A consortium of companies in the media industry – encompassing broadcasters, equipment providers and 5G connectivity firms – is calling on mobile network operators (MNOs) to expose standardised quality on demand (QoD) network application programming interfaces (APIs) so broadcasters and production companies can secure the connectivity they need for resilient, ultra-low-latency live broadcast production.
The Statement of Requirement was issued by private 5G connectivity provider Neutral Wireless and supported by Amarisoft, AW2S, BBC, Haivision, France Télévisions, RAI and Sony, with further support from the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) and GSMA Fusion, a programme by the global mobile trade association to unite industry and mobile operators in harnessing the power of the network.
The parties argue that without user-accessible control of network performance, it is difficult for broadcasters to prioritise the most critical video and audio, and control data flows during live production – especially in high-demand or congested environments.
The firms say that at present, recent private 5G standalone deployments have demonstrated the potential of 5G for live broadcast production at scale, including the coronation of King Charles III in 2023 and the Paris 2024 Games, where uplink-biased networks supported large numbers of contribution, supplementary and production feeds.
They observed that wireless broadcast production currently relies on three link types: contribution links (remote, low bitrate and high latency); supplementary links (medium quality and latency); and production links (local, high bitrate, ultra-low latency).
They add that while public 4G and 5G networks are already widely used for contribution links due to nationwide network coverage and ease of use for camera crew, such shared capacity can lead to higher latency, reduced video quality and inconsistent performance for live feeds caused by congestion in high-demand environments.
As broadcasters adopt more demanding 5G standalone workflows – often alongside other “stacked” use cases on the same infrastructure – the ability to prioritise key devices and data flows on demand is becoming crucial.
Breaking the deadlock
Furthermore, the companies believe that even though some proprietary offerings exist, these are often difficult to scale, and MNOs are rarely incentivised to develop bespoke APIs for third parties, while broadcast hardware suppliers cannot support multiple proprietary implementations with differing behaviour. Specifically, they stressed that standardised APIs are therefore essential to break this deadlock where networks and devices cannot efficiently prioritise critical live and to unlock broad ecosystem adoption.
The collaboration is also urging MNOs and ecosystem players to implement Camara QoD APIs, through the GSMA Open Gateway initiative – designed to accelerate the growth of digital services and apps, unlocking the full potential of 5G networks and commercialising network APIs – to deliver interoperable, cross-network capabilities.
To facilitate similarly resilient operations even under what are considered constrained network conditions, the group has outlined two key APIs: QoD AP, designed to dynamically enhance network performance to protect critical feeds and services ensuring smooth, uninterrupted live broadcasts; and QoS Profiles API, which provides predefined QoS profiles to support stable latency or throughput for specific data flows.
Such standardisation, it is argued, would allow broadcast technology suppliers to build once and deploy widely, simplifying operations and unlocking live production workflows.
Beyond broadcast, the consortium says such a technical requirement extends to other verticals, including opportunities to share infrastructure with public protection and disaster relief (PPDR), where priorities may need to change instantly between broadcast and emergency services, and even between different PPDR devices. They also see how open QoD, when combined with developments such as mobile edge computing (MEC) and network slicing, could help enable new low-latency workflows and essential local services on public networks.
“The development and implementation of standardised network APIs, with full interoperability and cross-market coverage, gives the broadcast production industry the tools needed to meet evolving customer demands,” said Jamie Trinh, media and entertainment development lead at GSMA Fusion.
The Statement of Requirement encourages MNOs to prioritise availability of the Camara QoD and QoS Profile APIs in the UK (Q4 2026), Italy (Q1 2027) and France (Q2 2027), followed by the Netherlands (Q3 2027) and the US (Q3 2028).
With partner support, the group expects to begin pilots and demonstrations within six months of go-live dates, with a planned showcase at the IBC Show in September 2026.
The IBC Accelerator project led by Neutral Wireless, GSMA Fusion and BBC Technology Operations will focus on the implementation of open network APIs for dynamic network control during live broadcasts.
“By making network performance predictable and controllable on demand, broadcasters can design innovative live production services that respond to users in real time, whether that’s multi-camera workflows, interactive content or low-latency feeds. At the same time, this represents a significant opportunity for mobile operators to realise the value of their 5G infrastructure across markets.”
Sam Yoffe, senior systems engineer at Neutral Wireless, said: “Private networks and public network slicing can provide dedicated resources in high-demand environments, but are still potentially resource-constrained, and could become oversubscribed, resulting in packet loss and feeds that are unusable when needed.
“Reliability of wireless connectivity is a key concern inhibiting the adoption of 5G technologies for live production, and the addition of QoD to dynamically control resource priority would represent a significant step towards protecting critical feeds and ensuring resilience.”
