TVBE April 2016

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April 2016

What we will learn from NAB Show 2016

Vegas…What happens in

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TVBEurope 3April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

It is with great anticipation that

we approach another week in

the Mojave, as the international

roadshow descends on the silliest

place on earth to fi ne tune its

most serious matters of operation,

infrastructure, and strategy.

What will the talk from within the

aviation-sized hangars of the Las

Vegas Convention Center teach

us this year? This is a question we

put to a selection of industry minds

for our NAB feature, in an attempt to

pre-empt some of the messaging that is likely to

be trumpeted from the many press conferences

that will do battle to win our attention.

The acronymic themes will be familiar, of

course, but the context behind their delivery

through said trumpets should boast a more

mature lilt. Our band of thought leaders this

issue give us their individual vistas

of NAB, and the likely themes that

defi ne this year’s show.

Elsewhere, we look at the re-fi t of

Television Centre in our Production

section, Channel 4’s entrance into

Formula One broadcasting, and a

fascinating insight into modern day

set-top box solutions for IPTV and

OTT in league with our supplement

partner for this issue, ABOX42.

I hope you enjoy this NAB

inspired issue of TVBEurope, and I look forward

to meeting plenty of you out in Las Vegas for

what promises to be another memorable week

in the desert.

Safe travels to one and all. (Apologies for

the headline.) n

James McKeown Editor-in-Chief

Welcome

Gear and roving in Las VegasEDITORIAL

Content Director and Editor-in-Chief: James [email protected]

Deputy Editor: Holly [email protected]

Staff Writer: James [email protected]

Group Managing Editor: Joanne [email protected]

Contributors: Michael Burns, David Davies, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine Wright

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Account Manager: Richard [email protected]+44 207 354 6000

Sales Executive: Nicola [email protected]+44 207 354 6000

Head of Digital: Tim Frost

Human Resources and Offi ce Manager: Lianne Davey

Head of Design, Hertford: Kelly Sambridge

Senior Production Executive: Alistair Taylor

Sales Director: Mark Rankine

Managing Director: Mark Burton

US Sales: Michael [email protected]+1 (631) 673 0072

Japan and Korea Sales: Sho [email protected]+81 6 4790 2222

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What happens in Vegas during NAB week tends to offer up some notable insight on how our industry is advancing

Philip StevensProduction Editor

Michael BurnsPost Production Editor

George Jarrett Business Editor

David DaviesAudio Editor

SECTION EDITORS

03 TVBE Apr16 Welcome_final.indd 1 21/03/2016 12:55

In this issue4 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Ooyala analyst Jim O’Neill steers us through the murky waters of video piracy, from friendly password sharing to the damaging costs borne by the industry

TVBEurope gets an exclusive tour of the site that is being reborn as the new Television Centre in west London, following the closure of the original BBC facility in 2013

644 Business40 NAB preview

29 SupplementABOX42 joins us this issue to provide an insight into set-top-box solutions for IPTV, OTT and hybrid DVB projects

Opinion

Production

George Jarrett reports from SMPTE’s conference; a day devoted to charting the route to full IP

27 FeatureAfter Channel 4 took over free-to-air F1 coverage for the start of the 2016 season, it awarded production company Whisper Films the £30 million contract

Ahead of NAB 2016, TVBEurope asked a number of leading � gures for their views on the progress of the broadcast and video industry, and which trends will drive conversation at the show

22

David Davies talks to Linear Acoustic founder and The Telos Alliance CTO Tim Carroll about the historic step forward for broadcast audio: the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard

Interview

5229 Supplement

www.tvbeurope.com

April 2016

TVBEurope Supplements

In association with

Thinkingoutside the Box

An insight into set-top box solutions for

IPTV, OTT, and hybrid DVB projects

04 TVBE Apr16 Contents_final2.indd 1 21/03/2016 13:00

NETWORK. AUDIO. VIDEO. CONTROL.smart IP live production infrastructure.

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Flip your mind. Monday, April 18, 11:00 am, NAB booth N1822.

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Opinion and Analysis6 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Share your Netflix password? Maybe

loan a friend your HBO password for the

weekend? Aye, bucko, it’s a pirate’s life for

you! But, while media companies could be losing

revenue from the ‘friendliness’ of subscribers

– as much as $500 million annually, one study

estimates – password sharing isn’t a major worry,

even though a Consumer Reports survey found

nearly half of Americans admit to it.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has publicly played

it down and HBO chief Richard Plepler, whose

studio’s biggest hit, Game of Thrones, also

happens to be the most pirated title ever, has

said he’s more worried about a positive user

experience than a shared password, joking that

he hopes pirated copies are at least

good quality pirated copies.

For those services, a shared password may,

in fact, simply be an extended trial for a future

subscriber, giving them access to the service with

the logical conclusion that if they like it enough

they’ll arrange their own subscription.

Piracy beyond password sharingVideo piracy, however, has a far darker side

and a significantly higher cost than that created

by simply sharing a subscription with a friend

or two, or even three or four. Back in 2012, a

White House estimate put the cost of piracy

at $58 billion for the US film industry alone.

And, although that number has been largely

debunked – it actually included the cost of all

IP piracy – a more widely acceptable (and

reasonable) number was put forward by the

industry group MPAA. That research has been

widely quoted (although still debated as being

too high), and said the revenue US studios

annually lose to global piracy is roughly $6.1

billion. An Arxan study in 2015, meanwhile,

counted more than one million pieces of

premium video content being made available

on pirate sites, and warned that video piracy

was a growing problem. While Torrent Freak,

in an oft-quoted story, reported in 2014 that

the season’s finale of Game of Thrones was

downloaded more than 1.5 million times just after

it aired on HBO (and, yes, it happened again

with 2015’s season ender).

SVoD services like Netflix have also had to

contend with users employing VPNs and proxies

to get access to geo-blocked content and even

different iterations of the services themselves.

Netflix very famously had an estimated 200,000

customers in Australia before it even launched

A pirate’s life

‘Back in 2012, a White House estimate put the cost of piracy at $58 billion for ths US

film industry alone’

By Jim O’Neill, principal analyst, Ooyala

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Opinion and Analysis

down under, thanks to VPNs giving Australians

access to the US service.

Canadians, too, unhappy that the initial

deployment of Netflix in their country offered far

less content than the US version of the service,

routinely used VPNs to access the American

version, potentially costing studios revenues

from other local services.

An ongoing battle for content ownersThe value of premium content is high

enough that it has attracted the attention

of everything from casual thieves with an

HD smartphone in theatres and at sporting

events, to more tech savvy DVD-cloning

operations and organised crime.

Security firms have been working with the

content owners for years on a problem they

say is continuing to evolve, along with (and

sometimes ahead of) the content industry.

Techniques like digital rights management

(DRM) and forensic watermarking, where a

unique invisible mark is embedded into

content, can help firms trace where a

breakdown in security may have happened.

That helps, at the very least, to reduce the

amount of revenue lost but it’s not always

enough, and the sheer number of pirates

sometimes makes a win just a drop in the bucket.

Is there an easier solution to eradicating piracy?It’s hard to pin down an exact number when

you’re talking about lost revenue from piracy.

But there’s been an ongoing belief that

costs of piracy can be minimised more simply.

It’s an argument based on the belief that

consumers will pay for premium content if it’s

easily accessible and made available at a price

that fulfills their value proposition.

Video piracy rates in Australia, which has been

a bastion of content pirates, have declined

since Netflix launched there in March, with

consumers acknowledging they’re less likely to

pirate now that they have a legal alternative.

Australia’s IP Awareness Foundation in October

reported that the number of self-confessed video

pirates (both casual and persistent) among 18-64

year olds dropped to 25 per cent post-Netflix,

from 29 per cent previously.

It also helps that several other legal OTT

services have made more content available

there than ever before, and that Australia

instituted new anti-piracy legislation in June.

Regardless, during an announcement at

CES that the service had launched in 130 new

countries, Netflix’s Hastings said he believed

that kind of decline would be felt worldwide as

content continued to come over the top.

“We think giving people what they want in

a timely manner at a reasonable price is great

for the movie industry because it removes one

of the key reasons people turn to piracy,”

Hastings said. The ‘Netflix Effect’ may be a

panacea whose time has come. n

‘An Arxan study in 2015 counted more than one million pieces of premium video content

being made available on pirate sites’

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06 07 TVBE Apr16 Ooyala Opinion_final.indd 11 17/03/2016 12:04


T here’s no two ways about it, 4K has its

believers and non-believers in terms of

distribution to the home. There’s the now-

familiar argument as to whether viewers will

actually benefit given the screen sizes upon

which so much content is now viewed. That’s

not to mention the compression issue: when is

4K not really 4K anymore? Lastly, shouldn’t we

be looking at better pixels rather than just more?

All of these arguments have some validity, but

equally, with TV set manufacturers pushing the

market forwards, and consumers responding, 4K

is becoming a differentiator and is being used by

the likes of Hulu as a marketing tool.

In developed markets at least, viewers are now

firmly in the driving seat when it comes to where,

when and how they consume content, be it

linear, VoD, OTT or DTO. As a result, the concept

of what constitutes a broadcaster is changing

and it’s no longer just broadcasters that operate

in this evolving content arena; as mentioned,

they have to compete with other media owners

looking to monetise their content in new ways as

well as OTT providers like Netflix and Amazon.

The benefits of 4KFrom a media owner’s perspective, the single

biggest benefit of 4K is to make their content look

better, and therefore garner a greater number of

eyeballs for that content. As OTT providers take

traditional broadcasters on in an increasingly

aggressive way, we’ve seen them invest first in

exclusive deals, then in original commissioned

content and more recently they’ve been upping

the ante by making 4K their default format.

From a traditional broadcaster’s perspective,

where the core skill is scheduling – making a

schedule and delivering interesting content –

the drive towards 4K is slightly different. As their

offering leans more towards live content, or

‘appointment TV’ as it’s becoming known, being

able to draw in viewers with the best quality

live content and encouraging them to engage

with linear (scheduled) broadcasts is where

the benefits of 4K come in. There have been a

number of analyst reports in the last 12-18 months

that have found that consumers are more willing

to engage with higher quality content. For a

broadcaster, being able to draw in viewers is

directly linked to their ability to sell advertising.

BT Sport is a perfect example of how 4K can

open up opportunities for a relatively new market

entrant. Not only did it buy sports rights for the

Barclays Premier League and Aviva Rugby

Premiership, it decided to launch a 4K channel:

BT Ultra HD. It also broadcast the Moto GP at

Silverstone in 4K last year. A SAM Kahuna 9600

switcher and a Sirius 800 series router provided

the truck’s 4K production backbone for the

event. This is the first purpose-designed 4K truck

in Europe, built by Timeline to service BT Sport’s

new 4K channel. In Spain, we worked closely with

MediaPro late last year to produce the first 4K

version of ‘El Clasico’ – the famous Barcelona FC

and Real Madrid football match. The game was

produced simultaneously in HD and 4K, the latter

supported by a new mobile production vehicle

equipped specifically for 4K with SAM’s Kahuna

9600 enterprise level production switcher and

modular control panel.

In more general terms, we’ve seen a clear shift

in recent months where we’re being asked by

our broadcast customers about 4K capabilities

consistently; they want to know that their

investment is future-proof.

From 4K to 8KThe most recent and interesting phenomenon

we’ve seen is an increasing interest from

companies wanting to actually broadcast

as opposed to produce in 4K. We’ve seen

BT Sport take a lead, there are some satellite

broadcasters that have the capability to handle

4K delivery, and added to this there have been

some announcements in the press about plans

for 4K set-top boxes. This ramp up of 4K playout

demand goes hand in hand with the increasing

availability of content produced in 4K.

As mentioned above, adding to what could

well be the start of a perfect storm for 4K is the

fact that consumer electronics manufacturers

have also been pushing 4K screens to consumers.

This in turn is creating an opportunity for

broadcasters. Consumers have begun to invest

in these 4K sets and now want to see the benefits

in terms of actually viewing the high-quality

content they’ve been promised.

At SAM we have a commercial advantage

in that we have technologies across the

production, post production and playout spaces.

We’re supplying 8K editing systems to clients

in Japan, in fact, we have just been asked to

supply an 8K 120P system and we are already

working with customers in high dynamic range.

We are in the process of passing that knowledge

and capability throughout our product portfolio,

making 4K, HDR and of course wider colour

gamut products available to our customers.

An appetite for HDRSo what about HDR? The market’s not quite

there yet on the display front, but HDR TV sets are

being introduced and this will mean we will soon

see a growth in, and an appetite for, watching

content in HDR. We are a firm believer in the

benefits of HDR in combination with 4K.

But again HDR brings its own set of issues. The

lack of a clearly defined HDR standard can

result in problems for the delivery of content to

the home. If the viewer has an HDR screen, the

content needs to be rendered for that home

screen so it looks good enough to the viewer. But

if the same set-top box is connected to an SDR

screen, this then throws up potential problems, so

there is still some work to be done.

It’s relatively easy to ensure transparency

across our production equipment through which

signals are being passed. If you’re manipulating

signals, then more care is needed with colours,

brightness levels, and so on in an HDR context. n

A perfect storm for 4K

‘The most recent phenomenon we’ve seen is an increasing interest from

companies wanting to actually broadcast as opposed to produce in 4K’

By Tim Felstead, head of product marketing, SAM

8 TVBE Apr16 Opinion Sam_final.indd 10 17/03/2016 12:07

TVB Europe 31516-NAB SNipe.indd 1 3/15/16 4:13 PMnew tvbe template remade.indd 1 17/03/2016 14:59

Opinion & Analysiswww.tvbeurope.com April 2016

The technology is now available to enable

broadcasters and network providers to

convert and move the complete suite of

broadcast signals, whether video, audio or data,

onto their multi-service IP/Ethernet networks.

Creating a complete IP-based studio by

integrating all of the video, audio and data flows

onto a common platform can result in significant

savings. In addition, a converged IP backbone

dramatically increases system flexibility, allowing

new applications, bit rates and signal formats to

be added to the core switching platform merely

by adding a new type of interface card.

The primary advantage of an IP-based

system is the convergence of multiple signal

formats onto a comprehensive, distributed IP

switch fabric that transports kilobit-speed data

signals alongside multi-gigabit uncompressed

video flows. Media production facilities benefit

by not having to purchase, install, manage, or

maintain the multiple signal routing systems that

are normally required to switch different types of

compressed and uncompressed audio.

However, when it comes to IP for both

remote and studio production, the key issue

has always been, and still is, latency; how to

get all the signals to arrive on time, and in the

right order, with no packet loss. Basically, it’s

got to work first time, every time, as you can’t

film a live event twice.

Up until now, broadcasters distribute and

exchange content mainly as SDI signals. With the

move toward SMPTE 2022 video over IP standards

and file-based broadcasting workflows,

broadcasters are now able to look for ways to

handle streams and files in a unified manner.

The solution lies in taking advantage of the

falling prices of bandwidth, plus the increased

quality in video codecs and ultra-low latency

delivery across WAN network infrastructure. By

leveraging an Ethernet to act as the unified

core switching fabric, broadcasters and service

providers are able to maximise footprint, power

and future-proof IP switching technology.

