General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
sphester
Member
Posts: 136
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:44 pm
Location: Lancaster England

General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#1

Post by sphester »

Hi

I have some questions that have come up regarding viewing of general conference this April in our stake.

I did raise the issue of TV Licensing in the forum post below which seems to conclude that a TV licence is needed to view conference over broadband internet. https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 2&start=10#

Despite my FM group confirming in an e-mail last April that TV licences had been bought for all my units it seems this was never the case. We are now being told units that used broadband for October and April conference last year have to make a lengthy journey to view at the nearest satellite installed building. To make matter worse a local neighbouring stake has declined to allow our members to their stake centre to view conference (how they can do that I have no idea not very Christ like if you ask me).

My stake presidency have come up with a very odd solution that I personally feel is not appropriate nor legal with respect TV licencing law here in the UK.

In short they have suggested we use the webcast communicator to distribute the conference feed. There rational being that because this is now on a delayed transmission it is legal. I have told them this can’t be right nor legal however they still want me to pursue it. Whilst i can see how this is technically possible i have a few questions. They want to do this primarily for the priesthood session.

1. Are the churches webcast media streaming server on and working over general conference?

2. I given the worldwide streaming of conference over the weekend are we not running the risk that the bandwidth is going to be so congested the webcast would be very poor quality?

3. During last April and Oct conference the General priesthood session was available to view on line via lds.org with in hours of the live event. This meant our remote units could and did use there broadband to view general priesthood via lds.org. Will this e the case this time? MY stake presidency seems to believe they have been told it will not be available until at least Monday.

4. I understand a stake presidency can make a special request to get a live/delayed stream of the general priesthood meeting? Who and where is this request made? And can this special stream internet stream be set to run at say 10am local time for us in the UK.

5. My stake presidency tonight advised that FM group and area have indicate local unit cannot use local unit budget to buy there own TV licence. Is this correct? I mean we are talking about member merely trying to make it easier for themselves to watch conference and avoid lengthy and costly car journey’s.

6. Can we escalate our request past the FM group to the area presidency?

I’ve tried to explain that using webcast is just not a good option but have a stake presidency paranoid now that they are not going to get to watch the priesthood session of conference in April.

Overall not very happy and would welcome any comments on this questions and situation.

Thanks in advance.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#2

Post by russellhltn »

Most of the users of this forum are in the US where such licensing requirements are unknown. Perhaps some of the other UK members can chime in.
sphester wrote:Are the churches webcast media streaming server on and working over general conference?
I believe that webcasting is disabled during conference. That's so the bandwidth is available for direct streaming.

sphester wrote:Can we escalate our request past the FM group to the area presidency?
I believe that the Stake President is free to talk to the Area Presidency at any time.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11460
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#3

Post by lajackson »

It sounds to me as if your stake president should visit with the area authority or area presidency and get this worked out if the FM group is not able to do so.

It sounds to me as if your priesthood leaders need the assistance of Church legal counsel to work out the legal requirements of broadcasting in your country. Your priesthood leaders need to ask specific questions and get specific answers. Your stake president is the key.

In my opinion, streaming the satellite broadcast from one building to another does not make it a "delayed broadcast". Again though, this is a question for your area legal counsel. Your country has very different laws regarding television broadcasting. They need to be sorted by someone who is qualified rather than trying to work around them, not knowing if the workaround is legal or not.

It sounds to me as if your neighboring stake may have a space problem, but I am not aware of any stake around here that would not allow members to attend. I suppose we might give preference to our own members as far as seating goes, but we would let you in, barring any fire code violation. [grin]
sphester
Member
Posts: 136
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:44 pm
Location: Lancaster England

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#4

Post by sphester »

Well my stake president has just confirmed that each unit in the stake does in fact have a TV licence :D this makes life a little simpler for us all now as each unit can now legal use the internet to view conference.

My only outstanding question is about the priesthood session. Does anyone know how to get the private dedicated stream. I understand the stake president can request a internet feed is this from streamingsupport@lds.org?

I know a couple of units last October just used the archived feed from lds.org as it was available by 10am UK time on the Sunday when they wanted to watch it but this is not guaranteed and if there is some delay then we run the risk of missing priesthood session of conference.

Thanks for the comments thus far.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#5

Post by russellhltn »

sphester wrote:Does anyone know how to get the private dedicated stream. I understand the stake president can request a internet feed is this from streamingsupport@lds.org?
I believe that is correct.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
Community Moderators
Posts: 11460
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:27 pm
Location: US

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#6

Post by lajackson »

sphester wrote:My only outstanding question is about the priesthood session. Does anyone know how to get the private dedicated stream. I understand the stake president can request a internet feed is this from streamingsupport@lds.org?
Or one of his counselors.

To request a URL for viewing a satellite broadcast on the Internet, e-mail streamingsupport@ldschurch.org (note the different email address). Please include your name, your calling, your unit name (area, stake, mission, or district), the event you are requesting information for, and the languages you need. Information will be sent only to members of area, stake, mission, or district presidencies.
sphester
Member
Posts: 136
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:44 pm
Location: Lancaster England

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#7

Post by sphester »

Got a response from streaming support and they have given me the private url however this is only available during the live session of priesthood which is no good to our stake in the UK.

They pointed me to link for the archived feeds but this only indicates that the session will be available within 1 day.

I know during April and October conference last year the Priesthood session was available via the conference website with in a few hours as some units used this to view the priesthood session it was available by 1am SLC time by my calculations.

Is there any other way to get some form of guaranteed stream or for someone to confirm if the archived stream will be available for us by 10am UK time.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#8

Post by russellhltn »

You might want to look into recording it for later playback.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
sphester
Member
Posts: 136
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2011 12:44 pm
Location: Lancaster England

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#9

Post by sphester »

Hmm we could but no way to get copies out on DVD in time to watch Sunday.

I have thought about recording the internet stream but never done that before might not be possible.

I think in all probability we will have to travel for that session or risk it and hope its on Lds.org in time.
rogerscr
New Member
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:09 pm
Location: St Paul, MN, USA

Re: General Conference Via Broadband and Webcast

#10

Post by rogerscr »

Thanks for this info, I was not aware of the streamingsupport@ldschurch.org option. We have a small ward that meets in a building without satellite and have considered using a Roku so they can have conference in their own building. The question has always been 'what about priesthood?'. Based on this I can tell our Stake Presidency that there is the possibility of getting a stream (albeit with a laptop instead of Roku) for these ward members.
Post Reply

Return to “Meetinghouse Internet”