The whole broadcast world names IP as the future, but doubts arise about what we are talking about, what is this? When we talk about Broadcast IP, what is Broadcast IP?
By Bibiana Rosero*
In a place in La Mancha, whose name I do not want to remember, not so long ago there used to be a ubiquitous and monolithic communication system that we know as television. The same one that today, due to new technological and social paradigms, we are witnessing its reinvention.
For a couple of years there has been talk of the future of television and speculation about its survival or transformation in the digital world. The most radical have come to claim that it is about to die out, however the industry that acts very quickly is preparing for metamorphosis.
In the past NAB 2016 in Las Vegas, it has been possible to verify that the broadcast world is betting on network solutions, using IP environments simultaneously to reduce, among others, the costs in the productions. The growth of the supply of services and the demand is high, the IP solutions grew in number, occupying more spaces than in previous years of the Convention Center. Brands such as JVC, Sony, Panasonic, among others, have already definitively incorporated streaming as business units within their product range.
Everyone in broadcast names IP as the future, but I have doubts about what we are talking about when it comes to this technology, what is IP broadcast?
They define it as the possibility of making audiovisual production on the Internet but with the quality standards that television has already accustomed us to. It is the union of two worlds condemned to understand each other. Simple, because the financing of the media, especially in Latin America, is decreasing year after year, due to the fragmentation of the audience. The windows of exhibition of audiovisual content have increased exponentially, allowing advertisers to vary and increase their strategies of commercial pattern, generating an ecosystem with social networks and considering the internet as the most effective means in sales alternatives. Not to mention yet the efficiency of its metrics and user follow-ups.
But it has not only impacted the business as such, because IP broadcast today allows to manage content within a network, in its workflow and in its technical infrastructure, with a simple RJ45 cable, for example, it is allowing to connect the entire broadcast hemisphere, eliminating the infinite wiring networks to link cameras, post production and production.
Is this the complete revolution of broadcast to IP?, I firmly believe that this process is just beginning, that it will affect carriers or data transporters (Akamai, Level3, Cogent, Global Crowsing and a long etc.), which together with the traditional broadcast providers must make real the gift of ubiquity, allowing to connect productions and audiovisual productions live from different geographical points at very low cost over the Internet.
In Colombia, within the framework of the last electoral process 2014, it was experimented for the first time with a transmission that included the link of 32 cities, which transmitted simultaneously through the Internet and whose communication was two-way, with a delay of one second. An experiment with such good results that they have called into question the investment costs in satellite transmission.
NAB-2016, showed the technological advances in 4K, but what was most surprising in this regard was the exhibition of the 8K Mobile Unit by NHK, a Japanese broadcaster who together with Nevion carried out the first pilot test in the recent version 50 of the Super Bowl. There they carried out several demonstrations, which allowed us to know the benefits of these solutions that facilitate the transition to IP, so we began to see how the industry is directing its market, highlighting the importance of adopting open standards.
Beyond rethinking the 4K system that in itself has already been overwhelmed by 8K, I believe that the look that allowed us to build this NAB, is towards a horizon that no longer looks so distant. Television is reinventing itself, content will always be king but it will be seen on different platforms. Look at the IP, get ready for the IP and with the same sense of Don Quixote that began this article I conclude: Yes, I beg that, while the priest confesses to me, television will be seen on the Internet.
*Bibiana Rosero has 24 years of experience in the television industry. Today she serves as commercial and project director at CG Producciones.
