SRG SSR engineers run successful tests with Media Network

SRG SSR engineers made public that they are currently experimenting with multiple decentralized protocols to revolutionize the European Broadcasting Union. Currently, they are running tests with protocols such as Livepeer and Media Network to cut costs and encourage innovation within the European Union. Learn more about this integration.

We are thrilled to have the SRG SSR and its partners interested in building over Web3 infrastructure tools providing an alternative to centralized providers.

“I think the CDN industry has made huge strides when we think back to the year 2000. Initially, content delivery networks were unreliable or could not withstand major events like the World Cup. In addition, simpler cyberattacks, like DDoS attacks, have become more widespread,” says Jarvis, Head of the Distribution Department at SRG SSR, exclusively to Media Foundation.

He adds, “CDNs have had to learn a lot over the last 20 years and have achieved an extremely strong market position. For example, we obtain a 100% SLA and can say that this is met with very few exceptions. However, this strong market position also harbors the risk of political influence.”

Thus, Jarvis states that many industries face a decisive turning point: a technical shift from centralization to decentralization. In his view, some vendors will operate as middlemen seeking to help old-fashioned companies to adapt to Web3. “We will see a decentralization of the CDN business. There will always be some coexistence of old and new technology. And there will always be the laggards. Just think of fax machines. Why are there still fax machines? Speaking of CDNs, I think it’s only a matter of time before broadcasters and media companies jump on the trend. Media Network and other providers have left their infancy and are ready for the big players in the industry,” he concludes.

Water Cooler Side Chat (Titan Node): Media + Livepeer Technical Integration

Last month, Jarvis joined Titan Node from the Livepeer node community for what they call a “Water Cooler Side Chat.” In this interview, they thoroughly discussed the details of the integration of Livepeer Broadcaster with Media’s decentralized content delivery network (dCDN) to reduce costs for the European Broadcasting Union.

“I am currently implementing Livepeer and the dCDN of Media Network. The main goal is getting both stuff to work to lower our costs. First, I had to understand the concept, which took me quite a lot to understand. Media Network’s dCDN is pretty straightforward because there is not much to do. Media Network understood how to onboard people because we are not all developers, and that’s the main issue in our field,” he explained.

“We think it’s the future. The faster we adapt, the more cash we can save. The European Broadcast Union, which we are part of and somehow have a stage within that area, is closely linked to the European Union and the European Parliament. The Parliament said, ‘we do have funds to explore new technologies and support innovation,’ but they don’t have the engineers. So, they give those incentives to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its partners.”

“Media Network’s dCDN is pretty straightforward because there is not much to do. Media Network understood how to onboard people because we are not all developers, and that’s the main issue in our field.”

Jarvis highlighted our documentation and tutorials in this interview for their distinctive simplicity. “Media Network doesn’t charge anything; you just need 25 MEDIA tokens to use the service and to pay the Solana fees. And then, basically, it’s such a cool process, and it showed me how cool Web3 could be: you link your wallet to your browser, you enter http://app.media.network, you log in with your wallet with the 25 MEDIA, and you set up as many endpoints as you want to do. Finally, you are good to go,” explains Jarvis about the dCDN usage and adds, “once they go on mainnet, they plan that consumers become bandwidth providers that work as a DAO and agree upon on prices. For now, it’s free.”

The Head of the Distribution Department also points out that “Media Network is on a different road than Theta Network.” In this respect, Theta is a project that offers a centralized API to stream video over corporation-controlled CDNs, like http://theta.tv.

We publicly thank Javis and his team for making this integration possible, and we are expectant of what the future holds. Watch the full interview.

About SRG SSR: the largest media company in Switzerland

SRG is an independent public media company that provides a multimedia public service in Switzerland’s regions and national languages. Furthermore, it is an association that is firmly established within society.

SRG supplies the entire population of Switzerland with an appealing and wide selection of radio, TV, and online content related to different fields, such as information, culture, education, entertainment, and sport. This content promotes freedom and diversity of opinion within Switzerland and provides an essential service to society.

SRG SSR’s primary focus is bringing through Radio SRF programs intending to provide up-to-date comprehensive, relevant information as well as on television, where 750.000 viewers find out about national and international events.

Each European country has its public broadcaster that works as a company. All these enterprises are linked to the European Broadcasting Union, and their main goal is to get financed by the public and provide quality content.

About the European Broadcasting Union

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). There are 112 member organizations in 56 countries and an additional 31 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia, and the Americas.

Together, they operate nearly 2,000 television, radio, and online channels and services and offer a wealth of content across other platforms. Together they reach an audience of more than one billion people worldwide, broadcasting in more than 160 languages. We operate Eurovision and Euroradio services.