CNN's live feed delayed a few seconds?

I was just flipping back and forth between ABC and CNN's coverage of
the State of the Union address. I'd see something on ABC, then I'd see
the same thing after flipping to CNN. What gives?

MrBuddwing...

Satellites. Even at the speed of light, it takes time for signals to
reach telecommunications satellites in geosynchronous orbit and return
to the ground. I'm no technoid, but I'd say all the networks use
satellite technology to one degree or another. Different bounces mean
different return times, with networks ending up a few seconds apart
from each other.

Tony Calguire...

And now that most TV signals are being transmitted digitally, it
introduces an additional delay, as the signal is continuously encoded
and decoded from Washington to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to your cable
company, and then your cable company decodes it again to put it onto
analog cable.

Allen Abel...

And I'm pretty sure ABC has a dedicated fiber optic link between NY
and Washington, so no sat bounce delay.

Jim Reid...

There is one bounce from ABC/NY to all East & Central ABC affiliates.

cloud dreamer...

CNN doesn't want to be sued if the president decides to have a wardrobe
malfunction.

Taylor...

Cue the closeups of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. :-o

Mark Moore

Taylor...

Maybe they thought another "Lincoln" would happen. *shrugs shoulders*

spiritofsupergirl...

Another "Lincoln"?

With two TVs in the house, one analog and one digital (hooked up to a
digital terminal), there's a couple second delay on the digital TV then
on the regular cable. If I'm watching 'Wife Swap' in one room and my
dad's watching it in another, he has to mute the volume even if the
visuals and the audio don't match up the entire time (like 2-3 seconds
or more).

spiritofsupergirl...

Wait. The visuals and audio on your dad's TV don't match up? Or am I
reading your statement wrong?

John Duncan Yoyo...

Locally there is a few slight delay between cable and OTA and a bigger
one between OTA and DirecTV.

Taylor...

The TV in the kitchen (where he watches) is hooked up to analog cable. I
watch digital cable TV in the living room just 7 feet away. If we watch
the same program at the same time with both TVs at normal volume, the TV
in the kitchen will be like this: "...And there have been even BIGGER
changes in Smith household..." then 3-4 seconds later I'll hear the same
thing on my TV. To avoid that, my dad mutes the kitchen volume and
simply watches the show out of sync with the volume I got (a delay for him).

Mark Moore

fruitbat...

Wait, you make your dad watch the audio and video out of sync? What
kind of cruel son are you?? Although, it sounds like it might be fun to
try, just for a minute or two...

Wait, you and your dad watch the same show in different rooms?

If I'm spending a lot of time going back and forth between my bedroom
and the living room, which are pretty close together, I'll sometimes
leave the same show on both TVs. My bedroom is an analog connection. My
living room is digital (when I choose it to be), and also hooked up
through a receiver, so if I'm going in one direction, I hear some audio
twice, whereas if I'm going in the other direction, I miss a few
seconds...

Taylor...

Uh, well, generally, we don't watch the same things, but a show like
Wife Swap (or Trading Spouses), he'll flip back and forth to, where as
I'll watch it all the way through. It'll also happen when my parents are
reading the newspaper at the kitchen table while having Trading Spaces
(no, not Trading Spouses) on and I'm in the livingroom on the computer.