After focusing on the best video mobile app in the United Kingdom, and on the best OTT apps for Apple TV in the US, Witbe’s third QoE study looked at the video apps of four Canadian mobile operators; Bell Mobility, Fido, Telus Mobility and Videotron.
Broadcast and IT technology collaboration is continuing its journey with the cross-over between them becoming ever clearer. Storage is a major growth area with advanced methods achieving greater efficiencies and resilience. And as broadcast repeatedly demands more and more capacity, IT innovation is taking broadcasting to new levels of productivity.
This year’s Super Bowl LIII telecast on CBS will be produced and broadcast into millions of living rooms by employing the usual plethora of traditional live production equipment, along with a few wiz bang additions like 4K UHD and an 8K camera for replays, and specially equipped wireless handheld cameras supporting augmented reality graphics and motion tracking on the field. The network said that 115 cameras would be used, 86 for the main broadcast alone, giving viewers an unprecedented television viewing experience.
Gigabit broadband growth is set to confound most predictions and increase almost 10-fold in penetration to reach over 31% of households on average globally over the next five years, compared with 3% to 4% today.
LiveU’s 2018 ‘State of Live’ report says HEVC now represents 25% of worldwide traffic. In addition to growing HEVC adoption, data also indicates a 55% increase in live transmission hours and emergence of 4K resolution in live broadcasting.
The next move on in mobile communications and broadband connectivity, 5G, is also being held up as potentially a new contribution and distribution technology for broadcasting. BT Sport and mobile operator EE demonstrated the broadcast possibilities for the fifth generation of telecom technology during November with tests of remote production applications.
Traditionally, most video content teams operated within a well-defined and narrow scope. Also, the tools, data and processes used were siloed within their organizations. But such a solution is no longer sufficient to manage today’s multichannel distribution workflows.
Reduction in ad load combined with addressable advertising can boost viewer engagement significantly in the OTT arena.