CVS has been supplying various support services to C-SPAN since 1990.  The
C-SPAN staff of engineers and technicians have a lot on their plate. C-SPAN produces an amazing amount of on-location programming in addition to their studio programming and House and Senate services. They even program a radio station that airs in Washington D.C., XM Radio and Sirius.  When C-SPAN needs additional engineering support, they call Contract Video Specialists.

The maintenance of any facility documentation is time consuming. CVS assists C-SPAN by taking skeleton drawings supplied by the C-SPAN engineering department and working these drawings up to "build-to" level. Both C-SPAN and CVS use VidCAD for technical documentation, so exchanging drawing files and databases is a simple matter. In many cases, once the drawings are approved, CVS is commissioned to perform whatever system re-configuration is required.

Our most recent work involved the integration of digital Master Control facilities in this 24/7 facility without down time. Working with the C-SPAN staff, we shifted their operations to a temporary Master Control area so that we could install all the equipment required for a digital conversion. Then, in turn, CVS handled the CAD, technical wiring and configuration of the remaining Master Control rooms. We converted a total of three MC rooms in this way.

In addition to the main facility work, CVS was the lead installation firm involved in constructing the C-SPAN  "backup facility" located outside of Washington.

At times, CVS is called upon to produce individual projects as conceived by the C-SPAN engineering department.  The photos of the fly-away production unit are an example of this kind of cooperative venture between C-SPAN and CVS.

 (Front) The Camera Control Unit Rack and the VTR Rack Side by Side