This is the third in a multipart series by broadcast historian and former TV Tech Technology Editor James O'Neal.

Part 1
Part 2

With the introduction of increasingly better and more reliable transistor types during the 1960s, broadcast television equipment steadily moved away from large and power-hungry vacuum tube designs to transistorized versions. The introduction of the integrated circuit also played a role in miniaturizing gear and making it more reliable.

Camera Imaging devices also improved, with the Plumbicon and other tubes beginning to rival the performance of the much larger image orthicons. Color cameras shrank in bulk and weight—from units requiring several persons to lift and racks of support equipment—to models that could be carried by a single person (with support electronics contained in a separate package, usually in the form of a backpack).

CBS Laboratories created such a device as early as 1968, the Minicam VI. RCA ushered in the era of self-contained portable cameras with the release of the TKP-45 in 1974. Video recorders also became more compact, with Ampex introducing a portable version of its “quad” machines, the VR-3000, in 1967. This rather revolutionary recorder was deemed “portable” in that its 55-pound load could be managed by one person and powered by batteries.

With this miniaturization of cameras and recorders, it was just a matter of time until someone decided to pair them and go out and cover a news event. Just who, when, and where this initial “modern” ENG initiative took place will likely remain a mystery; however, by 1974, at least several broadcasters and a couple of major networks were quietly trialing ENG.

Project X: ‘Anyone Talking About It Will Be Dismissed'
Nashville’s WLAC-TV (now WTVF) was one of these early electronic newsgathering adopters, and in mid-1974 launched a secret project to construct the first ENG vehicle in that market. According to one member of the engineering team who took part in the initiative, none of the personnel involved were allowed to reveal to other station members or others what they were working on, under the threat of instant termination if there was a leak of information.

“Station management really wanted to beat the competition,” said Butch Smith, one of the six or seven WLAC-TV engineers assigned to the project. “We were told by the station’s director of engineering, Ralph Hucaby, not to reveal anything about what we were working on, under penalty of dismissal from employment.”

Smith said that work on the ENG unit took place in a locked area of the station’s basement and due to its secretive nature, one of the construction team dubbed it “Project X.”

“I’m not 100% certain when we went on the air with our first live transmission from the van, but construction started sometime in July and it took us three or four months to complete,” said Smith. “We beat the other Nashville stations considerably.”

According to Smith, the station selected Ikegami HL-33 cameras for the project, but after more than half a century, he is uncertain about the video recorder used. He recalled that, as the van was equipped with a 2-GHz microwave transmitter, a majority of the stories covered went live.

“We had a receive site on top of the high-rise Life and Casualty Insurance Company tower building, as they owned the station then. This was a 33- or 34-story building, and we could go live from just about anywhere around Nashville.”

The NAB Show That Heralded in the ENG Era
A year later, interest in ENG had increased to the point that the April 1975 NAB Show offered its first “workshop” on the subject, with show organizers not really prepared for the number of individuals who decided to learn about the new methodology. As the post-show issue of Broadcasting magazine headlined it, “ENG is SRO at NAB.”

“If you're not already into electronic newsgathering, get your toe in the water," declared Julius Barnathan, ABC’s then-vice president of engineering operations, and one of the workshop’s presenters. (Another was WLAC-TV’s Ralph Hucaby.)

Broadcasters, eager to learn as much as they could about ENG, stood three-deep at the rear of the room, and according to Broadcasting, “completely lined the side walls and were crouched or seated on the floor in front of the stage.”

Another presenter, Thomas M. Battista, vice president and general manager of then CBS St. Louis O&O, KMOX-TV (now KMOV), described that station’s ENG experimentation, observing that in addition to benefiting local news coverage, it also served as a pilot program for CBS’s eventual foray into ENG.

He noted that with ENG, KMOX-TV had covered 20% more stories in March 1975 than in the same period a year earlier. Battista stated that the number of technical personnel involved in news coverage at his station shrank from 56 to 50. (WLAC-TV’s Hucaby reported that he expected his station’s expenditure of $300,000 (almost $2 million in today’s money) would be fully amortized in six years.)

“If you put together a good system and come up with better news programs, you'll make loads more money and won't have to worry about the cost," said Battista.

If that weren’t enough inducement for attendees to start budgeting for ENG equipment—of which there was plenty at the show—ABC’s Barnathan offered two other incentives.

“The first key to ENG is the ability to ‘go live,’” he said. “The second is ‘to save your ass late in the afternoon.’"

(As an historical note, a few years prior to the KMOX-TV O&O implementation, the CBS network had trialed electronic technology as an alternative to news film, equipping a few two-person crews with either CBS Laboratories Minicam VI's (introduced in 1968), or the slightly later Norelco PCP-90 three-tube cameras and Ampex VR-3000 backpack two-inch quadruplex videotape recorders, introduced in 1967).

This approach, the use of traverse-scan videotape recording, allowed the field-generated tapes to be played directly on conventional studio VTRs. The camera/VTR package could scarcely be considered portable, however, with the recorder weighed more than 50 lbs. and the camera, along with its backpack support package, tipping the scales in excess of 40 pounds.

The technology did offer one real advantage for the network, though, as it allowed reporting and transmission of news in locations where no film processing was available. NBC also experimented with a similar equipment package, but declared that while it gave “excellent results,” the camera/VTR combo was “too bulky and heavy to replace 16mm film cameras.”)

How Best to Go ENG—‘Flash Cut’ or Phase In?
Likely as a result of the workshop, and perhaps out of a desire to provide better news coverage and save some money in the process, more and more stations followed Barnathan’s admonishment and dipped their toes in the (ENG) water.

One of those stations taking Barnathan’s advice was KGLO-TV (now KIMT) in Mason City, Iowa. David Ostmo, the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional engineering director, and based in San Antonio, Texas, got his start at the small market Iowa station and recalled his experiences with the Akai handheld cameras and reel-to-reel recorders being used by KGLO-TV.

“They were looking for a less-expensive way to do news coverage,” said Ostmo. “Film and processing cost a lot and around 1974, they had acquired an Akai VT-150 camera and a half-inch VTR. We would bump the half-inch tape across three-quarter (U-Matic) for editing, but sometimes we would play the half-inch directly to air.”

Ostmo recalled that even with the acquisition of the ENG gear, KGLO-TV continued to capture news events on film.

“The image was so much better with film at that point in time, and they shot the important stuff on film even though there was latency in getting it processed and edited,” he said. “The film processor wasn’t that old when I was there, so I imagine they were still amortizing it. I’m not sure when they went completely to ENG. I left in 1978 and they were still shooting some film.”

Jay Ballard, who began his broadcast engineering career at Boston stations WHDH-TV and WBZ-TV, also recalled the substandard video quality experienced in many early ENG implementations.

“Early ENG quality suffered, as the equipment was not designed for broadcast use, noting in particular the single- or two-tube cameras placed into service at some stations. “Some chief engineers complained that they did not produce ‘broadcast quality’ news footage; however, their objections were overruled by the immediacy permitted by electronic newsgathering means.”

Ballard, who eventually moved to Washington’s NBC O&O, WRC-TV, and then to NBC network operations in New York, recalled that while NBC did experiment with ENG, the network initially shied away from taking it mainstream.

“The big swing to ENG at NBC occurred when the Vietnam War ended in 1975,” he said. (Secretary of State Henry) Kissinger called a press conference and the networks elected not to carry it live. CBS scooped everyone by shuttling the (ENG) tapes they made over to their M Street operation and playing them to that network ahead of everyone else.

Ballard recalled that in the wake of the CBS scoop, other networks quickly began to take ENG’s immediacy much more seriously.

“Shortly thereafter, PCP90 portable cameras and VR-3000 backpack VTRs showed up in Washington. Later, two-piece cameras from Bosch Fernseh and Ikegami were shipped down from New York. NBC spent a ton of money on ENG.”

Ballard noted that even with this initial 1975 push to join the ENG club, the big transition began the following year at the political conventions and the arrival of a three-tube camera with image quality matching that of much larger studio models.

“For NBC, ENG really began with the 1976 Democratic Convention in NYC,” he recalled. “RCA had just announced the TK-76 one-piece camera, and with a portable Sony U-matic recorder, the transition was underway.”

Breaking Away From Film
Despite the immediacy that ENG brought to reporting, as pointed out by Ostmo, image quality wasn’t always that great, and many stations (and networks) still clung to news film. There were also other reasons for retaining film-based operations.

For the networks and some of the larger television stations, craft union jurisdiction quickly became an issue in attempts to transition away from news film.

