tvbe may 2015 digital edition

www.tvbeurope.com

May 2015Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry

LTE Broadcast MAM Leaders’ Series roundtable Audio for broadcast

Battleground UKInside the ‘digital’ General Election

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TVBEurope 3May 2015 www.tvbeurope.com

NAB will be heralded as another year-on-year

success, with offi cial delegate numbers reportedly

pestering the 100,000 mark; with exhibitors

making the most of this annual international

platform to deliver their key messaging; and with

certain editorial fi gures discovering a newfound

intolerance of air conditioning and an aversion to

desert sunlight (and biblical dust storms).

The secret NAB has managed to keep within its

guard – much like IBC before it, and I dare to suggest

it will retain this year as well – is some instruction on

what, exactly, we are calling ourselves these days.

There are several, diverse trains of thought out

there as to the perceived essence of the market

we now operate in: the media and entertainment

industry; the electronic media and content

industry; the content media sector; the connected

TV everything and everywhere and everyone…

market. Poor old broadcast isn’t getting a look in.

My worry is that the nub of the whole discussion

is getting lost in the immediacy of change, and

the impatience of market acceleration. We rush

to evolve because that is the natural form of

development: to ‘improve’; to move on from

prototype. We rush because it is demanded of us

from the end user.

We are in the grip of tremendous change,

don’t get me wrong, but are we being too quick

to dismiss the pillars that defi ne our heritage in

the pursuit of sounding up-to-date? The term

‘broadcast’ is losing its

credibility in our sector

because our mechanisms of

delivery have changed. But

if ‘broadcast’ is defi ned as

‘the distribution of content

to a dispersed audience

via any electronic mass

communications medium’ – be that over-the-air,

under-the-ground or over-the-top – then why the

rush to consign it to the past?

In any case, in our commitment to do so,

we have yet to accurately fi ll the void with a

replacement that holds a common consensus. It is

something we will be discussing at our TVBEurope

2020 conference on 30 June, but in the meantime:

answers on an electronic postcard, please.

Onto this issue, and there’s plenty to get stuck

into. Coverage of May’s General Election in the

UK promises to be the ‘most digital’ yet, with

user engagement and measurement of social

interactions high on the agenda, and augmented

reality solutions on hand to bring a visual context

to the results.

Elsewhere, we explore the business model behind

LTE Broadcast, get the latest on bespoke music

libraries and refl ect on the launch of our MAM

Leaders’ Series, in association with Avid.

James McKeownExecutive Editor

Are we too quick to consign ‘broadcast’ to the past?

Welcome

What’s in a name, broadly speaking?

EDITORIALExecutive Editor - James [email protected] - Melanie [email protected] Staff Writer - Holly [email protected] Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England +44 207 354 6002Contributors - Chris Forrester, David Fox, David Davies, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine WrightHead of Digital - Tim FrostHuman Resources & Offi ce Manager - Lianne DaveyHead of Design - Jat GarchaEditorial Production Manager - Dawn Boultwood

Senior Production Executive - Alistair TaylorPublisher - Steve [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Sales Manager - Ben [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Account Manager - Richard [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Managing Director - Mark BurtonUS Sales - Michael MitchellBroadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY [email protected]+1 (631) 673 0072Japan and Korea Sales - Sho HariharaSales & Project, Yukari Media [email protected]+81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800CirculationNewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK

Free [email protected] Tel +44 1580 883848

TVBEurope is published 12 times a year by NewBay Media, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN, England

NewBay Media is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association

© NewBay Media 2015. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. TVBEurope is mailed to qualifi ed persons residing on the European continent. Subscription is free.

Allow 8 weeks for new subscriptions and change of address delivery. Send subscription inquiries to: Subscription Dept, NewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough LE16 7BR, England. ISSN 1461-4197

Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

In this issue4 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

On the 60th anniversary of election results programming, Philip Stevens looks behind the massive operation involved in this year’s UK General Election, described as the most digital election yet, including televised debates

MAM debate opens in the clouds

6-8 Opinion and Analysis

George Jarrett reports from this year’s DVB World in Copenhagen, where TVBAwards Lifetime Achievement recipient David Wood was on hand to spell out the current issues

30 A world of apps

32 TVBEverywhere

We are experiencing the “most exciting time in the TV media industry”, according to Thorsten Sauer, Ericsson’s head of broadcast and media services, as he outlined the fi ndings of the company’s Global Insights 2015

40 Data Centre

Workfl owIs LTE Broadcast a technology in search of a business model? Adrian Pennington explores the fi ner details to fi nd the business case

TVBEurope and Avid launched a new thought leadership initiative at the Shard in March, as authorities from across the industry tackled the steep ascent for the fi rst MAM Leaders’ Series roundtable event

Our audio for broadcast focus looks into the world of bespoke music libraries, licensing, and how demand for synchronised music and audio is changing amongst the broadcast media community

26 What’s the score with audio for broadcast?

Covering the counts The latest insight from our MAM Leaders’ Series, in association with Avid, comes from Bartosz Paprocki, CTO of Telewizja Polsat SA

An exchange of experiences: Heather McLean reports from this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

17

1221

Opinion and Analysis6 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

A fter a number of years observing the

market, we were able to get a true

perspective of the solutions that work

well, and those which will naturally disappear.

We were slightly late to the table, but in 2011,

we decided to start the investment process

to purchase a MAM system. The decision to

invest in Avid Interplay was made by Polsat’s

Tender Committee, which examined, in detail,

the seven other proposed systems. The key

factors behind choosing Avid were the cost of

investment, and the degree of integration with

the station’s existing production systems. Also,

its deep integration of PAM and MAM systems

brings the greatest benefi ts of an operational

nature. Today, due to time and fl exibility of

operations, it is a necessity to manipulate

fi les instead of tapes. The mere fact that it is

possible to start editing material while it is still

being recorded in the studio and to describe

the content and data while being rendered,

considerably speeds up the operation in a way

that was not possible with tapes.

There are still new solutions and new

technologies out there that can have a major

impact on the optimisation of the system.

What MAM means to Polsat MAM is a platform that organises the fl ow of fi les

(programmes and movies), both from our station

and from outside, to and from domestic and foreign

customers. It is the central management system for

MAM Leaders’ Series blog Bartosz Paprocki, Telewizja Polsat SA

Measuring the return on MAM investment, by Bartosz Paprocki, CTO, Telewizja Polsat SA

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Mark HiltonVice President, Broadcast Infrastructure

production processes working with multichannel

playout. The most critical task for our MAM system

is to maintain the database of archived files as well

as the automatic uploading of files from a digital

archive to three distribution points: to Polsat for linear

playouts; to Cyfrowy Polsat for VoD playouts; and to

Ipla for IP streaming. For these reasons, the system

must work reliably and have a constant efficiency

of actions, 24/7/365. To meet this requirement, the

system must be constantly monitored and any

necessary action must be taken as soon as possible

(this task is performed by engineers from the

internal ITTV team).

It is also necessary to have appropriate support

services agreements with the manufacturers,

in case of any significant problems in the

implemented processes and workflows, or

problems with the MAM database.

Valuing the investment in MAM systemsPolsat’s MAM system is an essential component

of our tapeless production and playout systems,

which are based on a digital archive. MAM serves

as an integration platform for all production areas,

which include, among others: two Avid Interplay

PAM systems for the post production of news

and programmes; Apple FCP/Quantum StorNext

for the post production of sport; an Aveco Astra

multichannel playout system; TV studios with GVG

K2 servers; and OB vans with EVS servers. With MAM

being such an integrating factor at both business

and information technology levels, it is a critical

system for our entire business.

There have been many positives since we

implemented our current MAM system. The first is

that it took only 18 months following deployment

for all of the inefficient work processes that were

previously based on tape exchange, to be

eliminated. However, the biggest positive changes

are in pre-release screening, technical inspection

and multichannel playout. Of particular note is

how our processes have been revolutionised from

the manual delivery of material on tapes, to a fully

automatic process of transferring files from a digital

archive and the different production systems.

Already, the number of files delivered to playouts on

a daily basis exceeds one thousand.

Importantly, the whole philosophy of what

MAM means, and how it integrates within our

infrastructure, has also been enhanced. This means

that content is no longer tied to the physical

media; it’s an independent entity. This opens up

new opportunities, not only within existing fields of

exploitation, but also for the future.

Measuring the return on investmentFollowing the implementation of our MAM system,

we were able to measure a significant reduction in

costs associated with tape technology. These relate

to the elimination of HD video recorder purchase

costs for TV studios; the reduced load on quality

control (tapes were previously checked before

each use, whereas the file is checked only once

before entering the digital archive); the elimination

of purchase and shipping costs in transferring

video tapes from foreign distributors; reduced costs

associated with physical tape archives (manual

movement between different departments); lower

VCR operating costs; the elimination of labour costs

for playout ingest; and much more.

Whilst we aren’t yet able to accurately measure

the return on investment, our previous analysis shows

that MAM systems bring significant benefits for

modern production facilities, not only in the financial

sense, but also in relation to the competitiveness of

Polsat and the entire media group.

Levels of investment Before investing in our tapeless production and

playout system, our internal analysis showed that

within the five-year period, expenditure on the

existing (traditional) technology will be very close

to the level of expenditure associated with an

investment in MAM and the maintenance of the

fully tapeless system. The savings associated

with the withdrawal of tape technology

compensated for the expenditure on the new

system. Therefore, there was no reason to

maintain uncompetitive technology.

The total costs are always difficult to estimate

because apart from the direct costs such as the

purchase of equipment, other factors, such as

software user training or any temporary decreases

in performance during system start-up, also need

to be taken into account. The start-up period also

brings additional costs resulting from the dual action

of old workflows running alongside the new system.

With proper planning and implementation stages

unfolding, it is possible to minimise the impact of the

new environment on the entire operation.


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Over the last few years, the cloud has

become the de facto way of storing,

retrieving and working with applications

and data. However, within the broadcast sector

while innovators are busily improving collaboration

and reducing production time by exploiting

a range of applications in the cloud, many

broadcasters are still failing to make the most of it.

Cloud hurdle one: The ‘Saturday Night Live’ problemMedia companies that broadcast live TV will,

of course, be wary of the cloud as they think it

means relinquishing control. Say, for example, a

major network is airing a live show on a Saturday

night and a public cloud service is being used

to host VTs and other recorded segments; if the

cloud goes down, they will simply be told: “We will

be back up and running when the provider lets us

know.” This simply isn’t a good enough answer for

companies dealing with live broadcasting. If the

server goes down, so does that part of the show,

leaving millions of viewers with a show that wasn’t

what the producers intended.

The solutionBroadcasters need to look into which of the providers

available manage their own infrastructure. Making

sure the cloud provider is in charge of its own cloud

– and has resilience – is imperative, as working with

someone who doesn’t have failover capability, can’t

give you an answer or isn’t on the case fixing the

problem the second it happens is just not an option;

especially if the show you are airing is live. Specialist

cloud-based video providers will have this in

hand and have the infrastructure in place to,

one: make sure the server (and backup) doesn’t

go down; and two: in the eventuality that it

does (after all, nothing can be 100 per cent

guaranteed), make sure there are sufficient plans

and SLAs in place to run the service until the

original server is back up and running.

Cloud hurdle two: What happens when Kim Kardashian ‘breaks the internet’? Video is a very specialist form of data and the

complexities that go with it mean that standard

cloud storage and processing just isn’t designed to

accommodate it. Many broadcasters will be wary

of the cloud for just this reason. They know that other

content is often shared on the same servers and

that because their cloud service is not exclusively

optimised for video use only, there is a greater risk of

the whole service falling down.

