The world's online population grew by more than 240 million people in 2025, according to Facts and Figures 2025 released today by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The new estimates confirm continuing progress in expanding digital connectivity, while pointing to differences in quality that impact how users benefit from Internet use.

Globally, an estimated 6 billion people—about three-quarters of the world's population—are using the Internet in 2025, up from a revised estimate of 5.8 billion in 2024. However, 2.2 billion people remain offline, down from a revised estimate of 2.3 billion in 2024.

Overall, the report's findings underline the importance of digital infrastructure, affordable services and skills training to ensure that everyone can truly benefit from advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

“In a world where digital technologies are essential to so much of daily life, everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from being online," said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “This report highlights how today's digital divides are being defined by speed, reliability, affordability, and skills, all of which we must prioritize as we work toward our mission of universal connectivity."

Connectivity's Quality Challenge
For the first time, Facts and Figures estimates the total number of 5G subscriptions, which now account for about one-third—or around 3 billion—of all mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide.

In 2025, 5G networks are estimated to cover 55% of the world's population, reflecting strong momentum in advanced mobile technologies. Coverage, however, remains uneven, with 84% of people in high-income countries having access to 5G, compared with only 4% in low-income countries.

While Facts and Figures shows that 4G and 3G services are available to most of the global population, these services are not best suited for keeping pace with advancing technologies, ITU said.

Estimates in the report reveal deep contrasts in intensity of use as an indicator of the quality gap. A typical user in a high-income country now generates nearly eight times more mobile data than one in a low-income country, according to ITU.

Facts and Figures 2025 highlights that affordability and digital skills remain essential to achieving universal and meaningful connectivity—reached when everyone can access the internet with high-quality service, at an affordable cost, whenever and wherever needed.

Globally, the median price of a data-only mobile broadband basket decreased, but access remains unaffordable in around 60% of low- and middle-income countries.

Data also suggest that most internet users possess basic skills, while more advanced capabilities—such as online safety, problem-solving and digital content creation—are being developed more slowly.

“Reliable data are the foundation of effective digital policies and of our shared vision to connect the world," said ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau Director Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava. “Achieving that vision will require sustained and well-targeted efforts—in infrastructure, in digital skills, and in data systems. By working together and directing resources where the needs are greatest, we can ensure that no one is left behind and that everyone benefits fully and safely from the opportunities of the digital age."

Detailing the Globe's Digital Divides
According to Facts and Figures 2025, digital development remains closely linked to economic development, gender, and location.

The report underscores the persistence of several digital divides:

• 94% of people in high-income countries use the internet, in contrast to only 23% in low-income countries;
• 96% of those offline live in low- and middle-income countries;
• 77% of men are online compared to 71% of women;
• 85% in urban areas are online versus 58% in rural areas;
• 82% of 15–24-year-olds use the internet, compared with 72% of the rest of the population.

Facts and Figures 2025 provides global, regional and income group estimates for indicators related to Internet use, mobile network coverage, Internet subscriptions, Internet traffic, affordability, digital skills and mobile phone ownership.

Download the report here.

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden claim to be the first in the world to transmit more than 1 petabit per second (Pbit/s) using only a single laser and a single optical chip.

The researchers transmitted 1.8 Pbit/s, which was carried by the light from one optical source. That corresponds to twice the current global internet traffic.

They used a custom-designed optical chip, which can use the light from a single infrared laser to create a rainbow spectrum of many colors, i.e. many frequencies. The researchers said that one frequency (color) of a single laser can be multiplied into hundreds of frequencies (colors) in a single chip.

Victor Torres Company, professor at Chalmers University of Technology and head of the research group that has developed and manufactured the chip, said: “What is special about this chip is that it produces a frequency comb with ideal characteristics for fibre-optical communications – it has high optical power and covers a broad bandwidth within the spectral region that is interesting for advanced optical communications.”

“In fact, some of the characteristic parameters were achieved by coincidence and not by design,” he added. “However, with efforts in my team, we are now capable to reverse engineer the process and achieve with high reproducibility microcombs for target applications in telecommunications.”

The researchers believe their discovery will help to reduce the future power consumption of the internet – which could have an impact on both video delivery and consumption.

“Our solution provides a potential for replacing hundreds of thousands of the lasers located at internet hubs and data centers, all of which guzzle power and generate heat,” added professor Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, head of the centre of excellence for silicon photonics for optical communications (SPOC) at DTU. “We have an opportunity to contribute to achieving an Internet that leaves a smaller climate footprint.”

This article originally appeared on TVBEurope.

SEATTLE—The ongoing shift in consumer spending towards streaming services has slightly cut U.S. consumer spending on cable and internet spending, according to a new report from doxo, 

Despite inflation in the overall economy, doxo’s new U.S. Cable & Internet Market Size and Household Spending Report for 2022, reveals Americans spend $146 billion annually on cable and internet bills, with 82% of U.S. households paying cable and Internet bills that cost $114 per month, or $1,368 per year on average. That amounts to $1,122 per year when averaging across all U.S. households. 

These figures are slightly down from the 2021 analysis of the $147 billion Cable & Internet market that found consumers paid $116 per month on average. 

This relatively flat spending stands in stark contrast to the surge of consumer spending on streaming services and mobile content, the researchers said. 

