NEWS & VIEWS
January-February 2018
Broadcasters a strong backbone for VR
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original stories to give viewers the
level of engagement and immer-
sive experience which is the current
global trend.”
Another broadcaster who be-
lieves in the power of VR as a story
telling tool is the BBC, who recently
announced the establishment of a
new VR studio — the BBC VR Hub.
A continuation of the BBC’s
experimentation in VR over the
past few years, the VR Hub is de-
signed to spearhead the BBC’s VR
production while exploring how
the technology is able to create
“real audience impact”.
Operating as an internal hub,
the new unit will work with pro-
gramme makers and digital experts
across the BBC to produce, create
and commission VR content.
Each commission is targeted at
a specific set of audience needs and
occasions, thus ensuring the VR
experience is compelling enough
to encourage viewers to put on a
VR headset.
Zillah Watson, head of content
commissioning for the VR Hub,
wrote in a blog post: “VR has
proven itself as an exciting new
medium. Storytellers have been
quick to recognise its potential as
a means to transport viewers to
immersive and believable loca-
tions. That opened up a whole new
world of possibilities in the art of
storytelling.
“Instead of witnessing a story,
1
Broadcasters such as Mediacorp and the BBC are banking on VR becoming the
new norm of storytelling for next-gen viewers, as they continue to increase
their investment in VR development and study.
viewers are now at the heart of it.”
VR is about designing the vir-
tual world, and the most important
elements in VR are presence and
embodiment, said Salar Shahna,
CEO and co-founder of the World
VR Forum (WVRF).
He told APB: “Presence en-
hances the immersive side of VR,
which is different to putting on a
3D goggle during a film. In a film,
the viewer is merely an observer,
but with VR, it places the viewer as
part of the virtual world.”
To help broadcasters tap in to
VR, WVRF partnered the European
Broadcasting Union (EBU) during
the Cross Video Days event last
October to promote VR/AR, and
will be sharing their expertise
at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting
Union (ABU) Digital Broadcasting
Symposium (DBS) 2018 this March
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Broadcasters can be a strong
backbone for VR because of the
network, finance and expertise
in creation of content that they
already have, Shahna suggested.
“Asia is big, especially with China
having its specificity in rolling
out VR.
“Hence, we have to understand
the specificity of each region while
finding ways of collaborations,
because if Asia can collaborate as
an unified region, it will help in the
creation of better content.”
7
US net neutrality
repeal may affect
free & easy access
to content online
KUALA LUMPUR – If the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
is successful in repealing the net
neutrality ruling in the US, it will
create a barrier for consumers to
access a wide range of content
at affordable prices, said Dr Amal
Punchihewa, director, technology
and innovation, Asia-Pacific Broad-
casting Union (ABU).
Speaking to APB, he continued:
“Consumers have already paid a
price to obtain broadband services
from an ISP. As bandwidth becomes
more affordable for consumers
over the past few years, ISPs, either
in collaboration with another
service provider or individually,
cannot discriminate their services
to throttle or block content — that
is the fundamental principle of net
neutrality.”
Without proper regulations
and enforcement, ISPs may choose
to provide preferential treatment
in the delivery of specific content
at the expense of others, a sce-
nario that will not only affect the
public’s access to content, but also
potentially prevent broadcast and
other media service providers from
offering services to other markets,
said Dr Amal.
In Asia-Pacific, he cited the
example of the Telecommunica-
tion Regulatory Authority of India’s
(TRAI) decision to prevent the
proposal by Facebook and a local
ISP to provide free broadband ac-
cess. “If the proposal by Facebook
had been accepted, it will form a
wall garden that restricts users to
selected sites only. This is a violation
of the principle of net neutrality,” Dr
Amal explained.
While acknowledging that
regulators, both in Asia-Pacific
and globally, are looking to create
more sustainable media industries
in their respective countries, he be-
lieves that in the absence of regula-
tions, the global media industry will
be negatively impacted.
“Although there will be no
major follow-on effects from
the US repeal to other regions
and countries, it will still slow
down the growth and impede
collaboration between telcos and
broadcasters.”
Broadcasters’ tech upgrades now driven by consumers’ needs
1
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Technology for technology’s
sake in broadcasting is now very
much a thing of the past. Instead,
technology upgrades are today
being driven by commercial needs,
said Graham Stephens, CTO of
Media City Development, Malaysia.
He continued: “The biggest
challenge that broadcasters face
is to stay relevant to a generation
that is now so phone-centric and
they are so into posting their own
content, rather than watching con-
tent that is pre-digested by others.