So while Kim Kardashian’s next selfie probably

won’t actually break the internet, any potential

loss in service just isn’t feasible for broadcasters.

It’s potentially a reason that broadcasters are

being advised by internal teams to keep servers

in-house rather than expose themselves to the

‘dangers’ of the cloud.

The solutionDo your research. It is imperative that

broadcasters understand what content will also

be shared on the same cloud and make sure they

choose a specialist cloud provider that is tailored

to service video content only.

There are video specialists available that make

their clouds for just that: video content and video

content only. They know the challenges that

broadcasters face and have built cloud-based

infrastructures to address this. When the internet

breaks, the servers don’t.

Cloud hurdle three: The fear of the unknownMany broadcast engineers are used to having

a deep understanding of the technology

they use and the cloud can be a daunting

place for many because providers often don’t

let engineers ‘get under the hood’. When it

comes to the cloud, many would prefer to

have technologies in-house that they not only

understand inside out but also have direct

access to when things go wrong.

The solutionDo not entertain suppliers who won’t let you

know the ins and outs of the technology. A

specialist provider should and will be open

about their infrastructure and will allow access to

architecture documents so engineers can truly

understand what they are buying and using.

It is also important that broadcasters ask their

supplier what level of bandwidth they will be

receiving. In some cases, broadcasters will be

paying the same as another organisation but will

be receiving a poorer service.

Collaboration and cost savingsMoving to a cloud-based infrastructure offers a

variety of benefits to a broadcaster, the most obvious

of which is cost savings. By collaborating in the

cloud, broadcasters remove the need to share and

distribute content using the usual costly methods:

courier, tapes, or DVDs. This saves money by allowing

teams to work from any location at any time.

Ease of collaboration means content can be

shared, reviewed and edited in real time regardless

of shoot or edit location. Content can be filmed in

Australia and edited in London without disruption.

All users can comment, review and download as

required. The benefits are obvious.

It is clear that the technology is only going to

continue to grow and those broadcasters that

embrace its possibilities will undeniably get

ahead of the curve.

Senior decision makers at today’s top media

conglomerates face a clear choice: keep their

head in the sand, or get ahead in the cloud.

Broadcasting and the cloud Don’t fall at the first hurdle

Aframe founder and CEO, David Peto, examines the hurdles broadcasters face when embracing the cloud and what it will take to finally harness the power of cloud video

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While all the political parties in the

United Kingdom prepared for what

has been dubbed ‘the most significant

election for more than a generation’, the BBC

was laying its own plans for, arguably, the biggest

programme of the year for the Corporation.

Since the last General Election in 2010, the

perception of politics and politicians in the UK

has changed. At the same time, technology has

moved forward at considerable speed – and

these twin factors have influenced television

coverage this time around.

“The public has changed in the way it

consumes media and is also instrumental in

producing its own media – Tweeting, Facebook,

blogging even – so it knows more about how the

industry works,” states Tim Burke, editor, Election

OBs for the BBC.

He recalls that in 2010 the BBC presenter in the

studio had to explain about the Twittersphere.

“But five years ago is so far away now that Twitter

is just part of the make-up of election counts

now. But there is a danger that Tweets can give

a distorted view of what is going on: our job is to

give the right result as it is delivered.”

He continues, “Viewers can see when

something has been distorted by editing, so they

are better able to discern whether or not what

Workflow12 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

Covering the countsOn the 60th anniversary of election results programming, Philip Stevens looks behind the massive operation involved in this year’s UK General Election, described as the most ‘digital’ election yet including televised debates

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The combination of Vizrt graphics and Stype was used by the BBC for the Scottish Referendum programme

they see and hear is true. So, the BBC

has a great role to play in ensuring it is a

trustworthy source of news. There are many

other sources that can take the public down

routes that are not genuine.”

Burke traces his association with General Election

coverage back to 1992 while working as a

reporter/producer for BBC Radio 4. Since that

time – and especially over recent years – he has

seen politicians transform their approach. “They

have become far more savvy to the way social

media has [impacted] on their workload. They

are talking to a constituency that is very vocal –

all the while remembering there are still a great

many people who do not access social media.”


Workflow

“The public has changed in the way it consumes media and is also instrumental

in producing its own media” Tim Burke, BBC


Places not previously viableTurning to technology, Burke says that it, too, has

progressed significantly and there are far more

tools to utilise than were available just five years

ago at the last General Election. “We have HD

GoPro which opens up tremendous opportunities

for coverage not previously possible. But the

great thing now is that you have elements

such as LiveU, WMT (Wireless Multiplex Terminal)

which allows the back of the camera to feed

data to various fixed points and you can have a

cameraman feeding back pictures directly.”

The BBC will also utilise vSats: vehicles which

can simultaneously set up a Wi-Fi cloud of their

own and feed pictures from a simple small

truck. “This has a great advantage editorially,”

comments Burke. “We can do an interview and

then move on to another location for another

story. We are also using the BBC Live Bike, which

enables a camera to be set up when the

motorcycle is parked up, do an interview, feed

it back to the hub and then travel to a new

location and repeat the exercise. In that way, we

can cover far more stories than is ever possible

with a full outside broadcast set-up.”

Lawrence Galkoff, technical lead looking after

OB content for the programme, adds more

about the utilisation of technology. “We use

equipment such as LiveU on a daily basis to

bring news to our viewers. As a result, there are

few challenges associated with the technology.

But the biggest benefit is the fact that it offers

us the chance to cover areas in the most cost

effective manner possible. And that is always an

important consideration.”

Moving homeGalkoff, for whom this is the eighth General

Election programme, goes on to say that the

biggest challenge for this year’s programme has

been a change of studio. With the recent closure

of the BBC Television Centre in west London, the

programme has moved to the facilities at Elstree,

just north of the capital.

“Although we produced the local elections

programme last May from that studio, this is a

Boldly going...

By Philip Stevens

Pedestal camera systems for Virtual Reality

studios that rely on mechanical tracking for

mapping camera positions have always

suffered from the problem of ‘drift’. And this

is especially noticeable when graphics, such

as voting figures, are seen on studio floors. The

slightest ‘drift’ makes the graphics appear to

move across the studio.

However, the tracking system used for the

Election Results programme, developed by

London-based Mo-Sys Engineering under the

name of StarTracker, uses optical techniques

to ensure accurate camera locations. And

the reason for that name is obvious when the

system is observed at close quarters.

“We figured we could create a map on the

studio ceiling and use that to navigate and

identify camera positions,” explains company

CEO, Michael Geissler. “The challenge was to

overcome strong lights on a ceiling. Our system

uses ‘stars’ that we attach to the ceiling and

are unaffected by the studio’s powerful lights.”

These retro-reflective sticker ‘stars’, which are

randomly fixed on the studio ceiling, are detected

by the system’s LEDs mounted on the StarTracker

navigation camera. This unit is attached to

relevant pedestals or cranes. StarTracker then

‘remembers’ the position and pattern of the stars

and relays the necessary data to the graphics

system generating the virtual images.

“No calibration is needed, as this is carried

out automatically by StarTracker when the

pedestal is moved across the studio,” reports

Geissler. “And even if some ‘stars’ are obscured

by an object – such as a hanging light, there

are enough to ensure the navigation remains

pinpoint accurate.”

The nature of the system means there is

no limitation when it comes to the size of the

studio. The StarTracker unit comprises a control

box, monitor, and the navigation camera

with LED-ring. The control box also contains a

module for lens encoding and bus power.

Geissler adds, “We are pushing the envelope

with this technology – but there are still more

exciting developments to come later this year.”

The principle behind the StarTracker system is simple. LEDs mounted on the system’s navigation camera pick up reflected light from ceiling based ‘stars’ to locate the broadcast cameras’ positions

“The BBC has its own IP-based Broadcast Contribution Network, and across the UK,

IP is enabling us to cover locations more cost effectively than at previous elections”

Lawrence Galkoff


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Egripment can deliver a fully integrated system, which can be used in the

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much, much bigger undertaking. We started

planning for this election once we knew

Television Centre was to be sold. Of course,

it made sense to opt for a BBC owned studio

where we knew we had full control of the

facilities, so Elstree figured in our plans from about

the beginning of 2013. We also needed to bear

in mind the closeness to London where many of

the key figures are located.”

Alongside the analysis in the studio will be

the drama of the results from around the United

Kingdom. At the time of writing, the exact number

of constituencies being covered by live feeds was

still being determined. But with 650 seats up for

grabs, plans call for something in the region of ten

per cent of counts to be broadcast live.

Burke says selecting which counts to cover live

is subject to several criteria. For example, who

is going to declare first? Where are the major

contests between the parties? Where are the

marginals? Where are Greens doing well in local

councils that might give a clue in a General

Election? Where are UKIP progressing locally that

might give them a foothold?

“About half of the feeds from the locations will

pass through the BBC facility at Wood Norton

before being passed to Elstree,” reports Galkoff.

“The other half will go straight into Elstree where

we have installed several extra flyaway dishes.

Having two routes also offers us extra resilience.”

To some extent, IP technology will be utilised.

“The BBC has its own IP-based Broadcast

Contribution Network, and across the UK, IP

is enabling us to cover locations more cost

The BBC’s hub control during last year’s European elections


effectively than at previous elections. Key sites,

such as Downing Street, are already cabled

with that technology. And our colleagues

in Scotland used IP for their Referendum

programme last year, so that infrastructure will

be utilised again.”

Both Burke and Galkoff agree that the Scottish

Referendum and last May’s local elections

programmes served as good dress rehearsals

for this General Election production. Much was

learnt about making the best use of the studio

space for presentations and the use of graphics.

The power of graphics“We’ve seen a massive increase in processing

power since the last election in 2010,” states

Galkoff. “That means there is the ability to get

more information out to the viewers much

faster. People will notice a difference in the

way we present the graphics to help

them understand what is transpiring as

the votes come in.”

Burke agrees, “As a viewer, what do you want

from your election count? You want the result,

how your party is doing. We aim to provide

the tools so people can see what the share

of the vote was last time and what the

information means.”

To meet that need, Vizrt graphics systems

will be used. Viz will also form a vital part of

the Virtual Reality (VR) elements that

have become commonplace in election

programmes of this type. The VR graphics will

work in conjunction with Stype cranes and

StarTracker from Mo-Sys.

All the processing power will come from the

graphics engine and be fed as a single source

into the Sony MVS-8000 vision mixer in the gallery.

The director’s chairThe studio will accommodate 16 cameras under

the direction of Claire Bellis. “Alongside the

ten manned pedestals, there will be one 30ft

Technocrane, three hot heads, one Steadicam

and one locked off wide shot.”

So, with a programme that starts just before

22:00 hours and goes on through the night until

the next day, how does she prepare for such a

marathon spell in the gallery?

“I usually stop drinking a couple of hours

before the show and only take sips of water

during the programme. The adrenalin keeps me

awake,” reports Bellis.

She says that the biggest challenge is in the

set-up. “There are so many people involved

across so many different areas that co-

ordinating all the different teams to achieve the

programme’s ambitions is a huge task.”

To make it easier to handle the numerous

sources coming into Elstree from the various

crews scattered around the United Kingdom, a

series of editorial hubs are being employed. For

English constituencies, two hubs will handle input

from the north and south of the country. In turn,

each of those hubs will be fed from three

sub-hubs. The other UK nations – Scotland,

Wales and Northern Ireland – will each have its

own hubs. Producers at each of these sub-hubs

will pass material to the main editorial centre

manned by Burke and a director as the action

unfolds. They will then pass content to the main

production gallery for transmission.

Bellis explains how the system works in reality.

