A review – where to start?
2021 was a year like no other…well, apart from 2020! Although the industry was still adjusting to the changing landscape of broadcasting, there was a light at the end of the tunnel as workforces were welcomed back to the office, and (some) in-person events were finally back in place. Despite the lingering shadow of Covid still presenting barriers to the way organisations operate, the rapid adoption of cloud-based workflows delivered a lifeline to teams which were forced to work remotely.
Of course, this hasn’t been all bad! The industry is resilient, and despite the challenges beyond anyone’s control, many new working methods and tools have proven to be nothing but innovative.
Review of Industry Challenges and Opportunities
Moving video feeds around the world can present a variety of challenges for content owners, whether battling a global pandemic or not. The world of sports, particularly, can be unpredictable at the best of times, increasing the need for a combination of flexibility and control. However, with changing consumer trends, technology advancements and ever-increasing prevalence of remote, cloud and IP workflows, it is clear that the scale of opportunity in our sector has never been greater.
Within the broadcasting industry, any changes to content delivery need to be met with careful, logistical planning and organisations need to build adaptable strategies that can respond to the unpredictable changes. Our CEO’s recent article in NAB Amplify explores the transformation of the industry and discusses how broadcasters can benefit from next-gen solutions to future-proof their workflows.
New Beginnings
Fortunately, Cerberus was well equipped to deal with remote production challenges and was able to launch a software-based live IP video switching application, IO, at the start of the year. The dockerised broadcast application allows for seamless switching between; RTP, UDP, RIST, SRT, Zixi, RTMP and HLS delivery protocols. It can be scaled to unlimited outputs and used within a device, data centre or cloud environment, offering a fully interoperable, point-to-point, or point-to-multipoint broadcast solution.
It sits alongside our Livelink solution, an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) live delivery platform which allows users to combine flexibility and control with global reach, and Network 1, a low-latency and cost-effective IP-based platform for the primary distribution of 24/7 live linear content.
Collaboration is Key
Cerberus Tech is committed to enabling customers to distribute low latency, high reliability IP feeds at an affordable price which is why partnerships, memberships and integrations are so important to us. After all, collaboration is key in the world of broadcasting! Throughout the last year, we announced partnerships with PSSI Global Services to reach new audiences and increase revenue in new territories as part of the Livelink Service Network, and we integrated TAG Video Systems, to provide customers with real-time visualisation and monitoring capabilities within the Livelink platform.
We also expanded existing partnerships and welcomed integrations with Zixi’s Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP) and Ateme’s TITAN. Through these seamless integrations, customers can adapt flexibly and cost effectively to changing technology developments whilst taking advantage of emerging protocols and standards, scale channel deliveries and make IP technology work for their businesses. With unrivalled IP contribution and distribution expertise, we work with our customers to future-proof infrastructure and maximise the efficiency of their broadcast operations.
It doesn’t end there! We joined The SRT Alliance, a collaborative community of industry leaders and developers striving to achieve lower latency internet video transport by continuously improving SRT, an open-source video transport protocol and technology stack. Through collaboration with organisations such as The SRT Alliance and RIST, Cerberus is helping to develop open-source video transport protocol solutions which address the main challenges our customers and the industry face.
Additionally, we joined Major Events International (MEI), an organisation which helps rights holders, host cities, government agencies and suppliers succeed in the opportunities arising from bidding for, and hosting, major events. We also renewed our memberships with IABM and SVG.
Customer Highlights
Throughout the year, Cerberus Tech was honoured to work on some inspiring projects with many leading broadcasting organisations. We assisted QTV with the domestic distribution of the Scottish Premiership which has extended into the North American market this season. QTV deliver 142 matches live every season to takers including BBC Scotland, Sky Sports, and club OTT channels, as well as stats, betting, and cloud editing workflows – all of this was enabled by Livelink.
Additionally, Cerberus was selected by the national television network of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Rūpavāhinī (TV) Corporation (SLRC), to deliver 6 events from the Sri Lanka vs England Cricket Tour, with the first live event taking place just three days after our initial conversations. By utilising Livelink, The SLRC were able to cost-effectively deliver live matches via IP, scaling infrastructure up or down and only paying for what was needed.
Although many of our projects involved sport, we also worked on various music and shopping channel projects. We worked with TJC to ensure its content met with Virgin Media’s IP ingest specifications. Cerberus Tech was able to deliver directly to the Virgin Media platform using our established IP connectivity, removing the need for traditional physical infrastructure.
You can discover more customer stories here.
A Look Ahead to 2022
With innovations in cloud-based technology and the growing awareness around IP’s capabilities, organisations can now take advantage of IP content delivery methods to reach and engage audiences.
2022 will be a year of innovation, Cerberus will continue to raise awareness of IP’s capabilities, making sure content owners realise the full potential of IP workflows in achieving revenue growth, increasing audience reach, and expanding into new territories.
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