The Changing Face Of The Satellite News Gathering Equipment

by James Careless

Not so long ago, satellite news gathering (SNG) trucks were large, lumbering tractor trailers loaded with huge C-band dishes, single channel transmitters and multi-person crews. But times have changed, and even with the advent of high-definition television (HDTV) forcing news gatherers to carry more equipment, today’s SNG trucks have become smaller, multi-channel capable and operable by a single person.

HD Taking Hold In North America and Europe

With the conversion to HDTV well underway in the United States, adding HDTV production equipment is starting to become a priority for SNG uplink operators.

Atlanta-based Crawford Communications recently completed upgrading its capability to provide standard-definition services and already has begun adding HDTV capability, says Paul Edwards, Crawford Communication’s director of transportables. Pacsat International, headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., recently purchased four HD encoders and is modifying its 11 uplink trucks stationed across the country to handle HD signals, says Eddie Maalouf, Pacsat’s head of radio frequency engineering.

For Crawford Communications, the biggest challenge is paying for its HDTV upgrades, which involves more than just buying the encoders, says Edwards. "The investment to do this properly is substantial," he says. "We could follow the example of some other truck operators and simply add HD encoders. However, if the trucks don’t have [integrated received decoders] and test equipment onboard to monitor the HD uplink, we can’t be sure that the signal is getting out properly."

While HDTV equipment costs are an issue for Pacsat as well, what concerns Maalouf more is keeping up with ever-increasing customer demands. "There was a time back in the analog days when broadcasters were content with a single channel uplink," he says. "Now they want multiple channels; all going up at the same time. As well, many just want to plug their camcorders into the side of our trucks to get back to their master controls. This means that our trucks have to have everything necessary onboard to make this possible."

At present, HDTV uplink requests are still a small part of each company’s business. "I get between five to seven enquiries about HDTV uplinks a month," adds Maalouf. "Maybe one will come through as an actual shoot." Pacsat does more than 10 standard definition shoots per week, while HD orders are about one per week, Edwards says.

In Canada, where the transition to HDTV is lagging a few years behind the U.S. rollout, Toronto’s TV2Go is building "what may be the first HDTV uplink truck in the country," says Adrian Hepes, TV2Go’s technical director. "Besides equipping it with a dual C-/Ku-band antenna, this tractor-trailer will carry two more dishes; one for satellite broadband and the other to pick up DBS (direct broadcast satellite) signals. This will allow our customers to have Internet access wherever they go, voice over IP, telephony and the ability to monitor their live feeds over DBS."

Hepes expects to be doing HD sports shoots for CTV, Global TV and other Canadian networks. However, he will not know how busy TV2Go’s HDTV truck will be until it hits the road later this year.

European content managers such as Globecast also are stepping into the HDTV arena. "We have one HDTV truck already working in Spain, two coming online in Paris and one in Italy," says Rich Wilde, Globecast’s technical advisor for news and special events. All of these units are contracted to sports broadcasters.

Wilde expects 2006 to be a breakout year for HDTV in Europe, spearheaded by demand generated by soccer’s World Cup, which begins in June in Germany. "Almost all the broadcasters we’ve been giving quotes to for that event are requesting prices for HD and SD uplinks," he adds. "They are waiting to see what technological advances will occur and what the costs will be a year from now when they have to commit themselves."

Covering Europe with a Single Person SNG Truck

The next step for many HDTV operators will be reducing the size of their vehicles.

As senior SNG operator for CNBC Europe, Gert Woltjes’ job is to drive anywhere in Europe to provide live satellite broadcasts for all of CNBC’s global customers. "Doing the job can get pretty tough, with lots of 16-hour days," Woltjes, who is based in Frankfurt, Germany, says. "Sometimes, I’m driving all over Europe; to Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Spain and Portugal." The only part of continental Europe that Woltjes does not cover is Scandinavia, where CNBC uses another truck to cut travel costs.

In the past, Woltjes headed up a four-person SNG crew operating out of a tractor-trailer uplink truck. But that is history. Today, Woltjes works alone, zipping across Europe in a Mercedes Sprinter panel van equipped with an automated Ku-band system known as BT Satnet. Developed by London-based BT Broadcast Services, BT Satnet is a digital satellite uplink package that can be used as a roof-mounted unit or a portable flyaway.

"You just connect your digital feed, such as a camera and microphone, into the BT Satnet unit," says Jonathan Wing, BT’s head of satellite broadband markets. "The BT Satnet uplink automatically deploys and locks its antenna onto the right satellite. Our network then allocates the right amount of satellite capacity, configures the equipment at both ends of the signal path and makes the connection automatically."

The simplicity of BT Satnet altered how Woltjes does his job, he says. "Before we had this BT Satnet unit, we needed three to five people to manually set up an SNG link. Now it just takes three mouse clicks on the laptop inside the van. My antenna seeks its beacon on the Atlantic Bird 2, points in that direction and sends a data carrier."

The BT Satnet unit is so simple, Woltjes has added cameraman to his list of duties. "Since I already had camera experience at a television station in England, making the switch hasn’t been difficult for me," he says. "But some of our other SNG operators have had some problems making the change, because they didn’t have previous camera experience."

Putting SNG in a Backpack

The next generation of HDTV broadcaster may even be more self-contained, officials say. As witnessed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, suitcase-sized SNG uplinks already are a reality, allowing news crews to operate with a minimum of equipment in the harshest environments. But at 64 kilobits per second, the data streams supported by these uplinks are far from broadcast quality and thus no real threat to truck-based SNG operations–yet.

"There’s a revolution under way in the SNG equipment world," says Jon Klein, vice president and general manager of GMPCS Personal Communications, a satellite phone supplier and service provider owned by Telenor Satellite Services of Norway. The Hughes Network Systems 9201 Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite Internet protocol modem, which can send data at speeds up to 492 kbps, could be the breakthrough product, he adds.

"At the very least, we can provide a guaranteed 256 kbps quality of service over BGAN," Klein says. "This will come from a unit that is about 18 inches by 14 inches by 3 inches in size; small enough to fit in a backpack. Better yet, the 9201’s antenna is built into this package. Just aim it at the satellite and you’re on air."

At 256 kbps, camera-toting journalists will be able to send decent-quality video from the field. The quality will not be quite up to conventional broadcast standards, but the footage will easily suffice for breaking news. "That’s a quality of service level most broadcasters will be willing to live with," says Klein, especially when compared to the cost of dispatching an SNG truck. The modem also will provide an access point for Wi-Fi equipped laptops and cameras, he says.

The Beginning of the End?

Clearly, the times are changing in the SNG equipment world. Not only is the migration to HDTV changing the equipment being used on the trucks, but the trucks themselves are becoming smaller, more complete and less labor-intensive to operate. Add the advent of Inmarsat’s BGAN service and backpack-sized earth station systems, and one has to wonder if the reign of the big SNG truck is entering its final days. After all, what broadcaster would dispatch a tractor-trailer when a van will do, or send a van when a backpack unit can be carried by a reporter on an airplane, a car or even a camel?

James Careless is senior contributing writer to Via Satellite magazine.