The new WFSB-TV building in Rocky HIll, Conn., where the Meredith Corp.-owned CBS affiliate was moved last year.

Television stations are spending $3 million or more each to move into high-definition TV production, depending on whether they are converting an existing facility or starting from scratch. The transition to HD should be less traumatic than the transition from analog to digital, but it still requires substantive changes in facilities, equipment and infrastructure.

“We’re trying to integrate [Internet Protocol]-based technology with legacy broadcast technology,” said Preston Davis, president of broadcast operations and engineering for the ABC Television Network, which is in the process of building a new distribution center that will be ready for roll out in 2011. “It brings about a level of complexity that you wouldn’t have if you were building a file-based system from scratch.”

IP is where everyone is ultimately headed, said Scott Griffin, principal and vice president of engineering at The Systems Group, no matter how long it takes them to get there. “The leap from analog to standard digital was a dramatic leap for TV stations,” Griffin said.

“The leap from SD to HD is not as dramatic in many cases because facilities are already digital, but they are still dealing with lots of different wideband components that have to be swapped in... If we’re looking at a year, two or three down the road, the next wave of projects will be all about converting everything to IP-centric technology.”

Running file-based systems mean editors and producers can do neat tricks, like edit on the fly, have two or three producers at a time look at a clip or pull up digitally archived footage right on a desktop and then digitally edit it into new content. All that requires re-training most employees, said Dave Converse, vice president and director of engineering for ABC’s 10 TV stations.

“There’s a sweet spot between the current workflow, which is all about the culture that developed when we were doing news on film, and advanced file-based workflow that gives you lots of options,” Converse said.

“Most people over the age of 30 think that the way they learned and understood the business is the right way of doing it. Finding a way to afford people the time to think about these issues is the challenge.”

Most industry observers expect every commercial full-power station to convert to HD over the next few years.

“We all know that in five years every station will be broadcasting their local news in high definition,” said Doug Lowe, executive vice president of the Meredith Broadcast Group, which is comprised of 12 stations.

Three of those--WSMV-TV in Nashville, WGCLTV Atlanta and KPHO-TV Phoenix--are in the process of flipping the HD switch. Stations and networks also have long wish-lists identifying what sorts of systems, software and equipment they would like to see become available.
Sorting through all the choices--whether to build entirely new facilities, which vendors to select, which equipment to purchase--is overwhelming enough that many TV stations and networks employ an integrator, such as Azcar in Pittsburgh; Hoboken, N.J.-based The Systems Group; Austin, Texas-based Fred Beck Associates; National Teleconsultants in Burbank; and TV Magic in San Diego, Calif., to mention a few.

GREEN VS. GREENBACKS
Integrators say energy-efficient equipment tops nearly every client’s wishlist, although they have to pick and choose because “green” equipment costs more initially even if it saves money in the long run. As stations and networks evolve their facilities into full HD plants, they are increasingly interested in conservation, particularly because increasingly complex systems use and throw off an incredible amount of energy.

“We have had to change a lot of our techniques to meet efficiency requirements, particularly with regard to lighting and air-conditioning systems,” said Karl Paulsen, chief technology officer of Azcar. “Fifteen years ago, people needed cooling systems that could cool 100 watts per square foot in broadcast facilities. Five years ago, that number grew to 400 watts per square foot. I just spoke to a vendor who said they’ve designed their systems for a power density as high as 2,500 watts per square foot.”

“Energy efficiency is just good business,” said Meredith’s Lowe. “It’s good for us and good for the environment. And one of the advantages of not being first is that the equipment is a little bit lower priced and more efficient by design.”

While stations and networks want to conserve electrical energy, they also want to conserve employee energy through improved workflow. More interoperable audio and video formats would help, said ABC’s Davis, as would better media management systems.

ONE FORMAT PER PLATFORM
“We need to have some standards around the formats that people are using in some of these alternative distribution media,” Davis said. “We have one format for iTunes, another for VOD clients, and the linear network runs on different formats. Over the years, audio and video standards have emerged for traditional broadcast. That same process needs to take place on these alternative platforms.”

Easier-to-use formats would make IPbased media asset management systems more feasible, allowing stations and networks to more easily access, track and distribute all of their content. For example, one piece of video can be created and then distributed in a station’s newscast, on its Web site and over its mobile broadcast system.

“The concept of ingesting a piece of content once and using it many times is becoming more common,” Paulsen said. “Media asset management is getting more focused on that as stations and networks face new challenges in repurposing content.”

CRAWLING INTO THE FILE ETHOS
“We believe in having everything running on a file-based system from top to bottom,” said Andrew G. Setos, president of engineering for the Fox Group. “And I think we’re getting there--there are more and more products out there that are able to manage content in a file-based setting— but those products are just emerging so we’re all still just crawling.”

Earl Arbuckle is vice president of engineering for the 27 Fox TV Stations, 18 of which carry news and four of which are doing HD or almost ready to hit the switch. The Philadelphia affiliate is up in HD; New York and Los Angeles are scheduled to complete their HD studios in October; and Chicago is on track for the second quarter of 2009.

“We’re always looking for equipment based on open standards,” Arbuckle said. “There’s a lot of emphasis on the Web these days, so we’re always trying to figure out if what we’re doing for TV production can be used with what we’re doing for Web production. And in the near future that will mean mobile production as well.”
Perhaps the greatest challenge to the HD conversion has emerged in recent weeks: Wall Street’s financial collapse. What today’s bank failures and resulting credit crunch mean for the media business remains unclear. So far, no one said they’ve begun changing their conversion plans because of the tough economic climate but everyone added: “yet.”

“I think all of us are getting nervous, but there’s still a lot of work going on and a lot of money flowing,” Griffin said. There’s also logistics to consider, said Meredith’s Lowe. “In these days when revenues are down and business isn’t what it’s been, it’s not smart to go out and spend 50 percent more on anything,” he said. “But to put these things on hold when you’ve already started, that just ends up costing you more money in the end.”