1_Cover.indd 1 www.csimagazine.com June 2016 8K TV:why here, whynow? • OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • TV Br oadcast •Streaming •SatelliteCab The leading mediafor videodeliverytechnology The magazinefor global le •Hybrid The latest news, views andfeatures September 2019 22/08/2019 12:20:26

Low 5G in broadcast Next-gen Blockchain, streaming Smallsats and more CONFERENCE | 13-17 SEPTEMBER 2019 EXHIBITION | 13-17 SEPTEMBER 2019 RAI AMSTERDAM

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The magazine for global video 24 DTG column www.csimagazine.com

TV Broadcast • Streaming • Satellite • Cable • Hybrid The leading media for video delivery technology September 2019 Ensuring a better future TV experience Blockchain, Blockchain, Smallsats and more

Next-gen codecs Next-gen 26 Blockchain in broadcast 5G in broadcast 5G in broadcast The latest progress and use cases streaming Low latency latency Low Editor

8K TV: why here, why ? 32 Smallsats Goran Nastic

June 2016 • OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The latest news, views and features

1_Cover.indd 1 22/08/2019 12:20:26 Can the promise outweigh the challenges? Commercial 06 Analyst corner: Disney+ Camilla Capece One of the biggest experiments in the 38 5G in media: part 1 history of the entertainment industry What will 5G mean for mobile video? Design and production Matt Mills (Manager) 08 COVER STORY: 8K TV 42 5G in media: part 2 Jessica Harrington Who needs 8K (apart from TV makers)? Examining the potential of 5G in outside broadcast and (remote) production Regular contributors Adrian Pennington, Philip Hunter, 14 Opinion: ATSC 3.0 David Adams, Stephen Cousins, 48 Q&A: Yahoo Sports ATSC president Madeleine Noland provides Anna Tobin How it works with the NFL to reach insight into the new standard younger viewers and football fans Circulation Joel Whitefoot 15 Low latency streaming with 52 IBC 2019 preview Synamedia Accounts A look at what’s new at this year’s show Overcoming the challenges of achieving low Marilou Tait, Mohamad Saidani latency end-to-end 53 Next-gen compression with Editorial tel +44(0)20 7562 2401 21 Technology corner: CMAF LL V-Nova Navigating the new landscape [email protected] Fraunhofer FOKUS details a concrete implementation of DASH low latency Advertising streaming with CMAF 59 Stats corner tel +44(0)20 7562 2438 Euro and US pay-TV data with informitv [email protected]

Subscriptions tel +44 (0) 20 1635 588 861 Editor’s report: [email protected] Circulation manager: joel.whitefoot@ Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden recently played down talk about 6G, arguing the perspectivepublishing.com focus should be on moving 5G forward, given that the technology is only just out of the blocks. Ekudden’s argument comes to mind in the early discussions Subscription rates around 8K TV. While 4K is not as new or immature as 5G, it still has a long way Per year: Europe £88; UK £68; Rest of World £98. Cheques payable to to go in terms of commercial implementations - with many channels globally yet Perspective Publishing to make the switch to HD, let alone 4K. Some view 8K as a distraction as 4K finally makes Limited and addressed to the progress and gathers steam, while others view it as natural evolution and an inevitability. How Circulation Department do you see it? Speaking of 5G, in this issue we examine the implications of 5G for the media & entertainment sector, starting with the mobile video experience of consumers, including Printed by Buxton Press mobile broadcast, before zooming in on the production environment. Goran Nastic Managing Director John Woods

Perspective Publishing Publishing Director 3 London Wall Buildings London Mark Evans 2019 EC2M 5PD www.perspectivepublishing.com ISSN 1467-5935

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news in brief Media giants gearing up for streaming Telus Home Assistant supremacy - which one will win? for TV voice control Canada’s Telus is the latest 2019 has been labelled a builds up the content In Canada, Disney+ will be operator to launch a Home “hallmark year” for the catalogue, and then could priced at C$8.99 per month, Assistant and voice streaming industry, the charge $9.99 per month. This or $89.99 per year. Dutch control. In this case, it biggest shift in the US video would make it more expensive residents will pay EUR6.99 gives Optik TV customers market since ’s push than Disney+ (at $6.99 in the per month, or €69.99 per with hands-free control into streaming in 2007. This US) but more on a par with year. Australia is set at using voice commands for is as heavyweight players like Netflix and Amazon Prime A$8.99 per month, or $89.99 their entertainment. As Disney, Apple, AT&T and (Netflix’s lowest tier is 8.99). per year, and New Zealand’s voice assistant WarnerMedia among others According to Bloomberg, price is NZ$9.99 per month. technologies become more enter an increasingly crowded Apple is weighing different There is much speculation commonplace in Canada, field with new streaming release strategies for shows. about what Disney’s removals the company saw it as a services and direct-to- Apple’s budget for original of titles in particular from natural fit to integrate consumer (D2C) launches. content has also grown from Netflix will have on the control over the largest Coinciding with further the original $1 billion to over SVOD trailblazer. screen in the house for a international rollout and $6 billion as more shows have Allan McLennan of Padem better user experience. price details of the Disney+ moved through production. Media has described Disney+ Optik TV customers with a launch on November 12, Disney’s new direct-to- as a “game changer” Assistant-enabled Apple is now expected to consumer streaming service Guy Bisson, the lead speaker or Smart Display debut its own streaming will launch on November analyst at Ampere Analysis, can pair the new Telus service also by that date. 12 in the US, Canada and labels Disney+ as one of the Home Assistant to allow Bloomberg reports that the Netherlands. “biggest experiments in the voice commands to change Apple+ will go live by They will be followed by history of entertainment” and the channel, launch Netflix November, initially offering Australia and New Zealand a you can read his in-depth and other apps, search for a free trial to start, as it week later on November 19. thoughts on page 6. their favourite shows, pause or turn off their digital box. It also allows Viacom makes inroads into in-vehicle customers to manage accounts with voice. entertainment The Viacom International Access is acquiring ViacomCBS sets sights Media Network is making its the rights to make on DTC streaming TV content available to car linear feeds of these A long running saga has passengers, one of the first channels available in come to an end as CBS content providers to make German-language for and Viacom have decided this move into the connected integration into in-car that they will, after all, car space. infotainment systems merge after 13 years apart. Viacom’s popular TV being developed by CBS will acquire Viacom channel brands such as German car to form ViacomCBS. MTV, Comedy Central and manufacturers. The Current Viacom CEO Bob Nickelodeon will be channels available via Bakish will lead the accessible to vehicle Twine4Car service will be a generation of mobile network combined entity, with the passengers in German- simulcast of the linear TV technology ushering in a new deal expected to close by language via the Twine4Car networks that VIMN makes era of connected vehicles and the end of the year ago. solution from Access available free-to-air in immersive entertainment The plan calls for an Europe. This will make Germany, featuring the same experiences on-the-go,” said acceleration of a direct-to- Viacom’s content available content and advertising. Raffaele Annecchino, MD of consumer strategy, via the car head unit and “Viacom believes in-car VIMN Southern and Western supported by both both rear-seat entertainment units entertainment is an exciting Europe, Middle East and subscription and to more deeply engage new frontier for the video Africa. “This deal is the first ad-supported products. passengers of all ages. industries, with the next of its kind for Viacom.”

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SES looks to the clouds with ONAP news in brief DT tops 100Gbps over microwave link ABI Research expects the VR market to grow to $22bn thanks to enterprise adoption and new headsets, as well as make a deeper push into the M&E sector. A new report from ABI Research likens the VR market to a roller Satellite operator SES is powered by its fleet of MEO the globe, according to the coaster ride of ups and taking its business to the and GEO satellites. SES will companies. By deploying downs. Unlike the ill-fated cloud, together with Amdocs also be able to serve its open, cloud-based network 3D market, VR will and Microsoft Azure. broadcast, telecom, corporate automation and succeed, but widespread SES is creating an open, and government customers orchestration, the goal is to adoption will take longer standards-based network with applications and make satellite networks a than expected to evolve, automation and service technologies such as seamless extension of the the reports argues. orchestration platform, built SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, global communications “Contrary to some on Open Network high security, and Unified ecosystem. opinion, VR is not in the Automation Platform Threat Management, creating “Our vision is to make same situation as 3D TV, (ONAP). Using the Amdocs more value for its customers. satellite-based networks a which never really took NFV solution, SES said it will The satellite company is seamless and wholly off,” said Michael Inouye, modernise and automate its implementing ONAP with integrated part of a global, of ABI, which expects the network platforms in the Amdocs on Microsoft Azure, cloud-scale network VR market to hit an cloud. SES said this will making SES the first ecosystem. Central to this inflection point within the make it the first satellite customer to use Amdocs vision is an open, automated next two years, but remain network solutions provider to NFV for SD-WAN on operational environment outside the collective adopt ONAP, an open Microsoft Azure. Through that allows our customers mainstream audience for software platform designed this approach, SES will be to easily create and some time. for orchestrating the creation able to extend network deliver new, innovative and delivery of new services services and activate services anywhere,” said In-home WiFi devices in an automated operational virtualised network functions SES networks CEO pass 5bn mark environment. quickly and at scale, JP Hemingway. A new wave of WiFi smart For example, this will accelerating time-to-market Will other satellite home devices is about to enable SES to rapidly build and improving service agility operators follow suit in the drive adoption towards a network solutions that are for customers anywhere on company’s lead? total of 17 billion home devices in use worldwide by 2030, according to new IBC hosts MovieLabs 2030 Vision research from Strategy Motion Pictures Laboratories, discusses the need for the The results of this Analytics, which estimates together with member studios, industry to work together research on media tech that nearly 5bn home WiFi published a new white paper now on innovative new disruption will for the first devices are now in use presenting an industry vision software, hardware and time be publically discussed around the world. The for the future of media production workflows to at IBC, when MovieLabs leading home WiFi creation technology and next- support and enable new ways will be presenting a keynote standard today is WiFi 5 gen workflows by 2030. to create content over the panel, titled ‘Hollywood’s (802.11ac), accounting for The paper, jointly authored next ten years. Cloud services Vision for the Future of three quarters of 2019 by MovieLabs and technology and software-defined Production in 2030’, on device sales. WiFi 6 (ax), leadership teams from workflows are two key Sunday 15 September, will account for a third of Hollywood studios, looks at overarching trends identified bringing tech leaders from 5 device sales by 2023, future technology and into the next decade. big Hollywood studios. dominating thereafter.

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offer with ESPN for sports and The great Disney for general entertainment. The family strategy or streaming channel bouquet is something that experiment: Disney+ has not been tried in the streaming market to date, but for Disney, it means the $6.99 a month price and the studio point for Disney+ (widely analysed by market commentators for under- cutting Netflix), is actually just the direct revolution start of the customer value story and the revenue potential of Disney’s By Guy Bisson Disney has yet to embark on its wider direct move. promised huge marketing and awareness Of course, with an already crowded y the end of this campaign that will push the service pre- streaming market where the typical year, one of the launch, but (with Fox) the group US SVoD home already takes three biggest experiments already owns enough high profile SVoD services, the place of Disney+ in the history of the brands and content franchises to within the wider home entertainment entertainment have made an impression with its bundle will be crucial. Ampere’s industry will be streaming plans. regular consumer survey shows that underway. Disney+, A survey carried out in the US by Netflix is usually the foundation Bthe family pillar of Disney’s grand Ampere in June 2019 shows that stone of in-home streaming bundles ambition to go direct will have awareness of Disney+ is highest among and other services are layered on launched, and consumers will be 18-24 year olds (45% of this age group top, but rarely taken alone. Asking getting their first taste of the new say they have heard of Disney+) and specifically about how homes service and the content it has to homes with children, illustrating an would engage with Disney+ showed offer. That description may sound obvious but important point about that 65% of consumers interested melodramatic, but after 100 years Disney+ and the wider group strategy. in the service intended to take it in of history, the major studios will Disney+ is part of Disney’s direct plans, addition to other SVoD services. for the first time take their own not the be all and end all. Disney+ will Eighteen per cent said they would content direct to the end viewer. ’d be one of a family of streaming services replace one of their existing SVoD call that a seismic industry shift. that Disney will manage, augmenting its services with Disney+ and 17% said they would see Disney+ as a replacement for multiple SVoD services in the home. Disney+ and other studio services are likely to give a second wind to the US streaming market which has otherwise slowed in terms of the number of services homes are stacking. Content will be key to that boost and — with the addition of Fox franchises — is one of Disney+’s key strengths, even as it gradually unwinds its existing licensing relationships. Ampere’s Disney+

Source: ilikeyellow / Shutterstock.com ilikeyellow Source: attitude survey shows that

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63% of respondents are aware of at least one of Disney’s core content franchises with Pixar being the strongest in terms of awareness (44% of respondents know the brand). Star Wars (27%) and Marvel (25%) rank second and third. Interestingly, respondents mistakenly associate a number of key brands that have no relation to Disney or Fox with Disney+. Chief among these are rival Warner’s Harry Potter and DC Comic franchises and Universal’s Jurassic Park. The halo of the Disney brand it seems is engulfing its Hollywood neighbours, presenting both a benefit and a challenge. Disney will need to be clear in its content messaging as it DISNEY+ AWARENESS begins the service roll-out. Among legitimate Disney content franchises, interest is spread across age groups. The Marvel franchise has a twin peak for interest among 18-24 year olds and 35-44 year olds picking it as the content most valuable to them while Pixar content is most appealing to 25-34 year olds, the group also most interested in Disney animated films and Disney TV shows, doubtless driven by the likelihood of this age group to have younger children. The Star Wars franchise is an interesting one for Disney. Peak interest for Star Wars is among 35 to 44 year olds, a group just shy of being old enough to have seen STACKING DISNEY+ the original 1977 cinema release (now dubbed Episode 4). Star Wars will be key for Disney in extending the age appeal of Disney+, although its other streaming channel brands will also help broaden overall appeal of the wider direct play. Disney has set an ambitious target of 60m-90 million subscribers by 2024, with 20m-30m in the US. On current interest levels, that would be a fairly ambitious target, requiring all of the respondents to Ampere’s interest survey that said they were highly likely or likely to sign up for the service to actually follow through. But with Disney’s own marketing push yet to come, awareness and interest in the new service can MOST VALUABLE CONTENT only rise.

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resolution of 7680×4320 8K: Why here, why now? pixels, which is four times more than 4K and 16 times With the tools for 8K production and display that of full HD. For William Cooper, founder of in place, the hurdles of distribution and consultancy Informitv, 8K standardisation now lie between the world represents a natural evolution of video resolution. “HD is now and 8K media. Is it a distraction or just natural mainstream, 4K is already a reality and 8K is now a possibility,” he progression? Adrian Pennington reports says. “Although there may be diminishing returns with each ack in 2012 when the to emerge and move forward while an increase in resolution, if the objective is ITU-R enshrined earlier one is still being rolled out,” a representation of the highest fidelity, UHD in two phases, asserts Peter Siebert, DVB Head of then 8K or beyond may be 4K UHD was already Technology. “In this case, it’s relevant technologically inevitable.” seen as a stepping to note that 8K TV sets are not He points out that there are many stone to 8K. UHD-2 necessarily threats to 4K production dimensions to improving the fidelity of was considered so and delivery, as they could bring video reproduction. “Spatial resolution Bfar away that little other than improvements in image quality for lower is one, the precision of each is resolution was considered in resolution content through upscaling.” another, and temporal sampling is a the specification. “There will always be technology further dimension,” he says. While the industry is some way from Luddites,” says Ben Schwarz, speaking “Traditional technology is deploying even 4K, heads are turning as an independent expert, founder of compromised in all these dimensions, towards what’s next. For some this is an CTOi Consulting and communications with plenty of room for improvement.” unwelcome distraction from the chair of the Ultra HD Forum. “A devil’s The entire industry is now working to practicalities of 4K transition, with advocate would say that 4K is a deploy 4K with HDR and NGA (Next possible risk of consumer confusion, distraction from HD deployment.” Gen Audio), as a result of efforts that others view it as the natural progression have cumulated over the last five years. of an industry which has technological Increasing resolution vs The Ultra HD Forum, at pains to put advance written in its DNA. HDR and HFR 8K on the back burner, recommends “It’s not unusual for a new technology 8K ultra-high-definition video has a that the industry focuses on these added value services such as HDR with dynamic mapping, NGA and HFR for sports, noting that there are barely over a dozen active services across the world that implement HDR. “The industry has yet to explore the right combination of resolutions, taking into account HDR, HFR and NGA,” notes Thierry Fautier, VP of Video Strategy at Harmonic and president of the Ultra HD Forum. Rian Bester, who runs 4K channel Insight TV, agrees, “If you show a consumer 4K verses HD the difference is not that apparent but if you show them HDR versus non

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Goldman, SVP Technology, MediaKind. He believes 8K will only be available for occasional special events like the Olympics or World Cup over the next five years. “We all need to find a compromise between one part of our industry pushing 8K to sell more ‘better’ consumer TVs to increase profit versus another part of our industry pushing back to prevent undermining the wider marketplace for 4K content creation and consumption.” There is a certain inevitability in cost reduction from TV sets to distribution bandwidth. “We know 8K TV sets will be affordable at some point in time, and that’s when consumers will adopt them HDR or HFR vs non HFR - especially Will the tail wag the dog? This is at mass scale,” says Fautier. “Therefore, in fast moving content like sport - the perhaps the most voluble charge against the industry needs to make sure it can difference is very apparent and there is 8K promotion, especially since TV offer attractive services for broadcast, no doubt as to the benefit. Those two makers don’t always get it right (see live and on-demand streaming, as well aspects are far more valuable than going stereoscopic 3D for details). as immersive experiences.” from 4K to 8K for current screen sizes.” It is no coincidence that brands While no-one is suggesting 8K holds including Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung An embryonic workflow any benefit over mobile (and even and TCL are primary backers of the 8K Bester says Insight TV’s 8K experiments telcos like BT Sport argue for HD Association nor that Samsung, LG and are not necessarily in order to build up HDR as optimum for handsets) the Philips are partnering Japanese-owned claim that you need to sit closer to the Spanish streamer TV’s plans home screen to perceive the benefit to stream 8K content later this year, nor “8K TV sets are not needs re-examining. that Samsung and are sponsoring 8K productions by Insight TV for necessarily threats The screen conundrum marketing purposes. Screen sizes are getting bigger – by “Although models are already to 4K production and about an inch a year according to some available as low as $5,000 they need to reports. What’s more, what we think of be five times cheaper, and up-scalers delivery, as they as a TV set, could be on verge of a don’t yet make all 4K or HD content radical format overhaul with MicroLED shine at 8K,” notes Schwarz. could bring and rollable screens on the horizon. HDMI 2.1 is provisioned to support improvements in “In the not too distant future we will 8Kp120 and we are still in the have screens that are significantly bigger interoperability phase. image quality for than currently and they will be multi- The potential for consumer confusion application devices like our phones,” could be high if misleading messages lower resolution Bester suggests. “For that reason, I about near-term 8K content availability don’t think people should get too hung are made, which could result in 4K content through up on the science of traditional viewing market destabilisation. distance and screen size. This is “While it’s folly to think that the upscaling.” DVB completely changing.” industry can stymie the natural Cooper supports this. “The whole technological progression of display point of increasing resolution is that the technology, the industry does owe a a library, “but because we want to pixel structure of the image should be responsibility to correctly inform understand where we need to adapt the imperceptible. It is a psychovisual effect consumers of the availability of native workflow chain from production that results in an image that appears to 8K content and when it will reach a through to delivery.” be more realistic.” reasonable critical mass,” says Matthew While there is equipment from