“My main contact for all the OBs is through Nick

Davies as the director in hub control, while the

editor, Sam Woodhouse, will talk to Burke. Once

the OBs are through to the gallery on the hub

lines I can talk directly to them, if necessary,

too. The principle is editor talks to editor, director

talks to director. The editors will discuss offers and

things coming up further ahead and Nick lets

me know when OBs or two-ways are ready and

what’s on which line.”

She goes on to explain that there is also a studio

‘tips’ system of offers from different areas that the

Production Assistant (PA) will put into a running

order based on what the editor wants to achieve.

“When I started working on Elections this was done

with a slung camera over the PA’s shoulder looking

at handwritten yellow ‘stickies’ showing what was

coming next. Now, of course it’s all via computer.”

The final word comes from Burke. “The politics

of the election are the democratic drama of the

night so you have to capture that with the best

resources at your disposal. If you can’t do that

you haven’t got the theatre of the event.”

Presenter Jeremy Vine rehearses in the Elstree studio ahead of European Elections programme in May 2014

The BBC made good use of augmented reality sets for the Scottish Referendum programme


Workflow

After a decade of false starts,

broadcasting to mobile is back on the

agenda as momentum builds behind

LTE Broadcast or eMBMS (evolved Multimedia

Broadcast Multicast Service). While the

technology continues to be tested by mobile

operators, the impediment to success would

appear to be finding a business case.

The main driver from the mobile industry’s point

of view is conservation of the 4G spectrum which

operators collectively paid £2.4 billion for and

which is being rapidly consumed by demand

for video. Ericsson predicts mobile data traffic

to grow 12 times from 2013 by the end of 2018

driven mainly by video.

Currently, where there is high demand

for a particular video service, whether live

sports stream or a viral video, the one-to-one

(unicast) mobile network is tasked to deliver

multiple parallel sessions to users. This can

build congestion, cause poor user experience

(e.g. buffering or loss of the stream) and is an

inefficient use of network resources.

By broadcasting a single stream to multiple

handsets, LTE Broadcast means an unlimited

number of users can receive content with a

high-quality user experience and a more

efficient use of spectrum. It does so by

effectively allocating a single frequency

within a base station, which is then repeated

in other base stations. This could be over a

small area like a sports stadium, or part of a

city (like London’s Tech City), city-wide,

regional or national.

Deployment is relatively straightforward,

requiring a software upgrade to the cell

sites rather than network-wide upheaval.

Smartphones fitted with the required chip

(from chip makers like Qualcomm) will be

mass marketed by the end of the year.

The technology is a combination of three

standards. eMBMS the 3GPP standard;

HEVC which delivers compression levels up

to twice compared to the H.264/MPEG-4

AVC standard; and MPEG DASH – Dynamic

Adaptive Streaming over HTTP – which

brings standardisation to an area full of

proprietary interfaces.

It builds off of the 4G network extensively

covered in the UK by EE (BT), O2, Vodafone and

Three. Operators are now competing to rollout

LTE Broadcast, which is expected to be

ubiquitous by the start of 2016. All that is needed

to switch it on, for initial short-term, localised use,

is a commercial model.

TrialsTo date, most LTE Broadcast trials have been

in and around sports stadia where there is believed

to be a business case for easing congested mobile

networks in crowded and compact areas.

“Where there are more than six people in

a cell site accessing HD video, it becomes

a problem from a capacity perspective so

broadcast will offer a more efficient delivery,”

said Mark Hyland, SVP, global sales at QuickPlay.

“We see this being monetised by large operators

with content rights as pay for use or by

advertising that drives a free application.”

EE, for example, is lead sponsor at Wembley

Stadium and is using events there to test

technologies including LTE Broadcast. “You

could live stream a game over LTE and offer, for

example, bespoke fan commentary, multiple

replays, camera angles, and all manner of other

interactivity via unicast,” explains Matt Stagg,

senior manager, network strategy, EE.

Clubs and sports venue operators are

adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach, while

business cases are not nailed down. Rights

holders probably hold the keys here in tandem

with mobile operators. For example, live streams

of EPL and Football League matches to the

mobile devices of fans inside a football ground

are restricted under the current broadcast

contracts owned by BT and Sky. There may be

Adrian Pennington explores LTE Broadcast and eMBMS and the business case behind it

LTE BroadcastA technology in search of a business model?

LTE Broadcast means an unlimited number of users can receive content with a high-quality user experience and a more efficient use of spectrum


a case for using LTE Broadcast in and around

Wimbledon during the annual tennis tournament

but this would probably need to be free to users

since the BBC owns broadcast rights.

AppsThe BBC itself trialled the tech at the

Commonwealth Games last July. A mobile app

written by BBC R&D was used to display and

navigate three live streams on handsets. The app

featured a map of the events and locations around

Glasgow, which lit up in green when a live stream

was available. Users could click on the venue and

receive the video. This was also connected to BBC

iPlayer to enable the integration of unicast on-

demand content with the live broadcast streams.

“We hedged our bets by testing a sports-

specific event and also the idea that this

technology could be rolled out into a mobile

network wherever the user happened to

be,” explains Chris Nokes, principal engineer,

distribution core technologies, BBC R&D.

“Our interest is for people to have the best

possible experience wherever they watch BBC

content,” he continues. “To the extent that

LTE Broadcast can help provide an improved

experience it is interesting and important but

it is not vital.”

Since LTE Broadcast has the ability to deliver any

kind and size of file, video is not the only selling

point. Over the air firmware updates, Machine to

Machine, digital signage, in-car TV PPV events,

marketing campaigns, auctioning of time slots

are other examples. Data plans are currently

predicated on counting IP packets delivered

to your mobile phone. Having a different –

reduced or free – model for multicast packets

could drive adoption of services based on LTE

Broadcast. “File delivery is the unsung hero,”

says Kerry Travilla, senior director, technology

at mobile service provider MobiTV. “In order to

create an engaging app you need to have data

such as real-time score updates, Twitter feeds

and breaking news sent alongside the live stream

and the mechanism to do that is the file delivery

portion of LTE Broadcast. It also keeps the app

from trying to access that interactive content

over unicast. If that happened it would make

the network inefficient.”

Secondly, says Travilla, any place there’s a

need for large scale distribution of content, LTE

Broadcast is ideal “since you can hit millions of

handsets in one swoop rather than having a

million individual requests by HTTP.”

Longer term, there are those who argue that

the needs of public service broadcasters and

of the mobile industry could co-exist with

judicious use of this portion of the spectrum

to reach the growing audience wanting to

consume content on mobiles.

The EBU dismissed this last year, stating

that LTE Broadcast was not yet ready to

“LTE Broadcast is definitely ready for primetime. It changes the game for

TV in some areas” Dennis Specht, Roundbox


Workflow

deliver widespread TV services free-to-air.

While the new mobile technology could be

a useful complement to the broadcast

distribution platform, it concluded, it was

unrealistic to expect it to become a viable

alternative to broadcast distribution, including

DTT, anytime soon. Yet, its report preceded the

start of a world first trial of TV broadcasting

led by Nokia and research body Institut für

Rundfunktechnik. The 18-month trial uses a

single LTE frequency within the UHF spectrum

and is being conducted in a 200km2 area

around Munich until early 2016.

“We strongly believe nationwide broadcast

is a relevant use case and has the potential

to change the business models in the media

industry,” says Helmut Schink, head of telco

standards, Nokia Networks.

“So far the industry is talking about the digital

dividend with mobile and TV industry framing this

as a fight because of the perceived need

to give some spectrum resources away. We

think LTE eMBMS is sufficiently flexible that

broadcasters can continue with their business

model without needing to have specifically

allocated spectrum.”

“LTE Broadcast is definitely ready for primetime,”

declares Dennis Specht, CEO and co-founder of

Roundbox, recently acquired by mobile solutions

To date, most LTE Broadcast trials have been in and around sports stadia

provider QuickPlay Media. “It changes the game

for TV in some areas. In APAC, for example, we are

seeing LTE Broadcast being leveraged as a cable

replacement. You can offer 12 channels for $7 a

month over mobile.”

To 5G infinity and hologram Skype5G, the successor to 4G, is already being

investigated. It would deliver speeds of 50Gbps

running on spectrum above 6GHz, a high

frequency which is currently used for weather

monitoring, scientific research and satellite

broadcasts. This would represent a 3,000-fold

increase in speeds, according to the Financial

Times. According to regulator Ofcom, 4G

customers in the UK today receive data at an

average 15Mbitps.

Research in the UK is led by the 5G Innovation

Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey, funded

with £15 million of government cash plus £45

million in contributions from Samsung, EE,

Vodafone, Telefonica, Fujitsu and Huawei. Video

over wireless specialists Cobham and the BBC

are also members.

Due to open its doors this September, the

5GIC is part of the University’s Institute for

Communication Systems (ICS), which made a

major contribution towards the development of

2G technology in the 1990s, 3G in the 2000s

and 4G since 2010.

“If we get 5G right, there won’t be a 6G,” says

EE’s Stagg. “People won’t talk about speed

because there will be enough capacity in

the network for millions – billions – of devices

connected to the Internet of Things. It will

be incredibly low latency and a totally different

architecture with a lot of computing done

on the cell site. It means you can start to

look at all manner of applications such as

driverless cars.”

According to Ofcom, 5G would allow surgeons

to oversee operations from the other side of the

world using 3D medical imaging, or for families

to “virtually attend family occasions” with

holographic video.

There is currently fragmentation in 5G

development, a lot of work to be done and

there are no standards. Operators are jockeying

for position with 2020 the earliest timeframe

for introduction.

Ofcom hopes that the UK becomes a leader

in laying the foundations of 5G. It states that

5G must represent a step beyond anything

offered by 4G in speeds and in giving users the

“impression of infinite capacity”.


“If we get 5G right, there won’t be a 6G. People won’t talk about speed because

there will be enough capacity in the network for millions - billions - of devices

connected to the Internet of Things” Matt Stagg, EE

Avid’s Craig Dwyer, senior director, Global

Center of Excellence, began by setting

the scene on how we all see media

asset management (MAM). “The traditional

value chain is something we all recognise and

there has been a lot of work going on to make

the integration points across the value chain,

and make the media lifecycle, more effi cient.

Over the last few years, we’ve discovered it’s

all becoming a lot more non-linear. There’s a lot

more integration required.

“Also, the richness of the metadata, rights

implications and publishing on all the different

platforms with the right rights as well as being

able to marry all that has fundamentally

changed this media asset fl ow,” he remarked.

Dwyer believes we are moving into a world

where there will be a lot more real-time analytics.

“So applying some of this big data technology

and methodologies will be able to create real-

time insight from data.”

Moderator Jeremy Bancroft opened the

fl oor for discussion by asking: “What do we all

understand by MAM? Is it a system that just allows

us to catalogue material?”

Paul Clennell, CTO for dock10, didn’t agree

that it is exclusively about cataloguing but

acknowledged its importance in managing the

media. “It’s the ability to harness the metadata

and wanting to grow assets rather than it being

a series of stagnant reference materials and

items. It enables you to access things that were

Clouds prove apt venue for MAM debateTVBEurope and Avid launch MAM Leaders’ Series at The Shard

The sunlit London skyline was the glistening backdrop for the offi cial launch of a new thought leadership initiative between TVBEurope and Avid, as experts from across the industry gathered for the fi rst MAM Leaders’ Series roundtable event, high up in The Shard. The discussions were keen, with debate roaming from the granular understanding of specifi c processes to the defi nition of MAM itself. Melanie Dayasena-Lowe opens our coverage in the fi rst of a two-part report into the major components of discussion


Craig Dwyer, Avid

in association with

in association with

previously very diffi cult to access. Around that

it’s a process engine. It enables you to automate

some steps and apply processes to things you do

on a day-to-day basis.”

