ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 10 -- Four newspaper printers across North America are the latest to go digital with KODAK thermal CTP solutions, with the Denver Newspaper Agency, which prints the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post, purchasing five KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS platesetters. The Denver Newspaper Agency, a joint venture between The E.W. Scripps Co. and MediaNews, purchased five KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 200 platesetters and KODAK THERMALNEWS digital plates. The Abilene Reporter-News, an E.W. Scripps Co. paper, purchased a KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 50, the second KODAK thermal CTP platesetter at the newspaper, and THERMALNEWS digital plates to produce 35,000 daily and 45,000 Sunday copies of the paper, plus a number of weeklies and commercial print jobs. “We recently ranked the highest in print quality by E.W. Scripps of all of the company’s newspapers. KODAK thermal CTP platesetters and KODAK digital plates are the reason why we received this honor. It just would not have happened a year ago with our previous system,” said Mike Hall, Director of Operations at the Abilene Reporter-News. “We’ve been very pleased with the performance of the KODAK equipment. The quality and dependability of the platesetter and plates are key to our operation.” Independent Publishing Co. in Anderson, S.C., which publishes the 38,000 daily circulation Anderson Independent-Mail and a number of commercial jobs including the Orange & White sports booster club publication for Clemson University, purchased a KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 100 platesetter, THERMALNEWS plates, PRINERGY Evo workflow system, PREPS imposition software and STACCATO screening. “We looked closely at several brands before deciding to go with Kodak because we felt the KODAK digital solutions best fit our needs,” said Sharon Rochester, Vice President of Finance at Independent Publishing. “We are confident in the quality of Kodak’s service because they are our current vendor for plates and film. We also know that several other sister Scripps units have successfully converted to the TRENDSETTER NEWS thermal CTP devices.” Castle-Printech Inc. of DeKalb, Ill., added to its investment in KODAK solutions, purchasing a second KODAK TRENDSETTER NEWS 70 platesetter. The company uses the KODAK devices to print a number of weekly newspapers, along with a number of publication inserts. Kodak offers proven end to end solutions tailored specifically for newspapers, including thermal CTP platesetters, workflow, digital plates and screening technologies, all supported by around the clock service offerings. The TRENDSETTER NEWS thermal CTP device comes in five models, ranging in speed from 60 to more than 240 plates per hour to suit newspaper printing facilities of all sizes. The TRENDSETTER NEWS platesetter delivers fast, reliable imaging with a standard file format interface for newspaper production systems. It is available with semi automatic or fully automated plate loading and unloading. The machine to machine accuracy of the KODAK SQUARESPOT thermal imaging heads, combined with the binary nature of thermal imaging, achieves consistent and repeatable halftone dot structures. THERMALNEWS printing plates meet the rigorous demands of newspaper printing. Precise reproduction of high resolution, first generation thermal dots, with no dot gain at plate level, provides outstanding quality output and run lengths of more than 200,000 without postbaking. And faster makeready and plate reliability gives newspapers extra editorial time. STACCATO screening produces high fidelity, artifact free images that exhibit fine detail and more impactful color in newspapers. STACCATO screening creates images without halftone rosettes, screening moiré, gray level limitations, or abrupt jumps in tone, with no impact on RIPing or rendering time. The KODAK PRINERGY Evo workflow system helps newspapers deal with last minute changes easily, without causing delays. Based on the latest standards and proven PRINERGY technology, PRINERGY Evo software delivers exceptional PDF processing capabilities. A flexible PDF workflow featuring proven color management, late-stage editing and imposition and advanced screening options to optimize output on TRENDSETTER NEWS CTP devices, PRINERGY Evo systems help deliver the end to end automation, speed, control, and flexibility that newspapers need to accommodate tight editorial and ad deadlines and output large numbers of pages more quickly. KODAK PREPS imposition software supports POSTSCRIPT, PDF, EPS, DCS and TIFF source files. It works with all KODAK and many major third party workflow systems. PREPS imposition software helps prepress professionals remove even more manual steps from their preferred workflow by providing digital imposition. PREPS software enhances production efficiency by integrating more thoroughly with various workflows and accepting more than 200 types of file inputs. PREPS imposition software also enhances prepress efficiency and enables greater postpress reliability by automatically generating bar codes that can be read by WST bar code readers. All GCG equipment is backed by KODAK Service & Support, Kodak Graphic Communications Group’s worldwide service organization, named Best Support Organization at the 2006 International Business Awards. KODAK Service & Support gives customers access to more than 3000 professionals in 120 countries qualified to control cost, maximize productivity and minimize business risk.