Since the second year of my degree, a thought has been bugging me. Why are there no internet/cloud-based broadcasters? We have Over-The-Top stuff light the Red Button or On-demand programming, but the closest we get to prosper live internet broadcasting is live streams on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

Virgin Media are the closest big name broadcaster but that’s only because they deliver their TV service down the same cable as their internet but not over the internet. On the small scale, several “pirate” platforms rebroadcast channels that are available on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media but nothing in the big leagues at this time.

There are some major benefits to broadcasting over the internet as you don’t need so much in the way of expensive broadcasting hardware that flings signal from one place to another across the country. you can use the existing broadband infrastructure.

Saving money isn’t the reason I’m interested in internet broadcasting though. I truly believe that internet broadcasting could make a big difference in communities not just local ones either. There are already several 24/7 broadcast that brings fans together on YouTube, such as NASASpaceFlight that broadcast the goings-on in the world of rocket Launches.

What I would really like to do is start a few local channels, where the content is based in a town or a city, similar to what Estuary TV used to do on Freeview but a bit more local. For example, if there was a channel for Bridlington there would be programming that shows off the history of the town, allows sports fans to see how their local teams are doing and showcasing local talents by broadcasting performances from Musicians and other performers at local venues, pubs and clubs.

Once the local programming is up and running you’d shortly have a growing collection of archive footage that can be used to create other topic centric channels such as sports, documentaries, events, etc.

From a technical standpoint, it wouldn’t be all that expensive when compared to other broadcasting solutions. For Example for a multi-purpose basic camera rig, you’re looking at roughly £10,000 per camera. If you wanted to pair say 4 of these camera setups together to produce live events on the fly when you include the other equipment, such as vision mixers, Media Players, Streaming kits, etc you’d be looking at around £70,000 (plus a few Cables that I’ve probably forgotten). Spend a little more and you can fix most of the gear in a transit van and have a broadcast truck. Look out for a full breakdown of the gear I’ve shown for these setups in future blog posts.

I would love to go out today and start on this project but my usual issues turn up, I just don’t have the funds behind me to start something like this off, I could quite happily spend a few days putting all the kit together but then I have no ideas where to go from them. I really wouldn’t know who to talk to book acts or find funds etc. But that’s why I’m a technician and not something else.

If you’d be interested in helping me get this project off the ground or know someone who does, please get in touch as I really believe a project like this could make a difference to communities and showcase the best many towns and cities have to offer.