Utah Scientific has sold a UTAH-400 SD/HD router and three BPS-2020 digital bypass switchers to TCT Network, a faith-based network headquartered in Marion, Ill.
TCT Network is configuring the UTAH-400 to work as a traditional router and a cuts-only master control system. The UTAH-400 is designed with a scalable matrix architecture that features redundant power supplies, crosspoint cards, and controller cards. The BPS-2020 digital bypass switcher is an 8x1 switcher for digital video (SD or HD) and digital audio signals.
TCT Network started as one station in 1977 and has continued to grow over the past three decades. It currently serves about 30 million people in the United States and Canada, and 1.7 billion worldwide. To accommodate this growth, the network said it needed to rebuild its network master control center, which had been completely analog and no longer had the capacity to handle three separate channels. The new operation will be all serial digital.
The UTAH-400 router/master control system is set up to manage three program signals: the TCT Domestic Feed, which feeds its 18 U.S. television stations; the TCT World Feed, which broadcasts signals via DirecTV and throughout the world; plus the local feed for WTCT-TV, the network's flagship station in Marion.
"Utah Scientific's reputation for rock-solid reliability and its 10-year warranty were instrumental in our decision," said Gil Couch, vice president of engineering at TCT Network. "We also liked the fact that the UTAH-400 has redundant crosspoints and power supplies. There was no doubt we could trust it as our primary source for on-air video."
