News

TV breaking news enhanced by Streambox and BGAN

01-04-2009 - Satellite broadcaster Sky is beaming more breaking news from remote locations thanks to Inmarsat BGAN.

Bevan Gibson, head of future technology at Sky News, has blogged online that using BGAN with a Streambox portable encoder is giving Sky reporters much more flexibility in the field.

The laptop-size portable encoder is used for live video transmission and for sending edited news segments.

Special reports 
"We can work with smaller crews and less equipment, which in turn enables us to respond quickly as a story breaks," said Bevan.

"Now a two-person first response team can get live video back to our headquarters earlier than before, and depending on the location and gravity of the story, we can send a follow-up team for support."

Not so long ago, sending high quality images from remote locations was prohibitive in terms of cost and logistics.

Reliable transmission 
"With less gear weighing down our field crews, we have been able to put together special coverage from Iraq, the Caribbean and Iceland," said Bevan.

"In the past, with a less versatile solution, we simply wouldn't have sent out a team to do that kind of live coverage."

Bevan added that Streambox and BGAN stand up well to rain, snow and sun, and can accept a variety of file types.

He says Streambox was chosen for its quality and performance and that features such as forward error correction and burst error correction - which mitigate packet loss - ensure excellent video quality and reliable transmission over satellite and IP-based networks.

Bevan's blog 

Sky News

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