Telstra Acquires Cloud Asset Management Specialist Nativ

Streaming Media

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/News/Featured-News/Telstra-Acquires-Cloud-Asset-Management-Specialist-Nativ-104945.aspx

Australian telco Telco has made a further acquisition, this time through the video analytics firm Ooyala—which it bought last August—for U.K.-based media asset management developer Nativ.

The acquisition (for an undisclosed amount) expands Ooyala’s technology stack into video production, pre-production, and broadcast planning for hybrid OTT and on-air video services.

Nativ offers cloud-based media logistics and workflow software and services branded as Mio Everywhere. Among its key reference clients is U.K. broadcaster ITV. 

Nativ is Ooyala’s second acquisition within the last nine months, following its purchase of Europe’s video ad tech provider, Videoplaza, last October.

A press release described the move as “the next step in Ooyala’s multi-phase strategy to deliver the most comprehensive, data-driven personalized TV and video platform that will power the next generation of television.”

The acquisition comes at a pivotal time for the industry, as the traditional systems for managing media workflow for on-air content delivery are undergoing major transformation, in the same way that media delivery and monetization solutions are transforming into more open, modular, cloud-based systems.

Ooyala plans to operate Nativ as a standalone new line of business under the Ooyala brand. Over time it will integrate Nativ’s technologies with its core video publishing, analytics, and monetization platform.

“The new TV marketplace can’t be serviced by legacy broadcast business systems," said Jay Fulcher (right), president and CEO for Ooyala. "New data-driven technologies and services will transform the way broadcasters, media companies, and brands operate in the era of multi-screen consumption. A transformation of this scale represents massive opportunity for the innovators that can drive new, future-proofed standards.”

Charlotte Yarkoni, president of Telstra Software Group and vice chairman of the board for Ooyala, stated, “Combining Nativ’s technology and team with Ooyala is a big step forward in executing our shared vision for a consolidated, global leader in personalized cloud TV and video. Nativ opens a lucrative new line of business for Ooyala. Following its acquisition of Videoplaza last October, it provides key media management and broadcast planning technologies that will extend the reach and power of its video, analytics and advertising offerings. Ooyala will stand out as a trusted provider who can meet the needs of broadcasters and media companies every step of the way.”

Nativ CEO Jon Folland said the deal enabled his company to catapult into a new phase of rapid growth, at global scale. Folland will remain part of the Ooyala executive team under Fulcher’s leadership. “With the backing of Telstra and their commitment to making the ongoing investments to support a rapid pace of innovation, we are now best in class in both standalone media logistics software and comprehensive, data-driven cloud TV,” he said.

The Mio platform includes a module for end-to-end management of multiscreen ad campaign workflows, and a data management module that gives companies the ability to model, gather and manage data across their value chain. This data management module is said to be complementary to Ooyala’s own analytics engine.

Telstra has previously invested $7.3 million in Elemental Technologies.

Digital’s phase two

Screen International 

p45 http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=b894dd61-fb5a-401e-9cb2-a0ba09be203f

Digital cinema is fulfilling its promise to deliver enhanced presentation options. But with that comes greater complexity in mastering and distribution. “In the early years of digital cinema, it was right to offer a dual 35mm and digital approach to mastering and distribution,” says Andy Scade, director of digital cinema at Deluxe London. “Now that process is largely complete, we are entering a second phase which is about pushing the new opportunities created by digital.”
“Over the past five years, the industry has begun to realise the potential of what digital cinema can bring to distribution,” says Richard Fish, commercial director of Eikon Group. “A digital infrastructure allows you to deliver to all platforms including home entertainment, VoD and subscription TV. Digital means speedier delivery for day-and-date releases. If you get it right, you can find efficiencies in the workflow.”
A typical studio release demands more than 100 versions of the Digital Cinema Package (DCP), which can escalate to 450 versions for major titles. The basic DCP will be versioned for territories and include copies for subtitles, dubbing and language titles. DCPs will also be mastered for individual projection system and theatre qualities such as aspect ratio (flat or scope), resolution (2K, 4K), audio type (5.1, 7.1) and 3D (which requires its own set of subtitles).
Further complexity is now being added with enhancements to presentation driven by growth in premium large format (PLF) exhibition. These include immersive audio formats (such as Dolby Atmos and Barco Auro); versions for motion simulators (D-BOX, 4DX, X4D); and versions with wider colour gamut and greater luminance (or brightness to showcase laser-projected films). Emerging presentation formats such as Barco Escape require multiple DCPs tailored for multiscreen projection.
Higher Dynamic Range (HDR), which provides a wider range between the whitest whites and blackest blacks in a picture, is the latest creative option being promoted by Dolby. Pixar’s Inside Out, and Disney’s Tomorrowland are the first titles to be mastered for Dolby Cinema, a presentation format that includes HDR and Dolby Atmos.
Different frame rates are also open to filmmakers and distributors. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was the first major release made at 48 frames per second, an aesthetic choice that sharpens the picture by doubling the number of frames from the century-old standard 24fps. Although the two later Hobbit sequels were shown in 24fps and 48fps versions, the method has not been widely adopted, although James Cameron’s Avatar sequels are expected to feature a 60fps DCP.
While final distribution to cinemas is on hard drive, via fibre network or satellite, DCP administration and creation have become vastly more complicated. A facility like the new joint venture Deluxe Technicolor Digital Cinema is typically given two weeks to create all DCPs for any title, including a quality-control screening that ensures the mastering has been completed correctly.
“The margin has dropped out of distribution and the cost has shifted to producing and handling the DCP,” says Richard Welsh, CEO of Sundog Media Toolkit, which develops software processing tools for post-production and digital cinema packaging. The problem is exacerbated by theatres with older digital equipment. A single venue may receive a dozen different DCPs, with a separate electronic key to the encrypted film that is bespoke to individual players and projectors. “The full cost savings have yet to be realised,” says Welsh. “It is in the studios’ interest to reduce complexity because that reduces the cost.”
An industry-wide shift to SMPTE-DCPs is an attempt to streamline the process. While the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) spec, first published in 2005 and better known as Interop, succeeded in getting digital cinema off the ground, rapid change means SMPTE’s proposals are more suitable for incorporating new developments. “SMPTE-DCP will ensure more manageable DCP sizes, while allowing cinemas to benefit from new technology and staying compatible with the basis of DCI,” says Manel Carreras, SVP of marketing and content services business development at Ymagis.
Early digital projection equipment requires an upgrade to play SMPTE-DCP version movies. The International Union of Cinemas and European Digital Cinema Forum are working with Dolby, Deluxe, Sony and others to ensure full conversion. Down the line, augmented reality (AR) components and holographic projection are possible. “One difficulty is making AR work no matter where someone sits,” says Welsh. “By overlaying elements to a film you are experimenting with the theatrical experience, which is more interesting than virtual reality.”

