Whether you’ve spent 10 months or 10 years in and around OTT video, you’ve likely come to the realization that things are constantly changing. Yesterday’s challenge and wrinkle becomes today’s better mousetrap and improvements are made that drive how we deliver video content to massively growing audiences. Furthermore, as new OTT services are launched, the bar is being raised, requiring that streaming services replicate and improve upon traditional broadcast features and functionalities.

Content & ad replacement

It is no longer sufficient, and certainly not economically sound, to simply simulcast a broadcast channel. Several factors can affect OTT delivery of content — whether a channel can be streamed versus broadcast, sports and “couch” (in market) rights that may specify that you can watch a game in your home on your couch, but not on a device when you’re out of town. In these scenarios, it is becoming more relevant that OTT platforms support this business logic and enforce rules and enable content replacement on all screens. This more advanced workflow also should incorporate server-side stream stitching, where rights can be granted or enforced all the way down to an individual user level, meaning each viewer could get a different stream of content, including ads.

Mind the gap (avoid outages using multiple networks)

As OTT growth and deployments soar, so does the demand for robust, reliable content delivery networks (CDN) through which to deliver them. More and more programmers and service providers are embracing a multiple CDN approach to delivery in 2016. While today’s name brand CDNs all do a good job in making this content available to viewers everywhere, outages, unavailability and downtime happen. Having a multi-network path enables delivery of the content, irrespective of one network’s conditions in a geography or metro area. In international deployments, a multi-network path often helps to shore up and fix gaps between several providers.

4K & HDR

Lastly, you’ve no doubt heard about 4K in and around the video space, and maybe even in your living room. If you’ve seen 4K content, you know how rich and vibrant it looks. But talk of 4K streaming is a bit premature, unless you are Netflix or Amazon.  Sure, we’ve all heard about 4K at various trade shows and in e-mails, but the reality is that 4K streaming is still a few years away, at least for the masses. Most platforms are capable of processing this content, but it is a bear in terms of bandwidth and computer power. The average HD Netflix stream is delivered at 3.34 Mbps. A comparable 4K stream requires 15 Mbps of dedicated bandwidth.

Streaming 4K content is more than a technology problem, it is a business problem — in the high costs to shoot, edit, store and stream 4K. What may break through the glass on this front, though, is HD content created from an HDR source. In the most rudimentary terms, HDR provides for more and deeper colors that can be applied to a streaming rendition. I’ve seen some side-by-side comparisons of 4K and 1080p HDR and the HDR looks stunning.

In any event, and no matter what direction these trends go, the powerful Anvato Media Content Platform stands ready to process the content. 

Learn more at www.anvato.com.

Additional Resources:

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Case Studies

Anvato proudly serves some of the world’s largest broadcast and media companies. Our customers are using our powerful video platform to be more productive, profitable, competitive and secure.

Here’s the first of a series of news briefs emerging from this week’s NAB show in Las Vegas.

-A coalition of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), America's Public Television Stations (APTS) and the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) have filed a joint petition with the FCC requesting local TV stations and TV receiver manufactures are allowed to adopt ATSC 3.0, a new, IP-based over-the-air broadcast transmission standard, on a voluntary, market-driven basis. The petition requests the FCC approve the core transmission technology for the new standard as an option for local broadcasters and receiver manufacturers, they said, noting that elements of the next-gen TV standard will be displayed at the show.

As envisioned, ATSC 3.0 will support Ultra HD, advanced emergency alert information, increased programming streams and channels, mobile broadcast TV, immersive audio, interactivity features and datacasting, they explained.

-Ericsson has introduced MediaFirst Video Processing, a platform that comes almost six months after Ericsson acquired Envivio. Ericsson said the new platform combines video processing and video compression, and complements its cloud-focused MediaFirst TV platform for OTT and MVPD partners. Ericsson has also introduced its global content discovery portfolio for TV and VOD, a platform that comes together following its acquisition of TV metadata and entertainment image content provider, FYI Television.

-SeaChange International said it’s showing the streaming of live channels and VOD/time-shifted services running on its Adrenalin and Rave OTT platform on Android TV-powered devices, such as the Google Nexus Player and Nvidia Shield.

