MUMBAI: Following a thorough review of all strategic options for the future of the playout of its entertainment channels, Turner Broadcasting System Europe (TBS) Limited is going in for in-house transmission.

This decision is part of a company-wide initiative to digitise its assets and will involve building a new facility and hiring around 40 additional staff at its London headquarters.

About 12,000 hours worth of company's entertainment
content, including films and cartoons for Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami and TCM will be digitised. This will enable Turner's network of channels throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to be broadcast from video servers under automated control.

The new facility is scheduled to launch on 1 January 2006. It will replace the company's existing tape playout services from Ascent Media. It is the start of a project that will allow the electronic delivery of films, cartoons and advertisements and facilitate the addition of new channels.

Ultimately, it will enable staff to browse assets on their desktops. Cartoon Network, TCM, Boomerang and Toonami are available in the region from 17 feeds in 25 languaged versions.