Sony Professional Solutions MEA (PSMEA) has won a $69 million contract from the Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Information, to build state-of-the-art High Definition studios at Oman TV Complex in Muscat.

Sony will also refurbish the television broadcast facility located in Salalah, as part of the contract.

Upon completion of the project in November 2011, viewers of Oman TV will be the first in the region to experience the superior quality of High Definition content production and distribution.

The project will see Sony providing a future-proof 3G infrastructure that will position Oman TV as the technology leader within the region’s broadcast industry.

The contract includes the delivery of fully equipped High Definition studios, tapeless networked production, media asset management - news, transmission, radio and other extensive facilities to provide a truly tapeless broadcast production environment.

Sony is also providing the latest technology for the refurbishment of the broadcaster’s TV facilities in Salalah, which will be integrated with the TV complex in Muscat.

“We recognise that our engineers need the necessary skills to manage the migration from traditional broadcasting to HD technology and are expecting Sony Professional’s training offering to help us achieve our goals,” said Mohammad AL Marhouby, chairman of the project committee and director general of engineering at the MOI.

“We are delighted to have been awarded this hotly contested contract and look forward to successfully delivering this state-of–the–art system, based on the latest proven technological developments in HD to Oman TV,” added Hideaki Nakamura, managing director of Sony Professional Solutions MEA.-TradeArabia News Service