In Broadcast - July 2015 - 60

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 7 | July 2015

InStudio

Sports
Broadcasting:
From Scene
To 4K Screen
By Ali Zarkesh, VP, Product
Management at Vislink

cross the board, technology
trends over the past 12 months
have moved in the direction of
smaller, better, and faster.
The
overarching
expectation
from today's consumers is one of
increasingly higher quality, and this
has never been more apt than in the
broadcast industry. We've already
seen this with the growth of HD, now
the time has come to experience it
again in the race to 4K. However, this
latest shift represents a significantly
bigger challenge than those that have
come before it. At a time when "cord
cutting" is growing in popularity
and Video on Demand services
are investing heavily in exclusive
content to attract bigger audiences,
broadcasters and pay TV operators are
hedging their bets on offering 4K video
to keep viewers tuned in. But this
presents a number of issues in terms
of transmission, particularly when it
comes to live sports.

In 2015, viewers have more control
than ever over the way content is
delivered and consumed across a
variety of platforms. Content owners
have been forced to adapt as a result,
which has undisputedly contributed
to the growth of Netflix and other
popular Video on Demand services.
While there's no indication live sports
will be leaving traditional broadcaster
networks any time soon - not least
because BT, Sky and others have
agreements in place for the next few
years - growing competition from
OTT players has certainly increased
the pressure and has contributed
to the rising cost of content rights.
Broadcasters can't afford to rest on
their laurels - the potential for change
is there, especially if you look at the
WWE's success as the first
direct to consumer sports
network, which has attracted
millions of subscribers and
generated $176 million in Q1
2015 alone.
To stay in control, therefore,
operators must focus on
delivering the highest quality
sports content possible, which
has undoubtedly led to the
push into 4K. Live sports is
often cited as the glue holding
HD video live from
MotoGP (Bill McMillan)
any pay TV package together,

Fabio Studer's
freestyle skiing
at Nine Knights

not only because it's capable of
drawing a big audience but also due to
the fact sport broadcasting is typically
resistant to on-demand or time shifted
viewing. Its value is intrinsically held
in the "live" nature of sport, which
lets broadcasters bolster advertising
revenues. As such, moving to 4K has
become a necessity - broadcasters
need to protect their investment in
expensive content rights to attract a
high viewer base, and also to ensure
they don't lose those rights altogether.
4K, then, is the next logical
advancement in terms of picture
resolution and quality. With four
times the number of pixels per inch
compared to HD, 4K delivers images
that are clearer, more detailed and of
better clarity than anything before it -
in theory, at least.
The challenge with 4K, and with
HD when it first appeared on the
scene, is transmission. Four times the
picture quality means four times the
bandwidth required to move video
across the network. And if 4K video
can't be reliably transmitted without
delay, error, or a drop in picture
quality, then arguably it's going to
cause more problems than it's worth
and will affect a broadcaster's bottom
line.
This is a big enough problem in itself.

But the issue is amplified when
it comes to sports, considering
the growing expectation from fans
to experience a truly immersive
experience. It's no longer enough
to simply broadcast a football
match or race in high-definition, as
today's viewers are looking for preand post-match coverage and sideline interviews, all of which require
wireless video equipment to make
them a reality.
To circumvent this issue, a
new coding technology has been
introduced. In a similar way to how
4K is the next generation of video,
H.265 is the next generation of
video compression. By introducing
advanced encoding technologies and
combining them with sophisticated
modulation schemes, H.265 needs far
less bandwidth for transmission and
can deliver 4K picture quality at a 50%
lower bitrate than H.264. To make
way for 4K, therefore, and to ensure
transmission is efficient and cost
effective, encoders and decoders used
for sports broadcasting will soon need
to incorporate H.265 compression
schemes.
There is some debate over the
timeline in terms of implementation
and adoption, but there's no escaping
the fact this will happen one way or
another in the near future. Some
equipment
manufacturers
have
already developed encoders with
H.265 compression capabilities. For
example the Vislink UltraCoder which
was introduced to the market in NAB
2015.
For broadcasters, H.265 not only
makes 4K transmission a reality when
using wireless video equipment, but
also makes delivering it practical
for a far lower cost with up to 50%
savings on bandwidth costs compared
to H.264. At a time when live sports
continues to be the saving grace of
the broadcast industry in terms of
revenue, any steps to increase profit
margins and reduce expenditure particularly in light of spiralling costs
for content rights - will be greatly
received.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - July 2015