Predictions 2013: Traditional TV industry needs to get faster, more efficient and more agile

Depending upon whom you talk to, 2012 was a successful, stressful, challenging and rewarding year for broadcast television stations, multichannel content providers and the manufacturing community that supports them. A number of major TV events, such as the Summer Olympics in London and the Presidential election, helped bolster broadcasters ad revenues, yet we continue to see consolidation and technical staff layoffs.

What we’ve learned from this past year is that consumers want to watch video in places other than their living room. Indeed, consumers have gained a level of control they never had before. Therefore, fast, efficient and agile might be the mantra for everyone serving them going forward.

One technology area that has really come a long way this year is the delivery of live and on-demand video across multiple display screens simultaneously. Some refer to it as over the top (OTT), TV Everywhere and video streaming, but they all basically mean the same thing. A file is sent to multiple devices, in multiple formats, over an Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure. It’s a one-to-one (point-to-point) transfer. The concept has been talked about for several years, but 2012 saw several real-world examples of where portable video consumption and social media really proved their value.