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Designed for engineers, technicians, technology managers and researchers, the Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference (BEITC) at NAB 2026 isn’t so focused on what’s happening now. It’s more about what will be happening in 12, 24 or 36 months’ time, and plotting a route to get there.

Given the speed of change in the broadcast industry, this year’s conference could be pivotal, with more than 70 sessions scheduled between April 18 – 21 dedicated to broadcast engineering across a broad range of themes.

In part one we covered the sessions dedicated to AI; in part two we cover sessions inspired by the EBU’s Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) initiative and how it is encouraging more broadcasters to look into more agile software-based infrastructures and cloud compute. We also look into sessions covering adoption of ATSC 3.0 and we dip our toes into how to engineer a UHD imaging system that can be used 7,000 meters under the sea.

Software-Based Infrastructures

On Sunday, April 19, at 10:00am in room N261, “NABA: How the Dynamic Media Facility Initiative Will Re-shape Television Production and Delivery” provides a good entry point for anyone wanting to get in on the ground floor of what the DMF is all about. As media processing functionality moves increasingly into pure software workflows, the session argues that while ST2110 is being used to connect software appliances together, the DMF will empower facilities to plan and deploy applications into on-prem or in cloud computing clusters. This will not only deliver scalability but facilitate interoperable communication and control between multiple vendors in an interoperable manner.

This session explains the DMF concepts and layers, including the underlying Media eXchange Layer (MXL) which connects applications together. More info on MXL can be gleaned from AWS Principal Solutions Architect Thomas Edwards in “The EBU DMF Media eXchange Layer (MXL) SDK for Multi-Vendor Live Video Production” on Tuesday, April 21, at 11:40am (Room N256). This session will break down the specific technology elements of MXL as well as provide an update on the current status of the open source project and illustrate how vendors have already demonstrated interoperability of the MXL SDK.

Using what the session describes as “the lowest latency asynchronous data transfer methods to avoid delays in the live signal chain,” MXL aims to enable the interchange between software media functions to provide a common, vendor-neutral platform. The Linux Foundation hosts the open source MXL Project in collaboration with the EBU and the North American Broadcasting Association (NABA). Available on a public GitHub repository under the open-source Apache-2.0 license, MXL is the connective tissue between virtualized applications, and Edwards will explain it all.

The Adoption Curve

Exactly how far along we are on this path is explored in “Is Cloud Based MCR Ready for Prime-Time?” on Sunday at 2:10pm in N256. Through “use-case examples, technical analysis of processing load and detail of transport stream processing techniques” the paper looks at the industry’s potential to shift complex MCR infrastructures to meet the more agile and dynamic demands of modern broadcasting, where capacity can scale rapidly to accommodate fluctuating live event schedules.

It will explore the viability of software-based technologies to address these challenges, adopting what it refers to as a “Compressed Domain – First” philosophy to optimize cost, network bandwidth, and processing efficiency.

Similarly, “Engineering the Shift: From 100% Hardware to 100% Cloud” at 11:40am that same day (room N256) admits that despite the move to rethink traditional architectures as IP and virtualized workflows, few broadcasters have embarked on a full end-to-end transition from a hardware-dependent infrastructure to a fully cloud-based broadcast ecosystem. This session explores what it really takes to make that leap.

Hybrid Alternatives

Although broadcasters’ full-cloud adoption might be rare, many are routinely using hybrid workflows, and the session is part of a bigger picture overview which ties in two other related presentations. “Resilient Broadcast Distribution: Hybrid Connectivity, Open Infrastructure and the Path to 100% Cloud”, which gets underway at 11:00am, quietly acknowledges that as satellite capacity tightens and IP-first delivery accelerates, broadcasters are having to rethink distribution to stay resilient.

Accompanying the aforementioned cloud session, the first of these is “Beyond Boundaries: Hybrid Broadcast Distribution” (11:00am, Sunday, room N256) and examines how, with the looming prospect of the FCC repurposing up to 180MHz of the remaining C-band spectrum, broadcasters can adopt hybrid workflows to maintain broadcast grade reliability. This paper explores two hybrid alternatives: Satellite Ku-band and IP, and an IP-first model using dual path IP connectivity across fiber, 5G and LEO. The paper also addresses the operational and commercial challenges involved in transitioning to a new distribution model.

