The wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton last week marked the debut of a new live reporting system that depends on a network of hotspots rather than traditional ENG shots or satellite uplinks.
The technology, Boxx.tv’s Street-Live, allowed broadcasters to stream live video from central London to cover the Royal Wedding. Used to relay live pictures from the wedding at Westminster Abbey, Street-Live replaced the need to set up satellite trucks in central London, using microwave links to provide dedicated bandwidth into the Internet.
The concept is similar to the wireless hotspots currently provided in places like Starbucks, but with Street-Live a news crew uses a small, portable extendable mast to hook into the Street-Live hotspot. This network offers (up to) 20Mbits upload speeds, so streaming live HD pictures or uploading large video files from the streets of London was simple and reliable.
TV2 Denmark used the Street-Live network in combination with Quicklink.tv to stream live pictures from the wedding.
Street-Live is available from key news locations around London, including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Leicester Square. Broadcasters can purchase slots on the network to relay live shots or transfer (FTP) large video files at a fraction of the cost of hiring a satellite truck.
Boxx.tv plans to expand the network of Street-Live hotspots to cover the Olympic sites in London for 2012.