Reality Bytes

Screen International

p41 http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=b894dd61-fb5a-401e-9cb2-a0ba09be203f

The anticipated launch of virtual-reality (VR) headsets next spring has created a feeding frenzy in Hollywood. It is founded on a belief in VR’s potential as a new mass entertainment medium. In early 2016, Facebook is set to debut VR device Oculus Rift while Sony will bow Morpheus, a VR headset for PlayStation 4. This Christmas, game developer Valve will launch its own visor-style, head-mounted display called Vive. While smartphone-based Samsung Gear VR (co-developed with Oculus) and Google Cardboard are already on retail, the new entrants to the market will work from a PC and are expected to deliver the next level in virtual experience.
Whether consumers will take to them is the million-dollar question. But with forecasts of 171 million users worldwide by 2018 and the prospect of two billion existing smartphone owners who could be enticed to buy a VR accessory, studios are not about to wait for the tech to scale.
“Even a small percentage of [2 billion users] is a big market,” says Cliff Plumer, the former Digital Domain CEO and Lucasfilm chief technology officer who is now president of virtual reality tech company Jaunt Studios. “VR for mobile is a static experience, but the incoming technologies will give a much more immersive feel that will give creatives many more options. The key to mainstream adoption is to produce enough content that people will come back for more.”
“This is a pivotal point in VR’s development,” echoes Dale Carmen, founder of VFX and VR facility Reel FX. “It is not a fad.”
While VR’s natural early home lies with computer games, it is also being eyed as a live-event platform by the broadcast and sports communities. The initial interest from Hollywood has been as a marketing tool, with studio marketeers latching onto VR as a shortcut to publicity for theatrical releases including The Hobbit, Interstellar and How To Train Your Dragon 2. Reel FX delivered VR campaigns for Legendary Pictures’ Pacific Rim and Lionsgate’s Insurgent. 20th Century Fox commissioned VR pro- mos for Wild, The Maze Runner and The Book Of Life through its tech incubator Fox Innovation Lab. Future titles on Fox’s slate, such as War Of The Planet Of The Apes and James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, are obvious candidates for a VR companion.
“The next two to three years will see the creation of an ecosystem for VR con- tent to be distributed, bought and consumed by viewers,” says Felix Lajeunesse, co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios that produced the Wild VR promo. “Right now, there are no models to generate revenue, so it makes sense for budgets to come from hardware manufacturers who need to seed the market with content or from marketing, where VR serves an immediate purpose.”
Recent examples include a VR promotion for Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron. The CGI short was delivered by the New York branch of UK VFX house Framestore and commissioned by Los Angeles-based ad agency 72andSunny. “Event-based and marketing campaigns are a way to turn heads but are not the future of VR,” says Mike Woods, Framestore’s head of VR.
DJ Roller, co-founder of virtual reality tech firm NextVR, agrees: “VR trailers and marketing promos are a powerful tool but are not the highest use of the medium.” Nor is using VR as a vanilla distribution platform for cinema releases. Users of online stores such as Samsung Milk can choose to stream ad-supported or free content, including full-length features in 2D or 3D, in a virtual theatre viewed through a headset. “Playing back movies can offer a more immersive ‘cinema-style’ environment when you are on a plane, for example,” says Woods. “But it doesn’t remotely stretch VR as an art form.”
Comparing the shorter duration of VR content to feature releases also misses the point, according to advocates. “A VR piece may be two minutes long but since it doesn’t play linearly like a film, you could, if the experience is good enough, immerse yourself in that environment for hours,” maintains Lajeunesse. Felix & Paul recently released a nine-minute VR for Cirque du Soleil and is currently working on a 20-minute non-fiction experience. “As we understand more about storytelling in VR, the length of pieces will naturally expand,” says Felix & Paul co-founder Paul Raphael.
Other reasons cited for the current short-form nature of scripted VR include the need to educate users about what to expect. “VR delivers such an intense emotional experience — because you are placed within the scene — that it will take time for people to get used to it,” says Woods. “As they do, their acceptance of longer content will grow.”
Another factor, which will also evolve with time, is the limited capacity of smartphones and internet connections to stream or store the video. “I don’t think anyone’s ready, creatively or technically, to produce a two-hour film, let alone spend that time watching it,” says Lajeunesse. “One interesting idea is to create a series of episodic or bite-sized content that builds into a larger whole.”
Taking notice
By dabbling in VR promos, studios such as Fox will also be working out how they can maintain a stake at the table, should VR becomes a viable content platform. With technical expertise in the hands of VFX houses and VR kit developers, there is nothing to stop their suppliers from striking out as independent content producers. Carmen likens the situation to the impact YouTube made on video distribution. “The arrival of technology like [Oculus] Rift has democratised VR,” he says. “It means we can go straight to Samsung, Google or Oculus and make this content available.”
Virtual-camera maker Jaunt, which is backed by Google and Sky, spun off content arm Jaunt Studios after recruiting Cliff Plumer and ex-LucasFilm COO David Anderman to take charge of the offshoot. VFX and 3D conversion studio Legend3D launched a VR division in February and announced that it had partnered with feature film studios. As for Oculus, it tapped Pixar Animation creative and technical directors Saschka Unseld and Max Planck to head up Oculus Story Studio. Lost, the first of five short films slated for 2015, debuted at Sundance Film Festival in January.
“Our focus is to conceive, write, present and distribute our own content,” says Woods of Framestore’s VR ambitions. The company is drawing on the interactive storytelling skills of computer-game writers, with Woods citing “a huge appetite among consumers want- ing to lead their own story in a wider constructed story arc”.
Relationships and contracts with key actors will give studios a valuable card to play. “There are opportunities for studios to create new content around an existing intellectual property as a specially designed piece of VR rather than a bolt-on trailer,” says Roller. “Other content might include virtual face-to-face meetings with a favourite actor.”
Unsurprisingly, VR has caught the attention of high-profile producers and A-list talent. Mandalay Entertainment founder Peter Guber is an investor in NextVR while Maleficent director and VFX supervisor Robert Stromberg is developing a VR slate for start-up The Virtual Reality Company, which also boasts Steven Spielberg as a board member. This month, Google released live-action VR short Help, shot by Star Trek 3 director Justin Lin, and Ridley Scott is reportedly planning a VR complement to his 20th Century Fox-backed science-fiction adventure The Martian. “The onus,” says Plumer, “is on creatives to push VR further and make it compelling for studios to invest more capital.”
While filmmakers such as Scott, Stromberg and Lin are clearly intrigued by the possibilities of VR, mastering the storytelling side of the medium represents a substantial leap. “Being a master storyteller in one form doesn’t necessarily transfer to VR,” warns Carmen. “In fact, it may be an obstacle. You need to dedicate yourself to the medium and set aside everything you’ve learnt.”
Meeting the medium
Most exponents dislike the term ‘Cinematic VR’, arguing there is nothing conventional about a medium in which the rules of content creation and experience need rewriting. “None of the old rules apply, from editorial to staging,” says Lajeunesse. “A cut in VR is disorienting. To move the camera in VR is to move a viewer against their will. You have to justify every cut and movement and you have to recalibrate the drama to allow space for the viewers’ imagination.”
Even the production technology itself is still in an experimental stage. The camera rigs are prototypes, the picture-stitching software is primitive, the rendering of data from up to 16 cameras is slow and professional-grade monitors to view material in 360-degrees do not exist. Overall, production is playing catch-up to consumer technology. The new wave of headsets bring eye tracking and voice control, while Morpheus integrates the PS4’s Play ‘wands’ so viewers can interact with the environment. Live social interaction with ‘friends’ within the virtual world is another focus and a key component to Facebook’s interest in Oculus Rift, which it acquired last year for $2bn.
So different is the VR experience believed to be that the mixed reception the industry received from its gung-ho approach to stereo 3D is being brushed aside. “First-generation VR will be viewed in time like the first brick cell-phone,” Roller predicts. “Technology coming down the track will ultimately be like a pair of glasses. It is set to be the most powerful medium we’ve ever seen outside of live performance.”



