News Interviews via satellite - delay time

[ansky212]

What is the reason for the long delay time when tv stations do interviews via satellite? Person A will ask a question to person B and sometimes it can be up to 5 seconds or more before person B responds, with an awkward silence in between. Often the long delay prompts the people to talk over each other because they are waiting for a response from each other. It makes the whole interview very awkward to watch. For whatever reason these delays seem to have gotten worse lately. Is any part of the delay intentional for screening purposes, or is strictly due to technical limitations?

 

[pab]

It's because radio transmissions can't travel faster than the speed of light.

The interviewer's signal has to be bounced up to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, which takes about a quarter of a second. It then has to bounce down to the ground, another quarter of a second. There's a minor delay as it's decoded if it's a digital signal, which could add about another quarter-to-half second of lag time. Then the interviewee can see/hear the question.

The response is digitally encoded (lag) and bounced back up to satellite (quarter second). Bounces back down (quarter second) and is decoded before we see/hear the response.

 

[w9wi]

What is the reason for the long delay time when tv stations do interviews via satellite? Person A will ask a question to person B and sometimes it can be up to 5 seconds or more before person B responds, with an awkward silence in between. Often the long delay prompts the people to talk over each other because they are waiting for a response from each other. It makes the whole interview very awkward to watch. For whatever reason these delays seem to have gotten worse lately. Is any part of the delay intentional for screening purposes, or is strictly due to technical limitations?

See Pab's reply, for the delay that's always existed.

"...have gotten worse lately..."

Nearly all satellite feeds are now digital. That adds delay. (basically, a computer processes the audio/video in real time. As we all know, even the fastest computer doesn't work instantly!)

 

[azumanga]

I think I recall a sketch on "The Benny Hill Show", in which an interviewer was interviewing Benny via satellite, who was in another country. The interviewer asks the first question, then goes on to the second question, which would be followed by Benny's answer to the first question, then so on.

 

[Ultimajock]

I think I recall a sketch on "The Benny Hill Show", in which an interviewer was interviewing Benny via satellite, who was in another country. The interviewer asks the first question, then goes on to the second question, which would be followed by Benny's answer to the first question, then so on.

...incredibly old gag. It started on a broadcast of NBC Radio's Monitor program circa 1958, when host Hugh Downs had to do an "interview" with a guest whose responses had been tape recorded, and the engineer screwed up the order of the tapes. Almost immediately, Bob & Ray, who were regulars on the show by that time, put together a bit where Ray's announcer character, Wally Ballou, "interviewed" one of Bob's characters and the responses came back in the same misorder...

 

[ixnay]

What is the reason for the long delay time when tv stations do interviews via satellite? Person A will ask a question to person B and sometimes it can be up to 5 seconds or more before person B responds, with an awkward silence in between. Often the long delay prompts the people to talk over each other because they are waiting for a response from each other. It makes the whole interview very awkward to watch. For whatever reason these delays seem to have gotten worse lately. Is any part of the delay intentional for screening purposes, or is strictly due to technical limitations?

'Cause the signals always stop at Moe's Tavern for a Flaming Moe, er, Homer.

ixnay

 

[johnnya2k6]

In the early years of CBC's "The Journal" (a Nightline-ish show which followed "The National" at 10:22), they did a "double-ender" technique where guests were interviewed on tape and later conducted as live. That was phased out when those interviews would be done via satellite.

 

[cd637299]

About answering earlier questions.....

I think I saw an old Jan Murray "Dollar a Second" or similar game show (possibly on PBS' "Golden Years of Television") where there was an exact "game" of this, and the contestant had to listen to Jan ask a question, but not answer....then he asked another question, and they had to answer the first question; he'd ask a 3rd question, and the contestant had to answer the second question, and so on. I think it was designed to the answers would be hilarious.

cd

 

[azumanga]

In the early years of CBC's "The Journal" (a Nightline-ish show which followed "The National" at 10:22), they did a "double-ender" technique where guests were interviewed on tape and later conducted as live. That was phased out when those interviews would be done via satellite.

Reminds me of a first season episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", in which Mary interviewed a guest; at the end of the interview, the guest invited Mary to dinner. When the interview aired, Ted Baxter was edited in, "interviewing" that guest; however, the invite to dinner and Mary's reaction (now read by Ted) was left in.