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Arqiva , MainStreaming in video distribution partnership

Broadcast infrastructure provider Arqiva and intelligent media delivery platform MainStreaming have forged a technology and services partnership to jointly offer distribution services for the media streaming market .

The partners will explore how the combination of MainStreaming ’ s CDN technology and broadcastgrade streaming experience with Arqiva ’ s global media infrastructure and managed services capability can offer more scalable , flexible , and programming-centric content distribution services for the media streaming market .
According to the pair , with ever-growing viewer numbers on streaming services and the increasing strategic value of online audiences , the streaming needs of the biggest broadcasters and service providers are greater than ever . The combination of a large audience served , consistently high video quality , and low latency is the tough combination to get right hour after hour . As such , secure , scalable and cost-effective content distribution networks are vital .
They say that existing streaming distribution networks are not well suited to deliver either the quality of service required
The combination of a large audience served , consistently high video quality , and low latency is the tough combination to get right hour after hour . by service providers , or the quality of experience expected by audiences . The growing carbon footprint of streaming services is also a concern for both providers and audiences . Arqiva and MainStreaming are coming together to address these issues and to challenge conventional approaches to content distribution .
“ Mainstreaming ’ s technology makes true edge computing for the media industry a reality , and already delivers important benefits for our industryleading customers ,” stated Antonio G Corrado , CEO , MainStreaming . “ We are excited to work together with Arqiva and the media industry to take advantage of our real-time , ultra-low latency , highly scalable streaming capabilities to deliver broadcast-grade streaming and also create new and exciting edge applications for video delivery .”
“ The streaming world is changing fast and navigating the commercial and technical issues has never been harder ,” added Clive White , CTO , Arqiva . “ Arqiva and MainStreaming will be collaborating on a range of new capabilities and service offerings to meet these challenges with a view to optimising the customer experience and adding value to the biggest broadcasters in our core markets .”
EU approves independent LEO broadband fleet
The EU has given the go-ahead
for an independent European
Low Earth Orbiting fleet
of broadband and satellite
navigation craft . The name for
the project is IRIS 2 .
An EU ministerial
conference
approved the
€ 6 billion
Internet
system in
order to
ensure
Europe ’ s
security
by
reducing
its
reliance on
foreign – that
is non-European
– suppliers of
broadband satellite
services . Representatives from
the European Parliament and
the European Council agreed
to the deal on November 17th .
The EC is prepared to invest € 2.4 billion from various EU and European Space Agency projects and also use unspent money from other EU projects , while the private sector is expected to fund the remaining € 3.6 billion .
While the initial fleet will be small – probably about six satellites - the eventual plan is to
build and launch up to 170 satellites between 2025 and 2027 . The intention is for Europe
to have its own low Earth orbiting satellite broadband and sat-nav system which would provide back-up in emergency situations as well as bridging the ‘ digital divide ’ for homes and businesses with inadequate broadband services .
Having its own system will allow the EU to serve the whole of Europe with broadband and also cover Africa and the Middle East , and thus be a counter to Chinese and Russian competitors .
The new project would also be a counter to Elon Musk ’ s Starlink , the planned Amazon-backed Project Kuiper , Canada ’ s Telesat and its Lightspeed scheme , the UK / Indian ( and Eutelsat ) OneWeb system and around a dozen other private speciality low Earth orbiting services .
The challenge now is for the private sector to confirm their willingness to participate , and while there are two active consortia looking to be involved it is far
from clear as to who might emerge . There is also the vexed question of the UK ’ s ‘ golden share ’ in OneWeb . OneWeb is in the process of being merged with Eutelsat . The EC has as recently as June 2022 said that it would not consider the Eutelsat / OneWeb unit as a participant in its broadband scheme .
MEP Christophe Grudler ( Mouvement Démocrate , France ), and the EC ’ s Rapporteur on the EU secure connectivity programme , declared : “ Today is an important day for the EU space policy . For the first time , the European Union will have its own telecommunication constellation , in particular in low orbits ( LEO ), the new frontier for telecommunication satellites . Moreover , we set a strong example of this constellation , as it will be a model in terms of space and environmental sustainability . Now it is time to build these new satellites , and prepare them for launch !”
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