Sky’s Chris Whatmore, MAM product owner

and senior business analyst, was in agreement

but pointed out that there’s another aspect to

consider. “It means different things to different

types of business. If you are a playout provider it’s

one thing, but if you are a production company

it’s another. At Sky, we do a little bit of everything

so across our business MAM means different

things to different departments, which is a huge

challenge,” he explained.

“It could mean a traffi c system dealing with

acquisitions, deals and scheduling, or it could

mean management of the assets themselves.

For production, it becomes your archive

and library. I like to think of it not just as a

system but more a collection of things that

need to be done.”

Bancroft put forward the idea of a single

enterprise MAM system that does everything,

and asked if this is an issue.

Rod Fairweather, senior director of infrastructure

and media technology for Viacom, was upfront

about his view on this. “I hate global systems with

a vengeance. It has to cope with every time zone

change and you have to fi t in with development.

What we do need is clear interoperability.”

Kevin McCue, senior manager of technical

operations for Sky Post Production, added:

“We’re at the point where we’re looking for a

hub in the middle of a wheel and you have these

things on the periphery of the wheel that are

operating in their own way and working. What

you’re trying to achieve is something that sits in

the middle, brokers the conversation between all

of these things and if you want to make changes

you’re not governed by everything attached

to the MAM system.”

In response, Bancroft asked: “Isn’t that what our

IT cousins would call an Enterprise Service Bus?”

Anil Chaman, manager of technology, Al

Jazeera English Language Channel, was in

agreement with Whatmore’s take on what MAM

means. “You can call it a MAM, PAM, DAM. We’ve

ended up putting a control layer in that stitches

the wheel together because there wasn’t a

one-stop shop solution. We’re a fully fi le-based

global solution and we needed a powerful user

interface. That’s exactly what it does. It joins

up the dots. It has had to be bespoke, it wasn’t

something that was available.”

22 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

www.asperasoft.commoving the world’s data at maximum speed

Jeremy Bancroft, moderator


The discussion then moved on to the Framework

for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS), a project

to defi ne standards, which enable media systems

to be built using Service Orientated Architecture.

Bancroft positioned this aspect of discussion by

asking: “There is all the talk about FIMS and what

that’s going to bring to the business.

AMWA has been promoting it and it’s been

underway since 2010. There have been a

few limited implementations around the

world. Are we left that we have to go out

and do it ourselves?”

Fairweather highlighted that there are few very

large organisations in the news world, namely CNN,

BBC, Al Jazeera and Sky. “If the market consists of

four companies, there aren’t that many that will do

a massive investment to get it to the stage needed.

You can set up an engineering organisation but

unless you’re turning out these programmes on an

hourly or daily basis, you don’t really understand

what the pressures and demands are.”

Whatmore added that ten to 15 years ago,

manufacturers were expected to come up

with all new features that worked together and

“that is almost a different brain-set. Now things are

changing more quickly you need to react

to the strategy and direction of the business.

You need a certain level of functionality that

you can get off-the-shelf, but you do need either

an integration platform or workfl ow management

that sits over those services that you then bought.”

David Shield, senior vice president, global

director of engineering and technology, IMG Sports

Media, commented: “You could do a defi nition of

what the MAM function is if you just say it’s storing

content and associated metadata. All the different

users (transmission, archive) are using all that stuff in

different ways. Managing the storage and holding

the metadata, that’s a common feature.”

Using the loose term of MAM, Bancroft

asked the group if multiples of those are

needed in an organisation.

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Paul Clennell, dock10

“I hate global systems with a vengeance. It has to cope with every time zone change

and you have to fi t in with development. What we do need is clear interoperability”

Rod Fairweather, Viacom

in association with

Sky’s Whatmore answered: “We’ve already got

multiples and I think the secret to our future is

how we integrate those better.

“When we were trying to move from tape-based

to fi le-based, it seemed like the way to go was to

have one system (production, archive and media

crunching/processing) and it was probably right at

the time. But you see how the industry is changing.

The OTT and on-demand side of the industry is a

great example of the fact that you wouldn’t want all

your transcoding and encryption to be sitting in the

MAM. You want a process that is fed from the MAM.”

On the topic of multi-platform and content

everywhere, Bancroft asked: “We now have

multiple devices and platforms that we need

to distribute content to, how quickly are these

platforms and business models occurring within

your organisations?”

“Our job is totally driven by the product line,”

explained Francesco Donato, VP broadcast

operations for Sky Deutschland. “We can’t ignore

the requests from our colleagues in products and

operations. This happens every three months so

we don’t have time to build our own solution. For

instance, there is no reason to build our own CMS.

We already have three different CMS systems.”

From TV2 Denmark’s perspective, Kjeld

Skovlund, head of TV projects and deputy

manager, said requirements are not that different

across organisations. “We used to be linear in our

production and we turned into non-linear. We still

think in terms of linear when it comes to project

planning but it simply doesn’t work anymore.

We don’t have the time. We have to deliver the

product in one to three months.”

“With a three-month timescale, how do you

manage to keep this big vision when people expect

it in three months?” asked Bancroft. Skovlund

admitted that he doesn’t yet have the answer. “We

can’t change the technology and the complete

facility in three months. Over the last two years, VoD

and OTT have been driving everything.”

Donato said: “The success is the combination of

two things: the right technology choice and the

ability to change your own internal workfl ow.”

And how does this compare for public service

broadcasters such as Yle? Does it take longer to

implement changes in workfl ows? Jouni Frilander,

portfolio manager, media systems technology and

development at Finnish broadcaster, Yle, remarked:

“Sometimes there are challenges with the fi nancing.

I fully agree with the importance of the integration

platform. The future will be different. There will be

more cloud-based services and ideas will be created

outside of the broadcast and media industry.”

Bancroft continued by suggesting that with

the industry and requirements on engineering

platforms changing so rapidly, “is there a future

for these big monolithic systems?


Anil Chaman, Al Jazeera

Jouni Frilander, YleDavid Shield, IMG Sports Media Kjeld Skovlund, TV2 Denmark

Chris Whatmore, Sky Kevin McCue, Sky Post Production


Or are we going to use point solutions that we

fi nd a way to integrate together?”

Chaman believes that as we embark on the IP

world, the latter is eroding. “There are manufacturers

out there that are almost ready to create a purely IP

installation/environment. You need the end-to-end

solution, not just the part in the middle.”

Returning to the subject of the cloud, Bancroft

was interested to fi nd out whether more off-

sited services will be used as and when needed.

Fairweather made an interesting point about

geographical location. “None of us want rooms full

of technologies sitting in expensive real estate in

London. At Viacom we have 250 to 300 servers that

need baseband in and out. If we can get rid of that,

we can shift all that technology out of expensive

cities. Manufacturers need to move to a model

where we can spin up and spin down applications

in 30 minutes.”

dock10 buys enterprise systems and offers them

as a shared infrastructure. Clennell noted the

importance of security and the use of a modular

approach by his company. “If we’re undergoing

a period of long and extended rapid change, a

monolithic system won’t cut it. In order to keep

up, we need to be agile, modular and we need

to be taking systems off the shelf rather than

customising products.”

Clennell continued to point out the importance

of asset management in dock10’s environment as a

facilitator – rather than owner – of content for its clients,

and the stresses on effi ciency and security. The latter

aspect was picked up by Bancroft, who wanted to

know how companies go about convincing producers

and directors that their content is secure in the

cloud among the concerns about security. “For us,

it’s about not imposing a workfl ow on a client,

but listening to the workfl ow they want to use,

and adapting the tools we’ve got to follow that

process,” Clennell explained.

The wider acknowledgement of security issues

within cloud-based storage was expanded on

by Shield, who offered: “There’s a nervousness

about storage. Clients such as the Premier League,

Wimbledon and R&A are all saying that they

don’t want their stuff on a server in Denver; which

is typically what people will say. The international

distribution is great, but they want to know that

their content is physically ‘there’, so you end up

inventing ‘private cloud’ so that it’s all contained

in one place.”

Fairweather added that this all depends

on the type of content being distributed. “If

you’re dealing with content that is yet to be

broadcast or is absolutely premium, then security

is important. Once content has been broadcast

throughout the world, then security is less of an

issue as it is for a Premier League football match

or pre-release content.”

Part two of our MAM Leaders’ Series roundtable

report will feature in the June issue of TVBEurope.

in association with

“The success is the combination of two things: the right technology choice and the

ability to change your own internal workfl ow”Francesco Donato,

Sky Deutschland

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26 TVBEurope

What changes are you seeing in the broadcast market with regard to demand for specific audio and

music for TV productions?

Stubbs: The expansive nature of the broadcast

market, which encompasses a diverse range

of programming, means that there are

always new and different music requests

coming through. Over the past few years,

production music has seen a real growth as

companies are recognising the breadth and,

most importantly, the quality out there. As the

number of requests grow, so does the variety of

briefs we get. One noticeable change we’ve

seen at UPPM is a growing demand for tracks

with lyrics. Although instrumental versions are

still the primary choice for our clients, when

they search for music, they are increasingly

expecting to hear radio-ready songs – both in

style and quality. The current charts and music

trends often influence the type of requests we

get as that’s what companies are looking to

use within their productions. With music trends

constantly changing, we need to ensure we

keep up with these trends, producing songs

with the same production values that you get

with commercial music.

In addition to the influence of chart music,

the soundtracks to movies and trailers also

have an impact on the requests we see for

What’s the score with audio for broadcast?TVBEurope delves into the world of audio for broadcast by speaking to a selection of audio experts on the issues of licensing and the challenges around UHD. We get the lowdown from Phil Stubbs, senior key account manager at Universal Publishing Production Music (UPPM); Lina Tebbs, head of TV, Europe for Audio Network; and Ian Cookson, communications manager at Calrec Audio

www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

“The demand for house seems to be on the rise as well as off kilter, moody electronic

music which is popular for high octane sports productions and promos”

Lina Tebbs, Audio Network

UPPM creates bespoke, original and creative content and continues to showcase the

quality and craft put into every albumFeature

music in programming. We have a sizeable

number of requests influenced by movies – from

those looking for a cinematic sound from epic

blockbuster-style tracks right down to much

smaller, indie or sparse and intimate sounds.

Probably the biggest change over the past

few years, however, is the increasing demand

for music stems. This refers to a track being

broken down by the group/single instrument

and separated out. If companies had the

budget most of them would have music

specifically composed, so providing stems

allows them to remove or add instrumentation

as required in order for a track to best fit the

picture they’re synching it to. When music

is synched, it’s more than likely there will be

some kind of voiceover/dialogue, so having

the ability to remove an instrument or element

of a track with a stem can be really valuable,

ensuring the background music doesn’t fight

with the voiceover.”

Tebbs: ‘Dramedy’ Pizzicato strings (of

various tempos and styles) has always been

popular in the broadcast market, especially for

documentaries and reality TV. We are finding

that our clients are experimenting with the genre

by requesting different lead instruments such

as the oboe and piano. We are getting more

interest in funk and disco as a result of some

very popular commercial artists dominating

the charts – the use of tracks in the style of

popular (chart) music is a common trend in

the broadcast market. The demand for house

seems to be on the rise as well as off kilter, moody

electronic music which is popular for high octane

sports productions and promos. It’s more of a

sound design approach instead of traditional

composition and can offer a premium sound.

Are today’s TV productions increasingly looking for unique material from bespoke audio catalogues and libraries, rather than the traditional licensing alternative?

