CCTV Leads the Way with Clear-Com’s Industry-Leading Intercom Systems for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
Beijing, China, April 14, 2008 – China’s largest broadcasters are entrusting communication for their largest and most anticipated event of the year, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, to Clear-Com® Communication Systems (NAB, Booth C5908). CCTV, China’s National Broadcaster, for instance, has selected Clear-Com to provide an intercom network that will eventually span its entire broadcast operation.
“After rigorous comparison testing, it was evident that Clear-Com’s products have the advanced technology and innovative solutions that are required for a broadcast as complex and as important to our country as the Olympic Games,” says Mr. Ding Wen-Hua, Chief Engineer at CCTV. “We were particularly impressed with the completely automatic and seamless switch-over from fibre to the backup high density, low latency VoIP link, which is unique to Clear-Com. We found that under the same conditions, other systems require a reboot, which can take over 60 seconds or involve a manual intervention like rerouting communication lines, and that can mean precious time during a broadcast.”
Clear-Com’s communication network will provide a link for CCTV between the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), the hub of all broadcasting activities for the Olympic Games and CCTV’s new Television Culture Centre (TVCC) as well as the existing CCTV, which will house administration along with news, broadcasting, studios and program production. The buildings are more than 20 km apart and will be networked using Clear-Com’s fiber link technology with a redundant E1 and VoIP connection as an automatic failover backup to ensure continuous connectivity between IBC, the TVCC as well as the existing CCTV. Reliability and connectivity were crucial considerations for CCTV, and Clear-Com was the clear choice.
CCTV has purchased an arsenal of communication equipment that will make up this network including two Eclipse® Omega systems with 144 ports in total, which will form the heart of the network at the IBC and TVCC. An additional six Eclipse PiCo units, each providing up to 36 full duplex/4-wireless ports, will be deployed throughout the arenas for electronic field production.
Furthermore, Clear-Com system’s 12- and 24-key Eclipse V-Series user panels will be installed into various production rooms for crew members to stay in synch during production hours. The panels are intuitive to use and yet robust in features and flexibility. The V-Series line supports five Chinese characters on its graphical display, Digital Signal Processing for audio routing, and “Listen Again” technology that employs digital audio memory, allowing the user to replay 15-seconds of incoming audio to aid communication in noisy and demanding environments.
In addition to CCTV, 13 regional broadcasters have selected the Clear-Com Eclipse products for use in 14 OB trucks including two belonging to China Beijing TV (BTV) as part of a robust and failsafe communication system designed for on-the-fly operation. These intercom systems will allow the individual broadcasters to communicate remotely with assurance and ease via I-Station intercom panels. The I-Stations will provide superior flexibility in a high-pressure environment with 32 pushbuttons, a gooseneck mic, headset connections as well as a loudspeaker with level control, four display key modules and keypad. Many of these broadcasters have opted to add FreeSpeak®10 beltpacks for their Olympic coverage to provide their presenters with fully integrated communications while they are on the move throughout the broadcast centers and sporting stadiums.
“CCTV’s requirements for the Olympics were as stringent and challenging as any state broadcasting organization we have ever competed to serve,” says Matt Danilowicz, Managing Director of Clear-Com. “We are exceptionally proud to have been chosen to build the foundation of China’s next-generation intercom infrastructure.”