Speaking last week with Broadcast Engineering, Ron Rosenthal, Intelsat regional vice president, broadcast solutions North America, said the satellite space segment provider had seen “a tremendous amount of growth” during the past 18 months in demand for HD satellite newsgathering (SNG) news backhaul. In light of this, Intelsat may soon create a neighborhood for HD SNG backhaul.
Consideration of creating a “neighborhood” for HD SNG backhaul could be interpreted as a milestone along the way to transitioning news operations from SD to HD.
While offering a group of transponders dedicated to HD SNG on a specific satellite speaks to growing demand, Rosenthal pointed out that HD uplink capability lags behind at most stations. To meet HD SNG demand during this period where there is a dearth of HD trucks, Intelsat is offering a turnkey HD production, uplink and space segment offering that’s been well received, he said.
To date, network news operations have dominated HD SNG backhaul, Rosenthal said; however, demand from local broadcasters is growing.