“Back then, a network film crew consisted of five people — a photographer, a sound person, an electrician to handle the lighting, a producer, and of course, the on-camera talent,” observed Ballard. “It was a mix of IBEW or NABET and IATSE people.”

George Lemaster, who worked at NBC’s WRC-TV in Washington in the mid-to-late 1970s, recalled union jurisdictional issues there.

“At NBC in 1975, news from the field was still mostly done on film,” said Lemaster. “You had union (IATSE) cameramen who were experienced and good at what they did. The ENG crews were made up of NABET people who eventually took control of the event capturing. There were, of course jurisdictional issues. Eventually, some of the IATSE camera operators converted to ENG positions, new to electronics, but they sure knew how to shoot news footage.”

Lemaster explained that this transition was a learning experience for both film camera operators and station engineering personnel-turned-camera-operators, but once the dust settled, the initiative paid off in much faster turnaround of news stories.

Another reason for easing into ENG, rather than flash cutting, was the not inconsequential expense involved in the purchase of color film processing equipment as local stations — following the lead of networks — began to convert from monochrome to full-color operations in the late 1960s and early 70s. A color processor could cost in the tens of thousands (more than $100k today), and these large investments needed to be amortized.

Some stations, however, opted to move completely from film to tape almost overnight. Tulsa’s KOTV was one of these. Lemaster, who worked in the station’s engineering department prior to his move to Washington’s WRC-TV, recalled the Oklahoma station’s transition.

“George Jacobs, the director of engineering at Corinthian Broadcasting, which owned KOTV then, decided to just ‘zero out’ the station’s photochemical budget for one year and use that amount to purchase ENG equipment,” recalled Lemaster. “That was in 1975, just before I went to NBC in Washington.

Jacobs purchased several Sony VO-2850 U-Matic machines, a Sony editor, two Sony DXC-1600 single-tube color cameras and recorders, and a CVS 504 timebase corrector needed to air the video from the (helical scan) VTRs.

“KOTV was a non-union house and this was a ‘cold turkey’ conversion," Lemaster said. "One day we were doing film and the next day, tape. The film editors transitioned over to editing tape.”

Lemaster recalled that in spite of the differences in technology, the changeover went fairly smoothly. However, after some two decades of post-war II television, use of news film was so entrenched, some felt it would never be completely displaced by ENG.

“Will ENG ever replace news film?” Hugo Bondy, chief engineer at Atlanta’s WAGA-TV asked rhetorically in a 1976 SMPTE presentation on ENG. “Ever is a long time and I’m not that much of a ‘seer,’ but I am not holding my breath yet. Film footage will, undoubtedly, shrink. A year ago, I would have said 40%. Now? Who knows, perhaps it will drop to 20%.”

Bondy opined that until a self-contained “camcorder” the size and weight of then-current 16-mm film cameras was developed, “the total reliance on 100% ENG is risky,” explaining that some breaking news events such as a large fire ruled out the laying cables from camera to truck, or getting camera and VTR operators with their heavy equipment close to the scene of action.

Wane Caluger, who spent a large part of his engineering career at Nashville’s WSM-TV (now WSMV), recalled that his station had a slightly different reason for continuing with legacy film operations.

“The guy running the station’s film processor had worked side deals with several area high schools to process their sports footage, so the processor kept going,” said Caluger. “The dual tape/film operation probably went on for four or five years.”

THE ENG Floodgate Opens
Despite poor image quality, jurisdictional issues, prior investments in film technology and general skepticism surrounding wholesale technological switches, there was no turning back, once cameras and recorders were placed in the hands of news crews.

The real genesis of what was to be called “ENG,” may be traced to St. Louis’s KMOX-TV (now KMOV).

The station is regarded as being first in the nation to completely move into the modern era of ENG, doing so at the behest of its then-owner, CBS. The network used the O&O in a pilot project to evaluate technology for expediting the airing of news events. KMOX-TV began its initial experimentation with ENG gear in February 1973, using Akai portable gear, and the results were so gratifying that use of film ended completely in mid-September of the following year.

By that time, KMOX-TV had purchased three Ikegami HL-33 cameras, modified three Chevrolet vans to accommodate microwave gear and provide additional power for lighting gear and an IVC video recorder and support electronics. Crews were also provided with Sony VO-3800 portable U-Matic VTRs. An ENG operation center and editing bays were added at the station. (After editing on the helical scan VTRs, recordings were transferred to 2-inch quad tapes for playback in newscasts.)

In a special report on the KMOX-TV ENG project published in the July 1975 issue of Broadcast Engineering magazine, the station’s news coverage was reported to have increased by 20% since going ENG, and that interest in the initiative had brought inquiries from broadcasters as far away as Japan, Canada and Great Britain. (At the time of the article’s publication, 21% of CBS affiliates had begun to move into ENG, and the number was expected to grow to 37% by the end of 1975.)

With KMOX-TV credited as the first all-ENG operation in the country, it’s then vice president and general manager, Thomas Batista, prophetically stated in the report: “I have a feeling we won’t be the last.”

(The fourth and final installment of this history of electronic newsgathering will trace the impact of emerging technologies and their role in shaping today’s ENG operations and practices.)

(In Part 1, published in the August issue, James O’Neal traced the origins of ENG. In Part 2, he examines the shift from traditional film to electronic methodologies in capturing news events)

Even in television’s infancy, broadcasters realized that merely reporting news events from a studio setting provided little in the way of engagement with their viewing audiences. Almost from the time that radio moved out of the starting gates, “man-on-the-scene” reporting—enabled by access to a well-established network of telephone circuits—became a standard ingredient of newscasts.

Some radio reporters developed a knack for creating very good “word pictures” of what they were witnessing in connection with breaking news events, with this practice developing into something of an art form by the 1940s. (Recall Edward R. Murrow’s reporting of live events as war broke out in Great Britain, which began with “This Is London” and included the warbling of air-raid sirens and other wartime sounds.) The best the few television stations in operation during World War II could do was to augment the reading of news service copy with a map indicating combat locations.

The Roadblocks
While pioneer television broadcasters longed to emulate the immediacy and spontaneity in on-the-scene reporting provided by their radio counterparts, the physical size, weight and electrical power consumption of TV gear precluded such operations. The equipment in use in the medium’s formative years was also finicky. An image orthicon camera required several minutes for warm-up and alignment. (Even the initial network reporting of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy was via a “bulletin” slide and a newscaster voiceover as studio cameras had been switched off and couldn’t be forced into immediate operation.)

Another factor limiting coverage immediacy was connectivity. Unless a common carrier (regional or national telecom) had already established coaxial cable or microwave linkage close to the area of interest, or a clear microwave path existed between the news scene and television station or mountaintop transmitter site, “live shots” were not possible.

On-the-scene video recordings were not really an option, either, as first-generation VTRs were large and heavy on power consumption (think multiple racks of vacuum tubes), making even the recording and delivery of tapes back to the station or network by a courier equally prohibitive in terms of spontaneity in news coverage. Even with the time required for chemical processing and editing, it was faster and less complicated for television broadcasters to send a crew with a 16-millimeter sound-on-film camera to a news scene.

However, by the mid-1960s, aided by the advent of better and more reliable solid-state devices (especially transistors), broadcast equipment manufacturers were beginning to show (and deliver) a number of smaller and less power-consumptive counterparts to the vacuum-tube-based designs that had launched the postwar television industry. This technological shift was especially noticeable as the second generation of videotape recorders started to appear, with VTR pioneer Ampex beginning to shrink the size and weight of its machines by replacing vacuum tubes with transistorized circuitry.

An Early ENG ‘Van’ Experiment
One of Ampex’s videotape recorder developments apparently caught the eye of someone at Triangle Publications, a major Philadelphia-based broadcast group that operated stations in multiple markets. The new Ampex machine—the VR-660—was released in late 1962. Despite its small physical size (about 30 by 18 by 15 inches) and a price tag about one-quarter that of the “quad” machines then in use by broadcasters, it delivered video also as good as the quads.

The VR-660, along with a “miniaturized” television camera from consumer/industrial electronics company Sylvania, provided the basis for experimentation by Triangle with videotape as an alternative to film for capturing news events.

During the mid-1960s, the group trialed an early iteration of single-camera no-frills completely electronic newsgathering. The experiment was conducted at Triangle’s New Haven, Conn., station, WNHC-TV (now WTNH), and at its Altoona, Pa., property, WFBG-TV (now WTAJ). Other Triangle stations may have also participated in the trialing, but after 60 years and multiple station ownership changes documentation is scant.

