Spring is one of nature’s most exceptional performances – a time of rebirth, renewed energy, and dramatic transformations. For three consecutive nights, in April 2019 Live on PBS and streamed live on Facebook Nature: American Spring LIVE presents the change from winter to spring in real-time from iconic locations across America.

Hosted from the sequoia mountains, expert contributors came together to showcase various springtime phenomena across American ecosystems. Remote locations included the Sierra Nevada Mountains, inner-city parks, remote wilderness preserves, and even in the middle of a bat tornado in Bracken Cave, Texas.

Nature’s exquisite beauty was documented over 3 nights, from 25 different field locations. Vista Studios brought in a satellite downlink from the field, which included a 5 camera MUX from the host position. Vista provided bonded cellular services to get live remote signals from locations where satellite trucks wouldn’t be practical or cost effective. The REMI/At-home team at Vista and the remote location teams were in complete communication with full-duplex intercom over Wi-Fi and cellular. 

The Network Operations Center at Vista Studios sent 3 nights of live network shows over diverse fiber to WNET in New York. Backed by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), backup generator power, and an automatic transfer switch (ATS) to ensure nothing interrupted the live production.

During the 3-night broadcast events, the Vista Social Media Command Center produced live social media content in parallel with the linear broadcast on the PBS networks. The Command Center also facilitated the parallel distribution of the production on the Facebook Live platform.