2. Condensed Timeline
• September 1999 WGBH and Harvard begin discussions and a
collaborative effort on the move of WGBH out of it’s Allston campus.
• Late 1999 WGBH begins the search for a new location.
• April- May 2002 WGBH closes deal on Brighton Landing site.
• Design/build 2003- 2007
• Phased move March to July 2007
4. Infrastructure Comparison- Then and Now
Old facility at Western Ave (1964- 2007)
• Analog plant with digital islands.
• Infrastructure additions and rebuilds over the years as needs dictated, IT
fiber backbone in the mid 90’s for voice/data.
• Mostly copper transport of video except for external telecom interfaces.
(Verizon TV-1 circuits late 80’s)
5. Infrastructure Comparison- Then and Now
New facility at Brighton
• Wideband “digital” infrastructure
• Extensive fiber optic backbone for voice, data and video transport
• Multi-bit rate video routing (HD capable)
6. The Need for Bigger and Faster Highways
TV before the 90’s
• Analog plants with modest bandwidth requirements. (NTSC analog
composite video distribution and transmission limited to 4.2 Megahertz)
•Analog audio channel at 15 Kilohertz.
TV since the 90’s
• Analog plants transitioning to digital, in part because of the FCC
mandated DTV transition.
• DTV makes possible the transmission of high definition video and multichannel audio.
• The numbers for uncompressed real time transport.
Serial Digital HD video bit rate is 1.5 Gigabits per second (1080i and 720P)
AES/EBU digtial audio is 3 Megabits per second. (2 channels)
7. Infrastructure Decisions
• Need for flexible, extensible, future proof technical core and distribution.
• Copper and fiber backbone distribution in star configuration MDF to IDF
• Properly sized demark rooms with cooling and backup power
• Backbone to support all manner of signal transport, baseband video –
audio, RF, voice and data.
9. WGBH Broadcast Systems Using Fiber
•Transport of Lband RF from Roof top
satellite dishes to Master Control.
• Riser Distribution of MATV, off air and
“house” channels.
• Production SAN employing fiber
channel technology between edit rooms
and studios.
•Bidirectional audio and video routing
between buildings.