Technical Specifications for Delivered Material

IMPORTANT: All delivered material must follow these specifications, without exception, to avoid rejection of
the material for air.

Essential Requirements
The Sinclair Media Operations Center requires all delivered material in High-Definition (HD) with Stereo Audio.
Stereo audio on track 1 and 2 only.

In all cases, the file name or labeling of each piece of material must match the series title/episode title.

Delivered material must not have any video, audio, or data impairments including (but not limited to)
dropouts, artifacts, digital errors, and meet industry-accepted standards for format interchange.

Electronic file delivery programs should be delivered with no bars and tone. There must be 10-seconds of slate
with 10-seconds of black between the start of material, 5-seconds of black separating the segments within the
file, and at least 5-seconds of black at the end of the material.

Graphics or slates are not permitted to identify placeholders for commercial or promo insertion within the
break of a program. Each break shall be identified by a minimum of 5-seconds of black separating program
segments only. Any commercial content included as part of the contract should be placed in the proper break
according to the program format and shall be the same aspect ratio of the program.

Program materials will be automatically rejected if they do not have continuous, uninterrupted, ascending
SMPTE DROP-FRAME time code, from the start of the test signal for the direction of the recorded content, as
per SMPTE 12-1:2008 or 12M-2. The time code shall be carried in the Vertical Ancillary data regional (VANC),
as per SMTPE RP 188.

The Sinclair Media Operations Center requests that an electronic copy of the run sheet detailing the metadata
that accompanies content being delivered.

Program Format Data

1. Series Title
2. Year
3. Number of Segments
4. Segment SOM/EOM/Duration
5. OTN Time
6. Break Structure
7. Show Duration
*the above information must be uploaded at the same time as the content is uploaded.

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Audio Specifications
All audio should be prepared for a -24 LKFS standard.

The Sinclair Media Operations Center’s minimum acceptable audio specifications for delivered material are
described below.

HD Delivery
Delivery Method Audio Channels Stereo Audio
Commercial and Program 1 Stereo Left/Mono
Electronic Delivery Systems 2 Stereo Right/Mono
3 Silence
4 Silence
5 Silence
6 Silence
7 SAP or Mono Mix
8 Nat Sound, Mono mix, or Silence
9-12 N/A or not used

The audio dynamic range of the material must be suitable for television broadcast. The SMOC target loudness
level is -24LKFS (Loudness, K-Weighted, relative to nominal Full-Scale) averaged over a single program,
including all segments or an entire commercial or promo as specified in Recommendation ITU-R B.S. 1770-3.

Relative to test level (nominal -20dBFS), instantaneous audio peaks shall not exceed -6dBFS, while maintaining
-24LKFS average loudness.

Individual channels shall be in-phase to prevent cancellation when tracks are mixed together. Care must be
taken to ensure that all elements of the audio are properly prepared, so as not to cancel out if played back in a
2-channel down mix or in a monophonic mode.

Video Specifications
The video test signal and the delivered material shall conform to ITU-R BT.601-5 technical specifications.
SMOC broadcasts exclusively in 720p/59.94 HD video, in an aspect ratio of 16x9 (1280x720).

Graphics must remain within 90% of the HD 16x9 mage. Images outside of this area could be cropped off on
consumer grade televisions.

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Electronic File Delivery

Program files delivered electronically must be uploaded through the Sinclair Media Operations Center (Media
Shuttle).

All program files shall be wrapped in MXF per SMPTE 278-2004, OP1a in High Definition (HD 16:9), with drop
frame time code (SMPTE 12-1:2008 or 12M-2) following previously described video and audio specifications
and these electronic delivery standards.

Sinclair Media Operations Center, Electronic File Delivery

Parameter High Definition
Wrapper Format MXF OP1a
Video Codec XDCAM HD 422 @ 50 Mbps
Video Resolution 720P – 1280x720
Frame Rate 59.94
Aspect Ration 16:9
Audio Tracks Up to 8 mono channels
Audio Format PCM – 24 bits @ 48kHz
Timecode SMPTE Drop Frame
Closed Captions CEA-708

Ancillary Data
Time Code
As mentioned previously, program materials will be automatically rejected if they do not have continuous,
uninterrupted, ascending SMPTE DROP-FRAME time code, from the start of the test signal for the duration
of the recorded content, as per SMPTE 12-1:2008 or 12M-2. For HD delivery, the time code shall be carried
in the Vertical Ancillary data region (VANC), as per SMTPE RP 188.

Closed Captioning
Files shall have CES-608/708 English language captions per SMPTE 334-1&2-2000 in ANC packet per SMPTE
436M-2008. Closed caption CDP values shall follow SMPTE RP2007. Additional languages require prior
approval.

Closed caption encoding must be done using component digital video equipment. Per EIA-608, captioning
latency should be less than 5-video frames. All descriptive packets shall be valid with no null services.

Closed captioning data for HD (720p/59.94) material shall have English Closed Captioning with a resultant
CDP of 52 or 59 and be encoded in the VANC of the material on line 9 as per SMPTE 334M-1995 and EIA
708B. The 708B packet shall include 608 legacy byes (EIA-608E) and be converted from the 608-authored
data.

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Pre-recorded programs, excluding programs that initially aired with real-time captions, will be captioned
offline before air except when, in the exercise of a programmer’s commercially reasonable judgment,
circumstances require real-time or live display captioning.

The allowable character set should be the ANSI/CEA-608-E standard character set with the following
exceptions:

Allowable Do Not Use

Top third, PAC Row 1 to 4 Mid-screen, PAC Row 5 to 11
Line Placement Bottom Third, PAC Row 12 to 15
(2 rows maximum each)
Transparent space “",” “#,” Registered Trademark and
Characters Trademark symbols, Tab offset, Delete
to End of Row, and Backspace
Style White on Black Characters Paint on style or mixed styles
Active Format Description (AFD)
SMOC recommends that material include the appropriate AFD code to indicate how it should be formatted
for down conversion. The AFD shall be consistent throughout the material but may result in an
inconsistent picture format when transitioning between programs, commercials and other elements with
different AFD indicators.

The SMOC standard Active Format Description (AFD) display on an SD television as defined in DVB
standard TS 101 154 is set to 1010 Letterbox 16x9 into 4x3 scan. The AFD code of 1010 will be applied to
all materials unless otherwise encoded or requested by the client.

The AFD metadata (SMPTE 2016-1 & 2-2007) for HD delivered materials shall be placed in the on line 11
for each frame of video as per SMPTE 2016-3-2007.

The use of AFD codes other than 1010 requires prior approval by SMOC.

AFD Code Format Display

1010 16x9 center Letterbox
16x9 into 4x3 scan

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