Stubbs: Production companies are always

looking for something unique that will make

their productions stand out and music is a

great way of doing that. If TV productions had

the money and time I think most would employ


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Feature

a composer to write something bespoke for

them, however, money plays

a huge deciding factor in opting to go

down the bespoke route and this has always

been the case. As such, an increase in

demand for bespoke material hasn’t really

changed, but the library’s ability to meet this

demand has.

As technology advances and costs reduce

on some of those technologies, it’s not

uncommon for composers to have their own

studios at home. While we still use big studios

and will continue to do so, the home studio

has had a knock on effect in keeping costs

down for producing tracks. The key is finding

talented composers who are able to use these

technologies to create some incredible music

that a client can manipulate to work for their

production. Keeping these costs down allows

us to offer bespoke edits on existing tracks;

for example, if a show wants to refresh its title

music. The home studio also allows us to create

tracks from scratch with a quick turnaround

at an affordable cost to the client as well as

producing music stems.

Recognising that companies want

specifically composed music but haven’t

always got the budget, UPPM has come up

with new and innovative ways to help them

reach this goal. One unique and revolutionary

solution we offer is the BBC Orchestral Toolkit.

Created by composers Marten Joustra

and Andy Blythe, the toolkit is made up of

thousands of sequentially interchangeable

cues. This means users can effectively create

their own score using existing music stems. It’s

the closest you can get to a bespoke score

but without using a composer, and we’ve had

some great feedback since its launch.

We work closely with the TV production

companies, seeking their feedback with

regards to the use of the music they employ.

Knowing what they’ve used historically and

knowing the direction they hope to go in will

allow us to feedback to our own producers in

order to create albums that can be as useful/

bespoke for a client as possible. We always

take the time to understand the shows’

target audiences which inevitably shapes

the style of music that will appear and appeal

in the programme.

Tebbs: The demand for unique, bespoke

music in TV productions will always be

high as exclusivity is very appealing within

this competitive industry. However, the lack

of time and budget mean that this is not

always possible.


From your perspective, what are the current technical challenges facing the audio aspect of the broadcast sector? Cookson: One of the main challenges is signal

transport around the broadcast infrastructure

and beyond. Calrec’s proprietary Hydra2

networking solution offers more than just a

signal transport system. It is also a powerful

management tool that provides network-wide

management of many parameters and allows

signals to pass into a wider network using a

variety of standards.

In April 2014, Calrec committed itself to

an agnostic future: while we felt that MADI

continues to serve the industry extremely

well, we predicted we would see AoIP

interconnections providing more flexible and

elegant replacements. Most of all it promotes

freedom of choice – if everything works with

everything, broadcasters can choose kit based

on its suitability for them.

The publication of AES67 has given AoIP

a massive boost. While non-proprietary AoIP

solutions are commonly not able to offer the low

latency, determinism, capacity, and broadcast

feature-rich audio networking that Calrec’s

Hydra2 provides, we think that AES67 and its

compatible brethren are a perfect companion

technology for wider connectivity to third-party

equipment in a broadcast facility.

What sort of challenges will the advance of UHD in the industry present for companies in the audio sector? Cookson: Consumers are demanding more and

more from their viewing experience, although the

onus has been mainly on the visual side. Audio still

has to keep up, though. The move to 5.1 is still the

biggest shift we’ve seen in recent years.

It is now commonplace for audio to be

broadcast in a surround format for the majority

of sporting events and light entertainment

shows. The rising channel count that

accompanied this shift to surround sound

was a big part in the development of digital

consoles, and was the ethos behind Calrec’s

Bluefin2 range of consoles that can have up to

1,020 fully featured input channels.

The step up to 7.1 has been on the horizon

for many years now but the demand from

broadcasters hasn’t arisen yet as many consumers

won’t have a system that can handle it.

More recent times have seen companies

developing a more object-based approach

to broadcast audio where the viewer can

choose what they’re listening to. This hasn’t

happened commercially yet but is an exciting

development, and Calrec is working with

other parts of the industry to ensure that our

consoles are fully prepared for this next stage

of immersive audio.

In your eyes, where will the next strategically important developments come from? Cookson: The panacea is total interoperability

between equipment in the broadcast

environment. The challenge in achieving this

lies with the manufacturers, some of whom are

competitors, moving towards a common goal.

AES67 is a major catalyst as it has provided a

focus and a direction for everyone to move in.

This could ultimately lead to remote production

becoming a feasible broadcast workflow

as there is currently a lot of interest among

broadcasters. The appeal of remote production is

obvious: it saves money, increases efficiency and

allows the mixing to be done in an acoustically

conducive environment.

The use of wide-area audio networking

makes possible the remote production of live

TV events, where large geographical distances

separate the production facilities and the

events that are being televised.

However, there are difficulties to overcome if

this is to become practical in a wide variety of

circumstances; in particular, the transportation

of audio, and the issues of reliability, redundancy

and synchronisation. It is likely to be a few years

before we see this happening.

Ian Cookson, Calrec Audio

Immersive audio

Feature


To cater for our customers’ needs, we offer

a track amendment service. The client

picks a track and we brief the original

composer to carry out some changes

to make it more unique.

Most of our composers work in their own

studios so we are able to ask them to edit

the track to a client’s brief (e.g., addition

or removal of certain instruments) and thus

offering a somewhat bespoke service, but

for a fraction of the cost.

This is particularly popular among our clients

for series title music and advertising.

To what do you attribute this change or growth in demand from the broadcast market? Does it mainly concern costs, or are there other implications at work?Stubbs: There have been some changes

set out by the MCPS to the way independent

production companies (IPC) pay and licence

production music.

Not only has this meant it’s become

cheaper and easier to licence production

music but the licences now encompass

more rights for no extra cost, which has a

great appeal to IPCs.

The costs of production music are covered

by many of the broadcasters here in the

UK, however, when it comes to worldwide

rights, this historically has been where

there could be additional charges or

implications for an IPC. The changes made

by the MCPS has meant that this is now

much more simple to cover which has

helped to drive demand. However, I

believe the growth also has a lot to do

with a production music company’s ability

to meet the demands that are coming

through from the IPCs.

Phil Stubbs, UPPM

“The costs of production music are covered by many of the broadcasters here in

the UK” Phil Stubbs, Universal

Publishing Production Music

Feature

“Which ‘quality factors’ should be added to UHD-1

Phase 2 to make it successful is indeed the question

of the hour. The more you add, the bigger the ‘wow’

factor, but possibly also the higher the cost of the

display. Where is the commercial balance between

set cost and viewing experience?” said Wood. “There

is also a balance to be made between additional

production cost and quality value for broadcasters.

These are the questions that the DVB CM-UHDTV

group is considering right now.”

4K content services via IP seems to be the

driver for broadcasters, and surely looks like a

finishing school direction for not trusting in the

availability forever of spectrum.

“There was a proposal at DVB World that the

best thing that broadcasters can do is to begin

UHD-1 services via their internet services. In this

case, there will be no new broadcast receiver,

and the decoding will be done by software,”

said Wood. “This is a ‘low risk’ means of starting

UHD. After they gain experience of whether the

public can differentiate HDTV and UHD-1, they

can decide whether to broadcast UHD-1.

DVB World, held this time in Copenhagen,

is always an affirmation that the DVB

model of commercial and technical

modules will remain vital to the business of setting

standards way into the future.

HEVC enablement with DVB-T2 and DVB-S2X

were two of the big IBC attractions, so what were

the interesting things that emerged at DVB World?

For regular event blog writer David Wood, chair

of CM-UHDTV and CM-3DTV, as well as ITU-R Study

Group 6, there were five things that stood out.

These were issues around 4K and 8K displays,

consumer price willingness, the use of IP to

establish broadcaster UHD services, the impact

or not of 5G, and radio issues around DVB-T2.

Having marked its 21st year, how key to everything

is the role of the DVB Project going forward?

“We constantly reflect on the road it needs

to travel. Certainly the UHDTV broadcast

profiles need to be developed, but we are

also moving into the world of apps, and hybrid

broadcast broadband. And we are considering

how broadcasting lives in, and if and how it

contributes to those worlds,” said Wood. “We are

also thinking about how we could involve other

parts of the world more, particularly Asia. HG

Wells asked: ‘Is there to be no rest for mankind?’ I

think the answer for DVB is no.”

Which quality factors come first?Conclusions from the University of Stuttgart were

that the sales success of 4K TV sets is assured,

because they are not much more expensive to

make than HDTV displays. Does this amount to a

good consumer proposition?

“A UHDTV display – which looks good close

to the screen – will probably settle down at an

additional cost of only ten to twenty per cent

more than typical HDTV displays,” said Wood.

“On the other hand, 8K consumer sets will need a

new generation of display technology because

of the much higher pixel density, and they will be

very much more expensive.

“We don’t know how this will play out in

reality. And it should be said that NHK believes

that mass-market 8K displays will be possible,

probably largely made in China,” he added.

What about public awareness of the mixed

hardware and software conundrums around

when HFR, HDR, better colours, better pixels,

immersive audio become consumer realities?

Feature30 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

“Certainly the UHDTV broadcast profiles need to be developed, but we are also

moving into the world of apps, and hybrid broadcast broadband”David Wood, EBU

A world of appsGeorge Jarrett catches up on the discussions from this year’s DVB World in Copenhagen

David Wood: “I used the phrase ‘faster than a speeding bullet?’ (during DVB World) because I wanted to say that just as Superman could save mankind, we imagine that UHDTV will save mankind, or at least the broadcast industry”

“But there would be drawbacks in doing

so,” he added. “Probably only a part of the

broadcaster’s audience will have enough

internet capacity to watch nice UHD-1

images; most broadcast UHD-1 tests run at

something like 20-25 Mbitps, but it could be an

option to evaluate.”

5G will require much higher broadcast bands Back to the issue of frequency bands and 5G:

the mobile broadband power base keeps

grabbing and reaching, but does not use

what it already has.

“Broadcasters are certainly worried about the

possible loss of broadcast spectrum in the band

below 700MHz for mobile internet, and they will

be lobbying at the ITU WRC 2015 conference later

in the year to maintain it for broadcasting,” said

Wood. “5G is the technology being developed to

meet what are perceived to be society’s mobile

internet needs in 2020 and beyond.

“With services like the Internet of Things the

spectrum needs will be huge – well beyond

anything current broadcast bands could

provide. 5G will require much higher broadcast

bands, so there is really no threat to the

broadcast bands,” he added. “The current

threat comes from short-term thinking by network

operators. Broadcasters believe it would be a

tragedy to kill broadcasting just for an interim

solution for wireless broadband.”

Audio was a key element at DVB World. Can

Wood make a case for abandoning DAB and

DRM, and why would it make sense?

“There could be a case for those countries

that have not yet started digital radio, but are

planning to use DVB-T2 for television, using DVB-T2

also for digital radio, rather than DAB, DABplus, or

DRM. T2 could be efficient, and have good radio

coverage. As it will be widely used throughout

the world, the decoder costs could also benefit

from volume production,” said Wood.

“But life is not so simple. DVB-T2 would be yet

one more radio system to add to the list. Radio

broadcasters may fear being dominated by

TV if DVB-T2 is the delivery means. Also in the

countries where DAB and DABplus is in use, they

might not welcome other countries using another

technology,” he added. “Digital radio is growing

only slowly throughout the world, and the plurality

of technologies is part of the reason. How did we

get into such a situation for digital radio systems?

This is not one of our finest moments.”

No question of ‘not invented here’What did the DVB World audience learn from

Mark Richer about ATSC 3.0 and its comparative

values to the DVB systems?

