View
228
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
1/6
220 221TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com 12-01/2012 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
Zero Tape Full HD
allprogrammingcontentstoredasles
hugele-basedelectronicarchive
globalcontentdistribution
productionandinternationalplayout
oflivecoverageofGermanBundesliga
soccermatches
fullyequippedforHDTV
This is what 4.6 m look like.Were talking about the diameterof one of CBCs uplink antennasin the new Cologne BroadcastingCenter.
COMPANY REPORT Uplink Provider
TELE-satellite Magazine
Business Voucherwww.TELE-satellite.info/12/01/CologneBroadcastingCenter
Direct Contact to Sales Manager
http://www.tele-satellite.info/12/01/CologneBroadcastingCenterhttp://www.tele-satellite.info/12/01/CologneBroadcastingCenter8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
2/6
Cologne
Open IPTV Forum650, Route des LuciolesF-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CedexFrance
Tel: +33 4 92 94 43 83Fax: +33 4 92 38 52 90
Email: contact@oipf.tvWebsite: www.oipf.tv
222 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com
The new CologneBroadcastingCenter in Germany
Achim Pauly is the head of Communication & Marketing at CBC. Here
he is seen right at the heart of CBC, overlooking the inner courtyard ofthe former exhibition halls on the Rhine river.
CBC has recently launched one the most modern broadcasting
centers worldwide. It goes without saying that such a major pro-
ject was not put into operation over night, but rather was a step-
by-step process spanning several months. In mid-2010 the rst
production units were able to move to the new center, we learn
from Achim Pauly, head of Communication & Marketing at CBC.
Today, all companies and networks of German media enter-
prise RTL Deutschland operate from the new CBC, which is lo-
cated in premises directly on the banks of the Rhine river. What
formerly used to be exhibition halls has turned into a top-notch
and one of the leading media and broadcasting centers in the
world, even though youd be hard pressed to notice that right
away, with historic facades meticulously preserved.
Within the RTL media group CBC is in charge of production,
post-production, technology, IT and content distribution. CBC
COMPANY REPORT Uplink Provider
8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
3/6
224 225TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com 12-01/2012 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
All signals from RTL mediagroup are beamed to thesatellites from this spot.These uplink antennas arelocated at CBC in Cologneright on the banks of theRhine river.
was responsible for planning and imple-
menting all structures and processes of
the new broadcasting center in relation
to production, broadcasting and IT, and
now runs the operations.
RTL media group is a leading media
corporation whose portfolio consists of
fully-owned free TV channels RTL Tel-
evision, VOX and n-tv, as well as share-
holdings in RTL II and SUPER RTL and
pay TV channels RTL Crime, Passion
and RTL Living.Mido Fayad heads the broadcasting
department and has some in-depth in-
formation: Here in Cologne our broad-
casting engineers and technicians look
after the RTL, VOX and Super RTL net-
works for Germany, Austria and Swit-
zerland, as well as the special interest
channels RTL Crime, RTL Living and
Passion. In addition, we distribute the
n-tv news channel from here. Our sec-
ond location in Munich/Grnwald takes
care of RTL II for Germany, Austria and
Switzerland.
CBC is also the broadcasting center of
choice for a number of content provid-
ers outside the RTL media group, such
as Channel 21, for example, whose pro-
gram is also distributed via CBC.
Not only is CBC in charge o f the tech-
nical aspects of broadcasting and play-
out, but has turned into an full-service
provider. According to Fayad, the new
broadcasting center features four fully-
edged studios, a range of sets for TV
productions, as well as in excess of 70post-production units. We also produce
German Bundesliga live coverage for
distribution outside Germany. On behalf
of Sportcast we offer complete match
coverage and produce highlight seg-
ments in foreign languages. CBC is live
on air on all 34 match days of the year
and distributes Bundesliga broadcasts
to more than 180 countries around the
globe.
Project manager Wilfried Klinke steps
in to add that all technology used is fully
HDTV compatible. RTL, VOX and RTL
II are offering their channels in HDTV
at this point, says Klinke. Naturally,
each network or channel decides inde-
pendently whether or not to of fer HDTV.
We even have experience with 3D pro-
ductions, Wilfried Klinke hastens to
add, providing further proof of CBCs
technical capabilities.
Originally, CBC was an offspring of
the technical department of the VOX
channel, which in its early days was
positioned as in infotainment channelwithin the RTL media group and thus
was equipped with state-of-the-art pro-
duction and broadcasting equipment
right from the start. CBC employees
Wilfried Klinke and Mido Fayad have
been with the business from those early
days. When the VOX technical depart-
ment became CBC in 1994 they were
two specialists among 50. These days
CBC has a staff of 500, 40 of which are
in charge of broadcasting, which at CBC
is called distribution. A much larger
share of employees is needed for con-
tribution, which basically means con-
tent production.
One of the high points at CBC is its
electronic archive. All broadcasts of
RTL media group channels are saved in
le format, Mido Fayad explains while
leading us to a high-security area of
the building which houses the so-called
Contentbank, a term CBC uses for its
enormous le-based archiving system.
