Subsessions

• The 99.9% Uptime SLA: Operational and Engineering Strategies for Mission-Critical Broadcast Resilience

  Saturday, April 18 | 1:30 – 1:50 p.m. | N256

  Jim DeChant

  With the move from traditional broadcast to an integrated multicast network approach, broadcasters must coordinate multiple disparate transmission facilities into a single, reliable network with 99.9% uptime. This performance aligns with the standards of cellular, satellite, and wired internet service providers. Achieving this cohesion requires new mechanisms and logistics, including: Rapid Deployment: Maintaining expert field staff and achieving guaranteed 8-hour on-site support in the contiguous U.S.This session will discuss best practices for emergency repairs, site evaluations, and annual maintenance cycles. It will also explore the essential role of integrated site monitoring—including environmental, power, RF systems, IP systems, security, and access control—and the ability to provide specialized equipment and fabrication quickly as part of assuring and maintaining resilience. Furthermore, the session will discuss real-world deployments of automated and staffed intelligent monitoring systems. These systems utilize probes and complex data sets to rapidly analyze the root causes of major outages, mitigate their effects, and initiate detailed engineering solutions (such as redundancy and power backup) to eliminate them. Near-Zero Downtime is no longer optional for broadcasters as transmission moves from bespoke systems into an integrated data delivery system.

• End-to-End Retainment of Origin Timestamps in Asynchronous Distributed Media Workflows

  Saturday, April 18 | 1:50 – 2:10 p.m. | N256

  ian wagdin, Mikael Wanggren, Andrew Rayner

  For live software-based systems such as those defined by the EBU in their Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) reference architecture there is the capability for media functions to process data asynchronously, only re-synchronising between elemental flows where required. We can leverage this to enable significant benefits both in terms of latency and efficiency of compute resource. To achieve this, there is a need for an ecosystem-based approach to time labelling which has benefits for both identity and synchronisation of IP based media flows and elements. It is possible today to build a system that uses existing standards to provide highly accurate absolute timestamps end-to-end from media origination all the way through to end user playout, including asynchronous workflows such as using DMF. In an ideal deployment each sample point is well defined in absolute time and each media frame is uniquely tagged using a timecode address that is translatable back to immutable timestamps in an IP based sysyem. This paper will explore the methods and constraints of building an end-to-end asynchronous distributed media workflows and in particular the relationships between all the current timing related specifications such as GNSS, PTP, ST 2059-1, ST12M, ST 309 and other possible alternatives such as MISB ST 0604.6 and MPEG TEMI (H222.0 Annex U).

• Wireless Microphone Operation for Mega-Events in the 1435–1525 MHz Band

  Saturday, April 18 | 2:10 – 2:30 p.m. | N256

  Joe Ciaudelli

  Many frequencies traditionally used by wireless microphones have become unavailable due to the re-purposing of the UHF TV band. Professional wireless microphone operators face unprecedented pressure to deliver flawless audio for the world’s most demanding productions – Super Bowls, political conventions, awards shows, breaking news, and other live broadcasts where failure is not an option. These events routinely require hundreds of wireless channels, far exceeding the capacity of remaining TV-band “white space.” To meet these escalating needs, the FCC has opened the 1435–1525 MHz band, long used for aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT), to qualified FCC Part 74 licensees under a tightly coordinated, coexistence-driven framework. This session explores how this shared-spectrum model works, why it matters, and what broadcast engineers need to know today. Access to the band is only granted after advance coordination with AFTRCC, which evaluates potential flight-test activity and may authorize up to 30 MHz of spectrum for exclusive use during the event. Operators receive a digital “electronic key” that unlocks compliant equipment to function only at approved times, locations, and frequencies. This safeguard ensures that critical AMT operations, where interference can have safety-of-life consequences, remain fully protected. The presentation will detail licensing eligibility, application procedures, spectrum-allocation rules, and how productions with extraordinary channel counts may request special temporary authorizations (STAs) for additional bandwidth. It will also outline equipment-authorization requirements like integrated location and time awareness tied to an electronic key system that ensures protection of AMT systems, as well as emerging implementation models, including GPS. New Wireless Multichannel Audio Systems (WMAS) will be highlighted for their spectral-efficiency and coexistence advantages within this band. Most importantly, attendees will learn how this system directly supports the operational realities of today’s broadcast environment. From complex intercom systems to in-ear monitors, interruptible fold-back systems, and performance mics, major productions rely on dense, interference-free wireless ecosystems. The 1435–1525 MHz framework enables these mission-critical workflows while ensuring peaceful coexistence with aviation users who also require absolute reliability. This session equips broadcasters, A1s, RF coordinators, and engineering managers with the knowledge needed to navigate shared spectrum, maintain compliance, and confidently deliver flawless audio for the nation’s most visible events.