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Simulcast

Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously). For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio. Likewise, the BBC's Prom concerts were formerly simulcast on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Television. Another application is the transmission of the original-language soundtrack of movies or TV series over local or Internet radio, with the television broadcast having been dubbed into a local language. Yet another is when a sports game, such as Super Bowl LVIII, is simulcast on multiple television networks at the same time. In the case of Super Bowl LVIII, the game's main broadcast channel was CBS, but viewers could watch it on other CBS-owned television channels or streaming services as well; Nickelodeon and Paramount+ showed the English-language broadcast, while Univision showed the same visual but had Spanish-language broadcasters for its audio.

Before launching stereo radio, experiments were conducted by transmitting left and right channels on different radio channels. The earliest record found was a broadcast by the BBC in 1926 of a Halle Orchestra concert from Manchester, using the wavelengths of the regional stations and Daventry.

In its earliest days, the BBC often transmitted the same programme on the "National Service" and the "Regional Network".

An early use of the word "simulcast" is from 1925.

Between 1990 and 1994, the BBC broadcast a channel of entertainment (Radio 5) which offered a wide range of simulcasts, taking programmes from the BBC World Service and Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 for simultaneous broadcast.

Before stereo TV sound transmission was possible, simulcasting on TV and radio was a method of effectively transmitting "stereo" sound to music TV broadcasts. Typically, an FM frequency in the broadcast area for viewers to tune their stereo systems to would be displayed on the screen. The band Grateful Dead and their concert "Great Canadian Train Ride" in 1970 was the first TV broadcast of a live concert with FM simulcast. In the 1970s WPXI in Pittsburgh broadcast a live Boz Scaggs performance which had the audio simultaneously broadcast on two FM radio stations to create a quadrophonic sound, the first of its kind. The first such transmission in the United Kingdom was on 14 November 1972, when the BBC broadcast a live classical concert from the Royal Albert Hall on both BBC2 and Radio 3. The first pop/rock simulcast was almost two years later, a recording of Van Morrison's London Rainbow Concert simultaneously on BBC2 TV and Radio 2 (see It's Too Late to Stop Now) on 27 May 1974.

Similarly, in the 1980s, before Multichannel Television Sound or home theater was commonplace in American households, broadcasters would air a high fidelity version of a television program's audio portion over FM stereo simultaneous with the television broadcast. PBS stations were the most likely to use this technique, especially when airing a live concert. It was also a way of allowing MTV and similar music channels to run stereo sound through the cable-TV network. This method required a stereo FM transmitter modulating MTV's stereo soundtrack through the cable-TV network, and customers connecting their FM receiver's antenna input to the cable-TV outlet. They would then tune the FM receiver to the specified frequency that would be published in documentation supplied by the cable-TV provider.

With the introduction of commercial FM stations in Australia in July 1980, commercial TV channels began simulcasting some music based programs with the new commercial FM stations and continued to do so into the early 1990s. These were initially rock based programs, such as late night music video shows and rock concerts, but later included some major rock musicals such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Blues Brothers when they first aired on TV. During the mid-1980s the final Australian concert of several major rock artists such as Dire Straits were simulcast live on a commercial TV and FM station. The ABC also simulcast some programs on ABC Television and ABC FM, including the final concert of Elton John with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

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