CHANTILLY, Va.—I’ve spent the bulk of my career immersed in television technology—spanning satellites, cable, broadcast and internet. Recently, I’ve been focused on “crossing the streams” between television technology and public safety—specifically by exploiting the unique characteristics of digital television datacasting to support public safety, first responders and public alerting.

Public safety entities, who have historically depended on land-mobile radio (LMR) technology for communications, have been stymied by the limitations of those services. They are generally voice-only services with limited geographic footprints. 4G/LTE mobile services can offer increased functionality but are hampered by the limitations of wireless coverage, dependence on commercial power and congestion during public safety incidents—often making them unusable precisely at the times they are needed the most.

Datacasting utilizes a dedicated portion of broadcast television bandwidth to provide secure, targeted IP data delivery, including alerts, messages, files, images and video. Data is encoded, encrypted (when desired) and multiplexed with other program streams into the digital television broadcast signal. It is only receivable on targeted devices and is undetectable on television viewed by the public. Because it uses the resilient TV station infrastructure, datacasting is highly reliable, especially during emergencies (Fig. 1).

SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS

Datacasting has the potential to provide significant benefits when used to support public safety.

Broadcast television signals are widely available in urban, suburban and rural areas, so datacasting coverage is extensive. Public television transmitters alone reach nearly 97 percent of the U.S. population, including territories.

Because datacasting uses existing broadcast television infrastructure, it is highly reliable and resilient. Broadcast television has a proven track record of staying on the air even during severe weather events and extended power outages, as demonstrated during Super-storm Sandy and Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Datacasting is not subject to congestion during emergencies. The licensed television spectrum is controlled by the television station licensee and staffed by professional engineers. When they allocate bandwidth to public safety, the same quality of service will always be available.

Datacasting can be used to multicast data to many users for the same cost as the transmission of data to a single user. Datacasting can make more efficient use of available bandwidth and reduce the load on LTE bandwidth, freeing that spectrum up for other uses.

Datacasting leverages a system designed primarily for the transmission of high-quality video and audio streams. Thus, it has the innate ability to address the public safety community’s desire for high quality audio and video data transport.

Television stations are designed as a communications hub, where fiber, satellite, microwave and LTE carrier aggregation allow for content aggregation from a remote command, state or national government agency, and distribution over a local TV station for last mile delivery.

Datacasting is relatively inexpensive to implement and operate. The bulk of the network operating costs are already covered under a station’s broadcast service model. Incorporating datacasting into a comprehensive communications plan leverages this sunk cost making datacasting very cost effective.

Datacasting provides an alternative communications path to the existing cellular system, which cannot easily handle large files and video and provides a redundant communications path in times of emergency when the cellular systems become congested and non-functional.

Datacasting improves interoperability and the ability to share critical files and videos between agencies and metropolitan regions.

A conceptualized digital television signal is shown in Fig. 2. In this simplified example, the station is transmitting one HD channel (shown in orange), and one SD channel (shown in blue), and has allocated a fixed minimum amount of their digital capacity to datacasting (shown in red). The digital capacity required for the two television signals varies in time, based on the complexity of the video.

So, there is often unused transmission capacity that can be used opportunistically for datacasting in addition to the minimum capacity set aside. Small content elements, for example, alert messages, take very little transmission capacity and can be transmitted very quickly. Larger content elements, for example, a live drone video feed, are best served through dedicated capacity. In extreme circumstances, a station also has the option to preempt or reduce quality on one or more video services to free up capacity for high-demand content.

LEVERAGING AI AND MACHINE LEARNING

So, what is one of the biggest challenges? Identifying and selecting the most appropriate and useful content to send to first responders. Think about a public safety datacasting system that supports all first responders in a station’s entire broadcast footprint. That might include state and local police, emergency management teams, fire services, school districts, public venues, corrections departments, state national guard and others. Today there are literally thousands of video sources in every community that are useful in supporting public safety incidents within just a single station’s footprint. Examples include police and national guard helicopter video, UAV drone video from wildfire incidents, traffic cameras, security cameras (from schools, sports arenas, correctional facilities, etc.), body cameras and hand-held cellphone video.