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cameras to finishing systems and video biggest bottleneck is distribution. meaningfully more effective than HEVC switchers capable of a full production “Even if you look at a high resolution with the goal of decreasing bitrate by chain the workflow is embryonic. Data VR application, the problem is not half. But we will have to wait until 2020 volumes alone present a challenge displaying the picture it is getting the when the MPEG specification is and a cost. content to the consumer via download finalised and then 2022 to see it Nonetheless, the industry is steadily or streaming,” says Bester. implemented in the first devices. moving toward capturing video at The only broadcast network capable Harmonic’s take is that 8K will start higher resolutions to enable pan, scan of supporting 8K today is ARIB DTH with DTH, “but very quickly we will see and zooming. Production costs for HD (heavily subsidised by the Japanese IP delivery to connected TVs and and 4K can be reduced by capturing in government via state-run NHK). mobile devices,” though probably 8K using one camera and extracting the Neither ATSC nor DVB have made any limited to 4K. region of interest via AI. provision to support 8K as yet. The codec is an important element, For immersive experiences such as “In 2019, DTH is probably the only but high-speed broadband networks VR, it’s necessary to capture at 8K viable way to deliver 8K at scale [but] (fibre, DOCSIS 3.1, and 5G) “are the resolution and deliver the field satellite distribution hasn’t yet managed best fit to carry 8K content,” says of view to either an HD or 4K to ride the 4K wave successfully despite Fautier. For live applications at scale, display. The benefit of 8K here, active promotion by the likes of SES or multicast will likely be needed, with 5G according to Fautier, is that it provides Eutelsat,” says Schwarz. FeMBMS an attractive solution. “an exceptional QoE in contrast to “As far as compression is concerned, Globecast, which reports more than conventional VR approaches where the the numbers circulating throughout the 60% of its customers in Europe still to full frame is sent and the player industry for bandwidth requirements make the transition to HD, identifies up-samples the field of view, leading to vary. NHK’s commercial service uses OTT as the preferred method for a poor experience.” 100Mbps, but recent trials with HEVC content delivery in new formats. In the same manner, for personalised have shown live sports content at “That was true for 4K and will likely broadcast, content can be captured in 85Mbps and VOD at 65Mbps.” stay true for 8K,” says Globecast’s Juliet 8K for end-users to navigate the content VVC promises to half those Walker. “That’s because you don’t need (at lower resolution) on mobile devices. requirements in a few years. The to wait for an industry-approved new “8K offers a more personalised proposed standard winding its way interoperable tech standard for the experience with a high QoE compared through MPEG “is the silver bullet” signal transmission chain. Innovation to other approaches where the zoom identified by Bester required to drive comes fast on the internet and device/ leads to fuzzy picture,” says Fautier. things forward “because whether the display vendors are quick to adopt new This was demonstrated at the French content is 4K or 8K, it really addresses technologies to sell ‘boxes’.” Open with Harmonic encoding and the bottlenecks like CDN costs Tiledmedia packaging. and bandwidth.” Standards and business models Proofs of concept, by BBC R&D As with 4K, Walker thinks sports will among others, show VVC being lead the way in 8K, even while 4K “We want to understand where we need to adapt the workflow chain from production through to delivery.” Insight TV

The applications for ultra-high quality source material are not limited because of the production technology. The

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rollout remains sluggish. Expect to see Limited early activity the first wave of 8K content produced NHK NHK began broadcasting an 8K service in Japan in at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as well as December 2018, in preparation for the 2020 Olympic VoD in 8K streamed to connected TVs Games in Tokyo. The Japanese broadcaster began in the same time frame. research on an ultra high-definition video system That’s why, argues the 8K Association back in 1995. Video shot using a 8K Super Hi-Vision and the UHD Forum, that it’s camera with a frame frequency of 120Hz was shown important to agree on a standard for 8K for the first time in the world at IBC2014. that includes support for IP delivery (VoD and live) across all type of RAI Italian broadcaster RAI will begin broadcasts in networks, on all devices (TVs to both 4K and 8K, coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics ). Immersive applications in 2020. being different from broadcast ones, France Télévisions France Télévisions trialled 8K over 5G at Roland will also require guidelines. garros. It demonstrated over 100 hours of live 8K The DVB for its part has completed a coverage of the tennis in Paris. In partnership with report into media formats beyond Orange. UHD-1 4K. “These formats have the SES SES demonstrated an 8K ultra-high-definition potential to be commercially viable signal broadcast directly to a Samsung TV with an in the coming years,” says Siebert. integrated satellite receiver in Luxembourg. The 8K The report was submitted to DVB’s material, at 50 frames per second, was encoded in Steering Board in July as an input HEVC at a data rate of 70Mbps and carried on a sin- document for potential future gle 33 MHz transponder as a DVB-S2 transmission. specification work. The prevailing view, voiced by Rakuten TV Rakuten TV, a global VOD service provider, plans Antonio Corrado, MainStreaming CEO, to trial and launch 8K content in the second half of is that “broadcasters won’t be able to 2019, under a partnership with TV manufacturers. justify the cost for a small niche audience that will be able to experience streaming in 8K until its wider adoption through much of the 2020s.” by device makers and consumers.” “We need an In summary, there is a vast amount Thomas Wrede, VP, New Technology of work required to make 8K a & Standards, SES Video says the equation that reality. This is a multi-year effort, key ingredient is an effective business at least five to ten years depending model. “We need an equation that encourages on the application. Is too much encourages subscribers to pay for the focus placed on classical broadcast, quality of the content itself, and not just subscribers to pay while IP is a low hanging fruit? the screen they unboxed.” Could certain territories lagging now To lay the groundwork for 8K the for the quality of the but unencumbered by legacy industry needs an aligned end-to-end infrastructure in future, see 8K ecosystem. Even with two organisations content itself, and leapfrog 4K in the same way that (the UHD Alliance and Forum) cellular did over DSL? guiding 4K deployments, “it was not not just the screen “The next generation of video an easy process,” Fautier admits. they unboxed.” SES entertainment is based on several “However, member companies have pillars of which a higher resolution is learned to work together, even if they but one aspect,” says Schwarz. compete in the marketplace. The same broadcasters in particular, need not be “This is why we shouldn’t get too collaboration needs to exist for 8K, and panicked into near-term technology hung up on the science,” Bester agrees. the 8K Association is at the forefront to upgrades to support 8K production “Let’s imagine you have an entire wall drive those efforts.” and delivery, and few will be able in your living room at 16K, if you go “For most TV viewers 8K will remain to afford this in any case. 4K, HDR beyond that it will not make a off the radar for many years to come,” and HFR will remain the primary difference. I think 16K is the top limit says David Mercer of Strategy technology drivers of video where the drive for higher resolutions Analytics. “Content providers, and enhancement for most viewers will end.”

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lthough broadcasters and 8K becomes a reality media companies are preoccupied with the challenges — for some of making 4K and HDR work, the 8K By Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE Aformat will hit a major milestone in 2020 when NHK presents coverage For now, however, there is little 8K of the 2020 Summer Games in content available outside of Japan. Tokyo in high-frame-rate 8K. While NHK has Tokyo 2020 in its The Japanese broadcaster has been sights, few broadcasters or studios in preparing for this event for decades, other regions have commercial working on development and pressures or opportunities driving 8K implementation of an 8K production adoption forward. There are, for and satellite delivery system to support example, no expectations that there will 8K public broadcasts. In addition to be increased revenue in an ad-supported building out professional infrastructure, distribution system just because 8K is including camera systems to support being distributed. A new business HD or 4K content to 8K, redefining the 8K, NHK has helped drive development model may be in order. sharpness possible from existing sources of the 8K consumer TV sets that Terrestrial and satellite broadcasters in order to give viewers vastly improved audiences will need to view Tokyo 2020 in the US tend to favor an improved on-screen images and an extended field broadcasts in all their 8K glory. HD broadcast with higher and of view on larger TV sets. LG, Samsung, Sony, and TCL over 4K for broadcast. At the Considering all of these factors, it announced at CES 2019 that they’d be same time, most studios are creating appears that large-scale 8K content shipping 8K big-screen models to North content in 2K with little content being delivery is at least a decade away. When American retailers this year. Still, for produced in native 4K, let alone 8K, to that time comes, and 8K is more of a several reasons, the market will take keep production costs down. Although reality for content producers and some time to grow. For one, the some satellite broadcasters have broken audiences worldwide, SMPTE adoption of 4K (also known as into 4K broadcasting (eg, Korea’s Standards will be ready. UHDTV1) consumer displays is still KBS), the main medium for distribution SMPTE was the first organisation to ongoing. It may be time soon for CE of 4K is online. There are no signs that standardise UHDTV1 and UHDTV2 manufacturers to bring new premium online distributors will adopt 8K in the image formats, as well as immersive TV sets to the market. near future. audio formats. While SMPTE ST 2110 The higher resolution of 8K While 8K cameras are available, was mainly developed for current live (UHDTV2) images aims at increasing much 8K production equipment is still HD TV productions, the standards suite the field of view by raising the in a relatively early stage of also can support higher frame rates and resolution, and it therefore allows development. Production itself can be higher resolutions up to 16K. manufacturers to build larger TV sets expensive, and most content producers The buzz over 8K at CES 2019 was while preserving image quality. The face serious bandwidth constraints that considerable — and Kudos to NHK, intention is to provide a more would limit high-quality 8K distribution which realised an incredible immersive viewing experience without due to the use of increased technological milestone in TV history degrading resolution. The 8K format’s compression. New compression by enabling 8K end-to-end workflows. recommended minimum display size is technology under development could So, while 8K may not become 65 inches. At this size the boost in help to remedy some of these issues. mainstream any time soon, it is starting resolution doesn’t deliver a significant Although all major NLEs are already to gain real traction, and undoubtedly difference for the viewer, but as the capable of supporting editing of 8K has a bright future. display gets bigger, the higher resolution content, adoption of 8K TV sets may of 8K over 4K does have an impact. In come more quickly than the creation of the case of VR and other immersive 8K content for them. This is true simply Thomas Bause Mason is experiences, including gaming, 8K has a because of the high-quality, AI-powered Director of Standards lot to offer and can support the high- upconversion mechanisms in 8K TV Development, SMPTE quality implementation of such. sets, which will be able to upconvert

12 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

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cases have been envisioned ATSC 3.0 – “Best of the Best” and implemented already. Of course, content security is paramount for for broadcasting’s future any IP network. ATSC ATSC’s Madeleine Noland explains some of the thinking members again turned to existing Internet behind the key components of the new ATSC 3.0 standard technologies for a solution. achieve true excellence the ATSC 3.0 In this case Common Encryption system would have to be non-backward- (CENC) was chosen. CENC is used by compatible with the current ATSC many OTT streaming apps, and so 1.0 system, giving the freedom to many receive devices already design a system with all the newest understand CENC. The challenge was technical developments. to devise a CENC system that works on At the physical layer level, the flexible unconnected devices as well as nature of the “bootstrap” functionality connected devices. ATSC members and offers unparalleled extensibility for the implementers (including new ATSC standard, a unique advantage of ATSC member Google) have solved this use elevision viewing is 3.0. As we have learned over and over case and are now implementing it in the now much more than again, technology just doesn’t stand Phoenix Model Market and elsewhere. something that needs still. The myriad combinations of ATSC members also selected Internet just a TV antenna or modulation, coding and features of the technologies for the interactivity system, cable line. Over the ATSC 3.0 physical layer offer which is based on technologies that are past two decades, significant improvement over standards supported by the major web browsers viewers have enjoyed a decade old (or even older) and running on laptops, desktops, tablets, Ta plethora of new viewing options, features such as Layered Division smartphones and smart TVs. This from satellites to streaming and Multiplexing bring unheard of convergence can simplify receiver new services that take advantages opportunities for mobility and hybrid development and also allow of better connections that can services with tangible spectrum broadcasters to tap into the rich deliver more choice and control. efficiency advantages. ecosystem of web developers, including The original ATSC Standard was set ATSC 3.0 is well aligned with other the skilled men and women they already in 1995, before the availability of DVD communications technologies that are employ in the digital departments of players (not to mention Blu-Ray). already in use today, and this reduces local TV stations. The iPod wouldn’t even be a reality the complexity of implementation. Today, we see the successful for another six years. And the DVB-T Certainly, better audio and video, deployment of ATSC 3.0 in South standard dates from about the more accessibility features, advanced Korea with millions of receivers sold. same time period. DVB-T2 was a emergency messaging, and a high At this year’s NAB Show, broadcasters huge improvement, but that 10-year-old capacity, robust, flexible physical layer announced plans to deploy ATSC 3.0 in technology dates from the era are all key elements. In addition to 61 US TV markets over the next year - a of iPhone3. those advancements, one of the key move that will reach more than 70 Meanwhile, Moore’s Law has been decisions for ATSC 3.0 was that ATSC percent of the US population. Those chugging away each year reducing chip members wanted the new system to introductions coincide with the cost by half (or doubling capacity), align with Internet-based technologies. expected introductions at retail of the mobile broadband penetration has We envisioned a future of digital first US ATSC 3.0 TV receivers. exploded and Internet Protocol (IP) has terrestrial TV broadcasting as an It’s an exciting time for Next Gen TV taken over as the de facto language of integral part of a global ecosystem that as broadcasters enter the global 21st the communications world. has embraced IP transport, web browser century data-driven world. The broadcast industry’s response to technologies, and app-based services. this rapid pace of technological change ATSC 3.0 IP transport offers several is the new ATSC 3.0 standard, now advantages, but perhaps most Madeleine Noland is President literally the best in the world. interesting is that it integrates well with of the Advanced Television Early in its conception, ATSC other IP networks, such as the Internet Systems Committee members determined that in order to and cellular networks. A number of use

14 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

14_ATSC.indd 1 19/08/2019 16:11:24 Sponsored by: www.csimagazine.com

Special focus

Low latency streaming

16-19_Synamedia-V2.indd 1 29/08/2019 12:53:37 Low latency

coming for some time, with NAB 2017 The quest for low standing out as a moment when vendors first came out in numbers with their low latency streaming options. The latency gathers pace big technology driver to cut down latency at the time was using CMAF packaging (Content Media Application Goran Nastic reports on the latest Format) and HTTP chunked transfer encoding. CMAF creates content that development efforts to get to broadcast- can be viewed in both HLS and level latency with streaming video MPEG-DASH, allowing a single packager output. Things have moved forward since lorian Diederichsen, but I’d rather have the latency to play then. Despite having a single media the CTO of DAZN, is around with.” container for both HLS and DASH, one one of many This proclamation is particularly of the main features introduced with technology executives welcome coming from the CTO of a CMAF is support for low latency working in the major online sports video provider streaming. This is because CMAF in streaming space who because the rise of OTT sports is by far itself does not actually reduce latency, is excited about the the main reason why so many but was created to bring together the Fonset of low latency streaming. companies are pouring R&D efforts in HLS and MPEG-DASH formats in Speaking about low latency CMAF this space. For live sports, latency is a order to simplify online video delivery. (CMAF LL), Diederichsen said at big problem, with the often cited cases So chunked CMAF can be seen as a ’s London summit of people hearing neighbours cheering a low latency extension to the standard earlier this year, “It is something I really goal next door before it has happened and CMAF-LL is a Flash-free, non- can’t wait for”. on their own screen. proprietary, standardised technology. He explained that DAZN has got lag With many high-value live TV events Also on the standards side, Apple down to 25 seconds on some devices, now being watched online, the during its recent WWDC19 (Worldwide but that CMAF LL will help get it additional delays introduced by an IP Developers Conference) event down to cable TV levels, which is where delivery system can have a significant announced low latency HLS, and it’s he wants to be. “It’s possible to stream impact on the viewing experience, clear that different initiatives are fast, but hard to stream fast at good particularly for live sports. underway to go for a standardised quality. We will probably be able to get Thanks to the continued migration approach, or to have standardised safely down to seconds, but for product towards online video delivery and technology that can help to get the reasons we won’t necessarily do that… consumption, innovation here has been latency down to something which is equivalent to broadcast. “It takes years to establish a winner. We are moving into a phase where multiple approaches will coexist. Just look back at what has happened in streaming, it took a while for HLS and DASH to gain dominance. The same will happen here,” says Julien Signes of Synamedia The goal everyone is working towards is for a real-time streaming workflow to match the latency of live broadcast, which is about 5-7 seconds from (stadium) camera to TV. Typically today viewers on standard OTT DASH or HLS will see the video some 45 seconds to a minute behind the broadcast feed. Once streaming latency is cut down

16 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

16-19_Synamedia-V2.indd 2 HEVC patent ownership distribution 29/08/2019 12:53:52 Source: CPA Global Low latency

to size, it is expected to open new opportunities for not just live sports streaming, but also e-gaming, online gambling, VR and other interactive applications. It can then also be used by OTT players, and really all others broadcasters and service providers that offer video streaming, helping them attract and retain customers.

Moving only as fast as the slowest part of the chain At NAB 2019, low latency demos were everywhere and one technology supplier told us it had a number of trials “I have a low delay encoder”. OK, that’s Forward Error Correction (FEC); ongoing of a real commercial one piece of the equipment, but you player settings; and protocol used. deployment of ultra-low latency CMAF. also have the CDN and the player. The And then, the higher the format, the However, things are never that simple entire e2e chain has to support minimal longer the latency simply because of the in real life. As Fraunhofer explains in its delay otherwise you won’t reap the amount of data involved with buffering, technical article that follows this benefits,” Signes points out. meaning that the gradual emergence of section, some open issues in the context There are signs that more concerted 4K/HDR UHD services will have to be of low latency OTT streaming with developments are starting to take shape. factored in. CMAF still remain. For example, ad This is why Apple’s support for low Synamedia claims it is uniquely insertion becomes very challenging as latency streaming with HLS (ALHLS) positioned in that has all the solutions the ad splice points are usually signalled is significant. Instead of using HTTP needed - from the encoding, to the 4-6 seconds in advance. 1.1 chunked transfer encoding which is CDN right through to the player - but And that’s just one small part of widely supported on existing CDNs, also that it is at the same time capable the whole piece. ‘A buffalo herd can Apples implementation requires of optimising all the key elements in the only move as fast as the slowest HTTP/2 Server Push and additional workflow. This, ultimately, allows the buffalo’ comes to mind here and logic on the CDN and media origins. company to minimise the delay, down acts as a good analogy for solving It’s not only about having one low to a range of 5-7 seconds (see next page the problem of latency from a latency encoder, a low latency packager for more details). holistic perspective. and a low latency origin and a low “People have to understand this is not To get to the levels talked about by latency CDN, but also the way in that an easy solution and they might have to vendors, and aspired to by service all the different components are change various components, it’s a providers, requires an end-to-end (e2e) integrated together. massive e2e upgrade and investment, delivery system that can enable that - Moreover, optimising each of these it’s not simply changing the pro le and that’s the real challenge. for latency requires trade-offs in cost, bitrates or adding a logo somewhere,” As Synamedia argues in the next quality and reach, so operators face a notes Signes. article, ‘zero’ latency is not so easy to balancing act, as DAZN’s Diederichsen “Because it is so complex and do in practice, precisely for this reason. alluded to. involves the whole chain, to my “The pitfall people fall into is they say OTT delivery results in more inherent knowledge there is not yet an e2e latency. The video stream traverses commercial deployment. But it will hundreds of nodes and an extensive happen,” Signes promised, with 2020 number of systems from the production expected to be the year for these first down to end user devices, and each of early deployments to be rolled out. those systems introduces a small delay. Once this happens, internet viewers Because e2e latency is a composite of will be able to finally cheer that many elements in and outside of match winning goal at the same time network congestion, multiple factors as their neighbour on good old and combinations can increase/decrease broadcast TV. latency, such as encoding/decoding; Synamedia can be found on stand edge server ping, load and CPU; 14.C41 at IBC 2019

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 17

16-19_Synamedia-V2.indd 3 29/08/2019 12:54:13 Low latency

who have latency of a minute that they can have 15 seconds they would be Achieving low latency happy with that 4x improvement. I would say ideally you would like to synchronise both - and that’s exactly streaming end-to-end what we are showing at IBC. It is the same as when we launched HD: no CSI spoke with Synamedia’s Elke one was asking for 4K, but then people saw it looked better and then HDR Hungenaert and Julien Signes about what it came along. takes to reach low latency across the chain It’s a question of delta to me. e rst goal is to reduce it; the ultimate goal is and how Synamedia can help to match it. Elke Hungenaert: I think there is also a shi occurring. Historically, if not want to have access to sports all you look at traditional broadcast, low the time but they may want to access latency was a requirement for live sport a particular event and OTT can events. Also, in regions where there provide a good solution in those cases. was a lot of competition, for example Taking video content into an online in Latin America between DTH and environment brings a lot of pluses in other operators, even shaving o a few terms of metadata and interactivity, but hundred milliseconds was good enough the negative side is you may well have because they wanted to deliver live a delay of up to a minute compared to sports earlier than their competition cable or satellite distribution. did. In North American cable, on Julien Signes, Senior Vice Julien Signes, Senior Vice Manager, and General President Business Ideally, you want to synchronise the other hand, there was very little your OTT delivery pipeline with live competition and so it was never a big to traditional delivery. For live sports focus for them. especially, this has become a must- I think with the OTT players coming have requirement. in and the competitive landscape But it is not so easy to do in practice. changing, then the ability to deliver One of the reasons is because it’s an your live sports earlier than an OTT end-to-end (e2e) chain. e pitfall provider becomes a major plus. So people fall into is they say “I have a low even if it wasn’t that much of an issue delay encoder”. OK, that’s one piece of before in some regions, it has become the equipment, but you also have the (more) important now. Today it’s a CDN and the player. e entire e2e competitive dierentiator. chain has to support minimal delay otherwise you won’t reap the benets.

