Inside an AVC/HEVC Transcode Ladder: How Meta-Scale Live Streaming Balances Quality, Latency, and Cost

A practitioner's look at the encoding decisions behind delivering live video at global scale—and where AI is starting to change the math.

Eluvio Claims Breakthrough in Ultra-Low-Latency Streaming After World Cup Pilot

Eluvio CEO and co-founder Michelle Munson says the streaming industry is entering a new phase where ultra-low-latency performance is no longer a niche requirement but a fundamental expectation for global sports. After a summer of high-pressure testing during the FIFA World Cup, she argues that Eluvio's Content Fabric has demonstrated a level of consistency that conventional cloud/CDN architectures simply cannot match.

The New Midwich and Resi Media Powerhouse Partnership: A Q&A With Matthew Smith of Resi Media

Midwich, a leading distributor of unified communications, broadcast, and professional AV solutions, and Resi Media, a pioneer in resilient video delivery technology, have announced a strategic distribution partnership that will expand access to Resi's solutions through Midwich's extensive network of systems integrators and value-added resellers across the United States.

The 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards Finalists Revealed

More than 1,000 readers voted in 15 categories. We'll announce the winners in the Fall issue of Streaming Media magazine, but here's a tease—the top three vote-getters in each category. And you just might be surprised at the names you see.

Codec Wars Get Real: Lessons from Disney’s European 4K Blackout

At Streaming Media Connect 2026, Contributing Editor Jan Ozer and IP attorney Robert JL Moore broke down why Disney's HDR pullback in Europe was inevitable—and why it will end in a license.

Instant Replay: Streaming Media Connect August 2026

Streaming Media Connect returned this week with six dynamic keynotes from NASA+, Google, TiVo, BallySports, Wowza, and TwelveLabs, and peak-form panels on refining your live streaming playbook, tuning latency, matching ads to content, scaling streaming architecture, curbing churn, leveraging AI in personalized content discovery, innovating streaming UX, optimizing QoS and QoE, and a timely dissection of Disney's 4K EU blackout.

What It Takes to Power World Cup Livestreams on a Massive Global Scale: A Q&A with Deltatre COO Gilles Mas

During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Deltatre operated the broadcasting and streaming infrastructure for a number of major rights holders' World Cup platforms worldwide. In this Q&A, Gilles Mas, Chief Operating Officer at Deltatre, discusses the challenges and intricacies of pulling off this achievement and what this success means for the future of large-scale livestreamed events.

Building the Perfect Live-Event Operations Playbook

On Thursday, Aug. 13, LinkedIn's Chris Packard, LiveX's Corey Behnke, and MemeHouse's Zylo Hefferan will join the SVTA's Bhavesh Upadhyaya for a Streaming Media Connect panel that examines how top streaming teams prepare for, monitor, and recover from tentpole live events like sports and concerts. The discussion will range from pre-event capacity planning, load testing, and failover strategies to establishing best practices for managing traffic spikes when the stakes are highest.

QC’ing Live Streams at Scale in the Age of AI: A Q&A with Interra Systems' Anupama Anantharaman

In this Q&A, I had the opportunity to discuss the fast-evolving requirements and best practices for live streaming QC at scale with Anupama Anantharaman, VP Product Management at Interra Systems, developers of the ORION-OTT comprehensive monitoring solution for live and OTT. The 2025 Streaming Media All-Star offers insights into how AI is changing live stream monitoring, how performing "deep QC" impacts streaming workflows, the best KPIs for predictive monitoring, and the continuing role of humans in an increasingly AI-supported QC world.

Vote in the 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards

The Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards are ready to roll. The polls are open! Let the voting begin!

ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect May 2026

Streaming Media Connect May 2026 was all about delivering and monetizing sports streaming featured exclusive keynote fireside chats with Matt Graham of the Tennis Channel and Maria Malinowitsch of Verimatrix and a slate of expert panels packed with speakers from DAZN, Globo, Fubo, OneFootball, FloSports, NESN, IAB Tech Lab, Telestream, Zixi, BuyDRM, ViewLift, CacheFly, Servers.com, Tiledmedia, Norsk, and more. Check out a playlist with Streaming Media Connect sessions on Streaming Media's YouTube channel to catch the sessions you missed and revel in the ones you want to relive through the magic of VOD.

Nominate Now for the 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards

What's your favorite streaming tool, tech, or service? What is the most important new innovation in the business in 2026? It's time to make your nominations for Streaming Media's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards, our annual industry awards program chosen by end users.

Sneak Preview: Ultra-Low-Latency Sports Streaming From Stadium to Screen at Streaming Media Connect

On Thursday, May 14, Elecard's Victoria Tuzova will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "Need for Speed: Ultra-Low-Latency Sports Streaming From Stadium to Screen." This panel of experts from Servers.com, Synamedia, Vindral, and Stats Perform dives into the engineering fundamentals—capture, encoding, delivery, and playback—that underpin smooth execution through the first, middle, and last miles without sacrificing quality. Learn what breaks at scale, how to prepare for and ward off disaster, and why low latency isn't just a number, but the difference between a winning broadcast and a blown opportunity.

NAB 2026, Via LA, and the Future of NDI|HX

As a longtime fan and proponent of NDI, I feel that new codec licensing fees and the response of hardware manufacturers put the entire future of HX on shaky ground.

Independent Report Compares Codec Royalty Costs Across Two Major Licensing Pools

Streaming services evaluating codec licensing face a difficult question: how do the royalty costs of Access Advance Video Distribution Patent Pool and the Avanci Video program actually compare? A new report from Streaming Learning Center's Jan Ozer answers that question with hard numbers.

H.264 Streaming Fees: What Changed, Who's Affected, and What It Means

Via's new AVC Streaming License Fee structure, which applies to new licenses beginning in 2026, replaces the old single-cap model with a tiered system that scales sharply with platform size.

Avanci Video Signs First Licensee and Publishes Rates

The patent pool offers three billing options and aggressive discounts for platforms signing by July 5, with rates ranging from 1.6-2.0% of revenue or $0.12-$0.15 per user per month.

Milano Cortina 2026: Winter Olympics Host Broadcaster Rules Out Remote Production

Is the Olympic Committee's host broadcaster warming to the notion of transitioning to virtual or REMI production for this winter's fast-approaching Milan Cortina games? Speaking as part of a roundtable event three weeks out from the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina XXV Winter Games (MC26) in Northern Italy, Yiannis Exarchos, CEO, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) said that the sheer scale of an Olympics and current technological limitations on behalf of rights-holding broadcasters meant elimination of a physical International Broadcast Center (IBC) is not likely soon, or even desirable.

Sports Media Predictions: Looking Ahead to 2026

The next phase of sports media will not be defined by breakthroughs alone. It will be defined by decisions. About focus. About balance. And about where value really sits.

Roundup: Streaming Industry Predictions for 2026

The predictions game is a fascinating one, and one that's hard not to play at year's end, whether we're talking about what's to come in the next year or three, or what's just as likely to be gone. In the last few weeks, my own editorial inbox has filled to bursting with unsolicited but much-welcomed season's greetings from a disparate array of industry experts and thought leaders ringing in "End-of-Year Prediction Season" with all manner of educated guesses and promising bets about what's going to happen in 2026.