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NBC moving network master to Denver


James Christensen

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28 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

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

It's a Comcast thing (actually even before them, to TCI) dating back to the 90s when they built out their digital ops center in the area. It's as far from an ocean as you can get, and they're light on earthquakes. It's about as optimum a master control center location near a large metropolis as you can get.

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18 minutes ago, H4UL4U said:

I also forgot to mention the TOC for Skypath, NBC's satellite distribution service for each of its affiliates has been at Dry Creek for awhile as well.

Isn’t SkyPath just the name for the satellite system for programming. Or is it specially used just for the O&Os. 

 

48 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

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 O&O.

There is an O&O - KDEN. 

 

Dry Creeks what NBC and Comcast call it. It’s like 30 Rock which is actually facing Sixth Avenue. 

 

1 hour ago, H4UL4U said:

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.

What’s being sent from DC? The shows produced there or the remote feeds that last I heard are downlinked and sent to NYC. 

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4 hours ago, rkolsen said:

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.  

Fun fact: Degan was a video operator for Maury and Sally until the latter’s 2002 cancellation and production for the shows was taken over from Studios USA by Universal. 

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1 hour ago, rkolsen said:

Isn’t SkyPath just the name for the satellite system for programming. Or is it specially used just for the O&Os?

It's the KU-band satellite system for program delivery for all affiliates that receive their network signal via satellite (as opposed to fiber). C-band is used as backup.

 

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4 hours ago, H4UL4U said:

It's the KU-band satellite system for program delivery for all affiliates that receive their network signal via satellite (as opposed to fiber). C-band is used as backup.

 

Is C-Band uplinked from both sites. I know there was an inititiative for fiber distribution amongst Newschannel.

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13 hours ago, rkolsen said:

Is C-Band uplinked from both sites. I know there was an inititiative for fiber distribution amongst Newschannel.

Not related to the post, but if there is an initiative for fiber distribution for NewsChannel it hasn't happened yet.

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21 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

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.

I Realize that it's Centennial not Denver.  Sorry for the confusion.    ( Look at FOX Television Stations, LLC they have master control in Las Vegas a city that they don't own a station in. So what is ironic about NBC having there facility here? )

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1 hour ago, H4UL4U said:

Not related to the post, but if there is an initiative for fiber distribution for NewsChannel it hasn't happened yet.

There was cloudpath I remembered for the TVE initiative and the fiber thing I’m thinking of is the affiliate exchange network (AXN) which used terrestrial and satellite distribution. 

20 minutes ago, DENDude said:

I Realize that it's Centennial not Denver.  Sorry for the confusion.    ( Look at FOX Television Stations, LLC they have master control in Las Vegas a city that they don't own a station in. So what is ironic about NBC having there facility here? )

Networks want a nice weather location where there’s not much risk of catastrophic weather events, well connected, stable power for places like these. In Denver there’s lots of fiber connectivity and no risk of hurricanes, minimal tornadoes, snow but satellite dish warmers probably do the trick (so someone won’t have to manually clear it) and they’re either near a substation or everything is underground. Vegas, the weathers fine but hot, not much seismic activity, plenty of fiber connectivity. Likewise the Encompass facility in Atlanta is far enough inland where a hurricane hitting the coast would be weakened enough to probably not hamper transmissions. 

19 hours ago, ColDayNews said:

Fun fact: Degan was a video operator for Maury and Sally until the latter’s 2002 cancellation and production for the shows was taken over from Studios USA by Universal. 

Shame he no longer works there.

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On 1/9/2019 at 2:06 PM, rkolsen said:

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.  

Cable nets are in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. it will soon be the backup for NBC and Telemundo networks.

 

Network master -- the NBC and Telemundo networks -- are moving from 30 Rock to Denver. Telemundo is there now as of a few weeks ago; NBC move coming this summer. Also, NBC utilizes three different uplink locations for NBC and Telemundo: New York (as mentioned above), but also an uplink near Denver and another in Universal City, California.

 

Separate from the NBC area at the Dry Creek office, Comcast has master control facilities for things like the NHL and PAC 12 network. 

 

Not sure there is any backup anymore in Los Angeles -- at least for NBC and Telemundo network. There is a big NBC office, including production and control rooms, but no master control facility. 

 

On 1/9/2019 at 4:51 PM, rkolsen said:

Isn’t SkyPath just the name for the satellite system for programming. Or is it specially used just for the O&Os. 

 

There is an O&O - KDEN. 

 

Dry Creeks what NBC and Comcast call it. It’s like 30 Rock which is actually facing Sixth Avenue. 

