August 13, 2010

A recent survey by video transport solutions-provider Nevion finds that content owners—particularly broadcasters—are keen to use communications service providers’ IP networks for video transport.

Of more than 200 content owners from across the globe—including
broadcasters, cable TV companies, film studios, government agencies and
educational institutions—25% are already taking advantage of service
providers’ IP networks, and a further 45% would consider doing so.
Broadcasters appear particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity of
working with service providers, with 65% saying they would do so.

“Broadcasters have previously been unconvinced of the ability of telco
networks to handle their traffic. But with the growth of technologies
such as HD, 3D and 3Gbps infrastructure—combined with the need to
maximize revenues by selling content—broadcasters’ bandwidth needs are
ever-increasing, and telcos are the only companies with the
infrastructure to meet them,” said Oddbjorn Bergem, CEO, Nevion. “While
this presents a very attractive business opportunity that should be
explored and maximized, service providers must understand the very
specific needs of the broadcast industry for the relationship to be
successful.”

Despite a willingness to work with service providers, content owners
report a number of apprehensions. Topping the list is the cost of using
their networks (35%), closely followed by maintaining the quality of
their content, with 31% concerned that service providers wouldn’t
understand the importance. 22% are afraid of losing control over their
content and the way it is transported, while 17% feel that service
providers’ fault escalation procedures wouldn’t have the level of
response they expected.

“Maintaining video quality is one of the top priorities for content
owners, and this is particularly true when it comes to broadcast
contribution networks where video is typically transported
non-compressed or very lightly compressed,” explained Bergem. “Whereas
IP is designed with high tolerance for error and for non-real-time
transport, video transport introduces an extreme requirement for
error-free, real-time delivery. With JPEG 2000 compression, service
providers can achieve visually and mathematically lossless compression
to preserve video quality; transport streams offer the control and
monitoring capabilities broadcasters are used to; and protection
switching provides redundancy to ensure SLAs are adhered to. These three
elements are critical to maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship
with broadcasters.”

CLICK HERE for Nevion.