WHITE PAPER
Fiber in Broadcast and
Production Facilities
Ten Things Every Professional Should Know
For years, television broadcasters have relied on coax cable to route video
and audio control signals and RF around their facilities. Coax has proven
itself to be easy to work with and reliable. However, as the television
broadcast business evolves from a single analog channel to a digital
world, the industry is re-evaluating the role of coax. In its place, fiber-
optic cable is emerging as a logical solution for next-generation television
signal routing, where greater bandwidth is needed to accommodate HD
signals and multicast SD channels.
As these applications drive fiber into more networks every day, many
broadcasters’ deployment strategies overlook one major consideration.
Good cable management practices are the key to an effective fiber
network, allowing for flexibility, fluid change, easier network maintenance
and configuration and, most importantly, growth. When a broadcaster
uses good cable management from the start in its fiber network , the
network grows more quickly. Good cable management practices also
ensure that the fiber networks of today will be ready for the higher-
bandwidth applications of tomorrow.
This paper explores the top ten things you need to know about fiber; things
you should understand when planning for an upgrade that includes fiber.
Topics covered in this paper are:
T
opic Page #
1. Key Fiber Cable Management Concepts 3
2. Making Connections 4
3. Singlemode versus Multimode 5
4. Angled versus Ultra Physical Contact Connectors 6
5. Connector Styles 7

and easier to expand as needs grow.
Key cable management concepts include:
• Bend radius: At turns in fiber runs, maintain a 1.5-inch
bend radius. Tighter bends may cause micro-bending
of individual fibers that allow light to escape the signal
path, resulting in signal attenuation. More severe
bends can break fiber strands completely, resulting in
signal loss.
• Cable troughing: Used to route fiber optic cable,
troughing systems provide a protected pathway for
fiber to traverse spans between rooms and equipment
racks. Good troughing systems will keep fiber separate
from coax cable, protect it from out-of-tolerance
bends and promote neat, easily accessible runs.
• Vertical cable protection: Allowing fiber to hang
unprotected from the back of equipment can be a
recipe for disaster. Exposed cables are easy to snag
accidentally with a hand or foot, which can result in
damage to the connector or fiber itself. Additionally,
over time the weight of hanging fiber can cause
bends outside the acceptable limit and consequential
damage to the fiber. Proper vertical cable
management in panels or equipment bays provides
adequate support, cable protection and a transition
from the vertical run to the back of the equipment
that does not damage the fiber.
• Cable pile-up: In horizontal fiber runs, it is
unacceptable to allow a pile of fiber cable to exceed
two inches. Beyond that point, the weight of the
bundle will surpass the crush tolerance limit of the

signals, such as revenue-generating commercials and
programming, underlies the importance of taking the
steps necessary to manage fiber’s installation and use.
Point at Which
Light is Lost
From Fiber
Optical Fiber
Light Pulse
Macrobend
Area
in Which
Light is
Lost From
Fiber
Optical Fiber
Light Pulse
Radius of
Curvature
1) Key Fiber Cable Management Concepts
Microbend
Integrating fiber into a broadcast facility requires a logical
means of connecting various devices throughout the
facility for production, playback and post-production
tasks, not unlike what has been done for years with coax
cable, patch panels and routing switchers.
On the most basic level, there are three approaches to
network architecture:
• Direct connect: This approach is straightforward, but
exceedingly limited. The output of one device is
connected to the input of another. While the least

changes are made at one convenient location,
technicians are able to quickly and accurately perform
their work.
• Improved reliability and availability: Permanent
connections protect equipment cables from daily
activity that can damage them. Moves, adds, and
changes are effected on the patching field instead of
on the backplanes of sensitive routing and switching
equipment, enabling changes in the network without
disrupting service. With the ability to isolate network
segments for troubleshooting and reroute circuits
through simple patching, technicians can perform
maintenance without service downtime during regular
hours instead of during night or weekend shifts.
These three approaches to fiber network design and
signal routing offer an ascending ladder of flexibility,
convenience and control. On the bottom rung is direct
connection between devices. For broadcast applications,
this configuration is not recommended. The interconnect
architecture is most practical approach when there is
limited rerouting of inputs and outputs and circuit access
is not important. The cross-connect architecture stands
at the top of the ladder, providing the flexibility and
reliability broadcasters need in signal routing.
Top Ten Things to Know
Page 4
2) Making Connections: Direct, Interconnect and Cross-Connect Approaches
Direct Connect
Cross-Connect
Interconnect

fiber is well-suited for applications such as studio-to-
transmitter links, camera control units and runs from a
studio to satellite earth stations or to cable headends, or
between separate facilities on a broadcast campus.
Multimode fiber optic cable carries multiple light rays
with different reflection angles within the fiber core.
With a fiber core that’s thicker than singlemode fiber,
multimode cable is better suited for short runs, such as
those between equipment and panels in broadcast
facilities. Multimode may be used to feed routers,
servers, editing stations and video servers.
Replacing copper with fiber is no longer economically
impractical at broadcast facilities. Once regarded as
expensive, the proliferation of fiber for business LANs
and WANs and its use in telecommunications
networks has brought an economy of scale to bear for
fiber cable, connectors and components that can
benefit broadcasters.
A recent study comparing the costs of first-time
installations of fiber with copper (CAT5, CAT5e and
CAT6) found that an “all-fiber solution offered a lower
total initial cost than the UTP-fiber network” for 12
scenarios that were studied.
According to the study, conducted by Pearson
Technologies Inc. and the Fiber Optics LAN Section of the
Telecommunications Industry Association, “In many cases
deploying multimode fiber cable throughout the network
is significantly less expensive than installing new grades
of UTP copper cable.”
These new marketplace realities could not have been