Why is it when your watching a LIVE broadcast there is a "time difference".

[The Stigenator]

I am watching teh same game of soccer on Univision and ESPN, and yet ESPN is about 15 seconds delayed.

I have noticed this when they show like an important new coverage on some channel.. you even though your watching the same thing, one channel eventually lags by a second or two. I remember switching between CNN and MSNBC cause one will always lag the other, and usually its MSNBC, and so if I miss a word on CNN I can switch to MSNBC and catch it and still not loose what's going on live.

Weird isnt it.

 

[WombatWoman]

I believe this lag has to do with the distance between the satellite and the earth. Whenever you are watching a live broadcast from a distant site, the signal has to travel a hell of a long way before it gets to you.

 

[LoqT]

Yeah I always had fun flipping around channels to see the different angles that the cameras were on.... one of the ways to measure the magnitude of some major news is to see how many channels are airing it..... and for me, 9/11 hands down had coverage on every channel I could remember, as it should have been.

 

[fr]

I think they also want a delay in case someone flashes a boob or says f*ck out loud so they can censor it.

 

[Zim Hosein]

I agree w/ WombatWoman, I've been on the phone w/ a firned while I was at home and he was at work and the cable show in the background had a one-two second delay. He works about 25 city blocks away from me, but is on a different cable system.