As the availability of over-the-top (OTT) platforms continues to explode, consumers continue to cut the cord, opting for streaming services to consume content, with 93% of consumers planning to increase their streaming options (or make no changes to their existing plans), doxo reported.  

“Consumer consumption of streaming content has never been higher, thanks in large part to the over-the-top (OTT) platforms and content providing more choice and increased consumer appetite and consumption,” said Jim Kreyenhagen, vice president of marketing and consumer services at doxo. “While our recent doxoINSIGHTS United States of Bill Pay report showed an increase in consumer spending across nearly every other category in line with overall rate of inflation, cable and internet spending has not kept pace. While the decline in consumer spending isn’t a complete surprise given the intense competition from OTT content, what’s a little surprising is that it is one of the only bill categories not affected by the current inflation rate.”

Notwithstanding the slowing growth, the increase in people working from home and distance learning in the pandemic has stressed household finances. 

The FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit was launched to subsidize increased cable and internet use and corresponding bills. The Biden Administration has since extended this subsidy via the Affordable Connectivity Program, a $14 billion dollar program aimed at alleviating this hardship, with up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households (and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands), and a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute a set amount toward the purchase price. 

Given the average US household spends $1,122 per year on cable and internet service, this assistance of up to $360 per year for each qualifying household to offset cable, adds up to a 32% savings for the average household cable.

Overall the report found:   

• Total Cable & Internet Market Size: $146 billion spent per year
• Average Monthly/Annual Cost: $114 spent per month; $1,368 spent per year
• Percent of Households: 82% of U.S. households pay Cable & Internet bills
• Average Annual Cost per U.S. Household: $1,122 per year
• Percent of Annual Income: Cable & Internet bills amount to 2% of consumers’ income per year

DURHAM, NH—Consumers who want to literally cut the final cord from their cable providers are accelerating their adoption of fixed wireless home internet services from telco competitors like T-Mobile and Verizon, according to a new report from Leichtman Research Group.

Although the latest report shows that the largest cable and wireline phone providers and fixed wireless services in the U.S.—representing about 96% of the market—logged a healthy gain of 1,065,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 1Q 2022—a pro forma gain of about 1,120,000 subscribers in 1Q 2021—that number included an increase of 530,000 subscribers of fixed wireless/5G home Internet services from T-Mobile and Verizon, a nearly five-fold increase compared to 110,000 net adds in 1Q 2021.  

The top broadband providers account for about 109.3 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 75.6 million broadband subscribers, top wireline phone companies having about 32.3 million subscribers, and top fixed wireless services having about 1.4 million subscribers.

Findings for the quarter include:

• Overall, broadband additions in 1Q 2022 were 95% of those in 1Q 2021
• The top cable companies added about 480,000 subscribers in 1Q 2022, 52% of the net additions for the top cable companies in 1Q 2021
• The top wireline phone companies added about 50,000 total broadband subscribers in 1Q 2022, compared to about 80,000 net adds in 1Q 2021—Wireline Telcos had about 480,000 net adds via fiber in 1Q 2022, and about 430,000 non-fiber net losses

Despite the increase in "cord-cutting," the very definition of the term is relative since most consumers are just dropping their TV subscriptions, but keeping their broadband services with the same pay-TV provider. The increasing adoption of using wireless 5G services to replace traditional wired broadband internet, however, is rapidly changing the face of how consumers access the internet, according to the research firm. 

“Top broadband providers added over one million subscribers in 1Q 2022, similar to last year’s first quarter, but the distribution of net broadband additions differed from a year ago,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc.  “Fixed wireless services accounted for half of the net broadband adds in 1Q 2022, compared to about 10% of the net adds in 1Q 2021.”

DALLAS—Parks Associates is estimating that almost 114 million U.S. households access the internet at home at speeds faster than dial-up and that this number is likely to grow in the upcoming years as new 5G high-speed internet connections and broadband services become available. 

“Over the past decade, high-speed internet adoption in the United States – here defined as an internet subscription adoption to the home or individual, with speeds faster than dial-up – has grown steadily since 2015,” said Kristen Hanich, director of research, Parks Associates. “These internet households may have home internet service or may rely on mobile internet, or a combination of the two.”  

The new Parks research finds that as bundles have become less common, consumer spending on standalone internet service has increased significantly, from an average of $39 per household per month in 2011 to an average of $63 per month in 2021, a 62% growth. Standalone mobile service ARPU has stayed remarkably stable over this time period, with 2021 averages largely reflecting spending levels from 2011 and ARPU actually decreasing since 2016.  

“A growing percentage of consumers are relying on fixed wireless or 5G home internet service, which includes services offered by traditional wireless internet service providers or mobile providers such as T-Mobile or US Cellular,” Hanich said. “The wider availability of these services, in addition to further build-outs of traditional fixed networks, will further help to drive home internet adoption over the next few years.”  

Parks Associates’ latest Consumer Insights Dashboard analyzes the firm’s quarterly surveys of 10,000 U.S. internet households to track consumer adoption of and changes in home services, including home internet, pay TV, and mobile services.

RESTON, Va.—VeriSign is reporting that the third quarter of 2021 closed with 364.6 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, a 0.7% decrease of 2.7 million domain name registrations compared to the second quarter of 2021. Year over year, domain name registrations dropped even more by 6.1 million, or 1.6%. 

