Seattle station employs bonded wireless cards to beat competition on truck fire report

KOMO 4 News, the Seattle ABC affiliate and Fisher subsidiary, became one of the first news stations to use Streambox Avenir live on-air.

Streambox Avenir is an HD/SD broadcasting device that allows users to send live and file-based video from hard-to-reach locations that satellite trucks cannot go. The device can route live video through the Streambox Live Server or stream on-air for live broadcast. The product can bond up to eight 3G/4G wireless data cards.

The station was on-site using Avenir featuring a local Seattle bridge story when it learned of a truck fire on I-5. The company headquarters of the burning truck was located a few blocks from where KOMO had been shooting the bridge.

Within minutes, the KOMO crew relocated to the headquarters, set up and began streaming the breaking news story before other stations could set up their trucks and satellite feeds. The ability of the unit to bond 3G cards meant KOMO did not need a satellite or ENG truck to arrive on-site before it could begin reporting.