In Broadcast - August 2019 - 34

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 9 - Issue 7 | August 2019

InForm

Broadcasting Without Boundaries
Van Duke, Director of USA Operations,
PlayBox Neo, surveys the expanding
frontier of CDN-based delivery...

he broadcast industry
has its roots firmly
entrenched
in
wired
telephony. Back in the
late 1880s, slightly before
my time, the early model
was
audio
programme
distribution via conventional
telephone lines to paying
subscribers.
The
core
technology was developed
Alexander
Graham
Bell
whose American Telephone
& Telegraph Company grew
into one of the world's most
powerful telco service providers.
Telephone-based subscription music
services sprang up in various countries
and everything looked rosy until the
invention of what would nowadays
be termed disruptive technology:
radio. This was a one-to-many form
of communication rather than the
essentially one-to-one technique of
wired telephony. But going wireless
worked so well that it even threatened
to disrupt the newspaper industry.
Telco-based broadcasting revived
in later decades with the introduction
of cable television services, carried
along wide-bandwidth copper cable.
But the biggest disrupter of all was
satellite broadcasting, initially to large
downlink antennas at the cable TV
head-ends and eventually via much
smaller antennas direct to home. When
digital technology became affordable,
the number of channels available via
terrestrial as well as satellite-based
became very large indeed.

Fig. 1: Olympusat plays out 30 HD channels

were the national TV channels
extending their reach to expatriate
viewers far beyond their terrestrial
or satellite footprints. They were
soon joined by national mainstream
broadcasters using computer delivery
networks, CDNs, to accommodate
'red button' side channels: temporary
TV channels available as opt-outs to
supplement major sports events for
example. These typically allow viewers
to select their preferred camera angle
or view a minority-interest event
taking place in parallel with a
primary event. Side channels
can of course be delivered via
auxiliary satellite or terrestrial
digital channels but become
much more cost-efficient
using CDNs.

devices. Leasing CDN capacity is an
added overhead for broadcasters who
are already paying for terrestrial and/
or satellite delivery media but the
advantages are substantial:
channel
managers
can
now obtain and compare
programme viewing statistics
much
more
accurately
than before and use this
information to guide their
content planning.
Mainstream Delivery
via CDN
Using CDNs as a primary
broadcast delivery route
rather than merely as a sidechannel or catch supplement
is not a new idea. It has been around
for years. CDN-based delivery is
far cheaper than leasing space on
a satellite transponder or digital
terrestrial multiplex. This has made
the Internet a logical proving ground
where new-startup channels can prove
their worth before progressing to the
traditional broadcast mainstream. The
Internet has now reached a high level
of maturity, supporting successful
video-on-demand
services
with
increasingly large subscriber bases.

from a single channel transmitting in
one language up to a full scale multichannel network for viewers across
many language areas and time zones.
Figure 1 shows the system being used
to handle playout of 30 high definition
channels at Florida-based broadcast
media services provider Olympusat.
Figure 2 illustrates the general
workflow for a single channel of SDI/IP
playout. Content scheduling, promos,
commercials, graphics preparation,
subtitling and billing can all be handled
within a single server under fully
automated control while retaining the
freedom to insert live content after
any currently airing file or, for a bigbreaking story, to switch instantly to
live pass-through.
Software Solution
PlayBox Neo's Cloud2TV takes
playout up to the next level in terms of
new-start-up flexibility. Fast and easy
to deploy, it gives network operators
the freedom to scale their activities
with unprecedented precision while
side-stepping the capital cost of
holding reserve equipment on standby.
Cloud2TV is also the perfect solution
for any channel manager seeking
the security of a disaster-recovery
centre without the rental
and staffing costs entailed
in equipping and operating
an off-site studio. Figure
3 shows examples of the
Cloud2TV (top left) and
Channel-in-a-Box
control
screens.

Catchup Services
The big move forward
The Right Business Model
into OTT for established
The key to making CDNFig. 2: General workflow for a single channel SDI/IP
playout with PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box
broadcasters
was
the
based broadcasting work
introduction of catchup video and
This is where the next frontier is finding the right business model.
Side Channels
audio services, allowing audiences to comes firmly into view. CDN-oriented Traditional satellite and terrestrial
A defining characteristic of true view part one of a series, for example, broadcasting using technology such as broadcasting tends to focus on
broadcasters is that they will explore when they have just noticed and tuned PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box modular subjects of proven mass interest:
any avenue that looks a practical way into part two or three. These have systems and our service-structured news, sport, entertainment and light
to transmit their content. The Internet proved extremely popular, particularly Cloud2TV software have shown very documentaries. This leaves a large
was an obvious candidate once the among people who like to watch clearly their ability to function as number of producers pushing for air
delivery infrastructure was up to the television programmes via mobile the core of television channels that time with ideas hitherto dismissed as
challenge. That took a very
see Internet delivery as the too specialised to be commercially
long time but has been
central focus of their business viable.
achieved in most of the
rather than an interim phase
Their time has come. Minority
world's densely populated
of their business.
sports organisations, venue owners,
regions, major cities in
newspaper publishers, hobbyists,
particular. Global investment
Modular Hardware
pressure
groups,
local-interest
in optical fibre has been
Our Channel-in-a-Box series associations, airports, shopping malls...
impressively high and is
is based on standard modules that is just the start of a potentially
ongoing.
which can be combined to endless list. CDN-oriented broadcasting
Among the first adopters of
match practically any scale is a perfect vehicle for specialised
Internet based broadcasting Fig. 3: Cloud2TV (top left) and Channel-in-a-Box control screens and size of playout operation, content. It knows no boundaries.

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In Broadcast - August 2019

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