmission--. The operation facet also highlights the monitoring system that presents on the screen the status of each component of the transmission chain, and a drop-down menu with the electrical diagrams, photos or tables of control, operation, learning and soon the correction of failures. "
