Webcast Sacrament Meeting audio to elderly member's home?

Is there a policy on webcasting audio from a Sacrament meeting to an elderly member's home?

A previous discussion focused on Handbook 2 21.2.10 but that policy is related to Video, not audio.

If audio transmission is permitted, do I need to setup the entire Church Webcasting software or hardware? Does that hardware/software allow a member in a home to receive it?

Neither of the Handbooks have a policy that expressly prohibits this (depending on the way you interpret the word "broadcast" in 21.2.10 and elsewhere, and assuming your Sacrament meeting doesn't feature an Area Seventy or General Authority as in 21.1.33). Before doing anything, though, you should seek approval from your stake president and if he has concerns, he can confer with a member of the area presidency or Presidency of the Seventy. I can certainly see how this would benefit and bless members in this situation, but I would make sure you have your stake president's approval before pursuing it.

From a logistical perspective, all you would need is the Meetinghouse Webcast software on a laptop with a line-in or mic port to receive the audio. You can set the option in the software to webcast audio only, and you would probably want to cut the audio while the Sacrament is being administered. Members can receive the webcast on a home PC that allows Windows media streams - most current Windows PCs and Macs support this. Also, in keeping with the aforementioned "broadcast" policy, you would want to be very careful that the link is not shared beyond the boundaries of the ward/stake.

gladewarner wrote:A previous discussion focused on Handbook 2 21.2.10 but that policy is related to Video, not audio.

Depending on how once chooses to interpret it, it may well include audio. I certainly don't see any exemption being made for audio-only.

While the manual doesn't explain why broadcasting is banned, it's hard for me to come up with any rational that audio-only would be "ok" if video is prohibited.

But only someone with the keys and authority to interpret the Handbook for your stake can answer this.