Satellite Uplinking
IP UPLINK TRAFFIC AVALANCHE October/November 2001

BT Broadcast Services is the satellite uplinking division of former UK PTT British Telecom. BT-BS is the official signatory/shareholder of various satellite operators like Eutelsat, Intelsat and Inmarsat. It reserves capacity on satellites such as Eutelsat's Hot Bird and Eurobird and sells this capacity on to broadcasters.

For example, BT-BS already has a deal in place with BSkyB which takes four of Eutelsat's Eurobird transponders, and BT is deliberately building up its customer services offshoot which offers services including call centre management, subscriber management, billing, and conditional access systems to would-be broadcasters. The moves are further examples of BT's atellite-based continued expansion on many fronts.

Chris Forrester talked to Mark Smith, British Telecom's recently appointed new MD of BT Broadcast Services.

"For the first time BT has brought together all of the satellite businesses. We used to run all of the Eutelsat business separately, same with the other satellite consortia and then we had another division that looked after satellite engineering, including ground stations and work that included the building of teleports - like our new uplink facility in Los Angeles - would also be done by a different team.

In total there were at least three major divisions all running independently so for the first time we decided to pull them all together which enables us to bridge the satellite and broadcast sides together," says Smith.

Smith says that BT is well placed to handle European expansion. Smith's view of the future is to anticipate a growing demand for IP-based content. He explains that key events like Formula 1 motor racing, which BT-BS frequently uplinks direct to satellites for re-broadcast, can already generate considerable interest at a variety of levels. "The future is how we partner with these variant media owners into a playout future which might have a digital store of that content, differing in coding levels. For example, at the top you'd have the D1 broadcast master right the way down to a 56K copy."

He says BT is already helping supply these signals in broadcast form, PPV form and subscription view form. "The trick we have to learn is to become a solutions provider to manage the elements that I skipped over, that is content management, security and last but by no means least billing. You can see the problem: how does one bill three different customers, one who might be viewing in DTH, the second who might be viewing in DSL and the third who might be viewing an edge - cache product at a variety of speeds from 730 Kb down to 56Kb.

The first question is: do you charge them differently? And these are the questions content owners are currently struggling with. The trouble for all of us is in determining when this 'future' is going to be. We are all relaxed about it being within the next three to ten years, but it is nearer three or ten?"

He also says he is highly optimistic about the future remaining buoyant for broadcast TV, and that even within the current MPEG2-DVB broadcast model there are opportunities for new TV entrants. "A couple of years ago, they would need a million viewers to be successful and this is in DTH. We now have customers able to make a business case out of a target 50,000 viewers.

I think it would be naive not to assume that this 50,000 audience wouldn't very quickly allow for success at a 20,000 level thanks to IP transmission. We have two customers who are using an IP solution, putting their signals onto satellite for delivery to cable systems. In my view this kind of TV station is going to simply avalanche."

"We have a study group working here on various future scenarios and virtually everyone agrees the future will grow by an avalanche of niche TV stations. One of our number suggests that it will not be long before we, each of us, has our own television channel where we provide the mask on the front end and that content will then be supplied to you.

Is this a business for BT? I am not sure that we want to be that content owner because it's a different world and a different business, but we do see a role for ourselves in what we call the 'white label' playout centre, content management and delivery channel. In other words we become the partner, the 'Intel Inside' partner to those content owners. The future is going to lead to lots and lots of TV channels. Our trick is layering that and giving a similar service to start-ups which might have a very different delivery need."

Smith also uses an example of the increased content demands that today's younger generation now expects to be fulfilled. "The future for a 14 year old is no longer a 12" screen, either TV or PC-based in the corner of his bedroom, but he wants a 42" Plasma screen on the wall. He is not going to be satisfied by a few kilobits/second of content. He wants it all! They want music, DVD, video, probably all at the same time. We as an industry have sold the dream of limitless bandwidth. It is a monster and we are going to have to deliver."

He also says you can see this trend coming without any need for a ton of statistics. "A bigger impact, however, will be the generation who are starting work now who have no experience of fixed phones. They have no real concept of old technologies. They are already sending messages from phone to phone, and want much more."

According to Smith, his division is very much concentrating on North American expansion, which represents real growth for BT, and it is happening fast. "We have already built a new Los Angeles teleport. Indeed, we are focusing on the US as a separate business. If you stand back and look at where content is produced it is Los Angeles, Washington and New York, covering their three core businesses, entertainment, politics and finance. If you are not strong in these three areas then you might want to question whether you are a global player."

"The only thing I can safely predict about satellite delivery mechanisms is that it will probably be very different in five years time and possibly wholly different in 10 years time," says Smith. "I can be certain of that! Choose just one technology and you may choose wrongly. I see today's mix still being about, and highly valuable, even in 10 years time. Viewers may watch via a different delivery model, but it will still be important."