# Transitioning Broadcast to Cloud
## 1 Introduction  
Terrestrial broadcast TV has been historically the first and still broadly used technology for delivery of visual information to the masses. Cable and DHT (direct-to-home) satellite TV technologies came next, as highly successful evolutions and extensions of the broadcast TV model [1; 2].  
Yet, broadcast has some limits. For instance, in its most basic form, it only enables linear delivery. It also provides direct reach to only one category of devices: TV sets. To reach other devices, such as mobiles, tablets, PCs, game consoles, etc., the most practical option currently available is to send streams Over the Top (OTT). The OTT model utilizes IP-connections that many of such devices already have, and internet streaming as a delivery mechanism [3; 4; 5; 6; 7]. The use of OTT/streaming also makes it possible to implement interactive, non-linear, time-shifted TV, or DVR types of services.  
Considering all such benefits and conveniences, many companies in the broadcast ecosystem are now increasingly adding OTT services, complementing their traditional (e.g., terrestrial, cable, satellite) services or distribution models [8; 9; 10; 11]. At a broader scale, we must also recognize new standards and industry initiatives such as HbbTV [12], as well as ATSC 3.0 [13; 14], which are further blurring the boundaries between traditional broadcast and OTT.  
In other words, we are now living in an era where hybrid broadcast + OTT distribution becomes a norm, and this brings us to a question of how such hybrid systems can be deployed and operated most efficiently?  
At present time, the two extreme choices are:  
* on-prem: everything, including playout systems, encoders, multiplexers, servers, and other equipment for both broadcast and OTT distribution is installed and operated on premises, and
* cloud-based: almost everything is turned into software-based solutions, and operated using infrastructure of _cloud_ service providers, such as AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.  
On-prem model is indeed well-known. This is how all traditional broadcast systems have always been built and operated. Cloud-based approach is a more recent development.  
It requires considerably different (modular, software only) implementation of the system, but in the end, it brings a number of significant advantages: it minimizes investments in hardware, allows pay-as-you-go operation, simplifies management, upgrades, makes whole design more flexible and future-proof, etc. [15; 16; 17].  
Furthermore, the use of cloud has already been proven to be highly scalable, reliable, and cost-effective for implementing OTT/streaming delivery. Today, cloud already powers mass-scale online video services, such as YouTube and Netflix, as well as online video platforms (OVPs)--Brightcove, Kaltura, thePlatform, etc. [9; 10; 11]. Besides enabling basic streaming functionality, OVPs also provide means for content management, ad-insertions, analytics, client SDKs, and even automatic generators of apps for all major platforms. They basically provide turn-key solutions for OTT services of all sorts.  
However, while transition of OTT services to cloud is no longer a challenge, the offload of traditionally on-prem functions of broadcast systems, such as ingest, content management, master control/playout, distribution encoding, etc., is a topic that we believe deserves additional discussion. As we will show in this paper, there are many important differences in ways video processing is currently done in cloud vs. on-prem broadcast, as well as technologies that may be needed to bridge the gaps between them.