Elke Hungenaert, VP Product Hungenaert, VP Product Elke Management Who do you think technically has I think that’s where we as Synamedia the upper hand in implementing are uniquely positioned because we this e2e chain? Are OTT providers have an end-to-end solution, from the worse off due to their lack of encoding, to the CDN right through to control in terms of QoS/QoE? the player, that enables us to minimise SI: What’s driving EH: I would say those who control the the delay. this industry push to pipe end-to-end can master it best. get streaming Because there is processing involved in latency as low as How low do we need to go? I have every piece of the chain. For example, possible? heard from several service there may be an extra delay introduced Julien Signes: It’s a providers that zero is a nice goal, when getting it onto the CDN node. hot topic for several but not necessarily the target. If you are not in control of the CDN, Creasons. It’s a true market requirement. JS: I think you can take it in steps. Right then you are not in control of the e2e Why? Because for live sports OTT it now, it’s a minute versus 5-10 seconds, network and are dependent on these is becoming important. People may which is a big gap. If you tell operators third parties.

18 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

16-19_Synamedia-V2.indd 4 29/08/2019 12:54:28 Low latency

I don’t think the latency control is JS: We are one of the only companies how we get to 5-7 second delays, down specifically related to the software that to have it all - the encoder piece, from 30-60 seconds, depending on the processing of the ABR chain because the CDN distribution piece, as well as segments you are reaching. our product portfolio in broadcast is access to the player through our Innite now following the same technologies platform. If you look at others in the Given the variables involved, there. It’s really about what you do to get market, none of them has has all the what’s the challenge, or the trade every processing step as optimised as 3 pieces together, which puts us in a off, in trying to achieve such low possible: looking at how clients actually strong position with operators. We have latency across the chain when process whatever they fetch as input, showed this in our demonstrations by making these optimisations? and; whether it is DASH or HLS – this touching every part of this ecosystem EH: e big thing is the in-house has a major impact on the overall e2e with those 3 major components. network conditions. e big contributor latency that customers experience. is is very important because until in traditional broadcast is the encoder. there is an e2e standardised solution We can encode with a delay of just a Where is the industry as a whole and a way to do this in an interoperable second, but then the quality will not be currently in its quest for low fashion, the best way to do this initially what the service provider expects and latency and the e2e goal? is to have one e2e solution integration the viewing experience will be poor. EH: I would say we are very close to and that’s exactly what we have done. ere’s denitely a trade o to be made. getting initial deployments. It’s a given EH: We optimise every piece in that JS: In the encoding space, people that customers select vendors that chain. For example, because this is usually talk about bandwidth and can deliver on the promise. End-to- HTTP IP delivery where we talk ABR quality but delay is a third pillar. If you end testing is ongoing, but because we support HTTP 1.1 so we support can increase delay you can increase it a ects the whole e2e ecosystem it chunk transfer encoding. Let’s say we quality at a given bit rate, there are 3 typically takes time because in the end have a packager or origin (server) in interdependent variables. If you want if you o er your content on a plethora the chain, then as soon as a chunk is to push the encoding to deliver a lower of devices you need to do this testing available, as opposed to waiting for the delay, lower than say the 2-3 seconds of across the board. ere’s quite an whole segment to become available, it traditional broadcast-quality encoders, extensive test requirement. will start downloading so it will already then you will start to chip away quality You could say everything that goes start processing, for example if the of the video at the same bitrate. at’s up to the house is pretty much under DRM needs to happen. We support one element. control, but then the big unknown is this type of technology on each and Even though each step of the way in the home, with the WiFi conditions, every piece of our CDN, origin and everything can be optimised, we are still how do you tackle scenarios on a packager products. in a best-e ort type of network; we are bad network day? How do you tackle We have implemented low latency talking OTT, and we are dependent on too many devices needing to share CMAF in our own product line and we the quality of that underlying network. streaming bandwidth at the same also support chunk encoding on our time? How do clients react if instead of virtual DCM products in combination What can we expect from fetching 3 segments which the Apple with CMAF DASH delivery. And Synamedia and the market spec recommends today, they just fetch we also work with optimised clients, next year when it comes to low chunks and the network conditions depending on other metrics, for latency streaming? change? How does that example network conditions and so on. JS: You need to encourage people to a ect the behaviour of the client and If you look at that optimised chain do trials because technologies are how do clients need to adjust to that and you are o ering a traditional ABR starting to mature. People have to user experience? delivery, then latency can actually go understand this is not an easy solution Getting robustness into the ecosystem down to 5-7 seconds across the whole and they might have to change various is what is preventing those full or large e2e chain. We optimise the encoding components, it’s a massive e2e upgrade scale deployments today. at’s why we delay, we make sure the packager, and investment, it’s not simply changing are still in a proof-of-concept stage. encryption, origin, CDN and even the the prole bitrates or adding a logo multicast ABR just take one chunk in, somewhere. But user demand is getting Can you give us more details into then the player will either download strong enough that for providers to Synamedia’s solutions, support a chunk, or perhaps even 2-5 chunks embrace it. services etc in this area and how depending on the network conditions, In summary, we certainly hope to you are helping operators reduce but ensuring all the time that there is no be undertaking some deployments streaming latency? bu ering or stalling on the video. at’s e2e in 2020. That is our goal.

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 19

16-19_Synamedia-V2.indd 5 29/08/2019 12:54:51 Infinite Entertainment Stand out in the Age of Infinite Entertainment

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Untitled-4 1 28/08/2019 16:19:56 Tech corner: CMAF LL

“mdat” box. With CMAF chunks the Low latency live segment now has multiple of such boxes allowing the client to access the media data before the segment is completely streaming with CMAF finished. The benefits of the chunked mode become more obvious when By Fraunhofer’s Daniel Silhavy, Stefan Pham looking at a concrete example as detailed in Figure 2 (on the next page). Let us assume we have 8 second segments and we are currently 3 seconds into segment number four. For classic media segments this leaves us with two options: • Option 1: Since segment four is not completed we start with segment three. That way we end up 11 seconds behind the live edge, 8 seconds coming from segment three and 3 seconds coming from segment four. • Option 2: We wait for segment four to be finished and immediately start downloading and playing it. We end up with 8 seconds latency and a waiting time of 5 seconds. Now with CMAF chunks on the Figure 1: Viewers on standard OTT DASH or HLS see goals later than traditional channels other hand we are able to play segment four before it is completely available. In TTP Live Streaming introduce latencies of up to 30 seconds. the example above we have CMAF (HLS) and Dynamic As shown in Figure 1 this is a chunks with a duration of 1 second Adaptive Streaming significant problem when it comes to leading to eight chunks per segment. over HTTP (MPEG- live streaming of sports content. Let’s assume only the first chunk DASH) are the two Viewers watching the game via satellite contains an IDR frame and therefore main formats for or terrestrial distribution channels will we always need to start the playback adaptive media see the deciding scenes like goals much from the beginning of a segment. Being Hstreaming. HLS and DASH offer earlier than viewers consuming the three seconds into segment four leaves support for a new media file content via standard OTT DASH us with 3 seconds latency. That’s much format called Common Media or HLS. better than what we achieved with Application Format (CMAF). Besides classic sports streaming, low classic segments. We could also Despite having a single media latency delivery is also relevant for increase the playback rate for the first container for both HLS and DASH, streamer-chat interaction on eSports chunks and play even closer to the live one of the main features streaming platforms like as well edge. However, it is important to keep introduced with CMAF is support as for synchronised playback of in mind that low latency streaming has for low latency streaming. broadcast and broadband content a negative influence on our media in HbbTV. buffer. Getting closer to the live edge Common latencies of the different will result in smaller media buffers and distribution channels CMAF chunks for low latency less robust playback with regards to Compared to other distribution OTT streaming network fluctuations. channels like broadcast or managed CMAF introduces the concept of IPTV (multicast), classic OTT live “chunks”. A chunk can be considered CMAF low latency with dash.js streaming introduces very high as a small segment inside the classic 2-6 The open source player dash.js was one latencies. While a satellite feed is second ISOBMFF segments. On a high of the first players to implement usually 4-5 seconds behind real-time, level classic ISOBMFF segments support for CMAF low latency standard HLS and DASH streams consist of one “moof” box and one streaming. Let us take a closer look at

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 21

21-23_CMAF.indd 3 29/08/2019 14:35:26 Tech corner: CMAF LL

segments are available compared to their computed availability start time (AST) By setting @availabilityTimeComplete to “false” we tell the client that the segments are available prior to being complete. Using the @availabilityTimeOffset (ATO) we can specify how much earlier they are available. In our example the segments have a duration of 8 seconds and the ATO is set to 7 seconds. This means that we have a chunk duration of 1 second and the first segment is available 7 seconds before its usual completion time.

Calculating and updating the Figure 2: Benefits of chunked mode in one example segment availability. In dash.js a lot of different processes are running in parallel. One of these processes is responsible for constantly updating the availability window of the media segments. The player uses this information to determine which segment to load at which time. The basic flow of the update process is depicted in Figure 3 (on the left). The PlaybackController triggers an event every 50ms telling the RepresentationController to update its internal segment availability range. The RepresentationController uses the TimelineConverter to get the current segment range values and updates its internal range attribute:

voRepresentation. segmentAvailabilityRange = range;

The TimelineConverter is also the class which uses the new Figure 3: Basic flow of the update process @availabilityTimeOffset from the MPD. Without going into too much detail the how CMAF low latency works Specifies if all Segments of all offset subtracted from the current wall within dash.js. associated Representation are complete clock time becomes smaller with a Signal low latency in the manifest. at the adjusted availability start time. If larger @availabilityTimeOffset: First of all we need a way to signal the the value is set to false, then it may be client that our segments are chunked inferred by the client that the segment const endOffset = segmentDuration - and available prior to being complete. is available at its announced location availabilityTimeOffset; In a low latency DASH manifest we can prior being complete. identify two new attributes: • @availabilityTimeOffset (ATO): Requesting the right segments. Now that • @availabilityTimeComplete: Provides the time how much earlier we know how the player updates the

22 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

21-23_CMAF.indd 4 29/08/2019 14:39:07 Tech corner: CMAF LL

Figure 4: dash.js: Generating the segment requests

internal segment range state we back to the ScheduleController which transferred in small byte portions. In can take a closer look at how the executes the fragment request using addition, DRM license acquisition can segments requests are generated in the FragmentModel. add further latency as a lot of clients Figure 4 (above). playing at the live edge will request a For means of simplicity the flow Outlook and conclusion license at the same time. illustrated above only shows the This pretty much concludes our dive During WWDC19 Apple announced communication up to the point into CMAF, low latency streaming support for low latency streaming where we actually use the segment and the corresponding implementation with HLS (ALHLS). Instead of availability range described in the in dash.js. Some final remarks: In using HTTP 1.1 chunked transfer section before. The ScheduleController order to use the low latency feature, encoding which is widely supported periodically checks for new the browser running dash.js needs on existing CDNs, Apples fragments to download every 100ms. to support the Fetch API and HTTP implementation requires HTTP/2 It issues a request to the 1.1 chunked transfer encoding. Server Push and additional logic on NextFragmentRequestRule which calls The combination of both allows the CDN and media origins. the DashAdapter for a fragment request. us to access the mediadata prior The DashAdaptercontacts the to the media segment being DashHandler which calls an internal completely available. update function leading to a getSegment Some open issues in the context request on the TemplateSegmentsGetter. of low latency OTT streaming with Depending on the type of the manifest CMAF still remain. Ad insertion the getSegment request can also be becomes very challenging as the issued on a SegmentTimeline specific ad splice points are usually signalled Getter class. Finally the 4-6 seconds in advance. If the client TemplateSegmentsGetter uses the is playing at a live edge of 3 seconds, segmentAvailabilityRange we the ad insertion components have About the authors: calculated previously: less time to request and insert the Daniel Silhavy (left), Project Manager, ads. Moreover, accurate bandwidth Future Applications and Media, const availabilityWindow = prediction is an issue as the segments Fraunhofer FOKUS representation. are delivered as chunks. The segmentAvailabilityRange; connection to the CDN remains Stefan Pham (right), Senior Project At this point the program flow leads us open and the complete segment is Manager, Fraunhofer FOKUS

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 23

21-23_CMAF.indd 5 29/08/2019 14:35:49 Industry column

merging technologies have always played a Ensuring a better future vital role in the advance of the television sector but TV experience perhaps at no other time has the pace, By Richard Lindsay-Davies, CEO, DTG Ecomplexity and scale of change been so transformational. standardisation of We are now preparing for the OTT and TV into a convergence of the physical and digital smooth viewer driven by 5G and the rise of IoT. experience. The future Internet video has radicalised the of television for viewing experience from a selection of Europe is also a scheduled programs to effectively an major focus of infinite selection of content available the ITU. anytime on any device, anywhere. The DTG supports Consumers are installing various apps these developments on their devices and personalising their and argues that if we are to begin to UK homes by 2020, the cybersecurity viewing experience, anytime, anywhere, map the future vision for TV across all risks for citizens has never been higher. on any device. Such new viewing habits devices for the benefit of all What’s more, it is smart devices such as are driving the growth of on-demand stakeholders we need an ordered TVs and home speakers which are and time-shifted video as well as framework. This can be divided into among the most vulnerable to attack, multiscreen TV and ushering in a three broad areas of technical activity: according to the DCMS. Every new era where unicast and two- The first is Quality of Interoperability. connection that we make creates a way interactive video dominates Does something work and does it do potential digital doorway and so traditional broadcast. what it should? In order to ensure cybersecurity is becoming a According to Intel, immersive interoperability across systems and correspondingly ubiquitous issue. The applications which don’t even exist devices, there should be a constant DTG endorses the DCMS’ Code of today could generate $67 billion a year conversation with manufacturers to Practice which shifts the onus for by 2028 – equivalent to the value of the balance the business requirements of secure internet-connected devices and entire global media market in 2017. both service providers who receive apps from consumers to manufacturers, It will be a significant challenge to ongoing revenues and CE designers and suppliers. achieve this future in an effective, manufacturers who do not. To ease the Innovation in CE devices, in timely, and cost-efficient manner using complexities in interoperability is there partnership with service providers, will traditional video delivery platforms. An a standard set of measurement metrics shape the future television experience. entirely new approach is needed, one the industry can use to test, diagnose Understanding emerging developments that enables reuse of infrastructure, is and solve faults? in hardware and software, together with based on open interfaces, and uses the Quality of Experience not only a view on how these might be cloud to deliver scalable, virtualised, emphasises the merit of basic operation implemented by the TV device sector federated services. but the value of attributes that will are critical if the viewer experience is to As the system multiplies in provide, for example, the best HDR, the be protected, and industry and complexity there’s a greater need to richest colour range, the optimum government are to derive the maximum ensure standards are in place to picture and sound. How easy is it for economic and social value of the unique guarantee that the viewer remains the viewers to control these parameters? opportunity that lies ahead. top priority. As television continues its What are the minimum true end-to-end To download the DTG IP Manifesto go transformation into an era of universal requirements to deliver a consistent and to www.dtg.org.uk/dtg-ipmanifesto/ IP delivery, the resilience and quality of reliable viewer experience? All of these experience of broadcast television must combine to push the industry to deliver be maintained. the very best for the consumer. Richard Lindsay-Davies is CEO, Initiatives such as the DVB Project’s The third key area is Quality of Digital TV Group DVB-I, which builds on the work of Security. With analysts estimating more HbbTV, are intended to advance the than 420 million connected devices in

24 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

24_DTG.indd 1 29/08/2019 13:55:55 Sponsored Q&A CSI talks to Laurent Van Tornhout, VP Product & Marketing, Zappware, about delivering a frictionless user experience and the role Android TV can play

How can Android TV as a platform your favorite content appearing in your help address these? welcome screen and the ease to Android TV addresses the issue for the discover great content via voice search, consumer to have a full suite of up until a smooth e-billing integration entertainment services integrated in one for the full entertainment proposition. Laurent Van Tornhout Laurent Van platform. That is video and all kinds of As Zappware we try to bring entertainment services that are part of technology innovations together in a the store. Android TV as a meaningful way. Meaningful for the end- Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC Crimp, Michael platform has the potential of seamlessly user and for the service provider. In the integrating managed video content such above case we are operating our as linear TV channels, catch-up and Zappware back-office system off a very VOD, D2C providers, 3rd Party SVOD scalable Amazon AWS environment. What are the main industry providers such as Netflix as well as challenges and consumer pain unmanaged content from e.g. YouTube. What are the key considerations for points with video services? For Service Providers, Android TV operators deploying Android TV? Let’s start with the consumer. There is also brings a process that accelerates The key consideration is to cherish an abundance of great - and hence the time-to-market and hence the time- HDMI 1 and bring relevancy to the expensive - content available. The whole to-money. That process of pre- eyeballs. The viewer engagement is the point is how easy the end-users can certification brings predictability and first step, combining seamlessly all find, discover and consume that great speed to launch an abundance of content types including OTT in one content. The degree of eliminating attractive entertainment services. UX. Research has shown that a great friction in that experience is key. User eXperience is an enabler to In the industry, we had the telecom What does Zappware bring to the dominate HDMI 1. operators launching digital TV offerings Android TV ecosystem? Second step is making sure the tools with linear, catch-up and on-demand With Zappware we tried to leverage that are in place to optimise that eXperience offerings, followed by the success of a potential of Android TV. We ported our moving forward by applying all the handful of OTT SVOD providers on all NeXX 4.0 user experience on Android learnings you capture on the viewership kinds of platforms. TV and were among the first in Europe and related services together. All those We now are noticing new ways to to deploy the solution in a record-time learnings combined enable operators to reach the eyeballs with the aim to with WIND Hellas in Greece on a optimise the UX continuously and harvest a direct relationship with hybrid STB. provide triggers to discover great stuff end-users: Direct-To-Consumer or D2C. Our Telecom Operator customer was and push personalised up-sell triggers to The industry challenge is that we able to win market share quickly by the viewers. need to reduce the friction for the end- launching a great User eXperience. The The above considerations remain user to discover all the content and in UX defined as much more than only valid in any deployment. I see Android the mean time we have the numbers- the clean User Interface across devices. TV as an accelerator. Embrace it and game for the providers that have It is not only a nice design with all the leverage the openness the platform made investments in platforms plus best practices in terms of ergonomics, brings to serve your customers in a cost- content and that are trying to but it’s also about simplicity and efficient way. leverage the new gold: consumer openness. Simplicity across the whole data. Which is by definition a customer journey: self-install, easiness Zappware can be found on stand 1.A81 numbers-game. to activate your Netflix account, get at IBC 2019

