KMH Integration Keeps News 12 Relocation Project On Track

Relocating a television facility is always challenging. The sheer amount of equipment that needs to be moved and reinstalled is daunting enough. More important is the fact there can be no disruptions to day-to-day operations, especially to the on-air programming.

News 12 Networks is partnering with KMH Audio-Video Integration on a phased relocation of two separate facilities into one central Bethpage, N.Y., location. The multi-year project is currently in progress and, when complete, the new facility will deliver significant upgrades in workflow efficiency, on-air quality and production flexibility.

KMH has consulted with News 12 management, engineers and IT teams since the early design phases to ensure the new facility is scalable enough to accommodate future growth, while deploying the right technologies to meet current production needs.

“A project of this scale has a lot of moving parts to manage, from reviewing workflows to making sure construction schedules are followed,” said Kevin Henneman, president of KMH. “The new facility will mix current and new equipment, so close coordination with News 12 from day one was essential to build up and test all new systems before migrating over the existing systems, channel by channel.”

The project’s first phase involved moving master control systems, including four operator positions and a monitor wall. Also moving to Bethpage is a central equipment room with 100 racks supporting both master control and News 12 production systems.

The relocation project will also involve migrating all production systems, a technical operations center, studios, control rooms, graphics, edit suites and newsrooms, as well as internal functions such as sales and marketing offices.

During the project, KMH has supported News 12 with the full range of its system integration, design and consulting services. Using its nearby Hauppauge, N.Y., facility, the KMH team handled off-site fabrication and staging for select racks to expedite on-site installation. These included: a 576×576 MCR router and I/O jackfield racks, a 576×576 production router and I/O jackfield racks, distribution frames and jackfield racks.

The KMH team is also providing architectural consulting to coordinate cable paths and wall-mount device locations and is managing the on-site installation of all new equipment and the migration of existing systems, according to the project schedule.