“EXPLORER 700 is the perfect tool as it is built to withstand almost any environment.”
 SKY TG24, headquartered in Rome, is one of Italy’s premier news channels. In order to keep the impressive viewing figures and expand the audience, SKY TG24 is dedicated to reporting the breaking news at home in Italy and from all over the world, no matter how extreme the environment is in which the story is unfolding. “We were looking for a technology that would enable us to broadcast live in extreme situations,” says Mr. Flavio Maspes, Foreign desk Supervisor, SKY TG24. “So, we did some testing with a computer, connected to a Thrane & Thrane EXPLORER 700. ” The initial testing was done with the help of Telemar, a Thrane & Thrane partner in Italy. Telemar has a wide-ranging experience with BGAN and EXPLORER terminals with many diverse customers such as Everest-K2-CNR, an organization that uses EXPLORER for weather tracking on Mount Everest.
The choice for journalists and film crews
“BGAN has opened up many new areas of communication and perhaps one of the most important of these is within the media,” explains Mr. Marco Imperatori, Land Mobile Applications Manager, Telemar. “Although reports from far flung places and extreme environments were available before the advent of BGAN, only now are we starting to see high quality, clear footage that can be delivered either live or via FTP to the station, for a quick turnaround to broadcast. EXPLORER 700 is the perfect tool to enable this as it is built to withstand almost any environment, whilst being lightweight, easy to use and reliable at the same time. These attributes not only make it the choice for journalists and film crews but also for producers and directors who demand the footage as soon as it is taken.”
A truly mobile package
Equipped with just a DV camera, a laptop and EXPLORER 700, SKY TG24’s correspondent in Lebanon was on-hand to film at the UN peacekeeping force’s base when France was handing over command to Italy. A truly mobile package as the encoding of the streaming sequence takes place on the laptop, which is placed between the camera and the EXPLORER. “We broadcast the whole ceremony live thanks to the streaming function at 256 kbps of the EXPLORER 700,” says Flavio Maspes.
 Lightweight and flexible
The next use of SKY TG24’s new mobile system was in a somewhat more extreme environment explains Flavio: “A few weeks after the Lebanon story, another tricky situation came up. The Stromboli volcano was threatening to erupt. It was clearly impossible to use a traditional satellite truck so we took the EXPLORER and left for the scene. Once on the spot, we realized just how lightweight and flexible the solution is so we weren’t satisfied with just broadcasting from the harbor. Instead, we had our correspondent reporting live directly from the hillside where the lava and the burning stones could be seen falling and cooling down in the Mediterranean water.”
As with the majority of news channels, technology is a critical factor in success or failure. To this end, SKY TG24 is dedicated to use the latest and most suitable technology available. “Beside the live streaming, we also use the file transfer protocol to send compressed edited video packages over to our newsroom,” comments Flavio. “We were looking for a technology that would enable us to broadcast live in extreme situations.”
“We had our correspondent reporting live directly from the hillside where the lava and the burning stones could be seen falling and cooling down in the Mediterranean water.”
 EXPLORER 700 fully integrated
SKY TG24 now has the EXPLORER 700 fully integrated into its outside broadcast team and the system has helped transmit a wealth of interesting and exciting news to the station’s growing audience. “We transmitted statements of the former Italian Defense Minister, Arturo Parisi, live from Afghanistan and we covered live the protests of Tibetan monks in exile in Dharamsala at the foot of mount Himalaya. Recently, we were in Georgia to report daily on the Caucasus war with live transmissions from Gori, the Georgian town that was occupied by Russian tanks,” concludes Flavio.
The EXPLORER gets around
Just as the name suggests, EXPLORER certainly gets around. Its small size and low weight mean that, in combination with a camera, laptop and any encoding/decoding software, it becomes part of the perfect mobile package. Because of its mobility and reliability, media professionals like those at SKY TG24 can trust BGAN and EXPLORER to deliver the footage no matter how extreme the environment is that they are reporting from.
“We were looking for a technology that would enable us to broadcast live in extreme situations.”
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