Channels Television Uses Streambox for Nigerian Elections

Channels Television in Nigeria, the largest privately-owned Nigerian Broadcaster, had previously implemented complete end-to-end streaming for national and global live and file-based video acquisition, contribution, management and distribution with the assistance of Otus Communications. Streambox systems include AVENIR Mini mobile network bonding encoders and 9300 decoders with Enterprise Server for video management, routing, archiving and playout between locations.

With the Nigerian Election cycle approaching, Channels Television was on a search for cutting-edge technologies to support her initiative for expansion of News-gathering capabilities. Channels conducted a pilot program to test the latest AVENIR Mini 5 camera-mountable mobile encoder featuring increased quality, performance, and bandwidth. After assessing the video quality and ease of use, Channels Television purchased several AVENIR MINI 5 units and began to put the AVENIR MINI into regular use prior to the elections, moving around the country interviewing election stakeholders, election monitors, and citizens. In this way Channels Television was able to quickly provide timely updates to keep viewers informed.

Streaming content on the field is sent out from the AVENIR MINI back to the central facility using 3G and 4G connectivity. The use of mobile networks in Nigeria can be very challenging in some areas due to limitations on coverage and bandwidth. In places where signal strength is lacking, Channel Television staff was able to make quick adjustments on the encoder and still successfully transport content. Use of the AVENIR Mini continued through the election process and for follow-up after the event. Now AVENIR is being deployed for regular newsgathering. More recently it was utilized on location to cover live activities of rescue operatives at a tragic building collapse.

The integrated camera-mountable system is based on a mobile hardware device CPU that enables HD-SDI and HDMI video capture. Mini 5 is a small form factor, lightweight device weighing just 1.1 kg, typically consuming 25 watts of power in standby to 60W with modem streaming for extended battery operations and providing 0.5 up to 20 Mbps of bandwidth. Mini 5 includes 5 internal cellular modems and support for up to 5 USB modems for enhanced flexibility in diverse use cases. A version without internal modems is also available.

By using existing cellular and other network data plans, Mini 5 helps lower monthly OpEx costs, compared to leasing extra equipment and services that include marked-up data plans. The Mini 5, with its superior video compression and transport, consumes up to 30% less data for HD video, helping to lower data consumption of live streaming news and events.

For Channels Television the combination of video quality, ease of use, and the ability to stream even in challenging low bandwidth conditions make streaming solutions from Streambox a winner.