NAB 2008: Gray Television Taps Panasonic for HD Newsgathering

Las Vegas -- Station group Gray Television selected P2 HD, Panasonic’s solid-state camera format, to support newsgathering at 21 of its stations.

Under the deal, to be announced Sunday at the 2008 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Atlanta-based Gray is buying Panasonic’s AG-HPX500 and AG-HVX200 P2 HD camcorders, AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobile and AG-HPG10 P2 Gear recorders, and AJ-PCD20 P2 card drives.

The Gray stations that have or are slated to get the P2 HD gear are:

• KAKE 10 (ABC) Wichita, Kan.

• KKCO 11 (NBC) Grand Junction, Colo.

• KKTV 11 (CBS) Colorado Springs, Colo.

• KOLN 10 (CBS) Lincoln, Neb.

• WBKO 13 (ABC) Bowling Green, Ky.

• WCAV 19 (CBS) Charlottesville, Va.

• WCTV 6 (CBS) Tallahassee, Fla.

• WEAU 13 (NBC) Eau Claire, Wis.

• WHSV 3 (ABC) Harrisonburg, Va.

• WIFR 23 (CBS) Rockford, Ill.

• WILX 10 (NBC) East Lansing, Mich.

• WJHG 7 (NBC) Panama City, Fla.

• WMTV 15 (NBC) Madison, Wis.

• WOWT 6 (NBC) Omaha, Neb.

• WRDW 12 (CBS) North Augusta, S.C.

• WSAW 7 (CBS) Wausau, Wis.

• WSAZ 3 (NBC) Huntington, W. Va.

• WTAP 15 (NBC) Parkersburg, W. Va.

• WTOK 11 (ABC) Meridian, Mo.

• WTVY 4 (CBS) Dothan, Alaska

• WYMT 57 (CBS) Hazard, Ky.

Gray, which currently operates three-dozen television stations serving 30 markets, already invested in P2 gear at several stations before making this substantial investment in additional gear.

“We began shooting news with P2 HD camcorders at several of our stations over the past year and have experienced the image-quality enhancement and improvements in work flow,” said Robert S. Prather Jr., president of Gray, in a statement. “We look forward to rolling out the additional P2 HD camcorders and decks more broadly within our group in the coming months.”

For complete coverage of the 2008 NAB Show, click here.