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There are many options when it comes to selecting new technological solutions. But not all of the new technology changes will move you forward. Remember 3D? Engineers and managers must carefully leverage from among the best options.
In the months ahead, OTA television station owners face some momentous decisions. Fast-changing technology will force them to either sell their spectrum in upcoming FCC auctions or rebuild their technological and business infrastructures to operate in a highly competitive Internet-centric future.
Growing concern among pay TV operators and broadcasters over live streaming piracy was evident at this year’s NAB in Las Vegas, with the main focus on sports. Until recently security of movies, the other major cash cow for pay TV, attracted more attention because that was thought more vulnerable with a longer window of opportunity. Yet it has become clear that the short revenue window of live sports is actually a liability since it means that piracy has an immediate impact and there is limited value tracking down infringing sources afterwards because the damage has already been done. As quickly as existing pirates are tracked down new ones will arrive, so the only remedy is to act almost immediately against infringing sources and shut them down.
The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) is urging its members to lobby regulators against conceding any further spectrum to mobile operators in the run up to the next global conference on frequency allocations at the end of the year. Unless European broadcasters hold on to the UHF band (470-694 MHz), Free To Air (FTA) services are likely to be reduced to marginal status, depriving many people who cannot afford pay TV of access to the full range of public service broadcast channels.
The big OTT operators must embrace live sports if they are to fulfil their ambitions of becoming dominant global pay TV players and seize the mantle from existing national or regional pay TV operators as well as dedicated sports broadcasters. The next stage for the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Hulu must be the acquisition of major sporting rights, according to a study just published by UK based Juniper Research. However these operators do need to find a business model capable of recouping the massive outlay that will be required to seize major sporting rights on a possibly global basis, said Juniper’s research director Windsor Holden.
US encoding vendor Zixi has been selected by iStreamPlanet for IP contribution to the latter’s Aventus live video encoding and multiscreen packaging service. iStreamPlanet is using Zixi’s live video transport software to provide ingest over unmanaged Internet connections, offering an IP-based alternative to traditional backhaul methods like satellite and fiber. iStreamPlanet will be enabling Zixi contribution over IP to Aventus from Q2 of 2015.
At NAB 2015, it is a given that many companies will dazzle attendees with stories of how 4K television is virtually here. For those susceptible to such celebratory hype, it might be good to think about the issue for a bit and be armed with some intelligent questions to ask manufacturers who are promoting it.
With the ever-expanding appetite for video, satellite and Telcos providing OTT services are finding it difficult to predict just how much bandwidth may be required to deliver content. There is a solution.