“Broadcasters will be driven by
the requirement to retain audi-
ences by catering for on-demand
viewing, alongside their more tra-
ditional linear scheduled channels.”
And in the months ahead, con-
sumers’ needs and viewing habits
will dictate terrestrial broadcasters’
next move.
With limited access to spec-
trum, will HD, combined with HDR,
be a more viable option than 4K/
Ultra HD (UHD)?
Stephens believes that there
is still no compelling commercial
rationale to migrate to an all-IP
infrastructure, bar broadcasters
who need to supply content in
uncompressed 4K/UHD.
In contrast, Fintan Mc Kiernan,
CEO of Ideal Systems, South-east
Asia, predicted a “marked pick-up”
in the deployment of IP-based
broadcast systems and infrastruc-
ture in 2018. “The early adopters
who have already ventured into IP
infrastructures are planning trial
systems for 4K/UHD in 2018, and
are working out ways to achieve
this in IP, rather than 12G-SDI.”
However, Mc Kiernan acknowl-
edged that in regions such as Asia, an
“IP utopia” will not happen any time
soon. “A lot of broadcasters in Asia
are adopting the approach of ‘if it’s
not broken, don’t fix it’, and are cling-
ing to their current SDI/baseband
infrastructure until the standards
wars have calmed down a bit.”
Other key technology devel-
opments Mc Kiernan identified
includes over-the-top (OTT) and
the cloud. Pay-TV operators will
continue to be compelled to evolve
their offerings to stay competitive,
as OTT subscriptions continue to
rise in Asia.
“OTT will evolve too, as more
local and global players come to
Asia. Watch out for the likes of
YouTube TV going international.”
Broadcasters can also look
forward to new cloud offerings
based around a true cloud-based
architecture, instead of running old
systems on virtual machines. Mc
Kiernan noted: “This will see new
players coming into the market,
and as legacy broadcast equipment
manufacturers struggle to become
full software solution providers.”
Sharing Mc Kiernan’s enthusi-
asm for the cloud is Shad Hashmi,
vice-president, digital develop-
ment, global markets and ope
rations, BBC Worldwide Asia. He
declared that cloud-based services
are changing the face of the indus-
try. He said: “Broadcasters are no
longer tied to a geography, and
content processing, playout and
distribution can be truly untangled
from the constraints of location.
“This will allow broadcasters to
take advantage of cost-effective
locations and move towards a truly
global delivery chain where special-
ists scattered throughout the globe
can be sewn together to form a
homogenous, end-to-end process.”
While acknowledging that run-
ning a global operation poses many
challenges around true collabora-
tion, staffing and the guarantee of
quality, Hashmi urged broadcasters
to adopt a spirit of innovation. “Try,
BBC Worldwide
A sia’s Shad
Hashmi:
❝ Broadcasters
[should] take
advantage of cost-
effective locations
and move towards
a truly global
delivery chain. ❞ Seven Network’s
Andrew Andersen:
❝ We are now
seeing the 24/7
streaming of
regular channels,
some with
addressable
advertising, and
this is definitely where the action is. ❞
test, re-calibrate and repeat —
there is no reason why migrating to
the cloud will not result in brighter
days ahead,” he said.
In Australia, and indeed in
many parts of the world, the cur-
rent buzz word is “streaming”,
observed Andrew Anderson, head
of broadcast operations, Seven
Network (Operations). “We are
now seeing the 24/7 streaming of
regular channels, some with ad-
dressable advertising, and this is
definitely where the action is.
“In the world of broadcast, the
costs of these streamed services
need to be offset on the traditional
creation world. Therefore, a higher
focus on workflows and technology
that produce content for both will
be key.”
Anderson also sees an opportu-
nity for broadcasters to reconsider
channel count in the on-demand
content world, and proposed the consolidation of highly reactive
services as an area of opportunity.
As transmission and playout
systems continue to evolve towards
IP-based solutions, a cost point “far
lower” than traditional systems can
be realised, although the human
cost of highly reactive channels will
remain, Anderson pondered.
An example of a highly reactive
channel, he explained, is live sports
with variable commercial breaks.
This requires operators to move,
edit or change breaks and content
on-the-fly. A non-reactive channel,
on the other hand, is one that takes
a playlist that does not require edits
during its run.
“The costs incurred by highly
reactive channels then need to
be offset by the non-reactive ser-
vices being highly reliable and
mass produced for a very low cost
per channel, per annum,” Anderson
concluded.