We're off...well sort of

Each year our ambitions are to make the current year's World Challenge better than the last. And sometimes, we get snake bit. Last year's beta test of Livestream came off very well- almost without a hitch. The only issue was someone tripped over an extension cord and our broadcast room went off line.

This year, we were expanding the coverage by adding High Definition. Or so we thought. Murphy was working overtime this past week. Monday was a forgotten holiday- Veteran's Day (even though is was actually on the 11th).

In any event, you're no more frustrated that we in getting this signal up and streaming. This is not just a matter of plugging in an Ethernet cable in the local outlet. It's pretty complicated and has to do with the local cable provider setting up a line of sight transmission capability and turning the dial up to 10MbS.

The signal is processed by a wireless uplink, over to a light pole and then streamed 500m to a receiver on a pole in front of the Planet Hollywood.

For the past two days, we've been dutifully recording all the content. And the chatline is active. In fact, many of you can hear us; you just can't see us.

I want to tell you that Wednesday, you'll be seeing everything live. Of course, it's not up to me, but the combination of HTC (cable company) and Livestream.com. There's enough blame to go around. But our technical crew is working on all of this as we speak. Livestream changed our account to another router, which has little meaning for me. In any event, be assured that all is not lost; all of the content will be available for viewing on a tape delay and it' will be there for the next year.

We thank you for your patience and we apologize for any inconvenience we have caused you.