Streams and files need to be handled

simultaneously in a unified IP switched

infrastructure. The Media Links IP video router

provides granular stream switching that mimics

traditional baseband video infrastructure, where

sub-16ms connection set-up/teardown times

are achieved when configuring paths through

the system. This is a significant improvement over

traditional stored control systems implemented

on standard enterprise or carrier data routers.

Each of the signals can be routed

independently in a fully enabled, multicast

controlled environment allowing for an ‘any

to any’ combination of outputs through the

switch fabric.

Capacity of the switch is limited only by

bandwidth, not by the total number of signals.

This allows a single 10GbE port to handle up

to six uncompressed HD signals, 30 SD-SDI

signals, ninety 100Mb DVB-ASI streams or any

combination totaling the 10GbE rate limit.

Literally thousands of signals can be controlled

and switched through a fully configured system,

far exceeding the capacity of even the largest

cross-point video router.

Uncompressed HD-SDI signals can be

multiplexed into a single stream of 10Gbps

packets, where the packets are duplicated

and fed into IP video routers, which switch

them to specified destinations. A single

aggregator for video over IP and legacy

DVB-ASI and all SDI formats to IP encapsulation.

The same level of resiliency and reliability

that has been standard in the industry is

translated to an all video over IP solution.

This model has already been deployed

globally by broadcasters and major

telcos, and has been used to provide live

content contribution for the Sochi Winter

games and World Cup football, experiencing

100 per cent uptime.

Change in the real-time video contribution

space is setting new standards in developing

advanced video technology, and Ethernet

and SONET based solutions for contribution

video, and will see the migration of many

infrastructures to IP in the future.

Of particular relevance for remote production,

this model enables camera feeds and data

traffic to be sent from the remote venues

directly to the studio, where all production and

editing can take place. There are numerous

advantages, as this reduces or removes the

need for broadcasters to have full capability

production trucks and large crews on-site at the

venue, greatly reducing their operational costs.

In addition, remote production set up in

this way enhances the event’s production

value by offering the ability to utilise more

sophisticated in-studio tools across the board.

This is particularly relevant to the production of

smaller-scale events, enabling the production

cost to be held low while at the same time

increasing the overall production value. n

Migrating infrastructure

to IP

‘Creating a complete IP-based studio by integrating all of the video, audio and data

flows onto a common platform can result in significant savings’

By John Smith, managing director, Media Links EMEA

Opinion and Analysis10 TVBEurope

10 TVBE Apr16 Opinion_final.indd 10 17/03/2016 12:08

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In fairly recent history, many systems didn’t

really want to talk to each other, which led

to integration becoming a fundamental

challenge, especially when it was time to

upgrade or purchase new equipment aimed

at streamlining a particular working practice.

These days, communications between systems

have greatly improved, at least on a file level.

However, there are often subtle differences

which means moving media and metadata

around is not always as seamless as it could

or should be. Any connection issues between

broadcast systems have the same implication: a

compromised and inefficient workflow. This may

be due to a fundamental obstacle or a minor

discrepancy. The subtle picture is as important

as the big picture. One piece of metadata not

being transferred might be mission-critical if the

whole workflow is based on that information.

One example was where a broadcast client

couldn’t send media from its Avid to its

broadcast automation system. The reason turned

out to be a simple naming limitation on the

playout device. The cleaner may as well have

pulled the network cable out, the end result was

the same: projects couldn’t be completed. If the

systems employed are not flexible enough, users

end up working to the level of the limiting factor

in any workflow.

It is now rare that a product or solution is a

self-contained island. Most let information be

shared in and out and create a standard file,

enabling the transfer of media between systems.

However, the problems come when the workflow

requires more than just a simple file exchange.

Metadata integration is an area where

non-standard integration is a common issue.

Standardisation was one big move designed

to solve this challenge. In theory, everyone

Solving integration issues

By Simon Fearn, product manager, Marquis Broadcast

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12 13 TVBE Apr16 Opinion_final.indd 10 18/03/2016 15:03


Opinion and Analysis

should have been able to share an MXF file.

However, even then, everyone had their own

MXF version. Improvements have been made

in recent times, but this question often re-asserts

itself when a piece of legacy equipment is used

within a workflow. For example, a broadcaster

may want to get a few extra years’ life from

their old video server which is using its own take

on the standard file format. Standardisation has

helped at a media level, but not always at a

metadata level. Each customer will have their

specific metadata needs, tailored to their unique

requirements, and each system will also have its

own needs and requirements for metadata.

It is within the nature of MAM systems that

they are often designed and configured to

fulfil the individual requirement of a specific

user. A subset of this metadata will need to

be exchanged between the systems, and the

links to the media and accuracy of the data

must be maintained. When it’s discovered that

information is missing or incorrect, something

will need to change, normally either workflow or

systems. Work-arounds often become long-term

features from users struggling to cope. We found

one US broadcast customer manually merging

files to achieve closed captioning. In this way,

short-term fixes have a tendency to become

permanent to avoid reviewing and replacing

the whole process with a more practical

solution. One answer and probably the most

common reaction is for customers to lobby the

manufacturers to make changes. Many vendors

respond and can fix workflow issues, but this takes

time and, for non-standard customisation, it also

takes money. Some are simply not able to help.

Where problems are particularly severe,

purchasing a new system is an alternative. It

may, however, fix one issue whilst introducing

others. In addition, these days, customers are

less inclined to have a complete re-build. The

other answer is to consider integration and

interoperability solutions. There are specialist

organisations in various aspects of the broadcast

workflow, which can help solve integration issues

through specially developed solutions.

Marquis provides an interoperability engine

called Medway, which integrates broadcast

platforms by providing transfer and format

conversion workflows for media and metadata.

As a core product it solves integration issues

and supports customisation. In large-scale

installations, Medway acts as the central hub,

providing multiple, simultaneous, and high-

volume media and metadata integration

services across best-of-breed systems.

The challenges of integration are not going to

disappear in a hurry. However, to realise

the many advantages that the move to digital

file based workflows creates, the process

must be efficient. A relatively small investment

in an interoperability solution from a specialist

vendor could achieve that goal. n

‘Any connection issues between broadcast systems have the same implication - a

compromised and innefficent workflow’

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

12 13 TVBE Apr16 Opinion_final.indd 11 18/03/2016 15:03



Production

“W e remain extremely busy at The

London Studios,” states Kathy

Schulz, director of studio services

and client liaison, ITV Studios (ITVS). “Some of

our bookings extend way beyond the next 12

months. Along with our regular returning ‘shiny

fl oor shows’, studio comedy has been enjoying

a resurgence and we have four studio sitcoms

scheduled in the next year.”

Schulz says that The London Studios (TLS) is the

only truly central London studios of any scale and

is minutes away from theatre-land and Leicester

Square. Originally the headquarters

of London Weekend Television, the facility

provides six studios ranging in size from 2,050 to

8,350sqft (190.5 to 775.7sqm). All have individual

control rooms and are fully equipped for

multi-camera productions. Sony kit is much in

evidence, with the studios equipped with HDC

1000R/1500R studio cameras, while the galleries

use MVS 8000 series vision mixers with integrated

DME and frame memory. On the audio side

there are Calrec Apollo 72 fader consoles

and Calrec C2 Grams desks. Schulz says that

programmes produced at the facility include

Saturday Night Takeaway for ITS, The Jonathan

Ross Show (Hotsauce TV), Alan Carr: Chatty Man

(Open Mike Productions), The Graham Norton

Show (So Television), QI (Fremantle Talkback),

Have I Got News For You? (Hat Trick Productions),

Good Morning Britain (ITVS), This Morning (ITVS)

and Adele at the BBC (BBC). “This is not an

exhaustive list!”

She continues, “The vast majority of our

work is series, although, of course, there

are one-off productions, such as the Adele

special and pilots.”

Customer demandsSo, does Schulz think that the demands of

clients have changed over the last few years?

“Production companies are increasingly looking

at the area of crossover between traditional

broadcast technologies and consumer

level equipment. This is most apparent in the

world of graphics, but also extends to media

capture on iPhones, tablets and so on. There

is an ever growing theme of interactive

technology, with productions devoting large

resources to social media requirements.”

That technology includes the use of Skype to

good effect on a Saturday Night Takeaway

segment, Singalong Live. In addition, the LiveU

cellular technology video system was used

extensively on Philip Schofi eld’s 24-hour live Text

Santa launch, with one particular sequence

from Studio 3’s fl oor to inside 10 Downing Street

achieved as a single shot.

“Broadcasters’ budgets are ever more

challenging and so production companies are

always looking for best value; our ability

to turn shows around extremely quickly

maximises their ‘on-camera’ time,” says Schulz.

“We can even use a single studio for three

different live productions, with three completely

different sets, in a single day.”

Schulz believes that TLS remains in a unique

position in the UK market. “Our location attracts

the best talent and audiences, and our main

16 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Earlier in the year, news came through that Fountain Studios, just outside London, was closing. Philip Stevens fi nds out how some other studios are faring

“There is an ever growing theme of interactive technology, with productions devoting large resources to social media

requirements” Kathy Schultz, ITV Studios

bookingsStudio

16 18 19 20 TVBE Studio Bookings Production_final2.indd 16 21/03/2016 14:19


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variable production studios all have monopole

grids allowing us to set and light at the

same time, this enables us to do the biggest

and fastest turnarounds between shows. The

future looks good.”

In the Media (City)At the time of the establishment of MediaCityUK,

there were some who doubted the wisdom of

locating a major production centre so far from

London. Those doubts have largely been dispelled

with the studios and post production facilities

operated by dock10 becoming home to many

top line programmes.

“People that have made the move to Salford

have been really quick to settle,” states Andy

Waters, head of studios. “The cities of Salford

and Manchester are so different from London,

but people mostly agree that the friendliness of

the people here and the unique culture creates

a totally positive atmosphere. Plus everything is

much cheaper which is a bonus.”

The studios themselves are located at the

heart of MediaCityUK, less than two miles from

Manchester city centre. Here, seven HD studios

ranging in size from 1,000 to 12,500sqft (93 to

1,161sqm) and all served by full HD galleries

have become home to programmes such as The

Voice, Match of The Day, A Question Of Sport,

Jeremy Kyle, Blue Peter, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does

Countdown, Countdown and Citizen Khan.

“We do occasional one-offs, such as pilot

shows and big live events like the leaders’

debate, Sports Personality of the Year and soap

awards, but 95 per cent of our work involves

series,” reveals Waters.

Alongside these seven facilities, there are two

high-end audio studios that can also be used for

TV. “All in all, this is the largest multi-camera Studio

complex in the UK,” says Waters. “What’s more, all

equipment is less than five years old, which means

Cinecittà is able to provide extensive exterior sets next to its studio facilities

Saturday Night Takeaway, one of the regular bookings for The London Studios

“Flexibility, adaptation, reactivity, are the key words we need to follow” Gaël Tanguy, Euromedia


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that we are utilising all the latest

technology.”

Throughout the studios Sony

cameras are used, with the galleries

being equipped with both Sony

and Kahuna vision mixers. For audio

requirements, the facility has opted

for a choice of Calec, Artemis and

Appollo consoles, while graphics

production is handled by either

VizRT or Clarity.

Flexible facilities“Productions have always needed

and will always need flexibility, the

ability to have options and choice –

that might include additional space

or juggling around dates.

This is something dock10, with its

size, is able to offer. And, of course,

studios need a culture that goes

the extra mile to look after its

clients,” declares Waters.

He goes on, “When we first

opened, all our clients wanted

to leave with a cardboard box full

of tapes, but now they’re all used

to a world where there content is file

transferred into dock10 post or the

post suite of their choice, wherever

that may be.”

Waters says that his team is always

looking to be at the forefront of

technological advancements.

“We have invested in VR camera

and editing technology and

are continuing to broaden our

knowledge in the field. That will

ensure we are in a good position

when the technology truly kicks off.

It has been forecasted that in 2016

virtual reality content will become

a billion pound industry, and we

are already seeing enquiries come

through for filming with 360 rigs.”

“Our facilities are right up to

date and we can film and edit in

4K; a format which is slowly gaining

momentum. There is very little

demand for it in studios, but many

of the dramas we edit here shoot in

4K and require their whole workflow

to be consistent with the format.

Beyond that, we are keeping a

close eye on IP technology, and

when the time is right we’ll make the

appropriate investment.”

So five years down the line from

launch, how does Waters see the

next twelve months for dock10?

“Most definitely, we’re expecting

our best yet!”

French connectionEuromedia has 32 stages, ranging

in size from 430 to 22,500sqft (40 to

2,090sqm). Although the main facility

is located at Saint-Denis, north of

Paris, there are others at Studios

Palais Image, also in Paris, and in the

south of France at Nice.

“All are equipped for multi-

camera productions and have

permanent cabling,” states Gaël

April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

The French version of The Voice is shot in Euromedia’s studio



TVBE090316 NAB16.indd 1 09/03/2016 14:59:59

Tanguy, the company’s chief technology

officer. “We have both Grass Valley and Sony

cameras, although we mainly use the latter for

entertainment shows. We have the same brands

for our vision mixers, but here we tend to utilise

GV for most of our work. For audio, we centre

on Studer’s consoles, but we also operate

both SSL and Lawo brands.”

Technology trendsAs far as new technologies are concerned,

Tanguy says that augmented reality is

increasingly being required by some producers.

“In addition, we are paying close attention to

IP technology. Many manufacturers offer their

solutions, but there is still no single standard for

building IP complete agnostic workflows.”

Euromedia’s activities stretch beyond the

studios, and Tanguy says that the company is

heavily into 4K developments and is covering

football and other sports with that format. The

technology is also used in the studios, where

productions are made in UHD. However, he

points out there are no immediate plans for 8K!

Lionel Vialaneix, Euromedia’s CEO reports

that the studios are used for variety, game and

entertainment shows. “Some examples, would

be The Voice, France’s Got Talent, The Money

Drop, Dancing With The Stars, and Who Wants

to be a Millionaire?”

With so many programmes being generated

in the studios, what changes has Vialaneix seen

in production practices over the last few years?

“Flexibility, adaptation, reactivity, are the key

words we need to follow.”

To handle the emerging trends in the industry,

Euromedia is refocusing on its core business. “The

French media market has been consolidating

over the last five years, with an acceleration

since 2014. Broadcasters like TF1, Canal +

(Groupe Vivendi) or Discovery Eurosport, and

productions houses, too, such as the mergers

involving Shine Endemol or Banijay Zodiak.

Those moves may have a positive impact on

the facilities business. As a result, we are

capitalising on our solid market fundamentals.

We are focusing on high quality entertainment

events with an offer of large scale studios. In

addition, we are developing high tech services

including the support of a dedicated company

for R&D that specialises in RF technology.”

Vialaneix concludes, “Euromedia is decisively

looking towards the future.”

Italian jobCinecittà is one of the biggest production

centres in the world, providing a total of 30

stages ranging in size from 4,800 to 32,300sqft

(446 to 3,000sqm), plus 300 acres of diversified

backlots. Its studios have grown in the last few

years into an extensive complex with three state-

of-the-art facilities in and around Rome, and a

brand new studio in Morocco.

