IP-based centralcasting
Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY MARK WARNER
Flexibility and redundancy
Centralcasting can also position stations for HDTV broadcast. For example, stations may currently receive signals via centralcasting in SD and upconvert them to HD. Network feeds are sent in native HD and can be accessed via satellite at the individual stations. However, in the future, those HD network feeds may be captured at the NOC, encoded into MPEG-4, transmitted over the IP network and then downconverted at the stations wherever necessary.
While the individual remote stations are being fed programming by the NOC, centralcasting stations still have a high degree of autonomy. They can break away from the network if they need to, for example, to produce a local newscast, and then rejoin centralcasting when they're finished.
Centralcasting can be designed with many levels of redundancy to ensure failsafe operations. While live programming is sent from the NOC to stations for broadcast, program content can also be sent in advance of airtime to individual stations on a lower bit rate, store/forward basis and placed on a station's server. In the event of a technical problem, station personnel can switch to the local server and air that content from the server, as well as any evergreen programming they keep stored there.
Also, because most stations still have satellite downlink equipment on hand, in an emergency, a centralcasting NOC could resort to sending a program or two to the remote stations using satellite transmission. If for any reason network feeds can't be relayed to the stations, each station can still directly access feeds from the network with the flip of a switch.
In the event that a DS3 circuit should fail, the network can be set up to switchover to another telco service, or to squeeze an additional transport stream into the spare bandwidth of another DS3 circuit. The individual stations can use several circuits, which further improves reliability.
Return on investment
All of these redundant measures can be activated and controlled from a central hub, so the remote stations do not have to hire as many master control operators, which reduces operating costs.
By centralizing several of its stations' operations at its hub — including master control, syndicated programming ingest and preparation, traffic, and other engineering and production positions — a broadcast group can save money, cut staff or reassign personnel to other critical tasks. Installing an integrated production system could reduce a production control room full of operators to just a technical director and producer to handle local newscasts.
As centralcasting stations realize these operational cost-savings, they are freeing up money that can be spent to expand the plant and improve the on-air product, such as offering their local newscasts in HD. This move enables them to gain a distinct market advantage by attracting high-profile HDTV viewers, which in turn can drive additional ad revenue to the station.
Mark Warner is vice president of Advanced Broadcast Solutions (ABS).
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