Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) November 2016 Volume 33, Issue 10

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NEWS & VIEWS

November 2016

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NEWS & VIEWS
WORLD IN BRIEF

RRS-16-Asia &
Pacific focuses on
bridging divide

GENEVA – Jointly organised by
ITU and PITA, the Regional Radio­
communication Seminar and
Forum 2016 for the Asia-Pacific
(RRS-16-Asia & Pacific) concluded
with a renewed commitment to
colla­boration and capacity-building programmes for APAC. The
forum examined the bridging of
the digital divide through the use of
radiocommunication technologies,
with a focus on the challenges
and opportunities for spectrum
harmonisation in the region.

CSA securing
IoT products

SAN JOSE – The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) IoT working
group has released a report titled
Future-proofing the Connected
World: 13 Steps to Developing Secure IoT Products. It highlights the
basic security measures that must
be incorporated into the development process of IoT products, and
the security items required in a
product development life cycle.

ATSC adds 3 new
standards to 3.0

WASHINGTON – Three new ATSC
3.0 standards have been added
to enable broadcasters to deliver
mobile, interactivity and higher
quality content. These include the
link layer protocol to transport
bits, as well as audio and video
watermark emission standards
that manage content watermarks.

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CREATION

14

MANAGEMENT

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| NOVEMBER 2016 | VOLUME 33 | ISSUE 10

DISTRIBUTION

22

Will VR broadcasting
be a reality?
by shawn liew

LONDON – For a UK commercial
broadcaster, the sky would appear
to be the limit when it comes to
virtual reality (VR).
Having inaugurated the Sky VR
Studio — a dedicated in-house VR
production unit — in March this
year, Sky UK has now launched Sky
VR, a free app that offers, at launch,
20 different pieces of 360° video
content from Sky and Sky-partners
such as Disney, Fox Innovation Lab
and Warner Brothers.
Available as a free download
from Google Play or the App Store,
the app allows viewers to watch VR
content on a smartphone, either in
conjunction with a Google Cardboard headset — a VR platform
developed by Google for use with
a head mount for selected smartphone models — or in 2D (360°)

without a headset.
Gary Davey, managing director,
content, Sky, claimed: “Interest in
VR content is building, generating
more excitement every day.
“We are just at the beginning
of our VR journey, launching Sky
VR Studio earlier this year … Now
comes the creative challenge of
deploying this immersive experience with engaging storytelling.”
The VR ship is currently anchored at the harbour, ready to
sail off. In equal measure, it may
never leave the habour, or may
turn out to be just an occasional
pleasure boat, analogised David
Wood, consultant (Technology
and Innovation) to the European
Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Wood has also chaired the DVB
CM-UHDTV group that prepared
the Commercial Requirements for
the DVB UHD-1 Phase 2 systems,

X-PLATFORM

24

Celestial Movies, CTE’s flagship
Chinese movie channel, is now
available on the linear and non-linear
platforms of South Korean pay-TV
operator SK Broadband.

CTE now greeting
S Korean viewers

While there appears to be a ready
market for VR applications in the
gaming industry, are TV viewers
ready to embrace VR content?

88

SEOUL – Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) has launched its
flagship Chinese movie channel,
Celestial Movies, on SK Broadband,
a pay-TV platform in South Korea.
Celestial Movies is now available on SK Broadband’s linear
service B tv, as well as B tv plus and
oksusu, SK Broadband’s over-thetop (OTT) services.
Besides offering a wide range
of Chinese blockbusters and iconic
films starring the likes of Jet Li,
Chow Yun Fatt and Stephen Chow,
these titles will also be fully localised with South Korean subtitles.

SDI still has key role even as IP makes its way into broadcasting

Media Prima’s
Dr Ahmad Zaki
Mohd Salleh: The
adoption of IP is
under way.

KUALA LUMPUR – The adoption of IP
into the broadcast environment is under
way; however, SDI will remain a core
connectivity platform as IP slowly makes
its way into broadcast facilities, said Dr
Ahmad Zaki Mohd Salleh, group GM,
engineering, Media Prima.
Dr Zaki was one of the participants
who attended the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union ’s (ABU) fourth Integrated
Broadcast Broadband (IBB) and over-the-

top (OTT) workshop held from Sep 27-29
in Malaysia.
He told APB: “Although IP was never
designed to carry real-time data, the
tremendous developments in CPU power,
memory and advancement in softwaredefined networks (SDNs) has made this
adoption possible.”
Many ABU members, and broadcasters in Asia-Pacific, are already using IP
to deliver content to their audiences,

and have already integrated IP into their
contribution circuits.
And while no broadcast organisation
in Asia-Pacific has yet to formulate any
clear plans to use IP for live production, IP
was one of the key topics discussed at the
workshop, reported Dr Amal Punchihewa,
director, technology and innovation, ABU.
Key issues raised relating to IP remain

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