CHANGING WITH TIME

Yvonne Monterroso, director, Product Management, Dejero, tells us how low latency and accessibility has eased ‘reporting from home’ during COVID-19

The current COVID-19 pandemic may go down in history as being the most unexpected challenge to broadcasters and mobile teams of all time, both: in its nature and its duration. News crews are striving to continue reporting in lockdown, while respecting social distancing rules and other quarantine measures imposed by governments to contain the spread of the virus.

They may be used to facing all sorts of challenges when reporting live from the field, linked to the remotest of locations, natural disasters or simply the presence of crowds putting pressure on local cellular networks—but these are unprecedented times. Video transport and connectivity are the most crucial elements to address, when striving to protect the critical services provided by broadcasters and public safety organisations during this global health crisis.

As with any challenging reporting scenario however, the success or failure of a broadcast during the COVID-19 pandemic will depend on the ability of reporters, anchors and meteorologists—now reporting from their homes, basements or sheds—to remain in constant, precisely-timed synchronisation with their central production team. The most obvious issue is that these reporters are not sitting in the broadcast studio, which means they don’t have access to all the tools, technology, and resources the broadcast facility team offers. And it’s a well-known fact that crews on location that are disconnected from what’s happening on the live programme feed, would not know what the shot looks like when they are on-air, which makes it difficult to make real-time adjustments as necessary.