Brad on Broadcast

Over the past year, there’s probably been more coverage of the FCC’s proposed National Broadband Plan (NBP) than anything except healthcare. Now that the commission’s wide-ranging plan has been released, broadcasters are asking, “What does it mean to me?” Let’s examine that question. more

When I first entered the television business, not so long ago, I worked at one of the three (total) TV stations in Wichita, KS. Shortly thereafter, a public station went on the air bringing the total number of OTA broadcasters to four. It remained a competition between those four stations for years. It wasn’t until cable entered the market in the late 1960s that Wichita viewers had more than these four stations to watch.

Today, Wichita viewers, and most around the country, can select from perhaps more than 200 channels of programming delivered by cable and satellite. Broadcasters who work in Wichita no longer have three competitors, they have hundreds. Soon there may be thousands of channels from which to choose. more

The OMVC released its sponsored white paper, “Assessing the Mobile DTV Opportunity and its Role in the United States Communications Ecosystem,” written by Danielle Levitas, an employee of the IDC research firm last week. The white paper makes a supportive case for the launch of OTA mobile broadcasting. The white paper may be a useful resource as broadcasters begin implementing mobile transmission. more

Does anyone recall the days when you could name a genuine engineer at the FCC? No, I don’t mean politicians like Adelstein, Reed, Kennard and Genachowski. I mean a real FCC engineer — someone who knew a few of Kirchhoff’s laws. Today, the term “law” at the FCC has nothing to do with physics.

In 1948, the FCC had 720 engineers on staff; today, it has fewer than 300. That represents a 62 percent reduction in technical staffing, even though the FCC is facing daunting technical issues. more

By Don Markley

While big generator capability is pretty well known in the industry, a short-term power supply source in the UPS business is quietly becoming popular for broadcast stations. The temporary energy source is the flywheel. more

This post is meant to be a primer on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) and how it may affect broadcasters. We’ll provide some background on key parts of the commission’s NBP chapter 5, Spectrum, and how it may affect the future of the broadcast industry. You are encouraged to read the entire plan, or at least chapter 5, because it will affect your future. more

Agree? Disagree?

The FCC has proposed that either free or low-cost broadband be provided to the entire nation. The projected cost, depending on how you assemble the numbers, is from $5 billion to $15 billion.

I’m curious whether Broadcast Engineering readers think the idea of providing free or low-cost Internet is a good idea. Is Internet access a fundamental human “right?” more

Editor’s note: We continue our series on power systems, written by Don Markley. These articles appeared in previous issues of Broadcast Engineering magazine.

Along with the spring and summer season, comes thunder and lightning—all of which mean trouble for broadcasters. We are well aware of the problems caused by lightning strikes on or near power lines. They can cause power outages that can take the station off the air as well as doing real physical damage to the station’s equipment. Such causes also may get blamed for wiping out the entire East Coast.

However, did you know that it may well be that the winter months, at least in the northern states, are more worrisome. For stations in the South, you miss out on all the ice but have hurricanes to worry about. Like a divorce, these natural disasters can take your house, your car and your tower along with the power lines. In addition, as so many stations have been reminded, the power grid is not totally safe from a massive failure. Indeed, as the infrastructure continues to age, electrical loads continue to increase, and we continue to have an irrational fear of nuclear power plants, the odds of massive power failures will continue to increase. more

By Don Markley

Editor’s note: Maintaining power to a facility is job one for any engineer. For the next few columns, we will learn from Broadcast Engineering’s former expert on power and RF systems, Don Markley. While his dedication to teach others was timeless, Don left us Oct. 22, 2009.

Preventative maintenance goes a long way.

There is an old joke that has been floating around the industry for years. It claims that a station chief tested the standby power plant every week for years by starting it and running it for a short time. When the day came that the power actually failed for the first time, he couldn’t get the generator online; it seems that the starter button was worn out.

That doesn’t mean you should stop doing maintenance. In truth, the entire primary power system needs ongoing service. The time involved and frequency of the work may be different than for the RF or video systems, but it’s an absolute must. more

On Tuesday, March 9, Cisco announced a new generation of its telecom switch. The switch, Carrier Routing System CRS-3, builds on the company’s previous model, the CRS-1. For video professionals, this new switch provides a hint at the bandwidth that tomorrow’s IP circuits will be capable of providing.

The new CRS-3 handles up to 322Tb/s of traffic. Just how fast is 322Tb/s? Glad you asked.

The switch is so fast you download the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress in just over one second. The switch could allow every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously. Of most interest to Broadcast Engineering readers, this switch is so fast that you could download every motion picture ever made in less than four minutes! more