Superbowl Fans Counting On Tulsa Company For A Clear Picture

Football fans are fired up for Sunday's Super Bowl in Atlanta. The millions of people who plan to sit back and watch the game likely have no idea they're doing so because of a Tulsa company.

Saturday, January 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Football fans are fired up for Sunday's Super Bowl in Atlanta. The millions of people who plan to sit back and watch the game likely have no idea they're doing so because of a Tulsa company.

All eyes will be focused on the game being broadcast in the corner of Williams' Communications. It's where television feeds are sent out on fiber optic cables throughout the US. And the super bowl is the show everyone here is waiting for.

"Tomorrow all of the live transmissions for the super bowl are monitored by the transmissions team sports team that is here," says Greg Onyszchuk.

It's the 11th time that Williams' Communications vyvx system has carried the bowl. Now it's old hat, but the folks here still remember trying to convince the network to use them for the first time.

"January 1990 was our first super bowl cbs was broadcasting the event," says Onyszchuk.

But he says the network wasn't so sure so they carried the usual satellite signal alongside the fiber optic picture for a while.

"At half-time after watching the pictures and being convinced that fiber optic quality was better than their traditional mechanism they decided to switch over to the fiber feed and used it for the rest of the game," says Onyszchuk. "That was our pioneering major league sports over a fiber optic and we've never looked back since we've enjoyed carrying the super bowl for 10 years in a row and this will be our 11th game."

He says that every American who watched the game will see a picture that has traveled over the William's' fiber optic line.

"It's probably a too well-kept secret we play a significant role in live tv transmissions," says Onyszchuk.

It could just remain a secret because as long as the picture looks good the focus will probably be on the Titans and Rams not on anything else.