Immediately afterwards at 11:20am, “How NPR Distribution Used Open-Source Protocols, Virtualization, and Off-the-Shelf Hardware to Build the New Public Radio Distribution System” features NPR’s Mike Pilone and Jon Cyphers outlining how NPR Distribution designed and built a low latency, terrestrial, audio distribution system.

ATSC 3.0

Another popular strand at this year’s BEITC is around ATSC 3.0, starting with a series of sessions kicking off at 11:00am on Saturday, April 18 in room N256. “Where ATSC 3.0 Goes Next: Brazil’s TV 3.0, Hybrid Reliability and O-RAN Broadcast Futures” aims to connect three different ATSC 3.0 developments.

“TV 3.0: Brazil’s New Configuration of ATSC 3.0 and How It Differs from Other Regions” looks at the differences between the U.S., Korean, and Brazilian configurations of ATSC 3.0 technologies and discusses ATSC’s efforts as an international Standards Development Organization to accommodate these variations by incorporating regionally originated extensions into the ATSC 3.0 core standards as they evolve.

Next, Gray Media’s Peter Gogas presents “Enhancing ATSC 3.0 Service Reliability By Combining Broadcast and Broadband Services,” at 11:20am, which aims to explore the implementation of fallback channels in ATSC 3.0, discuss deployment scenarios including coverage extension and OTA-to-broadband handoff, and offer recommendations for receiver implementation.

Meanwhile, “ATSC 3.0 Everywhere: SFN Coverage, Hybrid Broadcast-OTT Delivery and 5G Core Integration” on Monday, April 20, at 9:30am (room N256) brings together three advances that are shaping ATSC 3.0’s future: Single Frequency Networks (SFNs) for nationwide indoor and mobile reception; hybrid broadcast/OTT distribution models that optimize operating costs by balancing one-to-many delivery with unicast flexibility; and ATSC 3.0 B2X interworking with the 5G Core to enable unified service discovery, shared metadata, and seamless transitions between broadcast and broadband.

Before we move away from ATSC 3.0, Sunday’s “Broadcast Positioning System (BPS): ATSC 3.0 Timing, Monitoring, SFN Deployment and PNT Coverage at Scale” brings together five complementary sessions to position the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) as a GNSS-independent timing and PNT backbone built on ATSC 3.0 infrastructure. The session at 4:40pm in room N256 promises to promote five real-world advances: “delivering sub-nanosecond UTC (NIST) timing into stations via optical synchronization; using BPS as a complementary time source for datacenters; DevOps-driven monitoring with AI-assisted stability analysis and anomaly detection; enabling BPS in Single Frequency Networks without interference pitfalls; and coverage modeling across diverse U.S. markets to quantify reliability and future positioning potential. Together, these papers chart the path from field trials to national-scale deployment.”

Deep Dives Well Beyond The Big Themes

Outside of the big themes of AI, software-based infrastructure and ATSC 3.0, there are plenty of other, more left-field gems to be found. The scope of the BEITC goes well beyond the big ticket items; here are two of our favorites.

“RCA: War Stories from the Front Lines of Broadcasting - Practical Experience from the Battlefield” on Monday at 10:00am in room N261 features a panel which includes legendary audio engineer Bob Orban and tells the story of exploding transfer switches, disappearing station grounds, alligators, and melted center conductors. The panel will recount case studies of equipment going down in some of the most demanding locations – and how responding positively in those environments can make you a better engineer.

Finally, and as promised, “Broadcasting from the Deep: Engineering a UHD Imaging System for Extreme Deep Sea Environments” on Tuesday at 11:20am (room N256) tells the story of how the MxD SeaCam UHD Imaging System went to places that no-one has ever been before. Engineering a Sony HDC-P50 broadcast camera and a Canon CJ15ex4.3B UHD Super Wide lens into a titanium-housed, pressure-tolerant platform rated to 7,000 meters of seawater, the system maintains full 12G-SDI and HDR broadcast fidelity through a single-fiber CWDM telemetry link. Attendees will get an exclusive behind the curtain look into the technical architecture and design validation of the project and find out how the system delivers studio-grade UHD imaging in one of the most hostile locations on the planet.