Changing business models for Asian mobile TV broadcasters mandate real-time network performance reporting, unified management tools

The “business of broadcast” in the Asian region is changing significantly, according to Mike Dallimore, Broadcast Australia’s VP of international business development. This, in turn, is creating surging demand for better and timelier network performance reporting and management — both at the broadcaster and network levels.

Dallimore identifies two key drivers behind this trend: the shift from conventional, vertically integrated broadcast business models to more free form, fragmented and collaborative variants; and the regionwide migration from analog to digital transmission.

Asian broadcasters are moving to business models where transmission is “pared away from core content development and management activities," Dallimore said. "Fragmentation can also be due to the allocation of transmission responsibilities across a number of separate groups — say, on a province-by-province basis. Both these situations result in the same outcome: a need for real-time performance monitoring and management across the network as a whole,” he said.

When detailed network performance information is available, it quickly finds applications that go beyond simple reporting, Dallimore said. “This has been our experience with the network management system deployed across Broadcast Australia’s nationwide broadcast network. Reporting was initially our driver, but now…this data provides us with a very powerful tool for improving network availability and minimizing the total lifecycle cost of the network.”

The devil, however, is in the details: information handling and logical filtering systems tailored to support on-the-spot network performance analysis and diagnostics.

For more information, visit www.broadcastaustralia.com.au/news.aspx.