September 26, 2006
Arrival of BB Broadcast-A Mass Audience Multicast System that Simultaneously Delivers High Quality Video Content to Tens of Thousands of Viewers
- EXILE Concert Multicast Marks Peak Audience of 25,302 and Total Audience Rating of 46,904 -
TV Bank Corporation
TV Bank Corporation (Head Office: Minato-Ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Masayoshi Son), a Softbank group company, has successfully developed BB Broadcast, which delivers high quality video content simultaneously to tens of thousands of viewers through broadband (i.e., fast mass volume telecommunication) networks, in collaboration with Roxbeam Media Network Corporation (Head Office: Beijing, China; Chairman and CEO: Li Zhou), another Softbank group company. On September 22, a concert by EXILE, a popular Japanese music and dance group, was multicasted at 768 Kbps (high quality) via the Yahoo! Streaming video content portal (http://streaming.yahoo.co.jp/) provided by Yahoo Japan Corporation. Using this multicast technology, the traffic volume for streaming the concert was approximately one-fifth that of conventional unicast streaming, enabling the peak audience (the maximum number of concurrent viewers) to reach 25,302, with a total audience rating of 46,904. The special EXILE Web site published on September 15 scored approximately 1.3 million page views by September 24. In addition, the total accesses for the video content within the site, including a message video from the EXILE members, numbered approximately 170,000 by the same date.
The BB Broadcast mass audience multicast system uses the Overlay Multicast (OLM) technology derived from the conventional IP multicasting technology. IP multicasting is a technique to transmit a set of data to a specified group of audience with a relatively low impact on networks by transferring the data from the server only through routers that are in the specified path. In the OLM technology, on the other hand, viewers of the streamed video install the specified application on their PCs, and the data submitted from the server are transferred through these PCs one after another to as large a number of viewers as permitted under the supervision of service providers. Unlike IP multicasting, this technology has the advantage of being transparent to heterogeneous network technologies used by different Internet Service Providers (ISP). BB Broadcast successfully delivers high-quality video content to tens of thousands of viewers at the same time by combining this OLM technology and other technologies, such as those to feed a stable video stream to multiple PCs and to protect the streamed video content. BB Broadcast has also cleared the strict network security audit provided by Little eArth Corporation.
Due to the rapidly spreading broadband infrastructure, a variety of video streaming services is currently available, including Yahoo! Streaming. As the number of viewers for such video services increased, the conventional unicast streaming started revealing its problem, which is that the traffic volume increases in proportion to the number of viewers who view a video simultaneously. This costs the service providers, as they have to secure sufficient bandwidth to deliver the greater volume of content at high speed, such as by contracting for a transit connection; therefore, the video streaming service that attracts a great number of viewers has been a double-edged sword in terms of revenue for such providers. BB Broadcast successfully restrained the traffic volume and associated costs, even when tens of thousands of viewers view a single video content simultaneously, and is expected to play an important role in making the video streaming service economically viable. BB Broadcast will also certainly help sustain and develop the Internet as a social infrastructure by mitigating the total traffic volume on networks, which has recently been regarded as a serious problem to be addressed.
We are planning to utilize the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System to deliver a series of real-time video streams on such as large-scale sporting events or concerts via the Yahoo! Streaming video content portal. We will also program the video streaming service around the clock.
[BBbroadcast logo]
[Features of BB Broadcast]
Mass Video Streaming at Low Cost
Although the initial hardware costs of video streaming using the conventional data transmission method is low, its streaming cost becomes high because the traffic volume increases in proportion to the number of viewers who view a video simultaneously. Therefore, it is in general unsuitable for distributing video content to a great number of viewers. While TV broadcasting is free from such increase of cost in proportion to the number of viewers, however, a larger scale of preparation is required, such as applying for radio band usage and organizing a broadcasting facility. Furthermore, because the broadcasting period is limited, only programs that are expected to gain a certain audience rating are accepted for placement on the airwaves. BB Broadcast can deliver high quality video content at a fixed cost that is much lower than TV broadcasting, regardless of the number of simultaneous viewers. BB Broadcast, which falls between networking and conventional broadcasting, is the best solution for video broadcasting for target audiences numbering from the tens to hundreds of thousands.