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 25

Zappware.indd 2 19/08/2019 15:18:04 Blockchain

name blockchain. Before the block is Blockchain invades added any actions such as data reads would be performed on the state of the database prior to any of those pending broadcasting by stealth transactions being executed. This was the fundamental technology but as use cases have emerged, as well Philip Hunter looks at the potential use as experience from the field, it has had cases of blockchain technology and latest to be refined. The first such refinement came at the beginning with the obvious projects taking place in the broadcast space requirement for cryptocurrency operation of avoiding the “double nterest in blockchain among the European Union (EU) GDPR, spending” problem where the same broadcasters and video which has set a wider global agenda for token can be spent multiple times by service providers is protecting personal data. This data copying it. This has a similar effect to increasing, but confusion still handling capability also holds appeal in counterfeiting coins or banknotes of reigns over where and when content distribution, especially for artificially devaluing the coinage and it is worth deploying the content owners and smaller service thereby stoking inflation. technology and what the providers, which could gain from being The mythical Nakamoto was also first Ibenefits would be. This is hardly able to aggregate audience information to implement a blockchain system surprising at a time when the only securely from multiple sources. resistant to double spending attacks by widespread proven use case for incorporating the so-called Proof of blockchain is in cryptocurrency, Building blocks Work system that had been invented with the field still riven by hype Blockchain in essence is a secure well over a decade earlier in 1993, and unrealistic expectations such distributed database where all records which only allows transactions through as talk of it providing the guts of a are replicated among multiple end where the service requester can new Internet. points rather than residing at a central demonstrate that some work, usually Nevertheless, the blockchain features location. This gives it greater security computer processing, has been done. that enabled cryptocurrencies and against attack since many records would This can also be used to combat other especially blockchain to take off also need corrupting, but also presents breaches such as denial of service hold great potential for other use cases various scaling problems. attacks and spam, by identifying their that call for secure distributed tamper- The original blockchain design is unauthorised origins on the basis of resistant transactions that are faithfully attributed to a group of individuals, work done, or lack of it. recorded and avoid need for a central some of whose identity is unknown, However, no security measure is authority. All that is essential for under the fictitious name of Satoshi infallible and proof of work systems in bitcoin and looking increasingly Nakamoto. The first problem solved blockchain rely on the distributed attractive for media distribution in a was to specify a distributed database or nature of the system in order to reduce fragmented content world where ledger where all replicated copies of a the chance of any malicious component consumers face the prospect of having record were consistent and yet would passing the test by able to perform work to take out multiple subscriptions to not be bogged down excessively during across enough components to fool the access all the programming they want. the update process. When a user defences. This is the basis of the “51% There has also been interest on the initiates a transaction, the request is attack” where a group of malicious advertising side where the appeal lies broadcast to all nodes via a peer to peer players, referred to as “miners” take again in blockchain’s ability to bypass (P2P) mechanism, so that both the control of more than half the systems any middle layer in transactions, as well action itself and the user can be vetted compute machinery so that they as to facilitate secure transmission of and authenticated using established can demonstrate they have done data between consumers, service algorithms. If the transaction is enough work. providers and advertisers. Blockchain accepted, it is combined with all other In fact, an attacker can then take promises to underpin this data relevant pending transactions that might control of the ledger and the whole transmission in such a way as to give overlap in their access to or writing of system’s security unravels because it is each party control over their domain, data to create a new block. That block dependent on strength of numbers. while conforming with increasingly is then added to the chain and becomes Although bitcoin itself has been stringent privacy regulations, notably immutable at that stage – hence the immune from such 51% attacks,

26 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

26-28_Blockchain.indd 2 29/08/2019 10:34:56 Blockchain

Ethereum Classic, the 18th-largest how well the various consensus they will be very subtle.” He notes that cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, approaches work in the real world. I already private distributed ledgers had has succumbed, so it is a real concern. think lots more work needs to be done been quite widely deployed almost That prompts Greg Burns, Senior to understand the issues related to beneath the radar and that the Business Development Manage at collusion to understand the limits of technology would continue to infiltrate and an advocate of blockchain current practices.” broadcasting infrastructures gradually. in broadcasting generally, to question By forks, Burns is referring to the fact A similar line is taken by another whether the technology was yet that in a large distributed system such blockchain enthusiast for video, demonstrably secure enough to be as bitcoin it is hard to ensure absolute CableLabs’ Distinguished Security trusted for critical applications. uniformity in use of the technology Technologist, Steve Goeringer, who is Although larger systems such as bitcoin which can result in inconsistent results. also concerned over the impact of itself are more robust because their Updates are necessary to combat bugs scaling on compute resources. users are more fragmented, even they and sometimes this leads to a “One of the major drawbacks of are potentially vulnerable to collusion permanent fork, such as the break blockchain, particularly when deployed attacks where multiple players pool between Ethereum into Ethereum with proof-of-work mechanisms, is the their resources to get closer to that Classic to overcome an earlier bug and huge compute resources needed to 51% mark. yet which led to the successful 51% solve the crypto-puzzles which will Combating such attacks proactively attack on the latter. That raised allow a new block to be added,” says before they occur, in most cases, has questions early in 2019 over the safety Goeringer. “The environmental impact been a challenge for cryptocurrencies. of smaller cryptocurrencies and of such heavy compute usage is “Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have gone indirectly is likely to hold up the not yet understood but could well through multiple evolutions and the advance of blockchain into be catastrophic.” changes they involved to the code base broadcasting, according to Burns. As Goeringer points out, the proof-of- and network operation were not always Ultimately though Burns is convinced stake mechanism has evolved to unanimously supported,” says Burns. that distributed ledger technology will circumvent this scaling problem, but “The result has sometimes been forks of have a profound impact on broadcasting this in turn raises new issues. Proof of the chain, which did not usually serve and that the current security and work is computationally intensive users well. When you’re relying on a scaling issues will come to be seen as because it entails solving complex blockchain for something critical to teething troubles, albeit lasting longer cryptographic puzzles to verify pending your business, you must have absolute than proponents expected or hoped. transactions and create new blocks faith that whoever is running it will “I think adoption of blockchain for accordingly for addition to the chain. evolve in ways that are in your best broadcasting may be slow, but when it Proof of stake (PoS) aims to achieve interest. Collusion attacks are does occur, the impact may be the same goals by instead validating interesting and raise questions about significant and profound. I also think transactions and users on the basis of randomly selected properties they have, such as age or wealth. But this in turn can lead towards centralisation and hierarchy, with decisions based on account balances favouring wealthier participants, so instead alternative or additional measures have been devised, such as imposing fines for unauthorised transactions, perhaps scaling these to the wealth of participants in the spirit of progressive taxation. But this is all work in progress, leading Goeringer to conclude that “the use of PoS in public blockchains is uncertain.”

Early momentum for - backed Blockgraph Such considerations have not inhibited the one major deployment so far of

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 27

26-28_Blockchain.indd 3 29/08/2019 10:35:08 Blockchain

Blockgraph will depend for its success on scale to provide a sufficiently rich “I think adoption of repository of data and that in turn hinges on Comcast making this the only blockchain for show in town. This point is touched on by another Blockgraph partner, broadcasting may be Pubitalia, the advertising division of Italian pay TV operator Mediaset, slow, but when it which is owned jointly by France’s Vivendi and Italian investment does occur, the firm Fininvest. “Since Blockgraph is a peer-to-peer impact may be network, the greater the adoption by the TV industry, the greater the significant and potential depth and scale of its data purchase pay-per-view sport or subscribe insights,” agrees the company’s GM for to box sets.” profound.” Adtech and Business Development, Blockchain could also feature for Paola Colombo. video distribution in peer to peer Such convergence around Blockgraph mechanisms for local distribution blockchain by a broadcaster or operator, would, however, raise the paradox that around the network edge, exploiting Comcast’s Blockgraph unveiled in 2018, while being based on decentralised consumers’ own resources as caches for sharing data among service blockchain technology it would by its with scope for efficiency and core providers, agencies and brands for very nature be centralised in its network bandwidth savings. addressable advertising. Rather as with management with protocols and choice “One particularly interesting use case some of its earlier great initiatives such of encryption technology under the for blockchain is for ultra-local, peer-to- as RDK, Comcast is trying to be a control of Comcast and its partners. peer content distribution,” says godfather for pay TV with its averred Goeringer, who explains: “A selection of aim of making Blockgraph into the A role for Blockchain in content the most-viewed content for an SVoD “identity layer” for the whole TV distribution? service could be stored on an industry. Accordingly, it has sought The early momentum gained by individual subscriber’s PC or laptop and partners and found some, such as Blockgraph has prompted some maybe, one day, , and be Viacom and Spectrum Reach, the analysts, such as Rethink Technology served up on-demand to another advertising sales arm of Charter Research, to consider that advertising subscriber very close by through a WiFi Communications’ Spectrum TV brand rather than, say, content marketplaces or broadband connection. Blockchain (formerly Time Warner Cable). featuring micropayments will be first to could be used as the secure database Meanwhile the technology has been take up blockchain seriously. However, behind such a service, authenticating trialled at Comcast’s own subsidiary Burns suggests that blockchain-based users, finding locally-stored content and NBCUniversal ahead of incorporation systems might have greater appeal in even compensating subscribers when into its addressable platform sometime developing markets, where prospective their storage is used. Such an this year, scheduled to be followed by subscribers lack access to regular application would be analogous to deployment at Viacom. banking systems. Napster peer-to-peer music file Comcast appears determined to build “In markets where credit is not sharing but this time on a legal, momentum around Blockgraph, having available to all potential viewers, new trackable basis.” in May 2019 named ex-Google and creative ways to entitle consumers As Goeringer notes though, this use executive Utpal Kalita as VP, to content is of major interest,” says case is only theoretical at present and engineering and chief technology officer Burns. “Coins or tokens, earned by has not as far as we know been for Blockgraph, reporting to the users who do things such as promote considered seriously by providers of division’s general manager Jason platforms on social media, partake in P2P CDNs. It does highlight the point Manningham, who has been keen to gaming or refer friends to join, can be that with very few exceptions such as emphasise the importance of consumer issued and managed securely through Comcast’s Blockgraph, these are very privacy to win trust and therefore blockchain technology. The virtual early days for blockchain in gain access to valuable data for currency, specific to the OTT platform, broadcasting, even though evidence of addressable advertising. can then be used to rent movies, the great potential is accumulating.

28 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

26-28_Blockchain.indd 4 29/08/2019 10:35:20 Advertorial Q&A ...with Agama Mikael Dahlgren, CEO of Agama Technologies, talks through video trends, OTT QoE and using AI to improve the user experience

hybrid approaches. This also connects This will provide far superior results to orchestration; managing resources when compared to fragmented and and infrastructure in a flexible and siloed analytics systems based on automated way is an important tool for limited metrics. simultaneously increasing productivity With a solution such as Agama’s in and quality. place, service providers have the We see strong interest from service foundations for providing excellent Mikael Dahlgren, CEO, Mikael Technologies Agama providers in analysing and assuring services in a cost-effective way. the service quality and the customer experience as these changes are What role can Artificial Intelligence Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC Crimp, Michael made. Doing so is a key factor in /machine learning play in cost effectiveness, efficiency and improving the network and overall customer satisfaction. end-user experience? These changes in consumption, AI technology is used in many different infrastructure, monetisation and areas, for instance in content discovery, What are the key trends you orchestration will have a major impact in operational support and problem see taking place in the video on the industry, blurring the lines discovery and in video analysis to space today? between telco, cable and broadcaster. extract metadata. When it comes to creating a complete Any solution must embrace the Agama uses AI and machine learning customer experience, companion OTT challenge of supporting service to provide self-learning anomaly services are becoming more and more providers in these changing times. detection for example. This has several important. And with the wide variety of benefits. Firstly, triggers for an alert can customer devices in use, along with With the move towards online be made context aware. If the number online and offline video consumption, video, there is much work around of active subscribers suddenly drops, for a fragmented environment has to achieving broadcast-quality QoS/ example, it matters greatly if it is Friday be supported. QoE for OTT services. What are early evening or four in the morning on Investments are being made into new some of the main considerations to Tuesday. Secondly, by getting just infrastructure designed to create high- keep in mind for service providers? anomalous situations flagged, the speed offerings in the most cost- To succeed, we believe that solutions number of false positives is reduced, effective way. The remote PHY and processes need to work across making the NOC more efficient and architecture, for example, has been traditional silos and teams and provide quicker at resolving actual incidents. embraced by the cable industry to real-time insights across the complete The winners in the streaming market support higher bandwidth per service-delivery chain, from head-end will be the ones who have access to the subscriber, and telcos are continuing to to subscriber. right type of high-quality data and the invest in network capacity and 5G, to a To assure service quality and to really ability to draw the right conclusions large extent driven by video use. understand how the customer is from it. Here AI and automated Targeted advertising is becoming experiencing and using a service, the analytics will be key to delivering the increasingly important as an additional best approach is a unified end-to-end best customer experience as efficiently revenue stream, not only for monitoring, analytics and visualisation as possible. broadcasters, but also for telcos and solution. This must cover the entire cable operators in cooperation with service delivery in real time with Visit the Agama team at IBC, stand content owners. in-depth KPIs and metrics; from 5.B72, to see a demo and to discuss joint There is a strong drive towards encoding and packaging, through CDNs projects. For more information, virtualisation and cloud, including and the ISP, to STBs, apps and devices. also visit www.agama.tv

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 29

29_Agama-V2.indd 2 19/08/2019 14:11:38 Advertorial feature

currently being deployed by NSPs, Android TV drives consumers can add layers of value- added security by overlaying facial recognition and motion detection rapid adoption of open functionality onto the information that is being captured and processed by these cameras,” he says. and AI-enabled set top Moreover, these services can be extended to be accessed and managed seamlessly by other devices -- including box technology in the smartphones, tablets and computers -- to optimise each consumer’s experience. “The possibilities are growing because connected home the community of talented and innovative professionals is growing. New intelligent services create new value Android has become a common platform across mediums. As a result, propositions for subscribers and new we now have access to a large base of software developers, designers and revenue generation opportunities for systems integrators. It’s becoming network service providers increasingly plausible to bring a rich array of intelligent algorithms quickly to fter decades of the TV-user interface. AI represents an market,” says Jentz. digging proprietary opportunity for NSPs to create new moats around business opportunities. Ovum analysts Keeping sensitive usage data in customer premises believe that AI enabled services will the home equipment (CPE) to become the new battleground for large The power and intelligence of these lock out competing tech companies -- such as Amazon and CPE technologies creates opportunities content offerings Google - as the fight for connected to strengthen the performance of edge Aand control the consumer home customers rages on. computing operations as well, points experience, the pendulum has out Sylvain Philippe, Product Manager swung in an entirely new direction. Adding value through intelligent at Technicolor. While many applications It seems increasingly clear today integration will have to access resources in the that long term success and “The move to more open and more cloud, a lot of the data generated by profitability for network service intelligent CPE has broad ramifications these new value-added services can stay providers (NSPs) will hinge on for NSPs and their customers,” says in the home. This addresses important creating more open, more Brian Jentz, Senior Director of Product privacy and security concerns held by intelligent and more integrated Management at Technicolor. many consumers. platforms that allow a growing “Once you have these powerful STB “At Technicolor we are working with variety of value-added services to engines sitting in your home, it becomes NSPs to limit the amount of data that be mixed and matched according to a natural integration platform for needs to go to the cloud by storing and subscribers’ desires. applications and services that are processing the data in the connected The result: a new generation of set- outside the delivery of standard linear home’s CPE. This means that sensitive top box (STB) technologies is entering video content,” he explains. information -- such as voice and facial the market that features widely used This is particularly true as Internet-of- recognition data -- is not pushed to the and accepted platforms -- such as Things (IoT) devices permeate the cloud. This is a very positive Android TV -- which also leverages the home to provide a wide range of both consequence of having more power latest generation of System on Chip specific and integrated services. and intelligence in the home,” (SoC) technologies to run sophisticated “Take internet-based security cameras explains Philippe. artificial intelligence and machine in the home as an example. They can be As a result, Technicolor is adding learning (AI/ML) applications. used to monitor what is going on within more compute power on smaller form According to analysts from Ovum, AI and around your home. But with high- factors to help NSPs deliver on this is already in the process of transforming powered intelligent STB engines promise to subscribers.

