IBC
Speed, flexibility, and reliability – that’s the dream for many a live production. However, when public network coverage is patchy, what’s a broadcaster to do? The 2026 Accelerator Project, Network Control, deploys standardised network APIs to tackle this problem head-on.
article here
When 5G first arrived, broadcasters were told it would change everything. Higher bandwidth, lower latency, and the promise of network slicing suggested a future where live production could finally break free from the shackles of satellite trucks, microwave links, and unpredictable public networks. In many ways, that future has already begun: private 5G networks and bonded cellular systems have proven they can deliver broadcast‑grade workflows in real environments. But as the industry has discovered, 5G is ready for production — just not yet for scale.
A new IBC Accelerator project involving Neutral Wireless, SliceFinity, major European broadcasters, and public mobile operators aims to change that.
Their goal is deceptively simple: To make 5G predictable. In practice, it means turning connectivity from a best‑effort commodity into a programmable, controllable production resource. And if they succeed, it could reshape how live content is gathered, managed, and delivered at some of the world’s biggest events.
5G works, Until it doesn’t
Few people understand this better than Morten Brandstrup, Head of News Technology at TV2 Denmark and a leading voice within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). TV2 has embraced 5G more aggressively than most. “We use 5G for 99% of all live contributions flowing into our newsroom,” he says. “Gone is the old sat‑truck.”
That’s all well and good but at major events such as political announcements, breaking news, or large‑scale sports, 5G’s reliability collapses. Crowds overwhelm public networks. Upload capacity evaporates. And broadcasters, who depend on stable uplink performance, are forced to fall back on legacy or improvised solutions.
“We’re not browsing; we’re uploading,” Brandstrup explains. “But we can’t predict whether we’ll get a usable service when we arrive on‑site.” At events like the World Cup or Tour de France, every broadcaster is trying to push video over cellular. The result is congestion, uncertainty, and a scramble for alternatives. TV2 has even resorted to deploying LEO satellite terminals — a paradoxical workaround in an era where 5G was meant to eliminate such complexity.
This is a common problem for broadcasters across the EU. As Brandstrup notes, “BBC, RAI, France Télévisions — everyone is facing the same issue.”
The broadcast use case is fundamentally different from consumer mobile usage. Public networks are optimised for download, not upload. And while consumers can tolerate degraded performance, broadcasters cannot. A dropped frame or frozen feed is a failure.
Mission: Control
The IBC Accelerator project to solve this gap in guaranteed reliability was instigated by the GSMA with Neutral Wireless, a specialist in private 5G networks, SDR/FPGA engineering, and rapid‑deployment connectivity solutions. The latter’s work with broadcasters has shown that private 5G can deliver exceptional reliability but only in controlled environments such as studios, OB compounds, or temporary event‑specific deployments.
The challenge is extending that reliability to public networks.
“Broadcasters don’t just need bandwidth,” Sam Yoffe, Senior Systems Engineer explains. “They need control. They need to know which device gets priority, when it gets priority, and how the network is behaving in real time. “rivate networks can provide that. Public networks, historically, cannot.”
They believe the solution lies in standardised network APIs, particularly those developed under the CAMARA initiative. This is an open‑source project jointly run by the Linux Foundation and GSMA’s Open Gateway programme. CAMARA APIs allow applications to request network behaviour dynamically: priority, QoS profiles, connectivity insights, and eventually full slice reservation.
“These APIs already exist,” says Joffe. “What’s missing is consistent implementation across operators, and integration into broadcast workflows.”
APIs from connectivity to production resource
Today, broadcasters rely on fragmented, proprietary APIs from individual vendors. These are powerful but inconsistent, difficult to integrate, and impossible to scale across multiple networks or countries. As Yoffe puts it, “No vendor wants to build custom workflows for every hardware manufacturer and every network. For this to work, the APIs must be open standards.”
CAMARA provides that standardisation. The Quality on Demand (QoD) API, for example, allows a device to request higher priority on a congested network. Connectivity Insights provides real‑time metrics about signal quality, throughput, and network conditions — enabling operators to make informed decisions about when to request priority. And QoS Profiles allow workflows to specify the type of traffic they’re sending.