The main studio facility in Rome offers 22

stages, plus seven extensive permanent sets such

as, appropriately, a fully equipped and dressed

Ancient Roman location, a 70,000sqft (6,500sqm)

outdoor tank and a 25 acre backlot, all located

within 99 acres of parkland estates.

“Cinecittà is the shooting location for the most

important programmes of the RAI national TV,

Channels 1, 2 and 3,” reports Cristina Giubbetti,

sales manager, international productions. “The

most popular Italian TV series, often lasting up to

ten years, have been produced at our studios. In

addition, this is also the favourite filming location

for all the international movies shot in Italy. In

terms of number of productions, the series work

is around 35 per cent, while when it comes to

turnover it might be around 20 per cent. The

remainder is made up of one-off productions.”

Timing considerationsGiubbetti says that major change seen in

production practices over the last few years

has involved time frames. “The schedule for

preparation has become much shorter.

Projects are confirmed very late and sometimes

allow just a short time for set construction. But

we can handle it!”

So, how does Cinecittà go about attracting

new clients in such a competitive market? “We

are very proactive and travel a great deal,

meeting potential clients in the USA and the UK

to promote the idea of taking their productions

to Italy. Of course, we make certain they know

all about our services, and beyond that, the fiscal

benefits available for our clients.”

“We are absolutely positive about our

prospects for the next 12 months, but forgive

me if I do not say anything specific, as we are

dealing with important clients.” n

“Our facilities are right up to date and we can film and edit in 4K; a format which is

slowly gaining momentum” Andy Waters, dock10


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Production

“BBC Studios and Post Production

(S&PP) will enter a new chapter

when the new Television Centre is

added to our portfolio.” So said S&PP’s managing

director, David Conway at a ‘sneak preview’ of

the facility being developed on the site of the

iconic BBC Television Centre (TVC). “The facility

will add a significant contribution to the London

studio market.” The former BBC Television Centre

located in west London opened in June 1960, as

the Corporation’s first purpose-built production

centre. The facility closed in 2013 and although

the regeneration of the TVC site will primarily

provide more than 900 homes, offices and leisure

facilities, the BBC continues to have a significant

presence with the operation of three studios and

all the associated production facilities. Major

works are now well advanced and plans call for

the studios to be ready for use in April 2017.

According to Meryl McLaren, commercial

manager of BBC S&PP, the team involved with

the redevelopment is excited about the future.

“For us, it is really important to retain TVC as

TVC, and to maintain television at the very

heart of the facility. We have listened to what

production people throughout the industry have


Philip Stevens was invited to an exclusive tour of the site that is being reborn as the new Television Centre in west London

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Television Centre’s rebirth“We are looking to the new Television

Centre as the most advanced media centre in London”

David Conway, BBC S&PP

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said about their requirements and, as a result of

that feedback, we tasked the developer with

ensuring the ideas are included. That feedback

even included what the colour of the carpet

should be used in the Green Room.”

She says that when the new TVC opens,

the facility will be the most up to date, flexible

studio space in the UK. Along with a good

London location, it will have live TX lines,

customer parking, secure access and will very

obviously have been designed with productions

at the heart of the building.

Looking aheadJohn O’Callaghan, head of studio services for

S&PP adds some more information. “The final

technical specifications will be decided later this

year, but we will, of course, be consulting with our

customers on this also. We are closely monitoring

advances in technologies such as UHD/4K

and IP connectivity. The re-fit presents an ideal

opportunity to invest in equipment that is going

to make us future-proof to the highest degree.”

He continues, “We know that we will be

placing stabilised motorised lighting rigs in

the studio that will provide us with very fast

turnaround times between shows. Because of

their size, it will be possible to accommodate two

shows in the same studio and the quick change

lighting situation makes that entirely feasible.”

The three studios that have been retained from

the old TVC are TC1, TC2 and TC3. The first has a

studio space of 10,250sqft, TC2 3,500sqft and

TC3, 8,000sqft. “We shall employ various

audience rostra formats in TC1 according to

the production in hand,” explains O’Callaghan.

“Audience seating can be rigged in TC2

when required, while TC3 has an existing roll

out audience rostra, if necessary.”

The new Stage Door reception area will be

fully secured and the entrance to ‘back stage’.

Audiences will be stewarded through this ground

floor area to the individual studios with security

and ticketing measures flexed according to

production requirements.

In addition, BBC S&PP will issue and manage

access passes for freelance crews and

programme makers from this central space.

Leading from the Stage Door via security

styles will be a large central meeting area

that has been designed with productions

and crews in mind and incorporates an

identified catering area.

According to O’Callaghan, the space is

large enough to accommodate multiple

productions and will be a great meeting

place with seating areas and tables.

From the studios there is direct access to make

up, wardrobe, and production. There is also

a large ground floor storage area directly

accessible from the ring road to accommodate

deliveries and set/prop storage.

In addition, there is access to the inner

scenery runway and each studio door.

Dedicated loading bays servicing are located

at the rear of the studios, and agreements are

in place so that deliveries will not take place at

times that might cause disturbances for the

close proximity residential apartments.

Production space“The first floor space has been reconfigured to

maximise space and ensure the best access

to production offices, galleries and on to the

studio floor, which can still be accessed from the

galleries,” reveals O’Callaghan.

“Proximity of these areas was a key

requirement from our customers to appeal to

the live TV market, and the space has been

designed accordingly.”

Alongside the galleries are four large

production offices with views on to the central

Helios: the much loved ‘Doughnut’. In addition,

there is a large centralised apparatus area.

The second floor provides additional flexible

office space that could be dedicated to

medium to long-term production clients. The two

viewing galleries that formed part of the original

TVC, and which overlook TC1 and TC2, are being

converted into meeting rooms.

Going downTo reach the lower ground floor without

using the lift, it is necessary to walk down the

heritage staircases: structures that had to be

retained in the redevelopment because of their

architectural significance. This lower level has

been designed with wide corridors and very

high ceilings. On this floor are dressing rooms,

edit suites, a laundry facility and a runners’

area that includes a kitchen that is bigger

than that found in many homes!

“The lower ground has been largely

reconfigured to accommodate a large number

of Super Star, Star, Standard and Group Dressing

Rooms. All these rooms are exceptionally

well appointed, with many having en suite

facilities,” states O’Callaghan. “There are also

two very large green rooms.”

The post production element of S&PP includes

five permanent edit suites, and there is additional

space available along the same corridor should

more space be needed. All these rooms are

provided with inter-connectivity to allow the easy

exchange of data and content.

With completion due next spring, BBC S&PP is

looking to approach clients around the middle

of this year. “This is a major development in the

industry and we are looking to the new Television

Centre as the most advanced media centre in

London,” concludes David Conway. n

Production

“It is really important to retain TVC as TVC, and to maintain television at the

heart of the facility” Meryl McLaren, BBC S&PP

The Super Star Dressing Rooms are equipped with en suite facilities

22 24 TVBE TVC Production_final.indd 56 17/03/2016 12:13

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tvbeurope2016.ai 1 15/03/2016 12:56:01


Production

A lthough the majority of subtitling is

still performed after shooting and

editing has finished – that is to say, it

is a predominantly a distribution activity – the

work within production time is a growing trend.

One impact of the growth in ‘internet media’

has been that distinctions between creation

and distribution have blurred, and production

companies are now more involved in delivery

activities. The almost universal use of standard

information technology and distribution of

media (both finished and production copies)

over the internet has allowed subtitling to

become a distributed activity.

Emerging standards such as the IMF

(Interoperable Master Format) now incorporate

subtitling. What’s more, there is growing inclusion

of subtitles from producers of content when

media assets are transferred to distribution.

The IMF standard identifies a new format for

subtitles (IMSC) that is XML-based. This is markedly

different from the, often proprietary, formats

currently commonly used to author subtitles, for

example, STL, PAC, 890. As a consequence there

is a potential requirement to ‘re-tool’ subtitling

authoring workflows to support this new standard.

Second screensThe growth in ‘internet media’, the so-called

‘second screen’ has also spawned a whole

range of new subtitle distribution formats

supported by different internet video players.

Again, supporting these new formats has led

to an increase in complexity of the subtitle

production process. In the past, workflows were

targeted simply at one subtitle distribution format

for linear television, such as Teletext or DVB.

Today, however, those workflows need to support

both the linear TV distribution mechanisms, plus

a wide range of mobile, OTT and internet video

delivery channels.

At present, the tendency is to bolt conversion

capabilities into the workflow which take the

original output intended for linear TV and

adapt it for the new distribution. This obviously

has limitations, as the constraints and adopted

conventions of linear TV distribution systems

for subtitles do not necessarily apply to other

supply mechanisms.

The SMPTE and EBU standards bodies both

have activities that are tackling these issues.

Both groups are developing new standards to

support the changing media landscape. The

EBU working groups are actively considering how

subtitle content can be authored with multiple

distribution targets, and how subtitles can be

better authored to facilitate re-use. An

emerging aspect is the inclusion of related

information within a subtitle ‘archive’ file, for

example, speaker names, places, roles, and

emotional states that will allow downstream

tools to present the information correctly

according to local conventions.

Extending that concept even further is the

idea of including contextual information about

the related media within the subtitle ‘archive’ file.

This is an interesting side effect of the nature of

the subtitling process, as subtitle authors require

a unique comprehension of the material they

are translating. Capturing this currently discarded

knowledge in a subtitle ‘archive’ file could

radically alter the effectiveness and granularity

of media search and recommendation. n


The language of subtitlingJohn Birch, strategic partnerships manager at Screen Subtitling Systems, looks at recent developments in an often forgotten side of production

‘The growth in ‘internet media’ has spawned a whole range of new subtitle

distribution formats supported by different internet video players’

Subtitle developments have to take into account the increasing use of second screen devices

26 TVBE Subtitling Production_final.indd 54 17/03/2016 12:11

One of the prized contracts in the outside

broadcast calendar went to Whisper

Films earlier this year, an award that

caused some controversy.

The indie, which was formed in 2010, is backed

by Channel 4 as part of its Growth Fund, for

which the broadcaster took a small stake in

the company. When the BBC prematurely

divested itself of terrestrial UK rights to cover

Formula One at the end of the 2015 season,

Channel 4 took up the reigns and put the

presentation of it out to tender.

Established by Sunil Patel, who oversaw

the BBC’s F1 output before leaving to launch

Whisper, BT Sport presenter Jake Humphrey and

ex-F1 driver David Coulthard, Whisper beat more

seasoned sports producers like North One –

which produced ITV’s recent coverage – to

the chequered flag.

Patel is unfazed by suggestions of favouritism

in the press. “The pressure to succeed because

we had this high profile win doesn’t come into it.

The pressure comes from all those on our team

to deliver on our own high expectations. We are

duty bound to keep fans entertained and to

improve coverage where we can. There is no

added pressure from any other party.”

Because of the tight nine week turnaround

between landing the contract in mid-January

and the start of the 2016 season in Australia

– nearly two weeks of which was required for

shipping equipment to Melbourne – Whisper

wisely decided to rehire Presteigne Broadcast

Hire as its OB partner. Presteigne had designed

and supplied F1 flypacks complete with air

conditioning and power distribution systems for

the previous seven years of BBC broadcasts, and

had the kit ready to go at its headquarters in

Crawley. It also supplies up to 15 crew including

sound ops and engineers.

“By and large we are using the same kit as the

BBC operation with one major uplift in editing,”

explains Patel, who will executive produce

C4’s coverage. BBC Sport had made a fateful

decision to base its editing on Final Cut Pro 7 in

2011, just as Apple decided it would no longer

support a professional version of the software. A

sensible decision, then, for Patel to replace them

with four new Adobe Premier suites.

On site, these are linked with EVS IP Director

logging and search tools, integrated with a trio

of EVS XT3 servers and further hooked into an

EditShare rack of collaborative storage. The rest

of the kit contained in two flypacks remains the

same and includes a Ross switcher, Lawo sound

desk and Riedel Artist for talkback, with the only

other significant addition being a Sony PMW-F5

with Canon Cine lenses to work alongside

conventional RF cams. “This will give us a real

cinematic look for feature making; content we

Whisper Films on the starting grid

“The pressure to succeed because we had this high profile win doesn’t come into

it. The pressure comes from all those on our team to deliver on our own

high expectations” Sunil Patel,

Whisper Films

After Channel 4 took over free to air F1 coverage for the start of the 2016 season it put Whisper Films in the driving seat. Adrian Pennington reports


Feature

27 28 37 38 TVBE Apr16 Whisper Feature_FINAL HA.indd 27 18/03/2016 16:46

Feature28 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

are familiar with given our heritage of branded

high end content,” says Patel.

Whisper has created a range of brand-funded

sports content in association with companies

such as Red Bull, UBS, Shell and Hugo Boss. It has

also won conventional TV commissions such as

BBC1 doc Racing With The Hamiltons: Nic In The

Driving Seat, and produced highlights for ITV4’s

coverage of DTM German Touring Cars. Whisper

also produced BBC2’s NFL studio-presented

highlights in the run up to the Superbowl 50,

introducing a touch screen for pundit analysis.

Patel said he decided to apply for Growth

Fund investment when TV commissions began

to “dry up”, and he felt that C4’s backing

would give Whisper “credibility” and better

access to commissioners.

Formula One Management (FOM) run a strict

and well-oiled machine. Rights holders have to

join them at the F1 sting five minutes prior to race

start, leaving the host feed only once the podium

ceremony is over. In between rights can only

tailor presentation with commentary.

“There is limited opportunity to do anything

within the sport itself, but the real difference

is around the presentation aspect, hence our

commitment to our talent line up,” says Patel.

“The difference will be in the insight we can give

to viewers from the people we have on in the pit

lane and paddock.”

The FOM set-up is deliberately formulaic across

the world. “There are new places, such as Baku

and Mexico for 2016, which we will be keeping

a watch over this year, but each venue has its

own unique challenges,” comments Presteigne

This is the pits: the pit lane gears up for testing action

27 28 37 38 TVBE Apr16 Whisper Feature_FINAL.indd 28 17/03/2016 13:02

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April 2016TVBEurope Supplements

In association with

Thinkingoutside the Box

An insight into set-top box solutions for IPTV, OTT, and hybrid DVB projects

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The rise of IPTV has transformed what was

a purely linear product into a complete

TV experience, which includes live TV,

network PVR and time-shift, on demand

services and third-party content. This new world

of connecting the TV to the internet means

opportunities as well as challenges for operators,

developers and integrators.

No one needs to be reminded that there

are a lot of changes going on in the content

delivery sector. But a careful analysis is essential

in building a roadmap for the future. Right now,

there are three main players who are looking to

change their game and take advantage of all

that IPTV has to offer.

First of all, cable operators want to upgrade

their TV service offering to a more modern and

rich service, featuring live TV (DVB) enriched

with IPTV or OTT channels, nPVR, time-shift or

restart TV, and VoD for a complete first-screen

offering. These operators are looking for an

upgrade from a legacy system to a modern

interactive TV solution. Moreover, they are

looking to second screens to complete a

compelling new TV proposition.

There are also IPTV operators who need to

switch from first or second- generation IPTV

solutions to a modern solution with interactive TV

features, a modern UI for a top user experience

and a rich feature set, including HbbTV, nPVR,

nTimeshift, VoD, third-party services such as

YouTube and Smart TV applications).