30 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

30-31_Technicolor-V2.indd 2 29/08/2019 10:22:03 Advertorial feature

NSPs to additionally extend the smart home capabilities of Android STBs,” says Donath Technicolor is working with multipe partners to develop intelligent, innovative, and intuitive solutions that create new value propositions for NSPs to offer their subscribers, says Jentz. “All of our current STB products – including our Sapphire, Jade and Ruby offerings -- have embraced AI/ML and open platforms like Android TV to deliver a new generation of value-added “We’re increasing the performance of appreciated -- and ultimately expected -- services. We are working with partners central processing units (CPUs) and by connected home users. – like 3SS – to manage the immense graphical processing units (GPUs) by complexity that comes with all the over 50 percent in the generation of CE vs CPE battle for hearts and choices and functionality that become STB products that we are bringing to minds of users available as a result of today’s more market this year. And yet, we are fitting The question is, who is going to own open and intelligent environment.” this substantially increased power into a this intelligent interactive space? form factor that’s 30 percent smaller,” Today there are two main categories Open and intelligent CPE Jentz says. of contenders. In one corner are the deployments on the rise The increase in power is contributing consumer electronics manufacturers “Technicolor has worked closely with to major improvements in how who develop and sell smart speakers NSPs to understand how the quality of consumers are able to manage their through retail channels (including experience can be enhanced for connected home experience using more e-commerce) that connect through consumers in today’s connected home intuitive and sophisticated voice home Wi-Fi networks to access cloud environment. Our commitment to assistant technologies. resources and services. creating STBs and gateways that serve “The use of interactive voice In the other corner are the cable and as platforms for an increasing array of technologies to improve the user telco service providers who are bringing applications is a direct result of those interface [UI] and user experience increasingly intelligent and interactive interactions. This is why Technicolor [UX] in the connected home is going CPEs into their subscribers’ home. has been fortunate enough to be through an extremely exciting period With Android TV, the opportunity for selected by over 33 NSPs in the of innovation,” says Pierre Donath, NSPs to do well in this competition is Android TV space -- making us the Chief Product Officer for 3 Screen extremely compelling. Operators are in leading technology partner to operators Solutions (3SS). a position to pick up market share in this segment of the market,” “When we talk about voice as a UI, it among consumers who are suspicious of concludes Jentz. is critical to discuss it from a holistic “always on” smart speakers that are perspective. In the future, we believe constantly listening. Sylvain Philippe, Product voice interfaces must be integrated “We believe that Google Assistant on Manager at Technicolor seamlessly into the navigation process. Android TV will be extremely successful It will be particularly useful for because the Assistant can be triggered initiating more complex actions or via the remote or far-field voice devices. queries - including conversational Choosing how to trigger Assistant is interactions if the system needs more ideal for people who are concerned Brian Jentz, Senior information to refine its results- which about microphones that are always Director of Product are cumbersome when using a mouse, on,” adds Donath. Management at your hands or the remote,” says Donath. NSPs that have chosen to deploy Technicolor Making this possible means Android TV operator tier can truly harnessing the power of AI/ML. These build their own, fully brand-tailored Pierre Donath, Chief kinds of applications will go a long way product. Furthermore, cross-device Product Officer for 3 toward streamlining processes and search and custom actions using Google Screen Solutions (3SS) creating conveniences that will be Assistant can be enabled, allowing

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 31

30-31_Technicolor-V2.indd 3 29/08/2019 10:22:18 Smallsats

like OneWeb, the Smallsats set for big growth Space X company Starlink, and Sky Satellite operators are moving to exploit the smallsat and Space Global have all launched market with many test spacecraft already in orbit. test satellites. But can the promise of faster broadband speeds Others will be launched courtesy and greater coverage outweigh the challenges of of LeoSat, O3b and Amazon. However, launch bottlenecks, investments in infrastructure and certain technical and economic destructive space debris? Stephen Cousins reports obstacles must be overcome before widespread rollouts become practical. Managing the complexity of spacecraft constellations will require new expertise, increased launch activity has highlighted concerns about bottlenecks, and the prospect of satellite mega constellations increases the danger of collisions and orbital debris. But perhaps the

Image courtesy of Orbex Image courtesy biggest challenge is market acceptance n an ever-evolving technology (smallsats) and experts are predicting and understanding of these landscape where electronic cosmic results. technologies. Sandeep Kumar, Head of devices constantly shrink in Designed to hover in non- Satellite Sales at told CSI: size and cost but expand in geostationary Low Earth Orbit (LEO) “Integration with the wider capabilities and processing of around 2,000km or less, significantly communication eco-system has a power, communication lower than the 36,000km for GEOs, long way to go, which means educating satellites have lagged behind these miniature craft have the potential carriers and telcos, along with Ithe rest of the pack. to deliver low-latency, high-speed wireline and wireless, to adopt these These huge spacecraft, the size of a broadband coverage almost anywhere new technologies.” double decker bus, are colossally and at a significantly reduced cost. expensive to build and launch and have Although limited in size and Small miracles suffered from latency issues and limited therefore functional capability, they Smallsat is a catchall term for satellites data transmission speeds because they are much cheaper to build than in a range of different sizes and weights, circle high above the earth in a regular satellites, making it possible including nano (CubeSats), micro and Geostationary Orbit (GEO). to launch large constellations with pico. Definitions vary by the largest can But now major players like Amazon, shorter lifespans that can be simply weight up to 500kg and the smallest SpaceX, and Sky and Space Global are and cheaply replaced. down to 1kg. By mid-2015, many putting their weight and wallets behind Smallsats present a major opportunity launch options had become available constellations of small satellites for satellite operators, and companies for smallsats, mostly focuses on

32 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

32-34_Nanosats.indd 2 29/08/2019 14:18:06 Smallsats

markets. The Alan Crisp, Senior Analyst at satellite transition is market research firm Northern Sky creating data Research (NSR) told CSI: “IoT is capacity expected to benefit from smallsat challenges, constellations, not as a result of stagnating increased bandwidth, but lower revenues and bandwidth (and lower cost) from pricing pressure, constellations such as Astrocast, Hiber, hence the need Fleet Space, Myriota and many others. to develop new Such constellations offer services that capabilities. deal with data packets in the kilobyte “With capacity range, however in many cases they will needs higher have higher latency compared with than ever, there existing satellite operators. This will is an insatiable allow price points of a couple of dollars space research, military and Earth appetite for bandwidth and for video to per month to a couple of dollars per observation purposes. be delivered at acceptable quality using year, depending on data requirements.” The jury may be out on the long-term data networks, with many satellite The size of the smallsat will often viability of smallsats for commercial operators shifting from pure DTH play limit the functions it is able to perform communications, but that hasn’t to a hybrid video/data play,” says and therefore the business case. Regular stopped a hive of global activity from Telstra’s Kumar. GEO satellites will provide a point-to- taking place. Geo-stationary satellites have multipoint advantage in terms of video, The space industry is expected to see always played an important role in where a single beam can broadcast to over 3,600 LEO satellites launch over connecting remote locations, but with millions of dishes. the next ten years, of which 800 will be high latency and complex and expensive communication satellites, according to ground equipment. In contrast, Tipping point a new report by Euroconsult. Smallsats constellations of non-geostationary Innovations in satellite systems and under 10kg, such as 3U cubesats, will smallsats could deliver unimpeded software, manufacturing and launch account for 28% of the smallsats high-speed broadband. technology have come together in launched in the next decade, but only The spacecraft can boost to WiFi and the last couple of years to create the 2% of the total market value. The total 4G backhaul and, crucially, support right conditions for smallsat market value of these satellites is emerging technologies such as 5G, the communications deployments. anticipated to hit $22 billion Internet of Things (IoT), connected Building small reduces the CAPEX (manufacture and launch) between cars and so on. cost of satellites as well as the cost of 2016 to 2025. storage space on rocket launchers. This rate of growth is unprecedented Outlay is cut further by using new for the space sector, says the report, “The jury may be out reusable launch rockets, such as those and will bring about fundamental manufactured by Space X, and changes as new and established industry on the long-term operational costs are reduced because players scale up activities to grab smallsats are powered by either electric market share. viability of Smallsats propulsion, compressed gas, or The FCC approved many vaporisable liquids such as butane or constellations to provide non- for commercial carbon dioxide. geostationary satellite orbit by the “The economies of scale associated FCC in 2018 and in June this year communications, but with deploying constellations adds the Commission released new another layer to this. Smallsats have draft regulations intended to that hasn’t stopped also lowered the barriers of entry to the streamline licensing. a hive of global market, which is creating new business Satellite operators are particularly models - that are easing the keen to investigate the data capabilities activity from procurement, launch and licensing of smallsats to support the shift in process. This is driving demand business models from video to OTT taking place.” further,” said Shagun Sachdeva of NSR. platforms, especially in developed Recent attention has focused on the

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picked up by an antenna then switches to another antenna as it continues to move.

Avoiding collisions Orbital debris makes up over 90% of the tracked objects orbiting the Earth today. With hundreds of satellites operated by numerous different companies in orbit, the chance of a collision rises significantly, and debris created by an impact could wipe out other satellites or even an entire LEO ecosystem.

Source: NSR Source: Regulatory pressure has increased in this area and now all proposed LEO operators must demonstrate smallsat internet-connection very different experience if they are orbital debris management and constellations proposed by SpaceX and dealing with a company whose entire mitigation techniques prior to launch in OneWeb. SpaceX launched the first business is designed, end to end, to their ITU and FCC filings. However, prototype of its LEO broadband deliver smallsat launches. The analogy the details of these management network at the end of 2018 and we use is if you’re rushing to get to the schemes are unspecified and not OneWeb now has six operational airport to catch a plane, do you wait for yet standardised. satellites in LEO. Looking ahead, the bus and hope for the best or are you Martin Coleman, Executive Director Amazon plans to build a global, low- going to get a cab?” of the Satcoms Innovation Group, told latency, high-speed broadband network Orbex is currently working with CSI: “The risk of collision is very real. of 3,236 smallsats and LeoSat has partner Highlands and Islands This, coupled wih the lack of an revealed plans to launch a constellation Enterprise to create Space Hub adequate space traffic tracking and of up to 108 communications satellites, Sutherland, the first vertical launch site management regime, is a huge concern interconnected through laser links, to in the UK. that desperately needs to be addressed. create a high-speed data backbone. Apart from the threat of a launch In addition, we need to ensure that all Launching large smallsats capacity crunch, large constellations satellites have an end of life strategy, constellations requires heavier rockets need to be mass produced, potentially so they don’t simply compound with bigger payload capabilities. But resulting in long lead items for the debris problem once the companies are also developing smaller critical components. Infrastructure mission ends.” dedicated rockets that could be used for in the ground segment, for both The Japanese company Astroscale replenishments or constellations of mega or smaller constellations, will is working to tackle the debris micro- or pico-sats. Customers are require significant upgrades, the nature problem by building a prototype already launching on RocketLab’s of which is not yet entirely clear. rescue craft that would be launched Electron rocket and Orbex plans to Andrew Bond, Sales and Marketing at short notice to grab any debut its Prime launch vehicle, Director at ETL Systems, which malfunctioning satellite. Computer designed to take one or multiple supplier RF switching equipment for vision would enable it to lock onto satellites up to a total payload of the ground segment, told CSI: “While it the target satellite, it would then latch around 180kg, in 2021. may work to send up small low cost onto it magnetically and drag it into the A dedicated service could become satellites, that approach may not work atmosphere where it would burn up. an attractive alternative for smallsat for the ground segment where The dangers of space debris, or other owners unwilling to wait for larger investment needs to be made in terms technical or financial obstacles, might ‘rideshare’ launches, where the of redundancy and remote control. ultimately send the smallsat programme business model tends to focus on large Right now, we don’t know exactly what spinning towards the dark side of the satellite deployments. the ground segment will look like to moon. But for the time being a Chris Larmour, CEO of Orbex told support mega constellations and design groundswell of ambitious companies, CSI: “Smallsat owners often have no and investment still needs to be made.” investors and space boffins thinks they influence or control over rideshares, in According to Bond, smallsats require have the right stuff to execute a terms of destination and timing. It’s a faster switching because each LEO is successful landing.

34 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

32-34_Nanosats.indd 4 29/08/2019 14:18:34 Sponsored article

granular TV data OTT measurement – opportunity, is now being put to the task. Content providers challenge and the way forward looking to drive tune-in to new t is an understatement to say use. The availability of quick, granular, shows are using TV viewership data to that the video creation, deterministic viewing data allows match surrogate shows to identify distribution and advertising precise ROI measurement whose audiences and target their OTT buys. industries are undergoing results can be fed back into Post event they are matching OTT and extraordinary change. optimization strategies. linear promo viewers against real Each year brings a new set of viewers to measure the true OTT records – the investment in new The challenge contribution to the overall ROI of Icontent, the number of series, the new As OTT becomes a larger share of the their campaigns. entrants into the video industry. Major video advertising media mix, marketers content providers are consolidating and can take advantage of its benefits; The way forward rushing to launch new direct-to- however, OTT cannot be managed in a Understanding the relationship between consumer offerings. All of this to vacuum. It must be understood in the OTT and linear TV is just one of the provide consumers with the premium context of linear TV. When asked what measurement challenges. As OTT content they want on any device at issue prevents shifting more spend to scales, many of the measurement any time and often, under any OTT today, TV planners and buyers practices common in linear TV need to business model. consistently state a lack of be solved, such as defining audience While this era may be characterized understanding of what the new medium universes to understand reach and as the golden age of TV/video for the delivers. How much incremental developing trends for forecasting. consumer, the shifting of viewing from reach relative to linear TV is delivered? Further data collection methods and linear TV to Over-the-Top (OTT) and Which audiences should they optimally data availability across OTT properties the fragmenting of content distribution target on OTT and how does the will need to be normalized. OTT as an requires a fundamental rethinking of ROI compare? advertising medium has a wealth of marketing. In the foreseeable future, No measurement standards exist to potential, but confidence and standards OTT will make up 1/3 of time spent join the worlds of OTT and linear TV. in data and measurement will be with video. Marketers know they will Consequently, much of the OTT necessary to capture the appropriate need to shift their budgets to follow inventory today bought today follows media budgets. A thirdparty viewing trends. Over the next 5-7 years, traditional TV planning and buying. If measurement offering will not emerge the advertising spend on OTT is News nets are on the TV buy, they get to solve this. The industry will not forecast to equal that of linear TV. added to the OTT schedule – with the replicate traditional TV measurement. While this foundational shift in video expectation that they will deliver That is positive news since such an consumption presents opportunities for incremental reach. Even audience approach limits potential. The burden marketers, an equal set of major targeting focuses on age and gender rests on leading OTT participants to challenges must be addressed. today. These practices vastly sub- collectively come together and solve it. optimize the capabilities of OTT; the The opportunity good news is that this is temporary. TiVo will be at IBC in Hall 5.A31 in OTT video advertising answers the wish Amsterdam this September if you’d like to lists marketers have held for decades – Solving the challenge today discuss further how we can help develop an offering that can be targeted with Ironically, to improve OTT the next stage of comprehensive OTT audience data, alongside traditional measurement, we need to better measurement. contextual targeting. At scale, OTT understand linear TV. The traditional brings the benefits of linear TV panel-based, syndicated TV advertising combined with the data- measurement offerings do not have the driven capabilities of digital. The precision required for this challenge. distribution model of OTT brings However, a wealth of TV viewership Walt Horstman is SVP and GM, efficiency and waste reduction. OTT ad data from settop-boxes and smart TVs is Advanced Media and Advertising serving is flexible so that near-real time now collected, organized and readily at TiVo optimization strategies can be put to available to solve the problem. And this

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35_Tivo.indd 2 29/08/2019 10:09:36 Video Q&A Video CSI editor Goran Nastic spoke to Dr Neale Foster, CEO of ACCESS Europe, about convergence between the automotive industry and media industries

Do you think the content owners are aware of these in-vehicle opportunities? There is an education process. The industry is still working out what the use cases are. We have relationships with Chinese, American, LatAm and European companies in terms of content. We’re independent and we can display apps from Netflix and others so we can bring whatever the car company and whatever is required. The car is very different from the home. The car is a brand. If you look at Tell us who ACCESS are and how there is this time to do other things. Audi, Porsche and others they are the company has changed. It’s not just entertainment, it’s fundamental brands. In the future, a We have always been big in mobile, TV services, it’s managing my lifestyle but car-as-a-service will be even more and networking. With the mobile and the fun one is watching films and TV, interesting, where you use the mobile to home now well established parts of the that’s the exciting part. unlock a car for half an hour. These TV Everywhere experience, the next ride sharing services you want to inherit one is the car. How does ACCESS help enable that your media preferences and have your transition? profile follow you into the car. It’s a Why will cars be so important in We work with Irdeto on securing the new model as the world moves on. the multi-screen story? content in the car, as well as Faurecia, We supply in excess of 30m cars like one of the top suppliers in the How does your acquisition of Jaguars and Mercedes with our browser automotive industry, we announced that NetRange fit into this? technology, but that’s just the display at the Shanghai motor show. We’re not They created a compelling and leading part of it. Now the consumer comes a content producer but are a content app store, which we were missing. We into the car and expects to have Spotify, aggregator, we’re bringing together are taking their app store to deliver Netflix and other video services. Really, compelling content, some of it is short alongside live TV, VOD, audio and it’s consumer expectations that they kids cartoon type stuff if you just have location-based services. The apps, they should have seamless access and at the 15 minutes to get to school. Then we have thousands, were filling a hole we moment you go into most cars and have sports if you are sitting there had and it allows an app experience for you’re lucky if you have some audio of waiting and want to catch up on consumers in the car. But also TVs. interest. highlights. There’s lots of use cases with digital TVs are their other area of From our point of view, the studios what you can do in a car where you business, which we are now also taking and other content owners are starting to don’t want to watch a 2 hour film but into the car. see cars – especially new electric want to catch up news or sports. These vehicles with massive OLED screen make the car unique and there is At IBC, ACCESS will be showing demos displays, and Teslas have large screens nothing like that at the moment. We are of its Twine™ for Car product, as well as now – all these screens means there is providing an aggregated solution for the traditional STB and TV solutions, something you need to do on it. It all content and a tech platform to provide together with EKT on stand 1.D11 tends to the autonomous car where that content into the car.

36 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

36-37_AccessQ&A.indd 1 29/08/2019 12:44:14 Advertorial feature

operators need the ability to Piracy app monitoring – the monitor apps running on their STBs and stop the apps or add- ons associated with piracy or key for balancing consumer malicious acts. This requires a solution that leverages intelligent services which choice and operator control combine cutting edge IoT protocols with big data to detect and address app-based on open platforms piracy and other security risks on open platforms. Such a By Frank Poppelsdorf, Vice President, Product solution must follow the Android TV Management, Irdeto usage guidelines and be supported by Google, and will allow operators to in the future of pay TV, allowing conduct targeted, granular blocking of operators to build premium hybrid specific apps or add-ons used for piracy STBs quickly and at low cost, while or malicious activities. With no impact giving consumers both broadcast TV to consumers’ ability to access apps like and the OTT apps they crave. In Kodi and other plugins for legitimate addition, by giving consumers access to purposes, this will ensure that operators their favorite OTT apps in addition to can maintain the consumer experience the operator’s own services, the and make the move with confidence operator maintains control of HDMI-1. and secure their future. In the case of Android TV, with The bottom line is that Android TV is t’s no secret that video thousands of apps in the Play Store and an excellent option for operators who streaming services are more added daily, the operator has want to launch a hybrid STB quickly, becoming the mainstream options to offer new revenue-generating with low development and operational method of consumption services through partnerships as well as costs. With Android TV, operators can globally. Consumers love extending their business models beyond let Google develop the investment-heavy watching content anytime, media. However, with increased choice features, and get them for free, while anywhere, enabled by comes a greater threat from illegal they focus on content and potentially Ibroadband access on media content sources. Kodi is a prime UX differentiation through the Operator friendly personal devices like example. Kodi gives consumers Tier. Securing open platforms requires tablets and smartphones. legitimate choices but can also be careful planning, but it is well worth the There is also a myriad of attractive misused for piracy, allowing consumers work for the benefits that open OTT services on the market for to install piracy add-ons and bypass platforms like Android TV offer consumers to choose from. The realistic operators’ premium content operators both now and in the future as outlook therefore is that in ten years’ subscriptions on their STB. Therefore, the pay TV evolution continues. time, most content will be delivered many operators will not take the plunge through OTT, which means that now is unless they can monitor app usage and Irdeto will be showcasing Irdeto App the time for operators to review and control app-based piracy on open Watch, a service in the Irdeto Armor for adjust their STB strategies to future application platforms. After all, content Android TV solution at IBC in proof their businesses. redistribution piracy is the number one Amsterdam, September 13-17. Visit us at To make a cost-effective transition threat facing the pay TV industry. Hall 1 Stand D51. into this new connected world quickly, Google is focused on security and will operators must look to open platforms remove an app from the Play Store like Android TV that come with when it has sufficient evidence to judge premium features such as voice-based that it is designed for media piracy or search and app stores for free on a behaves maliciously to disrupt the Frank Poppelsdorf is Vice hybrid platform (broadcast and OTT). consumer experience, but this may take President, Product Management These open platforms with extensive time. Therefore, to secure against at Irdeto app stores will play an influential role malicious apps on open platforms,

