CG (Character Generator)

What is it?

CG is the classic broadcast term for the system that puts text and graphics on top of the live picture: names, titles, scores, headlines. The name is a fossil from the hardware era — a dedicated machine "generated characters" (letters) onto the TV signal — but the term survives, and in any TV control room "the CG" still means the graphics station and the person operating it.

Practical example

In a news control room, when a guest starts speaking, the CG operator presses a key and the guest's name and title appear at the bottom of the screen; another key press and a "BREAKING" banner slides in. In the streaming world, the same job is done by graphics features inside the studio software — the creator clicks "show name tag" instead of a dedicated operator pressing a console key.

Key things to know (non-technical)

• CG is the umbrella; lower-thirds, tickers, bugs, and full-screen graphics are all things a CG produces.
• In modern production, "CG" increasingly runs as web-based graphics (HTML overlays) rather than dedicated hardware.
• Good CG follows a graphics package — one consistent visual system — rather than ad-hoc text thrown on screen.
• The operator role matters: graphics appearing at the right moment is live performance, like switching.

In Tupic Live

Tupic Live's overlay/graphics system is, in TV language, its CG: giving creators a clean set of name tags, banners, and titles that can be fired live with one tap — a built-in graphics operator in their pocket.