Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) is one of the most recognized global broadcasting brands, and like a number of broadcasters, TBS faces huge challenges to improve its efficiency in delivering content in different formats to different devices. The question of how TBS will use satellite technology going forward is up for debate. Clyde Smith, senior vice president of global broadcast technology and standards for TBS, discusses the satellite-versus-fiber question as well as other major projects TBS is involved in, such as the move away from file-based storage as it looks to improve overall efficiency.
VIA SATELLITE: What are the major technical challenges facing TBS?
Smith: In terms of the consumer space, if you think internationally and consider how many consumer devices and how many variations, in terms of compatibility, there are, we have to do massive personalization to address each one of them. So while the media formats are a finite set, you also have to consider the wide variations of the metadata which supports each device and each distribution platform. That is a significant challenge for all of us. We participate in a number of industry forums [intended] to consolidate and converge those in the future, so it hopefully becomes easier. If you think of the size of the audience, it is relatively small for each single device, but taken in aggregate across all devices and platforms, it is considerable, so we have to make it less expensive to use content on each one and some standardization and convergence across that space would enable us to be much more effective in terms of supporting all those platforms with a variety of content. That is one of the more significant challenges.
There is a factor of complexity in audio/video formats and the transcoding of those and then more [complexity] in integrating metadata into each of the workflows, and implementing workflow engines is also a factor so that we can push more content into every one of those channels.
VIA SATELLITE: What impact is new broadcasting technology having on your business?
Smith: Migrating in the future to a services-orientated architecture is what we will look to do. We are undertaking some of that work now.
VIA SATELLITE: What is your take on fiber versus satellite when it comes to delivering channels?
Smith: In the United States, we have decided to do both fiber and satellite distribution. We think the two are complementary. There are times when you have fiber outages — when you have backhoe fades during construction or service periods for fiber. This happens more frequently than you might expect, but there are also times when you have satellite issues. We have certainly seen that recently — look at what happened with Galaxy 15, and that certainly raises the point that you need to have a protection plan. That plan might be an on-orbit spare, but there are some companies that you deal with who don’t have on-orbit spares for all their orbital slots.
The consolidation of the cable industry in the United States has meant that you can put in a fiber backbone that makes sense and allows you to reach the majority of your audience by hitting a few cable headends and DTH providers, and this means you are protected against those untoward events that may happen with the satellite — those semi-annual solar fades or other events which impact the satellite. Equally, with fiber events, you can use satellite as a back-up. We see satellite and fiber as very complementary.
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