-NBC Olympics, a unit of NBC Sports Group, said it has picked Cisco Systems to provide IP video contribution and distribution solutions, along with networking and security solutions for its production of the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, set for August 5 to 21, 2016. Cisco noted it will help with on-site production by streamlining the management and publishing of video content to consumer devices using solutions from the Cisco Media Blueprint, the company’s new applications and converged IP infrastructure approach for producing, storing, distributing and securing broadcast media content.

-OTT and TV Everywhere specialist Anvato has added functions to its Media Content Platform that enable content owners, service providers and media companies to deploy over-the-top services more rapidly. Enhancements include enhanced business insights (real-time metrics), “instant live-to-VOD,” and support for dynamic ad insertion across devices. Anvato also said MCP now supports Roku TV and Amazon Fire platforms with “frame-accurate server-side DAI stitched stream capabilities.”

-Net Insight has entered a partnership with Verimatrix for a secure, live OTT platform, called Sye, that utilizes Verimatrix’s Video Content Authority System. Net Insight said the deal will give the companies the ability to jointly deliver a digital rights management (DRM) solution for live, premium OTT services. Separately, Net Insight has teamed with Accedo to deliver live OTT via mobile apps. That arrangement will match Net Insight’s Sye platform with Accedo’s software development kit for video apps.

-Swisscom has tapped Nokia’s 5910 Video  Services Appliance for its “2.0” TV offering, including coming support for 4K/UHD video. The 5910 VSA includes Fast Channel Change (less than one second) and Retransmission, which prevents video and audio distortion, Nokia said. Swisscom's more than 1.3 million IPTV subscribers use Fast Channel Change today, and will do the same for Swisscom’s coming launch of live UHD streams

-IBM said Comic-Con HQ, Canadian Broadcasting Corp, AOL and Broadway Video are tapping the company’s new Cloud Video unit to launch new channels for and to and improve video management of their respective services. Among that group, Comic-Con HQ, a partnership between Comic-Con International and Lionsgate,  has selected IBM Cloud Video’s Clearleap platform to power its new subscription video-on-demand service, which will debut May 7.  IBM acquired Clearleap late last year.

-IC Real Tech has introduced the ALLie Camera, a 360-degree camera that allows for 24/7 viewing, recording and live streaming, as well as still-capturing and the ability to share content on social networks. IC Real Tech also said it has hired photography and video industry veteran Mark Sherengo as VP of sales and marketing.

Tying in elements that are powering multiscreen offerings from broadcasters and programmers such as NBCUniversal and Fox, Anvato has launched a “turn-key” TV Everywhere platform that is tailored for cable operators and other types of multichannel video programming distributors [MVPDs].

Called Anvato Watch, the platform aims to simplify and streamline typically complex systems that deliver authenticated video services to an array of devices, including PCs, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles.

Anvato already powers TVE and online video offerings for customers such as NBCU, Fox Sports, Univision, Hearst Digital Media, Lin Media, Gray Television, and Journal Broadcast Group, and is now extending its product set and best practices to the MVPD world, Matt Smith, Anvato’s chief evangelist said.

Anvato has yet to announce any MVPD agreements, but the company will focus on tier 2/3 MSOs (Anvato was pitching its new platform at last week’s The Independent Show in Kansas City), but also believes it can win business among tier 1s, and will also seek out wins with content providers that are developing pure over-the-top, direct-to-consumer services.

Elements of Anvato’s platform include content ingest (using a hybrid system that encodes locally using off-the-shelf hardware or in the cloud), player kits to deliver TVE services to multiple devices, and integrated ad insertion (working with systems from companies such as FreeWheel or Google’s DoubleClick) and data analytics systems. Smith said Anvato has already completed integrations with authentication systems from Adobe and Akamai or can work with the operator’s own database, if that’s how they prefer to handle authentication.

Anvato, he said, is agnostic in terms of support of private or commercial content delivery networks (CDNs).

Anvato’s turn-key approach is emerging as MVPDs and programmers look to simplify their TVE and online video architectures.

The technology integration wave has been active on the vendor front. thePlatform, the Comcast-owned online video publishing company, struck a strategic alliance and sales relationship last week with Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS), the cloud video subsidiary Verizon Communications. thePlatform also has forged a similar integration and sales pact with Adobe.