Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Realising TV's web-based future

13/05/2021

Johan Bolin, CTO at Agile Content argues that successfully re-defining broadcast comes down to incorporating web-based technologies throughout the end-to-end content production process

By Contributor

Published: May 13, 2021

Johan Bolin, CTO at Agile Content argues that successfully re-defining broadcast comes down to incorporating web-based technologies throughout the end-to-end content production process

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

The TV broadcasting industry has gone through a huge amount of change in recent years - all driven by the ongoing digital revolution. On the one hand, this has opened up a world of new possibilities, enabling broadcasters to provide new services, drive operational efficiencies and reach different audiences.

On the other hand, the increasing focus on the internet and other technology-driven trends has significantly intensified the level of competition in the industry. Traditional broadcasters are now having to compete with a wide range of streaming services, all of which have a global reach and the expertise to quickly capitalise on the technological opportunities that come their way.

This has accelerated the consumer shift towards on-demand services. The likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime are able to offer the user experience, range of content and video quality that consumers are looking for. Then there's user-generated content from influencers and the public, which is enhancing the challenge even further by forming close, direct relationships with their loyal following.

As such, traditional broadcasters are having to rethink their approach. Although many are adopting OTT delivery models to meet customers' evolving expectations around on-demand content, there is still a technical disconnect between how live content is distributed and how it is produced.

Mind the gapThe big issue facing linear TV providers is that they are currently restricted when producing content. They are restricted by physical connections, i.e. the cameras they have access to for each show. A cooking show and a news show will both have access to a specific, pre-determined set of cameras, presenting a clear lack of flexibility when it comes to quickly adding new feeds.

Having production processes and technology designed in this way makes it difficult for video content to be contributed upstream. For example, when broadcasters create a live news show today, the production pipeline tends to be pre-defined and limited by their SDI infrastructure. They can only use sources and cameras - whether connected to the SDI switch in the newsroom or remotely connected via satellite links - that have been plugged into the environment hours before the live event happens. Spontaneously adding a new camera to the production pipeline during the show is very complicated, and even more so if it is a different kind of camera - whether that's a smartphone or professional camera.

The syncing, mixing and curation of live content is all carried out in the local, high bitrate SDI domain. This means that the cameras and feeds that will be used during the broadcast have to be connected and established in the process in advance, and that the curated output is limited to those sources only.

This continuing reliance on legacy processes and specialist equipment as opposed to web-based technologies and today's highly capable consumer devices - even though the internet has been well proven as a distribution channel - illustrates the disconnect that has emerged between content distribution and production. The distribution model is no longer the limiting factor it once was and, as a result, more broadcasters are starting to realise that there are now alternative options available.

The simple truth is that TV needs to transform, as the way content is being produced and distributed is currently out of sync. This gap must be effectively bridged if broadcasters want to remain competitive in the future.

The future callsIt has quickly become clear that successfully re-defining broadcast comes down to incorporating web-based technologies throughout the end-to-end content production process. By moving the production stack over to the same technology as the distribution stack, broadcasters will open up new ways to produce and curate content.

For example, taking a web-based approach means any connected device can contribute to the production process. Broadcasters can quickly and easily connect a wider range of devices, such as smartphones, via the internet and gain access to different types of content - which can be controlled by policies rather than by physical access.

Roaming citizen reporters' could share live video from their smartphones on-site at events or incidents to add local insight to news reports. Team coaches could provide a closer and more intimate perspective than broadcast cameras, or backstage content recorded by a popular music artist could be used as part of an awards programme such as the Grammys.

Also, by adopting a web-inspired approach that treats video sources as global resources, producers in the curation process can find themselves accessing and tapping into a larger repository of both live and on-demand content. And since the distribution is unicast anyway, significantly more content variations can be produced and delivered.

As a result, the viewer experience and content can be personalised to the user and context. Content can be selected and curated based on users' interests and location in a cost-effective way. That's the beauty of cloud and the internet. Content formats that benefit from public' contributions - e.g. local news or sports and entertainment - can significantly benefit from the speed, flexibility and scalability that web-based technologies can provide.

