What Keeps Your Local News On Air When Everything Goes Wrong?

The broadcast industry is struggling with a technology crisis. News stations nationwide are running on outdated systems while trying to deliver real-time content to millions of viewers. When these systems fail, entire newsrooms go dark.

The numbers paint a stark picture. Thedesktop virtualization market size hit $27.61 billion in 2024 and will reach $142.66 billion by 2032. News stations across the country are scrambling to upgrade their tech just to stay competitive.

Meanwhile,U.S. newsroom employment has dropped 26% since 2008. Newspaper jobs fell even harder, down 57% in the same period. Fewer people are doing more work, which means the technology had better not break.

Ashish Bhatti knows this pressure firsthand. He works as a Senior Systems Engineer, managing the computer systems that keep the newsroom staff connected to their main broadcasting tools. These include Dalet Galaxy, Dalet Flex, and Dalet Pyramid, which handle everything from organizing stories to managing video files. When these systems go down, the news stops.

The real test came when newsrooms had to figure out remote work. Reporters and producers needed to access the same sensitive systems from home that they used at the office. The old setup couldn't handle it. Security had to stay tight, but the system also had to work fast enough for live TV.

He oversees the FTP systems that let field reporters send raw video back to the newsroom and get edited content in return. This happens in real time during breaking news. If a reporter is covering a fire or a political rally, they need to send footage immediately. Any delay means another station might beat them to air.

His job changed from just fixing servers when they broke to actually planning how to make the whole system better. He led projects to expand the virtual desktop infrastructure so remote staff could access Dalet systems securely. This meant newsrooms could keep operating even when people couldn't come to the office.

Making remote journalism actually work

The VMware system he runs gives hundreds of newsroom workers access to their broadcasting tools from anywhere. Story planning, video editing, and file management all have to work the same whether someone is in the building or at home.VMware controls about 44 percent of the virtualization market, making it the go-to choice for big operations like this.

Getting the technical details right was tricky. If the system runs even a little slow during breaking news, it could mean missing the story entirely. The expansion project had to give secure access to Dalet systems for staff working both on-site and remotely.

"The newsroom doesn't stop for technical issues," Ashish Bhatti says. "When major stories break, our systems need to work perfectly whether staff are in the building or reporting from across the country."

Field operations depend on this infrastructure too. During live sports, video has to move from the camera to the editor to be broadcast in minutes. He modernized the FTP setup with better security and faster performance, specifically for these high-pressure situations.

Fixing broadcast systems before they break

The shift from just maintaining servers to planning major infrastructure changes marked a big difference in how news operations think about technology. He led modernization projects that overhauled critical systems, adding stronger security and improving performance to meet the demands of live news.

This work became essential as newsrooms moved toward digital-first approaches. The infrastructure now supports journalists working across different time zones while keeping the reliability needed for live broadcasting to millions of viewers. The system creates a more flexible newsroom with better broadcast reliability for modern media.

The FTP upgrades included better security and performance improvements built for live sports scenarios. Field crews can now communicate seamlessly with newsroom editors even during intense live events where every second counts.

"We've moved from being reactive to infrastructure problems to preventing them before they impact our ability to serve our audience," Ashish Bhatti explains. "The technology should be invisible to viewers. They should never know we exist."

How reliable tech changes the news business

The effects go beyond just one newsroom. With fewer journalists doing the same amount of work, being efficient with technology becomes crucial for news organizations. Solid technical infrastructure lets smaller teams cover more stories without cutting quality or speed.

This efficiency really matters during big news events when newsrooms have to coordinate coverage across multiple platforms and time zones. The virtual desktop systems he manages let journalists access full production tools from any location, changing how news organizations respond to developing stories.

The modernization represents a bigger change in how broadcast operations work. Traditional newsroom workflows were built around everyone being in the same building using local equipment. Now the focus is on flexible systems that don't sacrifice security or performance.

Modern newsroom technology has to balance competing needs. Security for sensitive content, performance for live broadcasting, the ability to scale up or down, and access for distributed teams. Handling all these requirements at once needs both technical know-how and understanding of how newsrooms actually operate.

News organizations are starting to realize that infrastructure reliability directly affects their ability to serve audiences when it matters most. System downtime during breaking news doesn't just hurt internal operations. It can mean losing viewers to competitors who keep their technology running better.

The need for flexible, secure, and scalable broadcast infrastructure will keep growing. In order to sustain evolving journalism and uphold the reliability standards that viewers demand, news organizations must constantly update their technical underpinnings. Although they are largely invisible, the engineers who create and manage these systems decide whether newsrooms can provide the real-time coverage that informs communities at the most critical moments.

The infrastructure that supports these activities must also change as news consumption continues to shift toward phones and digital platforms. The systems that make content creation, editing, and distribution seamless will ultimately decide how well news organizations can serve their communities in our connected world.