UpLate

UpLate is the name of the late night programming block on CTV and scoTV.

It usually screens library programs, otherwise it will be used for technical tests, or will show Taff Media News Channel, scoTEXT or repeats of the Newshour.

Process
At 00:00 (midnight), a quarter of the way through the repeat of Andy Wilkins Live, franchise Engineering staff pick up the UpLate feed from AHL Playout 2 in Manchester (from satellite fourtsnsat1). They will then return from the next commercial break to the feed from AHL Playout 2, which is up to the same point in the program as the franchise is. Then, at 00:45, the transmitters switch from the fibre uplink from the franchise to the satellite feed from AHL, as all equipment is shut down for the night at the franchise. Sattelite and Cable viewers have the uplink location changed to the AHL office. UpLate hands over to the early news at 5:30AM, however scoTV breaks away early for their early news at 5:00.

Technical Details
Since in the event of catastrophic failure the scoTV feed is used by CTV (and vice versa), singular branding will not work. This is why AHL has put in a system so the feed can be duplicated. The system effectively takes the final output from AHL Playout 2, makes duplicates, and inserts a watermark and logos onto idents. It checks for flags in the content, which tells the computer what to add. It then uplinks the feeds to fourtsnsat1.