Conn. Stations Choose JVC for Live Election Coverage

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JVCTwo Connecticut television stations will produce live local election coverage for the first time this November and use JVC cameras to do that. Branford Community Television and North Haven Community Television plan to broadcast and stream live reports.


The two private, nonprofit public, education, government channels are located about 15 miles apart, and are available for local Comcast cable and Frontier Vantage TV subscribers. Both also offer on-demand programming on the web. While the two entities are separate, the equipment at both stations is similar and some personnel resources are shared.

For election coverage, they chose JVC GY-HM200 4KCAM cameras and BR-DE800 ProHD decoders.

With limited capital budgets, neither station could afford to rent a microwave or satellite truck for live remotes like local election coverage. Douglas Sisson, operations coordinator for BCTV, said during past elections there was a minimum 45-minute delay to deliver comments from local election headquarters, because the footage would have to be physically transported back to the station and transcoded for on-air use.

With the JVC GY-HM200 cameras and BR-DE800 decoders, combined with a tailored data plan, the stations will not be limited to delayed coverage.

Walter Mann, station manager for BCTV and executive director of NHTV, said “We have been looking for a while for a cost-effective solution. JVC came up with what I think is a great alternative. This way, we’ll be able to go live, and we can do it at an affordable level.”

With most funding based on grants, the two stations have staggered their equipment purchases.