{"id":657524,"date":"2013-05-12T20:45:48","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T00:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=644474"},"modified":"2013-05-12T20:45:48","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T00:45:48","slug":"how-abc-uses-live-streaming-and-the-cloud-to-challenge-aereo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/657524","title":{"rendered":"How ABC uses live streaming and the cloud to challenge Aereo"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, ABC is taking the fight against Aereo to the New York-based startups home turf: ABC will start streaming its entire program in real-time to viewers in New York as well as Philadelphia. This marks the first time one of the major broadcasters has streamed a 24-hour live feed online.<\/p>\n

However, there are a few key differences between ABC\u2019s and Aereo\u2019s approach: After a six-week introductory phase that will be open to anyone in the two markets, ABC\u2019s streams will only be available to authenticated cable subscribers. And ABC is using cloud technology to deliver its live streams, making the endeavour a whole lot cheaper than Aereo.<\/p>\n

ABC will start to stream its programming to iOS devices in these two markets Tuesday, and intends to quickly expand the service to other markets where it owns local stations. Viewers served by ABC affiliates may get access to the live streams a bit later — ABC first has to negotiate revenue sharing for advertising served on the live streams and navigate the treacherous waters of content licensing.<\/p>\n

But Ken Brueck, co-founder and CMO of upLynk<\/a>, the company that powers the live streaming for ABC, thinks it\u2019s only a matter of time before affiliates join the live stream. That\u2019s because, from a technology perspective, ABC\u2019s live streaming is incredibly cheap: Local affiliates who want to live stream their feed get a simple $1000 Linux box from upLynk that taps into their live broadcast feed and uploads everything to the cloud, where transcoding is happening in real time.<\/p>\n

Specialized software on the upLynk device also taps into the broadcaster\u2019s programming guide, and Uplynk swaps out programming on the fly if the broadcaster doesn\u2019t have the rights to air a certain show online. Also swapped out are ads, with ABC replacing its generic TV advertising with targeted ads served to iOS devices.<\/p>\n

The combination of that $1000 box and upLynk\u2019s cloud transcoding may seem like a minor technical detail — but it\u2019s one of the main reasons broadcasters didn\u2019t attempt to stream live programming online before. Previously, live streaming would have required to deploy hardware encoders to each and every affiliate, something that Brueck estimates would have cost many millions of dollars. Now, the transcoding is done by Amazon\u2019s EC2.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an approach that Aereo can\u2019t take advantage of, because it has to transcode a unique feed for each and every customer<\/a>, which is why Aereo\u2019s roll-out is much more expensive — and has been somewhat slow. The startup, which captures live programming from major broadcasters with tiny personal antennas and then streams it to subscribers, announced that it wants to be in 22 cities by the end of 2013. But so far, it\u2019s only available in New York.<\/p>\n

The flip side, however, is that Aereo can serve up shows that even ABC can\u2019t. The broadcaster doesn\u2019t have the rights to stream each and every show online, so upLynk\u2019s cloud servers occasionally have to swap out programming on the fly. \u201cSometimes, your content is going to be different\u201d that on live TV, admitted Brueck. He added that he hopes that ABC\u2019s new live streaming app can help the entire industry to sort out these kinds of issues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:<\/strong>
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n