Gearhouse Broadcast answers TBN’s call to deliver HD studio facilities for its new London church

32,000 sq ft Willesden site home to worship center and three level HD studio complex, broadcasting localized content.

Gearhouse Broadcast, a leading broadcast solutions supplier, has provided complete project consultancy, supply and implementation of all of the broadcast infrastructure at a new London church and studio facility for Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the world’s largest Christian network. The ambitious project has seen a 32,000 sq ft former cinema in Willesden, north London, which already had planning permission to become a Christian church and worship center, transformed to include a three floor HD studio complex. TBN will use the new center to deliver localized church and ministry programming to UK audiences via multiple delivery platforms including Sky and Freeview.

The new state-of-the-art HDTV production facility features three separate studio floors, along with four galleries, all of which are interchangeable. The ground floor church and studio features a 200 seat auditorium for assemblies and will also host talk shows and live music. The first floor houses a studio with a green screen infinity wall, as well as the main production and audio galleries, lighting and camera control area and equipment racks. A smaller studio set and two additional galleries are located on the top floor.

In terms of kit requirements, TBN was keen for its new UK facilities to mirror its American ones, so Gearhouse Broadcast delivered eight Grass Valley LDK 8000 HD camera channels and a Grass Valley Karrera vision mixer along. A Harris Platinum MX router, which incorporates audio embedding, audio de-embedding and multiviewing into a compact box, was also supplied along with Harris reference, graphics and glue. Gearhouse Broadcast also worked alongside entertainment systems specialists Glantre Engineering on the lighting design within the church and studios.

One particular feature of the new facilities is that the radio microphones work anywhere within the building, without having to move the receivers around. To achieve this, Gearhouse Broadcast designed and installed an intelligent RF distribution system which has pick up points on each floor, and distributes the RF into multiple receivers, complete with filters to ensure that no external noise is picked up.

“Our aim with this new studio facility in London is to be able to offer localized content to the UK, to the same standard that we’re able to do in the US,” said Richard Fleming, managing director of TBN UK and Europe. “It was important that we found a partner who could offer expertise on the entire project, rather than just supplying equipment, and we’re delighted with the support that Gearhouse Broadcast has been able to provide.”

Paul Sykes, Systems Engineer at Gearhouse Broadcast said, “Because we were able to offer our systems integration experience to TBN from an early stage in this project, we’ve been able to ensure that everything from the building’s power distribution to the cable runs and air conditioning systems are fit for purpose. In terms of the broadcast infrastructure, these are very high-spec studios that we’ve delivered, which will enable TBN to deliver the best possible content from its church here in London.”