20 MOBILE TV – FINALLY?
Today’s BTS session will examine 5G Broadcast, a possible new way forward for getting live broadcast to handheld devices, as the organisation’s VP of Conferences Peter Siebert tells Mark Hallinger
The venerable IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) has existed under various names for more than a century. It is one of the technical societies of the even more venerable Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an organisation that dates to the era of Tesla and Edison. Not around quite so long, but long enough to have a very keen perspective, is Peter Siebert, currently BTS VP of Conferences and for years a fi xture at broadcast and media stalwarts such as the DVB Project Offi ce, Siemens, SES-ASTRA and Philips. At IBC, Siebert is organising the technical programme of BTS’ conference session. Siebert got his PhD in 1989, an era when the transition from analogue to digital broadcast via satellite, terrestrial and cable transmission was starting. All moved forward, sometimes quickly as in the case of DVB-S. The other digital standards followed, sometimes in fi ts and starts. All were happening, for sure, in retrospect. Once the delivery schemes for fi xed reception
were in place DVB also developed a system for bringing broadcast TV to handhelds. However, this standard – DVB-H – didn’t come to prominence and the few commercial implementations were switched off after a short time.
Indeed, one constant over two decades or
more now has been the quest to bring terrestrial broadcast television to handhelds – names like DVB-H, MediaFlo, ATSC-MH and others have been in the headlines for years, but none have become commercially viable.
COMING SOON? Every year BTS organises within the IBC content programme a three-hour session. This year the theme is ‘Mobile TV – fi nally?’, and it takes place today from 10:00-13:00. Participation is free of charge.
“Mobile TV has long been a hot topic in the industry,” says Siebert. “Although it has been tried many times, it has never gained adoption.” By mobile TV, Siebert means terrestrial
broadcast television to handhelds, broadcast live TV sent in a one-to-many fashion on a fi xed schedule. This is different to unicast streaming models as seen with Netfl ix or YouTube. Siebert says that in recent years there has been a shift in approach which may bear fruit. “Now we have a new technology that is 5G Broadcast – which is a broadcast specifi cation coming from the 3GPP world, from the mobile broadband community.” 3GPP is a worldwide standards organisation
which specifi es mobile phone technical specifi cations.
“What became obvious from past attempts to bring broadcast TV to handhelds is that you need to have the mobile broadband operators on board when doing this. This is more achievable with a technology originating from the telecom industry. 5G Broadcast is such a technology.” Today’s session is being co-produced with Jordi Gimenez of 5G MAG, an international non-profi t fostering collaboration across the media and telecom industries, and Thomas Stockhammer of Qualcomm. “Both are well-known experts from the industry and very well aware of the broadcast and telecom networks,” comments Siebert. The 5G Broadcast specifi cation allows the use of
terrestrial broadcast networks for delivery of audio and video content to handhelds. In addition, it also supports hybrid scenarios where additional information is delivered by a telecom network. “For example the video would be via terrestrial broadcast, while different language tracks could be via the telecom network,” explains Siebert. But using terrestrial for the higher data rate video and the telecom networks for the audio channels is just one example. Another use-case is when you have broadcast to handhelds and there are regions where the signal is not strong enough, so the mobile device switches seamlessly and automatically to the telecom network.
“The audience is consuming content on different devices, so the broadcaster has to reach these devices. That’s the motivation behind this effort”
There are ongoing 5G Broadcast trials in
Europe, Asia and North America. The session is a two-part event. In part 1, industry experts will be presenting an in-depth overview of critical topics such as the latest developments from standards organisations including ATSC, DVB and 3GPP. Updates on the latest fi eld trials covering this summer’s UEFA European Football Championship in Germany and the Olympics in France will also be covered. Part 2 features a roundtable discussion where implementers and other stakeholders will share their experiences and future plans, focusing on real-world applications and the path forward for bringing 5G Broadcast technology to market. Making broadcast television available on tablets and smartphones is the goal. “This simply refl ects that more and more people are using
Peter Siebert is organising the technical programme of BTS’ conference session
tablets and smartphones and fewer and fewer are using TV sets,” says Siebert. “The audience is consuming content on different devices, so the broadcaster has to reach these devices. That’s the motivation behind this effort.” Siebert also notes that in Europe more than in other parts of the world there is the beginning of a discussion about the future of digital terrestrial television (DTT), with the main example of this being the BBC director general’s comments on possibly shutting down DTT starting as soon as 2030. Siebert adds that other possible benefi ts of 5G
Broadcast include the elimination of streaming costs and increased capacity during high-demand events such as a football fi nal that may stretch the streaming network to its limits.
He cautions that tablets and smartphones would have to have a 5G Broadcast receiver, and these devices currently do not exist beyond prototypes used in fi eld trials and tests. “There is an interest in the technology, but interest does not mean that it will become a service tomorrow,” says Siebert.
Peter Siebert is BTS VP of Conferences at IEEE BTS, one of IBC’s owners.
Visit IEEE BTS throughout the show at the Owner Pavilion in Hall 8.
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