The compact size and reduced power requirements of the VR-660, along with the availability of a self-contained vidicon camera—a Sylvania vidicon model designed for industrial applications and providing “FCC-legal” EIA RS-170 sync—allowed Triangle engineers to create a small, easily maneuverable mobile unit that would be the forerunner of ENG units emerging a decade or so later.

The vehicle selected for the experiment—a Chevrolet ½-ton “panel truck”—was not much larger than automobiles of the era, allowing it to be easily driven and parked very close to events being covered. The greatly reduced power requirements of the solid-state gear selected for the project also negated the need for prearranging AC power drops necessary to meet the demands of that era’s conventional television mobile units, with their large, vacuum-tube-driven image orthicon cameras and racks of support electronics.

All gear in the Triangle vehicles—camera, recorder, video monitor and a small audio mixer—was easily powered via a 1-kW DC-to-AC inverter driven by a 24-volt battery charged from a second generator driven by the vehicle’s engine.)

Ready at a Moment’s Notice
Triangle’s modifications also included the cutting of a 3-foot hatch into the top of the vehicle and adding a support platform below for the camera operator, so that if time was of the essence, coverage of a news event could begin immediately without unreeling cables or setting up the camera “on sticks.” Due to the portability of the gear and the vehicle modifications, the operator could also record events while the van was in motion.

Rather curiously, there was apparently no attempt to incorporate microwave gear to the van’s equipment package to enable live transmissions, though at least one manufacturer was offering small, solid-state microwave links designed specifically for such applications. (By the mid-1960s, Microwave Associates (later M/A-COM and now MACOM) touted “lunch-box-sized” transmitters consuming a mere 50W that were intended “to bring live TV field coverage within range of every broadcaster.” The company even offered a small camera as an “accessory.”)

Although the Triangle newsgathering vehicle design was revolutionary, its use was rather short-lived. (When the author joined the WNHC-TV staff in 1970, the early ENG experiment was just a distant memory among some of the older staffers.) This was likely due to a number of factors, the greatest of which was the inability to easily edit the videotapes produced.

While the VR-660 utilized 2-inch videotape, its recordings could not be played back by conventional “quad” broadcast VTRs due to differences in head scanning. (In the interest of simplifying design and operation, the VR-660 incorporated a helical tape scan as opposed to the transverse scanning used in larger machines.) To edit recordings, stations either had to purchase a second VR-660 (around $14,000 in 1965; more than $140,000 in 2025 dollars) or transport the 100-pound machine from the van to the TV studio for dubbing the video to conventional “quad” VTRs that did provide editing capability.

Another major factor that possibly sidelined this early ENG attempt was the widespread conversion to color television broadcasting taking place in the 1960s. The initial Ampex VR-660s lacked color capability, and there were no small or easily portable color counterparts to the Sylvania camera at the time of the Triangle experiment. (Ampex did eventually add both color and editing features to the VR-660, but by that time, Triangle stations had moved away from ENG and into 16-mm color film for capturing news events.)

Although this very early foray into electronic newsgathering ultimately went nowhere, it doubtless captured the attention of others in the industry (the June 1965 issue of Broadcast Engineering magazine featured a cover story account of the WFBG-TV implementation). It was only a matter of time, along with the creation of equipment better suited to task, before the Triangle experiment would be repeated by others.

(The next chapter of this series tracing ENG’s history examines the beginnings of electronic newsgathering in its modern form, along with its early rollout at both station and network level.)

{Part one of a two-part series.]

The public’s interest in viewing distant “breaking news” events was stoked more than 100 years ago by the French Pathé motion picture company, with that organization producing and distributing the first “newsreels” to European movie houses in 1909 and in the United States two years later.

These short presentations of major news developments allowed audiences to experience such events in greater detail than the still images that appeared in newspapers and magazines. By the 1930s, a few specialty movie houses catered to serious “news junkies” by offering only newsreels running on a continuous basis, a precursor to the 24/7 schedule initiated by CNN in 1980.

Television news coverage, and the immediacy that comes with it, ultimately spelled the death knell of the theatrical newsreel, with the final installment coming from British Movietone News in May 1979 (U.S. newsreel production had ceased some 12 years earlier).

With this background, and the rise of numerous successful television entities that do nothing but broadcast news, it’s interesting to trace the evolution of “on the scene” television newsgathering and the technological developments that have now made it possible to capture and transmit live video from anywhere in the world.

Early Attempts
After a century, it’s sometimes a bit difficult to establish the true origin of many technologies and events—witness the competing claims for the invention of the telephone, radio, aviation and others. However, a very strong claim for priority in ENG exists for Schenectady, N.Y., TV station WRGB, which at the time of the history-making event operated under radio station WGY’s call sign.

WGY was owned by General Electric, and its wizard of combined electrical and mechanical engineering, Ernst Alexanderson, had begun experimentation with television around 1926. He succeeded in developing a 48-line mechanical system, and with it, broadcast the first televised drama, “The Queen’s Messenger,” in September 1928.

Alexanderson had also devised a portable version of his equipment, and in the previous month transported it to the New York statehouse in Albany to televise Gov. Al Smith as he accepted his nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate on Aug. 22.

This first-ever bit of televised “breaking news” was reported to have been clearly received on the handful of television receivers that existed then. (Alexanderson later continued his television research independently of WGY, with the experimental call sign W2XCW. This pioneering station later became WRGB.)

Claims might be made by fledgling U.K. and German television operations in connection with the televised coverage of horse racing and the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games, but these are better characterized as live coverage of sporting events, not breaking news.

A priority claim for the first electronically televised breaking event has to go to NBC and its 1939 experimental television station, W2XBS (later WNBT and now WNBC), which in November 1938 broadcast live the burning of an abandoned New York City building, and a few months later, covered the opening of the New York World’s Fair, with President Franklin Roosevelt, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and RCA President and CEO David Sarnoff all appearing before the camera.

ENG in the Postwar Television Boom
However, it was not until the end of World War II in 1945 that television began to be taken seriously by the general public and receivers started appearing in homes in substantial numbers. During this period, early TV broadcasters began to emulate their radio counterparts by increasingly taking programming out of the studio and into real-world environments, including live coverage of breaking news.

Credit for the first live coverage of a breaking “hard” story by television likely goes to Los Angeles station KTLA, which, not long after exchanging its experimental call sign W6XYZ for the commercial call, took its mobile setup to the scene of a massive explosion at a city electroplating plant. The Feb. 20, 1947, incident killed 17 people and damaged 11 nearby buildings beyond repair. KTLA microwaved video from the scene to its transmitter location atop Mount Wilson for retransmission to the few hundred TV sets then in use in Los Angeles.

KTLA also gets the honors for the first continuous television coverage of an evolving event—the attempted rescue of a 3-year-old girl who had fallen into an abandoned well. The station’s coverage of this 1949 event spanned nearly two days in April.

KTLA also wins—hands down—the honors for development and deployment in 1958 of the first helicopter television broadcasting platform, the “Telecopter,” which was the brainchild of the station’s chief engineer, John Silva.

Silva first experimented with a “tethered” configuration for video delivery, and with the success of this arrangement shifted to a “wireless” version, employing a special mobile microwave transmitter and non-directional antenna package built by General Electric.

The antenna was hinged so as not to impede helicopter landing operations, stowed horizontally until the aircraft was in flight. It was then dropped to a vertical position beneath the craft, radiating equally well in all directions. Signals could be easily tracked from an elevated receiving dish.

(As an historical note, Silva was not the first to transmit video from an aerial platform. Near the end of World War II, the military experimented with drone operation using early RCA camera gear, and in 1955, NBC used a Goodyear blimp to transmit portions of the Jan. 1 Tournament of Roses parade; however, Silva was the first to deploy a helicopter in an ENG application.)

Homegrown Equipment
KTLA was certainly not alone in devising methodology for airing news events as they happened. By the late 1940s, RCA was offering a two-camera “remote” unit in its catalog of TV-specific equipment, and a number of stations either purchased such ready-made products or “rolled their own” in an attempt to supplement studio programming.

And while these smaller mobile video origination platforms could be used in coverage of a scheduled news event, spontaneity was not their strong suit, as external electrical power was required, necessitating the pre-ordering of a power company “drop,” or running heavy cables to a suitable AC source.

However, by 1952, engineers at Washington, D.C.’s CBS affiliate, WTOP-TV (now WUSA), overcame this limitation with the creation of a one-camera vehicle (a modified passenger car) for event coverage. (As little documentation survives, it’s possible that the network may have been involved in the project, as CBS was then part-owner of WTOP-TV.)

