CNNs Anderson Cooper Full Circle Uses Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro and ATEM Camera Control Panel

Blackmagic Design today announced that CNN’s new “Anderson Cooper Full Circle” Facebook Watch daily global brief is produced using Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro cameras. The show is also being broadcast live using ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K live production switchers, ATEM Camera Control Panel, Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter, Blackmagic Studio Fiber Converter and a number of Teranex AV converters.
“Anderson Cooper Full Circle” was launched on July 16, 2018 and airs every weekday on CNN’s Facebook page. Engaging directly with the audience, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, along with a roster of CNN talent reporting from around the world, deliver insight into the daily news stories that Facebook audiences care about most, leveraging the interactivity of the platform to inform each evening’s lineup and engage a new generation of consumers.
The show, which is separate but complementary to Anderson Cooper’s popular “AC360,” is exclusive to the Facebook Watch platform and is broadcast live from CNN’s AC360 New York City newsroom in mobile friendly vertical video.
Distinguishing itself and its content by producing a high-quality broadcast before being sent downstream to Facebook Watch, “Anderson Cooper Full Circle” offers broadcast quality live streaming. To do this, CNN chose a broadcast workflow based around four Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro cameras, five ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4Ks and eight Teranex AV converters and processors.
Including live interviews, four URSA Mini Pros are used to capture various shots of Anderson Cooper and his guests, as well as the newsroom studio itself. Media from the cameras are sent via optical fiber to four ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K switchers and four Teranex AVs for conversions and audio embedding.
An additional ATEM 1 M/E Production Studio 4K for SDI signal control and distribution amplification is also in line. The merged feeds are then forwarded through two Teranex AVs and streaming hardware to Facebook Live. ATEM Camera Control Panel is used to control all four cameras, with the show’s workflow connected with optical fiber using the Blackmagic Camera Fiber Converter and Blackmagic Studio Fiber Converter to convert video, audio, power, talkback and tally with a single SMPTE fiber optic cable.
The show is designed to be viewed from mobile devices as well as laptops and computers. To handle this, CNN uses the ATEM switcher’s Power Macro feature to automate feeds from the cameras to be rotated from horizontal to vertical to be better viewed on a phone.