Insight | Case study: France.tv
Enterprise
France.tv is the French national public broadcaster and media organisation, offering the full range of news, culture, entertainment and sports programming to France and its overseas territories. The 1ère network, a subsidiary of France. tv, is responsible for the delivery of these services to French overseas territories, producing localised content, including news bulletins, and transmitting this content locally and occasionally to the rest of the Francophone world.
1ère faces some unique challenges to its ability to broadcast content in its nine regional bases across the tropical Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. The telecommunications infrastructure in some of these countries can be unreliable or non-existent in certain areas. Equally, because of their situation, all the territories are prone to severe weather events, which can damage terrestrial connectivity infrastructure.
The 1ère news team in New Caledonia, 1500 km off of the coast of Australia, requires the flexibility to broadcast news stories from wherever the action is happening, whether that’s 2.000 metres up a mountain, on an island in the famous lagoon or on the coast, reporting on an incoming weather front. New Caledonia has good 3G/4G mobile coverage in most areas, although the 1ère team uses two satellite trucks equipped with VSATs to film in areas without coverage. However; the VSATs are affected by rain fade in severe weather meaning that they aren’t suitable for transmitting live during a cyclone. Additionally the trucks cannot access remote areas or islands within the lagoon because of their size.
Alain Cabedo, General Manager of 1ère in New Caledonia, commented: “It is very important for us to be able to tell any story, from any location around New Caledonia. We needed a highly mobile satellite-based communications solution that would enable us to broadcast high-quality video content in any situation, regardless of a weather event or if we are based in a particularly remote location.”
Marlink has provided 1ère with a livebroadcast solution that utilises Inmarsat’s industry-leading, high speed Land Xpress (LX) satellite service providing users with up to 99.5% uptime anywhere in the world. 1ère use the billing plan LX Event, which is especially designed to provide media companies with the capacity to flexibly stream in standard or high-definition depending on their needs. A rugged, lightweight and highly portable Cobham Explorer 5075 terminal that automatically calibrates to find line of sight with one of Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) satellites underpins the solution.
Marlink has deployed these terminals in five countries throughout French overseas territories, including New Caledonia, Reunion, and Guadeloupe. 1ère now has the capability to broadcast live, high resolution video with ease. News teams can simply deploy the terminals, turn them on and start broadcasting. The LX service is compatible with all major encoding devices and platforms such as LiveU, Dejero, Avi West, TVU, Quicklink and Skype.
“Working with Marlink and Inmarsat means we can now transmit high quality, high definition programming from wherever our teams are located, regardless of the weather. This has enhanced our capability to broadcast and keep people informed, helping them stay safe in the face of an extreme weather event.”