GOING WILD EXPERIENCING THE VR SHORT FOR THE REESE WITHERSPOON VEHICLE



According to Felix Lajeunesse, the three-minute VR short his company Felix & Paul made for Fox Searchlight’s Wild “blurs the boundaries” between conventional trailer and original VR experience. Viewers finds themselves on a tree stump in a forest, watching and listening as Reese Witherspoon’s character Cheryl Strayed (on whose bestseller Wild is based) walks up and sits on a nearby rock without acknowledging their presence. The camera remains static but allows the viewer to look in any direction.
“The intention is to give the viewer the sensation of being present,” says Lajeunesse. If the viewer looks in one direction, they will see Laura Dern (who plays Strayed’s mother) and be able to eavesdrop on their conversation. This only happens, however, if the viewer obeys certain audio cues (eg, Dern’s voice coming from their right) and turns accordingly to look, with Dern triggered to appear by head-tracking sensors in the Samsung Gear VR.
Since everything in a live-action VR shoot is in shot, the crew hid 50 feet away behind a rock during filming, while the camera rig was digitally removed in post- production. To keep equipment to a minimum, only natural lighting was used. “This was the first time either actress had been filmed entirely alone on set,” says Lajeunesse. “The moment they shared contributes to the intimacy of the piece.”

UHD: the ultimate goal

Broadcast (BroadcastTech p47)

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?pbid=f33c9bba-89d1-4e3c-9fc5-3dcc5087dc7c

Ultra High Definition (UHD) may be out of the bottle but discussions about it are far from over. While studios, broadcasters, tech companies and other stakeholders might agree on the ultimate goal of creating a set of UHD standards that will drive public take-up of the technology, there is much debate about what is needed to get there.

Let us recap: already agreed is UHD-1 Phase 1, which, for all practical purposes, is about a spatial resolution four times that of HD (3,840 x 2,160) and a frame rate of 50/ 60fps. Also agreed is UHD-2, which at 7,680 x 4,320 pixels offers 16 times HD resolution.

UHD-2 was used for the joint NHK/BBC public demonstrations of Super Hi-Vision during the London 2012 Olympics and is only being considered in Japan at this time, with broadcasts expected to take place by 2020.

UHD-1 Phase 2 is an attempt “to define an immersive viewing experience”, explains Matthew Goldman, senior vice-president of technology, TV compression, at Ericsson, and is earmarked for standardisation in 2017/18 – although this may slip.

Encouraging adoption

The reason for a second stab at UHD-1 is a realisation that resolution alone does not produce a big enough uplift in picture quality and other attributes are needed to encourage greater public adoption.

Some of the main elements of UHD-1 Phase 2 include a wide colour gamut (WCG) and high dynamic range (HDR), sampled from a bit depth of at least 10 bits. Since all existing digital TV systems are only 8 bits, they are not able to represent subtle shades of colour or details in the shadows simultaneously with details in bright areas of the image.

“This will have one of the biggest impacts on the viewing experience,” says Goldman. “Colours will look more real, with subtle shading possible without visible banding artefacts; and highlights – such as the sun reflecting off surfaces or night-time stadium lighting – will ‘pop’ with realism.”

Higher than 50p frame rates are also on the table, with sports broadcasters pushing for 100/120p to eradicate motion blur at high resolution.

Another key element is dynamic range. The standard dynamic range (SDR) in use today was defined in the 1950s based on cathode ray tube technology. SDR is measured in candelas, for which the production standard equates to 100 candelas per square metre (also known as ‘nits’).

This can only deliver a limited contrast between the whitest whites and the darkest areas of the picture, but a higher dynamic range (starting at 5,000 candelas and rang- ing to 20,000) goes way beyond the current TV production standard and will make the single biggest difference to viewing.

There are a number of proposals for implementing an HDR system – also known as Extended Image Dynamic Range – from Dolby, Philips, the BBC, NHK and Technicolor. Apart from Technicolor’s, each proposal has been submitted to the ITU-R.

Dolby’s approach, dubbed ‘perceptual quantisation’, is an absolute measure of dynamic range that closely matches human vision but requires complex computations. The BBC, by contrast, wants to adopt a relative measure of

ynamic range using log scales, which has the benefit of being simpler to calculate.

Whichever route is selected, when HDR, WCG, 10-bit sampling and higher frame rates in UHD-1 Phase 2 are factored in, working with all the data in production, let alone delivering it to the home, becomes fraught with difficulty.

“It is beyond the capability of current professional and consumer media interfaces to handle that amount of data,” says Goldman.

HDMI 2.0, the latest consumer interface to transport signals between a set-top box and a TV, arrives this year, but it won’t be able to handle 2160p 100p, so a new version of HDMI must be developed.

With the agendas of the various stake- holders at odds, they must trade off what is desirable in UHD-1 Phase 2 with what can be realistically delivered by 2017/18.

Since the benefits of HDR are independ- ent of spatial resolution, the debate has spawned interest in an enriched version of HD, known as ‘Enhanced HD’. “There’s a huge push to define a 1080p version that includes 100/120p, HDR, WCG and deeper sampled bit depth that will fit into HDMI 2.0,” says Goldman. “That type of signal will fit into existing SDI cables as well. It takes up much less bandwidth than UHD.”

