Expanding World of Uses
The future of telepresence also seems bright for the entertainment industry. The appeal is in the possibility of live, HD programming that offers a new level of audience participation and feedback: The emotional connection that gets lost with some technology, such as webcasting or commercial TV, is no longer an issue. “Not only do audience members get the immersive experience of live television, but they have the ability to literally ‘broadcast themselves’ and become a part of the program through live Q&A with the performers as well as audience polling,” says Elias. Velocity Broadcasting also offers an alternative for auction services and estate sales. Live, customized broadcasts eliminate the need to travel and move objects to a centralized auction location, and the HD clarity provides better than in-person view of lots. Bidders are connected through the Velocity Audience Response System and bidding by a worldwide audience takes place instantly.
If past is prologue, telepresence via satellite certainly has a bright future. “While certainly not boundless, due to the current cost and availability of satellite bandwidth, I believe that we are seeing the leading edge of a technology that will grow in deployment, both as additional innovations for these services add value that we have not yet considered and as satellite bandwidth increases, cost decreases and availability becomes standard,” says Morris.
The growing availability of Ka-band satellite capacity is set to help this process. Small footprint and antenna size for Ka-band terminal sets and the proliferation of its use as a means of generalized Internet service provision will add to the spread of telepresence applications. According to industry experts, opportunities in this sense abound. “We have met with several companies in the satellite industry that are exploring or engaging in the development of a business model to offer telepresence over satellite as a service offering in and of itself,” says Morris. “I hear discussions of locating this service either in portable vehicles or in-office suites available for multi-hour lease by end customers who have geographically dispersed offices and without rich video collaboration services in their own enterprise networks.”
Technological innovations also are set to have an impact on the very nature of the services delivered. “We have expanded our technology platform for audience insight, interactivity and engagement into a new suite called Mind Over Matter,” says Elias. “This new business intelligence platform is powered by an array of audience response tools and technology, Mind Over Matter enables Velocity broadcast clients to tap directly into the mindset of the audience while also empowering audiences to question experts live on the air.”
Decreasing costs, technological advances and enhanced experience — all seem to point to a bright future for telepresence via satellite.
Giovanni Verlini is a communication executive and freelance journalist based in Europe. Email: giovanniverlini@hotmail.
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