MUMBAI: With a slew of news channels entering the domestic television market, each of the new entrants wants to have an edge over the other.

According to software applications & services provider Beehive Systems, which announced that Star News has acquired its newsgathering solution - vid'linkMOBILE, the News Corp-controlled news channel now has that edge.

The system, which has been successfully used for news coverage of the US-led invasion of Iraq, has empowered Star News correspondents with a lightning fast newsgathering system, a Beehive release says.

Star News has bought 14 software licenses of the product. vid'linkMOBILE is the latest technology for cost-effective and rapid newsgathering, the release says, and allows journalists to transmit live video and audio content to broadcasters via a satellite phone or traditional Internet connection.

Facilitated by a video codec, vid'linkMOBILE is based on video technology that combines mobility with faster transmission of high-quality broadcast video. It is unique in its ability to transmit high quality video over low bandwidth allowing for transmissions 70 per cent faster than other compression standards, the company claims.

Ajay Pal Singh, V-P, Beehive Systems was quoted in the release as saying that "vid'linkMOBILE would always provide Star with a definitive advantage of being first on the air."