The 5G Media Action Group (5G-MAG) and the DVB Project will start working together on the future of television services over 5G systems.

A formal liaison agreement between the two organizations to create a Joint Task Force (JTF) will allow DVB and 5G-MAG members to move forward quickly with activities related to the combination of 5G systems with DVB solutions. The work of the JTF will be based on the Commercial Requirements for DVB-I over 5G, recently published by DVB, together with the on-going work in 5G-MAG on 5G architectures supporting unicast, multicast and broadcast for the distribution of audiovisual services.

The 5G-MAG Chair, Antonio Arcidiacono, said: “5G-MAG has taken on the task of bringing together the media and the ICT industries to support the implementation of media services on 5G systems. Supporting service and content providers to get access to the powerful but complex 5G distribution platform is at the core of our activities. Joining forces with the DVB Project to enable TV services based on DVB-I or DVB-DASH is a natural step to enhance the capabilities of 5G for media.”

5G-MAG and DVB members are now invited to join and participate in the JTF, which is governed by a dedicated framework on its formation, activities, deliverables and other matters. The first joint meeting is scheduled for 26 January 2022.

DEPLOYMENT GUIDELINES AND REFERENCE TOOLS

The initial focus of the JTF will be to map use cases and commercial requirements for DVB-I over 5G into a set of deployment guidelines. JTF participants will also identify gaps in existing technical specifications, delivering technical requirements to either the DVB Project or to 5G-MAG, as appropriate. The work in 5G-MAG around media distribution and the close link to 3GPP standards will accelerate on creating the simplifications and abstraction required to facilitate exploiting the potential of 5G for media.

The JTF may also trigger 5G-MAG work on 5G systems profiles, recommendations or updates to relevant specifications in the context of 5G Media Streaming or the ETSI specification for LTE-based 5G Terrestrial Broadcast (ETSI TS 103 720).

The group may also provide recommendations for 5G-MAG’s work on open-source software – the 5G-MAG Reference Tools – within the scope of the use cases and requirements for DVB-I over 5G, therefore making steps towards the verification and validation of the relevant specifications.