NASHVILLE, Tennessee – ARK Multicasting, a low power television broadcaster and nationwide leader in Broadcast Internet technology, last week gave the broadcast industry a sneak peek at what they are accomplishing together with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (“HPE”), and Trinity Broadcasting Network (“TBN”). The event took place at the National Religious Broadcasters (“NRB”) convention in Nashville where Christian content creators, delivery platforms, and broadcasters gathered to see the enormous opportunity they have with ARK and the Broadcast Internet data delivery solution and new revenue streams available without sacrificing ministry efforts. dddd
Technology being demonstrated included the new ATSC 3.0 television standard, orchestration and edge-to-cloud infrastructure solutions provided by HPE, and the current deployment build of ARK with their customer, TBN. ARK announced their initial deployment of 10 Internet Broadcasting facilities in late 2021. The complete buildout will include some 300 stations covering 100 million people in the United States.
Ark Multicasting Co-Founder and CEO, Josh Weiss, demonstrated the power of their multicasting solution by highlighting how Verizon typically transits 6.5 exabytes across their network in a given month. “ARK can transfer 45 exabytes in that same month – in just one city,” Weiss said. “There is no other solution as efficient, effective, or as elegant as what we are bringing to market.”
On hand for the presentation was Madeleine Noland, president of the Advanced Television Standards Committee, Inc, the organization responsible for the new television standard.
“This new digital system is based on Internet Protocol. It is currently the world’s most efficient broadcast standard, bar none. And, since it’s the world’s first IP based broadcast system, it’s really about delivering any kind of data. So, it can deliver linear television data in the traditional form, and also deliver any other kind of data like software and firmware updates or distance education learning materials, enhanced GPS, file-based media and more,” said Noland during remarks at the presentation.
Noland congratulated ARK, HPE, and TBN for being “instrumental in developing exciting new use cases for broadcasters using ATSC 3.0” and thanked them “for their tremendous efforts and novel approach to this flexible new standard.”
Prior to the demo, Noland mentioned being excited because she had not seen it. Her post-demo response was “I was incredibly impressed. ARK, HPE and TBN demonstrated a mature datacasting solution in operation today. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing the hard work of the ATSC committees in real world implementations.”
Weiss along with Ali Dernaika, ATSC 3.0 Solution Architect for HPE, gave the overview and functional end-to-end demo of the operation complete with how a customer can log in and order various services on any of the ARK stations including linear video services, data transfer services for distance learning, smart city IoT, firmware updates, and Content Delivery Network (“CDN”) services. The audience was able to see how an ATSC 3.0 core network was capable of controlling and modifying the 6 MHz spectrum allocation of any individual broadcast station within the network with a few simple clicks by TBN or any ARK customer. The audience was then able to see the data files as they transited the broadcast headend and then show up on an end user device.
The event was hosted by Lee Miller, Executive Director of the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (“ATBA”.) He had praise and positive comments from the podium for the work that had been done on pushing out this new technology,
“I want to thank ARK, HPE, and TBN for being such trailblazers in the new technology of ATSC 3.0 and television spectrum.”
Larry Haley, CEO of Trilogy, the technology subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network, explained why TBN chose to become a partner with ARK.
“Faith-based organizations today, are constantly seeking innovative ways to cultivate new revenue streams while diversifying existing revenue models.”
TBN uses the data capacity of the spectrum to deliver its linear channels. In addition, utilizing revenue-generating datacasting services, Trilogy will be providing services for distance learning, utility providers, automotive, connected cities, first responder communications, and more.
“We’re proud to be working with leaders like ARK and TBN who are changing broadcasting and blazing a trail for others to follow. HPE is enabling ARK to harness ATSC 3.0 standards and merge broadband and broadcasting to move from linear TV to multicast,” said Paolo Ceccherini, worldwide business lead, digital video solutions, at HPE Communications Technology Group. “Thanks to our best-in-class ATSC 3.0 compliant blueprint, we can help ARK to deliver the broadcast core network controlling all stations and orchestration services, as well as enabling the introduction of additional compelling use cases. HPE provides infrastructure, software and services that together make up the edge-to-cloud platform for ARK’s Broadcast Internet service.”
A recording of the presentation will be streamed on the ATBA’s LPTV Wednesday webinar, March 16, 2022 at 3pm Central. Please register in advance. Here is the link to the webcast: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fYQeO0VVTj-c_3RS6rVo5g
About ARK Multicasting, Inc.
ARK Multicasting, a leading-edge Next Gen TV company is based in Dallas. ARK is leveraging the power of TV broadcasting adding an IP multicast extension to the unicast Internet. ARK is on the forefront of Broadcast Internet Service development with solutions to relieve congestion for Internet Service Providers and provide datacasting services for many verticals including distance learning, the connected car market, smart agriculture, telehealth, and over the top video streaming providers. ARK’s footprint of ~300 broadcast assets covering 1/3rd of the United States and ~100 million people is leading the industry in Next Gen TV ATSC 3.0. Further information visit www.ARKMulticasting.com.
About Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network is the world’s largest and most watched faith-and-family broadcaster, reaching over 175 nations across the earth with inspirational and entertaining programming 24 hours a day in 14 languages and on 32 global networks. As the world’s most influential non-profit religious broadcaster, TBN has led the way in expanding the impact of faith-based television across the earth through the creation of innovative content designed to reach every viewer demographic with the life-changing message of hope and grace. To find out more about the TBN Networks, visit us at www.tbn.org.
