Clear-Com Supports Global Student Broadcast On Air 2026 With Station-IC, Eclipse HX and FreeSpeak Cell

Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 universities across 30 countries, with Station-IC virtual intercom panels, an Eclipse HX Digital Matrix system and FreeSpeak Cell wireless beltpacks. The intercom was used to coordinate studios and production areas at the University of Westminster School of Media and Communication in London.

The broadcast ran from 1 a.m. GMT Oct. 22 to 1 a.m. GMT Oct. 23 on five YouTube channels covering culture, kids, news, sports and film. More than 2,500 students, staff and industry partners contributed, with student content from Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Asia, Europe, the UK, North America and South America. Led by Carrie Wootten, producer of On Air 24 and CEO of Media Talent Manifesto, this year's event expanded from a single channel to five channels across four studios. The production chain was entirely cloud-based, from ingest through transmission, using technology from more than 40 industry partners.

Clear-Com provided Station-IC panels to more than 30 universities, connecting them to an Eclipse HX Delta matrix frame at Westminster through a fixed IP address supplied by the university. Two E-IPA interface cards in the frame kept the external communications network separate from the university's internal network. One card supported five lever key panels for channel operators and two for the main MCR team.

Four FreeSpeak Cell beltpacks used the public 5G cellular network to let students and production staff receive cues and talk to channel operators, including in the auditorium, which hosted the film channel and awards programming. Additional beltpacks supported the newsroom (news and kids channels), the TV studio (culture channel), roaming engineering support and the podcast studio.

The previous year's On Air 24 received the Collaborative Team Award at the Royal Television Society Awards. The 2026 broadcast coincided with the awards ceremony on Oct. 22.

On Air 2026 was an incredible opportunity to bring together students and industry partners from around the world to experience the collaboration and coordination required to deliver a complex broadcast, says Wootten. With five channels running across multiple studios and a fully cloud-based production workflow, everyone was able to stay connected and working together throughout the 24 hours.

Having taken part in last year's On Air, which broadcast a single channel of YouTube content presented from one TV studio, we knew that this year's 24 hours would be more of a challenge with five channels presented from four studios, says John Sparrow, EMEA Senior Systems Consultant, Clear-Com. By utilizing the Delta matrix and FreeSpeak Cell alongside Station-IC and hardware panels, we were able to scale the system up to give a seamless communications experience to the students and industry volunteers who took part.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/11/12/clear-com-supports-global-stude...
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