Traditionally we’ve had a dispatcher making human choices about which video sources are the most important to datacast and target to specific public safety entities and first responders; however, that model is reaching its limits due to the raw number of potential sources. It’s a phenomenon that psychologist Barry Schwartz describes as “The Paradox of Choice” in his book of the same name. There are so many choices that the opportunities that should be liberating us instead are overwhelming us and making it more difficult for us to actually make choices.

This is where the media & entertainment and public safety industry efforts around AI and machine learning are offering solutions to this choice dilemma. On the M&E side, work focused on content cataloging, automated analysis and metadata enrichment are helping to simplify and streamline the selection process. On the public safety side, work focused on human behavior analysis, facial recognition, event access control and deep learning are equally applicable to source selection for public safety datacasting.

Our plan is to leverage the ongoing work in both industries to help solve this real-world and growing challenge. The onset of Next Gen TV greatly enhances the capacity and opportunities for public safety datacasting. Coupling that with advanced approaches to content selection and curation will solidify broadcast television’s role in supporting public safety in our communities.

John McCoskey is chief operating officer for SpectraRep. He can be reached atjmccoskey@spectrarep.com. Follow him on Twitter at @John_McCoskey.

CHANTILLY, VA.—SpectraRep, a provider of datacasting technology for homeland security and public safety, has appointed John McCoskey as its new Chief Operating Officer.

McCoskey has more than 30 years of experience in the broadcast technology. Prior to SpectrRep, he headed up the technology, media and entertainment practice at Eagle Hill Consulting, was the first chief technology officer for PBS as well as the CTO and executive Vice President for the Motion Picture Association of America. He is also a contributor to TV Technology.

“John will be responsible for guidance, alignment and prioritization of SpectraRep strategy at a time when we are seeing incredible adoption of datacasting to improve public safety information sharing and as SpectraRep expands into public alerting,” said Mark O’Brien, president of SpectraRep. "His expertise in broadcast technology, coupled with his knowledge of the public television landscape will reinforce our course as law enforcement and first responders recognize the benefits of ATSC digital television transmission.”

[Read: SpectraRep Datacasting System Helps Share Public Safety Info]

“I am very pleased to be joining SpectraRep at this particular time because there’s such a tremendous opportunity to extend the community service mission of public television stations with datacasting,” McCoskey said. “Using my background, experience and relationships in this domain, I will focus on implementing SpectraRep’s vision to pursue new and existing opportunities that help solve problems on the local level. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — ATSC 3.0 plans are moving forward across the broadcast community, spurred by ATSC’s rapid action to complete the standards set, aggressive FCC rulemaking timelines and the start of station repacking as an outcome of the broadcast incentive auction. While opinions differ about the nationwide rollout timeline, the most likely use cases and the best new revenue opportunities, everyone now seems to agree this transition will indeed happen across the United States over the next several years, starting in 2018.

Stations being repacked are taking advantage of that “opportunity.” Most are buying up to “ATSC 3.0 ready” gear and adding the appropriate incremental transmitter power and vertical polarization at their own expense above and beyond federal reimbursement. Many station GMs who were initially happy about not having to deal with repacking logistics now wish they were able to take advantage of the technology refresh that repacking offers.

As a technologist, I find this all very exciting. As an industry, we are moving to replace a largely fixed, 20-year-old technology stack with one based on the flexibility and adaptability of Internet Protocol technologies. We now have a new set of voluntary standards that allow the broadcast industry to move forward with less regulation and to do so by following a model that has worked very well for our mobile wireless colleagues. We are transitioning to an RF transmission platform equally well-suited to reach fixed, mobile and indoor devices and using a spectrum band that is optimal across these use cases.

[Read: ATSC 3.0 Marches On]

However, as a technology, strategy and change management consultant, I am concerned about stations not viewing ATSC 3.0 opportunities through a strategic lens. Instead, many are looking at this opportunity as simply a technology transition—a “tech refresh.” That is an unfortunate and short-sighted approach to what holds the promise of transformational change across the business functions of a station.

