Advanced Television

DVB approves commercial requirements for ABR multicast

November 23, 2016

After consideration of the Commercial Requirements for ABR (Adaptive Bit Rate) Multicast presented to the 84th meeting of the DVB Steering Board (SB), the decision was made to commit the Technical Module to produce a specification.  The scope of the work will pave the way to providing a harmonised solution to the problem of transmitting linear video at scale across IP-based networks.

The purpose of the work is to help meet the growing consumer demand for superior quality OTT multiscreen services. In today’s environment operators and content providers are under increasing demand to deliver video content anytime, anywhere, over any network to any device.

The technical specification resulting from these Commercial Requirements will be applicable to both managed and unmanaged networks. The aim is to leverage existing media workflows and transmission infrastructure while retaining support for security and stream manipulation features.

“The broadcast industry faces the challenges of serving multiple devices across broadcast and broadband networks,” advised DVB Chairman, Peter MacAvock. “It’s essential to have a good set of tools to help, and DVB’s work in adaptive bitrate streaming continues to be a cornerstone of industry efforts in this area.”

“Adaptive bitrate streaming delivered over the top on managed networks is based on unicast technology, making it difficult to scale for live applications,” noted Thierry Fautier of the Ad Hoc Sub-Group of CM-AVC, which is tasked with defining the Commercial Requirements for ABR Multicast. “To resolve this issue, the DVB has decided to develop a specification that will enable ABR multicast distribution via any bidirectional IP network, including telco, cable, and mobile.”

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