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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   VATICAN TELEVISION ACQUIRES NEW OUTSIDE BROADCASTING UNIT   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 16 NOV 2010 (VIS) - "New technologies at the service of the   
   communications of the Holy See" was the theme of a press conference held this   
   morning to present the new high-definition outside-broadcasting equipment which   
   the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) will now be using.   
      
   Participating in today's conference, held in the Holy See Press Office, were   
   Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social   
   Communications and of the administrative board of the Vatican Television   
   Centre; Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Vatican Television Centre;   
   Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, and Gildas   
   Pelliet, managing director of Sony Italia.   
      
   Archbishop Celli highlighted the fact that the lorry containing the CTV outside   
   broadcasting unit is being inaugurated just a few days before the Pontifical   
   Council for Social Communications' newly renewed website "Pope2you" comes   
   online. The aim of the website, which has existed for some time, "is to   
   accompany the thousands of young people from every continent who wish to follow   
   the Pope closely, listening to his words and, in some way, entering into   
   dialogue with him. The site has thus far had some five million hits", he said.   
      
   "The second project we have begun working upon is the creation of a new portal   
   which will bring together, also using multimedia technology, the various   
   sources of news within the Vatican", said Archbishop Celli.   
      
   In his remarks Fr. Lombardi explained how the new equipment "certainly   
   represents the biggest investment made by the CTV in recent years, and perhaps   
   in its entire history, ... which began in the year 1983 by order of John Paul   
   II. This is, then, a good opportunity to recall the goals and functions of this   
   institution of social communications of the Holy See, and the criteria it   
   follows in its activities.   
      
   "The mission of CTV", Fr. Lombardi added, "as its statute says, is to ensure   
   the tele-visual recording of the Holy Father's activities and of other   
   important events that take place within the Vatican, ... and to create an   
   archive of all these images, both as a source of documentation and in order to   
   produce information services, documentaries, etc. All this, of course, is to   
   serve the mission of the Church, making the Holy Father's activities and   
   teaching better known".   
      
   Doing this task well, he went on, "requires operational skill and a quality   
   product, in keeping with advances in tele-visual communications and, more   
   generally, in the modern use of video, for example on the internet. If we   
   failed to maintain an adequate level ... we would effectively hinder the   
   diffusion of the Pope's image, and hence of his message".   
      
   For this reason CTV has greatly increased its live coverage over recent years,   
   and currently "makes an average of 200 live broadcasts every year", said Fr.   
   Lombardi. These include the great celebrations in St. Peter's Square, the   
   Angelus, general and special audiences, and concerts in the Paul VI Hall or in   
   the basilicas.   
      
   The director of the Vatican Television Centre also pointed out that the   
   majority of quality documentaries are now produced in high-definition, and that   
   an increasing number of television channels are using this system. For this   
   reason, he explained, CTV's move to the system "was a necessary step ... we   
   could not fail to make, for otherwise the image of the Pope would gradually   
   have disappeared from television screens over the coming years".   
      
   The cost of the operation has been met from three sources: Sony, which offered   
   favourable terms of payment; a notable contribution from the Knights of   
   Columbus, and the resources which CTV has been earmarking for this purpose over   
   recent years, thanks to its annual budget surplus.   
      
   For his part Carl Anderson explained how the new high-definition outside-   
   broadcasting unit "represents the most recent development in the long history   
   of the Catholic Church's work in mass communication". The Knights of Columbus,   
   he said, "is so happy to be able to support the great communications work of   
   the Vatican" in the hope of reaching "to the farthest corner of this city,   
   Italy and the world".   
      
   Gildas Pelliet explained how the new mobile unit, "a lorry 13.9 metres long,   
   ... is divided into four operational areas: audio cabin, equipment room,   
   primary and secondary director's cabin, and camera control. The sixteen   
   television cameras all have high-definition fibre optic connections".   
   OP/VIS 20101116 (730)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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