Fig. 1: The architecture of a traditional broadcast signal flow vs. one using OTT delivery.
ORANGE, CONN. The ongoing legal drama between Aereo and over-the-air broadcasting operations has been well documented in the press. However, the technical impact of a broadcast television station going completely off-air could also be significant. Becoming an Internet-only broadcaster (also known as over the top or OTT), will require a different operational workflow, and creation of a new relationship with station viewers. While there are proven solutions that exist today to handle all of these technical challenges, implementing them to work on a 24/7 basis for a large viewing audience may stretch the technical and financial capabilities of many broadcasters. WORKFLOW CHANGES
If a television station was to go off-the-air completely, workflow changes would be required. Along with the transmitter being turned off, the need for MPEG-2 encoding would go away (unless that format was still necessary for delivery to CATV and DTH satellite providers). Instead of a single ATSC feed (often with multiple subchannels), the broadcaster would have to produce feeds at multiple bit-rates in two or more streaming formats (at least to handle both Apple and non-Apple devices). Streams would also have to be created for each subchannel. These signals would then need to be fed into a Content Distribution Network that would create a copy of a stream to feed to each viewing device (Internet-connected TV, PC, tablet, etc.). Fig. 1 compares the architecture of a traditional broadcast to one using OTT delivery.
Any new OTT broadcast workflow would most likely be based on H.264/AVC using streaming formats such as Apple's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Adobe's HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), with a possible migration to Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) if that standard gains traction in the marketplace.
But this is all a fait accompli for broadcasters, according to Jen Baisch, senior director of product marketing for iStreamPlanet, a Las Vegas-based provider of streaming technology. Broadcasters are already migrating much of their programming to OTT, so these technologies are a move they have to make regardless.
CONSUMER DEVICES
For the viewer, switching from over-the-air to OTT can be a significant effort. Any recent-vintage television set has a built-in digital tuner that works only with OTA signals. To receive OTT content, two things need to be provided: an Internet connection, and a method to receive a stream and decode it. Some recent televisions have built-in Internet TV receivers, but many others will need some kind of external device such as a Roku, Xbox, Web-enabled Blu-ray player or some other device that can receive and decode the OTT signals.
Some consumers might need to upgrade their Internet connections, particularly if multiple televisions are going to be watched at the same time. With an inexpensive 3 Mbps Internet connection, watching two 1 Mbps streams simultaneously could be difficult for consumers, especially if other devices were also accessing the Internet.
Chase Carey, president and COO of News Corp., shook up the NAB Show's opening session with talk of Fox breaking from the free broadcast model and switching to a subscription-only service.
DATA USAGE
Consumer data caps could interfere with a viewer's desire to watch lots of live programming from an Internet-only broadcaster. These caps are everywhere for mobile devices connected through 3G/4G LTE mobile networks, and may be present on some wired Internet services. Data usage caps are typically expressed in terms of gigabytes per month, with mobile contracts in the 2-10 gigabyte range, and some wired services have caps in the 200-300 gigabyte range.
If a live HD stream runs at 2 Mbps, one hour of viewing time on one device amounts to 0.84 gigabytes of data consumption. If the viewer watched this stream two hours a day for a month, 50 gigabytes of data would be consumed. For most consumers at home using wired Internet, data usage most likely wouldn't be a major problem. For mobile device users, even those with relatively generous data plans, watching any significant amount of programming will be difficult at high bit-rates.
From a provider standpoint, live streaming to millions of viewers could get expensive. According to David Tice, senior vice president of GfK Media & Entertainment, a Singapore-based media research firm, based on the results from our 2012 survey, just over 20 million households in the U.S. currently receive television exclusively over the air, with an average of 2.7 television sets per household. Another 17 percent of pay TV households have at least one television that relies on broadcast. With a total of 96 million households who pay for television service, that figure represents at least another 16 million televisions that currently receive their signals entirely from broadcast, bringing the total OTA-dependent television population up to 70 million units.
If OTA-only televisions are distributed evenly across the United States, a metropolitan area such as New York (which contains 7.3 percent of the total U.S. population) could be expected to have a similar fraction of the OTA-only devices, or 5.1 million sets. If five percent of these sets were tuned to a broadcaster's signal (as could be achieved for a popular sports or entertainment event) 255,000 OTT video streams would need to be created.
To generate this quantity of data, a number of servers and network interfaces would be required. At 1.5 Mbps per stream, total traffic volume of 383 Gbps would be required. There would also be a cost to deliver these streams, since CDN services charge for each
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Fig. 1: The architecture of a traditional broadcast signal flow vs. one using OTT delivery. 