Mitigates the Traffic Increase
It is said that the telecommunication infrastructure in Japan will to soon break down, as the increase of traffic places too much of a financial burden on Japanese ISPs. Connection via an ISP usually goes through: (1) a transit connection that connects an ISP to the other ISPs and Internet Exchanges (IXs); (2) a backbone that connects an ISP’s branches; and (3) an access network that connects the ISP’s branches and a user. Rises in traffic volume proportionately increase the transit connection fee for an ISP, as well as increasing the necessity to reinforce the facility to support such a connection. In the unicast streaming, the data flows in the order of (1), (2), and (3) and the volume of the data increases as the number of viewers rises. In the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System, most of the traffic occurs within the area of (3) by exchanging video content among the registered viewers. The traffic volume in the (3) area thus remains as high as the unicast steaming; however, the traffic volume in the (1) and (2) areas can be reduced. Making BB Broadband widely available will help sustain and develop the Internet as a social infrastructure by reducing the ISP’s financial burden of the transit fee and capital investment without restricting the video viewing availability of their audiences.
Robust Content Protection
In the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System, all the video content submitted from a server is segmented and encrypted via the Windows Media Player Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform. A PC of the member audience, where an appropriate application is installed, then collects the segmented data packets from available servers and the other member PCs and reassembles the video while applying decryption. At the same time, the PC is still transferring the segmented and encrypted packets to the other member PCs. As the data transferred on the Internet are always segmented and encrypted, they cannot be harmed by an unauthorized party. Furthermore, the entire video playing procedure is carried out in the PC memory, including the video data collection, reassembly, decryption, and transferring to Windows Media Player. No data is stored on a hard disk.
[Coming Programs via BB Broadcast] (All programs are provided via Yahoo! Streaming.)
[Minimum PC Requirements to View BB Broadcast]
The BB Broadcast mass audience multicast system uses the Overlay Multicast (OLM) technology derived from the conventional IP multicasting technology. IP multicasting is a technique to transmit a set of data to a specified group of audience with a relatively low impact on networks by transferring the data from the server only through routers that are in the specified path. In the OLM technology, on the other hand, viewers of the streamed video install the specified application on their PCs, and the data submitted from the server are transferred through these PCs one after another to as large a number of viewers as permitted under the supervision of service providers. Unlike IP multicasting, this technology has the advantage of being transparent to heterogeneous network technologies used by different Internet Service Providers (ISP). BB Broadcast successfully delivers high-quality video content to tens of thousands of viewers at the same time by combining this OLM technology and other technologies, such as those to feed a stable video stream to multiple PCs and to protect the streamed video content. BB Broadcast has also cleared the strict network security audit provided by Little eArth Corporation.
Due to the rapidly spreading broadband infrastructure, a variety of video streaming services is currently available, including Yahoo! Streaming. As the number of viewers for such video services increased, the conventional unicast streaming started revealing its problem, which is that the traffic volume increases in proportion to the number of viewers who view a video simultaneously. This costs the service providers, as they have to secure sufficient bandwidth to deliver the greater volume of content at high speed, such as by contracting for a transit connection; therefore, the video streaming service that attracts a great number of viewers has been a double-edged sword in terms of revenue for such providers. BB Broadcast successfully restrained the traffic volume and associated costs, even when tens of thousands of viewers view a single video content simultaneously, and is expected to play an important role in making the video streaming service economically viable. BB Broadcast will also certainly help sustain and develop the Internet as a social infrastructure by mitigating the total traffic volume on networks, which has recently been regarded as a serious problem to be addressed.
