TVU drives Zambia election coverage

TVU Networks provided Diamond TV with a mobile contribution workflow for Zambia’s 2026 general election, allowing the broadcaster to connect up to 130 smartphones from election sites to a central production environment. The system enabled Diamond TV to expand its field coverage without deploying a dedicated traditional transmission setup for every reporter.

Covering activity across Zambia’s 226 constituencies presented a significant contribution challenge, with 8.8 million registered voters taking part in the election. Reporters used the TVU Anywhere app on their smartphones to transmit live reports, interviews, polling-station updates and vote-count information over available mobile and Wi-Fi connections.

In the cloud, TVU Partyline brought the incoming feeds together across six 5×5 gallery outputs, giving Diamond TV’s production team a structured view of multiple contributors from a central location.

The gallery outputs were delivered through TVU Transceiver and routed into Diamond TV’s existing SDI production switcher. Three receiver paths were configured for audio de-embedding, while a Partyline host connected to the studio audio desk via USB allowed reporters to hear instructions from the director.

During the election coverage, Diamond TV delivered 72 hours of live programming and managed a peak of 111 simultaneous smartphone feeds, with the workflow designed to support up to 130 sources.

“We needed to make more reporters available live without placing a dedicated transmission system at every location,” explained Ephraim Chinga, senior manager IT at Diamond TV. “With TVU, our journalists were able to contribute directly from their smartphones while our production team managed the incoming feeds from a centralised control room. This allowed us to extend our reach across the country while maintaining the quality, coordination and control required for national election coverage.”

The workflow also enabled Diamond TV to bring more localised election coverage into its live output while retaining its existing studio infrastructure. “Diamond TV built a workflow around the realities of its newsroom, its market and the stories it needed to cover,” said Abdalla Elhag, business development director, Africa at TVU Networks. “By turning smartphones into a coordinated contribution network, Diamond TV demonstrated how broadcasters can expand their editorial reach while making use of existing production infrastructure. This approach can provide broadcasters across Africa with greater flexibility as they cover stories from more locations.”