Every year, the NAB trade show presents us with a chance to assess the ever-changing broadcast landscape and identify the next big technological advance, which is shaping up to be Ultra-HD TV. The new standard is creating a great deal of excitement, as consumers get accustomed to a constant evolution of picture clarity and detail in their living rooms. This is always good news for the satellite industry as increases on picture quality invariably lead to increases in bandwidth demand. It even makes me wonder, what will come after Ultra-HD? The broadcast market has seen a blizzard of technology advances in recent years, some of which have been met more favorably than others.

I am curious to see how the market reacts to Ultra-HD. It seems as though the standard is designed to work best on massive displays, but in smaller houses and flats, will people really want to have huge screens that dominate a room just to access ultra-HD? It seems clear that the United States will likely lead the way here, even in difficult economic times, during which people might not have the will to keep buying expensive hardware every two years. Certainly, TV manufacturers’ like LG Electronics are confident that they will be able to shift many 4K TV sets over the coming years, even if the prices right now seem a little exorbitant.

The other interesting trend in video to note recently is how the tablet has gone from an early adopter device to a mainstream device. The tablet was pretty much the Christmas gift of 2012, with the ability to access video as one of its key appeals. Ironically, despite the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, and the increased demand for streaming video to these devices, watching content on the TV screen seems as popular as ever.

All of this, of course, has a direct relevance on the satellite industry. It is all part of the eco-system – from bandwidth requirements to demands for better compression technologies needed to deal with transmitting high bandwidth files. While the talk of ultra-HD has well and truly started, there are still many countries where the HD bandwagon has only just began to start rolling. In countries like Indonesia, DTH providers feel it is more important to offer better SD channels rather than launch new HD channels. It is amazing where different countries are in the HD cycle.

It was also not long ago that cash-rich telcos were thought to be DTH’s biggest threat, with their new IPTV offers. This really hasn’t happened. In fact, satellite pay-TV seems to be in robust health. DTH is still performing impressively in many markets and many DTH operators continue to push new innovation to the market. An example is BSkyB, which recently signed a deal to buy Telefonica’s broadband business in the United Kingdom. The ability to mix DTH with broadband is a key part of BSkyB’s plans, and even more so now with Liberty Media taking over its main rival Virgin Media.

The rate of change in the broadcast market can sometimes be quite dizzying, especially for those of us who grew up with only three channels. We appear to be a constant cycle of change and continual disruption. Broadcasting is still the lifeblood of our industry, and it is pleasing that satellite is still up front and center in this broadcasting world. The good news is I don’t see that changing any time soon.