Diamond TV Turns 130 Smartphones into a Nationwide Election Network with TVU
Reporters transmitted live from smartphones while producers ran the coverage from Diamond TV’s existing SDI studio.
View Related ProductsLusaka, Zambia September 28, 2026 – How do you cover an election across 226 constituencies without deploying hundreds of broadcast crews and transmission units?
That was the scale of the challenge facing Diamond TV as 8.8 million registered voters went to the polls in Zambia’s 2026 general election. The broadcaster needed to make more field contributors available to one production team without creating a separate traditional contribution setup for every reporter.
The answer was the smartphone each reporter already carried.
Working with TVU Networks, Diamond TV built a mobile-first workflow designed to bring live video from up to 130 smartphones covering 130 election sites into one centralized production environment. The solution expanded the broadcaster’s potential reach while allowing its production team to remain in control from the existing SDI studio.
In the field, reporters used the TVU Anywhere app on their smartphones to transmit live reports, interviews, polling-station updates, vote counts or other election content over available mobile and Wi-Fi connections. This allowed Diamond TV to increase the number of potential live sources without assigning a specialized transmission unit to every contributor.
In the cloud, TVU Partyline brought the incoming feeds together and organized them across six 5×5 gallery outputs. The production team could see the field through structured visual mosaics, giving the newsroom a clear overview of multiple contributors from one place.
Back in the control room, each gallery output was delivered through a 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 through 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 using a workflow designed to support up to 130 sources.
The result was not simply more feeds, but wider editorial reach. Diamond TV could bring more locations into the live story while keeping the operation manageable for one production team and preserving its existing production environment. The workflow also enabled more localized election coverage, bringing live updates and developments from communities across the country closer to viewers.
“We needed to make more reporters available live without placing a dedicated transmission system at every location,” said 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 centralized control room. This allowed us to extend our reach across the country while maintaining the quality, coordination and control required for national election coverage.”
What Diamond TV built in Zambia has relevance far beyond one election.
African broadcasters cover vast and diverse territories, where important stories often develop far from the main production center. Expanding editorial reach cannot always depend on adding another vehicle, satellite link or transmission pack for every new location.
Diamond TV showed how that reach can grow differently. Smartphones already available in the field became live contribution tools. Cloud technology brought order and visibility to the incoming sources. Existing studio infrastructure remained at the center of the production.
The result is not a reduced version of a traditional broadcast workflow. It is a model designed around the way modern African newsrooms operate, combining mobile reach, centralized production and existing infrastructure to bring more places and perspectives into the live story.
“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.”
Interested in creating a more flexible live production workflow for your organization? Meet TVU Networks at CABSAT 2026, October 5–7 at Stand E10, to explore how mobile and cloud production can support your coverage.
About Diamond TV
Diamond TV is a Zambian television and digital media organization based in Lusaka, delivering news, business, sports, entertainment and other programming to audiences across Zambia and beyond. Through its broadcast and digital platforms, Diamond TV provides timely, accessible and engaging content designed to inform, inspire and connect its audiences. For more information, visit www.diamondtvzambia.com
About TVU Networks
TVU Networks transforms live broadcast media workflows to digital, offering cloud and hybrid solutions for live video transmission, production, routing, and playout over IP, 5G, and AI. TVU’s ecosystem — including TVU One, TVU Producer, TVU Remote Commentator, TVU Anywhere, and TVU MediaHub — enables broadcasters, sports organizations, and production companies worldwide to produce and distribute broadcast-quality live content faster, at lower cost, and with fewer people on site. For more information, visit tvunetworks.com
