To facilitate its exclusive HD coverage of the recent Tour de France cycling event, Norway broadcaster TV 2 chose a new newsroom automation solution from Snell that integrates the Kahuna SD/HD multiformat switcher with technology from Mosart Medialab. The Snell newsroom automation solution enabled TV 2, Norway's largest commercial TV station, to combine content from two different SD sources with the principal live HD feed from France for a smooth, seamless, and high-quality HD broadcast. 

TV 2 had been broadcasting in HD for two weeks when the Tour de France began this year on July 4. But while the network was able to play out external live events and purchased programs in HD, it was still working on upgrading its internal production facilities and satellite news gathering (SNG) capabilities. This meant that its Tour de France coverage would require the ability to seamlessly combine into a single production the international live HD feed of the cycling event, the TV 2 SD SNG following the race, and SD content from TV 2's studio in Bergen. To solve this problem, TV 2 turned to Snell and its Kahuna production switcher. Through the integration with Mosart Medialab, the Kahuna provided TV 2 with the flexibility to mix the HD feed, HD gfx sources, SD server playback, and other SD sources within the same switcher.