On this page
- Who Needs to Plan This, and What Gets Decided
- Start With a Screen Map Before Anyone Frames a Wall
- The Rough-In Checklist for Every TV Location
- Where the Cable Runs Go: Home Runs, Conduit and the Dish Path
- How Much to Rough In: Three Levels Compared
- Common Pre-Wire Mistakes in Restaurant Build-Outs
- Questions to Ask Your Provider and Contractor Before Walls Close
Who Needs to Plan This, and What Gets Decided
If you are opening a new restaurant or gutting an existing space, restaurant TV wiring before drywall is the one window where getting power and cable to a screen takes a few hours of a crew's time. After that window, the same job means opening a finished wall, patching and repainting, and possibly closing part of the dining room. The alternative is surface raceway that guests can see.
Plan this with everyone who touches the walls: the owner or general manager, the general contractor, the electrician, the low-voltage installer and your TV provider. By the end you should be able to decide four things:
- Where each screen goes, including the ones you might add later
- What gets roughed into the wall behind each screen
- Where every cable ends up and how it gets there
- How much spare capacity is worth paying for now
Start With a Screen Map Before Anyone Frames a Wall
Wiring follows placement, so placement has to come first. Picture the room on a Friday night: a full bar rail, a packed dining room, a host stand with a line out the door. Which seats need to see a screen, and from how far away? Work out from the guests, not from the walls that look easiest to mount on. Our bar TV placement layout walks through sightlines seat by seat.
For each location, the map should note:
- The approximate screen size and the height of the mount
- What the screen will usually show, and whether it ever needs its own channel
- Whether the location is confirmed or a maybe
- Any special conditions, such as a soffit over the bar, a brick column or a patio wall exposed to weather
Mount height matters early because it fixes where the power box and cable plate go. If the outlet sits too low, a cord hangs in plain view under the screen for the life of the space. The commercial TV mounting and placement guide covers how to set height by viewing position.
The screen map also tells you how many receivers you need. Every screen that shows a different channel at the same moment needs its own receiver, which affects closet space and cable counts. Here is why a business needs so many receivers.
The Rough-In Checklist for Every TV Location
Use this as the baseline for each location on the map. Your electrician and low-voltage installer will adapt it to the building and to local code.
| Item | What to rough in | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Power | A recessed outlet box behind the screen, inside the area the TV will cover | Keeps cords hidden and lets the TV hang close to the wall |
| Video cable | A dedicated coax run from the location back to the equipment closet | Carries the TV signal without splitting it off a neighboring screen |
| Network cable | At least one data run to the same location | Supports receivers, smart displays, signage players and video-over-network gear |
| Conduit | A conduit or flexible raceway from the wall box to an accessible ceiling or the closet, with a pull string | Lets you add or replace cable later without opening the wall |
| Backing | Solid blocking between studs where the mount will land | Gives heavy or articulating mounts something solid to anchor into |
| Recessed media plate | A recessed low-voltage box beside the power box | Keeps plugs and connectors flush so nothing pushes the screen off the wall |
Getting the TV power outlet height right
There is no single correct outlet height. The right position depends on the mount. Place the power and cable boxes behind the screen, high enough that the TV fully covers them and low enough that cords don't stretch to reach the TV's inputs. Recessed boxes are worth asking for. A standard outlet plus a plug can push a slim mount away from the wall.
Ask your electrician to decide how the TV circuits are loaded. Keep screens and receivers off circuits that also serve heavy kitchen or bar equipment, so a tripped breaker on the line doesn't take the dining room screens with it. Discuss surge protection for the closet and the screens while circuits are still being laid out.
Low-voltage at each location
A dedicated coax run plus a data run covers most restaurant screens. Conduit with a pull string covers what you cannot predict, such as a new display type, a signage player or a different way of distributing video. If the wall will hold a menu board or digital signage, treat it as a TV location too.
Where the Cable Runs Go: Home Runs, Conduit and the Dish Path
Home runs, not daisy chains
Each TV location should have its own cable running all the way back to the equipment closet. This is a home run. Chaining one screen off the next, or splitting a line inside a ceiling, makes troubleshooting slow and limits what each screen can show. With home runs, a technician can test or change one screen at the closet without touching the others.
Label both ends of every cable with the same location name used on the screen map. Unlabeled bundles in a drop ceiling are one of the most common reasons a simple service call turns into an afternoon. Our TV equipment closet setup covers labeling, ventilation and staff access.
