Implications of the Tyson-Paul Bout for Champions of Community Technology: Five Questions for Jason Thibeault, CEO of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance
In 2024, I authored several posts about live events streamed on the Internet including NFL playoff games, the Paris Olympics and the Tyson-Paul boxing match. These live stream events were extraordinary and provided clear evidence that the Internet of 2024 is not the Internet of 15, 10 or even 5-years ago. In these posts, I argued that the Internet of today — designed to meet seemingly unquenchable demand for video content — shares more in common with software-rich cloud service offerings (e.g., Amazon Web Services) than with municipal water or sewer infrastructure projects.
Addressing local government leaders and champions of Smart and Connected Communities projects, I pointed out the challenge of delivering bits and bytes of video content is complex and difficult. Indeed, the difficulty that Netflix had ensuring that 106 million users could tune-in to the Tyson-Paul boxing match is a notable example of this complexity. I posited that providing innovative Smart Community services via broadband networks — services such as telehealth or aging-at-home — shares important technical similarities with the network management required for live event video streaming. For this reason, I proffered that local government leaders would be wise to reassess assumptions about whether go-it-alone broadband network deployment projects would advance their Smart Community goals as successfully as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
In this post, I pose Five Questions to Jason Thibeault, CEO of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA). JT is an expert on streaming video technology and SVTA is forum for companies in the streaming video industry to collaborate on improving streaming video interoperability. I am so appreciative that JT was willing to discuss 1) the technical challenges related to delivering live events and 2) the ways in which the challenges facing SVTA members might have implications for forward-looking local government leaders who intend to deliver services to community residents over broadband networks.
It is easy to forget how far networks and the tools to manage networks have come since 2010 — or even 2020. My members experience 24–7 demand for video content 365 days a year. — Jason Thibeault, CEO if the Streaming Video Technology Alliance
CC: What is the Streaming Video Technology Alliance and, as CEO, what do you do for the members of SVTA?
JT: At SVTA, we provide a forum for more than 100 participating companies to share technical information that will improve the delivery of high-quality video at scale. We publish software code, release technical documents, and convene working groups to define best practices and specifications which promote the adoption of online video.
One aspect of my job that I enjoy most is the opportunity to educate people about the streaming video industry and the technologies that drive it. The evolution of video streaming is amazing, but despite the industry’s amazing accomplishments, it isn’t widely understood.
CC: Was 2024 the Year of Video Streaming? I mean, NFL Playoff games, the Paris Olympics and Tyson-Paul were all huge events.
JT: I would say that 2024 was a very significant year for live streaming events. The events you referenced reflect the industry’s move from Video-on-Demand (VoD) streaming to live event streaming. 2024 is just the start. In 2025, fans should expect event more live event streaming and, later this decade, NASA has announced plans to stream from the moon!
CC: The moon? How cool is that?
CC: In 2010, the British government released a memo advising that Internet service may be slower during the London Olympic games. The memo cautioned that flexible work arrangements might be necessary because of unusually high demand for Internet access. During the Paris Olympics, hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people accessed the Internet to work, learn and play, at the same time tens of millions streamed their favorite Olympic events. To me, the Paris Olympics help illustrates that the Internet of today is not the Internet of 15-years ago. To what extent would you agree that the Internet of 2025 is not your father’s Internet?
JT: Ha. It is easy to forget how far networks and the tools to manage networks have come since 2010 — or even 2020. My members experience 24–7 demand for video content 365 days a year. Given this relentless demand for video, it is astonishing the reliable service provided via a collaboration between video streaming companies, content delivery networks (Akamai, eg) and ISPs (Verizon and Charter, eg).
Yes, outside of urban metro areas, bottlenecks can still happen. Most often, bottlenecks come as result of limited capacity upstream — that is, the bottlenecks come as bits and bytes travel from a smaller network provider’s network to a larger network provider and vice-versa.
CC: In November 2024, a lot of people had challenges watching the Tyson-Paul boxing bout on Netflix. Then 6-weeks later, Netflix streamed two NFL playoff games without widespread technical challenges reported. What should non-technical people understand about these two streaming events from late 2024?
JT: Successfully making a live video stream available to 100 million users simultaneously is a challenge — there is no doubt. Streaming companies, content delivery networks, and ISPs use software to optimize and tune the bits and bytes to ensure a successful live video streaming event. What I understand from the experts is that the technology that enables live event streaming is 90% software. As a result, streaming companies and their partners have software development teams and research departments dedicated to video streaming solutions. I suspect that there were lessons-learned related to the Tyson-Paul bout and that the hard-working software development teams at these companies applied these new lessons and the NFL games in December were successful as a result.
CC: Our audience at Connected Communities, is comprised of local government leaders and community technology champions. Many of these folks see a great opportunity to deliver government services over broadband networks. What can/should local government leaders take-away from the experience of SVTA members?
JT: I think it is fair to say that the technical challenges that SVTA members face will — at least to some degree — also face local governments that aim to provide video-rich services. Providing services like telehealth to residents over the Internet will require a software-rich solution. While it might seem easy to build or deploy a solution like this, the experience of SVTA members would suggest that hard part is managing the system, troubleshooting it when viewers experience issues, and ensuring the reliability, scalability, and resilience of the system. Viewers just want it to work. They don’t care about what’s happening behind the curtain. That means it will be important, I think, for local governments to select a technically able partner.
Thanks to JT for sharing his expertise and insight with Connected Communities LLC.
About this Medium Site
On this Medium site, I explore an array of topics related to the transformative power of smart and connected communities. A central question for this observer of the so-called smart community movement: how will municipalities, real estate developers, universities and other leading organizations develop, deploy and support smart and connected community projects at scale?
I welcome feedback and comments from readers.
