When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals tackled the gridiron at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida for the 43rd Super Bowl this past Sunday, Satellite Technology Systems (STS), provided the world feed for NFL Films.
This Super Bowl broadcast marks the third consecutive year NFL Films has contracted STS for satellite uplink services. In addition to its sports broadcast work, STS provides transportable uplinks for live concerts, pay-per-view events, breaking news, media tours, video conferencing and disaster recovery. Using its recently upgraded KU/HD Production Uplink Vehicle, which features FOR-A’s HVS-1000HS HANABI 1 M/E HD switcher, STS’ feed was made available in HD/SD simultaneously, as well as on C- and Ku-band satellite frequencies. The C-band antenna portion of the truck was used for HD and the Ku- section of the truck was used for the SD world feed. Within the truck, TANDBERG Television encoders were used to encode the Super Bowl world feed.
The dual-band transmission capabilities ensure security for the game’s far-reaching broadcast. Last years’ Super Bowl was transmitted to 232 countries and territories in 34 languages and made available to an estimated one billion people. While somewhat more complicated to control, the dual-band technology provides an essential backup system should the primary system fail. The 33-foot STS truck provides robust production capabilities, an equipment inventory on par with larger mobile production vehicles, as well as uplink services creating a cost effective solution for shoots requiring up to six cameras. It has a roomy control room and can seat a crew of eight.
On February 10, STS will relocate its truck to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral to provide uplink services for Nippon Television’s (NTV) coverage of the next launch of the 28th mission of the Space Shuttle “Discovery” to the International Space Station. NASA plans to retire the Space Shuttle program after this launch.