“The ATSC 3.0 system is still being finalised

but the indications are that it draws very

much on DVB-T2. Many of the key features

found in T2, like OFDM and data pipes

will be in ATSC 3.0, but is it going to be

exactly the same as DVB-T2? No. There

will be new features such as allowing

broadcast and broadband delivery more

seamlessly,” said Wood.

“I don’t think it’s a question of ‘not invented

here’. The Americans have looked at DVB-T2

and said ‘that’s great, but it’s been a few

years since it was developed, and some lessons

have been learned. We can make an improved

version’, which is what they are trying to do,”

he added. “Unless all regions of the world

develop standards at exactly the same time,

this is inevitable.”


Feature

At DVB World, the hot topics were 4K and 8K displays, consumer price willingness, the use of IP to establish broadcaster UHD services, the impact or not of 5G, and radio issues around DVB-T2

Mobile TV was no longer presented as

a subject separate from all others at

the annual Mobile World Congress

event held in Barcelona in March. Thanks to the

proliferation of mobile devices and the pervasive

nature of mobile technology in home and

business life, mobile TV is simply a service that

people expect to be able to access everywhere,

from whichever device they are looking at.

Many companies were talking about mobile

TV in one form or another, from SES and Ericsson,

Expway and SPB TV, to Telefonica and Microsoft.

From network capacity issues and how to

overcome them, to the latest OTT technologies

and projects, mobile TV was being discussed

in all its facets.

Network capacity watchWith 5G networks set for commercial deployment

by 2020 and mobile data consumption

increasing exponentially, Ericsson convened an

LTE Broadcast User Group at the show, joining

Facebook, the GSA, the GSMA, Indycar, Intel,

KPN, Qualcomm Technologies, Telstra and

Verizon, among participating companies.

Mobile video traffic is growing rapidly and

expected to make up 55 per cent of all mobile

data traffic by 2020, Ericsson’s 2014 Mobility

Report stated. Therefore, LTE Broadcast is

attracting significant and growing industry

traction as a method for making the best use

of existing network resources and available

spectrum to introduce new video services and

reduce the strain on the network.

The LTE Broadcast User Group is to act as a

forum for the exchange of experiences and best

practices on the establishment and operation

of LTE Broadcast services, with the intention of

promoting the use of LTE Broadcast more widely

in the industry and to catalyse the development

of an ecosystem around the service.

Dan Warren, senior director of technology at the

GSMA, said: “The principal objective of the user

group is to share the best practices that will spur

industry growth and widespread adoption as we

enter a new era of personalised media content.

Users want anytime, anywhere, any device

access to their media and entertainment and

LTE Broadcast can be a key technology

to enable delivery of popular content in an

optimal way. It can relieve some of the heavy

traffic burden that operators would otherwise

have to support.”

Thomas Norén, vice president and head of

product area radio at Ericsson, commented:

“Ericsson has been at the forefront of developing

and implementing LTE Broadcast technology

around the world. This technology has great

potential to grow much further, with more use

cases such as TV services, cached media,

software updates including application updates,

connected car, digital signage and public

safety. Together with leading industry partners in

ecosystem development, we can spur the big

business opportunity for the industry and promote

the use of the technology more widely.”

Satellite and telecoms combinedAlso discussing network evolution for video

content was SES. “Mobile players are facing

enormous challenges and the risk that the

evolution of network demand and usage will

lead to unmanageable congestion,” said Karim

Michel Sabbagh, president and CEO at SES, in a

keynote he delivered at Mobile World Congress.

He said there must be mainstream integration

of cellular and satellite infrastructures for the

delivery of video content in Europe. “Satellite

is a key factor for digitisation and an integral

part of the mobile ecosystem, adding reach

and efficiency to mobile network operations,”

Sabbagh said at the conference. “Only

combining terrestrial and satellite infrastructures

and technologies will lead to significant

cost efficiencies, competitive solutions and

compelling consumer advantages.”

Sabbagh added: “If, for example, today’s

video content was to be consumed fully on-

demand and only by terrestrial fixed network in

Europe, data consumption per household would

multiply by a factor of not less than 35; with Ultra

HD, this would again multiply by three or four.” He

warned that if the mobile and satellite network

industries failed to work together, things could

TVBEverywhere32 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

An exchange of experiences

Heather McLean fills us in on the hot topics from this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona

More than 93,000 people attended Mobile World Congress from 200 countries

“Satellite is a key factor for digitisation and an integral part of the

mobile ecosystem” Karim Michel Sabbagh, SES

get bad quickly: “If we fail, the overwhelming

demand for video content and streaming will

even deepen the digital gap further.”

Integrating digital infrastructures and

combining the strengths of broadcast and

broadband technologies, on the contrary,

would create a unique combination, Sabbagh

concluded: “Where terrestrial networks deliver

connectivity on the one side, and satellites

deliver the mass market distribution of IP video

and non-video content to homes on the other,

we can offload heavy video traffic from terrestrial

networks. This will help all of us control costs, add

reach and create truly converged ecosystems

that will help us to drive the demand for further

and future consumer applications and solutions.”

TV merges with mobile techTelefónica, one of the largest telcos in the

world, and Microsoft announced at the show

a joint initiative for the provision of TV OTT on

devices running the Microsoft Windows Phone

operating system.


TVBEverywhere

From network capacity issues and how to overcome them, to the latest OTT technologies and projects, mobile TV was being discussed in all its facets

www.tvbeurope.com May 2015

TVBEverywhere34 TVBEurope

Telefónica’s Movistar TV Go service for Windows

Phone 8.1 will enable Telefónica users to view

their favourite TV content, both linear and

on-demand, by speaking into the phone.

Microsoft’s digital assistant technology, called

Cortana, is being integrated into Telefónica’s

worldwide commercial video service for

Windows Phone users, who will be able to

search for content through the natural speech

interface of Cortana.

Telefónica aims to launch the final commercial

version of the Movistar TV Go app on Windows

Phone 8.1 sometime this year, available first

in Spain and then in other Latin American

countries where Telefónica is offering pay-

TV services. Meanwhile, it will be tested in

a Spanish language beta version to ensure

perfect consumer interaction through Cortana,

which will be the first time that Cortana for

Spanish language is integrated in a worldwide

commercial service.

Michael Duncan, CEO of the global video unit

of Telefónica, commented: “The availability of our

television services on mobile devices increases the

attractiveness and potential for enjoyment of the

content we offer to our users, and places Telefónica

at the forefront of video products with an offer of TV

Everywhere which is increasingly diverse.”

OTT for the massesMobile broadcast and multicast technology

provider, Expway, announced that its LTE

multicast middleware, also known as evolved

Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services

(eMBMS), is now available on Technicolor’s OTT

STB. The result of this integration was successfully

tested on the Ericsson LTE Multicast platform prior

to Mobile World Congress.

Thanks to Expway software architecture,

Technicolor’s Hybrid-OTT is also able to deliver

the LTE-multicast TV content over Wi-Fi to all

tablets in the home.

Expway chief marketing officer, Claude

Seyrat, explained: “The objective of this

collaboration is to add a disruptive use case by

combining multiple means of video distribution

over fixed, mobile and terrestrial unicast and

multicast technologies. Technicolor is one of

the key players in the industry, and Expway

is proud to have its solution selected for their

STB, to be ready for the upcoming LTE

multicast deployments.”

Meanwhile, SPB TV, a provider of end-to-

end OTT TV, IPTV and mobile TV solutions,

showcased its newest mobile TV technology

and announced new service launches

in emerging markets at the show. SPB TV

presented a new high capacity, energy

saving Mega Encoder for mobile TV, OTT TV and

IPTV. It straddles SPB TV’s encoding with Intel

Quick Sync Video technology, Intel Media

Server Studio, and Kontron Symkloud. The

result is an increased capacity of up to 100 HD

channels of simultaneous multi-rate transcoded

video streams and dramatic saving of energy,

supposedly up to five times better than its

standard transcoder.

Additionally, SPB TV showcased its new OTT TV

platform featuring 4K encoding and a ‘swipe’

feature for consumers. The 4K solution for video

encoding and streaming in real time is available

for telecom operators as a part of the SPB TV

Media Platform, while the smooth multiscreen

experience with swipe makes switching between

devices easy and fun, allowing users to simply

swipe content on a smartphone or a tablet to

view it on a TV set.

Following up on its fast growing consumer

base in emerging markets such as South

America, South Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe,

SPB TV also presented a new service launch

in Pakistan, called Mobilink Mobile TV, which is

Pakistan's first mobile TV launched on Mobilink

Networks on the new 3G and LTE licence.

SPB TV CEO, Kirill Filippov, added: “Emerging

markets continue to provide a serious potential

for growth and reinvent mobile TV. The large

consumer base and usually better, conducive

regulations in those markets mean more new

products, new technology and better return on

investment for mobile TV.”

Mobile TV is simply a service that people expect to be able to access everywhere, from whichever device they are looking at

“Users want anytime, anywhere, any device access to their media and entertainment and LTE Broadcast can be a key technology to enable delivery of popular content

in an optimal way” Dan Warren, GSMA


TVBEverywhere

The rise of professional AV solutions in

business has radically transformed

corporate communications. Moving away

from static images and email, companies are

increasingly integrating video with their overall

communications and information strategies. The

increase in remote working and collaboration

between regional offices has further impacted

corporate communications and media

consumption, leading to the increased

deployment of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD)

strategies. The trend is so prominent that recent

research from MicroMarket Monitor forecasts

that the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) market in

North America will grow from $29.5 billion in 2014

to $89.6 billion by 2019, a CAGR of 24 per cent

from 2014 to 2019.

The emergence of BYOD in many verticals

such as corporate and finance, healthcare,

higher education, hospitality, media and

broadcast, oil and gas, transport, and venues

and stadia has been significantly influenced by

the growth of IPTV across the globe. According

to a recent Global IPTV market report, market

revenue grew by 16.2 per cent in 2014 over

the previous year, and this growth is expected

to continue steadily through 2019, with the

market posting a CAGR of 20.3 per cent during

the forecast period. Organisations around the

globe are implementing large-scale enterprise

IP video projects such as stadia supporting

the 2016 European Football Championships

in France, for government departments in

Australia and for world famous hotels in

the Middle East.

The advent of trends like BYOD and the Internet

of Things (IoT) highlights that connectivity

has become an integral part of our lives. It is

therefore no surprise that an increased number

of market verticals are leveraging IP connected

professional AV technologies to provide

real-time content to guests, visitors and staff.

Digital signage offers updates in airports, hotels

and hospitals, while professional IPTV enables

end users to watch multiple TV channels on

screens spread around premises. The BYOD

phenomenon gives the professional AV industry

the opportunity to take these video streams even

further and deliver them directly onto the end

users’ connected devices. There are, however,

many challenges for businesses as they move to

support BYOD, with the need to address content

rights protection, security, reliable distribution and

network management issues.

How BYOD is transforming enterprise IP videoThe proliferation of screens used to access

content, both in the consumer and corporate

worlds, enables organisations to distribute

tailored video streams to different target

audiences, as well as facilitate the sharing of

high quality video content between offices.

Businesses can connect their multiple screens

using robust IP video solutions that efficiently

distribute content. Live TV content from high

bandwidth broadcast sources such as cable,

DTT or satellite can be delivered to these end

points without requiring additional cabling. Many

organisations are increasingly looking to expand

the reach of their video communications beyond

their internal IP network, creating an additional

challenge for systems integrators. These systems

enable remote staff, visitors and guests to access

high quality video content while on the move.

