GB 55040-2024Code for engineering project of radio and television program production and broadcasting (English PDF)

1 General provisions

1.0.1 The document was drawn up to secure the functional performance of radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering, the quality and safety of the construction works, the safety of ecological and environmental protection, the normal running of the systems and equipment, the quality of programme production and the safety of transmission.

1.0.2 Radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering must be carried out in accordance with this code.

1.0.3 Whether the technical methods and measures adopted in the construction works meet the requirements of this code is judged by the responsible parties concerned. Innovative technical methods and measures among them shall be subjected to demonstration and shall meet the requirements of this code on function and performance.

3.1 Acquisition and recording system - general requirements

3.1.1 Radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall have the technical systems and the functional zoning corresponding to acquisition and recording.

3.1.2 The lighting equipment of live studios in radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be fed from a dual power supply; among it, the main face lighting equipment for the presenter of the news live studio of Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be fed from a UPS.

3.1.3 Studios with a floor area larger than 200 m2, sound recording rooms with a floor area larger than 120 m2 and make-up rooms and standby areas with a floor area larger than 50 m2 shall be provided with evacuation lighting, and the minimum horizontal illuminance at floor level shall not be lower than 3.0 lx.

3.1.4 The alarm valve set of the deluge system of a studio shall be placed inside a valve room; when two or more deluge system zones are provided in one and the same space, the zoning plan of the deluge system shall be marked in different colours at the manual actuation box, and the zone numbers of the corresponding actuation buttons shall be marked on it.

3.1.5 The combustion performance of the ceiling finishing materials of the process and technical rooms of radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be non-combustible material, and the combustion performance of the wall, floor and other finishing materials shall not be lower than flame-retardant material.

3.1.6 Acquisition and recording rooms used for sound acquisition and for audio editing and production shall be given architectural acoustic treatment. Once construction is complete, the acoustic indices shall be measured on site as required.

3.1.7 A music recording room shall have an enclosed and independent recording control area.

3.1.8 Radio live broadcasting in Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be provided with at least one standby radio live broadcasting room.

3.2 Acquisition and recording system - technical system

3.2.1 A studio shall be provided with an audio and video monitoring system and an intercom system.

3.2.2 The main and standby signals output by the video system of a live studio shall come from different switching equipment, and no jump in the picture shall occur when the signal source is switched.

3.2.3 The main and standby signals output by the audio system of a live studio shall come from different sound mixing equipment, and digital audio equipment shall have a phase locking function and shall be in the phase locked state.

3.2.4 The main and standby signals of the live studio and of the radio live broadcasting room of Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be conveyed to the broadcast system over two or more different routes.

3.2.5 Where an outside broadcast system is provided, it shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A and Class B, the main and standby broadcast signals of the outside broadcast system shall be conveyed to the broadcast system over two or more different routes; (2) Class C, the outside broadcast system shall convey the main and standby broadcast signals to the broadcast system.

3.2.6 The vertical illuminance, colour temperature, colour rendering index and other properties of the base lighting of the performance area of a studio shall suit the requirements of camera image shooting.

3.2.7 The lighting, sound and stage design equipment and installations of a studio shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) the raising and lowering of powered suspension devices shall all have upper and lower limit stops and overload protection devices; powered horizontal bars, powered hangers and self-hoisting bars shall be provided with slack and broken rope protection and anti-overtravel protection devices; (2) the lighting, sound and stage design equipment and their accessories shall be installed with firm connections and shall have safety protection measures against falling.

4 Content editing system

4.0.1 Radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall have the corresponding technical systems and shall be divided into functional zones according to the editing and processing requirements of the different types of content material.

4.0.2 The news editing system of Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be provided with a UPS supply.

4.0.3 The core servers of the content editing system shall be arranged in an online hot standby configuration.

5 Broadcast control system

5.0.1 Radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall have the corresponding technical systems and shall be divided into functional zones according to the broadcast control requirements.

5.0.2 The broadcast system of Class A radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall have a standby broadcast system configured in an N+1 or 1+1 arrangement.

5.0.3 Two or more broadcast routes shall be provided for the main and standby programme broadcast signals of Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering, and they shall be fed to the master control system.

5.0.4 The database servers used by the broadcast system of Class A and Class B radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall be configured as a dual-machine hot standby and shall be able to switch over automatically.

5.0.5 A live studio and a radio live broadcasting room shall be provided with delay and switching devices in the signal broadcast path.

5.0.6 The television broadcast control system shall be able to control the broadcast server, the player, the keyed graphics and text, the signal switching and other equipment, and shall be provided with a main and a standby broadcast control machine; the main and standby broadcast control machines shall have the corresponding monitoring and switching functions.