The .com and .net top level domains had a combined total of 172.1 million domain name registrations in the domain name base at the end of the third quarter of 2021, an 0.9% increase of 1.5 million domain name registrations, compared to the second quarter of 2021, VeriSign reported. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined increase of 8.3 million domain name registrations, or 5.1%, year over year. 

As of Sept. 30, 2021, the .com domain name base totaled 158.6 million domain name registrations, and the .net domain name base totaled 13.5 million domain name registrations.

New .com and .net domain name registrations slowed, totaling 10.7 million at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 10.9 million domain name registrations at the end of the third quarter of 2020, according to VeriSign, a provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure.

Verisign publishes "The Domain Name Industry Brief" to provide internet users throughout the world with statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry. The Domain Name Industry Brief for the third quarter 2021, as well as previous briefs, can be obtained at verisign.com/dnib.

WASHINGTON—While acknowledging the benefits that would likely stem from expanding access to EAS alerts via internet services, including streaming platforms, NAB also does not believe that such an expansion is possible at this point in time.

The NAB shared its thoughts in comments to the FCC regarding the proposal to provide EAS alerts through the internet as laid out by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 and the study that Congress requested of the proposition.

“At least for the time being, certain technical challenges and open policy questions make it extremely burdensome, and likely infeasible, to update the EAS system to enable alerts to consumers provided through the internet, including through streaming services,” NAB wrote.

Local broadcasters are the primary providers of EAS alerts currently and help ensure the reliability of the system, per NAB. While radio and TV stations are able to provide any alerts through their websites or through simulcasts of their stations, there are limitations. For instance, NAB says OTT viewers only get alerts when a station’s own programming is playing, meaning that no alert would appear during a commercial break like it would on traditional broadcast.

NAB says there are two main obstacles for pure-play online content streamers to participate in the existing EAS ecosystem. First, is the geographic service areas that streaming services offer, which are generally available wherever there is internet access. Streaming services do not typically incorporate any localized infrastructure that would allow them to monitor EAS alerts based on geography or even type, NAB argues. The association says streamers lack the infrastructure and local presence needed, and even if they did, the responsibility of monitoring such services across the country would likely be “extremely problematic.”

Second, NAB says that geo-targeting of EAS alerts would be “virtually impossible.” Most streaming services use software that does not specifically request or have access to a subscriber’s location data. As part of any installation of EAS equipment, streamers would need a tool for monitoring FIPS codes across the U.S. and to only deliver alerts to pertinent areas. “Such a mechanism neither exists nor could it be efficiently incorporated into current streaming systems.”

There are also potential issues with fixed-location internet service providers having trouble accurately pinpointing a user’s location, and the increase of consumers using virtual private networks to connect to the internet for increased privacy, with NAB saying 31% of current internet users rely on VPNs.

Without accurate location information, NAB believes that there could be instances where, for example, a viewer in Virginia sees an alert meant for California and becomes confused.

NAB says that this debate over expanding EAS to the internet is similar to the previous consideration of requiring EAS obligations to DBS providers, when the FCC recognized the technical difficulties that would require.

Beyond the technical obstacles, NAB says there are policy issues as well. Platforms like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify are generally unregulated by the FCC, it notes. In addition, many streaming services are based outside of the U.S. or are partially owned by foreign shareholders; and many streamers use hardware and servers that they do not directly control.

“All of these factors would raise questions of how the FCC could effectively extend the EAS rules to internet streamers, how streaming services could ensure the security and reliability of EAS operations and what would happen if they failed to execute EAS alerts,” NAB wrote.

NAB therefore believes that the FCC should report to Congress that enabling EAS alerts through the internet, and streamers, is “too complex and likely infeasible at this time.”

NAB’s full statement is available online. 

WASHINGTON—The FCC is looking to strengthen emergency alerting, proposing new rules on how the public receives alerts on their TVs, radio and mobile phones. The FCC will also look at the feasibility of delivering alerts over the internet.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the FCC was charged with adopting rules to boost emergency alerting in various areas. As a result, the commission adopted this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the goal of ensuring more people receive relevant emergency alerts, enable government agencies to report false alerts when they occur and improve the way states plan for emergency alerts.

The NPRM specifically seeks to:

• Combine the current “Presidential Alerts” category with alerts from the FEMA Administrator to create a non-optional alert class called “National Alerts;”
• Encourage all states to form State Emergency Communications Committees to help administer alerting on state level, or to review the composition and governance of existing committees and certify they met in the last year;
• Provide a checklist that should be included in annual submissions of state Emergency Alert System (EAS) plans and amend the process for FCC review of those plans;
• Specify that government agencies may report false emergency alerts to the FCC’s 24/7 operations center; and
• Require and ensure that EAS participants can repeat certain alerts over TV and radio when the government alert originator requests it 

In addition, a Notice of Inquiry was approved by the commission to explore the technical feasibility of delivering EAS alerts through the internet, including streaming services, and whether EAS participants can use the internet to offer advanced alerting capabilities to the public.

The FCC voted on these actions during its March Open Commission Meeting today, March 17.

