May 3, 2006
Top Story
SBE counters wireless association comments on proposed changes to ULS
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
The Society of Broadcast Engineers told the Federal Communications Commission April 18 that the objections of CTIA–The Wireless Association to an FCC rulemaking proceeding to modify the Universal Licensing System mischaracterize the SBE’s proposal and were filed in a “non-timely manner.”
At the heart of the matter is RM-11308, a commission rulemaking proceeding that grew out of an SBE proposal to allow TV pickup licensees to document the locations and heights of their ENG receive-only sites and remote pickup licensees to document the location and height of their RPU-RO sites.
The CTIA objections don’t state the true nature of the SBE’s petition, the society told the commission. Specifically, the CTIA claims the SBE petition seeks “a prior coordination notice requirement for CMRS operators with respect to ENG-RO sites,” according to the SBE filing.
Additionally, the CTIA claims the SBE petition “asks that CMRS licensees be required to notify ‘BAS licensees’” before building and operating such stations. The comments also say the SBE petition would require CMRS base stations “to delay testing and operation” until after filters are installed on ENG receivers.
The SBE filing asserted that its petition did not ask that CMRS licensees “be required to first notify a TV Pickup licensee” with an ENG-RO site near a CMRS base station. According to the filing, “in the spirit of being a good spectrum neighbor,” if tests revealed a new CMRS base station interfered with an existing ENG-RO site “licensed to an earlier-in-time TV pickup station,” the tests could be halted until the “necessary filters were added.”
The SBE told the commission that nowhere had it suggested steps would be mandatory and that “these entirely reasonable possible mitigation measures” were a suggestion.
For more information, visit www.sbe.org.
Industry News
KARE 11 launches HD news
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
KARE 11 News went HD April 27, becoming one of the first local news programs in Minnesota to broadcast in high definition.
The changeover occurred with the 5 p.m. news last Thursday. KARE-TV, a Gannett-owned station, joins other group stations, including KUSA in Denver, WUSA in Washington, D.C., and KSDK-TV in St. Louis, in presenting local news in high definition.
Besides a technology upgrade and the station’s first new set in 15 years, the move to HD required a station effort to educate viewers about high definition, which included a special page on the KARE’s Web site with links to helpful information and video clips explaining the transition.
RTNDA members select new chair, board members
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
WBZ-TV/WSBK-TV vice president and station manager Angie Kucharski was elected RTNDA chairwoman by association members last week during the Radio-Television News Directors Association meeting in Las Vegas.
KYW-AM managing editor Bill Roswell became the association’s chair-elect.
Members also elected three new directors at large, including CBS Radio News reporter Donna Fancavilla, KGO-TV reporter David Louie and Associated Press assistant managing editor/broadcast news Ed Tobias.
For more information, visit www.rtnda.org.
Acquisition
Raycom Media to begin second phase of P2 conversion for news
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
Raycom Media has purchased DVCPRO P2 series camcorders and drives valued at more than $2.2 million to launch phase two of the total conversion of its stations’ news operations to solid-state memory.
Raycom’s second purchase of DVCPRO P2 includes 85 handheld AG-HVX200 camcorders, 40 shoulder-mount DVCPRO P2 camcorders, 125 AJ-PCS060G P2 Store drives and 8GB P2 cards. When installed this year, news operations at 21 Raycom stations will use DVCPRO P2.
Raycom Media currently owns or operates 49 TV stations in 22 states. Its stations cover more than 12 percent of U.S. television households.
Raycom announced its decision to convert to P2 in May 2005, and two of its stations converted last year. In addition, with its recently completed purchase of Liberty Corp., a station group converting to P2, Raycom inherited seven stations that implemented P2 in 2005.
News 12 Networks commits to Sony XDCAM HD for ENG
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
News 12 Networks, a division of Cablevision Systems, is adopting Sony's new XDCAM HD Professional Disc system for all electronic newsgathering and news production applications. The group plans to roll out 90 XDCAM HD camcorders across its channels over the next two years.