5.0.7 In a television broadcast system, broadcast switching shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A and Class B, switching equipment with a power-failure through-connection function and with a dual power supply shall be provided; the broadcast switch shall be able to keep its previous connection state after power is restored; the broadcast switcher, the broadcast switch and the keyer shall have both manual and automatic control modes; the station logo, the clock and the subtitles shall be superimposed by keying or by a graphics and text layer; the main and standby broadcast signals shall come from different broadcast switching equipment; (2) Class C, the broadcast switch shall be able to keep its previous connection state after power is restored; the broadcast switcher, the broadcast switch and the keyer shall have both manual and automatic control modes.

5.0.8 In a television broadcast system, the auxiliary broadcast system shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A and Class B, the equipment shall use external synchronisation and phase locking, and the synchronisation signals on the key broadcast equipment shall not be connected in series; equipment with a station logo and subtitle superimposition function shall be provided; filler material played in a loop shall be provided; an emergency filler signal source and a standard video and audio test signal source shall be provided; it shall be possible to monitor all source signals and broadcast signals in real time by eye and by ear; (2) Class C, equipment with a station logo and subtitle superimposition function shall be provided; an emergency filler signal source and a standard video and audio test signal source shall be provided; it shall be possible to monitor all source signals and broadcast signals in real time by eye and by ear.

5.0.9 Before each live broadcast the system shall be given a pre-broadcast test, the running condition of the equipment shall be checked and the start time, the broadcast length and other matters shall be verified; before broadcasting starts, the video and audio signal test shall be completed and the signal kept clear.

5.0.10 The radio broadcast path shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A, the main broadcast path shall have an emergency programme source and shall be able to feed the programme signal of the live room system or the signal of the emergency programme source into the transmission system; it shall be possible to switch between the main and standby broadcast signal sources and the emergency filler music source and signal source; a switching control panel shall be provided and shall be fitted with a dual power supply; the switching matrix shall be able to keep its previous connection state after power is restored, and the switch shall have a power-failure through-connection function; (2) Class B, it shall be possible to switch between the main and standby broadcast signal sources and the emergency filler music source and signal source; a switching control panel shall be provided and shall be fitted with a dual power supply; the switching matrix shall be able to keep its previous connection state after power is restored, and the switch shall have a power-failure through-connection function; (3) Class C, an emergency filler music source shall be provided and professional grade broadcast switching equipment shall be provided.

5.0.11 The monitoring system of a radio live broadcasting room shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) the radio live broadcasting room and the control room shall be provided with monitor loudspeakers and level meters, and the live room shall be provided with monitor headphones and a phase meter; (2) Class A and Class B, the monitor volume of the radio live broadcasting room and of the control room shall have an independent control function.

5.0.12 The database servers and the key business application servers of the interactive network television (IPTV) integrated broadcast control platform and of the internet television (OTT) integrated platform shall form a high availability cluster system of two or more machines, the components shall have a hot-swap capability, and a certain proportion of redundancy shall be provided in relation to the total number of servers.

5.0.13 The signal source access of important programmes of the interactive network television (IPTV) integrated broadcast control platform shall use at least two links of different physical route or of different transmission mode, and shall be able to satisfy automatic and manual switching between the main and standby signal sources and emergency patching. The signal source distribution links shall be configured redundantly; the key equipment of each distribution stage shall be planned reasonably according to the importance of the programme, and an emergency filler stream broadcast system shall be provided.

5.0.14 The internet television (OTT) integrated platform shall identify and record the data sources so as to ensure that they comply with the rules, and shall have a function for verifying the data sources in a uniform way.

6 Master control and transmission system

6.0.1 Radio and television programme production and broadcasting engineering shall have the corresponding technical systems and shall be divided into functional zones according to the requirements on the scheduling, distribution, transmission and monitoring of the programme signals.

6.0.2 The monitoring system for radio and television broadcast signals shall record the programmes output and the quality and effect of the signals by sound recording, video recording or the keeping of technical monitoring information; the monitoring records shall be kept for a week or more and information on abnormal states for a year or more.

6.0.3 The monitoring system for television broadcast signals shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A and Class B, it shall be possible to monitor by eye and by ear the video and audio of the key nodes on the broadcast chain, of the programme output points and of the station's own broadcast signal as received, signal abnormality alarm equipment shall be provided, and it shall be possible to monitor the main technical indices of the signals at the key nodes; (2) Class C, it shall be possible to monitor by eye and by ear the video and audio of the key nodes on the broadcast chain, of the programme output points and of the station's own broadcast signal as received, and signal abnormality alarm equipment shall be provided.