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 37

37_Irdeto.indd 2 29/08/2019 14:43:25 5G video

first operator to do so as deployment Will 5G transform starts to ramp up (see chart, below). The challenge that mobile network operators (MNOs) face is monetising mobile video? their investments and network traffic, and the question is to what extent the 5G will open new opportunities for improved QoE that comes with 5G will enable new applications that help them immersive experiences and live streaming, achieve this. There are high hopes that but mobile-broadcast convergence will media & entertainment, in the form of mobile video, will provide this boon remain as challenging as ever. while at the same time benefiting from these developments, with 5G Goran Nastic reports accelerating content consumption. ith every IHS Markit forecasts that 5G “We feel that video will be a good mobile adoption will happen at a faster rate vehicle for helping with the generation than both 3G and 4G. The analyst firm monetisation,” says Simon Trudelle at there comes expects more than 1bn 5G mobile Nagra. “5G is going to make video a new wave subscribers by 2023, driven largely by distribution better, faster and more of hype and ApAc but also Europe and North attractive for consumers.” in this regard America. According to IHS, during Leaving consumer demand for these W5G is no different, just as there was 4G’s first year of launch, there were things aside for now, the hope here is with 4G a decade ago and 3G in the only three smartphones available to that 5G will enable a new set of mobile early 2000s. The buzz around 5G is consumers that supported the standard, video applications and experiences, magnified further given its grand while 5G boasts at least 20 smartphone including FoV, haptic experiences, VR, ambitions of transformative designs available for release to the AR, 360 degree and volumetric video. business models across industry, market this year. Motorola, Samsung, Expanded AR and VR experiences may smart cities, automotive and IoT. LG, Xiaomi, Oppo and are also enable a whole new channel for This vision of cellular goes far among those to have released content producers to reach consumers. beyond previous generations, commercial 5G handsets. It is worth bearing in mind that even which opened handheld devices On August 21, SK Telecom reached GSMA Intelligence highlighted that “for to email and internet. the 1 million 5G subscriber mark, the all its promise of new functionality, especially in VR and AR applications, 5G is currently primarily a speed upgrade.” Apart from the (theoretically at least) super fast download speeds and low latency, another advantage of 5G is network slicing (some call it splicing). With this, the features and performance of the network will adapt per session to the service provisioned. “Network slicing

Commercial 5G launches as of July 2019. Source: IHS 2019. Source: 5G launches as of July Commercial will enable high bit

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rate applications

(100Mbps+) Source: IHS Markit such as high resolution streaming with high latency and low latency applications (ping of few ms) for immersive use cases such as VR, cloud gaming or personalised HD/UHD/HDR streaming to mobile devices,” says Thierry Fautier of Harmonic. “We see the argued that data caps when streaming means that no video will stall or stop – higher quality at scale being an even HD 1080p60, let alone 4K on the livestreaming and large downloads will evolutionary capability for 5G. The go, may be a problem that many users happen in the blink of an eye. immersive part is the most will experience, assuming their MNO Immersive and new media applications revolutionary feature.” does not provision zero-rating. It is – applications and capabilities that are Fautier argues that end-users should estimated by Ovum that the average currently nonexistent – will reach see some real value from the monthly traffic per 5G subscriber will unprecedented scale by 2028, forecast improvement offered by 5G. “Today grow from 11.7GB in 2019 to 84.4GB to generate more than $67 billion with zero rating, we receive SD per month in 2028, at which point annually or the value of the entire resolution at 1.5Mbps. This shows a video will account for 90% of all 5G current global mobile media market – limited quality on high-resolution (ie, traffic. But as Fautier puts it, “You can video, music and games – in 2017.” 4K) screens. With 5G, we can safely say goodbye to the poor SD experiences Nagra’s Trudelle thinks 5G will also plan to deliver high-quality 1080p60 provided at scale today when zero-rating accelerate the shift to mobile-centric video using the HEVC codec at bit rates is activated by MNOs.” viewing in many markets. “It makes of 3Mbps. With UHD-1 using HEVC, According to IHS, 22% of T-Mobile mobile even more central to the video we will be able to achieve less than customers live stream video content out experience for a lot of people. And we 20Mbps. 5G can bare the 20Mbps of of the home on a daily basis. And it’s are starting to see, especially in UHD-1 (2160p60/120) bandwidth not just about clips, more than 50% emerging markets like India, mobile-first without any problems, at scale,” he says. watch long form content out of home. becoming very important and for many Yann Bégassat of Broadpeak agrees, Meanwhile, broadcasters like the consumers mobile screens being the noting that with expected downlink bit BBC and France and telcos first access for a lot of video content. rates of 100-200 Mbps on average in a like SG Telecom and BT are now That’s a major shift. Properties like loaded 5G cell (at 3.5 GHz frequency, trialling video, including UHD, over 5G Hotsar in India are a clearly an example assuming 100 MHz bandwidth), 5G (more on this in the next article). you can grow really fast really big. It’s a should easily provide UHD and 4K One report from Intel and Ovum replacement product for traditional TV video to mobile devices. He also points boldly predicts that over the next for some of these consumers.” out that operators can also deliver decade M&E companies will benefit A new report by KPMG states that services such as high quality video to from experiences enabled by 5G 5G could be the catalyst for India’s 5G-compliant STBs and TV screens, as networks of a revenue opportunity over-the-top players to provide rich the main screen is often better suited to worth $1.3 trillion. “5G will inevitably content and threaten traditional linear viewing higher resolutions. shake up the media and entertainment TV consumption by 2022. It is worth noting that, today, most landscape. It will be a major Equally in Europe, 5G broadcast is devices are still , while Samsung competitive asset if companies adapt. If seen as a canvas technology for DTT, and high Apple screens support 1440p not, they risk failure or even extinction. potentially acting as a replacement or a resolution. Moreover, it can also be The low latency of these networks compliment to DVB.

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and technical sense to do that and frees up the bandwidth and those resources for everyone else. It could change the way people consume sport on mobile.” 5G does not formally support multicast/broadcast at this time (opinions vary on when it will), so only Rel14 (pre-5G) solutions are available as of now. However, work on eMBMS evolutions for 5G have started in 3GPP. For live applications at scale, some form of multicast or broadcast will likely be needed to ease network capacity, with 5G Further evolved MBMS (FeMBMS) seen as an attractive solution. Bavaria is playing host to one of the most high-profile and important trials of 5G FeMBMS, called 5G Today. “It is a waste of transmission capacity to overload IP networks designed for point-to-point connections with multicast transmissions,” argues Rohde & Schwarz, one of the project partners, which provided two modified terrestrial transmitters for the trial. Using these high-power high-tower (HPHT) transmitters allows broadcasters to distribute video over 5G networks in downlink-only mode with all the advantages of classic broadcasting. This provides the high quality levels known from HDTV broadcasting, low-latency live content as well as enormous spectrum efficiency and wide coverage, according to the

The retrofit baby carriage used in the Bavarian 5G Today trials. Picture courtesy of Rohde & Schwarz courtesy trials. Picture 5G Today used in the Bavarian baby carriage The retrofit partners. “Classical broadcasting is still the “We are doing a lot of studies into failed mobile broadcast efforts to rest; best solution for this, provided it is how DTT will become more expensive the last active service (Finnish DVB-H) delivered to consumer devices in a as channels and behaviours move to was shut down in 2012. modern form,” says R&S. The company online. We are making sure we have Thousands of people wanting to adds that 5G can only provide everything we need and the possibility watch a live stream or even replay over significant support once 5G standalone of it being a DTT-replacement adaptive bit rate (ABR) stresses the networks in the millimeterwave bands candidate,” says Matt Stagg at telco and network so it is about ways of providing become operational, which will take broadcaster BT Sport. network optimisation solutions that will several years. ensure QoS at lowest cost. Due to a lack of commercial devices A final chance for mobile “You may have lots of bandwidth with the right support enabled, 5G broadcasting with FeMBMS? with 5G but it is finite and you don’t Today project partners built a receiver Indeed, one of the most interesting want to waste it,” says Stagg, who is a on their own. It is a software-defined questions is will 5G finally lead to the believer in LTE-Broadcast type services. radio, embedded in a baby carriage success of classic mobile TV, laying the “You want to provide a one-to-many (pictured) and connected with T&M ghosts of DVB-H, MediaFLO and other service because it makes commercial equipment. Rohde & Schwarz told CSI

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the baby carriage has to explore the leverage the broadcast capability of “It is hard to predict whether eMBMS connection, quality, network coverage 5G networks.” will play an important role in 5G. We and other parameters. “While it may With 5G, multicast is more of a believe it is far from being won. Many sound like an unusual approach, you reality than LTE thanks to the capacity challenges of eMBMS in 4G will remain can walk through a crowded pedestrian and throughput each individual can get, in 5G, such as the low number of zone or a mall and do measurements in as Chiranjeev Singh of MediaKind supporting and enabled terminals, a real-life-scenario,” a company points out. “If you are sitting inside the engineering complexity, new network spokesperson said. venue, you may want to see different elements/functions required,” warns The participants - also involving IRT, angles or replays, and 5G multicast Bégassat at Broadpeak. “Finally, despite Kathrein, Telefónica and Bavarian gives users that opportunity. Those the expected technical improvements a public broadcaster Bayerischer benefits are expected to be enhanced lot of architecture and protocol Rundfunk (BR) - are investigating the with 5G.” questions are open, which from our practical aspects of the system in a And yet, multicast technology has not point of view, does not help provide project that runs until the end of been widely deployed yet (some expect reassurance on this technology.” October 2019. They think the technical this to change, others aren’t sure). insights can be used to fine-tune Operators will have to make further Opportunistic multicasting in Rel17 FeMBMS standardisation in 5G investments there, assuming there is a So there are still the same question and improve the launch conditions business case, while handsets will have marks hanging around 5G broadcast, for a rollout of commercial to support it. This remains a case of but one technologist shines a ray of FeMBMS networks. chicken-and-egg, something that LTE-B light in upcoming releases of the 5G If and when this happens, operators in 4G never managed to shake off standard in the shape of ‘opportunistic will be able to transport free-to-air video and overcome. multicasting’. over 5G networks and media companies BT’s Stagg is optimistic: “This time, “Key here are solutions that allow for will be able to reach devices directly. the 5G Broadcast Working Group has supporting today’s HTTP-based This is expected to help scale up for live worked on a proper alliance of streaming solutions while providing events and, in some cases, be an broadcaster and operators so there is a efficient multicast delivery at the alternative to a terrestrial transmission. firm vision and combined requirement network level. Such ‘opportunistic “The EBU has put significant effort to drive the industry,” he argues. “The multicast’ capability is currently under behind the specification and the field difference now is broadcasters are fully investigation in 3GPP for realisation in testing of TV over 5G networks. If this on board and there is full alignment Rel17-based future 5G systems,” says model works technically and between the two and they are all in the Dirk Trossen, senior principal engineer commercially, there is a good chance processes of designing the requirements; at InterDigital, which has been this will be deployed commercially,” that wasn’t there with 4G.” contributing to the ‘vertical LAN’ reckons Harmonic’s Fautier, who adds: For others, a dose of realism persists, capabilities of future 5G systems. These “We expect that there will be sporting as the business model for live broadcast will allow for supporting this OM events where broadcasters will want to is not straightforward. capability of 5G, including supporting available WiFi and fixed infrastructures. These capabilities, demonstrated at MWC 2019 and trialled in Bristol and Barcelona deployments, enable significant bandwidth savings for mobile video experiences and will increase scalability of supported use cases, according to Trossen. “We expect first solutions based on those standards development to find entry into the next wave of 5G rollouts based on the Rel16 and 17 standard releases of 3GPP.” Before that happens though, many users would just be happy for 5G to improve basic cellular connectivity,

5G in Romania. Picture courtesy of Ericsson courtesy 5G in Romania. Picture speeds and QoS whatever their location, outdoors or indoors.

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between the station and the field crew Will 5G disrupt the will enable more to be done remotely. Globecast is among those to consider 5G as an enabler of remote production. production ecosystem? The company is conducting various tests of 5G-based production and Goran Nastic examines the 5G use contribution, with plans to eventually expand on these trials as a fully cases in Outside Broadcast and functional broadcast workflow taking in remote production distribution too. “It’s another network for us and we here is much “What 5G gives you is a lot of are testing the possibilities, for live speculation and flexibility, especially when you are events like football and tennis matches, anticipation to see covering live events, like sports,” sending channels to affiliates without what impact 5G will explains Chiranjeev Singh of using a satellite dish, only the terrestrial have on live video MediaKind. “The features that 5G solution. We will conduct more tests, streaming and the brings to the table, especially from a longer distance deployments (currently end-user experience production point of view, are going to maxing at 100 metres). In 2020, we will T(see previous feature), but another be very helpful.” also test the distribution side once we application that has the media In the media production world, have the full feed, so a true end-to-end world arguably even more delivering content from remote solution,” says Philippe Bernard, excited is the potential of 5G in locations to the point of presence or Globecasts’s CEO and Chairman. production environments. master control room is a considerable “We don’t know yet what the cost will One of the key factors driving logistical challenge. be. We need to test and improve the experimentation with 5G in the field is Then there is the cost element: distance between SNG and receiver. flexibility, and maybe cost. satellite trucks are expensive, while Beyond 100m, there are still some This is because contribution from the laying fibre is not cheap either. People questions to answer. What is good with field is costly and remains based on are also limited by the satellite 5G is the signal doesn’t spread. It is technologies that were from the bandwidth and availability of focused on identifying where the broadcast-centric (tier 1) event world. satellite links. receiver is. The technology is quite Currently, media workflows are “What came about is that people clever in doing that,” Bernard says. dominated by hardware-based solutions realised that – and news companies “5G could be an accelerator for that are expensive, inflexible and closed were first for breaking news – this is a remote production,” he adds. “It’s a way systems. Configuring the hardware for a perfect opportunity to be able to use it of challenging the existing ecosystem of live production is often a time where they either couldn’t get a satellite production as it is today. It’s a way to consuming and labour intensive truck or one wasn’t available or they get more flexibility to produce and process. 5G won’t be a silver bullet couldn’t get one in quick enough,” capture pictures via remote production. could ease some of these pain points. says Matt Stagg of BT Sport. For example, you can use 5G cameras For live with SIM cards and you can put the broadcast, higher cameras where you want.” bandwidth Other say 5G-enabled cameramen can and reduced perform uplink image transfers from latency will capture location to control room, studio enable more or OB van with much more flexibility, remote with no need for a UHF or wireline production transmission network. applications with “Following the uses we have seen so de-centralised, far for deployment of bonded cellular agile teams. systems, 5G will make those Reducing the applications more reliable while latency for all increasing capacity to handle more communication volume,” says David Anderson, Chief and applications Technology Officer, The Switch, which

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provides advanced video switching and 6oF. And we will look at how you can securing the dedicated bandwidth will local fibre circuit services, as well as use edge computing or network slicing be critical. “If we consider operators remote production. “This will be to be able to break the camera feeds at dedicating bandwidth for the B2B particularly valuable in serving lots the cell site in the stadium and then sector, the real issue is whether they of wireless OB cameras in a venue, feed that back to the OB truck with all dedicate that resource, which could be as sports coverage becomes more the fixed cameras. So you get the quite expensive. We can demo that the granular – for example, following freedom and creativity of wireless technology is ready, but what is the real individual players for personalised cameras, but you still use the fibre and business model and drivers? What is the viewer experiences.” have your full production,” Stagg says. willingness of telcos to dedicate the BT’s Stagg agrees and speaks of his There is also the environmental bandwidth knowing it will be expensive? excitement about the freedom afforded impact, according to Stagg. “We are I’m not positive or negative, the by wire-free cameras. “What we wanted sending huge OB trucks with teams of technology works, but the business to look at is how we could use 5G or people and, with most of them back in model is an open question. With 3G wireless techs to get into stadiums that the studio, there are advantages there.” and 4G, operators didn’t succeed in didn’t’ have fibre. You will always use dedicating spectrum resources for the fibre if you have fibre, even if you are Guaranteeing SLAs and uplink/ B2B sector. It was in the standards but doing remote production but what downlink through network slicing wasn’t implemented.” changed my vision is the huge use case An added benefit of 5G over its Cost and power consumption are also for having wireless 5 cameras in predecessors is network slicing major considerations, according to stadiums. The one thing that came out management and prioritisation, which Todd Schneider, CTO of Dejero. of it, which we hadn’t figured in and should enable broadcasters to finally do “Especially at the outset, 5G equipment where I find the use-case really exciting, what they couldn’t with 4G. It is and air time are likely to be more is the creativity that our directors and possible that signals coming from news expensive than LTE. Initially, 5G is producers found with having untethered broadcasters could be prioritised, much expected to consume more power than cameras. We did a remote production in the same way as they could be for the LTE which will result in shorter device trial with wireless cameras at one of the emergency services. Network slicing will battery life; however, this should national league games and found them enable operators and media companies improve over time,” Schneider says. easy to move between different to overlay different 5G attributes and Moreover, in order to guarantee the locations and that freedom of requirements they have for their needs, QoS for broadcast purposes, dedicated movement can make a 4-camera without being hampered by coverage throughput will require the cooperation production look like an 8-camera stability and network contention between broadcasters and telecoms production. That was one of the really at cell sites. operators. So establishing these exciting things to come out of it. “5G prioritisation would give media partnerships will be key. “With untethered cameras you can networks the confidence to report from “People realised mobile wireless was get full 360 holographic displays and even the busiest locations, such as quite good and actually it worked most sports stadiums, concerts or even Times of the time as the rollout came out but Global spectrum picture Square on New Year’s Eve,” says Joseph obviously you couldn’t use it as a On the spectrum allocation front, Hopkins of Make.TV. “This would primary broadcast contribution for the sub 6GHz spectrum needs to be enable news broadcasters with quick production,” says Stagg. It was always a allocated or auctioned to enable and cost-effectively reporter deployment best-effort network and while uplink global adoption of 5G. In early and would allow them to secure stable, was good it wasn’t as good as downlink 2019 the EC announced the live footage over mobile networks, and people wanted to be able to have member states would harmonise rather than satellite link-up or fixed line this service guarantee. across the 3.6 GHz spectrum for broadband networks.” “We looked at it quite a lot and 5G deployments by the end of 2020. On top of increasing the speed of started doing tests with the BBC and In the US, decisions regarding the uplink, the use of slicing will help . We ran a project internally C-band spectrum are expected to be provide that broadcast-grade network, where we looked to developing settled by late 2019, while Canadian meeting certain bandwidth, latency and guaranteed QoS, but on the uplink spectrum auctions for similar reliability requirements that are not that’s very complex and negatively spectrum will occur in early 2020. negatively impacted by consumer impacts the customer experience.” An auction is expected in India services in dense environments This is because places where before the end of this year. like stadiums. companies can use 5G the most will But as Bernard of Globecast argues, also be places where 5G resources will

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games in the entire event, meeting the per UHD 2019/20 camera requirement of 80Mbps. Premier League Latency came in at under 10ms. season. Stagg MMwave 5G was used for the trial, thinks in 2020/ albeit being a limited and contained 21 BT will be deployment. (MIMO implementations in a position using millimetre wave gives more to start opportunities of providing dedicated selling these bandwidth for a particular channel and broadcast-grade better uplink/downlink). services. “While this was a fairly simple trial, it Longer term, indicated that 5G is a technology that he thinks there could drive the savings of millions of is no reason dollars over the course of a production be in peak demand by other users when why the industry won’t get to a point year in terms of fibre deployment and they need them for broadcast. So, for where someone will be able to type backhaul transmission,” said Mike example, where sports fans at venues their bandwidth and latency Davies, Fox Sports SVP of Technical are accessing content on their 5G requirements into a portal and have and Field Operations. Fox said the devices, broadband 5G Internet use will a dedicated 5G service pop up resulting in performance learnings will be peaking at those same venues. To straight away. inform future, more complex use cases. deal with this issue, appropriate walled- In another case study involving gardens and SLA’s will need to be in 5G on the golf course and Olympics golf, South Korea’s SK Telecom offered place so that commercial users will be The US Open Project marked the first live broadcast of this year’s ‘SK able to count on 5G resources being foray into assessing the performance Telecom Open 2019’, using its available when they need them. and cost efficiencies of using 5G commercial 5G network for selective BT Sport started to work on it for its technology into the production areas of the golf course. It marked own productions and then with workflows of a major sporting event. the world’s use of 5G for live TV customers in Media & Broadcast to get The project - completed with Fox broadcasting of a sports event (France their requirements. “We realised it is a Sports, Intel, AT&T and Ericsson - Télévisions tested 4K huge step change in the way that TV focused on production side cost and UHD over 5G at Roland-Garros). will be produced. We are using that efficiencies resulting from backhaul Also in Korea, 5G was tested for almost as a way of incubating some of transmission savings and remote-prod. mobile production during the 2018 this technology,” says Stagg. Not having to lay cables will come as PyeongChang Winter Olympics, where The next steps for BT Sport are more a welcome relief at live events. For the it provided backhaul for mobile cameras trials with its M&B customers and using US Open, more than 39 miles of fibre worn by athletes, with low delay. It also 5G for live remote production of some was laid, and then removed, on the golf enabled an 8K FoV capture of the course. At some other sporting events, content and multi 4K cameras. fibre demands can exceed 48 miles. The Tokyo Olympics 2020 will act as “Where I find it “With 5G, people won’t have to a further test ground for the technology. worry about that but will have to put a It is thought that Olympic Broadcast really exciting is the couple of mobile radio towers probably Services and the host broadcaster will to cover the venue,” says MediaKind’s look into using 5G for the broadcast creativity that our Singh, noting that the company is and telecast of the live sporting events directors and engaged with similar other trials. from the venue. An encoder was placed on a golf cart, “It’s important to note, however, that producers found connected via 5G to the clubhouse, 5G won’t be available everywhere for a where the main production equipment while, therefore the ability to blend 5G with having resided. Delivery of encoded 4K video with LTE, 4G and so on, will enable a feeds from the golf course to the smooth transition into 5G and enhance untethered production compound required data coverage in a seamless way during the rates of 60 to 80Mbps. The 5G trial rollout process,” says Dejero’s cameras.” network demonstrated sustained uplink Schneider, with LTE and 5G coexisting speeds of over 300Mbps throughout the for some time.

