Thirteen WNET-TV has successfully piloted a video feed over broadband wireless between the city's Chelsea Piers location and its main production facilities in downtown Manhattan.
The pilot test explores the feasibility of broadband wireless for two-way broadcast applications between remote sites and production studios.
In early 2003, the station deployed its first Redline AN-50 equipment for backhaul services to connect its offices at the Empire State Building with a production studio less than a mile away.
It is now exploring the use of broadband wireless to facilitate distance learning for public schools in the region. Plans are also underway to create a 23 Mi. link between the office and its sister studio in Long Island, which is expected to be completed later this year.
It costs WNET an average of $1500 per day to hire an ENG vehicle with a mast. Ken Devine, WNET vice president and chief technology officer, said using the Redline equipment for backhaul can pays for itself within 10 events.
Moving broadcast quality video point to point over unlicensed bands offers broadcasters more than an economic advantage when compared to traditional microwave approaches. It also takes advantage of new technological developments in wireless service that open communications in congested microwave corridors, he said.
For more information, please visit: www.redlinecommunications.com.