6.0.4 The monitoring system for radio broadcast signals shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A, the signal level and phase of the key stages of the broadcast path shall be monitored in real time; when a fault appears at a monitoring point an alarm shall be given promptly; it shall be possible to set different alarm messages flexibly; peak level display equipment shall be provided; a colour bar monitor screen shall be provided; video surveillance of the machine rooms shall be provided; signal abnormality alarm equipment shall be provided; a full-period sound recording function shall be available; the master control system shall be provided with at least one pair of professional grade loudspeakers able to select for monitoring all broadcast signals and the locally received off-air signal, and the master control system shall be able to select for monitoring the broadcast signal of each programme service and the audio signals of the key nodes; (2) Class B, the level and phase of the output signal of the broadcast path shall be monitored; peak level display equipment shall be provided; a colour bar monitor screen shall be provided; video surveillance of each machine room shall be provided; signal abnormality alarm equipment shall be provided; the master control system shall be provided with at least one pair of professional grade loudspeakers able to select for monitoring all broadcast signals and the locally received off-air signal, and the master control system shall be able to select for monitoring the broadcast signal of each programme service and the audio signals of the key nodes; (3) Class C, the level and phase of the output signal of the broadcast path shall be monitored; peak level display equipment shall be provided; the master control system shall be provided with at least one pair of professional grade loudspeakers able to select for monitoring all broadcast signals and the locally received off-air signal.

6.0.5 The clock system shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A, a standby clock generator and switching equipment shall be provided; the clock switching equipment shall have automatic and manual switching functions and shall be able to through-connect on power failure; the main and standby clock generators shall be connected to different power supplies; the clock generators shall have an automatic time correction function; a trustworthy clock source shall be provided, and the clock signals of the whole station shall be locked to one and the same clock source; (2) Class B, the clock generator shall have an automatic time correction function; a trustworthy clock source shall be provided, and the clock signals of the whole station shall be locked to one and the same clock source; (3) Class C, a trustworthy clock source shall be provided, and the clock signals of the whole station shall be locked to one and the same clock source.

6.0.6 The synchronisation system shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A, a synchronisation system shall be provided, and a standby synchronisation generator and switching equipment shall be provided; the switching equipment shall have automatic and manual switching functions and shall be able to through-connect on power failure; (2) Class B, a synchronisation system shall be provided.

6.0.7 The Class A and Class B master control machine rooms shall be provided with an intercom system.

6.0.8 The programme transmission system shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) Class A, main and standby transmission equipment and paths shall be provided; the switching equipment shall have automatic and manual switching functions; the transmission equipment shall be provided with a dual power supply; where transmission is by coding and multiplexing, standby coding and multiplexing equipment shall be provided; the transmission equipment and the coding and multiplexing equipment provided shall retain their previous configuration information after a power failure or a restart; the transmission line to each downstream broadcasting unit shall have at least two different routes over its whole length; (2) Class B, main and standby transmission equipment and paths shall be provided; the switching equipment shall have automatic and manual switching functions; the transmission equipment shall be provided with a dual power supply; where transmission is by coding and multiplexing, standby coding and multiplexing equipment shall be provided; the transmission equipment and the coding and multiplexing equipment provided shall retain their previous configuration information after a power failure or a restart; (3) Class C, the transmission equipment and the coding and multiplexing equipment provided shall retain their previous configuration information after a power failure or a restart.

6.0.9 The monitoring systems of interactive network television and of internet television shall satisfy the following provisions: (1) they shall be able to monitor the stages of remote access, signal source access, signal distribution and conveyance; important programmes shall be monitored by eye and by ear in real time; the bit stream and the video and audio of the signals at important nodes such as the encoder output and content publication shall be monitored automatically, and audible and visual alarms for abnormal signals and bit streams shall be available; (2) a network management monitoring system shall be provided, with a management and control capability over the main equipment in the system, monitoring in real time the state of the key equipment, software, network and storage of the broadcast and information systems, and with an audible and visual alarm function for abnormal states.

Status of this code

Announcement No. 229 of 2024 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, dated 26 December 2024 and reproduced in the front matter, approves the Code for engineering project of radio and television programme production and broadcasting as a national standard numbered GB 55040-2024, to take effect on 1 April 2025. The announcement states that it is a mandatory engineering construction code, that all of its clauses must be enforced strictly, and that where the relevant provisions of engineering construction standards currently in force differ from it, its own provisions prevail.

The foreword places the document in the family of mandatory engineering construction codes that the Ministry has been issuing since 2016 to replace, step by step, the mandatory clauses scattered through individual standards. That family is divided into project codes, which take the construction project as a whole as their object and are built around the five elements of scale, layout, function, performance and key technical measures, and general technical codes, which cover the common professional key technical measures of the construction process. This document is a project code. The foreword adds that when a mandatory engineering construction code takes effect, the related mandatory clauses of the national and trade engineering construction standards in force are abolished at the same time, and that mandatory clauses of local engineering construction standards are to be revised promptly and are not to fall below the provisions of the mandatory code.