IP newsgathering — Part 1
Nov 18, 2011 3:31 PM, By Phil Kurz
Gray Television stations, such as WOWT in Omaha, are being outfitted with backpack IP newsgathering systems.
Editor’s note: The following story is the first of a three-part article on IP newsgathering. The article in its entirety is appearing in November edition of Broadcast Engineering.
Five years ago, CNN opened a new chapter in the use of newsgathering technology when it delivered live and recorded reports of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict using IP technology and networks.
The news network deployed journalists with a combination of portable cameras, laptop editors, IP contribution technology and advanced satellite uplinks. The setup gave CNN a new level of mobility, speed and flexibility to contribute coverage of the conflict. For these efforts, CNN was first recognized with a pair of Innovation Awards at IBC2007 in Amsterdam and in January 2008 with a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award.
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Fast forward to today, and similar IP newsgathering systems are deployed around the world by television news organizations to cover everything from the aftermath of hurricanes and tsunamis to military conflicts and the election trail.
But, IP newsgathering systems aren’t limited to use by networks keen on getting to some remote corner of the planet. Local broadcasters and station groups also are deploying IP newsgathering systems to lower costs, reduce response times to breaking news and increase the number of reporters in the field.
Putting more feet on the street is exactly what local news needs, says Dave Smith, CEO and co-founder of Los Angeles-based SmithGeiger consultancy.
“Local news has become pretty generic,” Smith said. “You have to have a lot of original reporting.
“Stations have to get new, original stories on-air; they have to get back to beat stories. With MMJs (multimedia journalists), they can work beats and don’t have to have eight people on standby to race out to shoot in front of a breaking story.”
IP newsgathering technology gives them a way to contribute those beat stories without the expense of traditional electronic news gathering.
Unlike licensed Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) point-to-point ENG microwave contribution and traditional satellite newsgathering, IP newsgathering leverages the extensive, wireless, portable IP satellite transmission and wired Internet infrastructure to transport live and store-and-forward reports. While doing so offers a number of advantages, including lower cost, quicker response and greater mobility over traditional contribution approaches, IP news transport faces one challenge that ENG and SNG do not — namely bit rate, or data transfer rate. In news, where every second counts, having sufficient bit rate literally can make or break the timeliness and relevancy of a report.
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