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Machine Learning IBC 2018 preview Nanosatellites Compression supplement Advertorial feature

transition that took The evolving VOD landscape place in the media industry. Although it How to gain user loyalty and avoid customer churn made things convenient for the user, giving them many ust over a decade ago, Building for scale and evolution choices, for providers, it became a VOD services were Scaling up the services to go from significant issue. Providing a seamless part of the digital thousands to millions, or for an and similar experience throughout subscription package audience that is distributed the screens became a challenge due of your satellite TV internationally involves a complete to the differences between hardware or cable. At that rethinking of the service workflow, and software, causing a problem time, one only had including traffic management, of fragmentation. Contending Jaccess to a handful of movies that localisations, and integrations. OTT delivery protocols, video codecs, could be viewed after calling-in services opting for an off-the-shelf and media formats, also add or sending a text message. solution for their media and delivery complexity to the already intricate As the appetite and the attitude of supply chain face an issue in scalability video streaming industry. the consumer evolved, so did the as such solutions are usually limited in The advancements in the digital nature of VOD services. The their capacity and flexibility of media processing services, provided by industry gave way to full-fledged expansion. Such challenges become multiple experts in the industry along video streaming platforms that even more pertinent for live streams with Axinom, combine various now allow the viewers to grab the such as sports, as during live technologies to offer multi-platform remote and binge watch a TV transmission, there might be an solutions. Such as the usage of modern series or catch up on any of their unpredictable rise in viewership, industry standards in video encoding favourite shows no matter the which ultimately goes back down at such as HLS, DASH with CMAF, device or location. the end of the event. Such scalability encryption and protection standards The growing user demand for restrains many content owners such as Widevine, FairPlay and flexibility, personalisation, and from delivering their content to PlayRead and support for all operating freedom, to get the content they the viewers. systems such as Android, iOS want, how they want, and where they Besides scalability several localisation and more. want is leading to a much faster cord factors arise when going global, such as cutting phenomena. It is evident across integrating different UI/UX, adding Personalising with integrations major markets, as multiple studies local metadata and languages, A plethora of OTT offerings has made conducted by Nielsen in the UK and authorising local editors to edit and the user very critical of the value and the US, shows that younger review the content and adding local the experience on offer. According to people in the age group of 16-30 prefer services for payments, advertisements DTG UK, in Europe alone, there are streaming video content over watching and more. over 700 VOD service, with about 145 traditional TV broadcasts. “OTT VOD services need to think VOD/catchup services in just the UK. There is no shortage of OTT VOD like software providers and utilise Thereby, today, a service has to offer services nowadays, but delivering a modern development technologies. not only superb content but an seamless experience to a geographically Such as the microservices architecture exceptional quality of experience to the distributed audience of millions for services encapsulated in containers, user to be able to gain their loyalty. brings a new set of complexities. utilising standard APIs to give the For platform owners, this translates to An overabundance of OTT flexibility of extensibility, customisation a service that can quickly adopt offerings has made the user very and the advantage of scaling at a new features and provide a critical of the value and the finger snap” says Mairika Haab of personalised experience. experience on offer. Besides a Axinom. “Such a planned architecture “The right content needs to reach the good content library, personalisation, allows faster developmentand viewer at the press of a button,” says quality of experience, and service change cycles as well as easy Mairika Haab. “Any OTT business with remain a significant factor for deployment, integration, and a global focus needs a solution that can viewers in VOD service selection. full robustness.” increase content workflow efficiency, A service has to offer excellent and an added focus on extensibility for value and quality to be able to gain Delivering across screens future expansions as this industry is user loyalty. TV to the phone was a critical proliferating and anyone not keeping up

46 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

46-47_Anixom-byline.indd 2 27/08/2019 14:21:42 Advertorial feature

is bound to lose out.” storage management. It can also provide these opportunities in the best possible This extensibility in managing content each user, whether internal or third- way have risen as well. is essential for working with multiple party, with a separate dashboard, The backend solutions need to be content rules and operating models, customised for specific roles and data compatible with most common VOD compliance and licensing issues, and access policies. Moreover, various revenue models to target different the using of divergent brands to cater policies, access restrictions, and rules markets and audiences. In AVOD, it to different types of viewers. can be defined within the CMS to should also allow Dynamic Ad-insertion Managing these multiple layers of respect and comply with the (DAI) or Client-side Ad-Insertion complexity is one of the basic regional regulations. (CSAI) for personalised advertising. requirements for any VOD backend With the Axinom backend interfaces “Being an experienced digital solution. There needs to be streamlined, and services, the customers can solutions provider in the media automated workflows and alignment integrate recommendation engines and industry, Axinom understands that with the business aspect of the advertising providers, check entitlement, each company is different, each platform, i.e., what monetary models to collect payments, provide easy content piece is unique, and every be used to generate revenues. onboarding with social media logins, market needs individual monetisation Axinom CMS, with its backend gather analytics, and much more. strategy” adds Mairika Haab. “Our interfaces and services, allows unlimited architecture allows a good many integrations, be it external partners for New monetisation opportunities integrations to facilitate customer content or the payment providers that The end goal for any VOD service, systems, payment providers, are popular in a region. Through whether newly foraying into the bundling opportunities, marketing Axinom CMS, the customers can industry or looking to expand, is promotions through vouchers and independently manage and personalise monetisation. The monetisation promo codes.” their OTT service for regions, opportunities in the last few years have geography, or audiences. It allows risen, for instance, VOD advertising For more information on Axinom digital automated workflows for all processes: alone is speculated to grow to USD 47 products, or to find out how Axinom ingestion, transcoding, encryption, billion by 2023, doubling the 2018 solutions can help your OTT and VOD packaging, metadata management, value, according to the World needs, visit www.axinom.com advertisement insertions, publishing of Advertising Research Center (WARC). Axinom can also be found at IBC 2019 content, and content pipeline and Technical complexities in exploiting in Hall 14 — F17

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46-47_Anixom-byline.indd 3 27/08/2019 14:21:55 Sports streaming

Now, the biggest stumbling blocks for Reaching a new fans are time zones. It’s awfully hard for a European fan to watch an NFL or generation of sports fans NBA game in the middle of the night. Tell us about your partnership with Geoff Reiss of Yahoo Sports talks to CSI about the NFL and the impact it has had. Our access to the National Football helping the NFL reach younger viewers through League live games came about as part multi-screen offers of a broader partnership that Verizon and the NFL have been involved in. year were NFL broadcasts. The nature Specifically, what the NFL were of sports is to produce this highly interested in working with us was our perishable content that drives audiences ability to help them in their quest to to participate in sports in reach the younger viewer. The NFL is the moment. As we have moved to the powerhouse sport in the US and at an increasingly VOD driven world the same time they are keenly interested sports has actually grown its relative in making sure they serve emerging influence in the media landscape. We generations of fans. They thought that at Yahoo are constantly looking for working with us was a good way to content categories that allow us continue to expand that fan base. to drive the deepest possible Sure enough, the first full season of consumer relationships. NFL that we did on Yahoo This is an unbelievable time to be a demonstrated that around 60% of sports fan. The amount of access to people who are watching live streams players and teams and flexibility of that are 39 or younger. That’s interesting to access is unprecedented. A generation me because there have been a lot of ago, things were so constricted. While debates within the sports industry as to the proliferation of availability has whether or not the NFL had a created some degree of friction in terms demographic problem and I would of finding content, that’s a trade off any argue they don’t have a demo problem fan in the world would make. they have a use case problem. Younger fans, whether Millennials or Gen Zs, How do you perceive streaming are committed to football, maybe not as piracy and tackle that? much as previous generations, but if you Protecting partners’ IP is of make it portable and deliver it to native fundamental importance to us and it devices (phones and tablets), the means we work with all of them on majority of fans who watched that way making sure there are robust DRM were significantly younger than those ow does live sports systems in place to respect whether they on linear TV. And they will watch fit in the era of VOD be territorial or other delivery habitually; close to 80% of our audience and fragmentation? specifications we have for our deals. were folks who came in week in and Sports has emerged as That said, because of the highly week out. a strategically critical perishable nature of what we do, sports This is a powerful way for the component of almost probably is not as acutely impacted by proverbial cord-cutter and cord-never to every media company’s the threat. It doesn’t mean it’s not there access football. One of the value Hportfolio. As we see audiences continue or people are not ripping off broadcasts, propositions we were looking to offer to get fragmented and disaggregated but relative to other forms of fans is the idea of frictionless football, across these new experiences available entertainment the nature of sports regardless of wireless carrier or if you to them, sports still has this means it is a slightly less severe issue had an authenticated cable subscription. unbelievable power to drive somebody for us than a movie studio. That NBA Removing those barriers were key to to the live moment. Most of the highest game that ends at 11pm is not worth a growing the sport and bringing these rated TV shows in the fall season last whole lot 36 hours later. younger demos into live NFL games.

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48_YahooSports.indd 1 29/08/2019 12:46:10 Sponsored Q&A CSI talks to Simon Williamson, chief commercial officer, Friend MTS, about OTT sports and taking down live streaming piracy as quickly and effectively as possible The Piracy-iQ product, see it at IBC product, The Piracy-iQ for them to resolve. From our position, piracy is rampant. No one wants to see their valuable content stolen and it is our job to help the content owners, studios and broadcasters understand Simon Williamson there is something they can do about it that will have a positive economic impact. Although the application of Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC Crimp, Michael anti-piracy measures can be complex, additional security countermeasures can our message is pretty simple, in that by be deployed in a highly targeted manner applying robust technology and process based on accurate data. Our customers to reduce consumption of pirated are able to assess the problem of piracy How worried should the industry be content, there will be a corresponding for their business, then confidently about the rise in online piracy? increase in revenue. We see this around deploy our watermarking and track the Pirates continue to steal valuable the world, and everyone in the chain impact on a near real-time basis. content for a number of reasons. benefits – from the content originators There’s the ubiquitous nature of to the distributors. How do you attain these fast streaming services and the simplicity speeds with client watermarking? with which content can be taken from How can Friend MTS help in Our speciality is live online sporting what were once considered secure fighting this problem? events where speed, scale and accuracy devices and then share it online. HD Friend MTS has been in the sharp end are essential. With client-side video is now available everywhere, of this business for a long time and watermarking, we are able to deploy on making it very straight-forward for developed extremely effective services client devices very simply with a very pirates to offer a high-quality product. to help our customers understand the small software footprint and operate Pirates steal content with freely scale of their problem and tackle it. We incredibly quickly at extremely large available software and broadcast it work with everyone in the content scale. We go beyond basic monitoring online within minutes. And pirates are distribution chain and emphasise services with the technology we have doing this on an industrial scale and content protection as an ecosystem developed, and are able to identify the generating significant revenue. Friend issue. It is a rapidly changing landscape, source of the piracy with very small MTS’s services help media and and where just a few years ago classical amounts of video. This allows the entertainment businesses see exactly monitoring and DMCA takedown owner of the distribution chain to take where their content is being made notices were relatively effective, pirates meaningful action at the most available, and we work very effectively have become much more sophisticated economically opportune time for them. to secure live, PPV and VOD content and require a significantly increased Piracy will remain a threat. Our goal is against unauthorised distribution. level of technical complexity to defeat to raise the bar and partner on this them. This is where we come in with complex problem with companies who Are the big media companies aware our widely deployed and highly effective want to make a difference to their of the scale of the problem? distribution and subscriber level bottom line. They are aware of piracy, especially watermarking solution known as ASiD, with the increasing number of forums and our Piracy-iQ consumption and articles dedicated to discussing it. measurement service. With Piracy-iQ, Friend MTS can be found on stand Piracy is clearly becoming a key issue theft can be precisely measured and 1.A58 at IBC 2019

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49_FriendMTS-V2.indd 2 20/08/2019 10:08:57 Sponsored Q&A CSI talks to United Cloud’s Mladen Mijatovic about their experience of deploying an Android TV platform and what drove them to adopt an in- house development approach for software needs

uncommon to have up to half a dozen the needs of United Group operators or more vendors and providers of and EON is just first of the services to different hardware and software run on UC platform. However, we have solutions in the chain of video delivery. seen significant interest from the Until recently, United Group operators industry in sourcing our services to Mladen Mijatovic, Mladen Mijatovic, Business Development Manager were no exception, with additional various 3rd parties and that interest complexities brought by the fact that we grew exponentially after EON service operate across several countries, within went live and EON brand became Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC Crimp, Michael and outside of EU, with different recognised by the industry. This languages, different markets, different obviously provides some solid new business models and sometimes business opportunities that we intend to different technologies running in the explore, and we will definitely consider Can you explain to our readers back. Such a diverse environment is not making our services available for 3rd what is United Cloud and how do a very fertile ground for innovations - parties in near future. you fit into United Group? any change translates into request to United Group is the leading multi-play every one of your vendors to implement In terms of hardware, do you have telecoms and media provider in South it separately, each on their own system a particular strategy there and any East Europe with some 3.8 million component, and then to integrate it partners you would like to RGUs. United Cloud is the R&D centre with the others, perform testing and so highlight? of United Group and is responsible for on. Clearly, a tedious process. As a United Cloud is focused on software all technology innovation of the Group. company who has innovation as one of development, so we do not make our We employ more than 100 developers our main focal points, we could not own hardware, but we have teamed-up in our main offices in Belgrade, Serbia have afforded to innovate at a snail’s with various well-known names from and Ljubljana, Slovenia and we have pace, so we have decided to start our the industry to create United Cloud plans to expand into other countries in own development and that is how platform and deliver best experience to the region in near future. United Cloud United Cloud was born, back in 2016. our users. Some of those names include brings unified platforms, services and Today, we are proud to say that our companies such as Google, Cisco, UX to be used by all Group members. EON service runs end-to-end on United Broadcom, Kaon, Technicolor, SDMC, Our first very successful product was Cloud platform that is almost 100% Tech4Home… For some, “partners” are video entertainment platform, EON, developed in-house. From the business just technology enablers and providers, that was first launched as an OTT perspective, in-house development or pure OEMs that deliver hardware service across all UG markets back in brought, not only much greater only, but we always try to have deeper 2017 and complemented with first flexibility and much shorter time-to- cooperation and true partnerships, to screen Android TV devices in 2018 market, but also significant savings engage in a two-way know-how exchange and 2019. in cost of running our day to that brings value to everybody. While day operations. one way is quite obvious - a vendor Why did you decide to do all your selling its solution to the operator, the software development, end-to-end, Would you consider opening up the opposite way is often neglected – in-house and what are the EON app or other services on operators can also provide valuable advantages of this approach? United Cloud platform to other feedback to the vendors, allowing them Typical networks of TV operators are service providers? to use operator networks and their very heterogeneous and it is not United Cloud platform currently serves business models as real-life testing

50 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

50-51_UnitedCloud.indd 1 29/08/2019 13:56:24 Sponsored

very cooperative and with significant development effort. for us they are a prime We worked closely with Google to example of a partner implement a layer of ‘operator who is willing to listen customisations’ into ATV standard to the feedback and to launcher and managed to get the best of act upon it. Android two worlds. The selection of OEM for TV is not without its the project is also very important, challenges, but especially if you intend to do your own experience for us was development – you need to make sure mostly positive. We that your OEM has the necessary have already launched expertise and experience. Alternatively, one hybrid DVB-C/ you can choose a one-stop-shop and get OTT box in 2018. the whole package: STB, integrated and another IP-only with the app and also possibly custom box in 2019, just launcher from some vendor, in which grounds for their own future prior to IBC. We also intend to launch case this applies to the vendor in development. We always try to provide some more Android TV devices in question. Weigh all these options wisely, this feedback and in return we usually near future. as each has its pros and cons. receive more than others, as our And last, but not least - you need to partners recognise this value. What advice/recommendations remember that by choosing Android would you give to other operator TV, you are becoming part of a living, You embarked on a project to who want to go down the Android breathing, ecosystem that is very deploy an Android TV box. What TV route? dynamic and to be prepared for a drove you to do this and how has Our first Android TV SetTop Box constant change. New Android ‘letter’ this progressed since last year? project was completed in a record- is coming out every year! Please give us an update. breaking timespan of only eight months This was a difficult decision when we from project kick-off to product launch, Finally, what innovation can we first decided to go with Android TV – a which is a true Holy Grail of fast Time- expect from United Cloud in the venture into unknown for us – but we To-Market, but this should not be taken next few months and into 2020? can now confidently say that it was also as a benchmark. Actual results will Are there any plans you can share the right decision. Android TV provides vary, and predictions should be with us? operators with a possibility to couple considered on a case-by-case basis. For Being at a forefront of United Group their own services with renowned example, we have already gathered a technology innovation, you can expect Google TV services (GTVS) such as significant know-how by developing many new things coming out of United YouTube, Chromecast, PlayStore with EON Android TV app for smart TVs, Cloud in 2020 such as new TV viewing abundance of apps etc, and offer it to prior to the box project, which made it devices, app support for new OS their subscribers as a very tempting easier for us to develop and integrate platforms and expansion of existing bundled package. Developing our own STB app. On the other hand, services to more United Group something of that magnitude was we opted for a hybrid device which operators. Some of the new stuff we are simply not possible for anyone but the called for DVB and CAS integration working on is not even directly related biggest operators and even for them the and is far more complex design than to TV, but rather to TV supporting question about feasibility of such any IP-only device. Another option to services such as broadband. We also projects is an open question. On the consider is a trade-off between using put a lot of effort into developing other hand, this opened up many Android TV standard launcher which is etter user experience by implementing questions on how life with a technology available as an off-the-shelf solution and tailor made content discovery giant such as Google will look like in developing a custom launcher for a and recommendations based on the future. Surprisingly, Google was more unique operator look-and-feel but user profiles.