And there are the new OTT players – mobile

operators, for example – who are looking to

enrich their service offering with a TV proposition

for mobile, but also the first-screen.

These are looking for innovative solutions, even

fully hosted and managed.

Technology perspective From a technology perspective, it seems

clear that the growth in bandwidth will drive

high quality video services in mature markets.

In developing countries, adaptive streaming

technologies and highly efficient video codecs

will help to deliver compelling TV services to

new markets and regions.

Given these trends, companies already need

to be thinking about upcoming hardware and

solutions that will allow them to deliver more

innovative and feature-rich products, and their

outlook needs to be global and adaptable. In

the Asia Pacific region, for example, you see

some operator requirements for Android, driven

by customer demand, which you might not see

as much of in other regions.

Modern operators in mature markets also

need to be ready for UHD content, which may

not be available in bulk now, but is just around

the corner. Within a year or so, 4K content will be

made more widely available by broadcasters

and content providers. New STB’s will need to be

adapted for the HEVC/H.265 streaming format

for highly efficient video decoding (a new

standard which reduces the required bandwidth

by 40 per cent).

Ultimately, the end user wants a feature-rich

product that offers a range of services and just

one set-top box in the living room, and this is

what we have to provide, no matter where

the customer is.

Software is keyThe days of hardware-centric set-top box

solutions are long gone. What’s required now

is a sophisticated software concept which

can deliver operator-grade products with a

Linux operating system for a fully controlled

environment, or operator-grade Android for

certain markets and market segments where

Android is of relevance.

It is still a challenge to deliver all new

technologies and options across to all operators.

In the last fifteen years, traditional TV products

showed very few real innovations. In the last two

to three years, this has changed dramatically.

Now operators need to think about how

their product offerings and TV services will

continuously evolve over the next five years

and decide on a solution which is not

closed, but allows them to follow technology

innovations, without having to reinvent a

solution over and over again.

The software solution is key to this strategy,

and platforms need to be flexible enough

to accommodate varying global operator

demands. Momentum is shifting from project-

Supplementii TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Building a new kind of IPTVWith the TV industry entering a new world of IPTV, flexibility is a key asset. Matthias Greve, CEO and founder of ABOX42, gives his views on how to move beyond STBs to a full service solution

in association with in association with

‘Developing markets bring a host of new opportunities. Though there are challenges

of infrastructure in some cases, many new markets aren’t encumbered by legacy

systems and broadcast chains’‘Set-top box companies can no longer be hardware providers; they need to be total set-top box solutions companies, which

encompasses hardware, software and services’

29 30 31 32 34 35 TVBE Apr16 Supplement_final2.indd 30 18/03/2016 16:27

in association with

TVBEurope iiiApril 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

Supplement

based proprietary software to a cross-platform

software concept. This can be helpful to

operators in replacing existing first or

second-generation IPTV solutions, or by

helping a customer to provide compelling

solutions in mixed network environments (cable,

DSL, fibre) with a unified user experience and

product approach.

Set-top box companies can no longer

be hardware providers; they need to be

total product and set-top box solutions

companies, which encompasses hardware,

software and services. New partnerships and

ecosystems are key as well, allowing sharing of

skills and services, eliminating the burden of a

single company trying to do everything itself.

A combination of hardware platforms,

software and solutions will offer extra flexibility

and ultimately a comprehensive set-top box

solution to customers.

Fast and flexible deploymentThis new cross-platform approach allows for fast

and flexible deployment via IPTV and can open

up new opportunities for customers. It becomes

simpler to augment services or quickly add types

of services for existing customers.

In the past when most operators moved

into IPTV, there were normally a few different

stakeholders involved: providers for the

middleware, the head-end system, transcoding,

DRM, playout to set-top boxes. It ended up

being a complex project with twelve months’

development time or more, and a lot of cost

and frustration. With a more flexible software-

based system and intelligent partnerships

with existing platforms, a kind of ‘one-stop-

shop’ for operators can be provided, which

eliminates those complicated moving parts in

the delivery chain. The customer could roll out

a customised IPTV service within a quarter, with

the essential ingredients operated by the set-

top box company and its partners. There’s no

hardware investment for the IPTV solution itself,

no maintenance and no major development

needed from the operator side. The only thing

required of the customer is to roll out the set-top

box hardware and do the marketing for the

service and the billing.

Whether it’s telcos, new entrants such as

FTTH operators, DVB-C customers who want

to upgrade their networks to more interactive

features or pure OTT customers who do not own

the networks and want to start a TV proposition

on top of an existing infrastructure, the transport

infrastructure is ultimately not important.

Customers have the ability to offer the same

TV packages independent of the network

infrastructure that they use.

New marketsDeveloping markets bring a host of new

opportunities. Though there are challenges of

infrastructure in some cases, many new markets

aren’t encumbered by legacy systems and

broadcast chains. There is the potential for

huge growth in Asia, Africa and South America.

There are a couple of countries in Africa

that are especially of interest and there are

an increasing number of requests for both

Hybrid and IPTV solutions. There is an upcoming

programme in three African countries where

a mobile provider is aiming to provide TV

services over mobile networks with an LTE/4G

router providing Wi-Fi in the end users’ homes,

since broadband internet with landlines is not

widely deployed.

Our ability to provide new services to

customers around the world means not just an

improvement in business. It also sets the stage

for an incredible new flexibility in how TV is

distributed and watched. New types of channels

will begin popping up, which could never exist

in the old model, with regionalised or specialty

content finding audiences who have yet to be

properly served. n

‘Companies already need to be thinking about upcoming hardware and solutions

that will allow them to deliver more innovative and feature-rich products, and

their outlook needs to be global and adaptable’


Supplementiv TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

M-net TVplus multiscreen IPTV serviceThe fi rst example comes from leading German

regional carrier M-net, based in Munich, which

selected the ABOX42 M20-Series Smart Set-Top

Box platform for its new IPTV service ‘M-net

TVplus’ to be deployed across the M-net fi bre in

the south of Germany.

M-net operates a modern IP network and has

more than 20 years’ experience in providing

best-in-class services to business customers

and end users. The M20 Set-Top Box platform,

which has already been deployed in various

projects worldwide, was extended to support

all functions required for the German market,

such as local multi-stream recording on USB Flash

devices or USB hard-disk drives, local time-shift

support, HbbTV support for all essential German

broadcasters, on-demand and catch-up TV offers

as well as the integration of German’s leading

VoD solution operated by maxdome.

M-net’s decision to adopt the M20 solution,

together with the underlying ABOX42 Smart SDK

platform, and deploy it for its multiscreen IPTV

solution is a timely example of the increasing

move towards fully hosted and managed IPTV

multiscreen solutions and projects with less

complexity for the operator and much shorter

time to market.

“We were carefully analysing and selecting the

solution for our new M-net TVplus IPTV service. The

project was launched only a few months after

kick-off and it was delivered in time. This solution

helps us to offer a modern TV proposition with

many new features. A compelling TV service as

well as highly competitive product bundles will

help to direct people to M-net”, says Thomas

Bichlmeir, responsible for M-net TVplus. “M-net

is an ideal example of a modern operator

managing the transformation to full IP services.

At ABOX42, we are aware of the very high

expectations from operators for an advanced

IPTV solution with latest features. To be able to

role out such demanding operator projects

within a few months requires very experienced

partners and a solid, scalable and customisable

solution, and this is exactly what we provide”, said

Matthias Greve, CEO of ABOX42.

DNMG white label IPTV serviceStaying in Germany, the second example

focuses on DNMG’s new IPTV white label solution:

a collaboration between ABOX42 and IPTV

white label solution provider Zattoo. The M20

Set-Top Box platform was again at the centre

of the collaboration, providing the fi rst-screen

experience with Zattoo enabling fi rst and second

screen functionality. The new white label IPTV

multiscreen platform is a full-service solution for

members of DNMG wanting to quickly and easily

deploy an IPTV-enabled cable TV offering. Very

shortly after launch, German broadband provider

BBV became the fi rst to sign up to the new service

for its multiscreen offering.

Frank Bonnemeier, business director of BBV

Deutschland GmbH explained, “After searching

the market for over a year, we were delighted at

the launch of DNMG’s fully hosted and managed

IPTV solution. ABOX42’s set-top box technology

and Zattoo’s second screen technology combine

to create a fi rst and second screen solution which

is not only hassle free in terms of set up, project

management and in-live operation, but also

leading edge, with a rich feature set, future-proof

software architecture, and a price-performance

that allows us to pay as we grow.”

Oliver Soellner, ABOX42’s VP of business

development and sales, described why the

service is unique in the industry: “When most

operators move into IPTV, there are normally a

couple different stakeholders involved: providers

for the middleware, the headend system,

transcoding, DRM, playout to set-top boxes. It

ends up being a complex project with a lot of

cost and frustration.

“With our new white label IPTV solution, we

take all that away. The customer can roll out

a customised IPTV service within one quarter

because it’s an already existing platform with the

essential ingredients fully operated by ABOX42

and Zattoo. There’s no hardware investment for

the IPTV solution itself, no maintenance and no

major development required from operator side.

The only thing the customer needs to do is roll out

the set top boxes and do the marketing for the

service and the billing.”

At a time when innovation and new features

are arriving faster than anyone can keep up with

them, operators are increasingly phobic about

committing to investment intensive projects.

BBV’s fast adoption of the service suggests that

that the DNMG platform has come to market at

just the right time. n

To shed some light on the latest solutions for IPTV multiscreen services, we take a look at two ABOX42-powered case studies: M-net and BBV

in association with

A case study in IPTV

BBV was the fi rst to adopt the DNMG IPTV solution

M-net employs the M20 Set-Top Box platform

29 30 31 32 34 35 TVBE Apr16 Supplement_final.indd 32 18/03/2016 15:01

www.ABOX42.comwww.ABOX42.comwww.ABOX42.com GERMAN QUALITY &ENGINEERING

ABOX42´s leading Set-Top-Box Platform Solution for OTT, IPTV & Hybrid-DVB Projects

IPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platforms

up to 4K | UHD H.265 | HEVC supportH.265 | HEVC support

OPX Cloud TV & MiddlerwareServices

ABOX42

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ABOX42

Smart STB´sOTT / IPTVHybrid-DVB


ABOX42

Smart SDK& DeveloperServices


ABOX42

OPX TV Application


Latest Generation

Smart Set-Top-Boxes

ABOX42 provides latest generation

Set-Top Box solutions for OTT / IPTV

and Hybrid-DVB projects, engineered

for modern TV services, designed

and produced according to highest

market standards and German Quality

approach.

Comprehensive Smart SDK &

Developer support

The ABOX42 Smart SDK is a sophisti-

cated software platform that provides

you a complete developer environ-

ment with extensive examples plus

detailed descriptions on how to build

new applications, moreover, how to

integrate applications and TV middle-

ware solutions to your existing ones.

Next Generation

TV Experience

The ABOX42 OPX TV Application

is the ideal solution for operators to

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without having to develop their own

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Total TV Solution

for the First Screen

The ABOX42 OPX Cloud TV & Middle-

ware Services offers a unique collection

of SaaS services for the installation,

deployment and operation of the STB

deployment in the field, to upgrade the

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over time.

S e t - To p B o x H a r d w a r e • S o f t w a r e • S o l u t i o n s • S e r v i c e s

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Supplementvi TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

in association with in association with

You came to ABOX42 at a time of market transition. How has the company evolved since you came aboard?

I joined the company in 2010 when ABOX42

was just starting its B2B activities and began

to provide modern set-top box solutions to

operators in Europe.

My background was in sales, business

development and marketing and those were the

roles I took when I started. Last year, I joined the

management board of the company, but my

main focus is still sales and business development.

The core technologies that we use today –

modern and solid hardware architecture and

design; rich software stack (SDK) and developer

IDE for a fast integration and development of

applications and services; compatibility with all

modern streaming solutions (multicast, unicast in

various flavours and with various DRM/software

CAS solutions); total lifecycle management

solution for updates and upgrades of the

complete software stack in the field – all these

elements together are part of the total solution

we offer and were built in the early days of the

company and further enhanced over time

to match the market requirements of today

and tomorrow.

The idea was to build a set-top box platform

that works completely differently to the legacy

products; which were project-based and

required heavy development work which is

expensive and time consuming. The ABOX42

way is to provide a platform that already

matches more than 90 per cent of the operator

requirements and where only a small amount of

development effort is required in order to create

a custom operator solution. This makes it much

faster and much less expensive for operators to

launch a modern TV service.

Our first projects where carried out in

Germany; one of the most complex markets

due to the requirement to support a variety

of different services (additional to the core

operator TV application/service, such as HbbTV,

local catch-up TV and on-demand services and

support for third-party services like YouTube).

Then in the central European space there

were operators who saw what we did and

became quite interested in our multi-application

approach and what they could build on our

core technology. Eventually, we found ourselves

building an entire solution, including set-top

box hardware, lifecycle management, and

maintenance solutions and services.

How does the ABOX42 approach differ from that of most set-top box companies?The founders’ background had been in web

technologies, web services, and audio video

streaming which were all relevant to IPTV

products. Then, when we entered the operator

market, we had to integrate technologies to

support multicast, DRM and other systems that

are used more in the operator space. The core

software stack began to evolve over time and

we started adding new services and as we

carried out more projects in different regions.

For example, we recently added a solution

for the central European market with local

recording and local time shift: functionalities

that aren’t very common in the IPTV space

but were necessary because of the regulatory

requirements in certain countries where you

can’t yet use network PVR. We now serve

markets in the Middle East where you need user

interfaces that read right to left rather than left to

right. And we’ve been able to incorporate those

functionalities across the software.

Ultimately, the differentiator is our total solution,

which has a very feature-rich software stack

offering compatibility to all major technologies

used in today’s TV propositions and solutions.

So, you’re not customising for each individual project?That’s right. We avoid building individual solutions

and try to focus on an overall product where our

additional development is going to pay off for all

potential customers. The fact is that we do not

need to do it for each project, since the majority

of the customer requirements are fulfilled by the

existing platform.

Therefore, it’s all about the enhancement

of the overall platform and making the overall

software stack more feature-rich to serve

other customers. And that’s a bit of a unique

approach. The traditional set-top box business is

much more project driven.

Where do you see set-top box companies struggling?We have been trying to put a focus on how to

maintain the product in the field. We see more

and more projects out there – even with some

of our big competitors – struggling with rolling

out new software and new features in the field.

If you want to run such a solution for five years or

more, there will be new features coming up, and

it’s important to be able to upgrade the product

and maintain it. We put a lot of focus on that,

trying to talk to the right people, and it starts

to pay off.

How are you dealing with the flood of content owners looking to get into the IPTV space? We speak to a lot of broadcasters and people

who have rights or own certain channels. For

them it’s a question of what is the most intelligent

way to reach their customer. We’ve seen a

couple of projects where someone aggregates

content rights for a certain geography and

is able to sell it to people living outside that

geography. That’s a definitely a market, and

people are willing to pay for such services.

