A major component of most news programs is live news – reports from the field that allow viewers to witness events as they unfold. Other segments of a news program, such as interviews or feature stories, may be pre-recorded and aired at a later time.
To go live, a reporter first captures video on a camera (such as a smartphone or a professional-grade camcorder). This video is then encoded and compressed by the streaming app and sent out to the CDN. The CDN then delivers the encoded, compressed video to the viewer.
Alice, who is streaming from her kitchen, captures the first frame of video of herself saying “Hello, world!” Then the app she’s using sends that little segment of video to a CDN server, where it gets delivered to Bob, who is watching the stream on his smartphone. Bob might experience more or less latency than other viewers who are also watching the same live stream, depending on their geographic location.
The video feed from the live shot is then fed to the news studio where it is mixed with other footage and inserted into a broadcast. This entire process takes place in a control room overlooking the studio separated by glass windows.
Whether a story is being reported in the field or in the studio, the people at the news station work at breakneck speeds to get the latest information into the hands of their audience. And the right tools make all the difference when it comes to ensuring quality content. That’s why Omnistream makes it easy for news organizations to build a powerful live-streaming platform. With a simple interface, you can focus on your content and stop worrying about the tech behind it all.