9 petabyte of storage capacity are re-
quired to hold more than 160,000 hours
of content. Burnt onto CDs and stapled
one on top of the other you would end
up with a 16 km high pile of CDs; and
thats without jewel cases!
Looking at this impressive electronic
archive a question that comes to mind
is availability of stored content from
If you lookbetween the twohuge antennas youare able to catch aglimpse of CologneCathedral, thecitys unmistakablelandmark sight.Media journalistLuo Shigang fromShenzhen (China) isup on the roof andputs the sheer sizeof the antennas intoperspective.
8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
4/6
1
2
226 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com
the early days of RTL channels. We did
have digital recordings, explains pro-
ject manager Wilfried Klinke, but back
then they were stored on video tapes.
Those tapes had been archived in an
area covering more than 2,000 square
meters and using complex air-condi-
tioning systems. In the course of sev-
eral months we converted that data into
les and fed them into our electronic
archive. Achim Pauly adds that at CBC
we have a totally tape-less workow,with all processes being le-based.
CBC has extended its t ape-less work-
ow even beyond its own premises by
setting up a network linking major Ger-
man cities, London and New York for
exchanging content contributions. This
network is based on a bre-optic back-
bone and can be used to hook up studi-
os live on air via video-over-IP. For live
coverage from places with no local stu-
dios CBC runs a eet of SNG vehicles.
Susanne Jumpelt, head of Broadcast-
ing Sales & Marketing, has all the de-
tails: Our SNG vehicles are located in
Berlin, Munich and Moscow, as well as
two in Colgone. This strategic position-
ing allows quick access to almost all
places in Germany and Europe.
If you look up to the roof of the multi-
storey car park next to the CBC prem-
ises an impressive antenna farm soars
high into the sky. Of a total of 37 anten-
nas a whopping ve feature diameters
of 4.6 m and are all used for signal up-
link. Mido Fayad, head of the broadcast-
ing department, explains that four of
these giants are in permanent use, with
three antennas pointing to ASTRA 19.2E
and one to EUTELSAT 9E. The fth 4.6
m antenna serves as back-up.
So what happens if a heavy down-
pour moves through Cologne and reli-
able signal uplink may be compromised
due to the weather? Will all channels of
RTL media group go blank for satelliteviewers? No way, because the weather
is under constant observation here at
CBC and as soon as a thunderstorm
approaches we immediately switch the
uplink from Cologne to our outlet in
Grnwald near Munich. Their antennas
take over all uplink tasks within a mat-
ter of split seconds.
1. Project manager Wilfried Klinke in theantenna operating room. He reveals thathes been a loyal TELE-satellite reader fromday one in 1981.
2. One of the workstations in the mainswitching room. This is where satelliteantennas are controlled using CBCsin-house PilotSat software.
8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
5/6
228 229TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com 12-01/2012 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
13 broadcast playouts in Cologneand the Network Operation Center.60 distribution channels aremonitored and controlled in thisNOC.[Photo: CBC/Dirk Schwarz]
8/3/2019 Cologne Broadcasting Center
6/6
1
2
3
4
230 231TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine 12-01/2012 www.TELE-satellite.com www.TELE-satellite.com 12-01/2012 TELE-satel lite International The Worlds Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
Viewers will hardly notice anything
other than possibly some interference
for tenths of a second, during which
satellite receivers need to re-sync. This
way we are able to achieve extremely
high reliability and 99.999% signal
uplink to the satellite. The summer
months are particularly prone to fre-
quent thunderstorms which result in
numerous uplink shifts between Munich
and Cologne. We have noticed in re-
cent years that severe weather events
are increasing, Mido Fayad notes.
Yet, broadcasting reliability does not
1. Maicel Pancke is one of thebroadcasting engineers in the NOC.
2. Susanne Jumpelt (centre) is the headof Broadcasting Sales & Marketing.Apart from Teleport services she offersCBCs SNG vehicles on the market,whose transmissions are then receivedand distributed via the main switching
room.
stop there. Four diesel generators with
an output of 2.5 MW each can take over
power supply at CBC in case a power
failure in the public grid occurs. Our
emergency power supply is designed
to provide enough energy to keep all
technical installations up and running,
emphasises Wilfried Klinke. And it can
run endlessly, provided the tanks keep
getting topped up with diesel f uel.
Even though to date this contingency
plan never had to be activated it justgoes to show how diligently CBC makes
sure nothing can stop the production
and distribution of content.
Only the latest technology is good
enough for CBC every thing runs with-
out tape and this is an ideal base for
exploiting alternative distribution chan-
nels (such as IPTV, video-on-demand or
mobile applications) as well. Even 3D is
not out of the question for CBC, since all
technical components do not only sup-
port full HD but are also 3D compatible.
The future has already arrived at CBC.
3. This is what the CBC Contentbanklooks like. Behind a glass panel thereare rows of stapled data carriers.Mido Fayad, head of the broadcasting
department, and his colleagues lookafter this huge content archive.
4. Meet Jrgen Lieder: He managesthe main switching room and whathe loves most is to coordinate theglobal playout of German Bundesligasoccer matches. Here he can beseen preparing the broadcasts of theupcoming match day.
Recommended