[Satellite News 09-10-10] Broadcasting giant CBS has seen its use of satellite and related technologies change in recent years, and this could change again as CBS looks to use more terrestrial options for delivering content in the future rather than satellite, said Brent Stranathan, vice president, broadcast distribution.
    CBS has been making technology decisions between satellite and terrestrial technologies since the 1980s, when the economics at that time began to favor satellite. “Satellite’s development for the over-the-air-broadcast networks had to do with the fact that the networks faced continued escalating costs from the regulated terrestrial interexchange service. Back then, there was ABC, NBC and CBS. Each of us paid AT&T tariff rates for the use of their microwave and coaxial cable interconnect service. Satellite services, for video distribution, was relatively new, and was initially used for special event point-to-point services.
    “By the time the mid 1980s arrived, we became more comfortable with satellite technology, and it seemed logical that we could put our national network point-to-multipoint program feeds up on a satellite transponder and reach the entire country. The networks could not obtain a long-term cost guarantee from the likes of AT&T for terrestrial interexchange service when compared to satellite capacity. This fact became the key decision point for the migration to satellite for the broadcast networks in the United States.”
    Now as networks such as CBS look at their capacity needs for the future could bring the networks back to terrestrial delivery. “We are looking at terrestrial options and thinking, maybe with the growth of fiber-optic networks nationwide, we should go back to the ground,” Stranathan said. “We may be going full circle. You have fiber network-based companies that are more than willing to offer capacity at very attractive rates. They are not necessarily regulated by tariffs the way things were in the 1980s. It is more of a business arrangement. There are multiple carriers, and there is plenty of fiber in the ground. A terrestrial-based service might not be for the primary feed but for the back-up, but there is an evolution taking place.”
    This evolution back to a terrestrial solution may not be that far away — and could begin within the next five years, said Stranathan. “I think the explosion of fiber connectivity, spurred on by bandwidth demand from the Internet is slowly driving down the cost of the local loop in cities across the country. The most expensive part of going terrestrial, the local loop, is now available and competitively priced from multiple local vendors.”
    In terms of where the broadcast sector is going next in terms of technology, Stranathan said, “If I had to guess, I would say it would be a hybrid of satellite and terrestrial fiber services. Right now, we are exclusively satellite for our program delivery service to affiliates. Newsgathering, which often leads the way in technology change, has already started a big shift from satellite to an IP-based terrestrial backhaul technology service. Ironically, in part, newsgathering led us all to use the satellite more with the introduction of SNG 20 years ago. We’ll likely see the same shift with program distribution services. All content being in a digital file format at the point of creation through the distribution chain will also likely help accelerate how we do business in the future as well.”