A surviving photo (on the cover) shows the unit in operation, with CBS newsman Walter Cronkite describing a news event as technicians operate an RCA camera and microwave transmitter. Power demands for this gear would have been minimal compared to those required by vans with multiple cameras, monitors and other origination equipment, and could have been met by an auxiliary AC generator driven by the car’s engine.

Despite the efforts of station and network engineering teams in devising smaller and less power-consuming mobile video origination platforms, throughout most of the postwar first three decades, the favored methodology for capturing most news events for television broadcast remained the 16-millimeter motion picture camera, due to its small form factor, ease of handling and portability.

(The next part of this series will examine the initial attempts at breaking away from news film as solid-state equipment began to replace vacuum tube-driven broadcast gear.)

HUNT VALLEY, Md.–Sinclair Broadcast has deployed innovative cloud-based news and content gathering and production workflows by combining technologies from Avid, Sony and Marquis Broadcast. This new approach integrates Avid MediaCentral, Sony Electronics’ C3 Portal gateway service and Marquis software and leverages 5G networks to reduce connectivity costs while enriching the flow of news metadata to accelerate the speed of its news operations. Using this method, we’re getting news to air faster than ever.

Our fundamental strategy is to democratize news acquisition, with every journalist or photographer having fast content delivery to news production centers. This transformation requires a collaborative approach to streamline the workflow. We’re engaged with Avid on its MediaCentral news production platform, Sony on cameras and C3 Portal and Marquis to enable complex workflow integrations. 

New News Workflows
We’ve enabled real business and operational benefits, with fast story turnaround and structured metadata automatically delivered to newsrooms, which can then cut several versions of the same story to deliver to digital platforms faster and with improved relevance. We have six stations engaged to refine the technologies and we’re continually optimizing workflows for best ROI and operational outcome. 

There are challenges to overcome but we’re moving closer to having access to all content in near real time. The next steps are around compression efficiency to increase quality while reducing bandwidth consumption and improving metadata transparency throughout the process.

Fundamental to Sony’s C3 Portal news workflow is the automatic preservation and enrichment of metadata from the point of origination. C3 Portal supports pushing metadata to the camera before shooting commences; for example, iNEWS slug information and assignment data, preserving this metadata throughout the production process when the story checks into Avid MediaCentral. Future workflows will allow rights information—and therefore genealogy—to be automatically maintained from creation throughout the edit and into archive.

Another powerful component of the new solution is the ability to send proxy video quickly back to the news production center via 5G network and Sony’s C3 Portal. The Marquis integration enables the “edit while record” feature in Media Composer so stories can be edited as soon as the proxy file starts ingesting. With a wide choice of Sony proxy resolutions, news organizations may easily take the proxy to air within seconds for fast news turnaround.

Sony's C3 Portal
This workflow automates extraction of sequence information from the Avid low-res proxy edit. With this sequence data, Marquis automatically retrieves the high-resolution media from either Sony’s C3 Portal, and the originating camera or originating camera cards. Assuming a 10:1 shooting ratio, this partial extraction process results in a 90% reduction in 5G data transferred and network bandwidth required. 

Using the dynamic relink feature in Avid, the high-res content simply drops into the timeline and automatically substitutes the low-res content, thus transforming news production. 

For more information on Sony, visit https://pro.sony/ue_US.

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Sinclair has announced that it is deploying a new, innovative cloud-based news and content gathering and production system that combines technologies from Avid, Sony and Marquis Broadcast. 

The new approach, which is designed to speed up its ability to delivery news content to its audiences, leverages 5G networks to reduce connectivity costs while enriching the flow of news metadata. 

“Our fundamental strategy is to democratize news acquisition, with every journalist or photographer having fast content delivery to news production centers,” explained Ernie Ensign, AVP news technology & operations, Sinclair, explained. “This transformation requires a collaborative approach to streamline the workflow. We’re engaged with Avid on its MediaCentral news production platform, Sony on cameras and C3 Portal and Marquis to enable complex workflow integrations.”

“We’ve enabled real business and operational benefits, with fast story turn-around and structured metadata automatically delivered to newsrooms,” he continued. “Our newsrooms can cut several versions of the same story to deliver to digital platforms faster and with improved relevance. We have six stations engaged to refine the technologies and we’re continually optimizing workflows for best ROI and operational outcome. There are challenges to overcome but we’re moving closer to having access to all content in near real time. The next steps are around compression efficiency to increase quality while reducing bandwidth consumption and improving metadata transparency throughout the process.”

In the new workflow, Sony’s C3 Portal news workflow provides the automatic preservation and enrichment of metadata from the point of origination. C3 Portal supports pushing metadata to the camera before shooting commences; for example, iNEWS slug information and assignment data, preserving this metadata throughout the production process when the story checks into Avid MediaCentral. Future workflows will allow rights information – and therefore genealogy – to be automatically maintained from creation throughout the edit and into archive.

“It has been a great pleasure for us to work with Sinclair, Avid and Marquis, striving to transform news acquisition,” explained Masakazu Murata, senior general manager of Media Solutions Business, Sony Corporation. “A closer integration of our C3 Portal with Avid MediaCentral to immediately deliver contents to the edit system from camera is one of the major demands from our customers and I’m pleased to confirm we have achieved this. It’s an exciting journey of joint innovation that’s already realizing operational results for Sinclair. The new workflow will help us align the roadmap for further development of the C3 Portal. Sony continues to deliver solutions to meet and exceeds the needs of customers, by creating together with partners that provide value in the video production workflow.”

A powerful component of the new solution is the ability to send proxy video quickly back to the news production center via 5G network and Sony’s C3 Portal, the companies also reported. 

The Marquis integration enables the ‘edit while record’ feature in Media Composer so stories can be edited as soon as the proxy file starts ingesting. With a wide choice of Sony proxy resolutions, news organizations may easily take the proxy to air within seconds for fast news turnaround.

“The pressure to deliver content and get editors cutting faster is relentless. The focus of Avid’s partnership with Sony and Marquis is to pioneer new ways to quickly ingest proxy media with metadata and fetch only the required high-resolution media in a sequence,” said Ray Thompson, senior director, partners and alliances, Avid. “The combined offering enables lens-to-first-edit workflows to flow from Sony cameras, through Sony’s C3 Portal leveraging Marquis software to deliver proxy media and camera metadata into Avid on-premises or cloud-deployed production solutions. This includes sending content into Avid Production Asset Management environments to simplify news and sports workflows or sending content directly into the Avid | Edit On Demand SaaS platform in the cloud.”

More specifically, this novel workflow automates extraction of sequence information from the Avid low-res proxy edit. With this sequence data, Marquis will automatically retrieve the high-resolution media from either Sony’s C3 Portal, and, scheduled for 2023, also from the originating camera or originating camera cards. Assuming a 10:1 shooting ratio, this partial extraction process results in a 90% reduction in 5G data transferred and network bandwidth required. Using the dynamic relink feature in Avid, the high-res content simply drops into the timeline and automatically substitutes the low-res content, thus transforming news production, the companies explained. 

“We’re so pleased to be a core part of this initiative,” concluded Paul Glasgow, managing director, Marquis. “In many ways, it has been a four-way partnership led by Sinclair, combined with some hard work and willingness to help from Marquis, Avid and Sony. As an example, we met with the Sony team at IBC 2022 and explained our integration strategy for Sinclair. Within days, we had access to Sony’s C3 Portal, plus a Sony camera in our labs to test alongside our Avid MediaCentral environment. It helped us accelerate our software development program, and most important of all, achieve real-world field operations by Sinclair.”

LAS VEGAS—Dejero will unveil its new EnGo 3 and EnGo 3x 5G-native mobile transmitters with integrated internet gateway at the 2022 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 24-27. The new additions to the EnGo family combine superior 5G performance, multicamera support and 4K UHD resolution with unparalleled video quality for broadcast and media production markets, the company said. 

EnGo 3 and EnGo 3x feature a completely redesigned RF and antenna architecture to unlock the full potential of 5G connections unlike other solutions in the market. “Our team worked with world-renowned RF and antenna experts to maximize cellular signal quality and performance on 5G networks,” explains Yvonne Monterroso, director of product management at Dejero. 

“We’re quadrupling the number of antennas per modem and diversifying the antenna types. It’s incredibly complex to add so many antennas to a small, portable device without compromising performance and reliability, which we’ve achieved. It’s just not as simple as replacing 4G modems with 5G modems,” she added. 

