WHAT DOES RESILIENCE REALLY LOOK LIKE IN 2026?
not limited to transportation stress, temperature fluctuations and non-ideal operating conditions. Dedicated hardware, by contrast, is typically designed with greater tolerance to these factors. Extreme weather introduces challenges beyond hardware resilience. Conditions such as snow can create significant compression artefacts, affecting image quality in ways that are difficult to predict or test in advance. While adjustments to compression ratios or codec selection may mitigate these issues, they are not always straightforward to plan for, particularly as such conditions may not persist consistently throughout an event. Bright sunlight can introduce extreme contrast, often necessitating HDR for optimal results, while heavy snowfall against a clear sky can further exacerbate compression challenges. These variables can have a direct and unpredictable impact on visual output. There are also physical and operational considerations. Extreme weather may affect the performance of kit such as drones. Heavy snow, for example, can influence operational range, flight behaviour and signal reliability. Similarly, specialised systems such as cable cameras – used, for example, along ski runs – must contend with the mechanical and material challenges posed by extreme cold. How these factors can affect performance and reliability requires careful consideration. OPHIR ZARDOK: The Games are uniquely paradoxical: they are both the highest-risk environment and the most compelling opportunity to advance technology. The answer is to test innovation under fire – but not for the first time on the big stage. Our philosophy is to build confidence through iteration. LiveU technology has been a fixture at Summer and Winter Games for several cycles now. At the Winter Games 2026, we deployed LIQ, our AI-driven transmission intelligence, at scale for the first time globally – but not without a foundation. LIQ had been developed and refined over prior events, and the Winter Games validated it with 980+ LiveU units from 37 countries delivering 134TB of live video. Innovation should extend broadcast capability, not replace proven reliability. A major European broadcaster deployed LiveU-equipped crews in Cortina while maintaining familiar IP workflows mirroring their production environment. The innovation is invisible to the operator – it just works.
>> Traditional bonded cellular approaches are reactive. LIQ is predictive << through the use of diverse transmission paths, such as a combination of cloud-based and satellite delivery. ALEX REDFERN: Resilience operates at different levels across the whole broadcast chain. On the contribution side, feeds are transmitted between venues, broadcast centres or through the International Broadcast Centre. These may or may not be under direct control, and may or may not utilise specific products. In this context, resilience relies heavily on avoiding single points of failure OPHIR ZARDOK: Resilience in 2026 is no longer just about having a backup. It is about having intelligence built into the system that responds to threats before they have the chance to become failures. At the Winter Games, that resilience took multiple forms. AI-driven network intelligence: LIQ continuously analysed network conditions across all transmission paths and would dynamically reroute to maintain quality. In environments where thousands of devices are competing for cellular bandwidth – athletes, media and spectators – traditional bonded cellular approaches are reactive. LIQ is, by contrast, predictive. REMI as a resilience model: By centralising critical production infrastructure at home, broadcasters insulated their core production from disruptions at remote venues. When equipment at a venue fails, the production centre continues uninterrupted. Operational resilience through IP flexibility: The flexibility of placing a LiveU unit anywhere and transmitting instantly means broadcasters can rapidly reroute coverage when planned positions become untenable due to weather, access restrictions or technical failure.
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