Standards: Delivery - Broadcast Delivery
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Traditional linear broadcasting is evolving into on-demand streaming, but DVB standards still underpin terrestrial, satellite and cable transmission worldwide.
Broadcast Content Delivery Evolution
Traditional broadcasting has always delivered content in a linear fashion according to schedules that may be planned months in advance. These schedules require the public to make appointments to view the content when it is broadcast. Consumer video recorders introduced in the 1970’s allowed viewers to time shift programs themselves. Hard disk based systems introduced in the 1990’s supported Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data feeds which could be used to ‘pre-schedule’ recordings or set up preference based program capture.
This was all analog TV based. The shift to Digital TV services coincided with the introduction of Internet streamed content. This pushed the recording process back to the central server location. This allows more control over rights to view and was a route to increased monetization.
Where the industry is currently in the arc of change from traditional linear transmission towards full streaming is documented and discussed in detail within the books and articles in The Broadcast Bridge ‘DELIVERY’ content channel.
Where The Standards Apply
Here is a typical broadcast system transmitting linear content. This might originate from an external source or as pre-recorded programs played out to the transmission system.
The architecture is quite different for a streaming Video-On-Demand (VOD) service. The playout & transmission are replaced by a request driven Content Delivery Network (CDN).
The applicable ingest standards are described in delivery specifications based on the individual broadcaster’s needs.
DVB Standards For On-Air Broadcasting
The Digital Video Broadcasting organization (DVB) manages a collection of international open-standards that describe how to transmit digital TV services on-air. DVB is a not-for-profit consortium sponsored by the broadcasters. Their standards are grouped into these categories:
| Standard | Description |
|---|---|
| Broadband Delivery | For integration with IP delivered content. |
| Interactivity | Interactive TV app and service design. |
| Interfacing | Integration with broadcast infrastructure. |
| Measurement | Service delivery monitoring and measurement. |
| Metadata | Program guides, content and service discovery. |
| Middleware | Integration with client platform hardware. |
| Research | Investigative work. |
| Security | Access control to paid content. |
| Source coding & Multiplexing | Coding of video and audio into transport streams for delivery. |
| Subtitling | Ancillary services to support accessibility. |
| Transmission | Delivery of content and services. |
The DVB standards have been the foundation for digital TV deployments worldwide and describe how TV signals can be transmitted in different ways:
| Medium | Abbr | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Terrestrial | DTT | Regional broadcasts from a mast mounted antenna. Supplementary channels linked from the EPG are delivered by broadband. |
| Satellite | DSat | National coverage from a satellite transponder, received via a dish. Supplementary channels delivered by broadband can also allow feedback and interaction from the viewer. |
| Cable | DCable | Cable services are evolving towards broadband IPTV technologies which supports video on demand (VOD) content. |
The most familiar DVB standards describe how digital TV services are structured for transmission. The second-generation variants add high definition support:
| Standard | Description |
|---|---|
| DVB-T | Terrestrial broadcasting. |
| DVB-T2 | Second generation terrestrial (Hi-Def). |
| DVB-H | Terrestrial broadcasts for reception on handheld devices. |
| DVB-S | Satellite broadcasting. |
| DVB-S2 | Second generation satellite (Hi-Def). |
| DVB-C | Cable broadcasting (Tethered). |
| DVB-C2 | Second generation cable (Hi-Def). |
| DVB-CI | Common Interface for access control. |
Multiple program streams are packaged into a bundle. On DTT services, these are called Multiplexes and on DSat they are described as Transponders. The bundle also includes metadata for Service Information (SI) to populate EPGs.
DVB standards are delivered via the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). DVB develops the technical details and ETSI formalizes them into standards and then publishes them. They are all available free of charge.
These Appendix articles contain additional information you may find useful:
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