eli5: In a world of instant communication via satellite, why does news anchors connecting with field reporters live still involve a 3 second silent pause?
In: Physics
Apart from satellite, there is a device called LiveU that utilizes 4G connectivity for live links. Each camera gets connected directly to this device that will encode the signal. You can fit up to 8 SIM cards os each such device and it will use the combined speed of all to send picture back to a server on premises.
You can set the delay manually, shorter delay means the picture might crack and drop and it will have significantly lower quality. Most channels put the delay on 2.5 seconds as it seems this is the optimal.
News anchors have to always have this in mind when speaking with a reporter live, and they have some code words to steer the conversation. For example in Greece and Cyprus the word “malista” (roughly translates to aha/yes/ok) signifies that the news anchor wants you to wrap it up and end the discussion.
Source: I was working in the media industry for years.
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