LONDON—The world continues its shift online, as the global digital population reached 4.8 billion as of third quarter 2020, which represents about 63% of the world’s total population, according to BuyShares.co.uk,

In 2010, the number of internet users worldwide was at 1.9 billion, per Statista and Internet World Stats data. By 2015 that grew 66% to 3.2 billion. As of last year, the global digital population was at 4.5 billion. With 297 million people getting access to the internet in the last 12 months, that number has now reached 4.8 billion.

Asia has the largest amount of internet users by region, with 2.5 billion, an increase of 61% over the last five years. In fact, one-third of all internet users come from either China (934 million) or India (697 million). Despite being first and second in total internet users, China and India also have the largest offline populations.

Europe is the second largest region with 727.8 million (a 20% increase). North America, meanwhile, has a 332.9 million digital population, a 6% increase from 2015. However, the U.S. is third in total internet users behind China and India, with 284 million.

The fastest growing region is African, which went from 313.2 million digital users in 2015 to more than 556 million per this latest report, a jump of 80%.

Global internet growth is only expected to continue, as Statista estimates that the global digital population will hit 5 billion within the next two years and that by 2025 the number will be nearly 5.6 billion.

More information is available on BuyShares.co.uk’s website. 

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast has committed to continuing to provide its COVID internet support programs to people in need across the country through June 30, the company announced in a press release. This is the third extension of these offerings.

During the pandemic, Comcast has made its internet service free for the first 60 days for new Internet Essential customers. It also provides free access to more than 1.5 million public  Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots. In addition, per Dave Watson, Comcast Cable CEO, Comcast has partnered with public schools to provide internet to low-income students and by creating LiftZones in community centers, which provide free Wi-Fi access.

“Our teams have worked tirelessly to ensure our network is operating at peak performance and help our customers and our communities navigate this unprecedented crisis,” Watson said.

More information on Comcast’s offerings are available through its website. 

The mystery of why the entire village of Aberhosan in Wales, U.K., would lose its broadband connection every morning at 7 a.m. for 18 months has been solved. According to reports from the BBC, the culprit is an old TV set.

After cable replacements proved ineffective in solving the problem, technicians used a spectrum analyzer monitoring device to identify the source of the interference, leading them to an unnamed resident who would turn on their TV at 7 a.m. each morning. The resident reportedly was embarrassed and unaware that the TV set was the source of the problem.

“We’d just advise the public to make sure that their electric appliances are properly certified and meet current British standards,” said Suzanne Rutherford, Openreach engineering lead in Wales.

The full story is available from BBC.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Google Fiber TV is fading away, as Google Fiber has announced that it will stop offering its linear TV product to new customers in favor of promoting online TV resources, including a new deal that allows customers to automatically sign up for fuboTV.

In a blog post, Google Fiber writes that “customers today just don’t need traditional TV,” and that all the content that they want to access is available online.

Effective immediately, Google Fiber TV is no longer an option for new internet customers. Current customers of the service will still be able to access the traditional TV service, but Google Fiber does say that it can help customers explore other options to make sure they have access to the programming of their choice.

One of these options is sport-centric streaming service fuboTV, which new customers can sign up for simultaneously when they join Google Fiber as part of a new partnership. In addition to sports, fuboTV also offers access to popular TV shows, movies and news.

This is the second streaming service that Google Fiber has partnered with, following a deal with YouTube TV in December 2019.

Customers are not required to sign up for either of these services, but can select any streaming service of their choice if they so desire.

For more information, visit fiber.google.com. 

NEW YORK—Verizon is changing how it provides cable and internet to its customers, announcing its new Mix & Match on Fios program.

What Verizon describes as a “goodbye to traditional cable bundles,” Mix & Match lets customers select the best internet and cable options for them, starting at $39.99, while also eliminating past cable policies like bundling, hidden extra fees and annual contracts.

Verizon customers can now choose from three basic internet options—100 Mbps ($39.99/month), 300 Mbps ($59.99/month) and Gigabit connection ($79.99/month).

They will then have the option to pick a TV package between Your Fios TV, offering more than 125 channels for $50/month; More Fios TV with more than 300 channels for $70/month; The Most Fios TV with more than 425 channels for $90/month; or YouTubeTV’s 70-plus channels at $49.99/month. Verizon is also offering customers a two-month trial period with its more than 425 channels, at the end of which Verizon will recommend packages based on viewership data. All TV packages feature major broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Telemundo and Univision.

Verizon says it has also simplified its bill process, with no added surcharges, no broadcast or regional sports network fees and “no surprises.”

“Customers have been loud and clear about their frustrations with cable, and we’ve listened,” said Frank Boulben, senior vice president of Consumer Marketing and Products at Verizon. “As a result, we’re transforming our approach to internet and TV offers by giving customers more choices and more transparency. Customers are tired of having to buy a bundle with services they don’t want to get the best rates, and then discover that those rates didn’t include extra fees and surcharges. We’re putting an end to the traditional bundle contract and putting customers in control.”

For more information, visit verizon.com/mixandmatch.

GENEVA—The DVB Steering Board has approved the DVB-I specification, which aims to ensure linear TV delivered via the internet is as user-friendly and robust as traditional TV, DVB announced today.

