Drone Service Adds Live HD Transmission

ArrowData, an aerial data services company that specializes in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) for electronic newsgathering, and TVU Networks, a provider of live mobile IP newsgathering solutions, today announced the launch of a UAV service that provides news broadcasters with the ability to transmit live aerial views from ArrowData’s drones in full HD with sub-second latency using TVU’s portable cellular transmitters.

ArrowData has received a special waiver from the FAA to operate drones for electronic newsgathering or aerojournalism — the first and only such FAA 333 waver provided to a private company. By combining ArrowData’s drone piloting expertise and TVU’s mobile cellular IP technology, broadcasters can now deliver news coverage from vantage points not possible from traditional ground level camera views. In addition, broadcasters can easily incorporate the aerojournalism service into their current video acquisition workflow since the drone flying and live video transmission is handled together.

“This partnership gives us a tremendous advantage in this emerging industry,” said James Fleitz, VP of ArrowData. “We provide the dynamic shots from drones, and TVU is the perfect answer for transmitting that video.”

An ArrowData drone was used recently for live reporting and weather shots for a large-market news broadcast. “This is a game changer for those in the news business,” said Ron Futrell, sales and marketing director for ArrowData and veteran TV newscaster for more than three decades. “There are many questions in the industry right now about how best to use drones. This partnership allows us to answer those questions and begin implementing aerojournalism in newsrooms right away,”

“We’re delighted to partner with ArrowData to bring their drone piloting services together with TVU’s live uplink transmission capabilities,” said Paul Shen, CEO, TVU Networks. “It’s a true win/win for broadcasters. They can leave the capturing of aerial views in the capable hands of ArrowData personnel while receiving live, low-latency HD video from a TVU mobile cellular uplink transmitter.”