News 12 Networks operates seven 24-hour local news channels covering Westchester County, the Hudson Valley, Long Island, the Bronx and Brooklyn in New York, southwestern Connecticut and 14 counties in New Jersey. The news programs are telecast on cable television systems in each region.
The workflow benefits of Sony's optical technology are well suited to the daily demands of gathering and producing regional news programming, according to News 12 Networks senior vice president for news development Norm Fein.
Initially, the stations will downconvert recorded content to standard definition. However, having HD master to archive greatly increases the image quality of file footage for later use. Additionally, when the organization fully migrates to HD, the high definition ENG and production infrastructure will be in place, explained Steve Weinberg, senior vice president of business and news operations for News 12 Networks.
News 12 was attracted to the format by the special advantages of optical disc production, including in-camera editing capabilities, the ability to easily browse footage as thumbnails and preview content on the camcorder's LCD screen, high-speed transfer of proxy A/V and high-resolution data using the MXF file protocol, and immediate random access to data in the field or on the set using the Sony Professional Disc media, Weinberg noted.
Newsroom
Raycom Media turns to Précis News Production System for seven stations
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
Raycom Media is acquiring the BitCentral Précis News Production System for seven of its television stations.
The stations to receive Précis include WMC, Memphis, TN; KSLA, Shreveport, LA; WTOC, Savannah, GA; WAFB, Baton Rouge, LA; KFVS, Cape Girardeau, MO; WECT, Wilmington, NC; and WTOL in Toledo, OH.
The BitCentral Précis will give the stations the ability to upgrade to a file-based news workflow from ingest to air and provide their news teams with the tools to deliver high-quality news quickly to their respective markets. Précis is an integrated solution ingesting multiple analog NTSC sources, such as microwave feeds or SDI sources, into the station’s digital workflow. It also allows the news teams to gather, edit and file stories remotely.
Précis adds end-to-end, redundant digital news management solutions with non-proprietary storage and archiving capabilities.
Raycom Media also is looking at OASIS, a new file-sharing program developed by BitCentral to complement Précis. OASIS enables a dynamic solution to collaborate and share media and complements the Précis News Production System by blending client/server distribution with peer-to-peer distribution.
For more information, visit www.bitcentral.com.
WDAY, WDAZ go tapeless
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
ABC affiliates WDAY in Fargo, ND, and WDAZ in Grand Forks, ND, have made the transition to an all digital tapeless news production environment with Video Technics’ NewsFlow solution.
WDAY and WDAZ selected NewsFlow to improve production workflow and on-air quality while providing a high return on investment. Before making the transition, both affiliates produced packages in a tape-to-tape environment, which slowed down production time and eventually degraded the on-air video quality.
NewsFlow allows reporters and editors to create packages in a completely shared file-based end-to-end workflow that includes Apella servers for multichannel ingest/playout. Using VT Proxy Editor and embedded inside ENPS MOS ActiveX plug-in workstations, journalists have instant access to the centralized database and can perform low-resolution browsing and non-volatile editing from networked-attached storage using any PC on the network.
Reporters and editors can simultaneously browse and edit packages from their desktop and seamlessly drag and drop revised packages into the specified ENPS rundown. With the VT Proxy Editor application embedded inside ENPS workstations, journalists have instant access to the centralized database from any PC on the network.
For more information, visit www.videotechnics.com.
New Products
Avid unveils Avid iNEWS Command broadcast playout automation system
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
Avid Technology has unveiled iNEWS Command, a system that integrates with any newsroom computer system and provides broadcasters with automation control over playout devices, including video servers, still stores and character generators.
Designed for mission-critical operations, the iNEWS Command system can be configured to eliminate single points of failure so a backup system can automatically take over in the event of a failure of any playout component.
