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Technology trends that will drive broadcasting this decade

Remote production, direct-to-mobile, HbbTV, and ad-driven consumptionare some of the technologies that are transforming the sector.

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Remote production, direct-to-mobile, HbbTV, and ad-driven consumptionare some of the technologies that are transforming the sector

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Indians have an undeniable affinity for IT in general and, for online video content in particular. There is an explosion in the consumption of entertainment through smartphones and other mobile devices. While the traditional linear television market is steadily declining, the Indian media and entertainment industry, which is estimated to be valued between $2,729 billion in 2022 and an expected $5,565 billion by 2030, is being powerfully propelled by growth in OTT and gaming.

“5G broadcasting will change how events and programmes are captured, produced and transmitted to people around the world.”

India is the world’s fastest-growing OTT market and it looks like Indian consumers, both urban and rural, are ever hungry for more and more. With 800 million broadband connections, probably translating to about 500 million unique subscribers, India has tremendous headroom for growth and this can only raise online media consumption far higher.

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Technology trends are powerfully shaping and driving the growth of broadcasting. The dividing line between mobile communication and broadcasting is blurring due to the onset of convergence. The future trends would be around the four pivotal points: remote broadcast, ad-driven consumption, direct-to-mobile, and data-driven personalised content.

The value of any content is driven by delivery to everyone, anywhere, anyhow, any day, and any time, be it linear, sound, metaverse, 3D, etc.  Metaverse is a shared, online 3D space where users can interact with each other and with computer-generated objects and avatars. A virtual environment that interconnects the physical world to virtual worlds, the Internet, mixed reality, and emerging technologies. The world is on the verge of entering into the metaverse and experiencing it by being there as part of it.

Technology drives the change

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With an increase in the adoption of newer Connected TVs (CTV), which can connect to the internet, advertisement-driven consumption is expected to rise. Developments in telecom are further enabling the introduction of broadcast technologies like Free Ad Supported TV (FAST) in the living room, a form of linear TV. Linear TV offers viewers access to content via subscription to cable or satellite services or through over-the-air broadcasts. The OTT is also moving toward Advertisement-supported Video on Demand (AVOD). Providing targeted content and targeted advertisement, based on the analytics, will drive the targeted approach on all the sectors of broadcast, linear, FAST as well as OTT.

It is interesting to note the impact of OTT on the final FIFA match which had 11 million concurrent users and 32 million viewers. A mind-boggling 100 million users visited Jio Cinema during the period it streamed the World Cup matches. This indicates the future of sports viewership in India and the globe. Of the 1.12 billion global viewers, there were 884.37 million viewers on linear TV and 231.82 million on out-of-home/OTT and digital and smart TVs.

Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) initially could not pick up in India as consumers already had DTH, PayTV, OTT, and IPTV. The adoption of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC 3.0), a standard for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks, is enabling linear television directly to mobile, thus reducing the load on the Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and addressing scaling issue in case of high demand.

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These technologies can be implemented using Low Power/Low Tower (LPLT) and single frequency networks (SFN). The mobile handset needs to cater to and receive these broadcast signals from the terrestrial transmission. Being a mobile-based deployment, the consumer would benefit from the linear broadcast as well as OTT on the same handset.

5G paves the way

In view of emerging technologies, platforms and innovative products, customers have many choices to meet their preferences. To meet customer requirements, broadcasting services as well as OTT platforms have to continuously innovate. Further, consumers prefer hand-selected, customised, and human-curated information in this digital age.

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With the evolution of market dynamics of global content access, there is a shift to a cloud-based content delivery model. AI- and Blockchain-based business models are coming up to address potential problems with security, payments, and maintaining digital rights.

With the help of reliable telecom infrastructure, sports events are being produced remotely using high-performance, high-throughput fibre links worldwide.

5G broadcasting will change how events and programmes are captured, produced and transmitted to people around the world. With 5G broadcast, a transmitter serves an unlimited number of users without an Internet connection and further and without any loss of quality. 5G technology could help to broadcast to improve three key aspects of television production: having permanently connected cameras, being able to make multi-camera productions in the cloud (or on the edge), and implementing new forms of broadcasting that arecapable of making an impact on new devices (smartphones, tablets) and enabling new forms of digital consumption.