Leading the AV-IT convergence, enterprise

IP video sits on top of the corporate IP network,

building on pre-existing infrastructure to limit

cabling costs, while enabling organisations to

offer a larger number of tailored streams to

visitors, staff and guests. Additionally, it enables

systems integrators to better monitor the activity

on the network, which is particularly crucial

for companies looking to expand their video

communications to BYOD. BYOD-enabled IP

video systems enable organisations to deliver

a dynamic mix of information, live video feeds,

real-time footage, over-the-top video and

access to external channels easily to all users

across a wide range of networks, including

the corporate wired LAN, WAN, Wi-Fi and the

internet. This capability is critical for organisations

that look to integrate connected devices with

their enterprise IP video solutions.

With increased broadband bandwidth, 4K

becoming more commonplace and wearables

entering consumers’ lives, end-users increasingly

expect high quality video feeds to be

accessible everywhere in real time and without

compromising on picture quality, enabling the

advent of true TV Everywhere for both consumers

and organisations.

By Colin Farquhar, chief executive, Exterity

Transforming the global communications landscape

with professional IP video

‘The advent of trends like BYOD and the Internet of Things (IoT) highlights

that connectivity has become an integral part of our lives’


Goodman: Audio console manufacturers face

the same challenges that confront the broadcast

industry as a whole; there is a demand for ever-

increasing effi ciency whilst, at the same time, a

growing requirement for content with second

screen and internet-based distribution. The

biggest shift in broadcasting is the concept of

interoperability. There is no doubt that networked

infrastructures will become increasingly important

in all modern broadcast environments. The industry

is moving towards an interoperable future and

there are already a number of different protocols

vying for our customers’ attention, and although

MADI continues to serve the industry well, it is clear

that these AoIP interconnections will provide more

fl exible and elegant replacements. It is important

for console manufacturers to provide solutions for

these technologies. While non-proprietary AoIP

solutions are commonly not able to offer the low

latency, determinism, capacity, and broadcast

feature-rich audio networking that Calrec’s Hydra2

provides, we think that AES67 and its compatible

brethren are a perfect companion technology for

wider connectivity to third-party equipment in a

broadcast facility.

Heiniger: Keeping abreast of changes in the

broadcast industry and customer requirements

is clearly key to designing, producing, and

selling audio consoles. Broadcasters have

always demanded reliability, usability and high

audio quality, but 2015 is seeing a real desire

Sounding out the experts

This month we return to the topic of sound mixers for broadcast. Philip Stevens moderates the discussion

Along with all areas of the broadcast industry, manufacturers of audio mixers continue to face new challenges – especially when it comes to generating more content in less time with modest budgets. As a result there is an ongoing scrutiny of technologies, workfl ows and infrastructures to provide the answers the industry is demanding.

On the panel this month to discuss current issues are (in alphabetical order) Henry Goodman, head of sales, Calrec Audio; Roger Heiniger, Vista product manager, Studer; Ian Staddon, vice president of sales, DiGiCo UK; Christian Struck, senior product manager audio production, Lawo; and Bjorn van Mü nster, product manager Polaris evolution, Stagetec.

Audio Mixer Forum

What are the key issues facing makers of

audio consoles in 2015?

Henry Goodman,Calrec Audio

Roger Heiniger,Studer


Audio Mixer Forum

for networked production audio

systems which include shared I/O,

shared control surfaces between

studio spaces, tighter integration

with other broadcast plants such as

video routers, control systems and

intercom systems, and the ability

to connect via AoIP in addition

to more traditional interconnect

standards. Understanding this

systems approach is crucial to

remaining successful.

Staddon: Probably, the key issue

is one of demand to communicate

with other devices over an increasing

number of different protocols.

Whether this is over AES67, Optocore,

Ravenna, AVB or Dante, etc. As a

manufacturer, deciding which formats

to adopt is not straightforward, with

many factors to consider from latency

to capacity to the number of third-

party devices using that protocol. In

short, the demands are for seamless

integration, redundancy and control

of overall systems, but whilst there is no

single standard, we have to provide

the best and most reliable solution for

our customers.

Struck: Latest developments in

audio production requirements

lead to the necessity of audio

consoles providing connectivity

to new infrastructure standards. In

general, this means that technology

needs to embrace workfl ows using

IP-Layer-3 formats, like Ravenna

which is compatible with the AES67

standard format. Technology and

infrastructures based on IP-Layer-3

provide the integration of IP-

capable devices into fl exible and

scalable networks where signals of

any kind, be it audio, video, control

or any other media data, can be

collected, distributed and accessed

for further use. One of the side

effects is that traditionally separate

technological worlds, as well as

production facilities and expertise,

will keep merging even further, just

like the different production formats

like TV shows and live events share

more and more structural and

technological qualities.

van Mü nster: As far as we are

concerned, the major issues are

changing hardware requirements,

scalability, fl exibility and modularity.

And, of course, there’s the question

of integration with AoIP.

Goodman: In a broadcast

environment and especially

OBs, it is clear that reducing the

amount of external processing is

an advantage. This is partly due to

costs, but weight and space are

also key factors. Two important

additional factors to consider are

security and processing latency.

Console manufacturers go to great

lengths to provide a high level of

security and redundancy within

the console environment and this

will always be compromised by the

use of external processing. Whilst

processing delays may be small,

the interfacing to the console has

potential to add signifi cant delay.

In either case these delays cannot

be managed by the console and

therefore have to be understood

by operators. Today, the most

practical solution for external

processing is a low latency plug-in

type server connected via a high

density digital interface like MADI.

Heiniger: A key challenge for

audio DSP revolves around the fact

that audio processing is a highly

parallel task – you have to process

many channels simultaneously.

SHARC and FPGA chips are good

at parallel processing, but both

require signifi cant R&D effort in

PCB design and programming.

Standard CPU x86 chips, however,

are shipped in huge volumes, are

easy to programme, have readily

available PCBs, and their rate of

change of processing power vastly

outstrips SHARC chips. Using a

special version of Linux, Studer has

developed a unique method to

utilise CPU chips for real time audio

signal processing, thus offering

all the benefi ts of CPU chips over

traditional SHARC and FPGA.

This cutting edge technology is at

the heart of Studer’s new ‘Infi nity

Core’ range.

Staddon: The solution is to have

all the processing within the console

itself as we do with DiGiCo. If there

is a specifi c need for additional

external processors, then these

should be plug-ins that run on a

local server and are connected

directly to the console using a

dedicated interface. This way, the

plug-ins are a fully integrated part

of the console and any latency

is automatically compensated.

It only becomes diffi cult when

external, non-integrated processors

are introduced into the system,

as delays will be introduced and

no console can manage this

automatically.

van Mü nster: There are four

areas of importance here. Firstly,

providing reliable hardware

and software that comes with

a proven track record. Second,

always carefully listening to the

It has been said that it is diffi cult to

create successful digital signal processors for broadcast. What’s the solution?

“Keeping abreast of changes in the broadcast industry and customer requirements is clearly key to designing, producing, and

selling audio consoles”Roger Heiniger, Studer

Ian StaddonDiGiCo UK


requirements of the broadcast industry. Next,

getting a profound understanding of the

requirements and workfl ows that are applicable

to the customer. Finally, understanding the

current requirements but, as a manufacturer, also

being aware of upcoming future trends.

Goodman: In practice this move has not had

any real infl uence to the manufacturer of audio

consoles. It is standard practice to provide

multiple feeds – which is why most broadcast

consoles are capable of providing more than

one main programme mix and output. This could

be 5.1 mix plus a stereo mix, or clean and dirty

mixes for international distribution, and many

operators are already used to providing mixing

in multiple formats. That said, the quick and

easy creation of mixes does have an effect

on the design philosophy of an audio console.

Mixes should be easy to create and, as these

requirements increase, mixers need to be able to

produce them just as quickly and just as easily.

There is defi nitely a trend in the simplifi cation of

control surfaces of modern digital consoles.

Heiniger: Yes it has: perhaps most signifi cantly in the

number of channels a console is required to process

simultaneously, and the amount – and type – of

I/O required. Traditionally, a console might have

been expected to output one or two stereo mixes

in addition to the standard foldback and earpiece

outputs, clean feeds – mix minuses, etc. Today, a

console might need to output two 5.1 mixes with two

matching stereo downmixes, foldback, earpiece

outputs, clean feeds, and plus possibly stems or sub-

mixes for internet streams and interactive TV services.

This also impacts the number of buses and monitoring

and metering facilities a console offers.

Staddon: Not for DiGiCo, as we have always

been offering consoles with large numbers of

outputs and the ability to provide all types of

busses, be it 5.1, LCR, stereo, mono, mix-minus

etc. Operating in the ‘live’ environment has

meant that we have optimised the way to

generate and access these outputs, which is the

key to the ease of operation.

Struck: From a very early stage, Lawo has

developed its audio consoles parallel to the

constantly changing requirements of the industry

and the user – or even anticipated these

changes. This is a reason why our company has

been an early supporter of the AES67/Ravenna

technology which is integrated in our systems. We

are constantly observing the market and thus see

the new requirements for the provision of content

for second – or manifold – use and distribution,

but neither does this affect the manufacture of

our audio mixing consoles nor the mix as these

are all downstream operations.

Goodman: The only real issue here is the

management of AoIP streams and the handling

of potential latency issues with streaming audio

technologies. The audio operators have to

be aware of these issues and take the time to

manage them, but the fundamental mixing

techniques are not signifi cantly affected.

Heiniger: Whilst AoIP has obvious implications

for a console’s I/O requirements and the overall

audio system design, it doesn’t particularly

affect the mixer control surface itself, nor the

mixing techniques used by the operator. Console

operators will, however, need to be aware of

the delays inherent with AoIP connections. While

these delays may only be a few milliseconds,

and may not matter if the feed is to, say, a

foldback loudspeaker, it may be signifi cant with

things like multitrack record feeds if comb fi ltering

is to be avoided.

Staddon: It is not so much an issue of

technique, it is more one of understanding the

AoIP stream and if this is adding any latency,

which then has to be considered.

Struck: We would not call it just an ‘in’ thing

– the changes towards IP-based broadcast

infrastructures and its spreading acceptance

represents a quasi-natural evolution. The open-

format approach, the fl exibility and scalability

of networks, the use of existing IP infrastructures

will re-form the complete broadcast sector

effectively and irreversibly. Lawo integrates

Audio-over-IP technology not only as a mere

interface, but as new backbone technology

in its already established mixing console

series. This is technically sophisticated, but

this path of integration gives our customers a

highly valuable practical benefi t as they can

migrate from MADI to IP Layer-3 infrastructures

step by step and are not forced to change

their existing technological environment in

“The changes towards IP-based broadcast infrastructures and its spreading acceptance

represents a quasi-natural evolution” Christian Struck, Lawo

Has the increased use of second screens and

streaming — with their diff erent audio requirements — made any diff erence to the manufacture of consoles?

IP solutions are the current ‘in’ thing. Do audio-over-IP

applications require diff erent mixers/mixing techniques?

Audio Mixer Forum

one throw. Hybrid products will

consolidate new IP technology,

cost-effi ciency and the customers’

innovative capacity. And with

regard to mixing technique – in

a fi rst step these changes will

affect the infrastructure, not the

mixing workfl ow itself. However,

by and by the skill set of engineers

will probably change, as will

the workfl ows, when users start

discovering the fl exibility IP

brings. Technical teams from the

broadcast audio side will fi nd

that issues formerly approached

exclusively by the IT teams will now

have to be conjointly approached

by both teams – close cooperation

between audio and IT will lead

to success.

van Mü nster: It is not really the

mixing technique that changes,

but the audio distribution behind

it. Although we believe that for the

upper range of high-end audio

the TDM based networks like Nexus

are still outperforming current AoIP

performance in terms of latency,

jitter, more elaborate redundancy

– for example, cable, CPU and

hot swappable elements, but also

control function through logic offer

benefi ts with respect to unique

AoIP networks.