Bandwidth matters, especially to cable and telco service providers, so for them it may become a question of what delivers the best ‘bang per buck’ in terms of changing the viewing experience. “Perhaps Enhanced HD offers a more viable, compelling solution for service providers than UHD,” says Goldman. “The argument is not whether to include HDR but what form it should take.”

The difference is not insurmountable, given that several companies, Ericsson included, are represented in two or more of the standards organisations.

UHD-1 Phase 2 will also have a consider- able impact on production and post. “Part of the process of deciding on commercial requirements for UHD-1 Phase 2 is to con- sider the practicability of programme produc- tion that could be used for the format,” says David Wood, commercial module chairman,

DVB-UHDTV, and SMPTE fellow. “The degree of compatibility between Phase 1 and Phase 2 is one of the most important issues in its development. Current thinking is that both backwards-compatible and non-backwards-compatible versions of Phase 2 should be investigated, so a decision on which to use could be taken on the basis of factors such as the extra bandwidth the compatible version needs.”

Real-time data handling

Even if display technologies are capable of the frame rate, wider colour and HDR of UHD-1 Phase 2, colour-grading systems need to be able to handle the data in real-time.

“On face value, the image for Phase 2 is still 3840 x 2160, but the data differential between that and 10 bit UHD is 16 times,” warns SMPTE EMEA governor and Sundog Media Toolkit co-founder Richard Welsh. “If a facility thinks UHD/4K looks like a lot of data now, Phase 2 is an eye-watering prospect.”

Another challenge will be the number of deliverables. One suggestion is to automate the process by using one master format to derive all the deliverables downstream.

“This is not a simple case of throwing data away – just reducing bit depth from 16 to 12 to 10 requires careful management to avoid ugly artefacts,” says Welsh. “Likewise, changing the frame rate and colour space will present challenges. Will creatives want to see, and tweak, all these configurations? And will productions be able to afford it? That remains to be seen.”

Who’s setting the standard?

What are the differences between the SMPTE, ITU and DVB’s approach to UHD? SMPTE’s focus is broadly on production and archiving standards, the DVB’s interest is in content delivery to the home, while the ITU acts as a bridge or programme exchange.

David Wood, who advises the DVB and SMPTE, says: “SMPTE and ITU formats for UHD-1 programme production and exchange are aligned. The DVB broadcasting profiles will draw on the specifications, but not all of the features in the ITU/SMPTE specifications may be included. For example, UHD-1 programme production might be done at 12 bit, while delivery might be done at 10 bit. Meanwhile, the MPEG committee is exploring whether any changes should be made to the HEVC codec in order to code HDR more efficiently.”

The DVB hopes its specification for UHD-1 Phase 2 will be will be finalised in the second quarter of 2016.

Other bodies are keen to contribute to the formation of UHD standards. Unveiled at CES (pictured) in January this year, the UHD Alliance is mostly driven by film studios and dis- play manufacturers, and is looking to agree a set of parameters for UHD viewing quality, and to stamp a ‘kite mark’ onto certified UHD TVs. Its members include Panasonic, LG, Netflix and The Walt Disney Studios.

The Ultra HD Forum is a US-based organisation set up in 2014 by Harmonic to cover all aspects of UHD production and delivery, including live, OTT and VoD. It is not to be confused with the UHD Forum, another group looking at the complete UHD ecosystem. The latter was launched by the UK’s Digital TV Group (DTG) in 2013 and is chaired by the BBC and BSkyB. The DTG is working with both US organisations, as well as the Forum for Advanced Media in Europe (Fame).

The UK’s Digital Production Partnership (DPP) has also committed to drawing up a definition of a UK delivery standard for Ultra HD programmes by the end of the year.

Q&A...David Wood on SMPTE

What will the UHD-1 Phase 2 specifications include? The name ‘UHD-1 Phase 2’ is used by the DVB Project for a collection of features that will be included in a future transmission format. It is pre- paring the elements it believes Phase 2 will need for commercial success. 2160p spatial resolution is included and it is likely to include the BT2020 definition for wider colour gamut. HFR and HDR are under discussion. Advanced audio may also be a part of Phase 2.

What are the delivery requirements?

The working assumption is that HEVC compression will be used for Phase 2. Different combinations of features will affect the compressed bit rate, and different compressed bit rates may be more or less commercially viable for different delivery platforms.

When will UHD-1 Phase 2 be adopted?

It should be available in 2016, to allow services in 2017/18, but it is still under discussion.

NEP On the acquisitions trail

Broadcast



Facilities firm NEP has a long history of buying up businesses to deliver growth. Adrian Pennington reports on its plans for further expansion and investment to keep pace with advances in technology.

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?pbid=f33c9bba-89d1-4e3c-9fc5-3dcc5087dc7c p32

Throughout its 30-year history, NEP has grown by acquisition, so while a recent spate of investments may have drawn attention to the US-headquartered facilities firm, it is business as usual for president and chief executive Kevin Rabbitt.
“In 2013, NEP was largely present in the US and UK, and largely a mobile unit and video display business. But in the past 18 months, we’ve accelerated to look at some other services and geographies,” explains Rabbitt, who has led the company since 2012.
In January 2014, NEP established a significant footprint in the south-east Asia market by purchasing Global Television, which facilitates the majority of premium live sport produced in Australia and boasts co-host broadcaster credentials for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Switching attention to Europe, last December the group landed Dutch LED screen rental firm Faber Audiovisuals, and since the start of this year has added Ire- land’s Screen Scene, Sweden’s Mediatec Group, Germany’s RecordLab and Belgium’s Outside Broadcast.
Combined, the company employs 1,500 staff and fields a fleet of 110 HD trucks, plus
ancillary gear such as flypacks. New assets have also strengthened its display business and broadened its resources to include satellite uplinks (with four trucks from Digital Space, part of Screen Scene); studios (notably in Australia); and post-production, VFX and finishing through facilities in Dublin (Screen Scene) and Belgium (Media- sense, part of Outside Broadcast).
“We certainly don’t define ourselves as a mobile unit provider or outside broadcast supplier,” says Rabbitt. “We are a worldwide outsource solutions provider supporting the live event and broadcast industry.”
NEP’s scale offers security for clients and provides insurance for its own business, he explains. “If we were just a mobile busi-ness or operating in a single territory, that would concern us, but our strategy makes us a safer bet. Our coverage of multiple geographies and services allows us to have a more balanced portfolio. Our scale allows us to work with suppliers and manufacturers to attain the best kit at the best price, and to move assets and personnel around for a consistency of service.”
Alive to the idiosyncrasies of individual markets, NEP operates a decentralised structure in which the companies it acquires are, by and large, managed autonomously and retain their original brands.
“When we’re assessing partners we want to acquire, we are very mindful of the sustainability of that business,” says NEP UK managing director Steve Jenkins. “They aren’t reliant on the NEP acquisition to turn them into successful businesses; they already have a solid backbone. We are adding complementary access to broader resources and a wider talent base, and putting a well-renowned facilities operator behind them.”
Fallow year
He suggests the group’s expansion means it is better able to weather the traditional fallow years of the outside broadcast cycle, of which 2015 is one.
“Many US-based brands are exploring how they might launch into Europe,” Jenkins says. “Knowing they have a solid service provider with an understanding of the way they work will prove extremely useful.”
Although the company claims to have no plans to add any more UK companies to its roster, the spending spree is far from over. “There are a lot of areas in Europe, Asia and South America that present opportunities for us,” says Rabbitt.
The group’s long-established UK business, NEP Visions, vies with Arena, CTV and Telegenic for the major contracts. It holds contracts with Sky Sports for the English Premier League, IMG for horse racing and the BBC for athletics and Wimbledon.
“I am sure NEP must be thinking about another UK acquisition,” says Arena managing director Richard Yeowart, adding that his company is not for sale. “If it could gain an extra 20% of the UK market, it would have a lot of power to dictate rates to both suppliers and, to some extent, customers.”
In Europe, NEP’s chief rival is Paris-based Euro Media Group (EMG), which through consolidation has assembled the continent’s largest fleet of trucks.
Formed in 2007 through the merger of The Netherlands’ UBF Media Group and France’s Euro Media Television, which claimed a UK presence in 2005 with its acquisition of CTV Outside Broadcasts, EMG boasts 74 units, including those for RF, editing and SNG.