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50-51_UnitedCloud.indd 2 29/08/2019 13:56:36 Show preview

technologies – in the first public discussion of the 2030 Vision Paper IBC 2019 preview that lays out the disruptive technologies and software-defined workflows that It’s that time of the year again… will become the new mainstream. Over the five days, 1,700 delegates will get to hear from over 300 speakers. The opening of the new Noord/Zuid (North-South) metro line last year was welcome news for attendees, cutting travel times from central Amsterdam to the RAI to an estimated 8 minutes, providing an alternative means of public transport to the city’s tram networks. Like NAB, IBC provides a free shuttle bus service to and from a selection of the major hotels in Amsterdam directly to the RAI as well as from Schiphol Airport to the RAI and back. The other news is that IBC recently renewed its agreement with the RAI, signing a new three-year contract with RAI Amsterdam and its partners to stay in the Dutch city. An interactive floor plan to help n its 52nd year, IBC will for commercial opportunities and visitors navigate the booths and the first time in years have challenges of esports, as well as the conference is available to download as the conference and exhibition technical delivery of esports part of the wider IBC mobile app on start and finish on the same programmes and production challenges. iOS and Android. The 2019 version of day, both running from Friday Speakers include senior execs from the the app boasts ‘AI-powered 13-17 September. British Esports Association, GINX matchmaking’ that suggests people Also new this year is the Media- Esports TV Canada, ProSiebenSat.1 you may want to meet with while at ITelecom Convergence Catalyst, a new Sports, EVS, Twitch and Blizzard. the show. collaboration between IBC and The main conference will feature a the TM Forum, showcasing open mix of legacy media companies and innovation between the telecoms and new disruptors. Some of the main Now in its sixth year, registration media industries. speakers in 2019 include the CEOs of is open for the 4K 4Charity Fun In 2019, esports is set to be an even Vivendi, All3Media and the Consumer Run at IBC 2019. bigger part of the IBC experience, Technology Association, as well as Proceeds this time benefit Iridescent, including a new esports showcase and representatives from YouTube EMEA, a global education non-profit for live tournament. RTÉ, Mediaset, Sony, BBC Studios, underrepresented young people, The popularity of last year’s esports Amazon Alexa and the EBU. Others helping them through engineering focused events and activities have led newly added include MovieLabs, and technology. IBC to create a dedicated platform for Mediaset, Pluto TV, VICE, Netflix, Since the inaugural event took this sector on Tuesday 17 September. Britbox, Sony, and Facebook. place at IBC in 2014 (there are On that day, the RAI Auditorium will MovieLabs will be hosting a keynote others at NAB etc), the series has be turned into an esports arena, with conference on Sunday 15 September raised more than $1 million for live tournament matches of ‘Counter- bringing together technology leaders good causes. Strike’, as well as conference sessions from major Hollywood studios unveiling More information on how to take around it. their vision for the future of content part is available at This will explore the technical and production, post and creative https://4k4charity.com/ibc

52 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

IBC-Preview.indd 2 28/08/2019 14:07:07 Sponsored by: www.csimagazine.com

Video compression special

Next-generation codecs

53-57_VNova.indd 1 29/08/2019 14:19:45 Advanced codecs

recommended Living in a multi-codec world technology today and we expect that David Adams shines a light on the future of codecs for Android R it will be required, so that portion lotting technology of 35 to 60 per cent bit rate reduction of the mobile space will support it.” strategies for relative to [use of HEVC].” The codec has been criticised for broadcasters, The statement also drew attention to complexity that increases encoding operators or other EVC’s baseline profile tools, which are costs, but Egge claims progress has video service based on royalty-free technologies; and been made in reducing that complexity. providers is made its main profile, which comprises tools He highlights interest within the immeasurably more that can be activated or deactivated industry in the development of rav1e, Pcomplicated by the sheer quantity individually. It added that: an experimental AV1 encoder; and work of different ways to consume video “Organisations making proposals for underway at “maybe a dozen other content. The proliferation of the main profile have agreed to publish companies” on other AV1 encoders. devices and distribution channels applicable licensing terms within two “That seems like a very healthy step means anyone seeking to provide years of FDIS [Final Draft in term of getting adoption,” he says. the best service to consumers International Standard] stage”. In “There is a significant case for in the optimum formats for practice, those organisations will operators to move to AV1. There’s been any viewing device needs a multi- include major mobile technology a lot of interest from broadcasters.” codec strategy. companies like Samsung and Huawei. But Reinhard Grandl, director of The in use has On the streaming side, VP9 is widely product management at Bitmovin, lengthened significantly during the past supported in web browsers and is used points out that the speed of AV1 15 years, cursing the industry with yet by content providers including esports adoption will also be determined largely more confusing acronyms. The most and gaming streamer Twitch, which by the speed at which chipsets with significant has been MPEG-4/ H.264, uses VP9 to support live content AV1 decoding capabilities are built into launched in 2003 and currently the distribution, alongside other codecs. devices. “That’s key to the experience: most widely used codec; its designated Twitch engineers are also on record for the quality gain which AV1 promises successor H.265/HEVC, introduced in saying it intends to move to using AV1 you need hardware decoding support,” 2013 is also widely used, although for all content in the longer term (the he says. It may be more than a year adoption has been slower same goes for Netflix). before AV1-compatible chips are added than expected. Nathan Egge, head of the codec to set top boxes or mobile phones. Those codecs have been joined by engineering team at Mozilla working on So adoption of AV1, VVC and EVC some designed for streamed content: AV1, says the codec is designed for will be impeded by practical, technical VP9, released by Google in 2013; and mass adoption and will offer some of and financial obstacles. On the MPEG AV1, launched in 2018 by the Alliance the qualities that made H.264 adopted side, one initiative underway that for Open Media (members include so widely. should prove helpful to some operators Netflix, Amazon, Google, Intel, “Historically, H.264 was sold very is the MPEG-5 Part 2 Low Complexity Mozilla, Cisco and Microsoft). broadly, because it plays with all the Enhancement (LCEVC), MPEG is now working on two more devices, it’s got a known cost and it’s which incorporates compression new codecs, easy to use,” says Egge. “With AV1 we technology from V-Nova and effectively (VVC), developed by the Joint Video also wanted to create a codec that can enhances the efficiency of other codecs. Experts Team (JVET), a joint MPEG/ use lots of different content and will be It is examined in more depth in the ITU initiative; and Essential Video used as much as 264. The idea is that article that follows. Coding (MPEG-5 EVC). In July 2019, you can encode into one format for all “LCEVC is a codec-agnostic MPEG announced that both would go your audience. enhancement,” says Fabio Murra, senior forward to the Committee Draft stage “We’re not there yet, but over the past vice-president, product and marketing, of the ISO/IEC approval process. An 12 months, if you look at all the people at V-Nova. “It’s a response to a market MPEG statement said that although the considering AV1, we are getting there. need for approaches that enable amount of improvement in coding The decoder is already integrated into enhancement of existing and future efficiency VVC will deliver had not yet Firefox and Chromium, so that’s a codecs to give them a similar been formally measured it “is expected significant portion of the desktop performance to that of the next to be quite substantial – eg. in the range environment. Android Q has it as a generation codecs. It can also

54 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

53-57_VNova.indd 2 29/08/2019 12:49:32 Advanced codecs

significantly reduce computational complexity of new formats. This can speed up adoption, without having to wait for devices with new capabilities to be available. It will help operators and broadcasters move faster.” Murra also believes the enthusiasm being shown by device manufacturers for VVC and EVC suggests they will be adopted reasonably quickly. “I suspect that in 2020 we will see devices that will support at least one of these formats, given the fact that important device manufacturers are involved,” he says. “We will see adoption more quickly in areas with the highest replacement cycle of devices, with the largest demand for improvements in delivery performance. Streaming services for mobile will be one place to look.” technologies to use and where to older codecs still being used in legacy But even with the assistance of use them will weigh up three key equipment throughout a provider/ innovative technologies like these, factors: the support a codec has in broadcaster’s operations and in Thierry Fautier, vice-president of video terms of devices in the market, customers’ homes and pockets. strategy at Harmonic, believes licensing the quality or cost savings it can “I think they’ll be around forever,” issues may cause further delays in bring; and the complexity of says Murra. “If you’re in the set-top box adoption of the new MPEG codecs. implementation, including new business you’re still dealing with “VVC and MPEG-5 EVC are encoding/decoding requirements. MPEG-2 legacy. 50 years in the future it advanced technical solutions that offer But he also points out that multi- may disappear, but for any business better bandwidth efficiency than AV1 … codec strategies are not necessarily a decision window today these things are but in order to be considered for bad thing. “With new codecs and tools here to stay.” deployment by the industry, we need to being made available there will be more Egge agrees. “Some basic codecs will know the licensing terms,” he told CSI shades of grey,” he says. “Providers will always be supported,” he says. “But I in July. “It’s important to wait and learn be able to fine-tune things to meet think you’re going to find that as more the licensing terms before considering their needs.” and more endpoints become capable of the deployment of those technologies. Ibrahim Nassar, manager of using these next generation codecs, if We cannot reproduce the same mistakes broadcast engineering at Al Jazeera, you’ve got a superior product to offer as in the past.” says the company is monitoring using these technologies you will We can expect further developments related to the new offer it.” announcements in relation to all the codecs closely. “From the distribution “We’re not going towards new codecs soon (including IBC 2019), point of view, new codecs will help us simplification of the codec world – the but whatever happens next one thing is with UHD, but we need to build a opposite is the case,” says Grandl. “We certain: we will be living in a multi- business case for that, because there is a will see the need for more codecs being codec world for the foreseeable future. cost involved,” he says. “We are supported by operators, because of the “The battle of codecs in the market considering using MPEG-5 technologies [variety of] devices, because of will continue,” says Grandl. “I think for UHD – this may be a possibility in [industry] politics and because of competition is generally a positive, but the future. We are considering licensing issues. from an encoding perspective … it gives technology that will bring more “But I see this fragmented codec us some headaches. But there is a need quality and cost efficiency and will world having positive aspects, because to use more than one codec to satisfy reduce costs.” competition drives technology. And all users across all devices.” Even when the newest codecs are in that should mean that in the future Murra suggests that operators and use on a wider scale, there will still be a more of the end users will benefit from broadcasters deciding which of these need to support HEVC, H.264 and the best experiences.”

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 55

53-57_VNova.indd 3 29/08/2019 12:49:46 Advanced codecs

Video compression evolution has MPEG-5 Part 2 LCEVC been led for as long as anyone can remember by standards bodies like the A game-changing complementary solution Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and ISO/IEC. to improve the performance of all codecs MPEG-2 was the de-facto format of digital TV signals before MPEG o address the growing viewing times for better monetisation in delivered a more efficient scheme, demand for high ad-based services, and the ability to MPEG-4/ H.264 AVC, in 2004. MPEG- quality video amidst reach larger audiences on limited or 4 cut the bandwidth needed to deliver challenges of congested networks. On top of all of programming roughly by half. Wind the deploying new this, a reduction in computational clock forward to 2013 and both HEVC codecs, the industry complexity of up to 4x massively (High Efficiency Video Coding) from called for a new reduces the operating costs of encoding JVET (a combined MPEG/ITU Tapproach to video compression. and crucially means that LCEVC can consortium) and VP9 from Google MPEG listened by developing an help to accelerate the rollout of future managed something approaching the innovative new standard, MPEG-5 (and inevitably more complex) codecs same 50% saving trick again. Part 2 LCEVC (Low Complexity by making them both economically Today, MPEG-4/H.264 AVC is still Enhancement Video Coding). and practically viable sooner. the most widely deployed codec, but LCEVC represents a very new But how have we reached this HEVC hasn’t done badly either, approach to video delivery for the point and why is it worth our achieving a hardware decoder base industry. Unlike everything that came immediate attention? of over 2 billion devices and VP9 has before, it is not an independent codec, very broad usage particularly in web- but the combination of multiple Background based applications. compression techniques to create a Video compression is an asset that the codec-agnostic extension to enhance all broadcast industry heavily relies on to New codec adoption other codecs. LCEVC improves coding deliver content to audiences. With HEVC and VP9 represented excellent efficiency and can be readily deployed increasing demand for higher progress and provided the higher via software with sustainable power resolutions and more immersive compression-efficiency options to consumption. Importantly, LCEVC has content, there is a need to look for new enable new use cases and greater scale the same device compatibility as and innovative solutions to produce for video operators. But rolling out new whatever underlying codec it is being further advances in compression given codecs takes time. CE device used to enhance. the well documented limitations of the manufacturers must move through long The fact that LCEVC works with any networks we have today. cycles of hardware design and other codec, MPEG or otherwise, bears With the demand for video rocketing manufacture from the chips to the repeating. This is a significant break upwards and on target to account for boxes that house them, typically taking from the past for video compression nearly 80% of total Internet traffic by at least two years. The customer base standards, for one body to define a 2020 according to Cisco, the market is must adopt the new decoder devices, standard that can benefit all players is not standing still. replacing the older ones. Meanwhile, unprecedented and acknowledges the New video-rich applications from service operators need to install new fact that we’re operating in a world with virtual reality to cloud gaming and encoding equipment and architect new many compression standards, all of interactive entertainment all have the workflows to support the deployments which have key strengths that are potential to offer users higher calibre of new codecs, often in parallel with applicable to different use cases for experiences with higher resolution the old ones. services operators and device video, a wider range of colours, high Now, as we come to the present day, manufacturers alike. dynamic range and higher frame rates if the options for the industry are LCEVC incorporates core technology the underlying technology is available multiplying once again with a new that has already been widely proven by and of sufficiently good value. generation of codecs in the pipeline: a number of deployments with major The relatively sedate progression of AV1, from the operators. The benefits provided by compression technologies over the last formed by big video operators like delivering higher quality at lower couple of decades has been outpaced by Google and Netflix; VVC (Versatile bitrates are perhaps obvious. Better demand and what our internet Video Coding) from JVET; and MPEG- quality results in reduced churn, longer infrastructure can cope with. 5 Part 1 EVC (),

56 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com

53-57_VNova.indd 4 29/08/2019 12:49:52 Advanced codecs

In all cases, the presence of the enhancement codec stream improves compression, or at a given bit rate, while reducing processing power consumed. Summary - A future-proof approach Rather than throwing another codec into the mix, LCEVC is a new tool to improve any subsequent generation of codecs, past, present and future. The business implications of this new approach for streaming providers are game-changing. In many cases they will be able to readily halve their encoding operating expenditure whilst in parallel from large device manufacturers like complexity can equate to increased reaching a larger target audience by Samsung and Huawei. battery consumption in devices which streaming to customers on lower operators need to be wary of to avoid bandwidths. This in turn helps to better Great choice, and great annoying customers. monetise the service by delivering a opportunities for operators As a result, a broad array of industry better quality-of-experience. When considering codec strategies, leaders asked MPEG to pursue a new Furthermore, as soon as next operators must look at three key direction. Namely, alongside the generation codecs become deployable, dimensions: What devices will a codec continued innovation for standalone LCEVC can enhance their performance support? What are the potential codecs, to find a way to enhance the and reduce their computational compression efficiency or quality compression efficiency and reduce the complexity too. benefits? And what will the costs of complexity of all compression LCEVC is progressing well towards deployment and ongoing use be? These standards, past and future, to always standardisation through the MPEG emerging codecs represent great enable faster rollouts of premium video committees by early next year. Given innovation and choice and also a very experiences for consumers. that operators and broadcasters need welcome acceleration in the not replace their legacy investments, technological progression of video LCEVC – how does it work? adoption can be swift. The rapid compression generally. Operators must LCEVC will specify a data stream uptake will also be encouraged by strive to offer more premium services, structure defined by two component the standard being based on proven with higher quality to retain and acquire streams: stream 1 is a conventional and existing technology. This has customers. However, with video codecs encode in the existing ‘base’ codec the advantage that optimised this means multiplying their transcoding (typically at a lower resolution than the implementations of encoders and workflows to keep serving legacy final output signal) which is decodable decoders supporting the standard are devices whilst adding the new services by the existing hardware decoder. already being made available via a range alongside which is costly. Meanwhile Stream 2 is the enhancement codec that of commercial and open-source it’s important to note that new codecs can be decoded via light software products and solutions. drive significant increases in processing, and even via scripted Elegant, effective, efficient and computational costs. This can be decoding in an HTML5 browser, proven. LCEVC provides a compelling acceptable for offline encoded video meaning that the vast majority of and future-proof solution for services but is often impractical for real-time devices and browsers on the planet can looking to deliver next-generation video video or battery-powered devices. That’s already support next-generation video applications at scale without waiting for because for real-time linear channel or experiences. The enhancement codec is the lengthy rollout of new codecs and event encoding, it is often necessary to efficient in using the ‘base’ at varying without the need to duplicate content switch off certain tools within a codec resolutions, effectively incrementing the delivery workflows. to reduce the computational complexity bits-per-pixel (bpp) it has available at and enable the encoder to run on cost- any given bitrate. The higher frequency, Guido Meardi is CEO and effective server hardware, thus sparse, information is instead encoded Co-founder, V-Nova. Come see V-Nova at IBC 2019 on stand sacrificing some of the efficiency gains using new techniques that are extremely 14.A07 of the codec. Similarly, greater efficient and light.

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 57

53-57_VNova.indd 5 29/08/2019 12:50:03 Untitled-1 1 28/08/2019 10:05:09 Pay-TV stats

In association with the informitv Multiscreen Index

ogether with the This is about the same number subscribers in Europe has been less Multiscreen Index as the top 10 services in the significant than in the United States, from informitv, CSI US. However, there is a long tail of with many European providers brings you the latest European services that do not make the continuing to report net gains,” says data on the top 10 top 10, including , with Dr William Cooper, the editor of the television services 3.85 million subscribers in the UK. informitv Multiscreen Index. across Europe and Now part of Comcast, Sky accounted “Nevertheless, it is notable that a Tthe United States. for the majority of customer gains number of operators no longer According to the Multiscreen Index, across the top 10 services across report their television subscriber the leading European operators had Europe as tracked by the informitv numbers separately, which they were 81.49 million TV customers between Multiscreen Index. happy to provide when they were them at the end of June 2019. “So far the loss of television gaining customers.”

The top 10 pay-TV services in Europe

Service Parent company Platform Change quarter Subscribers m Television subscriber numbers at 1 Sky Comcast Satellite 304,000 24.02 the end of June 2019 for the 2 Tricolor National Satellite Company Satellite 2,000 12.23 leading 10 pay-television services 3 Vodafone Germany Vodafone Cable -38,000 7.54 in Europe that report figures. 4 Orange France Orange Telco 50,570 7.15 Illiad and Cyfrowy Polsat

5 Free Illiad Telco - 6.41 still to report at time of printing. 6 Rostelecom telco Rostelecom Telco 68,105 5.43 7 Cyfrowy Polsat Cyfrowy Polsat Satellite - 5.24 8 Rostelecom cable Rostelecom Cable -74,615 4.77 9 Canal+ France Vivendi Satellite -60,000 4.58 10 Telefónica España Telefónica Telco 11,300 4.11 265,360 81,48

The top 10 pay-TV services in the US

Service Parent company Platform Change quarter Subscribers m Television subscriber numbers 1 AT&T Premium TV AT&T Corporation Satellite -778,000 21.58 at the end of June 2019 for 2 Comcast Comcast Communications Cable -210,000 20.64 the leading 10 pay-television 3 Charter Spectrum Charter Communications Cable -150,000 15.80 services in the United States 4 DISH Network DISH Network Corporation Satellite -79,000 9.56 that report figures. 5 Verizon Fios Verizon Communications Telco -52,000 4.27 6 Altice USA Altice USA Cable -20,800 3.28

7 Sling TV DISH Network Corporation Online 48,000 2.47

8 DIRECTV NOW AT&T Corporation Online -105,000 1.33 9 Frontier Frontier Communications Cable -17,000 0.75

10 Mediacom Mediacom Communications Cable -46,000 0.74 Source: informitv Multiscreen Index -1,409,800 80.42

www.csimagazine.com September 2019 59

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