INTERNET CONTRIBUTION: MOVING BEYOND SINGLE VENDOR SOLUTIONS

Media companies are shifting from private networks to using the Internet for broadcast contribution, seeking cost-efficiency while facing challenges in ensuring interoperability between different vendor solutions.

- Dr Ciro Noronha

The adoption of the RIST protocol offers a potential solution, allowing media companies to adopt a multi-vendor strategy while maintaining the quality and integrity of their broadcast content.

Media companies are continually seeking out ways to improve cost efficiency, and this is driving many to switch from using private dedicated links to using public unmanaged networks such as the Internet for contribution. However, while using the Internet for contribution enables media companies to significantly reduce costs, a challenge arises because Internet performance is inconsistent.

For the uninitiated, this variability leads to packet loss and quality issues, so transport protocols are used to protect the content during this process and ensure that quality and integrity of the video remains intact. However, there are a number of protocols used across the industry and they are not all compatible, so broadcast equipment using one protocol is not necessarily interoperable with equipment using a different protocol. This is problematic for media companies involved in sending and receiving broadcast video content.

For this reason, rather than opting to mix and match equipment from different vendors, many media companies are avoiding the issue by using solutions from single vendors as a means of assuring interoperability. While this is one way to ensure interoperability of components during contribution, it also has some significant drawbacks, as no single vendor can provide solutions that meet all possible requirements.

So how can media companies and broadcasters ensure that equipment is interoperable while also having the freedom to choose the best tools that meet their needs?

INTEROPERABILITY MATTERS