Missing links

Acquisitions by EMG in 2010 include Italy’s 3Zero2, French SNG provider S-TV, and British camera specialist Aerial Camera Systems. In 2013, EMG paid ¤25m (£18m) for the assets of bankrupt Belgian OB sup- plier Alfacam, giving it access to expertise in RF wireless links. That capacity has been strengthened by its acquisition in May of UK links expert Broadcast RF.
Not coincidentally, both EMG and NEP are owned by private equity firms (PAI Partners and Crestview Partners respectively) with the deep pockets needed for acquisitions and the perpetual desire to see return on investment. “One thing is for sure, with 4K and 8K
around the corner, only those with very deep pockets are likely to survive as there is never any let-up in the ongoing investment required by the sector,” warns Yeowart.
NEP chief technology officer George Hoover says most of the company’s work on 4K to date has been on producing replays and analysis from 4K-captured images, but NEP Australia was behind Star India’s direct-to-home 4K feed of the Cricket World Cup in March, and the same division is launching fully 4K trucks in July and December.
More intriguingly are launches, in the same timeframe, of two trucks to cover American Football, which Hoover describes as equipped with IP infrastructure that promises more remote production and the possibility of undermining the real-estate of traditional OB operation.

However, there will remain a demand for large-scale OBs, insists Jenkins. “If you are pushing the boundaries of 4K, then you need a large OB truck on site, and you also need expertise in building out technology to cater for changes brought by IP.” 

Can Twitter Become A Trusted News Source in the Middle East?

IBC

The surging popularity of social media in the Middle East has encouraged Twitter to open an office in Dubai, joining Facebook, LinkedIn and Google/YouTube which already have an official presence there.http://www.ibcce.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=14/libEntryID=325/listID=2

Twitter said that its new focus will be on increasing advertising sales in the region where it has about 6 million users. However, Twitter is also playing catch-up to other social media networks.

According to Northwestern University, in Qatar, Facebook and Facebook-owned WhatsApp are the dominant social media platforms in the region. Both sites used by more than three in four respondents to its 'Media Use in the Middle East 2015' survey. High use of these platforms is consistent regardless of gender or age. WhatsApp has become nearly ubiquitous in UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. WhatsApp is less common in Egypt and Tunisia, where Facebook is the dominant social media platform.

Arabic social-networking website AreebaAreeba also claims to be bigger than Twitter in the region, although its figures are disputed.

Twitter clearly views MENA as an important market. Last year, it experimented with the introduction of hashtags during Ramadan and Eid to encourage interaction. Shailesh Rao, Twitter’s Vice President of Asia Pacific, Latin America and Emerging Markets, has stated that conversations about TV in MENA grew by 200% during 2014.

Social media has become almost synonymous with the internet in MENA. Staying connected and constantly 'checking in' pervades Arab culture, as demonstrated by nearly eight in ten people (79%) using social media or direct messaging at least once a day, according to Northwestern University. Furthermore, nearly seven in ten (69%) use the internet daily with the express purpose of learning the latest news and events from friends and family, often checking in multiple times a day.

Use of social media has surpassed other activities on the internet; people use social media far more than they look for news (55% daily) or download or stream videos (40% daily). Moreover, direct messaging is the most likely tool used to connect with others when compared to email, among other activities online.

Social media is a common news source but TV remains valuable and popular.

A 2014 study of news consumption in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, by Associated Press and Deloitte, found that 59% discover most of their news via social media.

Nonetheless, the study underlined that TV remains the primary channel for breaking news. Nearly half of the study's sample accessed breaking news via TV; comfortably ahead of social networks and other online services, as well as more traditional media outlets such as radio.

There are also conflicting findings regarding local perspectives on the reliability of information on social media and direct messaging. Some 46% and 45%, respectively considered social media and direct messaging reliable, according to Northwestern University. By comparison, roughly two in three consider TV a reliable news source and just under half consider newspapers reliable. The extent to which social media channels are used for news and information is strongly correlated to age. Younger adults are much more likely to rely on social media as an important source of news and information (75% 18-24 year-olds vs. 40% 45 and older) and are more likely to consider it reliable (53% vs. 30%).

“Although TV is currently the most trusted source of news for this younger cohort, social media is quickly catching up,” suggests Damian Radcliffe, digital analyst, journalist and researcher.

A 2012 study into the Arab Digital Generation reveals that 24% believe media content is totally controlled by government. “It's not surprising that many people therefore turn to social media as a trusted source of news,” Radcliffe notes.

In Tunisia, more than half of audiences identified Facebook as a key news source in 2013, while in late 2014 a third of Qatari nationals reported they use WhatsApp to find out the latest news; ahead of Twitter and other channels.

“I would not be at all surprised if in 2015 social media overtook TV in the Arab Youth Survey’s news trust index,” predicts Radcliffe.

Balancing the need to reach audiences on social media with content on established broadcast models is of prime concern in MENA and is especially the case for news organisations. Preparing for the Future Today is a major theme at IBC2015 and IBC Content Everywhere MENA.