The specification, published as DVB BlueBook A177, is intended to make it possible to deliver linear TV services to any device, including TV sets, smartphones, tablets and media streaming devices, with the right internet connection and media player, the organization said.

"In developing an internet-centric solution for linear television services, we are providing the industry with a crucial missing piece that raises internet-based delivery to the same level in the DVB ecosystem as RF-based content delivery," said DVB Chair Peter MacAvock. "With these building blocks, addressing the discovery of DVB-I services and the delivery of program metadata, DVB offers broadcasters and operators an exciting new deployment option."

The new specification defines DVB-I Service Lists, a way for connected devices to find sets of linear TV services that can be delivered via broadband or broadcast. It also provides a means to pull down electronic program data for these services to enable viewers to access content via a consistent user interface, DVB said.

Publication of the specification means vendors and others can begin implementing DVB-I enabled clients, and broadcasters and content providers can move forward making services available via the specification, it said.

DVB also has issued an RFP to build a DVB-I reference application. The organization anticipates choosing a supplier and completing negotiations by the end of the year, which should make it possible for the initial implementation to be shown at DVB World 2020, March 9-11, in Valencia, Spain. The resulting client will be made available freely under an open source license, DVB said.

While DVB-I refers to service discovery and program information, it is part of a broader DVB ecosystem, including the recently published DVB-DASH streaming specification (DVB BlueBook A168), updated recently to include a low-latency mode, and a forthcoming specification for multicast adaptive bitrate streaming (DVB-mABR).

DVB has published a frequently asked questions page online about DVB-I as well as DVB-I information on its website.

WASHINGTON—The FCC today won a court ruling that upholds its 2018 order nullifying net neutrality rules, unanimously agreeing with the commission’s classification of broadband internet access as a Title I “information service,” as part of its justification for dropping the rules.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. did make two exceptions in its decision, however. It said the commission did not prove that it had the legal authority to prevent states from imposing any rules more stringent than the FCC’s 2018 order. It also remanded the decision back to the commission, noting that the FCC failed to examine the implications of its order for public safety as well as what reclassification would mean for regulation of pole attachments or how it would affect the commission’s “Lifeline Program,” which provides communications discounts to low income consumers.

The court used the “Chevron principle” in agreeing with the commission’s classification of broadband as an “information service.” The Chevron principle allows federal agencies to clarify a Congressional statute if it is considered ”reasonable.”

“Applying these principles here, we hold that classifying broadband internet access as an ‘information service’ based on the functionalities of DNS and caching is ‘a reasonable policy choice for the [Commission] to make,’” the court said.

The court also disagreed with opponents of the commission’s decision, who said the FCC’s use of the term “public switched network” must be understood as if Congress had used the phrase ‘public switched telephone network.’” The court said that the term “public switched network” can be used to describe a telecommunications system that uses both telephone numbers and IP addresses.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hailed the decision.

“Today’s decision is a victory for consumers, broadband deployment and the free and open internet. The court affirmed the FCC’s decision to repeal 1930s utility-style regulation of the internet imposed by the prior Administration,” he said in a statement. “The court also upheld our robust transparency rule so that consumers can be fully informed about their online options. Since we adopted the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, consumers have seen 40% faster speeds and millions more Americans have gained access to the internet. A free and open internet is what we have today and what we’ll continue to have moving forward. We look forward to addressing on remand the narrow issues that the court identified.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who opposed the FCC’s original order, said in a tweet that the fight for net neutrality is “not over.”

LOS ANGELES—The teams that take the field for the big collegiate and professional sporting events that Fox Sports covers throughout the year make sure they have a game plan, it is no different for the Fox Sports production team when its pregame and studio shows go to remote locations to cover them. Key at any venue is internet connection, which Fox Sports prepares for with Cradlepoint’s cloud-managed COR series routers.

“Fifteen to 20 years ago, internet connectivity at a remote site was not a necessity to have a successful show,” said Raul Ramirez, director of IT broadcast operations at Fox Sports. “Now it’s the first question I get when I walk into a TV broadcast compound: ‘When is the internet coming up?’”

Locations for pregame or studio shows are usually chosen for aesthetics, not necessarily infrastructure. But rather than be beholden to what may be available through the location or what can be purchased through a local ISP, Cradlepoint COR series routers are part of a portable communications case Fox Sports uses that can accommodate various WAN links through one device. These systems provide constant connectivity for the production team’s networking needs.

“When we show up at an event, it can take an entire day to bring up wired internet,” Ramirez said. “Now we just take the portable communication case, connected by Cradlepoint, and we are able to bring up the network while we continue unloading and setting up equipment.”

Using 4G LTE-based internet access via the Cradlepoint routers provides a sense of confidence to the production crew that it will have reliable connectivity before, during and after the broadcast.

The number of U.S. TV homes with at least one internet-connected TV device continues to swing upward, Leichtman Research Group (LRG) found in a new study.

Some 74% of those homes have at least one such device in a category that includes smart TVs, standalone streaming players, streaming adapters and sticks, and connected Blu-ray players, LRG said in the study, "Connected and 4K TVs XV," which based findings on a survey of 1,202 U.S. TV homes.

The 2018 results are up from 65% in LRG’s 2016 study, 44% in 2013, and a mere 24% in 2010.

