The SNG Industry: Challenges Of Today - Page 1 of 3

By James Careless

Thomas Paine once wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls." Although he was referring to the American Revolution, Paine's comments succinctly sum up the tumultuous state of the satellite newsgathering (SNG) industry.

Keeping Up With Technology

The SNG market is all about technology. Mounting a portable satellite transmitter and antenna on a truck, driving it to wherever connectivity is needed and then pumping signals to satellites 22,300 miles overhead.

In the early days of SNG, the technology was all analog, and simple, single-channel SNG trucks were the norm. Today, "you don't see analog much anymore, what with everyone moving to digital technology," says Woody Horan, satellite transmission supervisor/SNG operator at WFLA-TV in Tampa, FL. Meanwhile, "clients now demand multiple feeds from a single truck, plus editing facilities and even Internet connectivity," says Eddie Maalouf, RF engineer and manager at Pacsat in Sacramento, CA. "The days when people were happy with a single feed SNG truck--and just delighted that you could get their signal out--are long gone."

Fortunately for the SNG industry, today's digital SNG (DSNG) transmission equipment is much smaller and lighter than its older analog counterparts. "The trend toward smaller SNG equipment is having a positive 'cascade effect' on [SNG] trucks," says Ray Conover, a consultant whose clients include Conus and Hubbard Broadcasting. "These new units take less space and weigh less, which means you can carry them in smaller trucks. They also use less power yet punch out better signals, which allows you to carry smaller generators and smaller rooftop antennas; again allowing the use smaller trucks. In turn, being able to use smaller trucks reduces the cost of customization and coachwork, which also helps reduce costs."

On the downside, today's SNG trucks are far more complicated than their analog predecessors. One reason is customer sophistication. As Maalouf notes, broadcasters want the capability to send out multiple feeds simultaneously, plus edit video and even surf the Web. This means that today's SNG trucks need a lot more equipment onboard, which means they cost much more to outfit.

Another cost-booster, ironically, is the same push to digital that is reducing equipment and truck sizes. "The problem is not MPEG-2, but HDTV," says Brian Nelles, senior vice president of Production and Satellite Services Inc. (PSSI) in Las Vegas, NV. "The HD encoders alone are quite expensive, and it doesn't help that clients want us to replace the 4:2:0 HD profile encoders that they were happy with two years ago, with newer 4:2:2 encoders. There is also the cost of monitoring and controlling these HDTV signals, however, and you need specialized equipment to do this, and it's not cheap."

"The real problem is that we can't charge much more for providing HDTV feeds, anymore than the broadcasters can charge for TV commercials aired in high definition," Nelles says. "This means that we have to swallow the majority of HDTV upgrades, just like the broadcasters are having to swallow the costs of taking their stations digital."