Molinare is helping Venner TV to bring Lance Armstrong's epic bid to win his seventh consecutive Tour de France to the public by installing a£150,000 purpose-built non-linear Apple edit set-up.
Molinare is helping Venner TV to bring Lance Armstrong's epic bid to win his seventh consecutive Tour de France to the public by installing a£150,000 purpose-built non-linear Apple edit set-up.

The kit - eight Apple G5s using Apple's Final Cut Pro software and XSAN network - has been installed to allow Molinare to add more graphics to ITV's daily highlights packages.

It is hoped that the style will explain the ins and outs of the sport to people who aren't cycling fans.

Managing director Mark Foligno said: "The set-up will enhance the viewers' understanding of the race. With the evolution in graphics associated with TV today we needed to do something to help associate the tour with the broadest spread of people."

The investment has been made as part of a three-year contract that Molinare has made with production company Venner TV, part of TV Corp, to post-produce ITV's coverage of the cycling competition.

The Apple-based system was designed and supplied by company directors Rupert Watson and Graham McGuiness of reseller Root6.

The feeds to the server allows for more up-to-the-minute editing which will allow producers and editors to insert more graphics into the highlights.

Three of the eight Apple G5s will be used to capture incoming material, two will edit the footage with Final Cut Pro while the remaining three will play out the finished show.

Foligno explained: "We're endeavouring to get in as much as possible throughout the day. We can work non-linear almost right up until the end. I say ignore the Mac at your peril."

Molinare had previously used a linear edit suite - the standard solution for fast turnaround sports programming.

The Apple set-up is currently being installed and tested ahead of the race starting this Saturday (2 July). The three-week event, which finishes in Paris on 24 July, will have daily coverage on ITV2 and a weekly show on ITV1.