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Another enhancement in 5G, evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) does not require a SIM card for reception, which means that it can deliver to devices other than smartphones or say tablets and laptops equipped for access to cellular services. This will be increasingly relevant in the 5G era with growth in cellular-based Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services in more remote areas not served well, or at all, by fixed-line broadband options. Interestingly, in June 2022 the European Space Agency (ESAQ) signed a 5G Emerge agreement to work with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and move towards unified and ubiquitous connectivity by combining satellites with 5G networks.

The “Remote” production concept is changing the Broadcast world. With the help of reliable and robust telecom infrastructure, today even sports events are produced remotely using high-performance, high-throughput fibre links worldwide. Commentary is added by a commentator who is not on the ground. Interviews are done with a player on the ground whereas the host is in the air-conditioned soundproof studio; all perfectly synchronised and seamless even though it is “Live”.

Remote production is further getting extended in the field with the use of highly portable “5G in a box” systems, while for broadcast there is an active debate between two alternative architectures, one enhancing the existing mobile infrastructure and the other imposing an overlay via the High Power/High Tower (HPHT) model. The HPHT model can also be seen in the context of longer-term convergence between legacy broadcast and mobile broadband services, especially since it moves closer to DTT infrastructure. Another open-source technology that is likely to change the rules of the game is AV1, as it has a better compression ratio, backed by major chip vendors like Intel, AMD, Broadcom and Arm.

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From an Indian perspective, here are some of the perceptible trends that are noticed to enable free choice in customer viewing.

#1

Direct-to-Mobile technology

This has been in the works since 2007 when the then-trending DVBT2 technology was piloted by Prasar Bharti. However, even as the technology evolved, the infrastructure costs became more and more prohibitive, with the result that the option was not pursued. With the transformation in technology from analogue to digital and the emergence of ATSC 3.0, technology change and reduction in infrastructure cost underwent a massive transformation.

In 2019, the homegrown Saankhya Labs developed the world’s first chipset based on this technology which permitted separation of the communications and the broadcast payloads and permitted higher efficiencies of spectrum utilisation and better throughputs with better quality of service.  The technology is based on the convergence of broadband and broadcast, using which smartphones will receive terrestrial digital TV and broadband communications concurrently This is called 'Direct-to-Mobile' (D2M) broadcasting and allows the broadcast of video and other multimedia content directly to mobile phones, without even an active Internet connection.

# 2

Hybrid broadcast broadband TV

HbbTV is an initiative dedicated to providing open standards for the delivery of advanced interactive TV services. It is theindustry standard for hybrid digital TVthat helps harmonise the broadcast, Internet Protocol Television, and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes.

HbbTV, an industry standard for hybrid digital TV, is an initiative aimed to provide open standards for the delivery of advanced interactive TV services.

With the advent and proliferation of Smart TVs in India,viewing content – boththrough Linear TV and Streaming OTT platforms – isnow possible on a single convergent Smart TV device. Rather than eliminating the need for linear TV, the emergence of non-linear platforms such as Hybrid TV is driving the need for hybrid networks.

#3

ContentAd Replacement Technology

It is a no-brainer that monetisation of content is of prime necessity. Content Ad Replacement Technology enables the advertiser to replace the content by placing Ads in a Live environment. It simply manages the rights of Live feeds and creates a seamless, customised replacement solution for non-licensed content, which is both relevant to the consumer and leads to high content retention.

A phenomenal growth in the broadcasting sector and paradigm shift in technologies entails appropriate changes in the regulatory framework through a light-touch regulation approach, enabling innovations and further growth.

The future of broadcasting is bright.

TV Ramachandran

TV Ramachandran

By TV Ramachandran

Ramachandran is the President of Broadband India Forum

(The views expressed are personal)

Research inputs by Paritosh Saha and Dr Shiv Kumar Sharma

feedbackvnd@cybermedia.co.in

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