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION: STRATEGY BEFORE TACTICS

“How can you have a five year strategy plan when you don’t know what will happen in five minutes?” – Dilbert, a creation of Scott Adams

So, how should an organization think about ATSC 3.0 strategically? Follow best practices for strategic planning, implementation, operations and measurement.

1. ASSESS YOUR CURRENT SITUATION

“Confront the brutal facts.”

– Jim Collins, Bestselling Author of Good to Great

First, determine what is happening with other stations in your market. Who is moving quickly vs. waiting? Who needs a partner for channel sharing? What are the timelines other stations are planning and working against? Are stations leveraging an FCC-reimbursed repack to prepare for ATSC 3.0 infrastructure? How will the competitive landscape and service mix change as stations implement ATSC 3.0? Is anyone planning for SFN transmitters?

The transition to ATSC 3.0 requires a coordinated and collaborative plan across two or more broadcasters, so you need to understand your market if you want to play.

Create a balanced view. Identify and understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Be objective. Engage your whole organization, not just the technology team.

Is ATSC 3.0 part of your current five-year strategic plan? It needs to be.

2. UNDERSTAND YOUR MISSION, VISION AND VALUE

“Strategy must have continuity, it can’t be constantly reinvented.”

– Michael Porter, Harvard Business School professor and bestselling author

Reasons for changing to an optional new strategic technology must tie directly to your overall mission, vision and values. You are not in the broadcast technology business. How you choose to exploit this innovative technology should directly align with the essence of your business. Mission: What is the organization’s purpose? Vision: What is its future state? Values: What does the organization stand for?

3. DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES

“If you don’t know where you are going, you are certain to end up somewhere else.”

– Yogi Berra

What are you going to do with the new technology? Consider how your service mix can and should change. For example, do you want to add UHD, HDR, etc.? Do you want to offer services to others to build new revenue streams (for example, hosting legacy ATSC 1.0 services for other stations or sharing capacity for datacasting)?

How will you exploit advanced audience measurement, mobile services, emergency alerting and datacasting?

Does your governance allow you to be a channel host or to partner with another station? This is a particularly important question for non-commercial stations whose license may be held by local government or institutional entities.

Are you organized optimally to best exploit ATSC 3.0 services? Is your board aware of and ready to take on ATSC 3.0 discussions?

4. CREATE AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

“Most organizations overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.”

– Mark Sween, CEO, Hawthorne Management

It goes without saying that early and detailed planning will be critical to take full advantage of your ATSC 3.0 transition. You will need to map out desired capabilities, relative importance and how they will be implemented.

You will need to consider tradeoffs between robustness and digital capacity.

Account for ATSC 3.0 and any repacked channels at the same time. There is no reason to do this twice.

5. EXECUTE YOUR PLAN AN ONGOING MEASUREMENT

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive … but the one most responsive to change.”

– Charles Darwin

Close the loop. How are you doing against the objectives you established earlier? Are the new services offering what you expected? Be sure to define measurable metrics for each objective and track them.

Finally, don’t be afraid to change course. None of us really knows what viewers will actually do when offered new services and technologies. If they go a different direction than your strategy assumes, reassess, update and continue forward. The good news is that ATSC 3.0 gives us a powerful, flexible and less regulated platform that will — for the first time — allow us to change and adapt just like our competitors.

John McCoskey is an Industry Executive – Technology, Media and Entertainment for Eagle Hill Consulting. Follow him on Twitter at @John_McCoskey.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

ARLINGTON, VA.—From phony customer accounts created by Wells Fargo to Mylan’s sky-high pricing on the EpiPen device, “bad behavior” by employees was a hot business topic in 2016. No industry—broadcasters included—is exempt from these kinds of issues.

For those of us in the business of organizational culture, scandals like these present an opportunity to ask important questions about organizational values: Do they really matter? Are employees genuinely engaged in the values? Are core values driving employee behavior and organizational performance?

Q: Do you know about your company's core values?