LRG said 29% of adults in U.S. TV homes watch video on a TV via a connected device daily, up from 19% in 2016, 6% in 2013, and 1% in 2010.

Tying into a broader trend that has seen younger viewers gravitate to OTT-delivered video, that group currently over-indexes in the 18-34 age group (43%), compared to 33% who are 35-54, and 12% among those 55 years or older.

Per the study, about 29% of all TVs in U.S. homes are connected smart TVs, up from just 7% in 2014. Among homes with any connected TV device, 57% have three or more, with a mean of 3.8 devices per connected TV home.

Across all TV homes, the mean number of connected TV devices is 2.8, versus a mean of 1.7 pay TV set-top boxes per U.S. TV home

“Connected TVs, along with Netflix and other SVOD services, are among the biggest factors driving change in the video industry over the past few years,” Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG, said in a statement. “In a short period of time, connected devices have allowed an increasing number of consumers to easily watch SVOD and other video options on the same TV screen as traditional pay-TV and broadcast offerings."

LOS ANGELES—NEWS FLASH: There is a huge shift in viewing of media (TV and movies) from traditional distribution outlets (cable, satellite, broadcast) to the internet, including both fixed and wireless as well as mobile devices…OK, we all know this, just wanted to get your attention.

While the established modes of media distribution are well understood and engineered, governed by open standards (ATSC A/53, SCTE 23 (Docsis), DVB-T, DVB-S, MPEG) the internet is an amalgam of “open standards” (IETF) and quasi proprietary approaches (Apple HLS), as well as a variety of software protocols and applications (web browsers, media players, etc.). Further there is a loose form of registration (ICANN) and operational principles (peering) that govern traffic and routing on the internet. 

This looseness, with a minimal of standardization, has encouraged the development of new feature-rich applications that empower people to consume media content anywhere and anytime they have access to the internet. On the minus side, the “core internet,” which has evolved over time, is not designed to expand at the rate of consumption of video. Unlike other forms of internet traffic, media streaming/downloading requires certain performance criteria:

1. Low latency

2. High end to end bandwidth

3. Low packet loss

4. High storage capacity

ONE TO ONE

One of the key differences between the internet and traditional video distribution is that the internet is based on datagram transmission protocols, not switched circuit technology nor linear channel distribution (cable, OTA, satellite). In datagram transmission protocols, the video content is put into sequential packets of limited size and then each packet is launched over an IP network. Each request for content requires unique packets be sent to that user, thus 1 million viewers means 1 million distinct video streams. Linear channels can support multiple receive points with one common video feed.

Along the way, these packets are buffered and routed to their ultimate destination. Because there is no centralized routing or path assignments, the route of any two packets of the same video stream may or may not traverse the same set of routers and links thus experiencing different transit delays. The IP packet video receiver has to buffer the incoming packets, perhaps re-ordering them, prior to processing (decoding). This buffering introduces additional delay. In contrast, in a linear channel or circuit-switched transmission, the routing of video data is fixed thus the received video packet order is fixed, minimizing buffering and delay. There may be an initial delay in setting up the circuit or tuning to the desired channel, but once the streaming has begun, a minimum of delay will occur from receiving the compressed video data and decoding back to base band image data.

THREE METHODS OF SEGMENTATION

To overcome some of the challenges of data packet transmission, a technique known as segmentation has evolved. There are three competing approaches: Microsoft Silverlight, Apple HLS and Adobe HDS. Basically, the media is encoded in bundles of discrete segments of content length (from milliseconds to several seconds usually) and are then sent as a “package.” Once the first package is received and verified, decoding starts while the next package is being received. As long as the transmission delays are less than the segment content length, the receive buffer is kept from emptying, which prevents stalling the decoder output. 

However this only solves the delay/re-buffer problem. If the end-to-end IP bandwidth is not stable and drops below the criteria of delivering packets faster than the decoder is pulling them out, then buffer underflow will occur causing freeze frames or black frame output. An advantage of the internet is the inherent bi-directional connection; the receiver can report back to the video server statistics on the recovery of packets. If the packet receive rate is too slow for the current encoding bitrate, the server can “switch” to a lower bitrate. For the segmented protocols, this usually means swapping bit rates at segment boundaries. Likewise, if there is more than sufficient bitrate, the server can raise the bitrate and improve the overall video quality. For circuit-switched or linear channel-based delivery, fixed bandwidth is guaranteed along with a fixed transmission path.

From a practical point of view, given that encoding is processor-intensive and each bitrate rendition require more storage at the server, video servers have a fixed number of encoded bit rates available, typically four. The server selects the appropriate bitrate segment for the viewer encoded in the bitrate below the reported receive bitrate. A further refinement of this approach, called CAE (Content Aware Encoding) optimizes the bitrate per segment, with multiple tiers of quality performance. For a given quality, the bitrate will fluctuate between segments; if the available bitrate is insufficient, the server will select a tier (or ladder) of less quality/lower bitrate.

Other techniques to manage video delivery over the internet include transcoding at the edge (where the origin video is re-encoded to fit down local IP connections), multicast (similar to a linear channel approach), shared caching (where receivers share data streams) and peering (similar to Bit Torrent). 

