CBS Newspath Uses Scopus DVB Transmission Gear
to Offer Affiliates Live Republican and Democratic Convention Feeds
Princeton, New Jersey, September 3, 2004 CBS Newspath successfully deployed Scopus Network Technologies’ DVB digital video transmission equipment to cover the Republican National Convention (RNC), Aug. 30 – Sept. 2, and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), held July 26 29 in Boston. Using a complete Scopus CODICO® platform for encoding video signals, CBS Newspath delivered up to 15 different channels for CBS affiliates to pick up live remote feeds from the convention sites.
“We selected Scopus’ CODICO platforms for convention coverage because the equipment’s statistical multiplexing capability allows us to maximize our satellite inventory by fitting more channels into less bandwidth while maintaining the high quality of our broadcast signals,” said Tom Fearing, Director of Technical Operations at CBS Newspath. “We’re able to lower our costs by spending less on satellite space, and CBS affiliates find that the system makes tuning different channels easier because they can cycle through the service numbers faster than they would the individual frequencies provided by different carriers.”
CBS Newspath provides workspace and transmission facilities for affiliates and international broadcasters who want live on-site convention coverage and was the largest news organization at this year’s political conventions.For the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, eight VBR channels were statistically multiplexed into an MCPC stream with Scopus E-1000 encoders, under the control of a Scopus NMS-4000 management system, and routed into two RTM Series multiplexers. Additional RTM-3310 multiplexers aggregate four CBR ASI stream channels along with this 8 channel MCPC stream to produce the final 12 channel MCPC uplink package. The output of those devices goes through a SDM 2020 modulator, hits a CODICO RSW-7200 redundant switch, and then is output to an Advent uplink system for transmission to IA6 (formerly Telstar 6) Transponder 3 as a 47.25 MB/s MCPC carrier and downlinked by various affiliates across the country. This system and its associated efficiency allows CBS Newspath to transmit 12 channels in less than a full transponder, allowing for use of the remaining transponder bandwidth by other CBS groups.
In the switch from the DNC to the RNC, CBS Newspath reallocated channels fed from inside the convention to offer SCPC coverage of events taking place elsewhere in the city. Mobile trucks – some using Scopus’ E-1710 platforms– are facilitating these transmissions.
“We’re very pleased that CBS Newspath has chosen Scopus gear to enable coverage of yet another key political event,” said Carlo Basile, president of Scopus Americas. “Our products are known for providing reliable operation and excellent signal quality, and both these qualities are critical in coverage of events of this magnitude.”
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About CBS Newspath
CBS NEWSPATH, a 24-hour service of CBS News, is the world’s largest satellite newsgathering operation. The CBS News Division operates a worldwide news organization serving the CBS Television and Radio Networks with regularly scheduled news and public affairs broadcasts - including, among others, the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH DAN RATHER, THE EARLY SHOW, two editions of 60 MINUTES, 48 HOURS MYSTERIES, FACE THE NATION and SUNDAY MORNING - and special reports on breaking news. The division maintains 18 news bureaus and offices in the United States and abroad in addition to its world headquarters in New York.
About Scopus Network Technologies
Scopus Network Technologies provides MPEG-2 and DVB video distribution architectures that enable broadcasters, cable TV providers, and telco operators to transmit their content digitally. Built on more than 20 years in digital compression system development, Scopus solutions provide superior flexibility with exceptional performance at cost-effective prices. The CODICO® product line of encoders, multiplexers, trans-raters, and professional receivers supports comprehensive, end-to-end digital compression for video and data distribution networks. The company was the official supplier of the digital platform for the U.S. NBC broadcast of the 2004 Athens Olympics Games.
Scopus clients include global satellite broadcasters and cable television and telco operators such as CBS Newspath, CCTV, Deutsche Telekom, Doordarshan, EBU, FOX News, France Telecom, GlobeCast, Korea Telecom, MultiChoice, NBC Olympics, SES GLOBAL, SKY Italia, and others.
Scopus has offices in Princeton (N.J.), Mexico City, Mumbai, Beijing, Moscow, Frankfurt, London, São Paulo, Singapore, and Tel Aviv. For more information please visit the Scopus Web site at: www.scopus.net.
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