[QuadList] Wherefor art thou, O Master Control?--Centralcasting and PBS stations--

[Ted Langdell]

Thinking of all the Quad machines that once were an integral part of public television stations' daily operations, the people who ran and maintained them, one can't help but wonder whether those types of systems would be sustainable today.

The idea of running stations from a central hub isn't new.  State-wide educational networks with some remotely controlled facilities have been common since the 1960'

The widely separated stations in one not-commonly-owned group of PBS member stations is rather remarkable, especially considering the markets served.

Funded by a $7-million dollar CBP grant, WJCT, Jacksonville will be the central hub according to this guest-written TV Technology article:

http://www.tvtechnology.com/business/0107/streamlining-production-at-public-tv/223359

WJCT for-profit subsidiary JCT Services, LLC will do the work. Its vice president Duane Smith writes that “11 public television stations that are currently centralizing their master control and network operations centers in Jacksonville as part of an initiative by the not-for-profit Digital Convergence Alliance. 

The new facility will initially serve
WTTW in Chicago
WILL, Urbana, Ill.
MPTV, Milwaukee
KERA, Dallas
WPBA, Atlanta
Florida stations WPBT, Miami; WUCF, Orlando; WJCT, Jacksonville; WFSU, Tallahassee, WBCC, Cocoa; WEDU, Tampa.
The DCA is actively campaigning for more stations to join the alliance. The more that join, the more cost savings can be achieved by all of them. 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provided the initial funding for the project, has already stated that it foresees savings of $15-$20 million over 10 years."

Searches for outsourced PBS member MCRs identified that the first five year contract for WILL-TV was apparently at no cost to the station. Renewals may cost $320,000

The exempt-from-bid award notice notes:

"Membership in Digital Convergence Alliance which will provide a single, complete broadcast signal path and redundant uninterruptable power supply."

QuadList member and current KNPB, Reno Asst. Chief Engineer Tim Stoffel strongly disagrees with the concept, arguing that—among other things—better quality pictures and sound can be delivered from a local MCR, and that downtime from "backhoe fade" is less likely.

Here is part of Tim's response:

A local master control can operate at much higher bandwidths to ensure the final product looks as good as it can (and this really does make a difference).

A modern master control can even be constructed economically with the now-popular 'channel in a box' solutions. And these box solutions keep getting better. 

In talking to other PBS engineers, there is only significant savings if you have high priced labor, like what exists in big cities. Small market stations can often run a master control operation for far less per signal than a big market. 

If you eliminate your local origination infrastructure, you can fire those expensive engineers (who plague you by telling you why some idea won't work, and they are usually right in the end), right? 

But what happens when you really need an engineer? 

You have to hire someone at a very high price to come in and make something right, and possibly experience considerable downtime in the process. 

And once you do away with competent engineers, it may be hard to find one when you need one. And what do you do during network outages? 

You still need some infrastructure for local origination, unless you like black. 

PBS stations can best meet the needs of their market by being local. There is nothing wrong with 300+ copies of 'Masterpiece Theater', if they are available when and where they are needed. 

And of course, you still need production. Production is the heart and soul of public TV. The PBS system, unlike networks, is the sum total of its local stations. 

You are not saving all that much in CAPEX (buzzword!!) if you need to also support production. Sometimes, saving money does not create the best value for viewers. The best value for viewers is when a station can meet the needs of its market, and has the autonomy to do so. 

Centralization kills autonomy. Centralization leaves you totally at the mercy of the centralcaster. And since you have to spend that money anyway, why not spend it in keeping your operation local, where it belongs?

The idea of reducing the number of master control operators has been floating around PBS for several decades:
http://www.current.org/wp-content/themes/current/archive-site/tech/tech9513mastercontrol.shtml

A search on the PBS-centric website current.org for "Master Control" brings up ten pages of references... 173 results.
http://www.current.org/search-results/?q=Master+Control

Fast-forward to today's leaner times, technology and interconnection capabilities.

The argument for outsourcing can be financially compelling, reducing the cost to under $200 a day in several situations we found.

Take this  bid opportunity for providing master control services for Western Illinois University's WQPT, Moline, IL.

That's in the Quad-Cities market of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline, Illinois straddling the Mississippi River.

WQPT licenses and transmitter facilities involved were sold in 2010 by local Black Hawk Community College to WIU, which had no existing studio, master control or related inter-facility transmission capability.

The contract called for providing 24/7 master control operation, 24/7 engineering support covering any existing infrastructure acquired from the community college (including the full-power transmitters), occasional studio space and editing services.

http://www.procure.stateuniv.state.il.us/dsp_notice.cfm?Uni=WIU&PN=R049263

The station outsourced operations for three years to Davenport, IA based Fusion Communications in 2011, for $283,500, with two one-year renewals options.  

That contract expires the end of June, 2014, and the above-linked bid opportunity picks up where this one ends.