HANDLING THE CROWDS

The reality of internet delivery of media content is a complex topic. There are physical constraints, such as bandwidth, storage, processing, as well as electrical power (it is estimated that in the U.K., 16 percent of all power generated is used by the internet data centers). While there are traffic flow models for the internet, media streaming does not fit well into these models, so we have to use empirical measures of how well the internet is handling video. We know many “peak event” viewings of live content (season premieres, live sporting events, etc.) cause either slowdowns or disruptions to the video feeds. The causes are manifold—maybe over-subscription of the origin server or if the client side connectivity degrades or the internet core routing is over-taxed or if the ISP gateway is overloaded. CDNs in part, mitigate these peak flows and attempt to route around bottlenecks. But the root cause is larger audience sizes coupled with increasing bandwidth requirements of video content (HD, 4K, high frame rate). Since each viewer receives a unique media stream, as the viewership grows, the total internet bandwidth grows. 

The current estimate is that around 70 percent of all internet traffic is due to media consumption. This means that everything else (email, financial transactions, web browsing, etc.) is 30 percent. However, it is interesting to note that the 70 percent represents many duplicative feeds—if 1 million people are interested in viewing the World Champion Darts competition finals, then that represents 1 million streams at some bitrate (1Mb/s to 4 Mb/s typically). But at the same time, there can be many other instances of stream viewing with an audience of a single viewer to over 1 billion viewers. While CDNs can scale and create multiple delivery pipes—and multiple origin servers can be made available, thus spreading the load over a broader set of servers and data connections—there is ultimately a finite resource of bandwidth and processing nodes. 

THE BOTTLENECK

Much like the traffic on the 405 in Los Angeles, there are finite resources (lanes) that can carry cars. We can carpool or reduce the size of the lanes (compression) but this solution has a linear effect on the problem while the growth of internet video traffic is exponential.

Another way to look at this is Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). Video streaming is growing at a CAGR of 30-35 percent; video compression over the last 25 years has improved around 7 percent CAGR (halving the video bitrate every 10 years). Unless video compression has a major breakthrough (15:1 improvement in compression efficiency) compression alone cannot solve the internet video bottleneck. (Note that 15:1 compression improvement does not take account of the increase in bitrate due to increasing video format size or frame rate.) More and more content delivered over the internet is HD and above (4K, eventually 8K), which needs more bandwidth than the current mix of internet video streams.

The solution has to be found in alternate video protocols for distribution of video over IP. The 1:1 relationship between the viewer and a unique video stream is unsupportable with the growth of consumption of video over the internet. The challenge is the desire for personalized delivery, one that can be controlled by the viewer using many different devices (mobile, fixed, PC), connection types (wired and wireless) and viewing conditions. Some proposed solutions are variants of multicast protocols, but multicast means “appointment TV” viewing or having to record each multicast feed locally in an appliance. However this does not support “impulse viewing” if that multicast feed was not previously subscribed to by the viewer. Perhaps a hybrid approach where there is a “linear feed” multicast to millions and 1:1 individual streams for those that either come late to the party or want a unique viewing experience (such as a “cut down” version of a live event, minus all the game breaks). Maybe.

Well let’s hope that 2018 will be the year that someone figures out a solution to the bottleneck.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—The internet has permanently changed how we do just about everything in our professional lives, from making travel plans to giving us the very tools we use to complete our work. As connection speeds improve geometrically, “the cloud” becomes an ever-more attractive place to do the real work of content creation, transcoding, distribution and storage.

So it is with software as a service (SaaS), a category of internet offering that was not available five years ago but now has key advantages for television and film operations. Let’s take a look at what it can do, then see where it might make sense for your operation.

Andrew Warman, director for cloud product management at Harmonic Inc.

“SaaS is a way for a third-party provider to host software applications and make them available to customers to use over the internet,” said Andrew Warman, director of cloud product management for Harmonic Inc. in San Jose, Calif. “It removes the need for organizations to install and run applications on their own data centers. Moreover, it takes away all the headaches involved with buying, provisioning and maintaining hardware, including the need to manage software licensing and deal with support issues. All these aspects of owning and operating hardware are replaced by a fee paid to use the services.”

This lack of up-front capital expense can foster experimentation and new video services, once SaaS is widely understood and the concept grasped.

“SaaS lends itself to a variety of operating models, including cases where initial cost of deploying conventional solutions is seen as risky, expensive and/or too time-consuming,” Warman said. “Launching a service is fast; there are no upfront startup costs, and operation of the hardware and software is handled by the service provider, reducing—if not entirely removing—these constraints. SaaS enables operators to launch and stop on-demand services, as needed, without paying for unused or under-utilized infrastructure when the service is dormant or if it is no longer necessary.”

AFFORDABLE ONE-TIME EVENTS?
Need a concrete example?

“Consider the situation in which a local broadcaster had an opportunity to air a concert or speech at a local venue,” said Steve Reynolds, chief technology officer for Imagine Communications in Dallas. “Normally, the capital expense to put in place integrated channel playout for what might be a onetime event would be too high. A SaaS model would allow [a broadcaster] to experiment with these types of live events.”

If you are a content creator with the chance to take on additional projects, SaaS can provide workflow efficiency as well as help you avoid much of the pesky capital expense to outfit new editing stations and in-house shared storage.

