Va. She believes it was the first unauthorized live TV broadcast from China. CNN's competitors that night had to drive to a satellite facility to transmit pictures. The pictures were better quality than those through the videophone, but came 25 minutes afterward, a clear disadvantage in the competitive world of 24-hour news networks. The videophone's competitive edge is muted in the United States, where in most areas stations have easy access to satellite transmitters. The real advantage comes when a reporter must get to a remote area, particularly overseas.
Journalists carry the equipment in a box the size of a briefcase.
They use a video camera to take pictures and a small dish antenna beams the data via satellite to an earth station linked to their home office. The data is transmitted at up to 128 kilobits per second, or about twice as fast as a standard telephone modem. The product, called the Talking Head, was developed with CNN and the BBC to provide a live picture of a correspondent reporting on location. Instead, the networks began using it to take pictures of events, not just reporters. CBS and NBC both say they have similar equipment, although NBC's machine was broken for the China story.