 

What’s being sent from DC? The shows produced there or the remote feeds that last I heard are downlinked and sent to NYC. 

 

SkyPath is the NBC system for KU satellite distribution to NBC affiliates. NBC uses SkyPath to "switch" stations based on clearances, they use it to send urgent messages to affiliates, etc. 

 

Only regular show produced/sent from DC is Meet The Press.

On 1/9/2019 at 10:46 PM, rkolsen said:

Is C-Band uplinked from both sites. I know there was an inititiative for fiber distribution amongst Newschannel.

NBC uplinks their primary channels (East, Central, Mountain, Pacific, but not alternate channels like the breaking news channel) via C-Band. Telemundo is only distributed via C-Band.

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  • 5 months later...

As of yesterday the move to Dry Creek is complete. NBC network master control is out of the Dry Creek facility with a backup facility at Englewood Cliffs.

 

R.I.P. 30 Rock BOC

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4 minutes ago, H4UL4U said:

As of yesterday the move to Dry Creek is complete. NBC network master control is out of the Dry Creek facility with a backup facility at Englewood Cliffs.

 

R.I.P. 30 Rock BOC

That’s an end of the era.  I noticed on the mulitiviewer look in during Today they have a box next to the clock Dry Creek return. I assume it’s there just so they know that Dry Creek is receiving the signal. 

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On 6/21/2019 at 12:43 AM, rkolsen said:

That’s an end of the era.  I noticed on the mulitiviewer look in during Today they have a box next to the clock Dry Creek return. I assume it’s there just so they know that Dry Creek is receiving the signal. 

Last I knew during live NBC programming they will route network master to a pre-select or some other source in the control room, and when it's break time the TD will simply switch to that source when the director says roll break/fade to black to master and the TD. Dry Creek return may even be a source on the "Today" control room switcher. In essence the control room is always "hot", but the network signal isn't being switched between the (for example) "Today" control room and the server the commercials are running out of. 

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12 hours ago, H4UL4U said:

Last I knew during live NBC programming they will route network master to a pre-select or some other source in the control room, and when it's break time the TD will simply switch to that source when the director says roll break/fade to black to master and the TD. Dry Creek return may even be a source on the "Today" control room switcher. In essence the control room is always "hot", but the network signal isn't being switched between the (for example) "Today" control room and the server the commercials are running out of. 

Makes sense given the pushbacks they do with ads with the coming up times and during Today with the weather.

 

I just mentioned Dry Creek as a source on the multiviewer as a confidence or return feed to make sure the signal is received properly at the site for transmission.

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  • 2 weeks later...

From 1995 to 2000 I ran the studio and production operations and facilities at Dry Creek (then known as TCI's National Digital Television Center or NDTC).  I wrote the purchase orders for two of the studios and control rooms.  In those days we ran master controls for as many as 38 national cable networks including BBC America and a number of the Discovery networks as well as Encore and Starz -- among others.

From 2006 to 2012 I was the lead director for an NBC Universal Sports Group RSN that originated in three studios that I either had had built or re-built.  Interesting that while I was there they moved the network's MCR from Dry Creek to New Jersey.  Go figure.

 

The building is over 300,000 square feet and includes several KU and C Band antennas there. 

The Titan uplink (located on Titan Road -- named for the Martin Marietta Titan missiles which are -- or perhaps were -- built at at the Martin Marietta plant which is a neighbor to the uplink facility.  At one time (I'm not sure about now), Titan was the biggest earth station facility in the US, if not the world.  My understanding is that along the I-25 corridor nearby is the only location in the US which can transmit to both Western Europe and the Pacific Rim on single satellite hops which can be done from Titan.

By the way,  I moved to NDTC from KCNC-TV in Denver which until 1995 was a NBC O&O.  It is now a CBS O&O.  I changed jobs just as the transition took place -- although that was not the reason for my decision.  NBC has been gradually moving technical operations to the Dry Creek facility since the NBC acquisition by Comcast.

I've been retired since 2012 so I'm certainly not up to date on all of the changes -- only what I know from my tenures in the Dry Creek facility.  And since then some of the information may have changed.  Back in the day TCi also had editing, studio or master control facilities in New York City, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

Tom Edwards

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12 hours ago, Tom 19201 said:

From 1995 to 2000 I ran the studio and production operations and facilities at Dry Creek (then known as TCI's National Digital Television Center or NDTC).  I wrote the purchase orders for two of the studios and control rooms.  In those days we ran master controls for as many as 38 national cable networks including BBC America and a number of the Discovery networks as well as Encore and Starz -- among others.

Tom Edwards

 

Good stuff Tom,

Thanks for joining, and sharing that with all of us.

 

 

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