What a Remote Contribution Kit Costs and What Moves the Price

Producers often ask for a figure before they have said where the report will come from. We understand the wish, but a remote contribution kit is not a fixed product with a single tag. It is a case of encoder, bonding hardware, power and monitoring that we prepare around one job, and the cost follows what that job needs.

In my years running operations here, the quotes that caused trouble were the ones given in a rush, with half the facts missing. So this note sets out the pieces we price and the questions that change them. If you read it before you write to us, the quotation we send back will be quicker to produce and closer to the final invoice.

Everything below describes how we work in the South West and beyond, with our own kits and our own people. It is not a price list; the Prices page carries the figures we currently quote.

A standard booking covers the portable encoder, the bonding unit that combines several mobile connections into one stable path, cabling, batteries, and a return monitor so the person on location can see what the desk sees. The kit is tested and configured on our bench before it leaves, with the destination details you have given us.

It also includes a pre-agreed test window with your gallery or news desk, so the link is proven before the live slot rather than during it. We keep a short written record of the settings used, which helps if the same location is booked again.

What a standard booking does not include is a camera operator, extra lighting, or a second path such as a satellite uplink. Those can be added, and each is priced separately so you can see where the money goes.

• Encoder, bonding unit, cabling and batteries
• Bench configuration to your destination details
• Test window with your desk before the live slot
• Written record of settings used

The single biggest driver is where the report comes from. A town square with good mobile coverage from several networks needs far less planning than a headland, a moor or a harbour wall where one network barely holds. Poor coverage means more connections bonded together, more time on a recce, and sometimes a recommendation to move the camera position.

We often ask for a short site visit or, failing that, photographs and a map pin. Ten minutes spent checking signal on the ground can save a failed live hit. Where coverage is weak we say so plainly and explain what we would add, instead of promising a result the location cannot support.

Crowded events change the picture again. A festival field with thousands of phones competes for the same masts, and we plan for that with extra capacity and earlier setup.

• Number of mobile networks reachable on site
• Distance and terrain between camera and nearest masts
• Crowd size and competing demand at the time

Time on location matters, but not only in hours. A single five-minute live hit inside a long morning still ties up the kit, a technician and the test window for the whole morning. We therefore price around the period the kit is committed to you, with the number of live slots affecting how much monitoring and standby is needed.

Early starts and late finishes carry a higher rate, as do bookings that run across a weekend. Short-notice requests are possible when kits and people are free, but they leave less room for a site check, and we will tell you if that raises the risk.

If a slot moves, tell us as early as you can. Our payment and refund policy sets out what happens to a booking that changes, and we would rather rework a plan with you than have the kit sit idle.

Some options exist purely to protect the broadcast. A second bonded unit on a different set of networks, a backup recording on site, or a dedicated return audio line for the reporter all raise the price, and all reduce the chance of a dropped feed. For a bulletin that can afford a brief glitch, the standard kit may be enough. For a programme that cannot go dark, we usually advise one level more.

Delivery format also counts. Sending to a single news desk over one secure link is simpler than feeding several destinations in different formats at once, which needs more routing work from our side.

We give you the standard price and the resilient price side by side, so the decision stays with you and rests on what a failure would cost your programme.

• Second bonded unit on separate networks
• Backup recording on site
• Multiple destinations or formats

Send us the location, the date and hours, the number of live slots, where the feed must arrive and in what format. If you have a view on resilience, say so; if not, we will propose two levels. Use the contact page, and we reply with a written quotation.

Once you confirm in writing, we issue an invoice payable by bank transfer, and the kit is scheduled against your slot. Nothing is charged on the site itself, and the quotation lists what is included so there are no surprises on the day.

If your job is unusual, such as a boat, a rooftop or a site with no public access, mention it early. Those are the cases where a short conversation with our signal engineer saves the most time and money.