“SaaS not only allows scale-up capabilities, but provides one thing that typical CAPEX models do not provide, and that is scale-down,” Reynolds said. “A business can take on larger projects and grow as necessary. SaaS would allow a content creation company to grow incrementally, while optimizing its overall infrastructure cost and moving between CAPEX investment and OPEX based on its particular needs.”

For many broadcasters, their news programming is the focus of their operations. Where can SaaS fit into the production of local broadcast news?

“A news service will provide its stories in individual segments that are then distributed to the service’s customers—i.e., broadcasters—mostly in standard broadcast formats,” said Raja Srinivasan, product manager for Telestream’s Cloud offering. “However, many broadcasters also receive local news stories from stringers, or even from the general public. These feeds will come into the station in a variety of formats, and the cloud offers these providers a simple way to take their news stories and make them broadcast ready—maybe even adding [lower-third graphics].”

Srinivasan cited a recent project with Calkins Media, a New Jersey-based station group that used the Telestream Cloud Advanced Service on a “pay-per-minute” basis to allow Verizon to offer some of Calkins’ programming on-demand.

“Alternatively, a broadcaster may use cloud transcoding technology to supplement its in-house transcoding capabilities for those times when there is a peak in incoming material [such as a major fire or other event],” he said. “Calkins Media is an excellent example of a broadcaster that uses cloud transcoding in this way.”

Lawrence Kaplan, president and CEO of SVDI Corp.

ATSC 3.0 AND SAAS
ATSC 3.0 is coming and broadcasters are now planning on how and when to implement this new standard. How does SaaS figure into ATSC 3.0?

“One of the biggest changes in ATSC 3.0 is the inclusion of 4K-resolution video,” said Ian Hamilton, chief technology officer of U.S.-based Signiant. “With broadcast moving to a 4K future with ATSC 3.0, we expect a lot more 4K content to be produced for television. All this content will need to be moved through today’s globally distributed production ecosystems and supply chains. Sending these much larger files over IP networks, quickly, reliably and securely will be a major concern for broadcasters, and a proven SaaS solution like Signiant’s Media Shuttle will be the easiest, fastest and most economical means of doing so.”

SaaS is not necessarily targeted at big or small clients—it’s more about the needs and imagination of the client.

“On-demand access to an application as a service is a highly efficient, cost-effective alternative to a traditional software license,” said Lawrence R. Kaplan, president and CEO of SVDI Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif. “SaaS enables consumption-based pricing—infrastructure on demand. SaaS-based access to an application would be a great advantage to any user who has an unpredictable requirement to process 4K files. Of course, dealing with 4K requires special consideration. SVDI’s Rally is an SaaS application hosted in a public cloud, but the processing resources and files being processed can be located anywhere. For example, it may make sense to process a 4K file on premises, rather than in a public cloud.”

Ian Fletcher, chief technology officer for media at Grass Valley

PLAN FOR CLOUD-BASED APPS
Some of what SaaS does sounds a lot like what a product will do, but it does it across the web. Ian Fletcher, chief technology officer for media at Montreal-based Grass Valley, suggested that getting the most from SaaS technology means planning cloud-based operations instead of specific hardware-dependant tasks.

“The most important thing to understand about SaaS and cloud technology is the difference between a true cloud architecture and simple virtualization; this is an area that is often misunderstood,” Fletcher said. “Many of today’s current cloud deployments are really nothing more than existing products running on VMs in a data center. Although this may have some benefits for certain types of customers, fundamentally it is still operating the same as conventional playout systems—all the broadcaster has really done is made the cable longer between him and his equipment room.”

If you are still unsure about how SaaS works, industry consultant Al Kovalick, founder of Media Systems Consulting, said that “flinging watts into the ether” will not be affected by SaaS but just about everything else will.

“All aspects of media workflows and applications will be affected, including MAM, craft editing, logging, review and approval, scheduling, video processing, office productivity apps, and many more areas,” Kovalick said.

Although the first word in SaaS is “software,” SaaS is more than just another way to edit or transcode video. Properly configured for your use, it can offer the chance to try new projects, reach new viewers and save on capital expenses. Or if you simply need to scale up what you are already doing, there’s probably a SaaS partner to help you get that done quickly.

DALLAS—Why watch YouTube on your phone when you can watch it on your big screen TV? That seems to be the though process of many U.S. households according to a new report from Parks Associates. The latest findings on connected entertainment research deliverables shows that more than 50 percent of U.S. broadband households now watch internet videos on a TV screen.

With more TVs connected to the internet either directly or through connected devices there is evidence of a shift in video consumption habits of consumers. “The fact that one-half of broadband households watch internet video on a television shows that we are well past a tipping point,” said Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Parks Associates. “The market has fundamentally changed.”

Additional findings in the report include that 88 percent of computer-based viewing is from non-linear sources. OTT continues to grow, as 72 percent of non-pay-TV subscribers are signed up for an OTT video service and use it as their primary source of content. Also, 49 percent of broadband households in the U.S. subscribe to Netflix.

“The abundance of alternatives is clearly impacting the traditional TV industry,” said Sappington. “ Well over 60 percent of households now subscribe to one or more OTT video services, and one-third subscribe to two or more services. Traditional players have taken notice and many have launched their own OTT offerings in an effort to get out in front of the shift.”

Read the full report here.