We are planning to utilize the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System to deliver a series of real-time video streams on such as large-scale sporting events or concerts via the Yahoo! Streaming video content portal. We will also program the video streaming service around the clock.
[BBbroadcast logo]
[Features of BB Broadcast]
Mass Video Streaming at Low Cost
Although the initial hardware costs of video streaming using the conventional data transmission method is low, its streaming cost becomes high because the traffic volume increases in proportion to the number of viewers who view a video simultaneously. Therefore, it is in general unsuitable for distributing video content to a great number of viewers. While TV broadcasting is free from such increase of cost in proportion to the number of viewers, however, a larger scale of preparation is required, such as applying for radio band usage and organizing a broadcasting facility. Furthermore, because the broadcasting period is limited, only programs that are expected to gain a certain audience rating are accepted for placement on the airwaves. BB Broadcast can deliver high quality video content at a fixed cost that is much lower than TV broadcasting, regardless of the number of simultaneous viewers. BB Broadcast, which falls between networking and conventional broadcasting, is the best solution for video broadcasting for target audiences numbering from the tens to hundreds of thousands.
Proportional Correlation between Simultaneous Viewers and Streaming Costs
Mitigates the Traffic Increase
It is said that the telecommunication infrastructure in Japan will to soon break down, as the increase of traffic places too much of a financial burden on Japanese ISPs. Connection via an ISP usually goes through: (1) a transit connection that connects an ISP to the other ISPs and Internet Exchanges (IXs); (2) a backbone that connects an ISP’s branches; and (3) an access network that connects the ISP’s branches and a user. Rises in traffic volume proportionately increase the transit connection fee for an ISP, as well as increasing the necessity to reinforce the facility to support such a connection. In the unicast streaming, the data flows in the order of (1), (2), and (3) and the volume of the data increases as the number of viewers rises. In the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System, most of the traffic occurs within the area of (3) by exchanging video content among the registered viewers. The traffic volume in the (3) area thus remains as high as the unicast steaming; however, the traffic volume in the (1) and (2) areas can be reduced. Making BB Broadband widely available will help sustain and develop the Internet as a social infrastructure by reducing the ISP’s financial burden of the transit fee and capital investment without restricting the video viewing availability of their audiences.
Robust Content Protection
In the BB Broadcast Mass Audience Multicast System, all the video content submitted from a server is segmented and encrypted via the Windows Media Player Digital Rights Management (DRM) platform. A PC of the member audience, where an appropriate application is installed, then collects the segmented data packets from available servers and the other member PCs and reassembles the video while applying decryption. At the same time, the PC is still transferring the segmented and encrypted packets to the other member PCs. As the data transferred on the Internet are always segmented and encrypted, they cannot be harmed by an unauthorized party. Furthermore, the entire video playing procedure is carried out in the PC memory, including the video data collection, reassembly, decryption, and transferring to Windows Media Player. No data is stored on a hard disk.
[Coming Programs via BB Broadcast] (All programs are provided via Yahoo! Streaming.)
Date | Programs |
Sep 27 (Wed) | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters vs. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks |
Oct 7 (Sat) - | Pacific League First-stage Playoff (Fighters and Hawks games) |
Oct 11 (Wed) - | Pacific League Second-stage Playoff (Fighters and Hawks games) |
Oct 15 (Sun) | Super GT Round 8 AutoPolis |
Oct (Planned) | Major League Baseball Playoffs (several games) |
[Minimum PC Requirements to View BB Broadcast]
OS | Microsoft Windows XP Japanese version or Windows 2000 Japanese version |
CPU | Pentium III 600 MHz or faster |
Memory | 512 MB or more |
Graphic/Sound Card | DirectX card |
Browser | Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 Japanese version or higher (JavaScript must be enabled.) |
Software | Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Japanese version or higher and Adobe Flash Player 6 Japanese version or higher |
Connection Speed | 1.5 Mbps downloading or faster |
