NAB Show

NAB Show

Session.

Transforming Media Delivery: Live Sports Innovation and Broadcast-Broadband Convergence

This session features two separate but complementary panels examining how live media is evolving from production to delivery. The first panel offers an inside look at modern live sports and esports workflows, where massive scale, ultra-low latency, and constant innovation are required to deliver high-stakes global events across broadcast and streaming platforms. With perspectives from engineering teams including Riot Games, it will explore how AI is shaping what comes next, presented by Cisco.

The second panel turns to the network layer, highlighting the future of broadcast-broadband convergence through a groundbreaking proof-of-concept deployment enabling ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast coexistence via TDM from a single transmitter—providing a practical roadmap for spectrum-efficient next-generation services.

Subsessions

  • Inside Modern Live Sports Production: Scale, Streaming, and What’s Next

    Monday, April 20 | 2 – 2:30 p.m. | N261

    Ernest Appiah, Chris Lapp, James Wyld, Cliff Ryan

    From global sporting events to massive esports broadcasts, live production today must deliver high-quality experiences at unprecedented scale and speed. Join engineering experts from Riot Games, NBCUniversal, and Cisco as they discuss the technologies powering modern live sports—from IP-based production and low-latency streaming to AI-enabled workflows—and what’s next for the future of live media experiences.

  • PoC Deployment for ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast TDM Coexistence

    Monday, April 20 | 2:30 – 3 p.m. | N261

    Joonyoung Park, Tony Masiello

    Achieving ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast Harmonization: Implementation and Deployment of TDM Coexistence The convergence of broadcast and broadband technologies represents a critical evolution in media distribution. This session presents groundbreaking work in achieving practical coexistence between ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast systems through Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), culminating in the first commercial deployment simultaneously transmitting both services from a single broadcast station. Technical Innovation: Our implementation leverages the min_time_to_next field within the ATSC 3.0 bootstrap signal, a forward compatibility mechanism that enables flexible frame scheduling. The ATSC 3.0 specification (A/321) supports min_time_to_next values ranging from 50ms to 5300ms, providing substantial flexibility for TDM arrangements. By coordinating ATSC 3.0 frame transmission with 5G Broadcast's LTE-based MBSFN architecture—including strategic CAS muting during ATSC 3.0 transmission periods—we achieved seamless coexistence without interference between the two systems. Collaborative Development: Working in partnership among Castanet 5G, Neutral Wireless and DigiCAP, we successfully demonstrated TDM operation in laboratory and field environments. This collaboration addressed critical challenges including Studio-to-Transmitter Link (STL) configuration, precise timing synchronization, and receiver compatibility verification across both ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast devices. PoC (Proof-of-Concept) Deployment: The session highlights our pioneering PoC broadcast station deployment transmitting both ATSC 3.0 television services and 5G Broadcast mobile services from a single transmitter. This deployment validates the technical feasibility and demonstrates spectrum efficiency gains achievable through harmonized operation. Industry Impact: This work advances ATSC S32 PHY specification development and provides a practical roadmap for broadcasters seeking to maximize spectrum utilization. Attendees will gain insights into implementation requirements, technical challenges overcome, measurement results from our PoC deployment, and future opportunities for broadcast-broadband convergence. Target Audience: Broadcast engineers, network operators, equipment manufacturers, standards development participants, and industry stakeholders interested in next-generation broadcast technologies and spectrum optimization strategies.

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