A recent European court ruling forced a major global streaming service to temporarily withdraw 4K UHD and HDR from premium subscribers across 11 countries. The technology worked. The service was already deployed. But the commercial and IP framework still disrupted the product.
These events in Europe have highlighted an important shift taking place across the video industry. Commercial considerations can now influence premium video services just as much as technical capability.
For years, the industry’s focus was straightforward: deliver the best possible picture quality at the lowest possible bitrate.
That remains important, but it is no longer the whole story.
As broadcasters and streaming providers expand UHD and HDR services, they must balance visual quality with licensing, deployment complexity, ecosystem readiness, and long-term operational costs. Codec strategy has never really been solely an engineering decision. As of today, it is becoming more and more a business decision.
Every video technology is built on intellectual property, and licensing plays an essential role in driving continued innovation. The challenge for service providers is choosing technologies that combine high performance with a commercial model that is practical, predictable, and sustainable over the long term.
This is where, I believe, MPEG-5 LCEVC provides operators with a strategic option.
Consider, for example, a provider that wants to serve UHD and HDR content, while expanding on an existing codec strategy built around AVC. Because LCEVC is designed to enhance a range of “base” codecs, including AVC, HEVC, AV1 and VVC, AVC with LCEVC could provide a practical option.
The combination can deliver better quality than AVC on its own while also supporting HDR: LCEVC can take a 10-bit input over an 8-bit base, carrying additional information in the enhancement layer. It can also help keep IP exposure more predictable, since both AVC and LCEVC have simple, publicly available licensing models. For an operator focused on predictable cost and limited licensing risk, this provides a practical way to extend an existing service without a wholesale codec migration.
For many organizations, this delivers clear business benefits:
- A published and scalable licensing model, with rates linked to service size or device volume and clear caps.
- A novel UHD and HDR delivery option, uniquely leveraging existing workflows and infrastructure.
- No requirement for a wholesale codec migration.
- A growing consumer device ecosystem, as DTV+ (TV 3.0) brings native LCEVC support to new generations of televisions.
The final point is particularly important.
DTV+ is an important signal of growing LCEVC adoption, bringing native support to a new generation of mainstream consumer devices, including connected TVs. As that support moves into silicon, software and receiver platforms, it also creates opportunities beyond the Brazilian market.
Because LCEVC works with multiple base codecs, including AVC, HEVC, AV1 and VVC, the same device ecosystem can support a range of broadcast and streaming strategies worldwide. Balancing technology value, availability and cost, has become paramount for streaming services deciding which services to launch, where and when.
It’s clear that codec strategies are very much influenced by business strategies, and I feel that MPEG-5 LCEVC has a part to play.
