Drones - general thread

[AJClementeFan69 477]

Based on the discussion in the KFMB thread, I think it might be interesting to have a general thread about drones in TV news.

 

What are some good uses you've seen of them from stations? Who's debuting one? Will they ever be able to replace choppers? etc.

 

--

 

To answer the latter question -- I agree with the folks who say "not anytime soon". It sounds great on paper, but all of the federal restrictions and the fact that drive time is required to go fly renders them ill-suited to replace choppers. I think they're better than nothing for the stations that don't have helicopters, but not replacements by a longshot.

[newsteam13 395]

Here's ONE example of Drones in use at TV stations - FOX21 KXRM Colorado Springs/Pueblo

https://www.fox21news.com/news/introducing-skyfox21/

 

That drone is called SkyFOX21. That drone is used to cover breaking news and beauty shots of Southern Colorado

 

There's even a twitter account, so you can see the drone in use (CLICK HERE)

 

[AJClementeFan69 477]

13 hours ago, newsteam13 said:

Here's ONE example of Drones in use at TV stations - FOX21 KXRM Colorado Springs/Pueblo

https://www.fox21news.com/news/introducing-skyfox21/

 

That drone is called SkyFOX21. That drone is used to cover breaking news and beauty shots of Southern Colorado

 

There's even a twitter account, so you can see the drone in use (CLICK HERE)

 

 

Nice...too bad the account isn't particularly active. If there's a great place to do drone shots, it's that market.

[DENDude 217]

WBBH has a drone, they call it 'SKY2' they seem to use it frequently.  

WINK also has a drone "The WINK NEWS Drone", they don't seem to use it as frequently as WBBH.    

 

Here is a report from Wednesday featuring 'SKY2': https://www.nbc-2.com/story/40981739/lehigh-acres-residents-better-prepared-for-dorian-thanks-to-irma

And here is a promo from when it was first introduced:

 

[Darius22 122]

To my Knowlege KOVR has one they call Drone13 and some of the FOX O&Os use the SkyFox name on their drones.

[PTVNews 194]

I'm sure there is technology to show a drone shot live, but most of the time I've seen local news drone shots, it's recorded b-roll.

 

Here is a montage of some shots KGW used last year. I think other stations in Portland have a done, but overall, none use them too much since they all share the chopper (except KOIN).

 

 

[H4UL4U 127]

In Columbus (Ohio) both WBNS and WCMH have drones, but I'm not sure how often they used them.

[Weeters 1916]

Let's focus on discussing how drones are used rather than letting this become a list thread about who has them.