MUMBAI: Discovery US has launched a state-of-the-art Discovery Television and Technology Center. This will serve as the new home for the network origination for 13 of Discovery's US Networks and BBC America, encompassing a total of 17 network feeds.
As Discovery US celebrates its 20th anniversary later this year, the company will provide increasingly connected consumers with the highest quality viewing experience through the digital, file-based, high-definition ready, owned-and-operated playout facility which began broadcasting today. In this digital age, the Discovery Television and Technology Center, located in Virginia leverages the latest technology to ensure that Discovery's commitment to quality extends all the way from production to air.
The aim of the Center's specialized technology, systems and staff will be to guarantee that when viewers tune into any of Discovery's US Networks they will be met with quality programming provided at superior broadcast standards. Discovery states that the facility is a fusion of broadcast and information technology that enables the use of digital files paired with high-bandwidth data networking instead of video tapes for the storage and distribution of all programs, commercials, and other broadcast elements.
As a result, the center provides cost-effective flexibility that can evolve with Discovery as it brings content to a growing number of subscribers through traditional and new media. With system integration services provided by Ascent Media Systems & Technology Services, the true design and operational center of the facility is the glass-enclosed, circular master control area that can support any mixture of up to 64 channels of HD or SD programming. The master control features three on-air supervisor posts, with the ability to add one more, and is surrounded by ten transmission pods that can be easily configured to control as little as one or as many as six of Discovery's US Networks in various combinations based on business needs.
Additionally, the design will result in tremendous operational cost savings, while providing the ability to ensure proper signal monitoring during key programming day parts. The center boasts eight active media ingest/QC suites that can be grown to ten, a HD/SD-hybrid live events control room, two non-linear post-production suites and a transmission operations center (TOC). The fully integrated, server-based venue also hosts a massive digital data archive and on-site physical media library. After the initial content ingest, the entire end-to-end workflow occurs in a tapeless manner employing five video servers that provide 2000 hours of online storage and a nearline tape archive that supports up to 90 petabytes of high-resolution content.