ProAV in Turkey: The Sensitive Touch

AV Magazine

The pro AV channel in Turkey desires the same high quality products and high levels of service of any of Europe’s top markets

It may not have been highlighted as a member of the BRIC group of emerging economies but Turkey has crept under the radar to become of the most exciting and rapidly growing markets in the world. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to catapult the country into the top ten of the global economic elite by 2023, the hundreth anniversary of the foundation of the Republic. His ambition may ultimately arrive a decade late but the thrust of his rhetoric is far from idle.

Turkey is forecast to be the second fastest growing country in the world by 2018, according to the OECD, and bank HSBC reckons it will be the world’s twelfth, and Europe’s fourth, biggest economy by 2050 set to out-strip Italy and Spain in the next decade. Hindering this progress is its current position outside the EU. Accession talks are continuing and are said to be key to the country’s modernisation and business environment.

“For countries that are members of the EU, goods can be transported without any customs regulations but Turkey does not fall under this category,” notes Laila Hede Jensen, v-p sales Europe, SiliconCore. “The market is very sensitive and easily affected by decisions that are made on a much wider political scale. Last year, Turkey went through its first presidential elections which were a big step for the economy. This, combined with the upcoming state party election in June has created some uncertainty in the market which has slowed down external investment.”

Highly variable exchange rates makes it hard to predict margins and challenging to prepare forecasts.  “You have to track the economy daily and adapt very quickly,” says Görkem Çelikbilek, ceo of local integrator Asimetrik which is also a distributor for brands including Powersoft and Meyer Sound.

“This is how you see significant ups and downs in the sales numbers when compared to the UK or Germany and when you make an annual evaluation. Your margins always change.”

Improvement in Turkey’s infrastructure is seen as crucial in maintaining strong growth. A vast new airport is being built to the north of Istanbul costing €22bn. Elsewhere, a €2.6bn bridge is being constructed across the Bosphorus strait, while the Galata region is getting a brand new port complex worth around €616m. Many of Turkey’s military zones will be redeveloped to cater for the country’s rapidly growing population, currently at 74 million. The government plans to inject €3bn into the domestic hi-tech industry. The aim is to reduce the imports of smartphones, tablets, computers, fibre-optics and household electronic devices and manufacture them locally.

A pivotal position

The country’s strategic location at the junction between Europe, the Levant and central Asia remains pivotal for companies looking for a bridge into and out of those regions.

“In recent years, there has been an influx of industry exhibitions taking place in Istanbul and in other major business cities, new products launching on to the market from major manufacturers and a rise in jobs within the technology sector,” reports Jensen.

While conflict-torn Syria is on Turkey’s doorstep to the south, it also neighbours Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan which benefit from Turkey’s considerable construction industry.

“The domestic markets of these countries are weak and there is pretty much no retail market, when compared to Turkey,” says Çelikbilek. “Most of the concentration is installation, which is subcontracted by the governments of these countries.”

Companies wanting a piece of the action at oil rich Azerbaijan are pitching their HQs in Istanbul. The European Games arrives in the capital Baku this month (June) after being given the go-ahead by the European Olympic Committee barely two and half years ago. This led to a construction scramble into which the Azerbaijan government pumped €8.7bn to prepare 18 competition venues, including a new 65,000 seat national stadium which will also host four matches at Euro 2020 (and for which Asimetrik designed and integrated the sound systems).

Early adopters

Stadium installations in Turkey itself have been abundant in recent times with Asimetrik a central contractor at the Galatasaray TT Arena and the remarkable new Timsah Arena the AV for which it engineered, simulated and installed. The home of Turkish side Bursaspor, known as the Green Crocodiles, features a giant croc wrapped around the entire building with eyes that light up for night games.

Another key market vertical in Turkey is the education sector. Since 2006, 61 private universities have opened nationwide with expansion still continuing. Istanbul and Ankara are already among the leading world cities in terms of GDP, populated by a growing middle class which expects the same level of mobility, consumption habits, social life and urban development as Germany.

“Istanbul is one of the earliest market adopters for AV technology, with an increasingly aspirational population, and one of the major business areas in Turkey,” confirms Jensen. “Today in the city there are 112 shopping malls but this number is set to increase dramatically.”

“High-end restaurants, gyms, shops, clubs are the new fashion,” says Çelikbilek of Istanbul. “We are enhancing the experience Istanbul is having when dining, working out or doing any other daily activities. We have many chain brand groups in catering et cetera, and they do not compromise in quality.”

Tourism is big business on the coast where the hotel construction and refurb trade attracts the attention of sound system, lighting design and digital signage vendors.

“Along the Mediterranean there is a large hospitality piece to the economy whereas in Ankara and Istanbul the focus is more on government related activity,” says Colin Farquhar, ceo, Exterity. “In our experience working with top SIs (Exterity’s Turkish partner is Atempo) they provide a very broad range of AV systems and the quality is fantastic. You can’t fault the quality of skill available in the region.”

“The business opportunities in Turkey are not too much different when compared to other countries,” says Çelikbilek. “However, competition between distributors or integrators is much more intense. We have a certain lack of integrators in Turkey which led us to the role of being a system integrator ourselves. As a result, we are on the streets chasing clients, in addition to supporting the existing integrators and dealers.

Local partners

“It is quite obvious that end users need more training, education and expertise. The know-how of the end client affects us in terms of describing our systems and technology to them, and sometimes they end up getting the wrong solution, which they usually replace a few years later.”

As with any market, new entrants are advised to find a locally established partner, in part because as Jensen warns, payment terms can be anything from 60 days through to two years. “Working in the Turkish currency can be a risk for a none native supplier which a local partner can minimise,” she says.

Up Periscope – Does Twitter Have Live Broadcast in its Sights?

IBC

Twitter feeds with the words 'Live Now' have skyrocketed since the introduction of live streaming video apps Periscope and Meerkat earlier this year.

http://www.ibcce.org/page.cfm/action=library/libID=14/libEntryID=317/listID=2

The former, bought for $100m by Twitter in January, officially launched in March to counter the traction gained by rival Meerkat and gained instant international press coverage.

The apps allow users to shoot and broadcast video to their followers in realtime. One of the key differences between the two is that Periscope saves the video streams for 24 hours, whereas Meerkat's live video disappears once you end the broadcast.

Live streaming from a mobile phone is not new of course. Services like Livestream, Bambuser, SnapChat and Qik pre-date Periscope. Hang w/, which targets celebrity endorsements, has 2 million users. Vine boasts 40 million registered users but its user-created videos are limited to six seconds.

With the backing of Twitter and the serendipitous timing of widespread, free Wi-Fi and faster 4G mobile networks delivering near zero latency, Periscope could be the app to see 'citizen broadcasting' take-off.

Content to date is a mix of dross (video of the inside of people's fridges) and PR. Digital marketing firm Greenlight suggests that one in five marketers plan to use apps like Periscope and Meerkat in campaigns this year. The Rolling Stones, for example, used Periscope to broadcast a 'secret' gig in Los Angeles last month.

