Close Window
DTV Plus And WRAL OnLine Join Convention Coverage

Directly prior to the beginning of the Republican convention on July 31, new CBC subsidiary DTV Plus tapped into the live NHK feed from WRAL-DT to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of its own. DTV Plus datacast local and national political news from WRAL OnLine as companion content to WRAL-DT. In addition, WRAL OnLine began carrying live, gavel-to-gavel video streaming for the convention. After covering the entire GOP convention, both computer entities will be doing the same for the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles on August 14-17, as well.

Datacast content will include local political coverage produced by WRAL, national news coverage from the Associated Press, Mason-Dixon poll results, images from the conventions, and more. All of the data will be delivered as part of the WRAL-DT signal and can be received by way of antenna. Residents in the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville market equipped to receive the datacasts will be able to access the content from their personal computer

The files that make up the WRAL Online web site are inserted into WRAL-HD's digital television signal and broadcast as part of that signal. Users equipped with a computer and a DTV receive card can tune the channel and cache the data on their machine. This method of delivery bypasses the congestion of the Internet and delivers fast access to the most popular content on the WRAL Online site.


Sam Matheny,
DTV Plus
Vice President and General Manager

“This in-depth data coverage will all be delivered in the same DTV signal that brings viewers crystal clear pictures and CD quality sound,” said Sam Matheny, DTV Plus Vice President and General Manager. “Datacasting this companion content adds a whole new dimension to the depth of coverage a television station can offer. We believe this is a great use of the DTV bandwidth and is the future of television news coverage.”

DTV Plus is aggregating the web-based content for local datacast to augment the HDTV coverage provided by NHK. DTV Plus is a division of CBC and is devoted

to developing and deploying a nation-wide datacasting network. DTV Plus utilizes satellite and digital television technologies to deliver on its vision. DTV Plus and WRAL-HD have been datacasting using the SkyScraper system since October of 1999, and began daily broadcasts of WRAL Online in December.

WRAL OnLine offered live, gavel-to-gavel video streaming of the Republican party convention and will offer the same for the and Democratic convention. The stream can be accessed at: http://www.wral-tv.com/news/wral/2000/0728-live-gavel-to-gavel/.

As earlier reported WRAL is making the conventions available in high-definition TV on its digital station, WRAL-DT, Channel 53.1.