Looking to better serve the Birmingham community with more locally produced programming like weather and high school sports, WIAT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Birmingham, AL, has deployed a new UTAH-400 HD router and two MC-2020 master control switchers from Utah Scientific.
The new equipment has enabled the launch of two new digital channels and facilitates the HD broadcast of its flagship channel, CBS 42. The new channels, both broadcasting in SD, include: WIAT 42-2, which launched in February and is devoted to locally produced sports and weather programming; and WIAT 42-3, which went on-air in April and features round-the-clock weather radar.
Scott Sarkisian, WIAT-TV’s chief engineer, said the UTAH-400 router allows them to grow its master control and routing capabilities simply by plugging in new cards. The equipment’s versatility and flexibility has enabled the station to implement a simple, streamlined and cost-effective system that can be used and expanded long-term.
WIAT, which is owned by New Vision Television, selected the UTAH-400 88 x 88 router because it accommodates both SD and HD sources and is easily expandable. The system now makes it possible for a single master control operator to run all three channels. WIAT's master control also incorporates Utah Scientific’s EAS crawl feature (EAS-2020) for cost-effective and easy-to-use input of the emergency alert system signal into multiple channels.
