networking standards have evolved rapidly
planned for 2022/2023 but it’s not yet agreed
For contribution, 5G will allow for more
in recent years and now offer the potential
whether it will be included in the 3GPP release
content to be contributed back to base, ideally
to deliver much higher efficiencies than
in 2022.”
with reserved spectrum for broadcasters.
incumbent TV broadcast technologies.”
DELIVERY. “Higher resolutions like 4K
More often than not, the cost of satellite
“Testing for contribution has been
and 8K require a significant amount more
capacity has made this difficult. All of this will
underway for more than a year
bandwidth than HD,” notes Fautier. “That’s
allow for an improved customer experience.
and is well advanced,” reports
an area where 5G networks have a critical
For distribution 5G will allow for higher
Walker. “We are seeing production
role to play, in terms of enabling pristine
quality and lower latency live experiences for
companies conducting video
4K/8K video delivery to mobile devices
end-users on the move. In the same way as
tests for contribution and some
at low bitrates. The contribution,
smartphones and 4G brought end users closer
remote production. Cellular bonding
production and distribution
with apps such as Instagram, TikTok and
backpacks are used by us as part of
workflows already exist in
Facebook Live, it remains to be seen what the
our content capture infrastructure
the broadcast domain,
world will be like in 10 years when 5G is the
and associated redundancy
so once 5G network
norm.”
links and this is obviously
infrastructure is built,
BENEFIT. “5G is facilitating the real-time
suited for 5G. Remote
these workflows can be
production of content experiences that will
production is a hot topic in
fully exploited.”
revolutionise the way we create and consume
the current circumstances
“5G will play
content,” adds Verizon’s Sidi. “Consumers
and the possibilities are
a significant role
will no longer be restricted to where and
easy to see, but how much “The growth in 5G video in increasing live
how they watch content or have to endure
of a reality that becomes
production and
sub-par online experiences. The potential
is expected to place
is still an open question,”
contribution, especially
for highly personalised and interactive
unprecedented scaling
she admits.
at the higher end of
live experiences is more of a reality as we
demands on operators.” sports, immersive
LANDSCAPE. “Changes
continue the transition into a 5G-enabled
– Jim Brickmeier,
to the distribution
content and AR/
era. The next-generation network will
Velocix
landscape will also be
VR,” predicts Altman.
deliver a step-change in the time and cost
driven by consumer-
“However, it must be
for preparing and delivering live content
facing technology and experiences. There will
noted that not all ‘5G’ will be born the
including everything from breaking news to
be a balance between content delivered to
same. I strongly believe that for production
live events.”
consumers over fibre and that delivered over
of news, sports and entertainment,
“In recent years, the explosion of smart
5G. This balance will depend on the assets
LiveU smart 5G-bonding over mature 5G
device ownership and media consumption
of the various telco players in different
deployments will enhance the sustainability
models has seen a corresponding growth
countries and the approach of regulators.
of video quality even in densely packed
in demand for live entertainment from
Higher bandwidth, higher resolution video
sports venues and other similar scenarios.
sport to news and current affairs,” observes
and lower latency will allow enhanced
As bonding provides not only bandwidth but
Meardi. “In distribution we’re seeing terrific
gaming (streamed rather than downloaded
also, and perhaps more and more needed,
traction and interest in our encoding and
– enabled by low latency), sport and 3D
reliability and resiliency.” Wallis-Jones notes
player SDKs for the new MPEG-5 LCEVC
experiences. In the mid-term there could
the successful trials of sports coverage, such
streaming enhancement standard. LCEVC
be a fusion of this with more traditional
as that carried out by BT and EE at London’s
provides up to a 50 per cent compression
broadcast to bring an augmented reality
Wembley Stadium. “You’ll
efficiency benefit for all codecs, can be rapidly
approach for premium content and more
see a lot more high-
deployed on existing ecosystems and helps
interactivity between consumers and content
quality mobile video being
operators of all kinds deliver a better quality of
creators.”
produced,” he adds.
service whatever bandwidth customers have
“In terms of hardware, where fibre
“If 5G lives up to what
available.”
penetration is lower, fixed wireless access
is promised, it can play a
“In professional Media
technology could also bring this into the
huge role in improving
services, 5G will perhaps
home environment, substituting the backend
production, contribution
have the quickest impact
for in-house WiFi. This will, of course,
and distribution
on remote production and
depend on the usual suspects of mobile
workflows,” suggests
news gathering applications
cell tower locations and indoor coverage
Kieran Kunhya,
that have already seen
strength. From the mobile operators’
managing director,
tremendous growth in recent
perspectives, the relative costs of multicast
Open Broadcast
years. News gathering from
by satellite vs CDN will be determiners of
Systems. “5G will
many locations will have the
“5G is facilitating
their approach. IP Multicast ABR by satellite
cut the latency (delay)
potential to start employing
(to the mobile towers) has the potential to
down to milliseconds, a
higher resolution and quality
a revolution in the
reduce CDN bandwidth consumption and help
latency which is barely
feeds using professional intra-
way we create and
with network resource optimisation. A key
noticeable. This will allow
only, low latency compression
consume content.”
challenge will be whether there is sufficient
for improved interactive
like SMPTE VC-6 as opposed
- Ariff Sidi, Verizon
cooperation to have the Multicast feature
experiences in various
to requiring sub 10Mbps
Media
standardised with all the stakeholders and
forms of live production.
H.264/HEVC feeds. UHD
implemented by the chipset manufacturers.”
It will allow for lower-cost
contribution over cellular
“In terms of 5G complementing or
remote production workflows, allowing teams
networks will also become a real prospect,
replacing DTT, this will depend on national
to work from a central location, reducing their
especially thanks to standards like MPEG-5
infrastructure/telco balance. 5G Broadcast is
carbon footprints and improving efficiency.
LCEVC making it possible,” he concludes.
14 EUROMEDIA