Market Analysis of U.S. Fiber-Based Broadcast Video Transport Services

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/51444d/u_s_fiberbased_b) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "U.S. Fiber-based Broadcast Video Transport Services Market" to their offering.

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled U.S. Fiber-based Broadcast Video Transport Services Market provides an analysis of the key market drivers, challenges, and restraints. The study also presents an overview of the key demand areas and pricing trends. The migration of the market from satellite services to fiber-based video transport services is tracked, helping service providers to understand the growth potential.

Market Overview

Rapid Adoption of High-definition Format for Live Sporting Events Broadcasts Fuel Growth in the U.S. Fiber-based Broadcast Video Transport Services Market

The U.S. fiber-based broadcast video transport services market generated revenues worth $235.6 million in 2009, and this is expected to reach $440.7 million by 2014. The year 2008 was the defining year for high-definition (HD) video transport, particularly in the live sporting events space. The traction that HD format had gained in this arena in 2006 and 2007 took a step ahead when major broadcasters converted to 100 percent HD coverage of games. In 2009, for the second consecutive time, all FOX NFL and CBS NFL were and are continuing to be produced in HD. With ESPN, NBC, and NFL Network continuing their HD coverage, this will be the second 100 percent HD NFL season. ESPN holds the longest streak of producing all of its games in HD, having produced each one of its games in HD since the 2003 season. "Given the push to HDTV, fiber emerges as the choice for transporting uncompressed video from live events to NOC, or between production houses, which prefer uncompressed video to avoid the deterioration of signal quality caused by compression," notes the analyst of this research service. "Once these production houses have the master copy of the video ready, the video can be compressed before transmitting it to video headends of Telcos/Cable MSOs/Mobile service providers/ISPs etc."

The media and entertainment vertical end users are fixated on paying a usage-based fee to satellite operators, and demand the same kind of pricing model from terrestrial network service providers. Satellite operators lease their bandwidth in denominations of per minute, per hour, per week, per month, and annual fees. This offers tremendous flexibility to choose the type of service that best suits a clients bandwidth needs and budget. With the exception of Level 3, no other service provider has been able to replicate this type of service offering and pricing model. Broadcasters and content creators prefer to purchase service by the hour, half hour, or even smaller increments. This helps the media end users save on the cost of bandwidth, and allows the network provider to reallocate the available bandwidth to more media end users. Service providers are encouraged to devise service offerings that can be dynamically provisioned for durations/time period requested by the end users.

As leading communication service providers transform their backbone networks to next-generation networks such as Internet protocol/ multiprotocol label switching (IP/MPLS), video transport over fiber is gaining widespread adoption. Fiber transport networks offer the ability to carry large amounts of bandwidth, with excellent quality of service offered by the MPLS networks. Different types of content, including secure digital (SD), HD, and compressed/uncompressed, can be carried on fiber networks cost-effectively. "In the past, terrestrial and satellite were often viewed as competitive technologies, which could be substituted for the other. Recently, the complementary aspects of the two are being better understood and marketed to end-users as a whole," says the analyst. "By developing hybrid systems that combine the strengths of the two technologies, market penetration can be increased, thereby benefiting both the satellite and terrestrial network operators." As satellite operators experience loss in market share to terrestrial network service providers, specifically, for point-to-point connectivity, hybrid services are gaining traction in the market.

Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

• Occasional-use services
• Dedicated bandwidth services

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

• Executive Summary
• - Introduction
• - Key Research Findings
• - Snapshot of Market Revenues
• Study Scope & Definitions
• - Study Scope
• - Market Definitions
• - Standards and Protocols

2. Total Market Analysis and Revenue Forecasts

• Total Market Analysis
• - Total Market Forecasts
• - Market Engineering Measurements
• Market Overview
• - Industry Challenges
• - Market Drivers
• - Market Restraints
• Trend Analysis
• - Market and Technology Trends
• - Pricing Analysis
• Demand Analysis
• - Market Demand Analysis

3. Occasional Use Services Market Analysis

• Market Revenue Forecasts

4. Dedicated Bandwidth Services Market Analysis

• Market Revenue Forecasts

5. Competitive Analysis

Companies Mentioned:

• AT&T
• Verizon Business
• Level 3 Communications
• Optimum Lightpath
• Qwest Communications