|
Satellite
Uplinking |
NTL
- more than just cable
October/November
2001
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NTL is perhaps
best known for its UK and European cable distribution business, bringing cable
TV, telephony and the Web to millions of homes across Europe. But NTL is also
the distributor of the ITV network's terrestrial programmes and also most
of the ITV Digital terrestrial channels. It also has a long history in uplinking
specialist signals to satellite.
 |
| Steve
Holbrook, NTL's Director of Satellite Services |
NTL's portfolio
of work is staggering. The recent Madonna wedding at Skibo Castle, Scotland
was handled by NTL, for example, where their trucks were deployed as well as
at Dornoch Cathedral where they established live positions for coverage of all
the activity surrounding Madonna's wedding (and baby's christening) for a major
news agency. Their fleet of SNG vehicles and flyaway units include satellite
uplinks, cameras, editing and full production capability, ready for action almost
immediately to cover news and other events around the world.
Traditionally an SNG truck goes on location (an Outside Broadcast - OB) and
transmits a single picture and associated audio via satellite to a downlink.
With the advent of services such as interactive sports coverage, which allow
you to see the game from four different camera angles, broadcasters now need
to get multiple channels to the downlink in one fell swoop.
NTL's four-channel SNG mux-truck allows just one van to transmit up to four
video channels at the same time instead of just one. The mux-truck can cope
with analogue or digital inputs.
On Saturday 3 February 2001,Wales met England in one of the opening games of
this year's Rugby Six Nations Championship at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
One of NTL's OB unit TV Scanners, covered the match for BBC Wales using their
digital OB Unit 6 as part of their ongoing contract with BBC Wales to cover
all of their sports Obs.
The game was broadcast live on network Grandstand with a total of 19 cameras,
13 VTs and an OB crew of 47, overseen by Scanners' Managing Director, Mick Bass,
and Engineering Manager, Dennis Butcher. This was a large scale project involving
a complete day to rig cables into the Stadium, a complete day to rig all the
technical equipment, the transmission day itself, and a day to de-rig the Stadium.
NTL is providing global satellite distribution for the World Sport Group's (WSG)
coverage of the 10 international cricket tours in Sri Lanka, including the recent
England tour. The three-year deal with WSG also includes the next two ICC Knock
Outs in 2002 and 2004 and the Cricket World Cup in southern Africa in 2003.
NTL also uplinks permanent channels. For example, the world's number one shopping
channel, QVC, has just confirmed NTL will uplink its broadcasts in a three year
deal worth more than £1 million. The channel will be played from QVC''s studio
in London and sent to NTL's giant teleport at Crawley Court in Hampshire for
onward distribution. From there NTL will uplink the signal to Sirius GE1E, as
well as providing and alternative analogue route for QVC.
Other well-known names, like Cartoon Network, Bid-Up TV, the ITN News Channel
and TV Job Shop are long-term users of NTL's original uplink facility at Crawley
Court, Winchester. But NTL is developing a massive new 20 acres uplink site
at Morn Hill, near Winchester, which gives extra access to Eutelsat and Astra's
fleet of satellites. The new site also boosts access to a greater range of satellites
offering an expanded service portfolio, including telecoms services and Internet
backhaul links to developing countries in Asia, the Middle East, Central Europe
and Latin America.
The site will house more than twenty antennas by 2004 taking the company's total
antenna count to sixty.
