Where Is the Broadcast Industry Heading? IP!

Looking for trends in the Broadcast industry, especially how IP production is transforming broadcasting? Check out this article reposted from TVTechnology. If you've been in the business for a long time, you will particularly entertained... From TVTechnology.com

I could fill this entire article with quotes from the smartest, most knowledgeable people of by-gone eras, with predictions that were completely wrong, even laughable today. And the fact that I have spent more than 50 years in broadcasting—the last half of those working for Belden—gives me no real clairvoyance about the future of broadcasting. But allow me, dear readers, to tell you what I think will be happening to our industry. Your job is to tell me where you think I am wrong. If you are reading this article in 2025 or 2050, then some of my suggestions might be equally laughable...

...EVERYTHING IS GOING ETHERNET

This is not to say that Ethernet is the ideal format to send and receive absolutely everything, but that it can be modified to do a better and better job until it finally passes whatever ultimate test you wish to require. And this means that everything will look like Fig 1.

So if you agree with me, everything that produces a signal or sends a signal, will look like that data center in Fig. 1. In other words, that picture could just as easily be captioned “TV Station” or “Radio Station” or even “Post Production Facility” or even “Recording Studio.” Of course, the number of racks for each of these might vary widely, depending of the computing power required.

This picture could also represent the 100,000 racks in Antarctica or in a geostationary satellite. (Maybe the “cloud” really will be up above the clouds!); which leads to my next prediction...[continue reading]