Master Control Room Engineer

Job Description

A pivotal team member involved in the day-to-day Master Control Room (MCR) operation, responsible for all MCR functions including satellite downlinking, management of IP contribution circuits and preparing contribution feed line-ups for TX, Production and Digital.

Responsibilities

Line up of incoming video, audio and communication circuits from both Discovery and third-party broadcast production facilities
• Packaging production resources together for ease of use across the company (video, audio, multi-language commentary, IFB, 4-wires, reverse video feeds)
• Satellite downlinking including dish positioning and decoding
• Management of incoming audio circuits and commentary facilities to ensure commentators are assigned to the correct feeds for transmission or production
• Routing and switching of feeds, based on the internal booking systems to Production Control Rooms, Multi-Function Rooms, Voice Over Booths and Live Transmission Suites
• Critical assessment of video and audio contribution feeds
• Proactive monitoring of incoming feeds with rapid action to restore service using pre-defined emergency procedures
• Management of IP contribution circuits, including WAN and LAN
• Liaising with third party contribution circuit suppliers, as well as with internal stakeholders
• Trouble-shooting technical issues and escalation of faults to relevant teams
• Managing the inbuilt system redundancy to ensure that minimum disruption to services is caused by equipment failures
• Manage bookings and resources utilising centralised systems
• Understand all technical and production workflows
• Undertake ad hoc ingest duties as required
• Contribute to detailed reports and metrics
• Other duties as required

Requirements
• Operational knowledge of MCR technology and workflows including video and audio routing (traditional SDI and IP)

• Fundamental understanding of IT networking infrastructure

• Experience with Broadcast Control Systems, ideally BNCS (using Packaging and direct routing) and Nevion Video IPath

• Experience with a wide range of video standards including HD.

• Understanding of video and audio timing.

• Detailed operational knowledge of tools used to diagnose issues with video and audio feeds, including waveform monitors and audio monitoring units.

• Operational knowledge of professional satellite contribution equipment including dish position controllers, spectrum analysers, transport stream analysers, receivers and decoders.

• Familiarity of a wide range of contribution standards such as J2K and H264.

• An understanding of the requirements of other operational areas including Ingest, Playout and Production facilities

• A proactive approach, determination to achieve the goals of the team and department, able to identify and prioritise problems and offer alternate solutions

• The ability to work well under pressure in a live transmission and production environment

• Excellent attention to detail

• Strong team player and solid interpersonal skills

The MCR is operational 24/7/365 and as such, this role is shift work based on a 40 hour working week which will include nights, weekends and public holidays.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rj6m50-18-221-208-183-42 in your application.