Time Warner Cable (TWC) has ventured into a new business service by creating a regional sports network in a major markets. The new entity is Time Warner Cable SportsNet. This facility supporting the Los Angeles and the greater Southern California market is located in El Segundo, CA. TWC SportsNet has obtained the broadcast rights for the next 20 years for Los Angeles Lakers basketball. TWC SportsNet also has 10-year broadcast rights for Los Angeles Galaxy soccer starting in 2014.
To showcase the games, TWC launched two regional sports networks in HD, including the nation’s first Spanish-language regional sports network, with stateof-the-art facilities to bring fans compelling Lakers content using the latest technology. They will be available to all satellite, cable and telco distributors in the Lakers’ territory, which includes all of Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.
The networks include a number of elements custom-designed for Lakers fans, including a single destination where Lakers fans can find all locally televised home and away games, and a variety of new and original Lakers’ content featuring behind-the-scenes, personality and classic programming.
In addition, the Spanish-language channel is a stand-alone RSN with its own dedicated production of game telecasts and other unique content tailored to Spanish-speaking Lakers fans — not an SAP feed.
There are three network channels originating from the facility: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes and a second English-language regional network. The design concept was to build two studios with two separate production control spaces, each supporting English- and Spanish-language channels respectively, with their own individual program and content requirements. The facility has three major studios with architectural infrastructure for three production support spaces.
The technical and production spaces are housed in a 40,000sq-ft industrial space. There is an adjacent 25,000sq-ft building for executive and administrative staffing. The production building was a vacant, empty shell in July 2011. Diversified collaborated with Gensler and Associates architectural firm to lay out the studios and technical spaces with adjacency and physical workflow considerations. During the architectural programming, schematic and design development phases of the project, Diversified Systems contributed A&E criteria to the project’s mechanical and electrical consultants, all the while working to provide detailed systems design and implementation services.
Because the team had but 14 months to turn an empty shell into a working facility, each shareholder recognized the need for constant collaboration, communication and coordination. Applying those three C’s, the project team did not experience any difficulties during the design/build. The only constraint was keeping the project within budget, but value-engineering from the start allowed the team to adjust to the realities of cost without affecting performance.
Using the experience of Diversified’s project managers and engineering staff guaranteed close integration of the various manufacturers and equipment vendors. Integration, commissioning and training were well-organized and provided a seamless process to the customer.