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NBC moving network master to Denver


James Christensen

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NBCU is moving their master control operations for both NBC & Telemundo NETWORK to their facility near Denver - known as Dry Creek. Telemundo originating full time in the next few weeks, NBC by next summer. Shutting down what they call "BOC" at 30 Rock.

 

Source: I work in the building. Also, union representing the operators in New York: [MEDIA=twitter]1022189298144227328[/MEDIA]

 

And this is the same facility their NBC & Telemundo O&Os are located.

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I thought the Colorado facility already served as the backup location unless that’s still at Universal City.

There is a backup facility at Dry Creek. Skypath was re-located there several years ago as well.

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A backup facility doesn't necessarily have the capability of performing all the normal functions of the primary BOC. Consider that several hours of programming on the network are produced live directly inside 30 Rock. While the existing BOC has these feeds readily available internally, they're probably not currently feeding them all to Dry Creek. There's really no reason to. In an emergency situation where 30 Rock is unable to originate programming, it's unlikely those shows are going to happen anyways.

 

I would be willing to bet that through all the "emergencies" that 30 Rock has had... The 1996 fire, the 2001 anthrax scare, the 2003 power outage... they've never actually had to switch to a backup facility. I'd bet the existing "backup facility" is less impressive than it sounds.

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There is a backup facility at Dry Creek. Skypath was re-located there several years ago as well.

 

Yes, but shouldn’t they be diverse? It sounds like they’re moving the primary to Dry Creek which is the road the Comcast Media Center is, which is where I thought the backup was located.

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FWIW to this discussion, here's a diagram Comcast included in an FCC filing back in August that shows how the different Comcast/NBCUniversal facilities connect to each other.

 

[ATTACH]6794[/ATTACH]

 

Here’s a full pdf of where that slide came from. It was urging the FCC to save the C band spectrum. The FCC was/is going to auction off some of it but not around official earth stations.

 

https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/1051083897297/2018-05-10 Comcast C-band Ex Parte McGrath Dkts 17-183 18-122.pdf

 

Also Titan in that map is a seperate facility 15 miles from CMC and appears to be a satellite farm.

 

https://www.tvtechnology.com/miscellaneous/comcast-media-center-opens-a-new-content-distribution-operations-center

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A backup facility doesn't necessarily have the capability of performing all the normal functions of the primary BOC. Consider that several hours of programming on the network are produced live directly inside 30 Rock. While the existing BOC has these feeds readily available internally, they're probably not currently feeding them all to Dry Creek. There's really no reason to. In an emergency situation where 30 Rock is unable to originate programming, it's unlikely those shows are going to happen anyways.

 

I would be willing to bet that through all the "emergencies" that 30 Rock has had... The 1996 fire, the 2001 anthrax scare, the 2003 power outage... they've never actually had to switch to a backup facility. I'd bet the existing "backup facility" is less impressive than it sounds.

 

Dry Creek has been the backup for at least a few years, as far as I know. Use to be a bare bones type backup, but they've really built it out in preparation for this change, im told. All the shows from 30 rock, DC and LA are fed there now over fiber, recorded and they backup every network feed now. They've been shadowing everything for awhile. Friend told me they had to use the Colorado facility for like 8 hours a few months ago when 30 rock master had a huge problem.

 

That letter is from July. Any updates since then, or is this just typical union/management bluster?

 

Despite that letter, they're moving forward. Like I said, per chatter inside the building, Telemundo full time here in the next few weeks and NBC next summer. There were more letters I saw from the union conceding the change would happen, but can't find them on their site. Dry Creek has hired a bunch of new operators and managers.

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Yes, but shouldn’t they be diverse? It sounds like they’re moving the primary to Dry Creek which is the road the Comcast Media Center is, which is where I thought the backup was located.

 

Same building. Dry Creek is the CMC. NBC NOC here is for the O&O's, cable streaming and backup and soon to be network. 30 rock NOC going away, and the other NBC NOC in New Jersey at CNBC building is main cable master and will backup network after the Colorado move.

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Same building. Dry Creek is the CMC. NBC NOC here is for the O&O's, cable streaming and backup and soon to be network. 30 rock NOC going away, and the other NBC NOC in New Jersey at CNBC building is main cable master and will backup network after the Colorado move.

 

I was just making a connection that Dry Creek = CMC. So from what your saying the cable channels will remain at Englewood Cliffs while the backup NOC, replacing Universal City?

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Also Titan in that map is a seperate facility 15 miles from CMC and appears to be a satellite farm.

 

Like Dry Creek, Titan is named after a nearby road (Titan Parkway/Titan Road). Titan has a Littleton address, I believe, and is about 6 miles as the crow files southwest of Dry Creek in Centennial. The dishes are easy to spot from along US Highway 85 in the area.