But for single content providers who only

have a limited number of channels, I’m not sure

It’s a critical time for the set-top box sector, with software taking precedence over hardware. Oliver Soellner, member of the management board of ABOX42, tells us how his company developed total solutions for a new type of television

Reinventing STB strategy

‘The ABOX42 way is to provide a platform that already matches more than 90 per cent of the operator requirements

and where only a small amount of development effort is required in order

to create a custom operator solution. This makes it much faster and much

less expensive for operators to launch a modern TV service’


TVBEurope viiApril 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

Supplementin association with

it’s a good proposition to look for a set-top box

TV solution. In some cases, we try to add niche

content providers to existing operator solutions. If

you have an operator who is serving his customers

via DVB-C, with a hybrid proposition, they can

add channels that aren’t available via cable and

satellite but are distributed by IP.

It’s no longer necessary for a content provider

to buy satellite capacity or make their content

available through an operator’s cable network.

Other ways, like OTT distribution and streaming,

are very efficient, especially for these niche

providers. We do see that operators are keen

on additional content offerings to enrich their

channel portfolio, and today’s technologies allow

you to combine the best of both worlds, the DVB

world and the IP world, and for the consumer it’s

the same user experience.

What are the biggest challenges coming up in the next few years?The traditional way of doing projects is not

working anymore. Operators are looking for much

shorter project lead times. The big investments

that were done for first or second generation IPTV

solutions are no longer happening. People are

well educated in terms of what is available in the

market, and they are looking for a compelling

solution they can roll out with the least cost and in

the shortest time period.

The strategy from our side is to be compatible

with all the relevant solutions in the market and be

part of the new development that is happening.

That means not only talking to customers or

operators, but partnering and building up

ecosystems with the providers: middleware

providers and hosted solutions providers. If we do

a good job and are able to make both operators

and providers aware of the advantages of the

solution we offer, then we have a very good

market position.

Do you see the changes in the IPTV space accelerating? Or will we enter a period of stability? Web technology has proven to be the way to

go. There are not too many surprises around the

corner in terms of new streaming formats. I think

the space is pretty much clear.

You do have 4K content increasing, which

will be driven by the VoD side at first and later

in live TV. But I think for the next few years it’s

pretty much clear how the market will develop.

The challenge for people will be dealing with

this coexistence of different services using

different technologies, which is an area of

expertise for us. n

‘The traditional way of doing projects is not working anymore. People are well educated in terms of what is available

in the market, and they are looking for a compelling solution they can roll out with the least cost and in the shortest

time period’


www.ABOX42.comwww.ABOX42.comwww.ABOX42.com GERMAN QUALITY &ENGINEERING

ABOX42´s leading Set-Top-Box Platform Solution for OTT, IPTV & Hybrid-DVB Projects

IPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platformsIPTV, OTT & Hybrid capable STB platforms

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S e t - To p B o x H a r d w a r e • S o f t w a r e • S o l u t i o n s • S e r v i c e s

2nd OTT/IPTVINDUSTRY BREAKFAST27. APRIL 2016 08:00-10:00Crowne Plaza Hotel (next to the ExCel London/TV Connect)

hosted by

during the

moderated by

INVITATION Register today and reserve your seatwww.abox42.com/industrybreakfast

Visit us at our stand #55 at TV Connect 2016 in London

26. April - 28. April 2016ExCel, London

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Feature

head of technology, David O’Carroll. All the

opening sequences and feature material is

stored and played off the EVS. A catalogue

of historic race material is also held there.

“For example, if Lewis Hamilton does

something special in practice or race day

and he refers to a previous race, we do have

the ability to find that moment he is talking

about and play that incident as live,” says Patel.

“It’s just a question of searching for the clip

logged in IP Director.”

Much of the chatter in outside broadcast

circles is about how technologies such as IP can

be used to cut the costs of sending crew and kit

to events around the world. The F1 flypack and

its dozen or so engineers and technicians are

already a slim-line production.

“The only aspect I can see coming back to the

UK would be editing, which won’t happen until

the cost of fibre reduces and internet speeds

increase,” says Patel. “The next generation of

IP-enabled kit might hold the key to saving costs

instead of transporting kit and the cost of hotels.”

Perhaps more than any other sport, Grand Prix

racing would seem to lend itself to a higher

resolution, yet despite dabbling in stereo 3D

and making the most of advanced wireless

technology, FOM’s coverage remains resolutely

HD for this season at least.

“In principal, we could supply 4K in the pods

with some minor alterations,” says O’Carroll.

“What is more challenging is the reliance on RF

across the site. There’s not a viable 4K link that

would allow us to acquire 4K. That said, we can

upconvert 50p from the camera, which would

look pretty good, if not true 4K.”

“Given the detail and design of the cars, 4K

would be amazing for Formula One, but until

a platform like Sky (which is broadcasting the

rest of the F1 schedule in the UK) offers 4K to

consumers, then I can’t see it happening,” says

Patel. “It will take a year or two.”

With a contract for ten races a year until 2018,

the indie will be in the best place to anticipate

an upgrade should FOM – or Channel 4 – decide

to up the ante. n

David O’Carroll, Presteigne


www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Feature38 TVBEurope

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When Channel 4 snapped up the

remainder of the BBC’s Formula

One contract, it immediately

became a race against the clock.

The broadcaster had just three months

to recruit an entire team ranging from

presenters and analysts to commentators

and celebrity guests; a task led by chief

creative officer Jay Hunt.

With so little time on her hands, Hunt would

have been forgiven for keeping the transition

as straightforward as possible, with the option

to sign up the BBC team that had brought

so much popularity and success over the

past seven years.

Instead, the channel immediately looked to

make its own stamp on proceedings, recruiting

select key figures from the BBC such as David

Coultard, Lee McKenzie and Eddie Jordan,

whilst bringing in fresh blood in former drivers

Mark Webber and Karun Chandhok.

Hunt said, “When the opportunity to get

Formula One came up at the end of the last

year, it’s fair to say that everyone at Channel 4

was hugely excited. It’s a sexy, young, cutting

edge board and it really couldn’t be a better

fit for Channel 4. We got together the

dream team: a line up of on-screen and off-

screen talent that would deliver truly

unmissable coverage.”

Celebrities are expected to feature heavily

within the new coverage. Susie Wolff, for

example, will take comedian Johnny Vegas and

boxer David Haye for passenger rides.

Steve Jones, who will front Channel 4’s

coverage, said, “My involvement speaks

volumes, [considering] the fact that they

approached a purely entertainment

presenter for this role. We’re going to get

a lot more celebrities involved it and just

generally enjoy it a bit more. I think the BBC

could be quite earnest, great at delivering

the information, but I feel we can deliver that

information with a bit more panache.”

Channel 4 will also introduce multiple pundits

and analysts on a rotational basis, including

Nicholas Hamilton, brother of Lewis, Bruno

Senna and Alex Zanardi. Renowned

commentator Murray Walker will also make

a return, providing interviews with the ‘stars

of the sport’ throughout the season.

Mark Webber, who was a driver on the Red

Bull team as recently as 2013, added, “[We

need] less spreadsheets and more human

content. I think that’s important and we want

to get that across. It’s a phenomenal roadshow.

There’s always a bit of drama and controversy.

We have some good ideas to get people

to understand the essence of the sport and

that’s the gladiators, the people really in there

fighting week in week out, powering through

with no sleep,” he added. “No one sees that

side: mechanics turning up absolutely busted.

They’ve had five to eight hours sleep in five

days. Why does that mean so much to him?

Why is he doing that? We’ve got to go to

another level in terms of access.”

With one eye on expanding Formula One’s

audience into younger territories, it remains

to be seen whether Channel 4 can balance

such glittery showbiz with a satisfactory level of

petrol-fuelled content for the hardcore purists. n

James Groves was at the recent unveiling of Channel 4’s Formula One presenting team

The perfectFormula

Backstage pass: the paddock in Barcelona


2016 will see an even greater commitment from TVBEurope to cover more of the pressing areas of concern, challenge, and opportunity within our burgeoning marketplace. The biggest change for this year will be the introduction of new sections to enable us to provide greater coverage to specific business areas. Our Workflow section will now be divided into two new sections: Production, and Post Production. We will also be introducing a new Business section to follow the increasing acquisition and investment activity permeating the sector, and are also introducing a dedicated Audio section to bring regular insights and updates from an often overlooked strand of our industry. These new sections will be manned by a team of section editors.

Issue Exhibitions present at Feature Editorial Close date Advertising close date

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July • OTT feature 10th June 3rd June

• Automation and playout

• RIO 2016 Olympic production feature:

August • IBC thought leadership insight and 12th July 5th July

product preview

EDITORIAL PLANNER 2016

Europe Ben Ewles: +44 (0) 20 7354 6000 [email protected]

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As well as the great personal networking

opportunities it provides, NAB has

always been the place for seeing new

technologies, learning about emerging trends and

checking out pending buying decisions for products

and services. Press, attendees and exhibitors

always want to see, hear and promote the next

technology. The first question on everyone’s lips is

always ‘what did you see?’ ‘what is new here?’ This

used to be simple to answer; the switch to stereo

then surround sound, analogue to digital to HD,

linear to non-linear file-based editing, visual effects

and the switch from huge cameras/lenses to

hand-held combos and miniature go-anywhere

cameras to name but a few.

Our industry has exploded on the technology

curve over the past decade; however, as an

industry we are very slow to change workflows and

infrastructure. On the acquisition/production side,

everyone is excited to try out new approaches,

equipment and almost anything that will give them

an edge over the competitionr. On the facility/

delivery side, though, resistance to change has

meant this sector has been very much in catch-up

for the past couple of years. For most businesses,

global internet access is changing everything

quickly. We all know this of course, the problem

many are wrestling with is how to blend this with

current business models. NAB 2016 is an essential

year to attend, not because there will be one

special technology or trend revealed, but because

there are so many new approaches to the business;

engineers, visionaries and executives need to have

a clear understanding to move forward. Gone are

the days of ‘wait and see what happens’.

Cord-cutting has renewed interest in terrestrial

broadcasting which, with ATSC3.0 and DVB-T2

delivery supporting hybrid approaches, will grow

in attraction. This directly ties into spectrum issues

like repack and how stations are revamping

for the future. Over the last year or so, a new

word has entered the industry’s vocabulary;

recommendation. Today it’s not just about making

and offering great content, but also working to

keep consumers tied to your channel by flagging

up content that suits their viewing habits. On the

acquisition side, point-of-view cameras, high

resolution capture and drones continue to improve

and are becoming a must-have, but in the case of

the last item, not necessarily in close proximity to an

airfield! Issues like HDR, wider colour gamut, the shift

to in-plant IP, the cloud and UHD/4K will be ever-

present at NAB; they are becoming the norm that

everyone needs to understand and not shy away

from. Various organisations are working together

to move standardisation forward quickly in these

areas; expect to see progress on this at the show.

This NAB won’t focus on digital media, social

media and new media as orphans. They are still

often thought of as a thorn in the broadcaster’s

side: must have – need budget – near profitless.

However, consumers expect these second, third

and even fourth screen experiences and handled

correctly, should be seen as gain-not-pain. Expect

to see new techniques and technologies for

integrating these rapidly maturing ‘new’ channels

into production and delivery workflows.

The biggest elephant in the room at NAB will

be virtual reality. Beyond gaming, medical and

industrial applications, VR is looking for a home in

broadcast, movies, sports. 3D was supposed to be

a no-brainer because it was so immersive, so was

it the glasses that did for it? Will the VR headset

meet the same fate for TV? How do you use a

second screen with a headset on? The jury is

currently out, but I’m optimistic that the NAB Show

helps us see VR’s future more clearly.

What we will learn from NAB 2016Feature


Ahead of NAB 2016, TVBEurope asked a number of industry leaders for their views on the progress of the broadcast and video technology industry, and the talking points at this year’s show that will best inform us about the evolution of our marketplace. The IABM’s Stan Moote opens the discussion

Stan Moote, CTO, IABM

40 41 42 43 TVBE Apr16 NAB thought_FINAL HA.indd 54 23/03/2016 15:37

TVBEurope 41 April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

Feature

Progress this year will be

taking the new IP and IT

centric broadcast stack

out of the labs and into early

production deployments. The

flexibility promised through

software deployed systems,

abstracted through virtualisation

from the underlying hardware,

offers a number of potential

benefits. These include faster

and lower cost deployments,

separation of hardware and

software lifecycles, and the ability

to make changes quickly and

efficiently to accommodate new

operating models. The focus to

date has largely been about

porting media transport and

component functionality to these

new environments. In both cases

significant progress has been

made, through advancement of

new standards and vendor product

development, so the next phase of

activity should be on how we can

fully exploit this work.

In reality we are just at the

beginning of this technology

transition and real-world

experience needs to be gained if

we are to take full advantage of

this promise. This new tech stack is

an enabler rather than an end in

itself. We need to do much more

than emulate our existing ways

of working on new infrastructure.

Key to this will be increasing the

level of operational automation,

both in terms of service monitoring

and interventions, as well as more

closely integrating the separate

worlds of linear and VoD.

We need to step back and

consider the changes in viewer

behaviour, changing economic

models driven by new entrants and

external competition for viewer

time, and the role and relationship

that a broadcaster has with its

audience. We are evolving from

an era of mass audience reach,

to mass viewer personalisation.

The lines between traditional linear

viewing and viewer controlled

scheduling are blurring and will

continue to do so.

We are also seeing an increase

in the use of data science within

traditional broadcasters, as they

become more data-driven in their

decision making. Increased use of

software based infrastructure can

aid in both the collection of data

and in the application of data-

driven software execution.

All of these developments

impact the nature of NAB as an

event. Showcasing software leads

to more screens and less boxes

in exhibiter booths. Conference

sessions are more numerous and

diverse in subject matter as we

come together to share insights

and look to learn from the work

that others are doing.

It should be an exciting year

ahead and NAB as always provides

us with a test of progress and

indicators of where the industry

is going next.

Steve Plunkett, CTO, broadcast and media services, Ericsson

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Feature42 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

I’m all for progress; it’s change I

can’t stand”, said Mark Twain.

Either the link between progress

and change should be visible in the

broadcast and video technology

industries, or Mark Twain got it

wrong with his humour.

Fortunately, there is a lot of

overlapping change taking place

at the moment. With Samsung and

LG announcing reductions in 3D

display manufacturing, the UHD,

high dynamic range, wide colour

gamut, high frame rate revolution is

gathering pace. Each of these new

technologies is a tool for storytellers

to change the way video

communication works. Whether the

story is a movie, football match or

the news, tools like HDR make the

picture better for 100 per cent of

viewers rather than the 70 per cent

of viewers reached by 3D.

The cost of this progress is

the reinvention of all the signal

processing from camera through

to display to ensure the extra bits

required exist in every device,

every software process and all

workflow steps. Anyone who has

seen the results will understand how

compelling the pictures are and will

get excited at the opportunities for

new sales of products and services.

If that seems exciting but

economically difficult to get off the

ground globally, then the prospect

of streamlining the delivery chain

of finished content by using the

new IMF standard from SMPTE is

one of the unspoken marvels of

technology that will change our

world forever (SMPTE ST 2067).