Of greater interest is the potential for live reporting, especially around breaking news. When a building collapsed in New York City’s East Village, on 26 March – just a day after the app's launch - bystanders began sharing what they could see with Periscope.

The Economist used Meerkat to explain deflation during the UK general election and Sky News journalist Joe Tidy used Periscope to get a behind-the-scenes look at the first leaders' debate. He also used the chat and 'love heart' functions (which rate the broadcast's popularity) to encourage 200 viewers to post questions, comments and reactions.

“It’s a really easy way to go live very quickly without needing anyone else or any other kit,” Tidy told The Guardian. “I think Periscope/ Meerkat will be used on a case-by-case basis for more fun things to enhance our social media storytelling.”

Another commentator has called Periscope a 'next-level Twitter', since users can get a whole new level of access to events unfolding on the ground.

The infant service has already bruised broadcasters. HBO issued takedown notices to the site after it was used to broadcast the fifth-season premiere of Game of Thrones in April. It courted further controversy when used as an illegal platform for the streaming of the Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight on in May 2015.

The fight was probably the biggest pay-per-view-event in TV history and was also among the most pirated. Anti-piracy specialist KLipcorp suggest up to 750,000 pirate viewers watched the fight in Europe alone.

The PPV to watch cost $99 legally but the fight had to be delayed 45 minutes while Charter Communications, Comcast, and other rights holders caught up with last-minute orders. In the interim more people piled into illegal views of the contest apparently unconcerned that the quality of the video was way below HD.

HBO issued take-down notices to Twitter and other sites during the fight but it was too late. “The cable systems were struggling to cope with demand, but Periscope wasn’t,” said Kate Bulkley, Chairman of the Strategic Insights Group & Keynote Committee, IBC2015 Conference. “All of a sudden, there are question marks over the future of broadcasting live sports.”

When asked about the controversy surrounding the Mayweather Pacquiao fight, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo likened Periscope’s effect on live events to that of fantasy sports on live sports. In his opinion it will ‘surround and amplify’ those events, rather than enable piracy or theft.

Periscope has limitations. There's no search function and you can only shoot in portrait mode, making the video unsuitable for the 16:9 standard screen aspect ratio. But such criticisms seems churlish for an app developed just a year ago and now with Twitter's R&D team working on it 24/7.

Apps like these have begun to transform the way that news and live events can be accessed and consumed online. Could Twitter develop Periscope to be of sufficiently high quality and user experience for it to become a platform for premium live sports?

Time will tell but if these events tell us one thing it's that time is not on the broadcaster's side.

Visit IBC Content Everywhere Europe for a further understanding of the impact on news and live events of live streaming from mobile, and visit the IBC Content Everywhere Hub to learn more about content protection.

BT Beat Sky To 4K With 8K In Its Sights

BroadcastBridge 

https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/content/entry/2938/bt-beat-sky-to-4k-with-8k-in-its-sights?cat_id=13

BT has beaten Sky to the punch by announcing the UK and Europe’s first 4K sports channel but does it also have 8K in its sights?

Launching August, the channel will only be available to BT Infinity customers who have a 4K TV and a new BT TV Ultra HD set top box.

The first match to be shown live on the channel will be the Community Shield between Chelsea and Arsenal with a raft of fixtures to follow from properties including UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, Barclays Premier League and Aviva Premiership Rugby.

The BT Sport Ultra HD channel will need a new YouView+ set top box. BT is a founder member of the YouView consortium. The new STB will have 1TB of storage, enough for 600 hours of SD recording, or 250 hours of HD content.

Sky also has a new STB in the works, thought capable of 4K and with a strong emphasis on cloud storage and multi-screen in home delivery. 

Sky Deutschland, now part of the merged Sky empire in Europe, has been most public in its live trials of 4K, earmarking the millionth UHD-ready TV sale in the market as the starting point for a full-scale launch in 2016. 

The broadcaster airing the Champions League final live in UHD in a trial run to 13 Sky Sports Bars in Germany last Saturday.

Back to BT which also announced that it will offer 351 matches from the Champions League and Europa League from next season which BT TV customer's will get for free. It will be housed on a new channel called BT Sport Europe.

BT paid £897 million for CL coverage which was originally split between Sky and ITV. BT will show some matches for free (for non- BT TV customers) on a third new channel called BT Sport Showcase. 

BT has been testing 4K live production since 2013 when it trialled a live rugby match between Saracens and Gloucester and shown at IBC. It was transmitted via fibre and satellite, and decoded in real time with partners BT Media and Broadcast, Ericsson, Sony and Newtec.

BT Media & Broadcast also provided the 4K UHD production and transmission solution to Star India’s DTH playout affiliates in India for the recent 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia.

The planned keynote on how BT sees the future of broadcasting by BT TV CEO Delia Bushell at the IBC 2015 Conference takes on even greater significance with today's news. a headline presentation on how BT sees the future of broadcasting.

Outside broadcasters Arena Television and Telegenic hold the contracts to provide facilities for BT Sport’s coverage of Premiership football and rugby union matches.

According to Jamie Hindaugh, BT Sport's COO:  “The really valuable thing about 4K is that the camera positions don't need to change from HD. With the next evolution of equipment there is a real opportunity to capture in 4K and down-rez for HD which does give you an enhanced look on screen.

“There are a lot of challenges.The frame rate we are looking for is 50fps and we're hoping with the new generation of cameras and lenses coming in July that any depth of field focus issues and motion blur will be mitigated.”

Could BT have its eyes on 8K?

Later this year Arena plans to drive into production a new 4K scanner which the company bills as 8K-ready.

“Arena attended NAB with a view to fine-tuning our designs for OBX a triple-expand current in build by ASGB, slated to hit the road towards the end of 2015,” explained Arena managing director, Richard Yeowart. “Whilst many broadcasters aren’t in a rush to roll-out 4K, it is clearly the next step and the infrastructure we use is also designed to cope with 8K once the equipment arrives.”

Japanese broadcaster NHK is powering ahead with 8K broadcast plans timed for 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games, announcing that it will test 8K at the current FIFA Women's World Cup, next year's Super Bowl and Major League Baseball games.

EE compete with GoPro

Also intriguing is the announcement that mobile operator EE, which BT is in the process of acquiring for £12.5bn, has bringing to market a GoPro-style 4K camera.

Users will need to pay EE for the required 4G connectivity to stream footage to the internet.

The 4GEE Action Cam is the first in a range of own-brand connected devices that it planned to release this year.

"We understand our customers not only want superfast coverage, they want products that give them the very best experiences, coupled with the most innovative and exciting ways in which to share them," said EE CEO Olaf Swantee.