At a time when the broadcast industry faces increasing competition for skilled technical talent while also dealing with transitions from an ageing technical workforce, it is more important than ever to understand how core values motivate employees to perform, grow and stay. Most broadcast organizations and stations have mission and values statements that they share with their employees. However, do managers model and live up to their organization’s values and understand the importance of organizational core values in building and retaining their workforce? Do employees know and model the values of their organization? 

At the end of 2016, Eagle Hill Consulting conducted a survey to explore those questions. The findings are striking.

FIRST, THE BAD NEWS

In our survey, nearly half of working age Americans—47 percent—said they do not know or are not sure about their company’s core values. 

That suggests that a significant share of the workforce is disconnected from their employer’s core values, which should drive all corporate behavior, culture and policies. Without a shared ideal to guide behavior, an organization can become the “wild west”—with each individual deciding what’s acceptable and rendering the organization vulnerable to crisis. 

THE GOOD NEWS

Among those who know their company’s core values, 89 percent said that the values indeed drive their behavior. The challenge, then, is to embed core values into the DNA of employees and the culture. That’s how the “west” is won: when values-based behavior becomes second nature.

Q: Do these core values drive your decisions and behaviors at work?

MOVING FROM WHAT TO HOW

What does it take to instill core values throughout a workforce? It isn’t enough to give employees a copy of the values statement during on-boarding, to send out emails or to cheerlead about the values at an annual meeting. Embedding values into the organizational DNA requires an ongoing multifaceted dialogue with employees. Organizations thrive when discussion moves beyond the “what” of the values on to the “how” employees deliver on them.

EMBEDDING CORE VALUES: THREE KEY TACTICS

Ready to infuse your core values through your workforce and culture? Here are three simple tactics we’ve found effective at Eagle Hill:

1) Start the values conversation before hiring

The values dialogue should begin with how and whom you hire. Seek out employees with personal values that align with your corporate values. Start by identifying interview questions related to your culture and core values. Ask all recruits the same values-related questions and evaluate each candidate against the same rubric. It’s a proven way to determine if a candidate is likely to align naturally with your culture and values and you’ve begun the values discussion before the employee starts.

2) Lead the way

Values always come from the top, so make sure your company leaders establish the values, have an open dialogue with employees about them and visibly live them—in words and actions. Consider using internal social media to seed the values dialogue. Social media is ideal as an “up and down” communication tool, fueling opportunities to highlight employees at every level whose behaviors embody your core values.

3) Measure it

At a macro level, what’s the best way to understand if values are driving your business and corresponding behaviors? Ask your people. This isn’t about “testing” whether or not employees can parrot back a laundry list. Instead, engage your people about what’s happening on the ground when it comes to delivering on core values. Consider regular surveys where employees can respond anonymously. Then share the findings broadly and loudly. Use the results to pinpoint strengths and expose what needs improvement. And, engage your people on ideas for building and executing improvement plans.

John McCoskey is Industry Lead Executive – Communications, Media & Technology at Eagle Hill Consulting in Arlington, Va. He can be reached at jmccoskey@eaglehillconsulting.com.

ARLINGTON, VA.—The broadcast industry continues to undergo change at an increasing and dramatic pace. Much of that change is driven by rapid technology advances that lead to an increasing number of ways for users to find, receive and consume content. This is ultimately good for business, particularly for organizations that recognize and embrace change as part of their DNA.

Along with these changes in capabilities and consumption, we are also undergoing paralleled generational changes in our workforce. We are seeing, deeply diverse multigenerational workforces—more so than ever before. According to labor and workforce data compiled from the most recent Current Population Survey (CSP, a joint effort of the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the employment group with the highest percentage of young professionals encompasses the media and entertainment industry, where 36.3 percent of the professional workforce was between the ages of 20 and 34. How big of a factor is the workforce shift for media and tech companies? Do we need to meet the unique needs of each generational group or does one size fit all? Companies that get this right are uniquely positioned, and those that do not risk losing their best talent to competitors or other industries that “get it.”

