Live TV As It Should Be

BT Media & Broadcast's TV Outside Broadcast (TVOB) Manager, Dominik Wrona, reflects on the company's successful year and looks ahead towards the network of the future.

The Outside Broadcast landscape is constantly evolving, and my team are at the forefront of driving innovation to bring viewers closer to the action. As one of the largest TVOB providers in the UK, with more than 60 years' experience, we've been leading the way in delivering ultra-high-definition (UHD) content across the UK. From launching Europe's first live sports UHD channel in August 2015, to now delivering hundreds of UHD broadcasts every year.

And we're not stopping there. Through the early adoption of the latest technology, we have been able to enhance our capabilities by adding UHD HEVC to our extensive portfolio, allowing us to broadcast live TV as it should be – from any location desired by our customers in crystal clear quality.
The industry is changing, and we’re leading from the front. The best productions deserve to be seen in the highest quality possible, and our track record of reliability, key industry partnerships and the highest bandwidth, next-generation infrastructure allows us to keep delivering for our customers in this increasingly-demanding industry.

A proven track record
You might recognise some of our key events from the past year; the Wimbledon 2018 Championships were broadcast using our new UHD HEVC solution. It was a significant moment for my team, who were able to deliver one of the largest events in the UK sports calendar using a new technology, alongside one of the biggest sports broadcasters in the country.

We also successfully broadcast the English Premier League over our high-capacity fibre network, delivering 42,000 hours of HD footage, 4,000 hours of UHD footage and 300 terabytes of data, all without a single outage during the 2017/18 season. And we’re on-track to beat that this season.

HEVC provides crystal clear quality, low latency and increased efficiency for both HD and UHD video – and with the ability for us to deliver this over satellite, this opens up new possibilities for broadcasters to deliver premium content from any location. It complements our TICO solution, which delivers visually lossless UHD video over fibre.

When I look back at the year, it's exciting to see the variety and different tiers of events we've been involved with. From the FA Cup round two match between Guiseley vs Fleetwood Town, delivered in UHD via the HEVC technology, to the Premier League derby game between Manchester United vs Manchester City, delivered with our TICO solution. Furthermore, with our recent high bandwidth network expansion into key European locations, we can now deliver content from OBs more easily and seamlessly in the UK and Europe.

Our developments in TVOB don't just extend to the quality or encoding of content – but to the security of it too, which is why we're adopting the latest BISS-CA encryption. This cutting-edge technology means we're protecting satellite uplinked content in the most secure method possible – supplementing wider BT investments in world-class security for broadcasts and beyond.

Towards the network of the future
Our track record in the UK doesn't stop there - no matter the size or location of the event, we can help broadcasters and rights holders get their content where it needs to be. We're excited that our TV Outside Broadcast services now offer greater flexibility for live events across the globe, thanks to the investments we've made into new European locations, and the reach of our Global Media Network which touches all corners of the world.

So when we talk about the broadcast landscape evolving, I believe it's also expanding, as we take our proven track record to new lands and deliver content from anywhere. Stay tuned.

This article is also available in the April edition of Broadcast Film & Video.