The television tower is a structure of metal supports carrying operational telecommunications equipment. It is designed for receiving and transmitting radio-electronic signals to provide broadcast of television and radio signals and communications equipment. It is located on the grounds of the Nizhny Novgorod Television Center (Belinsky Street, 9A). The height of the Nizhny Novgorod television tower on Belinsky Street is 196 meters — making it the tallest structure in the city.[1] The tower is maintained by the Nizhny Novgorod branch of RTRS (the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network).[1] The full official name of the operating organization is the RTRS branch "Nizhny Novgorod Regional Radio and Television Transmission Center."[2] Television towers are also common throughout the districts of the Region and are typically situated at the highest available points to maximize signal coverage area.
Nature of the Phenomenon
The television towers stretching across the entire Region, including sparsely populated districts, reflect the essence of the Russian Federation's broadcasting system. On one hand, these are engineering structures expensive to maintain; on the other, they deliver a free signal across the entire sovereign territory. A television tower is first and foremost a restricted facility — with an access control system, security guards, and barbed wire around the perimeter. In Nizhny Novgorod, combined with the television center, the tower more closely resembles a classic broadcast center as found in any major city in the world — complete with producers, local and visiting television stars, and camera operators. The irony is that, from an economic standpoint, it is not cost-effective to string a network of television towers across every district — except in large cities that have their own television center and creative broadcasting team. Yet it turned out that the country that was the first to use satellite transmission of video images — during the filming of the far side of the Moon — could not trust its citizens, even at the level of a Collective Farm, to independently receive satellite television signals. In other words, the far more expensive system of stretching the signal to every village and hamlet using television towers, rather than distributing satellite dishes, was chosen for the sole purpose of preventing local managers from pointing a dish in the "wrong direction," tuning in to broadcasts by political opponents, and under that influence changing their worldview. This strategy reveals how little trust the rulers actually placed in the relationship between the population — local managers in particular — and the central authorities.
Scheduled painting of the tower is carried out by a specialist contractor using industrial climbers; the work methodology is aimed at minimizing paint fallout on surrounding areas, though this cannot be entirely prevented.[1] Scheduled painting of the television tower at Belinsky Street, 9A is conducted in accordance with the technical operation regulations for antenna-mast structures (AMS) and is one of the primary measures for protecting the metal structure against corrosion damage.[2] In strong wind gusts, paint particles during painting operations can scatter within a radius of up to 500 meters from the tower.[2] The area of potential paint fallout during painting operations includes sections of Belinsky Street, Kostina Street, Pushkina Street, Timiryazeva Street, Krupskoy Street, Kulibina Street, Studyonaya Street, Novaya Street, Korolenko Street Street, and the territory of the Sredny Market.[1] During painting operations, brief outages of over-the-air television and radio broadcasting are possible, including transmission of the first and second multiplexes of digital over-the-air television (RTRS-1 and RTRS-2 packages), the analogue television channel Subbota, and FM radio stations.[2]
40 Floodlights for the World Cup
According to the public procurement website, 40 illumination floodlights are to be delivered within three months of contract signing. The initial (maximum) contract price is 6 million 650 thousand rubles. The funding source is the budget of Nizhny Novgorod Region. An auction for the right to supply the lighting equipment will be held on April 24.
|
It is anticipated that the artistic concept will be based on the "Volga-Oka Lighthouse" lighting concept. Several floodlights are planned for one of the upper tiers, which will transform this complex engineering structure into a new city landmark visible to Nizhny Novgorod residents and visitors of the 2018 FIFA World Cup from virtually any point in the city. In addition, modern lighting equipment is planned to be installed along the full height of the tower, enabling the creation of various lighting effects — both static and dynamic Cooperation agreement between the Nizhny Novgorod Region government and the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network"
|
|
Monetizing the Tower
In September 2016, television center director Mikhail Nebolsin announced in his Facebook feed that any Nizhny Novgorod resident can order illumination of the television tower. In Mikhail's view, having the tower lit up for three or five hours at a time could serve as an alternative to salutes and fireworks. The television center's specialists are ready to provide the service at any time of day or night; however, the choice of lighting type is not available to customers — it is the standard configuration, since the lamps take about 15 minutes to reach full brightness.
|
|
There is interest in the service, but no orders have been received yet |
|
Cost of the service for switching on the tower's lighting at any time
- 2 hours of lighting — 17,000 rubles
- 5 hours of lighting — 25,000 rubles
Ordering lighting in the south
The service is also available in Arzamas and city of Sarov:
- 5 hours of lighting — 9,500 rubles