City of Tech: We can expect to see more 5G at NAB

I've been attending NAB for over ten years now and during that time, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: what happens in Vegas fortunately doesn’t always stay in Vegas. Quite the opposite. Technological innovations presented at the show have made their way into almost every corner of the media and broadcast industry, transforming how we consume, create and deliver content across the world.

"technologies that sounded like science-fiction just a few years ago have become staples of our industry"

I still vividly remember when I started my career cutting reel-to-reel tapes at the back of a BBC studio over 20 years ago. Within a decade, I was part of a project to take the first European broadcaster fully end-to-end ‘tapeless’. A true broadcasting revolution - and just one of my earliest memories of our industry’s ability to embrace emerging technologies and fundamentally change the way we do things!

As we are getting ready for yet another NAB, we fast forward to today and technologies that sounded like science-fiction just a few years ago have become staples of our industry. No modern broadcaster can get around 4K anymore, for example. Advancements in consumer technologies have fuelled a trend for high-resolution content. In fact, almost 100 million 4K television units are now sold per year.

Equally, the likes of IP Live, HDR, Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are all becoming ingrained into the broadcast production ecosystem, and innovative technologies such as cloud-based services continue to change the game for production. But it’s the introduction of 5G and cloud microservices which I predict will make the biggest impact on the show floor in 2019 - and beyond! 

The transformative power of 5G

Unbeknownst to most, we are already in the middle of early 5G deployment. In a number of cities around the world, including Seoul, Doha or Hong Kong, it is currently possible to get 5G connectivity, even if in a limited capacity. According to the 5G Economics of Entertainment Report, commissioned by Intel and conducted by Ovum, nearly $3 trillion in cumulative revenue opportunities will be spurred by wireless technologies from 2019-2028 and experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of it (close to $1.3 trillion).

"nearly $3 trillion in cumulative revenue opportunities will be spurred by wireless technologies from 2019-2028"

Now, what has any of this got to do with the broadcast industry? Well, modern broadcasters increasingly rely on wireless networks as part of their workflows - from uploading a news story from out in the field to remotely transmitting entire broadcasts. The accelerated connectivity 5G brings not only promises to advance the way content is captured, delivered and viewed but it will also fundamentally transform how consumers interact with broadcast media.

In combination with advanced cloud-based media solutions, 5G will offer broadcasters new ways of managing remote productions and distributing coverage of live events, news and sports in higher 4K/HDR quality. At the same time, the viewing experience for consumers will be revolutionised as 5G enables them to seamlessly stream their favourite programmes reliably from pretty much anywhere, regardless of network or device.

Live productions in particular will benefit from 5G and virtual, cloud-based media solutions. Traditionally, high-quality and reliable live production has always required serious infrastructure, major upfront investment and an army of talented creatives and technicians - but that is set to change quite drastically! Modern solutions create a frictionless production workflow that combines minimal physical infrastructure with cloud-based professional tools to edit and deliver content quickly to any kind of platform.

An exciting tomorrow

The advent of 5G and the introduction of cloud-based media solutions are set to revolutionise workflows for broadcasters across the world, and we can expect this to be reflected in the solutions being displayed at the show this year. In the coming months, more and more broadcasters will tap into 5G and cloud-based solutions to unlock the hidden potential within their current workflows as well as capture, edit and share their content almost instantaneously.

The pace of innovation in the broadcasting industry is relentless and what the future holds is exciting! We've come a long way from cutting tape 20 years ago to being at the cutting edge of technology today. As an industry, let’s continue to power today and transform tomorrow. Here's to a great NAB 2019 - I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

Come and visit Sony at the show on Stand C11001 - located at Central Hall, C-5, Las Vegas Convention Centre from 8th to 11th April 2019. We’ll also be live streaming Sony’s Press Conference on April 7th 2019 at 2pm PST, 11pm CET.