This is all just scratching the surface of what's
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/media-delivery/realising-tvs-web-based-futur...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

17/06/2026

Spectrum Awards $1.1 Million in Digital Education Grants

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

XR Sports Alliance Adds New Members

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Online IPMX Training Series

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Partners with SFM to Expand AV-over-IP Solutions...

Montr al, Quebec, June 11, 2026 Kiloview, a leading provider of AV-over-IP and NDI -based video transmission solutions, today announced a distribution partner...

17/06/2026

Kiloview Launches U4 IP Video Dock Bringing Professional...

Changsha, China, June 15, 2026 Kiloview officially announced the launch of U4 IP Video Dock, a compact IP video decoder and output dock designed to bring prof...

17/06/2026

June 16, 2026

Calibr-Skaggs awarded $5.1M by NIH to develop long-acting hepatitis B virus therapy A new program aims to replace a daily HBV drug with once-monthly or even qua...

16/06/2026

Thomson launches new learning App

Thomson's highly regarded expert-led online learning courses are now easier to access on the go via our new App. Available now on Google Play Store, the J...

16/06/2026

Neumann MT 48 Receives Major Firmware 2.0 Update

Neumann.Berlin has released firmware version 2.0 for the MT 48 audio interface, adding plugin compatibility, expanded Dante networking options, broadcast encode...

16/06/2026

TVNewsCheck Opens Nominations for 2027 Women in Technology Awards

TVNewsCheck has announced that nominations are now open for its 2027 Women in Technology Awards, to be presented at NAB Show 2027 on Tuesday, April 6 in the Med...

16/06/2026

Clear-Com Introduces Avalon IP Intercom Platform

Clear-Com has announced Avalon, a 1RU IP intercom platform for broadcast, live events, and production environments. Designed for IP-only workflows, Avalon suppo...

16/06/2026

SNS EVO Enables Remote and Distributed Video Editing Workflows

SNS has published a guide to remote video editing workflows using its EVO shared storage platform and companion tools, covering use cases ranging from home edit...

16/06/2026

Richmond Flying Squirrels Deploy Grass Valley LDX 110 Cameras at CarMax Park

Grass Valley has announced that the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have deployed five Grass Valley LD...

16/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Official IPMX Training Series Online

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced the launch of the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program covering the design, configurati...

16/06/2026

Swerve Womens Sports Announces Distribution Deals with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV, and Anoki AI

Swerve TV has announced distribution agreements with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV,...

16/06/2026

ATP and TikTok Expand Global Content Partnership

ATP and TikTok have announced an expansion of their global content partnership, extending the ATP's TikTok hub powered by TikTok GamePlan to cover all nine ...

16/06/2026

FOX Sports Turns Los Angeles Pico Lot Into Its FIFA World Cup Production Nerve Center

Network's LA facility serves as the heart of a sprawling operation built to ...

16/06/2026

300+ Records a Day, 150 TB Daily, and a Relentless Content Avalanche: Inside FOX Sports' World Cup Media Engine

At Pico, the network's media-management team is supporting a flood of HBS fe...

16/06/2026

NHL Games Leaving CBC in Canada as Sublicense With Rogers Sportsnet Ends

The NHL will no longer air on CBC after the pulic broadcasters and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement. After a successfu...

16/06/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Virtual Eye's Ben Taylor on Making Live Sports More Valuable and Entertaining Through Data-Driven Graphics

As live sports broadcasters continue to seek new ways to make complex action mor...

16/06/2026

Thats BRISK, Baby! FOX Sports' Broadcast Remote IP Studio Kits Bring World Cup Fan Energy Back to Pico

Built with the 2026 FIFA World Cup in mind, these small but mighty IP-based tran...

16/06/2026

Rumble three-band soft synth by UVI

Boasts individual synths for each band UVI's latest synth takes an interesting approach to synthesis, offering a trio of synth engines that each operate...

16/06/2026

PSP Levelizer: auto level adjustment plug-in from PSPaudioware

New intelligent auto-fader plug-in unveiled PSPaudioware's latest release offers automatic level adjustment and provides more detailed control than many...

