Live broadcast from space at National Association of Broadcasters
More than 100,000 delegates from 166 countries have arrived in Las Vegas for the world’s largest media, entertainment and technology convention, the National Association of Broadcasters Show, which this year features 1,700 exhibiting companies, including 751 international exhibitors and 200 first-time exhibitors.
President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins talked today from The Oval Office at The White House with astronaut Dr. Peggy Whitsun aboard The International Space Station, when she officially set the record for most cumulative days in space at 535, surpassing astronaut Jeff Williams’ 534.
On Wednesday, Peggy will talk live to Las Vegas and NAB Show attendees as a highlight of this year’s convention. It’s a live feed from 250 miles above Earth and arrives in our city after being encoded at Johnson Space Center in Texas.
It’s the first-ever live 4K video stream from space for a panel produced by NASA, NAB and Amazon Web Services, and Las Vegas is the first city in America to host such a “live from outer space” broadcast.
Talk about “Reaching for the Stars: Connecting to the Future With NASA and Hollywood.” The emphasis will be on how advance imaging and cloud technology are taking research and filmmaking to the next level. Even if you’re not attending NAB, you can watch it at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Live.AWSEvents.com.
The convention this year is more about car commuting than broadcasting. With the arrival of autonomous driving, the car is rapidly becoming a home entertainment system on wheels. Remember when it used to be just AM and FM radio?
This time NAB features the first-ever Connected Car Experience. Silicon Valley is well represented, and there also are technological updates for Facebook vendors. With a new president also comes along a new Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Ajit Pai, who has said that he will ease regulation.
As keynote speaker Tuesday, he welcomes the voluntary Next Gen TV, which will be shown at NAB with crisper screen pictures, interactive technology and better reception. He wants those industry standards in place for government approval by the end of this year.
Celebrities such as Larry King, America Ferrera, Hank Azaria, Amanda Peet and Rob Legato will be among the Hollywood personalities visible at NAB. Rob will detail how he can now film movies on a blue-screen stage without going on location. “The Wall” host Chris Hardwick will discuss 52-week-a-year programming and the new, interactive TV program “This Is Us.”
One interesting facet of the convention will be the discussion of TV news drones. It used to be only helicopters that fed live news coverage of car chases, blazing fires and more. Now we should start getting familiar with “Drone Cam 3.”
If our hotels, restaurants and nightclubs are busier this week than normal, now you know why. NAB is the fourth largest of our annual conventions after CES, CON Expo and SEMA. We welcome all the exhibitors and delegates who will add nearly $100 million to our economy.
Final fun fact: It takes more than 100,000 steps to walk the 1 million square feet at Las Vegas Convention Center, so don’t expect to see everything over the next four days.
