Slingbox trumpets ‘on-the-go broadcasts’ for TV stations

Cory Bergman June 26th, 2007

When we posted a blurb in May about KPIX using Slingbox for live video transmission, we thought it would get people’s attention. “We’ve had tons of interest and many questions regarding our collaboration with the Bay Area CBS affiliate,” writes Sling Media’s Dave Katz in an email to Lost Remote today. So the company has sent out a press release (click below to read). Also, Katz points out that NBC Weather Plus is using Slingbox to incorporate live video from WESH, KUSA, KPRC and WDIV. A write-up in Broadcasting and Cable explains how it works:

WESH, for example, plugged a coax cable right into the Slingbox, which lets NBC Weather Plus look at the station’s beauty cam at Universal Studios, as well as at two other tower cameras, says WESH Chief Engineer Richard Monn. To be placed on-air, the Sling video has to run through a scan converter, to change it from progressive-scan VGA to the interlace format, before it can be fed as a live source into a production switcher and displayed in NBC Weather Plus’s upper-right corner box. Running the picture small minimizes the hit in picture quality the picture suffers when it is compressed by the Slingbox for Internet delivery.

The Sling Media press release on KPIX follows below…

PRESS RELEASE — San Francisco and Foster City, CA – June 26, 2007 – CBS 5 (KPIX-TV), and Sling Media, Inc., a digital lifestyle products company, today announced the implementation of Slingbox technology combined with 3G wireless data and still video cameras to deliver live and still video feeds as well as live in-car broadcasts from around the Bay Area.

Currently, CBS 5 has 28 live cameras, all of which are supported by Slingbox technology. Seven out of nine bridges spanning the Bay Area have a camera, as do major thoroughfares and airports. CBS 5 uses live video from these cameras on air and can also make the reports available for viewing on the CBS 5 website (www.cbs5.com). CBS5.com also features live still views from all 28 cameras at any time via a desktop, laptop, or compatible mobile web browser.

“On April 30, 2007, for the first time ever in television, CBS 5 used Slingbox technology to send a signal back to the station for broadcast from a moving vehicle. As a result, we were able to watch our reporter’s progress as she drove through rush-hour traffic in areas affected by the I-580 freeway collapse on April 29. This is another example of the way digital technology is changing television news to the benefit of viewers,” said Dan Rosenheim, vice president and news director of CBS 5.

”Sling Media is thrilled to see CBS 5 use our Slingbox technology in innovative, cost-effective, and compelling ways that benefit their viewers,” said Rich Buchanan, vice president of marketing for Sling Media. “The Slingbox was designed to transmit a video feed across the Internet for viewing on a remote display. CBS 5 has taken this one big step further and we couldn’t be more impressed with the way they have implemented our technology.”