DMA 82 (SHREVEPORT, LA)
KTBS Expands Live News Coverage With Dejero
ABC affiliate KTBS Shreveport, La. (DMA 82), has expanded its live electronic newsgathering capabilities with Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 transmitters. In addition, KTBS will soon deploy the Dejero LIVE+ mobile app to members of the news staff, enabling them to capture and transmit live video using their Apple iPhone 5 smartphones.
KTBS serves 28 counties and parishes in East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, western Oklahoma, and southern Arkansas. The Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 transmitters are in daily use by KTBS field news crews, enabling them to transmit high-quality live video from breaking news sources without having to deploy microwave trucks. With the Dejero LIVE+ Mobile Apps, reporters already in the field will be able to cover breaking news without having to return to the station for additional equipment, and they will be able to switch between the front and back cameras of their iPhones while broadcasting to help build a complete news story.
“We needed a way to get more live content to air quickly, and the Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 transmitters were the ideal solution,” said Dale Cassidy, KTBS chief engineer. “With Dejero we’ve been able to triple our live news coverage, and our microwave trucks are now second-tier resources. In the time it takes to get a truck to the site, park it, and get the mast up, we can already be receiving live video back at the station from the Dejero equipment. With live news coverage that’s broader, more spontaneous, and comprehensive, we’re able to compete more effectively and keep our viewers better informed.”
Currently, most KTBS newscasts include at least one live shot using a LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter, and the systems have been used for sideline coverage of football games as well as a wide range of local government, crime, and human interest reports. All of KTBS’s LIVE+ 20/20 transmitters include built-in cellular and wireless modems, which can bond multiple networks as required to ensure necessary bandwidth for transmitting broadcast-quality video. A Dejero LIVE+ broadcast server at the station receives the video feeds and processes them for playout to live news broadcasts.
The Dejero LIVE+ 20/20 transmitter’s compact and lightweight “briefcase-style” form factor was a major deciding factor as KTBS evaluated ENG solutions, according to the station. “Some competing products have flashier packaging, but that doesn’t matter once you’re out in the field. What really makes the product is simplicity, ease of use, and confidence that your content will get back to the station,” Cassidy said. “Dejero more than delivers on all points.”
Comments (1)
Dale Godfrey says:
January 9, 2014 at 9:20 am
Wow. Obvious that this technology has existed for several years, and now industry has developed an affordable package. Here’s clearly the future for live ENG. It was only a few decades ago that a handful of smaller market stations took ‘minicams’ to the street, often beating bigger stations to air with reasonably good pictures from smaller, far more portable cameras. That genie came out of the bottle; very soon there were five-figure Ikegami’s sitting in the closet at the station because their pictures simply worth the cost of using them, compared to rapidly developing smaller cameras. Then came the chip…. and here we are.