The new 5G EnGo transmitters feature 4x4 MIMO antennas to achieve greater reliability, lower latency and faster speeds. Dejero made modifications to the EnGo to ensure optimal antenna isolation. “We’ve seen other 5G mobile transmitters in the market using 4G antenna design principles where interference by antennas placed too close together negatively impacts reliability, especially in areas where cellular signals may be weak, or where many cellular devices are competing for network bandwidth,” continued Monterroso. 

Diversity of cellular bands was another key design consideration. For EnGo 3 and EnGo 3x, Dejero selected modems that support a broad range of cellular bands to enhance 5G performance. Monterroso explains its importance for global use: “We support additional bands used by carriers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, China, Korea, and Latin America that other 5G mobile transmitters can’t connect to. It can make a huge difference for reliability.”

EnGo 3x provides multicamera support for up to four fully frame-synced HD feeds. Dejero’s new remote production transmitter can capture feeds from multiple cameras in a single unit, reducing the cost and complexity of multicamera sports and live event productions, Dejero said. The additional camera inputs can be licensed when needed.

The ability to transmit in 4Kp60 10-bit HDR with eight audio channels delivers unparalleled video quality at extremely low latencies providing viewers of sports and major live event viewers to watch in the highest definition possible. Furthermore, 4K live feeds can greatly benefit film, television and commercial productions to make it easier for distributed teams that are not located on set to monitor and detect lighting and color balance issues in real-time, allowing customers to  avoid expensive reshoots, the company said. The 4K UHD feature does not require a separate license, unlike competing solutions, according to the company. 

EnGo 3, designed for newsgathering in locations where 5G networks have been widely deployed, incorporates all of the new features of the EnGo 265, introduced in December last year. It reliably transports broadcast-quality live video from remote locations whilst also providing resilient, high-bandwidth internet access, all in one single device. With glass-to-glass latency as low as half a second over bonded cellular connections, it also delivers greater security with AES 256 encryption, a security-hardened Linux OS and a cryptoprocessor to authenticate the hardware. 

The 5G networks bonded by EnGo 3 and EnGo 3x transmitters can be combined with other wireless networks including Wi-Fi and GEO/MEO/LEO satellite, and fixed line (cable/DSL/fiber) wired networks thanks to Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology, which intelligently manages the fluctuating bandwidth, packet loss, and latency differences of the individual connections in real-time, providing enhanced reliability, expanded coverage and greater bandwidth.

The new EnGo mobile transmitters also feature built-in Hybrid Encoding Technology with the latest generation of Intel processors with customized firmware. The units can adapt to real-time feedback on the complexity of the content being encoded, such as the amount of motion. It works in tandem with Smart Blending Technology to analyze the throughput capacity and latency of all the connections. 

LAS VEGAS—There are many different types of equipment used for news production, everything from cameras to satellite dishes to media management systems. One of the interesting evolutions in the industry is how gear that was developed for ENG applications in particular, is now used for a variety of media creation and management tasks.

This is due at least in part to Moore’s Law, the rule that doubles the complexity of electronic components every two years or so. In the television industry, this means that devices get additional features and capabilities regularly—as the price of the gear either stays the same or slowly reduces. Equipment that could only be afforded by well-paid news organizations is now available to a much bigger range of content creators, at very friendly prices.

This has led to an explosion of products and capabilities, and it gets used for programming from reality shows to sports to films. ENG is not just for ENG anymore.

Here is a brief look at what is new for news production teams at the 2022 NAB Show at press time: 

Ingest & Editing
Bitcentral will spotlight its Precis news production system that streamlines ingest and editing. Precis is scalable to grow with an organization, and works with a range of editing software, ENG cameras and newsroom computer systems.

Grass Valley will feature its GV STRATUS production and content management system. Grass Valley’s AMPP Connected STRATUS solution now allows users to have access to content across multiple sites and teams by federating the content in the cloud. AMPP also gives journalists access to a full-featured web-based editor that can be accessed from anywhere on any computer and works with proxies for fast response.

Dalet will highlight its new Pyramid newsroom system, a cloud-agnostic solution that supports multiple cloud providers, and can run in virtualized environments that support remote productions.

“Dalet Pyramid enables news storytellers to incorporate diverse content from any source into the virtual newsroom, including remote camera/ENG contributions and backpack integration,” said Raoul Cospen, director of business development (EMEA and APAC) for Dalet.

IP-Based Production
Aviwest will showcase its new PRO460 4K UHD 5G/4G transmitter, designed for remote and at-home video production. The PRO460 supports 4K UHD and multicamera workflows for up to four high-resolution, fully frame-synced feeds.

“The Aviwest PRO460 addresses many of the challenges that broadcasters face in ENG and for live-event remote production,” said Ronan Poullaouec, chief technology officer and co-founder of Aviwest.

Dejero will feature its new EnGo 265 mobile transmitter with built-in GateWay mode. The two-in-one mobile transmitter and internet gateway delivers reliable wireless connectivity with the new GateWay mode offering wireless broadband internet connectivity in the field. An improved bandwidth blending algorithm enhances all latency setting and delivers glass-to-glass latency as low as 0.5 seconds over bonded cellular connections, the company said.

LiveU will show new and existing products in its large booth, which features a live stage for fireside chats, panels and workflow demonstrations with other cloud production providers including Blackbird, Grass Valley, Grabyo, highlighting the ongoing removal of traditional and restrictive infrastructure. The company will highlight its contribution and distribution solutions that include the multicamera LU800 5G production-level field unit. LiveU will also demo its Air Control solution to get remote guests and live feeds into the system and on the air.

Also new is Cloud Connect, which simplifies live productions, reduces costs, and delivers a faster time-to-air by leveraging LiveU’s automated cloud workflows. 

TVU Networks will showcase a suite of cloud-based applications for remote production and new 5G-enabled transmitters and routers. Most of TVU’s technology is 5G-enabled and has been so for years. This includes the TVU One mobile transmitter, TVU Rack Router, and TVU MLink transmitter. 

TVU’s cloud-native pay-as-you-go TVU Channel playout platform, introduced in late October, supports hundreds of thousands of viewers. Designed for one of the world’s largest broadcasters, TVU Channel enables a user to schedule live and VOD programming from a web browser.

Education Sessions
Off from the exhibit floor, several conferences will consider current and future trends and advances in newsgathering.

On Sunday afternoon, April 24, in the CMIP Presentation Theater, Josh Keller from the Video Call Center will answer the question, “Are IP-Remotes Causing Headaches?” During the session, he’ll discuss ways to reduce latency, dropouts and improve the overall quality of IP remote delivery, an issue that has been top of mind for news stations that have had to increase their reliance on IP remotes for the past two years.

At “Advanced News Acquisition Workflows” on Tuesday morning, April 26, Ernie Ensign, senior director of news technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group, will look at how the use of metadata can help improve news workflows from the newsroom computer system to cameras in the field. 

Tuesday afternoon, during “Breaking News Barriers: 175 Years of Innovation in Factual Reporting,” representatives from the Associated Press will discuss its evolution from the days of communicating via horseback to today’s digital media technologies.

News teams will also want to check out “ATSC 3.0 as a Use Case for Public Safety Communications: Development Milestones,” on Sunday morning in the West Hall. This session will focus on how the use of advanced emergency alerting systems in NextGen TV will help broadcasters improve their reporting and public safety commitments. 

With plenty of competition and constant product improvement, news production systems at NAB Show 2022 promise new features, excellent performance and the agility to get your content where it needs to go—when it needs to get there.

For more information on the 2022 NAB Show, visit nabshow.com/2022

NEW YORK—Verizon has announced that more than 100 million people in 1,700-plus cities around the U.S. will have access in January 2022 to its 5G UItra Wideband service, which is up to 10 times faster than 4G LTE. 

“This massive launch will put incredible speeds, reliability and security in the hands of our customers and amplifies our offering of reliable home and business broadband options to more places around the country, well ahead of the commitment we made last year,” said Hans Vestberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon. “As 5G Ultra Wideband becomes available to more and more people and businesses, it will allow our customers to do more amazing things.”

The move is important both for consumers and for news organizations using cellular systems in their news operations to send video as Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband offers download speeds up to one gigabit per second and the capacity to support data-heavy actions from multiple devices at one time.

The launches come in the wake of a dispute over the possible impact of 5G on aviation. This week Verizon and AT&T agreed to a two week delay in the rollout of 5G services to clear up any possible interference with aviation signals. 

Verizon said a map of mobility coverage will be available at launch and more information about business services and coverage can be found at verizon.com/business/why-verizon while customers interested in 5G Home service can visit https://www.verizon.com/5g/home/.