Software technologists have long

known the power of incremental

workflows and software versioning

tools. IMF does that for media as

a standardised auditable format

that’s software and MAM friendly.

Interoperability trials showed great

results from vendors making this

SMPTE standard a reality. Economic

savings in QC, storage and

processing all stem from using IMF

in versioning workflows.

The final hot topic is professional

IP transport. The Video Services

Forum release of TR-03 along

with the AMWA’s Network

Media Incubator project on the

discovery of IP services show that

the migration to IP working is no

longer a future technology. The

standards exist, the products exist,

they interoperate and the savings

are not about replacing an SDI

workflow with an IP workflow. It’s

all about replacing a fixed function

infrastructure with a versatile one

that allows the media business

to quickly take advantage of

new opportunities. New to spin

up an extra four channels for a

sports event? IP infrastructure

with SDN (software-defined

networking) radically changes the

economics and speed with which

this can be done.

We’re at the start of one of

the biggest disruptive curves that

we’ve seen since the introduction

of colour technology. I do hope

that there are enough people

who understand this technology

to go around.

Bruce Devlin, chief scientist, Dalet

It’s taken a couple of years,

but predictions made at past

NABs of the growing influence

of IP-based technologies in the

broadcast plant, and the agility

and versatility benefits of moving

media operations to virtualised

environments are becoming

reality. Media companies now

understand the massive benefits

of moving operations to agile and

versatile software environments

based on standard, commercial

off-the-shelf (COTS) computing and

networking platforms.

Crucial to the success of this

transition is the development and

wide-spread adoption of open

standards for transporting video

and audio over IP infrastructures.

Without assurances of plug-

and-play interoperability, media

companies are likely to slow the

conversion of their operations

out of fear of getting locked

into a single-vendor solution and

other compatibility concerns.

To further the advancement of

open industry standards, Imagine

Communications in December

2015 cofounded the Alliance for

IP Media Solutions (AIMS), a trade

association created to support

and promote the adoption of

vendor-neutral, open standards.

AIMS is receiving industry-wide

support, and we expect continued

membership growth in 2016.

Equally important to the future

fortunes of media companies is

the steady shift of operations away

from purpose-built hardware and

toward standard COTS platforms.

To make the shift efficiently and

transparently, media companies

will need to adapt their operations

to the same generic computing

and networking resources found

in today’s datacentres. The good

news is that market leaders in the

IT industry are working in lockstep

with media companies to transition

media operations to generic

resources without sacrificing the

quality, synchronisation or precision

that broadcast-quality video

demands. In January, Imagine

Communications expanded its

strategic relationship with Hewlett

Packard Enterprise (HPE). The

collaboration integrates Imagine

Communications’ video portfolio

with HPE’s storage, computing

and networking technology,

and leverages HPE’s world-class

datacentre systems integration

capabilities. A separate alliance

with Microsoft is designed to

provide media companies with

new workflow options, including

those delivered via the Microsoft

Azure cloud services platform.

Media companies are also

looking to incorporate technologies

like UHD into their workflows in a

cost-effective and non-disruptive

manner. The bandwidth required

for UHD, including 4K resolution

and HDR video, is prompting some

media professionals to consider

synchronising this upgrade with

the transition to IP. Recently

conducted research by Imagine

Communications has found that

more than half of the 700 media

professionals surveyed believe that

upgrading to UHD is a catalyst for

transitioning to IP.

2016, and NAB 2016 in particular,

is shaping up to be a pivotal time

for our industry.

Charlie Vogt, CEO, Imagine Communications

‘We’re at the start of one of the biggest disruptive curves

since the introduction of colour technology’


April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

The amount of change in

the last couple of years

has been very dramatic. It

has been an order of magnitude

greater than anything else I’ve

seen in my 20 years in the industry.

I’ve been through the move from

analogue to digital, SD to HD and

now this move to IP. But this is a

fundamental architecture shift.

Combined with the issues that

broadcasters are facing in terms

of changing monetisation patterns,

the confusion in the market is

very understandable.

The move to IP is massive. We

see a couple of things going on.

There have been downturns and

shifts in the industry in the past

and plenty of bumps in the road

where capital spending was off

ten per cent.

But we are seeing more than

that recently. This is a dramatic

shift because customers’ business

models are changing at the same

time that we’re beginning to see

this huge technological shift on

the production and playout side.

Together this is clearly a challenge.

There are also issues on the

supplier side. I’ve always tracked

the industry quarter-to-quarter

and you might sometimes see

companies’ revenues decline

eight or ten per cent. But we’ve

seen companies with revenue

declines significantly greater

recently and that means radical

change to stay alive. Ten per cent

you can handle, but much more

is very tricky. Flipping this around

to the positive, where there are

genuine challenges there are also

genuine opportunities. There is

confusion on the customer side –

and rightly so at the moment – and

we need to provide clarity and

standards. AIMS is an important

effort in this regard and that’s

the kind of progress we need to

see. It will help to introduce some

stability into the marketplace.

That’s crucial.

The supplier base really needs to

educate and inform the customer

base about what’s happening,

something we’re now pushing

hard. Of course not just with IP

but 4K, HDR, virtualisation – I could

go on. Then there are the shorter-

term issues that we must also be

across with our customers - day-

to-day pragmatism.

The definition of progress will

vary from customer to customer.

I know that sounds obvious, but

never has it been truer. We are as

far away from a one-size-fits-all

approach as we’ve ever been. n

Tim Thorsteinson, CEO, SAM

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‘We’re as far away from a one-size-fits-all approach as

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S MPTE is back in the UK as a huge

educational presence. It celebrated the

transition from sectional to regional status

– essentially by growing from 80 to over 500

members in just two years – with a conference

day on the issues around real-time media

transport as the market journeys from SDI to full IP.

Nigel Seth-Smith, strategic technology

manager with Semtech, set the agenda for

a day of intense presentations. He said:

“We are in an industry that is a very long

way from single vendor. Hundreds of small

companies contribute and interoperability is vital.

A channel is no longer the constraining thing.

For Wimbledon last year the BBC popped up ten

streaming channels and six broadcast channels.

They just appeared and then disappeared,”

he added. “The production side has to be able

to cope. It is much nicer to be able to push a

button and say can you now be 40 channels.

That’s the virtualisation dream.”

Seth-Smith has a mantra: “Specialise only

what needs to be special, while generalising

everything else. This is driving a lot of the

changes in the business.”

In summarising where we are as a phase

three (phase one having been replacing VT

with data file stores and servers), he continued:

“We are replacing specialised time critical video

switching with the kind of switches used

in the Datacom environment, but these are a

bit specialised and not completely generic. The

top-end switches have to have some kind of

network management software to set them up.

That’s where we are.”

He reviewed all current and relevant SMPTE

and Video Services Forum (VSF) standards

work, and covered the value imperatives of

both the Evertz-led Adaptive Sample Picture

Encapsulation (ASPEN) group, and the Alliance

for IP Media Solutions (AIMS).

The first is documented in a SMPTE RDD

(Registered Disclosure Document); and the

VSF protocols plus AES 67 for audio over IP (as

supported by AIMS) are the subject of a SMPTE

standardisation project.

SDI on a different piece of stringGeorge Jarrett reviews the highlights from a SMPTE day devoted to charting the route to full IP

Business44 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

SMPTE’s conference focused on the issues around real-time media transport as the market journeys from SDI to full IP

44 45 46 48 50 TVBE Apr16 SMPTE_final.indd 54 17/03/2016 12:35

Business

SDI on a different piece of stringGerard Phillips, engineering group manager,

Snell Advanced Media, addressed the subject of

ASI and SDI over IP (essentially the magnificent

seven documents of ST 2022 allowing for things

like higher bit rate accommodation, seamless

protection against fabric failure, forward error

correction by the way of recreating lost material

on redundant data, and describing the attributes

of a set of streams). Regarding 2022/6 he said:

“It is the whole SDI stream encapsulated –

uncompressed, low latency – and it puts SDI on a

different piece of string.

“The industry is talking a lot about the

challenges of the IP studio, which is obviously

good for high quality, high bit rates, and

lots of signals and lots of headroom, but we

need to talk about IP everywhere,” he added.

“Basically (with SDI) we have got an error-free

transport through a facility, but now we

are moving the workflow into a COTS off-the

shelf IT environment.”

Phillips’ concerns about the concentration

on studio applications followed comments

about smuggling other data with the SDI

stream, involving TICO mezzanine compression

assistance, and the attraction of things being

much more self describing. He said: “This suits the

IP studio, but it is not all a good choice for Live

IP. It is not friendly to audio, and is not suited to

software processing or virtualisation.”

Phillips noted that MPEG-2 transport streams

do offer the complex data recognition missing

from other streams. The move to virtualisation

and SDN is currently positioned quite handily as

an island of IP in a compliant sea of SDI, from

where it is easy to extend to UHDTV and HDR. On

the issue of interoperability between vendors, the

practical experience at SAM is, “We have not

found any other vendor with an incompatible

offering. Recent VSF interoperability tests show

nearly 100 per cent success.”

Traffic engineering gave an edge to BTJohn Ellerton, head of media futures, BT, spoke on

the subject of contribution over IP. Twelve years

ago, BT along with other telcos had decided to

build a common IP network to carry all consumer,

business and broadcast traffic, but the folk in BT

Broadcast saw that the requirements for carrying

professional video were uniquely demanding in

terms of availability and performance.

“We went to BT Group and said, ‘you know

we want to collapse everything down into one

network, well it is not going to work for us’. We

got an agreement to build the world’s first IP

broadcast contribution network (carrying signals

between two broadcast facilities),” said Ellerton.

“We used MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching)

as a means of controlling an IP network.”

In this environment you need to know exactly

how long video and audio paths are, and what

the latency is, which involves things like A and

E paths, so BT recognised it needed something

more than MPLS. “We use a technique called

traffic engineering, which gave us the ability


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to define what the paths are, and we built

the network for broadcast contribution and

distribution,” said Ellerton.

Jumping forward 12 years, BT is having the

same chats with broadcasters that it had with

group management. Ellerton said: “How do we

make these IP networks fit for purpose? We are in

conversations with broadcasters who have had

some bad experiences with using MPLS networks.

This is because MPLS is a technique used by a lot

of telcos to create their business networks, and

the availability and architecture may not be

quite good enough to carry broadcast traffic.

You need a network that is designed to carry

high availability video, which is why BT chose

traffic engineering to do that.”

FEC had been raised previously, and Ellerton

added: “We are talking about putting that in

the IP layer but also the underlying layer as

well, and making sure you have got forward

error correction as necessary to protect the

traffic, plus the service and traffic engineering

techniques to control the IP layer.

“As the networks get more and more stable

do you really need to use FEC? We use it not

necessarily as a means of covering unreliability

that undermines our networks, but as a means

of being able to discover if things go wrong,”

he continued. “The data coming out of the FEC

will tell you if packets are going missing, and

that can alert you to whether there is a problem

emerging on the network.”

111.9 million viewers cannnot be wrongThomas Edwards, VP engineering and

development with Fox, spoke on the subjects

of separate media streams over IP VSF TRs,

and video (RFC4175). He belongs to a small

advanced science group that helps Fox business

units deploy new technologies.

America had just enjoyed the first IP produced

Super Bowl, using everything Evertz offers under

ASPEN, and 111.9 millions viewers little knew

that it was all about the enhanced density of IP

capability producing a vast number of streams

over the multi-fibre connector of 10Gb Ethernet.

“I am thinking of the year 2020. I am walking

into our broadcast equipment centre, and

looking around I cannot see any broadcast

facilities. I see a private cloud. Fox doesn’t look

any different to a chemical company or a

bank. It is just servers, switches and enterprise

storage,” said Edwards. “It is flexible, multi-format,

commercially available hardware and software-

based media processing. And with virtualised

software-based media processing we can spin

channels and spin down channels, and add

capacity as necessary. I may wish to burst out

to Amazon,” he added. “This is the motivation of

IP for us. It has the flexibility, it is denser than SDI,

it is inherently bi-directional, and it is agnostic to

resolution, bit rate, frame rate, electronic transfer

function, and colour space. It is compatible

with network interfaces on commodity Ethernet

switches and commodity PC servers.”

Edwards sees advantages like the flexible

association of media streams into desired groups

of media and network-based registration as the

road to, “that software-oriented virtualised video

production plant that we all envision.”

The Video Services Forum established a Studio

Video over IP activity group (SVIP) that is tasked

with developing the standard for video over IP

without SDI encapsulation, so not SMPTE 2022/6.

This SVIP decided to adopt RTP architecture,

Real-Time Protocols, standardised back in 1996.

“RTP is well understood within the networking

world,” said Edwards. “It is a transport protocol

for real-time apps, and it is usually over IP and

usually over UDP, with which we have the ability

to do re-transmissions.”

This leads the user to sequence numbering

for RTP packets and media time stamps. For

video media flows Fox decided to deploy IETF

RFC 4175. “It has been sitting there for ten years

waiting for us to use it,” said Edwards. “The active

video is good for all the resolutions to 8K and

beyond and it can handle the sampling sizes

of chroma sub samples. For audio flows the AES

has come up with AES 67, which is basically IETF

RFC 5190, which is a 24-bit, 48Khz PCM over RTP.

For ancillary data we need to come up with

something new.”

AES 67 is waiting on network discovery, and

when published in 2013 the AES had dealt with

the issues of timing being poorly understood, the

need to manage delay, packet jitter requiring a

buffer, and lip sync.

Edwards wrote an IETF draft, which is expected

to become an RFC this summer. This will define

closed captions, the active format descriptor,

and things like timecode. For clock distribution

his answer is the IEEE 1588-2002 Precision

Time Protocol. VSF 04 with an AES 67 audio

stream, and good work by AMWA in the area

of registration and discovery over IP APIs, led

Edwards to conclude: “This again is an essential

part of this strategy; to have transport as well

as registration, discovery and identity over IP all

becoming standardised.”

Edwards returned to RFC 4175 emphasising

its neat concept of pixel groups and explaining

that the top three lines of the typical payload

are sequence number, time stamp and the

SSRC, which tells you the media source. The

ability to have SDP (session description protocol)

described duplicated streams using the group

attribute of RFC 5888 is a key advantage.

One key thing Edwards mentioned was a

SMPTE plug fest group around SMPTE 2059 /1

and /2; the first being the generation of video

sync signals from PTP time, and the second

being the PTP profile.

“I am thinking of the year 2020. I am walking into our broadcast equipment

centre, and looking around I cannot see any broadcast facilities. I see a private cloud”

Thomas Edwards, Fox

“RTP architecture was standardised way back in 1996,” Thomas Edwards, Fox


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Joining the dots between the convergent worlds of UHD and IT/IP infrastructures; assessing the shifting business landscape for broadcasters and content providers; and dissecting the impact of the coming technologies of the connected world, this year’s agenda promises to be the most forward looking TVBEurope event to date. Last year’s delegate list included senior representatives from the BBC, ITV, Netfl ix, Sky, ITN, Rovi, BT Sport, Channel 4, Viacom, CNBC Europe, Al Jazeera, Fox International, NBC Universal, Discovery, Reuters TV, Modern Times Group, Bloomberg, BT Media and Broadcast, PwC, Ernst and Young, SNL Kagan, KPMG, and more…

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TVBEurope 2020 FP 2016.indd 1 10/02/2016 14:39


Business

Sending out 64-bit numbersSeth-Smith came back to talk about

sychronisation (ST 2059). He introduced the

notion of an SPG being a little thing talking into

your IP fabric, with a slaving unit attached.

