NEWS
Broadcast TECH AP in user-generated content deal Sweden’s Bambuser to supply live-streaming service to Associated Press’s 700 TV network customers
Video-streaming technology firm Bambuser has signed a deal with Associated Press to make user-generated content avail able to the 700 TV networks AP supplies. As part of the arrangement, AP will also trial the mobile video technology as a newsgathering device, with 25 of the agency’s journalists set to be equipped with the app. The partnership with AP is a significant piece of business for Swedish firm Bambuser, which has amassed almost 1 million regis- tered users around the world since it was founded in 2007. “The deal with AP will be a major opportu-
nity to expand our reach,” Bambuser co- founder and chief executive Jonas Vig told Broadcast TECH. “It democratises the ability to broadcast live, which used to be only for those with huge trucks and expensive satel- lites. Now, if you have a camera and data connectivity, you can send live images.” AP has already used footage supplied by a Bambuser user. When an oil pipeline in Syria was destroyed, a citizen in Homs set up a webcam to broadcast images of the aftermath of the explosion. The video of smoke rising over the city was used at least 479 times by AP’s customers, making it its most used video that day. The footage was also worked into an edit, which was broadcast more than an estimated 1,200 times by AP clients. AP deputy director of international video
Mark Davies described user-generated con- tent as “integral to covering breaking news, particularly where access is restricted”. AP senior producer Fergus Bell, who heads up the company’s social media and digital newsgathering operations, said that because the video is live, it is easier for AP to verify it. “Bambuser users can only share live
images, so we know it is being shot in real time,” he said. “If whoever is shooting the images isn’t capturing what we need, we can message them via Bambuser and ask them to adjust what they are shooting.” Davies said that for most of those who are keen to share user-generated content “money
8 | Broadcast TECH | March/April 2012
Video streaming: Bambuser’s Jonas Vig (left) demonstrates the technology to AP’s Mark Davies
is not the motivating factor” and they can opt out of the service at any time. Videos picked up by AP will have a credit of ‘Bambuser/ username’ attached. AP said that for its own journalists, the app could be used in situations where traditional newsgathering tools were unsuit able. Davies pointed to last year’s UK riots as a situation where satellite newsgathering trucks and shoulder-mounted cameras attracted unwanted attention and hampered journal- ists’ efforts to capture footage.
Avoiding losses Bambuser uses a web cam or an Apple, Android or Nokia Ovi mobile device to stream live video, which is also stored on the com- pany’s servers and is available via its website. It’s a set-up that appeals to AP because if a handset is confiscated, no footage is lost as it is not stored on the device itself. Vig said the service can operate with
“extremely low connectivity”. According to Bambuser, users can broadcast live with 100kbps of upload bandwidth. If the band-
‘Bambuser users can only share live images, so we know it is being
shot in real time’ Fergus Bell, Associated Press
width is reduced, frames are dropped and temporarily stored locally so the stream remains live. The dropped frames are then sent when a better connection is established. At the moment, the title of a video and
geographical tags are the only way of adding searchable metadata, which makes it difficult to find content. Vig says Bambuser is work- ing hard on a new tagging system. “It will introduce an exciting portfolio of
tagging features and ways of adding meta- data. This will, of course, facilitate search, discovery and the curation of content for users and visitors.” Vig declined to provide a launch date for the overhauled tagging system but said it would be “in the near future”.
www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils
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