Receivers in the closet or behind the screen
You have two basic layouts, and the choice affects what goes in the wall.
- Centralized: Receivers live in the equipment closet, and video travels to each screen over the in-wall cable. This keeps gear out of guests' reach and makes service easier. It needs good closet ventilation, and you need to plan how remote control signals will reach the receivers.
- At the screen: A receiver sits behind each TV. Staff can use a remote at the screen, but each location needs room behind the TV, airflow and power for two devices.
If you are undecided, rough in for the centralized layout. A wall wired back to the closet can still support a receiver behind the screen. The reverse is harder.
The dish path
Satellite service needs a cable route from the roof to the equipment closet. That route often gets forgotten until the roof is finished and the ceilings are closed. Settle where the dish will sit, how the line enters the building and how it reaches the closet while framing is still open. In leased spaces, get landlord approval for the dish location early, because waiting on approval can delay activation. When to schedule restaurant TV installation lays out where this fits in an opening timeline.
How Much to Rough In: Three Levels Compared
More rough-in costs more labor and material up front, and cable that never gets used still had to be bought. Too little means surface conduit or opened walls later, often during service hours. Most restaurants land somewhere in the middle.
| Level | What's included | Good fit | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Power and one coax run at each confirmed screen | Small dining rooms with a fixed, simple TV plan | Little room to add screens, signage or a new distribution method later |
| Standard | Power, coax and data at each screen, blocking, conduit with pull string to the closet | Most bars and full-service restaurants | Higher upfront labor, but most future changes don't need open walls |
| Future-ready | Standard, plus pre-wired maybe locations, spare conduit to the ceiling and speaker pre-wire by zone | Sports-focused bars, multi-room venues and concepts likely to evolve | Most upfront work, and some runs may stay unused for years |
If the room will have different zones, such as a bar showing the game, a quieter dining room and a private event space, sound often matters as much as picture. Pre-wiring speakers by zone at the same time is far easier than adding them later. The multi-zone TV venue setup explains how to plan programming, sound and control by area. Background audio for the dining room can share the same planning; see our commercial background music service.
Common Pre-Wire Mistakes in Restaurant Build-Outs
- Closing walls before the TV walkthrough. If your TV provider never sees the open framing, nobody checks the wiring against the screen map until it's too late to change.
- Outlets placed at standard height. Electricians often default to a normal outlet height. The result is a visible cord running down the wall below every screen.
- No blocking behind the mount. Heavy screens and arms need solid backing. Hunting for studs after drywall limits where the screen can go.
- Conduit without a pull string, or with tight bends. Undersized conduit or sharp turns can make a future pull impossible. Ask for room to spare and gentle bends.
- Daisy-chained or split coax. It saves cable today and costs time on every service call.
- Forgetting the bar back and soffits. The screens over the bar rail are often the most watched in the building, and soffit framing makes them the hardest to wire after the fact.
- An equipment closet with no airflow. Receivers packed into a sealed closet next to the water heater run hot. Choose the closet as deliberately as the screen locations.
- No dish route. A finished roof and closed ceilings leave no clean path for the satellite line.
- Trusting the previous tenant's wiring. In a second-generation space, old cable may be damaged, outdated or routed to screens you no longer want. Test and map it before relying on it.
Questions to Ask Your Provider and Contractor Before Walls Close
Bring these to a walkthrough while the framing is still open:
- Have you reviewed the screen map, and does every location have power, coax, data and backing where the mount will land?
- Are the outlet and media boxes positioned so the TV will fully cover them at the planned mount height?
- Is every cable a home run to the equipment closet, labeled at both ends?
- Will receivers be centralized or at the screen, and does the wiring support both if we change our minds?
- Where will the dish go, how does the line reach the closet, and has the landlord approved it?
- Does the equipment closet have ventilation, power and enough space for the receiver count we need?
- Which maybe locations are pre-wired, and where does their cable end?
- Who owns the low-voltage scope: the electrician, a low-voltage contractor or the TV installer?
Sports Direct | DLM Media is an authorized commercial dealer with 30+ years of experience and technicians and engineers in all 50 states. We can review your plans with your contractor before the walls close, then handle the install, programming and support once they do. Here is how we plan every restaurant screen. When you're ready, you can talk through your build-out with a programming specialist.