SHANGHAI—TVU Networks has announced an expanded relationship with Somoy TV, a 24-hour news channel in Bangladesh that has added new cloud-based newsgathering tools from TVU Networks for its remotes and country-wide coverage.

The news net began using solutions from TVU Networks in 2014 to strengthen its remote newsgathering, when TVU’s mobile transmitters and servers replaced the station’s planned DSNG van purchase, providing wider coverage at a fraction of the cost. 

A few years later, Somoy TV has further augmented their newsgathering fleet to increase the speed of and widen the coverage area of its reporting.

“Thanks to the cost savings we experienced using TVU’s IP and cloud-based solutions, we’ve been able to purchase additional tools,” said Ahmed Jobaer, managing director and CEO, Somoy TV. “TVU has been an important partner, helping us enhance our live coverage from the field with greater flexibility. TVU solutions deliver the lowest latency, fastest boot time and best transmission quality around. We’ve seen how their IS+ technology combined with HEVC produce outstanding picture quality using lower data bandwidth, which is ideal for the existing mobile network conditions we have in Bangladesh. Our coverage is no longer limited by distance. We cover breaking news from Capital City and beyond every day.”

Somoy TV has adopted the TVU Anywhere mobile broadcasting app for content acquisition. TVU Anywhere has integrated support for Center Stage, a new iPad Pro (M1 Chip models) feature that automates subject tracking. 

The integration of Center Stage frees the reporter or anchor using TVU Anywhere from the constraints of holding a fixed position, using AI to automatically recognize the subject and tracking as he or she moves. It also features dual-camera support for simultaneous broadcast from front and rear cameras in a picture-in-picture or split-screen option. Content captured using TVU Anywhere can be sent directly to the cloud to be produced and distributed.

“Somoy TV is a critical partner for us in Bangladesh,” said Sushant Rai, vice president of sales for SAMEA at TVU Networks. “They’re known for their honest and up-to-the-minute news coverage throughout the country. We’re thrilled that our technology is able to help fulfill the mission of this important organization. We look forward to seeing the results of the continued TVU-Somoy partnership.”

OTTAWA—In August 2016 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented Part 107 of its regulations, which governed the use of commercial drones in U.S. airspace. Many of the nation’s TV broadcasters were quick to add drones to their newsgathering arsenal, while carefully training their staff in the legal, proper, and safe use of these remotely-controlled camera platforms.

Fast forward to today, with hundreds of drones now being owned by U.S. TV broadcasting teams, the aerial footage captured on these platforms has gone from being a visual novelty to an essential part of TV newsgathering.

Sinclair Broadcast Group uses drone footage daily in their newscasts, according to Jeff Rose, UAS Chief Pilot with the station group.

“We don’t just use drones for news stories,” he added. “Aerial bump shots of cityscapes, traffic and weather are used throughout the broadcasts.”

Sharri Berg, COO, News & Operations with Fox Television Stations and newly appointed president of Fox Weather, says it would be unusual for Fox to staff a news story without sending a pilot along with a drone. “It has found a place on the regular newsgathering equipment checklist,” she said. “When you go out the door, you make sure to take a camera, microphones, a streaming kit and a drone.”

Becoming an essential newsgathering tool is just one trend with respect to drones and U.S. TV broadcasters. Here are some others that are just as important.

WAIVERS PROVIDE MORE FLEXIBILITY

FAA Rule Part 107 imposes certain limitations on the use of commercial drones. These include only flying visual line of sight (VLOS) missions where the drone can always be seen by the pilot, and ensuring that flights are constantly monitored by an accompanying visual observer so that the pilot can aim and control the drone’s onboard TV camera.

Drones are also restricted from flying over people and at night, however, the FAA is willing to waive sections of Part 107 for operators who have proven themselves to be responsible and reliable, safety-minded pilots. Thanks to the U.S. TV broadcast industry’s consistent adherence to professional drone pilot training and operations, the FAA has issued waivers for night flights and closer-than-usual approaches to people in certain circumstances.

CNN received the very first waiver ever issued by the FAA for operations over people and has used it on several occasions for newsgathering, according to Greg Agvent, senior director of the CNN Aerial Imagery & Reporting unit, aka “CNN AIR.”

“However, because of our concerns over safety and the protection of people and property, the editorial bar has to be very high in order for us to fly directly over people,” Agvent added. “We would rather fly adjacent to them instead.”

Fox has also been able to obtain waivers due to enhanced training. “We provide extensive education and training to our pilots who fly night missions, which teach them how to use lights and navigate safely in this environment,” said Rebecca Kesten, Fox News coordinating producer and drone pilot. “We also train some of our pilots to fly indoor missions and flights over people, which requires additional skills and solid flight experience.”

Much faster ight authorizations have been a major trend in TV drone deployments, thanks to the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) program. LAANC is an automated process that allows private drone pilots to quickly receive permission to fly in “controlled airspace” (e.g. close to airports and other restricted areas), rather than take hours or even days to obtain through standard FAA channels.

“LAANC provides a grid map of the airspace around an airport that we can see on our smartphones,” said Agvent. “With this map, we can see what altitudes we are allowed to operate at—the closer you get to an airport, the lower the altitude that you are restricted to—and then file for that permission online. When it comes to drone-based newsgathering, this is an extremely signicant advance.”

PLANNING YOUR FLIGHT

Deploying a drone is not simply a matter of turning it on and taking off; safe departure and landing areas should be determined prior to departure. Flight paths should be planned out to take any obstacles and off-limits areas into account.

Providing this kind of support is where a company like Skyward (skyward.io, a Verizon company) comes in. Skyward makes software that simplifies the flight planning and approval process for broadcasters and other drone users.

“Skyward’s InFlight mobile ground control system was specifically designed with media organizations in mind,” said Ryan Wall, Skyward’s director of business development and strategic planning. “InFlight allows a news crew to request and obtain permission to fly a drone in controlled airspace at a moment’s notice via the FAA’s LAANC program.

“We have also updated Skyward’s InFlight mobile app to include three Automated Flight Modes for pre-planned missions and surveys: Survey, orbit and point-to-point,” Wall added. “Now, broadcast customers can fly automated missions to collect footage and automatically log their flights without ever leaving InFlight.”

COMPETITION ENDS IN THE AIR

With ratings at stake, TV news teams are expected to compete aggressively for the best camera angles and eye-catching footage. But this competition ends once these broadcasters’ drones get airborne. This is because there is no government-run air traffic control that manages multiple broadcaster drones operating in the same airspace. So when competing stations start flying drones close together to cover a news story, it is up to them to prevent mid-air collisions and debris fallout onto the ground below.

Fortunately, the trend in increased drone usage in U.S. TV news markets has been accompanied by a trend towards increased pilot cooperation as well. “The key word is ‘deconfliction,’” said Rose. “When you get multiple news crews flying drones in the same area, it has become common for pilots to get together and decide where each of their drones will be flying, and their flight paths to and back from those positions.”

The July 2020 funeral procession of Congressman John Lewis over the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Ala., was a prime example of such cooperation. “There were probably nine drones covering the passage of his flag-draped casket across that bridge,” Rose said. “The pilots from these organizations got together to negotiate their drone positions on either side of the bridge beforehand, so that everyone got the shots they needed safely.”

DIVERSE OPPORTUNITIES

The evolution of drone footage into an essential element of TV newsgathering has resulted in more staff being trained as pilots and visual observers. “The more people we’re able to train, the more missions we’re able to fly,” said Berg.

The need for more drone personnel has opened up career options for women and other groups who historically have not had the same access to opportunities as their white male colleagues.

A case in point: “At Fox we’re incredibly proud of the female pilots and visual observers in our division, and we want to give them the recognition that they deserve,” Berg said. “It is for this reason that we created the Fox Piloting Innovation Award, to acknowledge organizations that encourage women to disrupt and innovate within the UAS industry.”

The first recipient of this award was the Fox Flight team in 2019.

Derana TV, Sri Lanka’s premium entertainment channel, has deployed LiveU technology throughout its news operations – Ada Derana – for ongoing newsgathering, in Sri Lanka and abroad. Ada Derana, considered to be the country’s most unbiased and comprehensive news property, will use multiple LiveU units to cover the presidential election, scheduled for 16th November 2019.

Madhawa Madawala, Executive Director and COO, at Derana TV, said, “Choosing LiveU has been an extremely smart and strategic decision – equipping us with a technology that can travel places with us. We have a news team of 100 people geared to deliver the most accurate and timely information and LiveU’s contribution to this has been massive. We, as a media channel, constantly look for technologies which make our workflows and life, in general, easier. LiveU has surpassed our expectations and helped us reduce production costs.”

