Media service providers are looking to tap into the emergent market for remote live production over IP, according to the head of newly merged IP video transport companies T-VIPS and Nevion. “We believe we will become one of the key players in influencing the transition to IP in our industry,” said Nevion CEO Geir Bryn-Jensen (pictured), who becomes CEO of the merged company when the transaction completes on 1 January. “We are currently involved in multiple projects where emerging or legacy service providers are moving into the live broadcast space and rolling out, or planning to roll out, a point of presence at sites including many sports stadia. “The trend we see not as much driven from the broadcasters or sports franchises themselves but more from emerging contribution or media service providers who see an opportunity to build offerings for remote production,” he added . “They can build business cases for remote production which offer cost savings in terms of manpower and equipment required onsite.” One such media service provider is GigaContent, which used Nevion’s IP-based managed media solutions to help it connect Scandinavian broadcasters with exchange of live HD video content. The infrastructure has been enabled since the start of the Euro Championships in Poland and Ukraine. “As more and more people see the technology becoming available they will see that they can do things that they were not previously able to do. Remote production of certain elements of the outside broadcast is made possible by the availability of the IP network, its reliability and quality and also the quality of the compression technology,” said Bryn-Jensen. “Our technology is already fit for purpose transporting video onsite and long haul back to broadcasters for traditional workflows and remote production applications.” According to Janne T. Morstøl, COO, T-VIPS, the rationale behind the merger of the two Norwegian-based outfits “is that we’ve known each other for many years and we actually compete for very little of each other’s business. The merger will allow us to bring more product faster to market.” She added: “Sports is right in the sweet spot for both companies, using different compression technologies to transport live sport over IP. There are a variety of different technologies that can be used depending on the connection and bandwidth at different sport venues, but, with a new joint company, we will be able to do anything from very low bitrate to very high bitrate in a low-latency, high-quality offering for sport.” – Adrian Penningtonwww.t-vips.comwww.nevion.com