He said: “PTP 1588 is designed to do that kind

of thing. It was developed for things like factory

automation. It has been described as filling a

niche between MTP and GPS. GPS has great

precision but you have to have access to it, so it

would be nice if you can get that precision and

send it round over a network.

“So how does PTP work in broadcasting?

It definitely has the range that we need and

definitely has the precision we need too,

because what it sends out is 64-bit numbers,” he

added. “The bottom 32 bits are in nanoseconds

and the top 32 bits are in seconds, which means

it has precision to the nearest nanosecond, and

it goes up to 136 years.”

Users then get the timing required for video,

and as you get larger it covers what we need for

timecode: it can also extend timecode.

PTP can be appropriate as long as it has

the accuracy, and the desired nanosecond

depends on conversations between the master

and slave (clocks). Considering the basics for the

accuracy of PTB, Seth-Smith said: “The timing of a

packet is defined at a particular point.

The thing we have to think about is system

errors. Of course the assumption in algorithm is

that the network delays are symmetrical, but

packet delays can be more than a microsecond.

The management techniques for this include

transparent clocks, which involves the reference

time stamp in/out: you can put on a correction

field (what a transparent clock does).”

Other techniques are boundary clocks and

being clever with your algorithm, and the

industry seems to favour boundary clocks so

the slaves don’t have to be too intelligent.

The broadcast version of PTP uses eight sync

messages per second, SMPTE ST 2059-1 being the

timing standard.

End to end timing makes things easierPeter Brightwell, BBC lead R&D engineer,

discussed the AMWA Incubator, but started by

explaining his role as looking at what it means

to be internet-fit. “At R&D we are happy with

everything on the internet,” he said.

Everything links back to the Joint Task Force

for Network Media Report, and how it provided

context for future specs. Commenting on things

said previously, he started with giving names

and IDs to help working on a network. “It makes

sense to start putting some of these strong

identities into our media and one way of doing

that is creating a new ID and fitting it into an RTP

header extension,” he said.

Regarding time he added: “Whether you

just time a particular link or whether you try to

achieve end to end timing is being discussed by

various groups, and having end to end timing

makes things easier.”

On defining a set of time stamps, he added:

“These are full resolution which allows you to

identify an individual frame or grade of the

video.” On achieving discovery he said: “A lot

of work has happened in discovery, but we are

still trying to look at what is best practice in that

area. The final bit after discovery and registry

is connection management, and that is where

AMWA comes in.

“The Incubator looks at what came out of

the joint task force on network media, but that

only partly reflected PTP and available specs.

The Incubator is basically a group of like minded

companies – 35 companies/96 members –

who want to get on and try things in practice

and then turn those to prospective specs for

consideration by other groups,” he added.

A plug fest at the BBC proved that all

participants were able to interact with the

reference discovery system. “Time-based data

is coming next and there is limited registry, not

quite as we want it,” said Brightwell.

Dispelling the myths about latencyThomas Kernen, technical leader with Cisco

covered the issues around network features. He

focused on the march upwards of bit rates, with

400Gbps being used by telcos in long distance

instances where there is a finite set of fibres in the

ground and laying more fibres is going to cost

more than upgrading the optics.

Referring to work by Edwards (as a SMPTE

colleague) he said: “Thomas did some work

around switch validation just to remove and

dispel the myths that modern network switching

equipment introduces latency and jitter. Switches

built around ASIC produce very low latency.

“The next point is architecture. This is based on

what you are trying to build; a new OB truck, a

new plant, or a standup gallery, say something

for a specific 4K event you are building out for.

Where do you stand on your transition? The

architectural decisions will drive the way that

you move in terms of requirements and what you

need in network features,” he added.

He suggested defining high level priority

constraints by using SDI workflows to understand

“Specialise only what needs to be special, while generalising everything else”

Nigel Seth-Smith, Semtech

“We need to talk about IP Everywhere,” Gerard Phillips, SAM

John Ellerton, BT


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NewBay Connect FP.indd 1 12/01/2016 12:41


Business

what is actually being used.

He said: “Practically, over a period

of 24 hours, a week, a month,

and a year, what percentage

of those flows are used at any

given point in time for something

active? Understand what flows you

may have. This is not to say you

should not have a non-blocking

environment in IP, which exists and

is not as problem. But it is just to

understand how your flows are

going to grow over time.

“In the past we have seen a lot

of north/south traffic, from an end

point outwards to other parts of

networks. Now with the data centre

approach, where everything is

centralised, we have a lot of

east/west traffic between servers,”

he added.

Kernen affirmed that the

infrastructure will always be around

and the apps may evolve or be

replaced. System designers need

to consider density, heating, power

restraints, and form factors. He

considered the values of building

network infrastructure in the

centralised or spine and leaf style.

He said: “The SDI-like approach is

centralisation: the amount of work

the vendors have done means they

can have multicast support. Since

there is one switch and everybody

knows where the sources and

destinations are, there is very little

multicast logic compared to the

larger scale. It can sometimes

speed up proof of concept. The

one thing about the centralised

device is heat consumption.

“The other model is the traditional

data centre, the spine and leaf.

You can buy a 1RU unit switch

with 100-Gig ports,” he added.

“You build a spine on that and you

can have the same with 40- and

ten-Gig ports for the leaves. These

products exist.”

Broadcast specific SDI is a hard act to followSeth-Smith came back to wrap up,

and he reminded everyone how

vital and trustworthy SDI has been:

“SDI does have the advantage

that is a broadcast specific format

so if the broadcast world needs

SDI to do something SDI gets on

with it. SDI standards work and

they are scalable and backwards

compatible,” he affirmed.

Considering where Ethernet is

going with data rates he confirmed

that 10Gb is the boss, in terms of

shipments and installations, but

25Gb is coming along and looking

towards 2020 we see big change; in

terms of cost 100Gb will catch

up with 40 and 25 will catch up

with 10Gb. How does compression

play? “The SMPTE UHD ecosystem

study group considered

compression in a report two

years ago and said modest levels

could be employed. It made the

point that that minimum latency

is required. I believe it is very

important with any mezzanine

compression that it must not harm

the signal’s subsequent ability to

be compressed for emission for the

home,” said Seth-Smith. n

SMPTE UK is now the third largest section, after Hollywood and LA

“We got an agreement to build the world’s first IP broadcast contribution network, carrying signals between two

broadcast facilities,”John Ellerton, BT


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S upporting the broadcast requirements

of today while simultaneously

accommodating the expectations

of tomorrow – not least with regard to the

enhanced visual experience of 4K/UHD and the

rapid growth in mobile viewing behaviours – has

been the not-insignificant challenge confronting

the technical teams at work on the new ATSC

3.0 broadcast standard, which has now been

in development for nearly three years. But it is

arguable that the task facing the audio sub-

group has been most acute of all given that

they effectively

have been

required

to

completely rethink the scope of broadcast

audio for the future. The end result, it is expected,

will be a standard that delivers interactive

audio functionality, thereby enabling high

spatial resolution in sound source localisation in

azimuth, elevation and distance, and facilitating

an enhanced sense of sound envelopment

throughout the listening area. There will

also be extensive ‘personalisation’ features –

for example, enhancements to the control of

dialogue, mixing of assistive audio services

and special commentary – as well as support

for the normalisation of content loudness and

contouring of dynamic range.

An integral part of the entire process

has been the determining of a suitable

audio subsystem to deliver this new

functionality, and during 2015

proposed systems from Dolby

Laboratories and the MPEG H Audio

Alliance underwent extensive

testing. An announcement was

expected before the end of 2015,

but as Tim Carroll – The Telos

Alliance CTO, Linear Acoustic

founder and member of the

committee deciding the ATSC

3.0 audio standard – asserts, now

it really is imminent.

When would you say that work on the audio part of ATSC 3.0 truly began in earnest?

It was really a few years back

when the ATSC decided that the

new standard would not be

backwards-compatible.

It was a pretty

radical decision, but the hope was that it would

simplify things greatly further down the chain. So

this was effectively a clean sheet of paper from

the codecs to the transport stream to the RF –

everything. I have been involved with the ATSC

for a long time, and in some ways this process

harked back to the early days of ATSC 1.0. The

analogy I would use is that if you have never

driven a car it is very difficult to be asked what

you look for in a car! So a lot of the early stages

of ATSC 3.0 focused on talking to broadcasters

and other stakeholders about what they knew

and thought was possible.

When you add in the idea of object-based

audio and personalisation, then clearly you have

to have a long period of discussion. Not only

are you thinking about what broadcasters need

today, you have to consider seriously what their

requirements will be several years into the future.

Would it be fair to say that it is only now that many people are becoming aware of quite how significant a change ‘next generation audio’ technologies will represent?I think so. I remember hearing about object

audio for the first time from Simon Tuff at the BBC

some years ago, and thinking ‘have you lost your

mind? 5.1 channels is hard enough!’ It will be a

paradigm shift, but just as importantly the

new standard represents a fresh approach to

the way we work today.

So no more is it just a static downmix where a

5.1 mix is automatically combined into stereo;

now it is something that is rendered into stereo,

and the listening differences are tremendous. The

difference between a straight downmix and a

rendered two-channel version is that the latter is

so much more pleasing to listen to. Immersive is a

treat for the ears, but it is the basic stuff that is so

much better. Of course we have more efficient

codecs at our disposal, but it is all the features

that surround them that make the greatest

With the announcement of the audio subsystem for the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard expected imminently, Linear Acoustic founder and The Telos Alliance CTO Tim Carroll recalls the major milestones along the way to David Davies, and explains why this ‘next generation audio’ standard will have been worth the wait

Audio52 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

An historic step forwardfor broadcast audio

52 53 TVBE AudioT Carroll_final.indd 54 17/03/2016 12:40

Audio TVBEurope 53April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

difference. Getting that balance right took time,

and maybe took everyone by surprise a little bit.

There has been extensive public showcasing of the various proposed systems over the last 12 months. How important has this been to the process, and when should we now expect a decision to be announced?It is a significant aspect not only in terms of

showing people what is coming, but also to

highlight the fact that there is a difference

between the lab environment and something

that is standardised. It might be a fantastic

development in its own right, but there has to

be a dialogue about how it is implemented

practically and without breaking the bank.

I can say that by the end of 2015 we were

all pretty sure about the decision regarding the

audio subsystem, and I do now expect that to

be made public in time for NAB 2016.

NAB attendees would be advised to check out the ASTC Pavilion in the South Hall, but what should show visitors expect to see in particular from The Telos Alliance companies?With the arrival of the AES67 audio-over-IP

networking interoperability standard we have

the opportunity to carry hundreds and hundreds

of channels and still have them be perfectly

synchronised to video. It is not necessary for

them to be part of the IP video stream, so at NAB

this year you will see a number of products from

us that support this idea of separating audio

from the core processing.

We expect these to be very popular as

experience tells us that video people will

do anything they can to shovel audio off to

anywhere or anyone else! And of course the

emergence of object-based audio isn’t exactly

going to help matters on that front. n

W hile the ATSC working groups may have

been juggling the dilemma of satisfying

both today and tomorrow’s broadcast

audio requirements, it is clear that vendors

have also been facing the same challenge.

Accordingly, many of the pre-announced NAB

launches reflect a desire to help deliver greater

efficiency and automation while looking forward

to new trends like increased surround and

immersive-style production.

Consider Jünger Audio’s Smart Audio, which

was described as “an entirely new concept

aimed at helping broadcasters embrace

automated audio production, particularly in

live environments.” The approach is intended

to assist broadcasters as they work to meet

the demand for large and diverse quantities of

content on a rapid-turnaround basis. Jünger

Audio’s CEO, Peter Poers, said, “Auto-level,

auto-upmix, auto-EQ, auto-mix, auto-loudness,

codec system metadata management: the

intelligent combination of all these Jünger Audio

adaptive algorithms will create the solution that

delivers smart audio, and programme loudness

will also automatically match, as expected.”

The D*AP product range can deliver a smart

audio experience because every device already

incorporates a collection of these adaptive

processing algorithms.

Nugen Audio will be helping broadcasters to

achieve easier upmix of stereo audio to surround

with a new option for its Halo Upmix solution. The

9.1 option enables the introduction of vertical

positioning into the upmix, generating a 7.1.2

(Dolby Atmos) bed track-compatible upmix.

Systems that can operate effectively as part of

a comprehensively networked environment are

also set to play a key role in the ‘audio story’ of

NAB 2016. Among the headline-making launches

will be SSL’s System T, a fully networked broadcast

audio production environment which allows

for a range of hardware and software control

interfaces to be placed anywhere on a network,

with up to three consoles or control interfaces

accessing a single or fully mirrored redundant pair

of processor ‘engines’.

Calrec will show its developments geared to

making it easier for broadcasters to work flexibly

in the networked world. It will introduce four

new networking interfaces at NAB, including

an AES67/Ravenna interface, an AVB interface

and a modular I/O Dante card that also has

AES67 compatibility, as well as an SMPTE 2022-6

video interface. Calrec’s Dave Letson said, “We

feel that it is not the role of a manufacturer to

dictate which route to take, but to facilitate the

broadcasters’ choices. [With these launches]

Calrec’s customers can now interface with

multiple protocols at the same time. For example,

a signal can be received via AES67 and then

sent out via SMPTE 2022, AVB, Ravenna, Dante

or AES67.” With AES67 generating strong levels

of interest across pro audio, it’s safe to assume

that the standard will be a significant topic of

discussion throughout NAB 2016. n

David Davies looks ahead to the audio highlights at the upcoming NAB Show

NAB 2016 audio preview

‘Among the headline-making launches will be SSL’s System T’

52 53 TVBE AudioT Carroll_final.indd 55 17/03/2016 12:40

Post Production54 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com April 2016

Booth N4225

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TVBE - April issue, 2016.pdf 1 17/03/2016 12:54:46

C loud-based thinking was in evidence

from the likes of Pixit Media, showing off its

collaboration with Google Cloud Platform

to offer both nearline and archive storage. Pixit

was also highlighting its ability to enable creative

companies to take advantage of a mix of private

and public cloud to tackle the pressures of VFX

rendering. It showcased at BVE how Milk VFX can

collaborate on post work and rendering jobs

between its London and Cardiff studios, claiming

it considerably reduced the time, complexity and

costs of launching render resources. Pixit Media’s

PixCache accelerated rendering by transferring

a single copy of the data requested to multiple

private cloud render instances from Milk’s existing

on-site storage, but also supported sending render

jobs to the public cloud with Google Cloud

Platform when more power was required.

“We can start a Doctor Who shot in London

and have a Cardiff artist pick it up in seconds,”

explains Dave Goodbourn, Milk’s head of systems.