The system can be tightly synchronized with iNEWS and other third-party NRCS solutions, so even changes in content or rundown order in the final seconds before broadcast are immediately reflected in the iNEWS Command playlist.
For more information, visit www.avid.com/avidinews.
Agiosat rolls out BGAN SNG solution
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
 The Thrane & Thrane Explorer 500 is a BGAN terminal available for use with the Agiosat BGAN Broadcast service. |
Agiosat Global Communications’ BGAN Broadcast is a communications system built around a new satellite network providing broadcast journalists with worldwide SNG connectivity to Inmarsat’s BGAN (broadband global area network) satellites.
BGAN Broadcast from Agiosat is a three-part solution consisting of:
- lightweight, compact, rugged satellite communications terminals that are smaller than a laptop computer and weigh about 3lbs;
- portable encoders
- efficient delivery architecture.
Agiosat's exclusive network of owned and operated satellite teleports, terrestrial connectivity and streaming video delivery architecture makes this solution affordable and reliable. Without these resources, news organizations would have to stream video over the public Internet, resulting in potentially low QOS streaming and unsatisfactory picture quality.
For more information, visit www.agiosat.com.
Snell & Wilcox introduce Helios softwaSnell & Wilcox introduce Helios software conversion platformre conversion platform
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
Snell & Wilcox has introduced Helios, a software-based conversion platform that uses the company’s video processing technology to deliver big-screen video quality on any viewing platform, including mobile video, VOD, IPTV, iPods and broadcast television.
Eliminating the boundaries between video formats, global standards and new media display devices, Helios makes it possible for content owners and broadcasters to master once and distribute anywhere.
Helios brings Snell & Wilcox' conversion, compression and signal processing expertise to the file-based domain. Combining the company's Ph.C motion estimation and FormatFusion technologies, Helios encompasses a complete automated solution that can convert under user control video, audio and metadata to any required format in a single “anytime” pass.
"Anytime" means Helios' intelligent job manager dynamically scales processing throughput by applying the appropriate amount of CPU power required for an individual task.
For more information, visit www.snellwilcox.com.
Thomson adds REV PRO drive as standard feature on edit packages
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
Thomson has begun shipping the Grass Valley REV PRO and is delivering it as a built-in standard feature for customers with the latest versions of Grass Valley's quick-turn NewsEdit XT and Canopus Edius turnkey craft NLE systems.
A standalone Grass Valley REV PRO drive is also available for use with existing PC-based desktop systems or laptop editors, such as the NewsEdit LT and Canopus EDIUS systems, as well as with other third-party nonlinear editing solutions that support the Grass Valley REV PRO drive and removable disk media. REV PRO is now fully compatible and integrated with current NewsEdit XT systems and Edius version 3.6.1 as well as future versions.
A REV PRO drive gives NLE and desktop video users the benefits of durable, removable, off-the-shelf media and offers other benefits, including efficient file-based exchange and delivery of content, as well as supporting archival needs.
For more information, visit www.thomsongrassvalley.com.
Traffic.com launches Jam Cast
May 3, 2006 8:00 AM, News Technology Update e-newsletter
 Traffic.com Jam Cast features Jam Factor, a proprietary graphical and numerical measurement to convey current driving conditions. |
Traffic.com has introduced Jam Cast, a system designed for real-time content delivery over any digital medium of fully automated audio and video traffic reports.
Jam Cast is a continuous, digitally managed and automatically updating traffic content system that adds to Traffic.com's Web, radio, television and wireless solutions.
Jam Cast features dynamic, up-to-the-minute traffic reports and Jam Factor indicators. Jam Factor, a proprietary graphical and numerical measurement, is a simple yet comprehensive means to convey current traffic conditions, including drive times, delays, incidents, average speed and slowest speed along routes, as well as indication of worsening or improving congestion trends, for each route.
Jam Cast is available now for digital tier broadcast television and will be available later this year for all other platforms.
For more information, visit www.traffic.com.
