Cloudcell EQ  – Back-up connectivity for Broadcasting and live streaming in rural locations

Posted on: February 14, 2023 at 11:54 am

“Our client, a large TV broadcasting company, require a rapidly available and reliable connectivity solution to be fully operational when filming in rural locations throughout the UK. Cloudcell demonstrated their ability to swiftly survey and deploy high-quality broadband in every location.  The client was so pleasantly surprised at the performance of the back-up connection, that it is now being used as their primary connection on location shoots vs the existing satellite solution they had in place!”

Miles Watson, Alliance Communications

OVERVIEW

One of our Reseller Partners, Alliance Communications, engaged us to support their engagement with a large independent UK TV broadcast company.

The Need

A number of the client’s shows have a requirement for general connectivity for their production vehicles when filming and live streaming at rural locations across the UK. They needed to find a viable back-up solution for their satellite connection that was currently being used for live streaming. Additionally, a key part of the brief was that the production vehicles could not be structurally altered in any way to mount equipment or antennas.

The Solutions

Solution 1 – After confirming detailed requirements for the shoot and broadcast locations, and conducting surveys at 8 locations in rural North Devon, it became clear that directional antennas would be needed alongside a dual-SIM solution for resilience. We provided on-site support at all 8 locations, across a 2-week period, using a Max Transit Duo and a Poynting XPOL 2 antenna. Support included full set-up and break-down of the solution at each shoot location.

Solution 2 – A LIVE broadcast event was planned to take place from a forest and a back-up connectivity solution was required for their existing satellite sending the stream back to the production offices in London. After surveying the forest location, a Max Transit Duo was put in place, along with a Poynting XPOL2 antenna. Due to limitations of the primary satellite connection, our back-up became the primary connection, due to it providing better overall performance and lower latency than the existing satellite connection.

The Benefit

We were able to provide a high capacity, reliable and robust primary and back-up solution in all live broadcast locations, enabling the production team to be fully operational for filming and ensuring that live-broadcast signals could rapidly be delivered back to the London production team.

Our on-site connectivity support team took full responsibility for the set-up and break-down of the solution, enabling the client to focus on the filming and broadcast knowing their much-needed connectivity was in place.