BT Announces First 4K Live Channel

StreamingMedia Europe 

Telco giant BT will launch BT Sport Ultra HD in August, but the bigger picture is the UK's burgeoning ultrafast broadband landscape

BT is taking a leaf out of Sky's book and betting that billions paid in sports rights will drive customers to its services. It has won the race to 4K ultra high-definition (UHD) in the UK, although don't expect Sky to lag behind for long.

http://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/News/Featured-News/BT-Announces-First-4K-Live-Channel-104516.aspx

The telco giant has announced that it will begin live 4K UHD broadcasts in August over a new BT Sport Ultra HD channel available to homes which have upgraded to Infinity, its fastest fibre connection.

It will be the first UHD channel in Europe. The operator has been conducting trials of 4K streaming (3840 x 2160 pixels) since last year, and will debut a new set-top box (STB) in concert with YouView capable of handling the additional data.

The YouView+ box will have 1TB of storage and will presumably incorporate the new HDMI 2.0 standard to support the high refresh rates that 4K sports demand. BT is a founding member of the YouView consortium, which also includes the BBC and ITV.

BT Infinity, BT's current superfast broadband offer, is capable of delivering download speeds of up to 300Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. It is being used by 3 million UK households.

BT Sport has more than 5.2 million subscribers variously direct from BT and through Virgin Media and Sky.

BT has an extensive fibre network at UK sports and cultural locations including all Premiership football and rugby grounds, as well as major cricket grounds. Arenas like O2 and Excel are also connected.

Last year, BT Media and Broadcast—the specialist digital media and broadcast solutions arm of BT—introduced its first 4K links outside broadcast (OB) vehicle, which Sky Sports used to test 4K at the Ryder Cup.

Further news on additional 4K OB trucks for the telco's new live commitment is imminent.

In a direct challenge to Sky, BT is making 351 European football games from next season free to 2 million of its customers who already pay for TV from BT broadband. Those who subscribe via Sky satellite will be charged £5 ($7.70) extra.

BT’s aim in giving away BT Sport (which it has done since launch in 2013) is to drive growth of its subscriber base. Its goal is to win a larger share of new broadband business and ensure a return on the £2.5 billion ($3.8 billion) investment it made in upgrading its network with fibre that provides Infinity as well as faster internet access at wholesale for Sky and TalkTalk.

It is not clear if Netflix' 4K content will be made available over a BT service.

A 4K TV set will also be needed, and BT's announcement could be the incentive for consumers to go back to retail this summer. Analyst FutureSource estimates that 100 million sets a year will be shipping globally by 2018, when ownership will exceed 20 percent in leading markets like the UK. As of today you can buy a 4K 40-inch unit from Philips (via Argos) for £399 ($612).

G.fast/Fibre-to-the-Distribution Point Trials Planned

Planning further ahead, BT will launch services delivering download speeds of up to 500Mbps over existing copper lines in the next two years. Beginning this summer it will trial 500Mbps G.fast or Fibre-To-The-Distribution Point (FTTdp) connections at 4,000 homes and begin rollout shortly afterwards.

Instead of laying fibre all the way to the home with G.fast/FTTdp fibre is instead rolled out to telephone poles or junction boxes located close to homes and businesses with the shorter copper wire used to speed the last few metres.

The technology would potentially save BT billions of pounds from not having to replace its entire copper network with fibre. Moreover, it reckons it could deliver download speeds of 800Mbps and uploads at 200Mbps, or 1Gbps downloads—which would be enough for 8K streams, let alone 4K.

“Direct through fibre, instead of traditional aerial and satellite, you can personalise the service in ways that haven’t been possible so far,” BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson told The Telegraph about the trials. “You’ll also be able to make advertising more targeted and more interactive.”

BT already connects 22 million UK homes and businesses with Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC).

It faces competition, though, since Sky and TalkTalk are already deploying a trial fibre optic network in the city of York capable of running at 1Gbps.

BT is the most serious force Sky has had to contend with in the UK battle. Both operators are on a mission to become the quad player of choice in the heated UK market.

BT is in the process of acquiring 4G mobile network operator EE for £12.5 billion ($20 billion). To counter that, Sky has teamed with mobile operator O2 in a multi-year deal giving it wholesale access to 2G, 3G, and 4G services over O2's nationwide network from 2016.

The bidding war for premium content saw BT bid £897 million ($1.4 billion) for the exclusive rights to UEFA Champions League and Europa League from Sky and ITV in a three-year deal agreed in 2013, and which comes into effect from the 2015/16 season.

BT shares English Premier League soccer rights with Sky, in record bids totalling £5.14 billion ($8.2 billion) for three seasons from 2016/2017. Of that, BT paid £960 million ($1.5 billion) for 42 matches a year. BT will air some soccer matches, including the Champions League final, on a new Freeview channel called BT Sport Showcase.

Sky is also preparing to launch "Project Ethan," a 4K UHD STB that with cloud-based storage infrastructure and a focus on allowing viewers to multi-screen to mobiles and tablets around the home.

With a proud record in pioneering TV technology in the UK—such as being first to launch into HD—Sky has been burnt by its experiment in stereoscopic 3D. Earlier this year Sky quietly switched off the 3D TV channel it had been running since 2010 and has aired no live 3D broadcasts since the Ryder Cup last year.

EE Launches Connected Device Range

In related news, EE is developing a range of branded connected devices. The first of these on sale next week is a GoPro-style camera capable of streaming 720p footage to the web providers users subscribe to EE's 4G service.

The 4GEE Action Cam will use a new streaming service called Skeegle to stream video without the need for separate equipment like a smartphone (which GoPro units do).

The viewing monitor for EE's camera is built into a separate wrist-worn unit which also allows users to start and stop recordings with a button press.

"We understand our customers not only want superfast coverage, they want products that give them the very best experiences, coupled with the most innovative and exciting ways in which to share them," said EE CEO Olaf Swantee in a statement.

Two weeks ago EE conducted its latest high-profile trial of  LTE Broadcast in conjunction with the BBC, Qualcomm, Huawei, EVS, and Intellicore at the FA Cup Final.

Like other operators, EE has its eye on 5G mobile networks to deliver speeds of 50Gbps. Along with Samsung, the BBC, Vodafone, Telefonica, Fujitsu, and Huawei, EE is researching the technology at the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey.

“If we get 5G right there won't be a 6G,” says Matt Stagg, senior manager of network strategy at EE. “People won't talk about speed because there will be enough capacity in the network for billions of devices connected to the Internet of Things. It means you can start to look at all manner of applications such as driverless cars.”

According to UK media and telco regulator Ofcom, among 5G's applications would be the ability for families to “virtually attend family occasions” with holographic video.