• Arqiva to supply Sky Italia with seven new automated Satellite News Gathering trucks
• Provides automated access to 13.5 MHz of dedicated capacity through Arqiva's Automated Satellite Network technology
• In-country maintenance and support

Arqiva has today announced it will be supplying Sky Italia with a fleet of seven automated Satellite News Gathering (SNG) trucks. These utilise Arqiva's Automated Satellite Network technology which fully automates the uplink of broadcast quality video signals from booking through to transmission. The existing fleet, also supplied by Arqiva in Rome, will be progressively replaced during 2009. Arqiva will maintain and provide in-country support for the fleet which will be used to cover news events for Sky's TG24 news channel. The five-year contract also provides Sky Italia with 13.5 MHz of dedicated space segment on the Atlantic Bird 2 satellite and additional ad-hoc capacity as required.

Marco Pacciarini, Chief Technical Officer of the Sky TG24 Division, said: "We are delighted to renew our contract with Arqiva. The ability to run our own satellite news gathering fleet, fully supported by Arqiva's highly experienced teams, delivers both the flexibility and reliability that a fast-moving and high-profile channel like TG24 demands. Arqiva has consistently delivered us the highest levels of service and we have every confidence that they will continue to provide us with the most efficient and effective solutions."

John Bozza, Director of Sales at Arqiva's Satellite Media Solutions division, commented: "We are very pleased that Sky Italia has chosen to renew their services with us for a further five years. As a highly respected channel on an extremely successful platform, TG24 demands the highest levels of service which Arqiva is dedicated to delivering. Our core expertise in satellite and media services combine to deliver a clear understanding of TG24's requirements which our international teams and infrastructure are ideally placed to meet."

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