The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the International Broadcasting Center inside the Salt Palace Convention Center will be the largest television centre in the world when the Games start Feb. 8.
Mark Parkman, vice president of operations for International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), the host broadcaster for the 2002 Winter Games said, “it’s our responsibility to make sure that the television images of the Games are provided for the broadcasters who televise them to about three billion people per day. That’s not something we take lightly”.
According to the newspaper, inside the headquarters is a labyrinth of cables, power cords, computer racks, television monitors, video-editing bays and enough power generators to light a small town. It takes up 300,000 square feet, or more than half of the convention hall in downtown Salt Lake City.
The 430-room command post has 250 television monitors, more than 45 miles of cables, 12 miles of duct work and, because of heat generated from equipment and employees, enough air conditioning to cool 440,000 cubic feet.
During the 17 days of the Games it will be the home for all of the more than 80 television networks beaming the Olympics around the world. More than 6,000 broadcasting personnel will be working in the centre.
Each competition venue will have multiple cameras capturing a total of 900 hours of Olympic action. The broadcasters, such as NBC will shoot most of the video, but ISB will produce 20 more video feeds that rights’ holders can use anytime. Broadcasters then have a vast choice of video signals to use during the course of a day. Part of the Games will also be shot on high-definition equipment for those countries, including the United States, that support high definition television.
Inside the centre is a videotape room where every live video signal will be recorded and stored on digital videotapes for the International Olympic Committee. The entire run of the Games will be stored on more than 800 tapes.
Backing up the broadcasting headquarters is a team of more than 130 technicians from Panasonic who will maintain the equipment both in the centre and at each of the venues.
All of the video connections and equipment have backups in case a cable is accidentally cut or a TV monitor burns out. They also can go to a backup satellite system should there be an interruption with any of the video feeds, though that is “highly unlikely” said David P. Bird, the centre’s director of engineering.
And when its over, Parkman said, “we have 14 days to vacate the facility after spending four or five months building it. That is, believe it or not, one of our biggest challenges”, he said.
