Helicopters Used for News Coverage

You're right, I had a chance to film a lecture given by a SIS Live engineer and asked him that question during the Q&A. I forgot until now.

I remember watching a late chase in LA and they were way up the coast and remember the chopper reporter mentioning their might be a slight glitch whilst the signal switched over to one of the repeater sites. LA Geography is mountains, gorges, valleys everything. Its crazy and its huge. The vast majority broadcast from the top of Mount Wilson and then they have multiple repeaters as rokolsen said.
KCET pic from Mt Wilson.
Nice little synopsis from KCET - Public TV Los Angeles (former PBS)
http://www.kcet.org/about/50/reflections/transmitting-live-from-mt-wilson-how-kcets-signal-comes-to-you.html

http://www.kcet.org/about/50/Wilson_Transmitter_Farm.jpg

KABC 7 - Los Angeles - Live Police Chase. 6/11/15 7:56 PM UK
AIR 7 HD following
http://abc7.com/live/

KTLA 5 - Los Angeles - live police chase. 11/11/15 4:09 pm UK
ditched the choppers in the towers of DTLA.

http://ktla.com/on-air/live-streaming/

Apparently KABC 7 - Los Angeles has use of 3 choppers. Air7HD Fleet. One chopper is fully branded and 2 have temp logos. So that beats KNBC's 2 Choppers. The LA DMA is gargantuan, with varied topography and terrain so I sorta understand this. I do like that they really havent made a big song and dance about 3 choppers, like KNBC has made about their 2 choppers.

KABC FB
https://www.facebook.com/v2.0/plugins/post.php?app_id=&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2FwjDNIDNrTQG.js%3Fversion%3D41%23cb%3Df38628fb6d42122%26domain%3Ds9e.github.io%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fs9e.github.io%252Ff3dbf01da6b2b42%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=640&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fuser%2Fposts%2F10152756361717452&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&width=640#

The thing is I don't think they usually have all three up. I imagine the wrapped one is the primary and they then have contracts for additional use as needed.

7 News Sydney Chopper takes flight during tornado warning a few minutes ago

@7NewsSydney chopper smart enough to run away from the #sydneystorm. Good thinking. ;) @702sydney pic.twitter.com/x6OD1Dw2kz

— 𝕁𝕦𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕟 ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕖n 🆓🇺🇦 (@eduridden) December 16, 2015

I found something interesting on Instagram looking through some photos. The Seven Network O&O station, SAS, serving Adelaide has a helicopter of its own but it appears that they don't have any gimbal mounted camera or any other type of camera on the exterior.

https://instagram.com/p/_A-QlRk-RW/

https://instagram.com/p/9FLrQQE-eG/

Here's a picture from WikiMedia showing the same helicopter undergoing maintenance:


(Clicking the picture will open the WikiMedia page.

The image was uploaded to WikiMedia from Flickr by Alec Wilson.

No offense to SAS but to me if you are going to have a helicopter in this day and age you should have a gimbal mounted camera. I assume they are using a camera man to beam the images back given the extra antennas involved but those images are frequently shaky. I realize CineFlex HD cameras aren't cheap (I've seen used ones around $300K USD). But I'd imagine the used SD ones are cheaper.

Hold on - is that a US network with a nice, clear and relatively subtle graphic package?

Great finds. It is amazing it doesnt have a gimbal cam! like you said they are expensive, but geez. Does this chopper also lack transmission equipment? Dont see the transmitter underneath. Interesting. Nice livery. Good to see 7 NEWS making the investment, but hopefully they can find funds to equip the chopper properly. Broadcast choppers in the other capital cities get seemingly similar use as they do in the States. Traffic, storm coverage, rolling coverage of police chases.

Its not network graphics, its an O&O affiliate KABC LA, they have had a simple flat graphics package for years. This their recent refresh when they launched with a new set. Many stations are have have started using flat simple graphics for a number of years now.
http://www.newscaststudio.com/graphics/kabc2/?utm_source=newscaststudio&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=galleryboxlink

Yes, it's the new graphics package that KABC recently launched. ABC stations don't have a standard group wide package like the other networks do to their O&Os.