HD TV production facility and studio complex

Trinity Broadcasting Network

What we did

Headquartered in Tustin, California, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is the world’s largest religious broadcast television network.

Looking to deliver localized Christian content to UK audiences via multiple delivery platforms including Sky, Freesat and Freeview, TBN approached us for help with an ambitious project to turn a 32,000 sq. ft. former cinema in Willesden, North London, into a three-floor HD studio complex.

What we used

Gravity Media provided complete project consultancy, supply and implementation of the entire broadcast infrastructure at the new facility.

TBN was keen for its new UK studios to mirror its American ones, so we designed a solution that delivered eight Grass Valley LDK 8000 HD camera channels and a Grass Valley Karrera vision mixer, as well as a Harris Platinum MX router, which incorporates audio embedding, audio de-embedding and multi-viewing into a compact box. We also worked alongside entertainment systems specialists Glantre Engineering on the lighting design within the facility.

One particular feature of the new complex is that the radio microphones work anywhere in the building, without having to move the receivers. To achieve this, we designed and installed an intelligent RF distribution system that 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.

Outcome

The new state-of-the-art HDTV production facilities feature three separate studio floors and four galleries – all of which are interchangeable.

The ground floor studio features a 200-seat auditorium, designed to 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.

“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 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.”