Skypath
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2007) |
Skypath is a system the NBC television network uses to distribute satellite programming to its affiliate stations.
Launched in January 1984, Skypath (whose lead developer was Richard Edmondson at NBC's New York Rockefeller Center offices) was the first such system of its kind. Its main hub consisted of East Coast, West Coast, and affiliate feeds located on the Ku band RCA Satcom K2 satellite, with one C-band transponder located on RCA's now-defunct Satcom 1R. It was conceived because of concerns that the breakup of AT&T would escalate long lines rates for sending programs across the country.[1] By 1987, the network fed 177 affiliate stations via Skypath.[1]: I.75
In 1988, NBC began to encrypt their Skypath affiliate feeds with Leitch encryption. By the mid-1990s, such encryption was limited to NFL football games.
One of the feeds on the Skypath system was NBC Skycom, used for general internal "closed-circuit" video and news feeds between NBC and its local affiliates. Skycom operated in the fashion of a "video news wire" service (much in the same vein as CBS' NewsNet/NewsPath and ABC's DEF (Daily Electronic Feed) and NewsOne services) that provided news story packages and other material (such as promos, especially ones "personalized" by NBC for a local affiliate station) originated by both NBC and local NBC affiliates across the nation to be used by other affiliates.
Prior to the arrival of Skypath, NBC programming, with the exception of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, was delivered via coaxial cable and microwave transmission through the facilities of AT&T (however, NBC did have limited satellite delivery on an experimental basis via their C-band transponder on Satcom F1 beginning with the satellite's launch in 1975). Beginning in the early 1980s, The Tonight Show began satellite delivery to the East Coast.
1997년 NBC는 스카이프로의 디지털 전송으로의 전환을 시작했다. 2002년에 완공된 새로운 시스템은 또한 네트워크로 HD와 지역화된 피드를 계열사에 보낼 수 있게 했다.[2]
2005년 현재 SES 아메리콤 쿠밴드 AMC-1과 AMC-8 위성에 스카이 경로가 존재하며, NBC는 1998년 아날로그 C밴드 피드를 중단했다. 모든 피드는 이제 DVB(Digital Video Broadcasting)를 통해 방송된다.