Goodman: From a console

manufacturer’s point of view, this

is done. Most broadcast consoles

now have built-in Loudness metering

which adheres to the legal standards

which are now in practice.

Heiniger: Depending on where

you are in the world, Loudness

compliance is either mandatory or

not required at all. As such, there’s

a wide variation in knowledge

and understanding of Loudness

metering and compliance. For

those sound operators, dubbing

mixers and post producers who

have made the transition to

Loudness metering, I suspect that

most would agree that things

are simpler in practice than fi rst

imagined. Learning to mix to a

Loudness meter is clearly a step

change from traditional peak

programme meters, but the

ability for sound operators to

‘relax’ some of their dynamics

processing and mix more ‘by ear’

is perhaps the biggest, and most

welcome, change.

Staddon: This is catered for in

our consoles when used in the

broadcast environment by

using integrated Loudness

metering which complies with

the specifi ed standards.

Struck: During the last years the

different broadcast authorities –

EBU, ATSC, ARIB – have answered

to the issue of Loudness by

globally implementing guidelines

and specifi cations in content

production. There has been a

learning process of broadcasters,

and in the meantime we can

establish a pleasing intermediate

result. However, there is still much

work to do to reach a high level

of acceptance and realisation in

the global context.

van Mü nster: Loudness control

is of course an ongoing topic.

Within Nexus we offer proprietary

Loudness control in agreement

with ITU, EBU and ATSC guidelines.

Heiniger: Short term, it’s the transition

to audio console networks, including

AoIP, and the associated network

monitoring and management

facilities that a broadcaster demands.

We cannot expect audio system

designers, maintenance engineers

and operators to become IT experts

overnight, so console manufacturers

must offer solutions that help manage

this transition. Long term, it’s the

possibility of virtualising parts of the

audio console system – that is, the

ability for a customer to run, say, the

DSP processing on its own hardware

platform, possibly in a data centre

remote from the console surface. This

possibility goes hand-in-hand with the

transition to IP-based audio networks.

Struck: The current moves of the

market will generate a complete

set of innovative developments with

regard to IP-Layer-3-based systems.

It may seem as if it was already

established, but from our perspective

the shift to IP is still in a very early

stage. We’re just about to realise

a common interface with AES67,

but the big innovations regarding IP

workfl ows are yet to come.

van Mü nster: Polaris evolution

is a new network based console

which is completely modular and

scalable. The eye-catching 21-inch

multi-touch screen offers a wealth

of possibilities in terms of additional

options and interfacing to third-

party equipment – for example,

plug-ins, processing, control units,

and so on.


Audio Mixer Forum

Where are we today on the issue

of Loudness?

What is the next biggest innovation

to be introduced into audio mixers?

Bjorn Van Münster,Stagetec

Christian Struck,Lawo


Speaking at one of the

UK’s leading broadcast

facilities, Thorsten Sauer

opened with the oft-used phrase,

“content is king”, though also

asserted that “there is another

king in town: the consumer. This

new generation of consumer has

grown up with the internet, and

expects a more personalised TV

experience,” Sauer continued.

“Convergence” is also another

buzzword of the moment: Sauer

used the example of BT investing

heavily in acquiring broadcasting

rights, and other telcos translating

to mobile platforms. Ericsson

predicted this convergence trend

ten years ago, Sauer asserted,

and whereas production, content

enrichment, content publishing

and distribution, and content

consumption “used to be

separate”, now, Sauer continued,

“we believe in convergence…we

want to be there and act.” This

is evident through Ericsson’s slew

of acquisitions, including Fabrix

Systems, Red Bee Media and

Microsoft Mediaroom.

Ed Vaizey, minister for Culture,

Communications and Creative

Industries, was also at Broadcast

Centre, and praised Ericsson’s

“fantastic” investment in the UK.

The company operates from ten

locations in the UK, employing 5,000

people, with 2,100 of these working

in the media and TV sectors. Vaizey

also stressed the importance of

“convergence”, contemplating

the potential merger of BT and

EE. He also used the event as

an opportunity to champion

government initiatives like content

tax relief for high-end TV drama

and increasing R&D tax relief,

promising that a Conservative

government will be “continuing to

invest in the future”.

Michael Bjorn, head of research

at Ericsson ConsumerLab,

introduced the findings from the

new Ericsson research report on

TV and media which looks at the

changing behaviour of audiences

in the UK. This marked the 15th

annual TV and media study,

involving 23 countries worldwide,

including 2,000 online interviews

with 15 to 69-year-olds in the UK.

One of the key findings

highlighted by Bjorn was how on-

demand streaming is replacing

recorded TV and closing in on

linear broadcast; 69 per cent of

UK consumers watch streamed

on-demand video at least several

times a week, compared with 51

per cent who watch recorded

broadcast TV and 82 per cent who

watch scheduled broadcast TV

with the same frequency.

The consumer is kingData Centre

We are experiencing the “most exciting time in the TV media industry”, according to Thorsten Sauer, Ericsson’s head of broadcast and media services, as he outlined the findings of the company’s Global Insights 2015 and Consumer Insights Summary reports on 18 March. Holly Ashford went along to the event at London’s Broadcast Centre to hear the latest update

Ed Vaizey (left) and Thorsten Sauer discuss the topic of convergence

Michael Bjorn explains ‘The double business model challenge’


Data Centre

On-demand and catch-up services

are disassembling broadcast TV

channels, the report concluded,

as TV channels are increasingly

considered a source from which

consumers can harvest content, for

example using a DVR.

Place-shiftingContent on the go is growing,

and this is driven primarily by

16 to 24-year-olds. Smartphone

viewing has increased by 44

per cent since 2012 and today

26 per cent of consumers are

place-shifting content (starting to

watch content on one device in

one location, before moving to

another location and watching it

on another device) on a weekly

basis. The ConsumerLab report

examined the weekly TV and video

viewing habits across the day,

among different age groups, and

found that – aside from ‘at home

during the evening’ – the highest

percentage watching at every

other instance were in the 16-24

year old age bracket. YouTube is

the most popular service in the

UK, the report found, and 70 per

cent of smartphone owners who

use the internet on a weekly

basis use YouTube at least once

a month. Other SVoD services are

catching up though, and BBC

iPlayer and Netflix were the next

most popular services (following

YouTube) with Android smartphone

users in the UK who use the internet

on a daily basis.

‘The double business model

challenge’ was another key point

raised by Bjorn. The two main

barriers for watching TV and video

on mobile devices outside of the

home are both cost-related, the

report reveals. Forty-one per cent of

UK respondents said that data cost

was too high, while 36 per cent felt

that the cost to rent, subscribe or

buy is too high. Consumers currently

have to pay for both the content

and then the data consumed while

watching that content.

Impact of 4GThe report also highlights the

impact of 4G: three times as many

4G users watch video outside the

home compared with 3G users,

and they consume three times

more data. In the UK, 26 per cent

of 3G users plan to upgrade to

4G over the next 12 months. “4G

video dominates,” asserted Matt

Stagg, principal strategist at mobile

network operator and internet

provider EE. Whereas “3G was

a communications network that

did some video”, 4G is “a video

distribution network that needs

to support communications”.

Ericsson’s November 2014 Mobility

Report predicted that video traffic

will grow tenfold between 2014

and 2020 and within western

Europe there will be 600 million

4G subscribers: 75 per cent of

all subscriptions. At Broadcast

Centre, Vaizey promised that a

Conservative government would

“continue to invest in the future”,

highlighting its funding of the

University of Surrey’s research into

5G networks.

‘It is time to change the

structure of TV services’ the report

concludes. In the future, consumers

will not accept paying for inflexible

managed TV packages in order

to get access to the content they

love on the devices they want

to use. Customer satisfaction is a

central concern, and traditional TV

providers are facing challenges:

the ConsumerLab report found

that customers are more likely to

recommend their on-demand

OTT service provider than their

traditional TV provider. However,

many people will continue to pay

for a broadcast TV package out

of convenience and ease of use,

with live TV – and especially sports

– continuing to attract audiences

and offering high value.

High value content is of the

utmost importance, but only

if audiences can access it

when, where and how they

wish. “Customer experience is

paramount”, concluded Stagg.

“And although ‘content is king’

is often quoted, it is actually

‘customer is king’.”

69% of UK consumers

watch streamed

on-demand video at least several times

a week

82% of UK consumers

watch scheduled broadcast TV at least

several times a week

51% of UK consumers

watch recorded broadcast TV at least

several times a week

On-demand streaming is replacing recorded TV and closing in on linear broadcast


Like most of the TV industry, what used to be

straightforward tends now to be relatively

complicated. And so it goes for measuring

viewing. Back when I used to wear short trousers,

and ‘telly’ consisted of only four channels in

the UK, gauging who had watched what was

much easier. The rise of multichannel and, more

laterally, multiscreen viewing, has changed that.

To use tech metaphor, audience measurement is

(simplicity wise) less iOS and more Windows 8.

Ironically enough, getting a granular idea of

how people use their services has never been

more important for operators. Most countries

have a national audience measurement system

– it is BARB in the UK, Mediametrie in France – that

uses a panel of viewers to accurately estimate

linear viewing. They work very well, especially for

larger channels. But because multiscreen and

online viewing have a return path, viewing is

much more measureable – and most operators

get at least a top line idea of how their services

are consumed, from their CDN or server logs.

The key problem here is that these two types

of viewing tend to be measured separately.

There are some notable efforts – BARB’s

Project Dovetail, for one – that are seeking to

bring multiscreen measurement to a panel-

based system. But for the most part, linear

and multiscreen are measured using different

technologies, providing different metrics, and

sometimes by different teams. This, of course,

is at odds with how TV is watched, packaged,

and sold. Linear and OTT services are available

side by side on most hybrid set-top boxes. The

consumption method doesn’t really matter for

consumers, as long as they can watch what

they want, when they want to. In turn, this makes

it much more difficult for operators to get a

holistic understanding of how their customers

are actually using their service; which is a major

flaw in any business, let alone one as fast-moving

as TV. Strategically, one of the most important

questions operators face is the impact that OTT

has on their business, and what OTT means for

them. In a past life, a large British broadcaster

once told me it had “little idea” about what the

crossover between its linear and OTT audiences

was, despite significant efforts to find out.

That’s to say – they weren’t sure if the viewing

they were getting via OTT was new viewers, who

were not watching the linear services, or if it

was linear TV services using it. This is a big

question for operators that greatly impact

their multiscreen strategies. If OTT is attracting

new customers they should arguably focus on a

Now TV-style, standalone OTT service designed

to attract new customers. If multiscreen is more

additive, it should probably focus its efforts more

on TV Everywhere-style solutions. The answer to

these questions can only come from properly

understanding the customer, and what this

means for a company requires getting an

overall understanding of the viewer.

There’s likely to be a more operational

need for bringing linear and multiscreen

measurement together, too. As viewers start to

see less of a distinction between OTT and linear

viewing, then so too will operators, advertisers

and agencies. It will simply become an

operational imperative for advertisers to see a

more rounded version of viewing, rather than

the current two tier system.

Data Centre

Multiscreen measurement made easy By Giles Cottle, director, consumer insight products,

Genius Digital

‘If OTT is attracting new customers they should arguably focus on a

Now TV-style, standalone OTT service designed to attract

new customers’

www.ibc.org

RAI AmsterdamConference 10-14 September : Exhibition 11-15 September

tvbe may 2015 digital edition

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