35 ROUND TABLE Broadcasting In The Cloud
FREETV: Hi, experts! We are FREETV, a public broadcaster launching in the country of Freedonia. We’ve been given a mandate to build a new TV network from the ground up. Our offering will include scripted programming (drama series to kids shows), news and live sports. In addition to our linear feed, we want a robust streaming and VOD service that the citizens of Freedonia can access throughout their day, wherever they are. Our board wants us to take advantage of cloud technologies as much as possible. They believe that cloud is the way forward and that in the future every part of the content chain will take place in the cloud. Also, the chairman once got trapped under some servers during a long weekend and has a phobia of any on-premises hardware. OUR FIRST QUESTION FOR YOU IS: ARE THE FREETV BOARD – AND OUR TRAUMATISED CEO – CORRECT? WILL ALL BROADCAST SERVICES ONE DAY BE IN OFFSITE, CLOUD-BASED SYSTEMS? SHOULD WE BUILD OUR CHANNEL WITH A CLOUD-ONLY FUTURE IN MIND? CRISTIAN LIVADIOTTI, WILDMOKA: Our answer is yes! The question is more: when will that day be today? In the short term, the challenge to going 100% cloud is cost. For continuous usage, cloud today is still a bit more expensive than on-premises, CAPEX investments. As a result, most broadcasters are looking at the cloud as a good way to handle the overflow activity, while keeping an on-premises solution for 24/7 usage. Also, cloud production supposes that you have fast, non-limitative and low-delay connectivity to data centres. This is not always true, especially for on-venue connectivity. The former will eventually become a non-issue. The latter, on the contrary, may not become less true any time soon. We believe there may always be a need for local, on-venue equipment.
KARL MEHRING, GRASS VALLEY: Cloud-only solutions can help improve broadcasters’ business agility and their ability to tell powerful stories with stunning pictures. Taking a cloud-first approach can be smart – and this can be an even more successful move for broadcasters that look to new commercial and operational models that can enable this. But the cloud-only route may not necessarily be the best option for all. This decision relies on several factors. Is it just for temporary usage? Are the assets located in the cloud? Is the media production and preparation hosted in the cloud? These are just some of the questions broadcasters should ask themselves when considering keeping with on-premise solutions or navigating to the cloud. So, a cloud-only mindset can be a good long-term way of thinking, but may not be the best course of action yet in the short term. Broadcasters need to move at a transitional speed that’s best for their respective businesses. MARC RISBY, BOXER SYSTEMS: Broadcasters have cycled between in- sourcing and out-sourcing services for as long as I can remember, and cloud has some parallels there. Your CEO is right to look to the future and new ways of working, but will also likely be interested in the bottom line. Cloud is right for some services but is not always the most cost- effective solution in the long run. My advice is build a flexible system and closely follow the associated costs at all points. Choose a system that allows for on-prem and cloud with the understanding that which is best can and will vary depending on changing circumstances and requirements.
THIS MONTH’S FEED ROUND TABLE GUESTS ARE:
CRISTIANLIVADIOTTI,WILDMOKA Cristian Livadiotti is CEO of Wildmoka, a cloud digital creation platform for broadcasters. Prior to Wildmoka, Cristian held senior management positions in various software companies.
KARLMEHRING,GRASSVALLEY Karl Mehring is director of product management for content delivery at Grass Valley. He oversees the product management team and the lifecycle of the playout product portfolio.
MARCRISBY,BOXERSYSTEMS Marc Risby is group CTO at Boxer Systems, a major technology integrator and digital solutions provider for the moving image industry. Marc specialises in linking the worlds of traditional video and data.
JONATHANSOLOMON, IBMASPERA Jonathan Solomon is strategic initiative engineer for streaming at IBM Aspera and helps build the company’s streaming ecosystem. He’s worked in various capacities in broadcast engineering.
RAYTHOMPSON, AVID Ray Thompson is director broadcast and media solutions marketing at Avid. He oversees marketing initiatives focused on enterprise customers in the broadcast, film and TV markets.
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