MELBOURNE, Fla.—USSI Global and Sinclair Broadcast Group are conducting field trials to demonstrate the benefits that Eutelsat Group’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity offers for demanding live, local news production workflows.
The ongoing trials highlight real-world examples of how local news teams at three Sinclair-owned TV stations in Washington D.C.; Columbus, Ohio; and Las Vegas, Nevada, leverage Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO satellite constellation for reliable, real-time news gathering from the acquisition point to their desired production facilities. USSI Global supports logistics, installation and interconnect to the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network through their full end-to-end managed services.
The entire ecosystem ensures reliable delivery of live news content from the acquisition point to the broadcaster’s production studio with very low latency, offering broadcasters and their local news production teams an affordable alternative to microwave links and bonded cellular technologies, the companies said. The service can also be added to existing contribution technologies for additional bandwidth and/or redundancy.
Sinclair utilizes a low-profile, flat-panel user terminal to establish the interconnect to the LEO network. USSI Global provides mounts to securely affix these user terminals to newsgathering vehicles, or the terminals can operate remotely to improve access to news events. The compact and portability of the user terminals combined with USSI Global’s interconnect ensures that the entire service is quick to deploy as a primary or redundant live link with exceptional stability.
“USSI Global is enthusiastic about its partnership with Sinclair and Eutelsat Group for this trial as we are well-equipped to provide this service due to its robust presence in North America. We hope this cutting-edge approach to live news production will provide a strategic advantage to the broadcast community,” said Anthony Morelli, CEO and President, USSI Global.
“As part of the continuing mission to reduce the costs of live news production without sacrifice to quality standards, we are leveraging a new way to deliver live coverage that can be a primary means of transmission or a complement to cellular options and reduce the need for expensive SNG and ENG vehicles,” said Ernie Ensign, AVP, News Technology and Operations.
"At Eutelsat Group, we are committed to empowering customers with seamless, high-quality connectivity, anywhere in the world. Our OneWeb LEO network delivers global coverage, ensuring reliable, real-time content contribution.” J. Ignacio González-Nuñez, RVP, Americas & MENA, Sales Video Business. “With a low-latency, IP-based solution that is plug-and-play, we provide broadcasters with the flexibility to enhance their live production workflows—whether as a primary transmission path or a seamless complement to existing technologies. This is the future of live news gathering: agile, cost-effective, and always connected."
Representatives from all three companies close to the trial will be at NAB Show 2025 (April 6-9) and available to meet at Eutelsat’s West Hal booth (W3614) in the Las Vegas Convention Center.
