How IP-based broadcast meets 5G for resilient and sustainable media distribution

The newest generations of technical standards for digital terrestrial television broadcasting have embraced IP-based approaches. At the same time, we have seen the inclusion of multicast and broadcast technologies in the most recent releases of the global mobile telecommunications standard, with the availability of 5G Broadcast being one significant outcome, along with the integration of 5G Multicast/Broadcast capabilities within the 5G Media Streaming system. While true convergence between broadcast and mobile technologies remains unlikely to occur, the preconditions for mutually beneficial interworking between the different systems seem now to have been mostly fulfilled. This paper describes the main evolutions of both broadcast and mobile technical standards as they have approached more closely the domains of the other, culminating most notably with the arrival of ATSC 3.0, DVB-I and DVB-NIP as game-changing systems, and the aforementioned new solutions from 3GPP. Having described the innovative aspects of the different systems, the paper highlights some of the collaborative initiatives that target interworking, whether at the system core, on the radio frequency level or on the service layer, involving the standards developing organizations behind the systems.  

Emily Dubs | DVB Project | Geneva, Switzerland