Watching Your World with Optus and GlobeCast Australia

10 September 2010

Optus and GlobeCast Australia have completed one of their busiest broadcast weeks, delivering live coverage of major events for key global networks.

From natural disasters to political history, the two satellite providers worked together to provide Occasional Use space on the Optus D2 and Optus D1 satellites covering all of Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Pacific.

DSNG Director Greg Littrich said GlobeCast Australia was live from Canberra to the world as more than two weeks of talks led to Prime Minister Julia Gillard being confirmed in the top job.  Broadcasts were live for both Network Ten and SKY News Australia. 

“We put up three carriers from one DSNG as Ten went live simultaneously with anchored reports in to their three East Coast markets, showing the power of a live presence in news coverage in 2010,” Mr Littrich said.  “Since our extensive experiences covering last year’s bushfires, we have noticed news organisations are now using much more live location reporting and we are ready to roll at all hours.  News is certainly much more last minute than the global sporting coverage we are renowned for,” he said.

Feeds of the political milestone were also uplinked over Asia for Reuters; and material from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation travelled via GlobeCast Australia fibre to APTN London; and material from the Nine Network went via fibre to CNN in the US.

Director of Optus Satellite, Paul Sheridan said the Company’s capacity commitment was essential to deliver the extensive and competing needs of broadcasters, particularly during such a busy week.  Optus operates multiple Occasional Use slots across its fleet of satellites, whilst GlobeCast Australia owns and operates three slots on Optus D2.

The historic election result coincided with other major live coverage across Australasia.  GlobeCast Australia was also providing DSNG and satellite capacity from the flood-ravaged state of Victoria for both Network Ten and SKY News Australia; and satellite capacity for ongoing coverage of the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake with bookings from the Seven Network and SKY News Australia.

“We pride ourselves on the effectiveness of our unique Australian beams, and we work closely with GlobeCast Australia to ensure timely response and technical excellence for news rooms during crisis situations,” Mr Sheridan said.

GlobeCast Australia’s global distribution network and the largest DSNG fleet in the country are both backed by a state of the art 24/7 Broadcast Centre in Sydney’s CBD; whilst Optus monitors events from its Satellite Operations Centre at Belrose in Sydney’s north.

Mr Littrich said the GlobeCast Australia Teleport and Master Control provided strong support for the Company’s fleet of 10 DSNG with vehicles and engineers travelling nationally from their bases in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.  “Our company prides itself on its broadcast expertise and inherent understanding of TV Networks’ needs, which certainly comes to the fore the busier we are,” Mr Littrich said.