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I was just making a connection that Dry Creek = CMC. So from what your saying the cable channels will remain at Englewood Cliffs while the backup NOC, replacing Universal City?

 

Correct. I don't think universal City has been in the mix for network/cable/locals origination for awhile. Under the new setup w/o 30 rock:

 

Dry Creek: NBC & Telemundo network, O&O hub, and cable backup (they also do cable streaming I believe).

Englewood Cliffs: Cable channels and NBC & Telemundo network backup

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How do the other networks do it? I know ABC is all cloud based, but last I knew they still operated traditional BOC facilities in New York and LA. Since they went to cloud based master control, though, they have outsourced it for the O&O stations to Encompass in Atlanta.

 

CBS significantly upgraded their NOC in New York about 10 years ago. I have no clue about Fox other than it also is in Los Angeles.

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How do the other networks do it? I know ABC is all cloud based, but last I knew they still operated traditional BOC facilities in New York and LA. Since they went to cloud based master control, though, they have outsourced it for the O&O stations to Encompass in Atlanta.

 

CBS significantly upgraded their NOC in New York about 10 years ago. I have no clue about Fox other than it also is in Los Angeles.

 

Not sure. Think CBS is still NY and LA. At ABC people are essentially button pushers. If I recall there was some outcry at ABC because the number of techs weren’t needed to maintain equipment as it’s all virtualized in a server. ABCs setup is they send uncompressed live programming to two datacenters and its encoded and all and sent back to NY to be uplinked.

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Fox has two NOCs: Houston and Los Angeles.

 

Houston’s was most recently constructed in 2006, so technology there is still somewhat up-to-date. Fox sends programming through Houston and back to the Network Center in LA to be uplinked.

 

Houston serves Fox’s cable networks/the RSNs with the exception of Fox News Channel which is controlled out of NY.

 

The O&Os were supposed to be run out of here until Fox abandoned the plan and went to Vegas instead.

 

After Harvey the building escaped with minimal to no damage which is honestly remarkable.

 

https://m.chron.com/neighborhood/woodlands-news/article/Building-begins-on-Fox-facility-in-Woodlands-1862284.php

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
35 minutes ago, DENDude said:

I Was told a year or so ago that NBC's Network Master control was co-located at CNBC HQ in Englewood cliffs.  So it's Denver huh?   COOL!!!!!! 

The cable networks as of last check are colocated in Englewood Cliffs.  The network master is based in Denver which plays out numerous other channels (for other companies) and was a property that Comcast was running before the NBC acquisition.  From what I understand the backup facility is still in Los Angeles.

 

Previously (or still is until the change) the NBC and Telemundo Master Control is located in 30 Rock behind bulletproof proof glass and I believe is shown as part of the tour.   From there it is was uplinked from the Fox News Building (this was back in 2010 according to Dennis Degan) but I imagine for something so critical you would want the uplink as close as possible. Of course the crew at Englewood is equally as capable to manage uplink faults.  

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On 11/20/2018 at 7:12 AM, ColDayNews said:

Fox has two NOCs: Houston and Los Angeles.

 

Houston’s was most recently constructed in 2006, so technology there is still somewhat up-to-date. Fox sends programming through Houston and back to the Network Center in LA to be uplinked.

 

Houston serves Fox’s cable networks/the RSNs with the exception of Fox News Channel which is controlled out of NY.

 

The O&Os were supposed to be run out of here until Fox abandoned the plan and went to Vegas instead.

 

After Harvey the building escaped with minimal to no damage which is honestly remarkable.

 

https://m.chron.com/neighborhood/woodlands-news/article/Building-begins-on-Fox-facility-in-Woodlands-1862284.php

The Master Control and uplink for the Fox RSN's is in LA. Not sure when it moved from Houston.

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2 minutes ago, Weeters said:

 

The Master Control and uplink for the Fox RSN's is in LA. Not sure when it moved from Houston.

If I had to make an educated guess, I think Fox moved their master control operations for the FSNs to Houston sometime in the early 2000s (not sure exactly when they made that move)

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NBC's NOC will be run from 30 Rock until summer (barring delays). Dry Creek is shadowing 30 Rock and has been for some time, and previously was the backup to 30 Rock. Everything that is sent via fiber from Washigton is sent to to Dry Creek and New York.

 

Telemundo's NOC is already at Dry Creek. Englewood Cliffs, NJ will serve as the backup for Dry Creek once it becomes the primary.

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6 hours ago, DENDude said:

I Was told a year or so ago that NBC's Network Master control was co-located at CNBC HQ in Englewood cliffs.  So it's Denver huh?   COOL!!!!!! 

 

Let's be clear. This is Centennial, Colorado. Dry Creek is the name of the road.

 

Also, I find it ironic that NBC master control is located in a market in which they don't own an NBC O&O.

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