We have instantaneous video communication (FaceTime, Zoom, etc.) so why can’t news channels use different, existing technology to communicate instantaneously?
In: Engineering
News broadcasts use really high-end gear to make sure the signal is super reliable and high-quality. They prioritize stability and quality over speed, which can cause a bit of delay compared to apps like FaceTime or Zoom, which are consumer grade. To keep the audio and video in sync and handle any small hiccups, there’s usually a little buffering as well. This helps avoid glitches or interruptions while on air.
> so why can’t news channels use different, existing technology to communicate instantaneously?
They could… but that technology isn’t always available. Reporters could connect to the WiFi of a local coffee shop but that coffee shop isn’t necessarily always going to be there, or with working WiFi. What if there is no power? What if a worker turns it off, or other people in the shop start hogging the bandwidth? *What if they access and alter your data stream?*
News reporters don’t want that uncertainty and unreliability. They want to be able to roll up with the news truck, raise a pylon, and connect as directly as possible to the studio no matter where they are or what is going on. If the whole town is leveled by a tornado they still want to be able to reach the studio with a 2-way video and audio stream, and that means satellites. But satellites come with unavoidable delays, so they live with it.
1 is reliable communications implies satalite links which delay signal because of the speed of light.
2 is live feeds are risky. Studio isnt so bad as its a controlled enviroment with professionals. Random members of the puplic includes anti social and criminal elements who might randomly stab someone, so a small delay to allow a producer to cut the feed is preferable. The BBC is not live leak, so doesnt really want to livestream a murder.
3 its expected that there is a delay here by the public, so it also helps shield the news company from any issues. After all its a news report live from location and they dont control the location. The delay cues people into this fact. People are less likely to make complaints to regulators etc for some rowdy drunk shouting stuff in the background of a live feed as its clearly not the news company doing it.
The street reporter is on a fixed delay. This started with the use of satellite trucks, but in 2015 there were several high profile incidents where street reporters, and sometimes there cameramen, were shot live on TV. That’s super-bad, so the work to minimize the delay ended. It’s mostly 3 seconds now, to give the control room time to push “the button”.
Satellite delay, usually. Cellular broadcast devices (Dejero, for example) use multiple SIM’s and processing to get the signal to the control room and there can be delays there too depending on cell congestion. You sometimes see the video go potato when this happens too. SAT offers the most stable quality and best usable resolution at the cost of higher delay.
The delay is not necessarily between the newsroom and the reporter.
Imagine it takes 1/2 second for the audio to go from the newsroom to reporter, and 1 second for the audio and video to be sent back.
From our perspective it would look like the anchor is responding immediately, but the reporter in the field takes 1.5 seconds to answer. In reality it’s likely that sending the video is the slow bit, so in fact it’s the newsroom that’s the slow side of the conversation.
The feed may have a couple seconds delay so they can cut the feed if shenanigans go down (cursing, assaults, accidents, etc). If so, there may actually be next to no communication delay from anchor to field reporter and back, but you’re seeing field reporter delayed to accommodate “public protection” (or whatever you want to call it).
Let me first disclaim I left the business nine years ago, so things may have changed but I doubt it.
Reporting from the field is a one-way transmission, usually through microwave or satellite, so that video and audio only transmits from the remote location to the station.
The reporter in the field is usually listening to audio via an ear-piece connected through a phone call called an IFB.
The lag results from audio/video being sent via one microwave/satellite and audio being received through a completely different medium, the phone call.
Local remotes will usually have a small TV with them so they can monitor the on-air broadcast but most satellite appearances are usually out of range and rely only on ear-piece audio through the phone line.
No such thing as instantaneous communications. If you’ve ever sat in a zoom/teams meeting with someone next to you also in the meeting, there is a noticeable delay between speaking and actually hearing in the meeting.
They use sattelites thousands of kilometers above our heads. It introduces a big delay.
Even when you use a wireless technology (wifi, 5g), it is itself connected to a wire, then to an optical fiber. And that’s a lot faster.
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