The broadcast business is changing. Smaller operators have
consolidated into larger media groups. Larger media companies
have become global. All this linking of broadcast operations
into regional and global networks would not be possible without
video networks. Last century, terrestrial real-time connections
used expensive long-haul coaxial and microwave circuits, with
satellite used for transcontinental and transoceanic hops. Over
the last decade, video is being transported more and more over
fiber networks, leveraging the falling cost of fiber
connections. Satellite still has advantages where fiber
connections may not be readily available, especially for
occasional use. HD-SDI over coax is limited to short runs in the
order of 100m. Even within a broadcast campus, fiber has become
necessary for interbuilding connections. For connections of any
distance, fiber has become the favored physical layer. With
videotape reaching obsolescence, non-real-time content
distribution by the transport of files via fiber ne