Technology Widens Range of Conference Broadcasts

More Latter-day Saints than ever were able to view live broadcasts of general conference this April, thanks to the latest in broadcasting technology.

Conference sessions were broadcast in twelve languages to North America, the Dominican Republic, and Hawaii, and Church members at three sites in Europe and Central America saw conference sessions live via satellite.

For several years, general conference sessions have been broadcast in English, Spanish, and French via the Westar 4 satellite. But technological advances allow the satellite to carry twelve languages. As a result, Church units or members in North America and Hawaii were able to receive April’s conference broadcasts in English, Spanish, French, German, Tongan, Samoan, Portuguese, Laotian, Cambodian, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Korean.

In addition, test transmissions of the conference sessions were broadcast via Pan Am satellite to earth stations in Manchester, England; Frankfurt, West Germany; and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Church units in areas of the world where the satellite and other transmissions are not available will receive videotapes of conference sessions. European languages are translated and made available through the Lynge, Denmark, distribution center. Sessions in Oriental languages are translated and dubbed in the distribution centers in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Seoul. Spanish and Portuguese language tapes will be distributed throughout Latin America.