“We don’t need to worry about FTPs or email fi les

and we haven’t had to change our pipeline at

all, everything just works.” This type of streamlined

and hybrid approach is set to become more

commonplace as the big public cloud providers,

such as Amazon Web Services EC2, Microsoft Azure

and Google Cloud Platform, as well as third party

technology companies, improve services for post

production facilities. Barry Evans, technical director

of Pixit Media says, “The larger cloud vendors have

invested a substantial amount of time and money

in providing a service from a media, rather

than just IT, perspective. We see most of the

innovation coming from data and render

job management. The work has come a

long way already but ultimately it will be these two

elements that make the end to end

process completely seamless to the user.” Andy

Tzou, product marketing manager at Google, says

individual artists and small teams wanting to focus

on creativity and visual effects without managing

any infrastructure should start off

being ‘cloud-native’.

“It’s the most cost-effective way to get to

productivity without managing any servers,

networking, and maintenance costs,” he says. “Like

today’s best SaaS services, front-line artists get work

done without being burdened by implementation

detail. Capacity gets provisioned automatically,

is billed by the minute, and can scale up and

down based on project demand by artists located

anywhere in the world.”

At BVE, the promise of the cloud seemed to be fulfi lled on almost every aisle you walked down, as well as a fair few seminars. Michael Burns looks at how the virtualised way of working is changing post production in the broadcast industry

O� ering new ways of collaboration in the cloud

54 55 56 57 TVBE Apr16 Post Production_finall.indd 54 18/03/2016 17:16

Post Production TVBEurope 55April 2016 www.tvbeurope.com

Remote cutting and controlAs for editing, the last couple of years have seen

professional broadcast quality work increasingly

go through systems based around the use of a

private cloud, such as Adobe Anywhere and Avid

Everywhere, where multiple editors and artists

can collaborate on the same project. The latest

enhancement to Avid’s approach, unveiled to the

broadcast world at BVE, is Avid Cloud Collaboration

for Pro Tools, a way of sharing and mixing tracks in

real time over the internet. Using the system, artists

and audio professionals can work together on the

same project while in Pro Tools, anywhere in the

world, because revisions and fi les are synchronised

automatically. They can then compose, record,

edit, and mix tracks collaboratively with other Pro

Tools users, just like they were working together in

the same studio. Already a pioneer in web-based

post, Forbidden Technologies is also embracing

the cloud even more closely, ‘reintroducing’

its Forscene software at BVE to become a

‘collaboredit’ solution.“Forscene was originally

developed as a logging and sync-pull solution,”

says Jason Cowan, business development director

at Forbidden, “but the software is now capable of

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“We can start a Doctor Who shot in London and have a Cardiff artist pick it up in seconds,” Dave Goodbourn, Milk VFX


www.tvbeurope.com April 201656 TVBEurope

so much more.” The company is now positioning

Forscene as a full cloud-based NLE capable

of craft editing, with frame accurate trimming,

transitions, multi-cam editing, colour and audio

editing tools, but from a remote location. The latest

version unveiled in time for NAB improves closed

caption tools and adds the ability to autosync

multiple source material. The software is currently

being used as an editing tool on the eighth season

of The Doctors – an American syndicated talk show

produced by Phil McGraw and distributed by CBS

Television. Distribution in the USA, Canada, Mexico,

Australia, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. A Forscene

server installed at The Doctors can automatically

ingest and create proxy versions of the shoot

footage as soon as it’s uploaded, the production

team views rushes on-the-go from the Forscene

app on a tablet, and edits interview sequences

from a desktop at the office or home.

Worldwide workingAll this remote access and cloud-powered

capability is definitely having an effect on

the evolution of the post industry and offering

new business models. Co-founded by Muse VFX

CEO Bruce Long in Los Angeles, BeBop is a new

virtualised cloud-based editing platform that aims

to offer capabilities to address long-standing piracy

and editing workflow problems. It runs on IBM

Cloud’s infrastructure as a service, SoftLayer, which

offers high performing, GPU-equipped servers

and multi-monitor support.

“Via IBM Cloud, BeBop enables production

companies to globally disperse workflows both

cost-effectively and realistically,” says Long.

“Companies can engage the best talent in

the world and work collaboratively, regardless

of location, and take better advantage of

regional tax credits to considerably drive down

production costs.” BeBop integrates a cloud media

management solution from software developer

Teradici, whose Pervasive Computing Platform

technology offers secure virtual workspaces.

Teradici and BeBop claim that because typical

cloud-based media management

systems move a project’s content files between

editorial facilities, the more prone to error

and piracy they become. Instead ,Teradici’s

platform transmits only pixels, not files, in the

editing environment, so reversing the typical post

production workflow. Instead of taking files to

the editing tools, BeBop takes the editing tools to

the content, which is kept secure on IBM Cloud.

Another remote collaboration opportunity has

been seized by ‘virtual post house’ Cloud Edits.

Founded by Caroline Law, it basically teams

a suitable editor up with clients, who let their video

Forscene was used by producers on location and at the production base. Inset: Barry Evans, Pixit Media

Post Production



be uploaded to the Cloud Edits website, edited,

then sent back. As well as having

their own upload page, Cloud Editors can

use any server with remote access such as

Avid Interplay Sphere, Forscene and Aframe.

“In the three years that I’ve been working on Cloud

Edits, the way people watch video has changed

dramatically,” says Law. “Content is being made

in all sorts of ways, on all kinds of platforms and by

a huge variety of people. My vision is for Cloud

Edits to provide quality editors for a wide range of

content producers in a convenient way. Editing

is truly a craft and a good editor can really make

a huge difference to any production. From the

feedback and leads we had at BVE, many are

saying they’ve been waiting for the service.

“Some companies are looking to completely

update the way they work by outsourcing post

production,” continues Law. “Successful

production companies, who start off cutting

in-house, are outgrowing their suites and want to

hand the work over to professional, easily available

editors. Production managers, online news

companies and web content producers are also

looking for a cloud-based post production solution.

Some are particularly interested in assistance with

overspill, needing convenient extra edits with

reliable editors when they’ve reached capacity.

“Others want to relieve themselves of the editing

completely and get on with what they do best.

Previously, they may have had little access to the

required talent or facilities.” Law plans on working

closely with other remote workflow specialists, such

as Brown Bear Audio in Brighton. She says the cloud

is enabling people with varied lifestyles to now be

available to work in post, while producers will have

access to experienced professionals, unrestricted

by geography.

“The choice is no longer restricted to those who

live within two hours of Soho and are able to work

at least ten hours a day,” she says. “Using software

as a service means that editors at Cloud Edits can

be nimble in adapting their skills, and the company

can recruit the right talent with the correct

technology to suit their clients. It also means that

clients can upscale their post production at any

time to include colour grades, graphics or

dubbing mixes.”

Cloud Edits and others are showing a possible

new direction of travel for the post industry. With

the freedom that cloud and infrastructure as

a service models offer, coupled with high rents

and power demands, it’s not hard to imagine an

exodus of editors from Soho and other production

hubs in the not too distant future. n

Post Production


A joint venture partnership of

See you again next year

in Amsterdam.

ISE2017_SeeYou_220x290_.indd 1 15.02.16 11:42new tvbe template remade.indd 1 18/03/2016 16:50


TVBEverywhere

I t was widely reported that prior to the

February 2013 debut of House of Cards, Netflix

chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed

his game plan for the streaming service. “The

goal,” he told GQ, “is to become HBO faster

than HBO can become us.” He wasn’t wrong.

The rise of Netflix from a DVD rental company to

one of the leading original content providers is

outstanding and is a yard stick for how content

consumption has changed.

There’s no denying that the Netflix and

Amazon Prime (to name but two) OTT VoD

model has had a major impact on how we

consume television content. Netflix in particular

has become a media powerhouse with an

impressive range of original content as well as a

considerable film and classic TV library.

Making a Murderer, a ten-part documentary

that first streamed on Netflix on 18 December

2015, is a prime example of its success and has

been one of the most talked about TV shows

for a long time. Filmed over ten years and

following the story of Steven Avery, it’s had

the classic watercooler effect, and then some,

with people on social media, in bars, at dinner

parties and in offices all over the world discussing

the plight of Avery and the Manitowoc County

judicial system, and giving Netflix another huge

boost in the process.

As well as the OTT VoD model, TV Everywhere

services have also turned the traditional

broadcast TV model on its head. In this instance

broadcasters offer their services or content in

an OTT manner, or to OTT providers, allowing on-

demand access via multiple devices.

In November 2015, Thinkbox published a UK

‘Broadcaster VoD key numbers’ report for 2014.

The report shows that broadcaster catch-

up TV was the most popular OTT service with

around a third (34 per cent) of UK connected

TV users watching TV programmes or films via

a free catch-up service from the public service

broadcasters (BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All4, or

Channel 5). This figure rose to 45 per cent among

adults aged 35 to 44. This compares to watching

content via subscription to an OTT VoD service

such as Netflix, with 15 per cent of all adults using

their connected TV to access these services.

VoD is significant and has not only changed

what we watch when, but how we watch.

We’ve been taken out of the traditional TV

comfort zone where broadcasters push content

our way, to a world where we decide. It’s been a

steep learning curve but we’ve now reached a

point where we have multiple devices to watch

content on depending where we are, and we

understand the various delivery concepts.

But as viewers do we really care how content

is delivered? No, for the vast majority, we just

want to watch whatever we want, whenever we

want and however we want. But more than that,

we want to be able to find content quickly and

easily. In this brave new world of content delivery

and content discovery this last statement is

crucial to every media company’s success.

To be certain that they can continue to reach

their target demographic, media companies

need to ensure brand consistency across all

platforms. Viewers need to know that regardless

“The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us” Ted

Sarandos, Netflix

By Keith Bedford, managing director, EBS

How do you connect your TV data?

59 60 TVBE apr16 TVBEverywhere EBS_final.indd 32 21/03/2016 12:58

of

where

they’re looking

for content, they can

rely on the channel to deliver

the quality of programmes that

they expect. With so many platforms

available, brand consistency is vital.

When launching the new ITV Hub for example,

ITV stated that, “the new, dynamic branding and

colour palette is based on the dot above the ‘I’

on each of the ITV channel logos – ITV, ITV2, ITV3,

ITV4, CITV and ITVBe – reinforcing the message

that the on-demand experience is a natural

extension of our linear TV channels.” This

is important, with some media companies

offering so many additional channels and

services across multiple platforms and

devices, they need to ensure that the brand

is immediately recognisable and reflects their

mission as an organisation.

Core to this accurate and powerful brand

extension is the way that a channel’s content

is written about and presented. Whether

content is

discovered via a

recommendation engine,

onscreen guide or simple

search, the programme information

is crucial. Editorial synopses need to be

well written with clear, concise text highlighting

additional information such as cast and images

to ensure the channel’s brand is correctly

reflected, to add to the user experience

and to enable recommendation engines

to correctly fulfil search criteria.

Let’s take Top Gear as an example. Despite

its recent problems, Top Gear has a big global

audience and is estimated to have made £150

million in revenue for the BBC’s commercial arm

BBC Worldwide. The show is broadcast on many

different channels

and platforms in many different

languages. Some of those channels might be

factual and others much more irreverent. It’s

important that the style of the editorial synopsis

fits the channel that’s airing it. For example a

Top Gear synopsis on Dave is likely to be very

different to a Top Gear synopsis on BBC Two.

As well as the importance of the channel

brand, central to our viewing experience is

the look and feel of the platform’s interface.

Not only do we want to find content quickly

and easily but we want the user interface to

look stylish with appealing up-to-date imagery

that’s changed regularly and draws us in. This is

important to viewer and media provider. With so

many channels fighting for eyeballs, the better

programmes are presented the more likely

we are to watch them.

Channels are now expected to provide

increasing amounts of images in different sizes

and formats to satisfy the varying needs of

platforms that require them. It’s not unusual for a

channel to have to produce 15 images in 40 to

50 different formats per programme.

We’ve reached an exciting new world of

television. Regardless of whether content is

delivered over satellite, cable, the internet,

on a phone, tablet, TV: it doesn’t matter.

The important point is that content should be

quick and easy to find with a sexy interface

to discover it on. n


TVBEverywhere

‘To be certain that they can continue to reach their target demographic,

media companies need to ensure brand consistency across all platforms’

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IABM has released its Global Market

Valuation and Strategy Report for 2016,

which describes in black and white

the downturn everybody has already

felt. According to the new report, media

technology products and services declined 4.3

per cent in 2015 to $49.3 billion.

While product revenues have been in

decline since 2012, this is the first year that

services revenues have also decreased since

the first IABM GMVR in 2006. The report said

that revenues from products declined 4.4 per

cent to $22.01 billion, which was 44.6 per cent

of total industry revenue. Services revenues

declined 4.2 per cent to $27.31 billion, or 55.4

per cent of total industry revenue.

For the four-year period from 2012-2015,

the compounded annual growth rate for the

total industry was -1.0 per cent. During the

same period, the CAGR for media technology

products was -2.4 per cent and for services,

+0.1 per cent.

Foreign exchange rate fluctuations had a

significant impact in 2015, the report noted.

In Brazil and Russia, steep currency declines

substantially increased the prices for some

media technology products, deterring

investment. Other currencies including the

Canadian Dollar, Euro and Japanese Yen

also declined versus the US Dollar, changing

the competitive dynamic for some players.

Much of the decline in Europe reported for

the services segment results directly from the

weakening of the Euro against the US Dollar

in the period. Other drivers for the decline in

revenues range from the end of government-

backed analogue switch-off programmes in

many countries, to the ongoing consolidation

of major media companies, to a pronounced

shift in technology procurement strategies

among end-users, including broadcasters, pay-

TV operators and media service providers.

These factors, and their impact on the

market, are explored in more detail throughout

the 2016 Global Market Valuation and Strategy

Report. The 2016 edition provides market-

sizing data for approximately 150 product

categories across nine market segments.

Data tables provide regional splits for product

and service revenues, as well as forecasts

to 2019 at segment and sub-segment levels.

The data tables are accompanied by written

commentary (available in Q1 2016), that

discuss the drivers affecting the market

and an analysis of how changing markets

and technologies may shape the future

composition of the broadcast and media

technology industry. n

Neal Romanek reports on the IABM’s Global Market Valuation and Strategy Report which points to a small decline in overall sales revenue


Global Market Valuation: Media technology sales down $2 billion in 2015

Data Centre

Percentage of total industry revenues

Percentage decline in 2015

CAGR from 2012-2015

2015 IABM Global Market Valuation and Strategy Report in numbers

Total industry revenue:

Com

bine

d re

venu

esCo

mbi

ned

reve

nues

$ in billions

$49.3 bn

-4.3

%

-1.0

%

Product revenue:

Prod

uct

reve

nues

Prod

uct

reve

nues

Services revenue 55.4%

Product revenue 44.6%

$22.01 bn

-4.4

%-2

.4%

Services revenue:

Serv

ices

re

venu

esSe

rvic

es

reve

nues

$27.31 bn

-4.2

%0.

1%

0 10 20 30 40 50

1%

0%

-1%

-2%

-3%

-4%

-5%

1%

0%

-1%

-2%

-3%

‘Drivers for the decline range from the end of government-backed analogue

switch-off programmes in many countries, to a pronounced shift in technology

procurement strategies’

62 TVBE Apr16 Data Centre_final.indd 46 17/03/2016 12:55

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