“Derana TV is one of our key customers in Sri Lanka and we share a strong relationship with them. Derana has always trusted LiveU for their newsgathering technology, which makes us very proud. We are committed to provide excellent support to our customers in Sri Lanka in association with our local partners and will continue to keep our promise of delivering unfailing technology”, said Ranjit Bhatti, Director of South Asia, LiveU.

Puritha Wijewickrama, General Manager IT, at Derana TV, added, “Our channel – or any media channel for that matter – is ever-growing because, fortunately or unfortunately, we never run out of news. In such a scenario, it’s imperative that we’re equipped with the best to stay ahead in the industry. The support provided by LiveU has always been great and we can also rely on its robust technology, which has never failed us. We plan to use their LU600 HEVC units widely during the upcoming election to provide a compelling experience for our audience.”

AMSTERDAM—Aviwest and V-Nova have formed a strategic partnership to develop and sell newsgathering products with a target release of 2020, the companies said.

Building upon the success of a Media-Telecom Catalyst project, which led to a proof of concept in less than six months, the joint development uses V-Nova’s P+ AI-powered next-gen streaming enhancement with newsgathering solutions from Aviwest. The proof of concept is being shown during IBC 2019 at the RAI Amsterdam, which closed Sept. 17.

The Media-Telecom Catalyst Innovation projects fast-track innovation in the media and technology ecosystem. IBC and the TM Forum have collaborated on the program, which brings together companies of all sizes to develop solutions to commonly faced industry challenges.

Aviwest and V-Nova were among several companies participating in the “Mobile Newsgathering Using AI-Powered Catalyst” project. Others in the project included Al Jazerra, Associated Press, BBC and BT. The project tackled enhancing transmitted news content in the face of fluctuating and sometimes unreliable mobile network coverage, as well as taking advantage of the benefits of 5G.

The Aviwest-V-Nova proof-of-concept product enables high-performance video compression and robustness in a constrained bandwidth connection. It provides low latency performance and smart adaptability to different network conditions, the companies said. The goal is to develop this proof-of-concept project into a newsgathering solution that integrates V-Nova’s P+ technology into an HE4000, Multi-HD/UHD HEVC encoder.

Live demos are being held at the Media Telecoms Catalyst Zone in Hall 9 of the RAI Amsterdam.

V-Nova is exhibiting at IBC 2019 stand 14.A07 and Aviwest is in stand 2.B31.

More information is available on the Aviwest website and the V-Nova website.

LiveU’s location – Stand 6D2-01

At BroadcastAsia2019, the Company will demonstrate the latest additions to its award-winning HEVC suite and IP live video management service offerings.

See also our LiveU Solo one-touch wireless video encoder live in action, in a portable live multi-cam production, demonstrated by our Thai partner, Smart Broadcast Solution. 

Highlights include: 

Hardware-based HEVC product suite 

LiveU’s flagship LU600 4K HEVC portable transmission solution offers flawless video quality for live news and sports coverage with extreme bandwidth efficiency. The company will present its new addition, the LU600 HEVC 4K-SDI, facilitating professional 4Kp50/60 streaming for top-quality production, supporting VR and 360 applications.

Also on show will be LiveU’s compact, robust LU300 HEVC field unit for on-the-go live streaming, and professional 1U HEVC rackmount, LU610 HEVC.  

LiveU Matrix & AI   

Matrix is LiveU’s next-generation IP video distribution platform, designed by broadcasters for broadcasters. Matrix provides a highly efficient content curation service, empowering newsroom managers to quickly and easily give hundreds of affiliates unparalleled access to live feeds from LiveU units in the field and other sources without any interruption, additional resources, or expensive fees. LiveU Matrix was recently selected by CBS Newspath to handle contribution and delivery of live content to its 200+ affiliates and seven global news bureaus. 

See a live demonstration of a new AI feature that enables broadcasters to search, identify, classify, and route objects and people. 

LiveU Central & AI 

LiveU will demonstrate LiveU AI, powered by Newsbridge, within its LiveU Central cloud management platform. This new feature offers broadcasters and publishers a comprehensive set of contribution and AI-based video indexing tools for enriching, searching and accessing their live or file-based content. Saving time and effort, the complete service enables editors to search and find their required footage faster than ever, easing their daily workload and making real-time production much more efficient.

LiveU and CBS Newspath have reached an agreement on a multi-year deal for LiveU Matrix to handle contribution and delivery of live content to its 200+ affiliates and seven global news bureaus. LiveU Matrix is a highly efficient content curation service that empowers newsroom managers to quickly and easily give hundreds of affiliates unparalleled access to live feeds from LiveU units in the field and other sources without any interruption, additional resources, or expensive fees.

“The change to LiveU Matrix is instrumental to our strategy of reducing our reliance on satellite and fiber technology, while affording us increased flexibility in our newsgathering and content sharing,” said Tim Gaughan, CBS News Vice President of News Services.

“LiveU Matrix also complements CBS Newspath’s current use of LiveU HEVC acquisition technology, giving them a complete, end-to-end HEVC solution that delivers exceptional quality, reduces bandwidth requirements and is managed through one simple interface,” said Avi Cohen, LiveU COO & Co-founder.

“HEVC was a prerequisite for this deployment. LiveU offered a one-stop-shop for hardware-based HEVC field encoding and IP video cloud management to distribute high-quality live feeds to our teams,” added Tom Fearing, CBS Newspath Director of Technical Operations. 

Matrix, a dynamic cloud platform, makes it simple to curate content through one interface. Users can easily search, filter, preview, and distribute live feeds. See a live demonstration of the powerful newsroom tool including tagging and metadata insertion and the AI feature that allows broadcasters to search, identify, classify, and route objects and people at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 8-11, 2019, South Hall Upper, Booth #SU4810. Visit https://get.liveu.tv/nab-2019/ for more information.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance is expanding its mission with the next-generation of emergency alerting to place greater emphasis on news as a source of potentially life-saving information.

“The alliance’s steering committee sees AWARN evolving to become more newsroom-centric,” says John Lawson, AWARN executive director.

While delivering official alerts, such as EAS and EAN notifications, will remain the primary focus of AWARN, the advanced capabilities of ATSC 3.0 enable TV newsrooms to deliver a wider range of emergency-related information, such as evacuation routes, the location of emergency shelters or even where fresh drinking water and plywood are available, he says.

Television stations devote enormous resources to newsgathering that can be leveraged to better inform the public via the advanced features of 3.0 when emergencies arise, he says.

The decision to expand AWARN grew out of a series of workshops and focus groups with emergency managers as well as TV broadcasters from three different regions of the country, says Lawson.

However, both groups expressed some concern about overusing 3.0’s enhanced warning features, such as the TV wake-up function, geo-targeting and rich media, to disseminate emergency information. Doing so might fatigue the public and ultimately desensitize audiences to bona fide alerts, causing them to hesitate to take action or ignore warnings altogether.

“The emergency managers see the best use of ATSC 3.0 alerting being reserved for imminent threat alerting, something that is severe and urgent,” says Lawson. Those from the TV community concurred and said voluntary arrangements are needed with emergency managers about what does and does not qualify for an imminent threat alert.

The concept of an on-screen icon for 3.0 viewers to inform them of a possible threat—rather than a banner alert—was discussed. This approach could give viewers control over emergency information, allowing them to click to learn more or to dismiss and disregard.

“The point is to develop a system to deliver the rare alert as well as a service that is capable of delivering more content to consumers on a voluntary basis,” he says.

Interest in taking advantage of 3.0 to deliver this type of information has come from both news-producing and non-news-producing stations as well as commercial and public broadcasters.

“Some stations see this as a way to supplement their news reporting on their main channel by using a digital subchannel,” says Lawson. “Public stations without a regular newscast view it as a way to provide highly localized, critical information to their communities.”

The next step is to organize a series of conversations with TV news directors and other news executives at station groups and stations “to develop a framework to begin using 3.0 for a broader range of information that would be valuable for the communities they serve,” says Lawson.

Part of those discussions will center on the extent to which TV stations rely upon local public authorities for information versus their own reporting. Lawson draws the analogy to the National Weather Service and weather data and graphics vendors.

“There are third-party commercial companies that package weather information and graphics despite the National Weather Service and NOAA offering massive amounts of public data,” he says.

The AWARN steering committee has directed Lawson to establish an operational framework, such as recommended practices, for newsrooms to rely upon to communicate emergency information to their audiences via 3.0, he says.