There are several areas of change across our industry that require attention, and in-turn offer high potential in the form of return-on-investment and productivity including:

·Non-broadcast adjuncts to the traditional distribution model,

·Transition to IT, IP, cloud and service-based infrastructure and architecture,

·Social media platforms and engagement,

·ATSC 3.0 and enhanced broadcast services, and

·Outflow of broadcast technology subject matter experts (particularly those with RF and transmission skills).

The big question is whether your organization can simultaneously navigate these new opportunities and corresponding challenges so it can remain competitive and thrive into the future. Leading staff through periods of change is one of the most daunting workplace challenges management will encounter. And organizations that best lead their people through change will fare far better than those that do not. Ultimately, when there is understanding, dialogue, trust and strong management, employees are motivated and inspired to thrive during change.

CHANGE IS CHANGE ACROSS GENERATIONS

As shown in the CSP data (Fig. 1), the makeup of the media and tech workforce is shifting as Baby Boomers (age 52-71) retire and companies become more dominated by Generation X (age 36-51) and Millennial (age 18-35) employees. How does this changing mix affect strategies and success factors as we undergo industry change? Eagle Hill Consulting conducted a nationwide survey across multiple industries and generations, polling employed respondents about their experiences undergoing workplace change.

Interestingly, the key factors for successfully adopting change across generations varied little across these groups. Regardless of their generation, respondents identified three key important factors in successful change initiatives: understanding the need for change, strong leadership and effective communication.

In simple terms, managers facing complex change initiatives can be most successful if they focus on:

·Exhibiting strong leadership,

·Practicing effective communication, and

·Understanding how leadership and communication during change are different from day-to-day activities and approaches.

LEADERSHIP & COMMUNICATION MATTER

Change leaders must build a compelling case for change and a vision for the outcome of changes. Respondents from each generational group identified failure to exhibit strong leadership as the top reason for failed change initiatives, and 89 percent of happier employees post-change attributed success to strong and visible leadership.

Poor communication of the rationale for change and poor communication overall were noted as the top reasons that organizational changes fail. Managers should focus on successfully building the case for change as well as alleviating uncertainty amongst employees during change initiatives.

Generational stereotypes are common when considering methods of communication, for example, the stereotypes that Millennials’ prefer technology-based communication while Baby Boomers’ prefer face-to-face meetings. Our survey suggests that the generational preferences for communicating change that many think exist, do not (Fig. 2). Respondents showed that 70 percent of each generational group prefers some form of in-person communication over email during change. Further, every respondent—regardless of generation—wanted more in-person communication than they received during a period of change. Fewer than 1 in 5 said that email is their preferred method for receiving communications during a change.

UNDERSTANDING MILLENNIALS

While Eagle Hill’s survey debunked many of the myths of dramatic differences between generational groups, two results are useful to understand as Millennials begin to make up an ever-growing segment of the workforce. Making a strong case for change and driving momentum are especially important to this generational group:

Communication: Most Millennial respondents (68 percent) were happier than any other generation (Gen X: 53 percent; Baby Boomers: 54 percent) about a change when they understood the case for change.

Momentum: Maintaining momentum through change is also key. Sixty percent of Millennials who were unhappy after a change effort said they started off excited. Generating quick wins and maintaining regular communication can help engage Millennials over time.

TAKE-AWAYS

Your business is changing. Whether it’s dealing with adding new distribution outlets, changing to an IP infrastructure, exploring cloud and service-based options, thinking about implementing ATSC 3.0, or whatever, understanding the implications of change on people is critical if you want to succeed. So, as you contemplate implementing organizational changes to align with the future, be sure to consider the following:

·Communicating organizational change is a distinct process,

·Multigenerational workforces want change communicated in similar ways,

·In-person communication during organizational change is critical, and

·Generational differences exist when considering “what” to communicate.

Concentrating on leadership and communication makes all the difference in leading organizations and workers of all ages through times of significant change.

John McCoskey is Industry Lead Executive - Communications, Media & Technology at Eagle Hill Consulting in Arlington, VA. He can be reached atjmccoskey@eaglehillconsulting.com.