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Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales

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On 14/05/2026 20:31, NY wrote:
> I was watching a bit of the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales on
> Youtube. And it set me thinking - how did they get the pictures of the
> ongoing journey of her coffin back to the studio? Were satellites for
> uplinks as common in those days? Did broadcasters book loads of
> satellite uplinks, maybe used in rotation by successive groups of
> cameras/scanners? Or were there comms helicopters, receiving from
> various cameras in an area and sending all the pictures back to a
> scanner van for local vision-mixing, with a single vision-mixed feed
> back to the studio?
>
> In central London, there are dedicated cables to places like Westminster
> Abbey and maybe along some of the major roads, and scanner vans could
> connect to those. But after the funeral the hearse travelled about 70
> miles through north London and along the M1 to Althorp, and AFAIR there
> were live pictures for most of the way.
>
> It must have been a mammoth event sourcing enough cameras, even if some
> were able to "hop" ahead of the hearse to be used again further along.
>
> The funeral itself (and the broadcasting of it) was probably rehearsed
> many times as "funeral of an unspecified member of the Royal Family" but
> the procession and the views of the crowds as the hearse went past would
> have been something that could not be rehearsed.
>
> It's something that we take for granted, but to be able to get all that
> working seamlessly at a week's notice is tremendous organisation.

A lot of that programme used mobile micrrowave links to base stations 
and Broadcasting House. These were also often used for news and sports 
event coverage, so were a known reliable solution.

-- 
Tciao for Now!

John.

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Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-05-14 20:31 +0100
  Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales John Williamson <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> - 2026-05-15 07:56 +0100
    Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-05-15 08:17 +0100
      Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-05-15 09:26 +0100
        Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-05-15 10:11 +0100
        Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales John Williamson <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> - 2026-05-15 10:36 +0100
          Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> - 2026-05-15 13:05 +0100
            Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-05-15 15:10 +0100
          Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of Diana Princess of Wales NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-05-15 15:04 +0100
  Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of DianaPrincess of Wales "Ashley Booth" <removetab@snglinks.com> - 2026-05-15 09:44 +0000
    Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of DianaPrincess of Wales JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-05-15 12:32 +0100
    Re: Televising a major live event in the 1990s - eg Funeral of DianaPrincess of Wales NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-05-15 15:17 +0100

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