Fusion was purchased by Stratus Broadcast Solutions of Davenport, IA, which also provides MCR for City Colleges of Chicago's WYCC, 20, Chicago, the Windy City's Secondary PBS member.

Stratus was bought in 2013 by Westar Satellite Services, LP of  Cedar Hill, TX.

It's hard to argue with the economics involved... when the on-air and studio operation cost can be reduced to—in the above contract—to $154.34 per day... $51.78 a shift, or $6.47 per hour.  That's for the entire three-year period. 

Other Illinois university-system owned stations have also outsourced MCR activities, as noted in this list of bid opportunities and awards:
http://www.procure.stateuniv.state.il.us/dsp_index.cfm

Grant funds provided the money to ship WEIU-TV, Charleston, IL master control functions to The Media Gateway in Little Rock, AR, for $337,800.

Justification was outlined in a report for the September, 2013 Eastern Illinois University  Board of Trustees Meeting:

Approval is requested for the purchase of Master 
Control Services for WEIU. This purchase includes 
complete off-site master control services for 
WEIU’s multiple digital television channels 
including point to point connectivity, video and 
audio streams, and all necessary equipment to 
interface. Though operational costs will likely not 
be affected significantly one way or the other by 
this purchase, the need to replace the master control 
equipment in a few years would have required a 
large capital investment that would have not been 
possible with WEIU’s currently anticipated cash 
flow. This purchase is for the period beginning 
upon full execution of the agreement through June 
30, 2018 with the University’s option to renew for 
one additional 5-year period. 

Over five years, the $337,800 cost runs $185 per day, or about $7.70 per hour.

WEIU is a secondary PBS member (25%), so local programs are a larger part of the broadcast day. Among other locally originated programs, WEIU produces news, and was the market's first HD newscast.

In 2011 when the move was begun, WIEU General Manager Jack Neal told the college newspaper that the loss of federal funding prompted the switch:

“We’re a content creator, primarily. That’s what we want to make sure we can spend our money on. I think it’s one of the natural evolutions of this time.”

"In past years, WEIU has received roughly 75 percent of its control funding through the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), a federal grant program designed to promote public broadcast projects.

The program, however, was officially defunded with President Obama’s signing of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act in 2011. "

In 2011, two people faced job loss, Neal said:

"Two employees oversee the current system, and though Neal said the application of the proposed $337,000, five-year contract could take as long as ten months, he said it is likely that at least one of the two positions will eventually be dismissed.

“Theoretically, both of those positions will go away,” he said. “I’d obviously like to see those positions move somewhere else within EIU, but I can’t promise anything.”"

Layoffs have occurred as other public stations and station groups have centralized or outsourced MCRs at stations.

In 2012, Georgia Public Broadcasting laid off eight full time and nine part time employees as it shifted MCR duties to the Atlanta facilities of Encompass Digital Media, a nationwide provider of uplink and transmission services. The move was said to save GPB around $300,000 a year.

In December (2013), two Virginia PBS member stations announced a plan share a common MCR at Richmond's WCVE, where QuadList member Guy Spiller has spent a good bit of time.

Tim makes reference to the need for engineers.

At WYCC in Chicago, there are still engineers, at least one maintenance engineer who started in MCR, and a current opening for a Director of Engineering and Operations.

There are still engineers at Tim's former station, WXXI-AM-FM-TV, which is part of a nine-station centralized MCR project in New York and New Jersey.

The necessity for proper and promptly accessible engineering—at any kind of station—is borne out by what's seen (or in this case, NOT seen) on a Chico, California-based digital LD, now presenting six channels using 15KW ERP from an antenna site about ten miles due west of me.

The primary and only HD signal (1280 x 720p) is MundoFox, which I recently observed to be having what looked like satellite downlink issues or a bad connection somewhere.  That's been fixed (or fixed itself...)

50.2 is labelled as Estrella.  It is just a blue screen and has been for months.
50.3 is LATV, which seems to be a frozen frame that may stay that way for days... changing only intermittently.  This problem has existed for months.
50.4 and 50.4 are shopping channels, and seem to be working fine.
50.6 is apparently a Vietnamese language mostly/all shopping channel whose audio level is waaaay higher than all the others. 

No PSIP content or programming info is seen, nor are closed captions.

The station is owned by an Atlanta, GA area company with other LPTV/CD interests primarily in the Atlanta region, but also in Reno, NV. A Dec., 2013 FCC daily file shows the company was granted extensions to complete construction of quite a few low power facilities in Georgia. 

The Chico situation makes one wonder whether there are any engineers on the station's or owner's staff, or under contract, and whether there are any station employees in Chico watching what happens on this station.

Someone should be looking at what the failure to actually carry the program content is costing either the licensee... or the content provider if the programming isn't seen. Or what kind of fine might be imposed for the absence of any legally-required closed caption or PSIP data.

That kind of burden remains with the licensee, regardless of where a station's MCR is or who operates it.

Ted

Skype: 	TedLangdell
e-mail:	ted at quadvideotapegroup.com

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