“We are also hopeful that expanding our footprint to look at emergency information beyond alerting will help us grow our membership,” he adds.

NEWARK, N.J.—Panasonic today announced the AG-CX350 4K handheld camcorder designed for use at sporting and other live events as well as in newsgathering and IP production.

The camcorder, optimized for 4K/HD production, leverages an integrated lens and supports 4K 10-bit 60p capture, HDR recording and supports RTMP/RTSP/RTP protocol for live streaming as well as NDI|HX-ready IP connections (license required) for live switching with a production switcher, including the Panasonic AV-HL100 Stream Studio.

Weighing 4.2 pounds (body only), the CX350 uses a 1.0-type MOS sensor with about 15.03 megapixels in UHD/FHD. The camera can capture UHD (384x2160), Full HD (1920x1080) and SD (720x480).

The CX350 supports 10-bit 4:2:2 color sampling with ALL-Intra (400Mb/s) and LongGOP (150Mb/s) recording formats, which can be recorded in UHD at up to 29.98/25p and Full HD up to 59.97/50p. The camera also offers a 10-bit HEVC codec supporting UHD up to 59.97/50p with bit rates of 220Mb/s. The 10-bit HEV can be natively decoded and played by computers with 7th Generation or later Intel Core i7 CPUs. All formats and compression rates can be recorded to SD cards.

The camera’s integrated lens offers a wide angle of 24.5mm at the wide-angle setting with minimal distortion. It comes with a 20x optical zoom lens (24.5mm to 490mm). Panasonic’s Intelligent Zoom function supporting 35x for HD and 24x for 4K is available. Five-axis hand-shake correction is employed for both HD and 4K shooting.

Supported gamma modes including HD, SD, Filmlike, 1/2/3 Film-Rec, Video-Rec and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) for HDR capture. Variable Frame Rate recording ranging from 1fps to 60fps is available for spots shooters. Super Slow motion can be achieved at 120fps/100fps (59.94/50Hz).

The AG-CX350 will be available in late February with a suggested list price of $3,995.

More information is available on the Panasonic website.

SEATTLE—The death of the ENG van market has been predicted, by this writer and others, for at least 10 years. The thinking has been that portable bonded cellular liveshot equipment would make live trucks unnecessary.

A look around the marketplace shows several news truck builders busy as ever, though most of their vehicles are not the behemoths of the past.

STILL NEED A WORKSPACE

“The death of ENG vans hasn’t happened,” said Tom Jennings, president of Accelerated Media Technologies (AMT) in Auburn, Mass. “The ENG vans have evolved from what they were a few years ago. They’ve gotten smaller, and lighter, and they’re primarily SUV based.”

A live truck does more than just carry equipment, according to Stephen Williamson, director of sales at Frontline Communications in Clearwater, Fla. “You still need a workspace. If you’re on a story all day, you need a workspace out of the weather. There’s still quite a demand for live trucks.”

Jennings said microwave-equipped news trucks are on the decline. “Even as the IP microwave systems have started to proliferate, television stations and networks are looking at microwave and the high cost of infrastructure, high cost of maintaining that infrastructure,” he said. “Although cellular bonding costs are high, they’re not as high as maintaining an entire infrastructure of microwave.”

One of AMT’s recent news vans was built for Savannah, Ga.’s ABC affiliate, WJCL-TV. “The truck is a small format, K150 van that’s minimal,” said Jennings. “It’s got racks that are MVP Power System, and it’s got a TVU cellular bonding system in it. And that’s the entire truck. There are maybe five pieces of equipment in it, in the entire truck.”

Bonded cellular connectivity doesn’t work everywhere so KA and KU satellite systems, with small dishes can fill in those gaps.

Another new AMT truck with both cellular and satellite connectivity was built on a Ford Explorer for KECI in one of America’s smallest television markets, Billings, Mont.

“Montana is one of those areas where there is no infrastructure and there is very limited microwave,” said Jennings. “There’s almost no cellular, probably less than 50 percent of the state. So this truck combined a cellular bonding system with a KA band satellite dish and electronics. When they had the wildfires this past summer, this truck could go places that no other station in the market could go, and they’re getting unbelievable coverage up there and unbelievable connectivity.”

CALL IN THE MONSTER

As the recent hurricanes and resultant flooding have illustrated, sometimes it takes more than a standard live truck to do the job. Call in the Monster Truck.

Frontline built just that for Houston’s KTRK on an F250 crew cab pickup truck, including a three-inch lift kit and a customer modular body on the bed.

“We wanted the truck bed to serve as a mount for the IP over KU antenna system,” said Williamson. “It also serves as a storage area for a full length, 500-pound capacity slide out tray. That provides great storage for cable reels, cameras and grip gear that they need to use. We also installed a roof rack to hold the, support the bonded cell antennas and the LED lighting for exterior illumination.” A Dejero EnGo system provides cellular connectivity.

There are two cameras in the front passenger seat: one aimed out the front of the truck, and one aimed at the passenger seat, according to Jeff Steel, engineering manager for Frontline. “That allows the news crew to do reports while the truck is being driven,” he said. “There’s a handheld controller in the front seat that allows them to switch between the two cameras. So that they know which camera is on-air, there are two monitors also in the front seat.”

Steel pointed to a lesson learned by some of those covering the Las Vegas mass shooting, when truck-mounted cellular live gear was not easily removed from news trucks. “That story went very mobile and some of the trucks were locked in a parking lot. They had a need to get out of there but weren’t able to do that.” The EnGo system on KTRK’s truck can be quickly removed and deployed on the back of a portable video camera for run-and-gun coverage.

ENG vehicles can also be engineered to be more than liveshot platforms. More and more stations are adding state of the art weather equipment like WHIO-TV in Dayton Ohio, which recently launched its Storm Tracker 7.

The weather gear includes a weather station to read current conditions, live Doppler Radar access for storm tracking in the field, access to multiple forecast data models and weather display graphics. It feathers six cameras for a 360-degree view of live, real time, driving conditions, and connectivity from a satellite dish and LiveU. For an eye in the sky, the vehicle provides a drone launch pad.

“Our Storm Center 7 meteorologists have their own live Doppler Radar allowing them to give information minutes faster than others, said Cox Media Group Ohio Market Vice President Rob Rohr said. “With the launch of our new Storm Tracker 7, we can be in the field forecasting and tracking the weather to get even more information about how to keep you and your family prepared and out of harm’s way.”

Not all those who used to build live news trucks for TV station are still in the business. Fred Gerling, president of Gerling and Associates in Sunbury Ohio, said that building remote broadcast trucks for the television business laid the foundation for its current business of building vehicles for local marketing, mobile medical, and mobile command.

“The reason we’ve been so successful there is because we cut our teeth and learned how to do this industry on television trucks,” he said. “Believe me, that is the most difficult clientele that there is to take care of.”

TV news vehicles don’t necessarily end up on the scrap metal pile.

“There does seem to be a place for microwave and uplinks in certain applications, outside the news business,” said Mark Chapman, owner of used equipment dealer Allied Broadcast Group. “There are needs where the satellite frequencies and the microwave frequencies serve and work better, be it in certain weather situations, or in certain geographies, or if there is not a good cell service to tap into. We’ve got people from out of the country who call us about some of these vehicles. We have a client in the Caribbean who bought two uplink trucks from us last year.”

The ABC Owned Television Stations Group said it is starting a new community journalist program that will create local content for audiences on multiple platforms.

The stations plan to hire more than 20 journalists in the first year of the program. The first 10 will be hired by KABC-TV, in Los Angeles. The others will be located in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Houston.

“We are always evolving how we inform and reflect the communities we serve based on the changes we see in our audiences,” said Wendy McMahon, president, ABC Owned Television Stations Group. “Interest in local content is growing rapidly and, at the same time, it’s becoming increasingly granular. With this commitment, we are re-imagining the future of local newsgathering to more strategically meet those demands and to ensure that we continue to be the leaders in our local markets.”

KABC is looking for participation from local universities and other institutions to identify candidates for the Los Angeles market who will live in the communities they cover. Applicants should be proficient in newsgathering and able to shoot, edit and publish stories for digital, social and linear distribution. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has already committed to recruiting graduates to the program.

“Our idea is to ‘make SoCal small’ by enhancing and broadening our coverage to create a deeper, more authentic local connection,” said Cheryl Fair, president and general manager, KABC. “We want these reporters to truly engage with and be a part of the communities they cover.”

ABC Owned Television Stations recently launched the digital-first video brand Localish, which creates "good news" stories from local markets and distributes them nationally for viewers on mobile platforms.