PMG Aims to Unlock ATSC 3.0 SFNs With Public Media Management

The Public Media Group (PMG) announced this week it had taken over WGBH's ownership interest in Public Media Management (PMM), a cloud-based master control and content sharing platform.

The move, executed in late April, sets up PMM as a company jointly owned by PMG and Sony, which worked with WGBH to establish the platform in 2015.

Stacey Decker, former CTO of the Boston public broadcaster, moved to PMM to be its president and CTO of the Public Media Group.

The corporate mission of Public Media Group is to enhance television broadcasting through deployment of ATSC 3.0 single frequency networks. Its new interest in PMM positions Public Media Group to not only provide SFN infrastructure as a service but also to drive content through the cloud-based PMM master control and playout platform to individual SFN sites, enabling over-the-air TV to geo-target viewers.

In this interview with Decker, the PMM president, discusses where the platform stands today, how it is being enhanced with machine learning and analytics and the way in which together with PMG's SFN-as-a-service offering PMM will enable broadcasters to leverage ATSC 3.0 to unlock new revenue streams and remain competitive.

(An edited transcript.)

Stacey Decker (Image credit: PMG)TVTechnology: The Public Media Group works with public and commercial broadcasters to assist them in evolving to ATSC 3.0. How will its acquisition of WGBH's interest in the Public Media Management cloud-based master control and content sharing platform further that goal?

Stacey Decker: I had intentions of working toward offering services associated with ATSC 3.0 from within the platform from the beginning.

Among the tools we think are going to be incredibly important, especially for commercial broadcasters, is for targeted advertising.

The elements I have started to bring into the whiteboard sessions we have been having to roadmap the PMM business are associated with analytics and machine learning.

We are looking at machine learning and analytics so our technology can make more informed decisions. But how do you incorporate what the user is doing so that the machines make decisions that accommodate the needs of the viewer and react fast to people's needs?

The days of single source analytics are gone. You have to incorporate the analytics of digital platforms, social media platforms and broadcast platforms together so this system can make intelligent decisions.

TVT: How would that work?

SD: Imagine an environment in which 3.0 mobile delivery becomes a social experience that draws on social media. An environment in which you register your profile with a group, like a broadcast network, and that network knows based on your profile that you are interested in certain types of news elements.

I can now incorporate content delivery into buckets obviously not targeted right to an individual, but to a smaller group that shares common interests.

It's the closest opportunity we have to be more social and targeted, and I think broadcasters need a shot like this. It's really important for broadcasters to take the leap and invest in ATSC 3.0 because there are so many opportunities there.

PLUS: Newly Formed Public Media Group Plans Nationwide ATSC 3.0 SFN Rollout

TVT: Someone once told me it would be impossible for 3.0 to enable personalization of content and advertising with a baseband infrastructure behind it. This could only happen with the help of the cloud. That observation seems consistent with what you are telling me about your plans for PMM, which is cloud based.

SD: The cloud changes everything. If you incorporate 3.0 into a cloud infrastructure in a smart way, all of a sudden you have a pretty powerful tool.

TVT: ATSC 3.0 supports both over-the-air and streaming delivery of content. How does PMM address this?

SD: The one thing I have taken very seriously and this is more associated with public broadcasting but definitely resonates with commercial broadcasters is that I have assisted broadcasters in becoming more efficient with their media management platforms.

I feel it is my duty to assist broadcasters in doing one-touch delivery to broadcast, digital platforms, digital publishing and social media so we can manage all media going to those locations from one location and at the same time deliver the analytics needed to understand how successful those pieces have been.

TVT: Some broadcasters looking at 3.0 are considering scenarios in which they can leverage SHVC (Scalable High Efficiency Video Coding) to reduce the number of bits sent over the air and supplement them in the home with bits sent via the internet.

Those OTT bits would be combined with the OTA signal in the receiver to, for instance, enable 4K UHD viewing in the home while giving broadcasters a way to deliver a more robust 3.0 OTA signal to mobile devices. Can PMM manage where bits go in this type of scenario?

SD: Yes. You've actually hit the nail on the head. When I talk about the analytics and machine learning piece, having that intelligence built into the process of media delivery specifically the encoding environment to make the encoder dynamic so it can with incredibly intelligent metadata determine what the thresholds of what the broadcast spectrum are with relations to content.

Here's another scenario where bandwidth devoted to specific content might change depending on its value. Maybe it's 8 o'clock or 10 o'clock at night and a non-high-value content product is being delivered via broadcast. You can determine its value based on analytics and squeeze bandwidth a little bit, and dedicate that extra bandwidth to delivery of other data.

TVT: So what will a television station that's your client look like? Does on-premise master control and playout go away?

SD: Right now, PMM drops a stack of technology at the facility tha

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