16/06/2026

The Crow Hill Company launch Crystal Pads

New performance-focused library announced Crystal Pads is the latest addition to The Crow Hill Company's ever-growing product range, and according to th...

16/06/2026

GForce launch official Prophet-5 soft synth

Developed in partnership with Sequential In recent years, GForce Software have branched into official emulations of classic hardware synths, delivering a ha...

16/06/2026

DT 30 IE: New in-ears from beyerdynamic

Designed specifically for live performance monitoring beyerdynamic's latest announcement sees the company introduce an affordable in-ear monitoring syst...

16/06/2026

Cherry Audio recreate the Ensoniq ESQ-1

Official emulation celebrates iconic synth's 40th anniversary Cherry Audio have just introduced Ensoniq ESQ-1, an official recreation of the 1986 polyph...

16/06/2026

Australians place growing trust in SBS News

Australians place growing trust in SBS News 16 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has been recognised as one of Australia's most trusted news providers, ran...

16/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz achieves highest number of GCF validated 3GPP NR NTN test cases for RF, RRM and PCT domains

Rohde & Schwarz achieves highest number of GCF validated 3GPP NR NTN test cases ...

16/06/2026

Hitachi and PESA Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Growth in Poland's Rail Market

Bydgoszcz to Become a Local Centre of Excellence for Advanced Rail Technologies....

16/06/2026

Chyron Unveils Chyron Weather 2.4

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

Historic Zhuque-3 Reusable Rocket Test Mission Captured with URSA Cine Immersive

Historic Zhuque-3 Reusable Rocket Test Mission Captured with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton June 16, 2026 0 Comments Apple Immersive Video puts view...

16/06/2026

SMPTE Plans ST 2110 Education Summer Programs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

Rise Awards Returns for 2026 to Celebrate Excellence in B...

Rise WIB, the award-winning advocacy group championing gender diversity and career progression across the broadcast and media technology industry, today announc...

16/06/2026

Limecraft Expands its Media Production Platform with Team...

Limecraft today announced the availability of Limecraft 2026.4, the fourth of eight planned platform releases this year. The update introduces Team-Based Access...

16/06/2026

Perry Sook: Big Tech Poses 'Very Urgent Threat to Broadcast Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

FIFA World Cup Delivers Record Ratings on Fox

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

AIMS Launches the Official IPMX Training Series Online

Free Program Supports IPMX Education from Foundational Concepts Through System and Network Design The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced t...

16/06/2026

Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry

Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry 15 June 2026 Your feedback matters. Following the instrumental insights provided in 2025,...

16/06/2026

HPE AI Factory With NVIDIA Expands for the Era of Agents

Enterprises are moving agentic AI from proof of concept to production - and the next generation of AI factories are built for the era of agents. At HPE Discove...

16/06/2026

Coherent Breaks Ground on Expanded Texas Facility, Scaling AI's Optical Backbone

AI runs at the speed of light. More and more, that light is made in Texas. Cohe...

16/06/2026

Techtel Supports T-Motion RCCP-2A Controller Upgrade for Major Australian Broadcaster

Techtel Supports T-Motion RCCP-2A Controller Upgrade for Major Australian Broadc...

16/06/2026

Record audiences tune in for opening weekend of ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2026 on Sky Sports

Tuesday 16 June 2026 Record audiences tune in for opening weekend of ICC Women&...

16/06/2026

Fastest, Largest, Strongest: NVIDIA Blackwell Sweeps MLPerf Training 6.0

Every breakthrough AI model starts the same way: with a training run. The infrastructure running those training jobs shapes everything: how fast teams can itera...

15/06/2026

University of South Carolina's Valerie Gerfin on Gamecock Productions' Growth, Upgrades at Williams-Brice Stadium

One of the more exciting internal video production divisions within a college at...

15/06/2026

Fox Corp. To Acquire Roku, Pairs Live Sports Powerhouse With Major CTV Platform

The deal valued at $22 Billion is expected to close in the first half of 2027...