Orbits and Live TV Delays (cable, dish, satellite, TVs)

[jtur88]

I'm watching the Cubs and Astros, and I can get them on both channels, as well as Astros radio. After I hear a play called on the radio, there is about a 2-second delay before I see it on WGN, and a 6-second delay before I see it on Fox Sports Houston.

What accounts for this? the 6 second delay would require more than a million miles of up-and-down links. The geosynchronous orbit is about 22,000 miles, so there must be 25 round trips to one satellite or another. Unless the networks, for reasons of their own, are intentionally building a digital delay into the signal.

Anybody have an explanation?

[South Range Family]

Up linking, down linking, encryption, and decryption all play a part in it.

My C-band dish was always a few seconds ahead when the DSS systems first came out. Dish, and directv are also separated by a few seconds. My cable system is separated by 2 seconds in rooms that are on the same run. The slower one has to go through the HD DVR. The quicker one is connected directly to the TV tuner. I blame that lag directly on the processor in the DVR.

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Unless the networks, for reasons of their own, are intentionally building a digital delay into the signal.

Radio and TV broadcasters doing live events run the risk of big fines from the FCC if they let certain profanities go out over their airwaves. That's why they add delays into the signal, to provide an opportunity for an engineer to block the unwanted language before it hits the air.

Chances are even the radio broadcast of the game isn't truly as live as it could be, for this reason. Try taking a radio with you to a game sometime and you'll see how much of a delay they're using.

[jtur88]

That delay feature is rarely used, except in cases where the general public is allowed on the air, like in call-in shows. There have been a number of live sports telelcasts where players have uttered unacceptable remarks, picked up by field mikes, but there was nothing they could do except apologize for a remark going on the air. Live sports events are, as far as I know, never delayed intentionally for the purpose of bleeping unacceptable content. Not since Dizzy Dean has there been a live play by play broadcaster that they wished they could bleep. "Lookit that couple just a cuddlin' away down there, podner---he kisses her on the strikes and she. . . . ."

Thank you, south range, for explaining that in-house encryption can also result in delays.

I've noted that on news network talk shows, there is always about a one-beat delay or so, after the inverviewer asks a question, before the guest in a remote studio with satellite link hears it and answers.

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by jtur88

That delay feature is rarely used, except in cases where the general public is allowed on the air, like in call-in shows. There have been a number of live sports telelcasts where players have uttered unacceptable remarks, picked up by field mikes, but there was nothing they could do except apologize for a remark going on the air. Live sports events are, as far as I know, never delayed intentionally for the purpose of bleeping unacceptable content.

Want to bet?

Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court upheld FCC enforcement of indecency laws which allow it to levy fines of $325,000 per fleeting utterance of the f-word or the s-word. Accidental transmission of these words is not a defense.

Supreme Court Upholds FCC Process in Deciding Fleeting Expletives Were Indecent, But Sends the Case Back to Court of Appeals to Decide Constitutionality : Broadcast Law Blog

That's why delays are used in live sports broadcasts these days. No broadcast executive wants to pay $325,000 to the FCC because his talent or his board op finds the use of a delay inconvenient.

[gy2020]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Not since Dizzy Dean has there been a live play by play broadcaster that they wished they could bleep. "Lookit that couple just a cuddlin' away down there, podner---he kisses her on the strikes and she. . . . ."

You just quoted one of my favorite player/commentators. He was in the World Series back in 1938? and Will Rogers was in the stands. Between innings, Dizzy walked up into the stands and sat next to Rogers and they carried on a conversation. He was too important a player on the St. Louis Cardinals for anyone to penalize him. But they wsanted too.

[Sloaf]

Watching live tv through the set hooked up to the Tivo is a few seconds behind the other tvs in the house that are just directly attached to the cable. I always thought that was strange too.