For broadcasters, these APIs aren’t about networks. They’re about editorial speed, flexibility, and reliability. They allow production systems to treat connectivity the same way they treat audio routing, camera tally, or graphics triggers: as a controllable, predictable part of the workflow.
Booking the network like a production asset
Also participating in the project is SliceFinity, a company founded to close the gap between 5G’s programmability and its commercial reality. Its Network Slice Booking API allows industry customers to reserve network resources in advance defining service areas, time windows, QoS parameters, and device access controls.
In other words, says Yoffe, “broadcasters could book network performance the same way they book satellite windows or fibre circuits.”
SliceFinity’s role in the IBC Accelerator is to provide an aggregated interface that simplifies how broadcasters interact with public operators. Instead of navigating complex operator‑specific APIs, broadcasters use SliceFinity’s unified interface to request QoD, reserve slices, or bind devices to guaranteed resources.
This is essential because public operators must balance broadcaster needs with consumer traffic, emergency services, and overall network health. SliceFinity helps manage that balance, ensuring that priority requests are feasible, safe, and aligned with operator policies.
The live demonstration
The Accelerator aims to prove the concept in a live demonstration on a real public network in a stadium filled with tens of thousands of people. The chosen venue is the German Supercup at Dortmund in August, where the project hopes to show that QoD can protect a broadcast feed even under extreme congestion.
Operators are understandably cautious. Instead of testing with 10–20 Mbps video streams, the demonstration will use a lower‑bitrate workflow — around 500 kbps — such as intercom, camera control, or telemetry.
“These are mission‑critical but lightweight, making them ideal for early testing,” Joffe says. “If successful, the demonstration will prove that CAMARA APIs can deliver real, measurable benefits on live public networks. It will also give operators confidence to expand the scope of priority services.”
Path to industry adoption
The IBC Accelerator is not trying to create a commercial product. It is trying to prove feasibility, establish workflows, and build consensus.
According to Joffe, “the real value lies in the collaboration between broadcasters, production vendors, private 5G specialists, and public operators all working together to define requirements and test solutions.”
Brandstrup adds, “We are a small industry. Operators cannot engage with every broadcaster individually. This project gives us one language, one way of connecting with them on behalf of the wider industry.”
For operators, the project clarifies what broadcasters actually need. It’s not always 20 Mbps video slices. Often it’s reliable intercom, camera control, or telemetry — low‑bitrate but mission‑critical workflows that can be protected without harming consumer traffic.
“For broadcasters, it offers a path toward scalable, predictable 5G usage at major events without deploying private networks along entire race routes or relying on satellite backups,” says Yoffe. “For vendors, it provides a standardised foundation for integrating connectivity control directly into production systems.”
5G was always meant to be programmable. CAMARA, GSMA Open Gateway, and projects like this IBC Accelerator are finally turning that promise into reality.
“If broadcasters can treat connectivity as a controllable resource to be booked, prioritised, monitored, and integrated into workflows then it unlocks new possibilities for remote production, cloud‑based workflows, and lightweight field operations,” Brandstrup underlines.
It reduces the need for heavy infrastructure. It increases editorial agility. And it brings the industry closer to a world where live production is as flexible as the stories it covers.
Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana, Italy’s public service broadcaster, is among those championing the project. Gino Alberico, Director of Centre for Research and Innovation at RAI says, “RAI depends on reliable, flexible and scalable connectivity to deliver high‑quality live content across the country. While 5G has already proven capable of supporting TV production through private networks, current public solutions remain fragmented, inconsistent across operators, and difficult to be used into real production workflows.”
He continues, “This project demonstrates how potential standardised open network APIs, such as CAMARA’s Quality on Demand, transform 5G from a best‑effort network into a programmable, predictable production resource. By enabling dynamic, event‑driven prioritisation of key devices and video feeds, broadcasters gain the ability to protect critical uplinks even in congested environments.
“Working collaboratively with mobile network operators, production technology vendors and international partners, RAI will evaluate the project outcome as a set of integrated production‑ready network APIs that could strengthen the public‑service mission, modernizing its tv production infrastructure and workflow.”
No comments:
Post a Comment