Overview
5G-MAG monitors and contributes to work on DVB-I service delivery over 5G systems. DVB-I (Digital Video Broadcasting - Internet) defines mechanisms for internet-connected devices to discover and access sets of linear TV services delivered over broadband or broadcast networks, together with the associated programme metadata. For acronyms used here, see the Glossary.
Delivery of DVB-I services over 5G can use several modes: unicast-based 5G Media Streaming (5GMS), LTE-based 5G Broadcast, and concurrent or hybrid combinations of the two. The DVB / 5G-MAG Joint Task Force documented deployment guidelines for these scenarios in DVB A178, published as ETSI TR 103 972.
Technology & Analysis
How DVB-I service discovery works alongside 5G delivery, and the deployment modes in detail.
Software Tools
The reference implementation for DVB-I service discovery and delivery over 5G.
What this work area covers
DVB-I is a service layer, not a delivery technology. It defines how a client discovers a curated set of linear services and their programme metadata, then leaves the actual media transport to whatever bearer the service references. That separation is what makes DVB-I relevant to 5G-MAG: the same DVB-I service list can point to a DASH manifest fetched over unicast, to a stream delivered by multicast, or to content carried on a broadcast bearer, without the client needing bespoke logic for each network.
The work area has two distinct pieces:
- The DVB-I service discovery and metadata specification itself (DVB A177 / ETSI TS 103 770), which is delivery-agnostic and predates the 5G work.
- The deployment guidance for carrying DVB-I over 5G (DVB A178 / ETSI TR 103 972), produced by the DVB / 5G-MAG Joint Task Force, which explains how DVB-I discovery, DVB delivery formats, and 3GPP transport combine in practice.
5G-MAG's interest is the second piece and its dependencies: mapping DVB-I service parameters onto 3GPP 5G Media Streaming and LTE-based 5G Broadcast, aligning DVB-I service discovery with 3GPP service announcement, and feeding the gaps found during that mapping back into DVB, 3GPP and ETSI.
Architecture and key concepts
The DVB-I data model
DVB A177 (ETSI TS 103 770) defines an XML-based data model for describing services and their metadata. The main constructs a standards reader should recognise are:
- Service List: an XML document listing the services a provider offers. Each service entry carries identity, logos, and one or more service instances.
- Service Instance: a specific way to obtain a given service, bound to a delivery parameter set (for example a DASH source, a multicast source, or a broadcast source). A single service can carry several instances, which is the mechanism DVB-I uses to describe the same channel over unicast, multicast, and broadcast at once.
- Service List Registry (SLR): a discovery service that lets a client find service lists (for example by country or by provider) so it can bootstrap without a hard-coded URL. The registry query API is part of TS 103 770.
- Content Guide / Programme Metadata: schedule and on-demand programme information, expressed using the DVB metadata schemas (aligned with the TV-Anytime data model), retrievable per service.
The delivery parameters inside a service instance are the extension point that the 5G work builds on, and the client selects among the available instances based on availability and capability.
DVB delivery formats referenced by the 5G work
- DVB-DASH (ETSI TS 103 285): the DVB profile of MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009-1), constraining segment formats, codecs, and manifest features for interoperable adaptive streaming. This is the primary media format on the unicast path.
- DVB-MABR (ETSI TS 103 769): DVB Multicast Adaptive Bit Rate, a functional architecture that delivers adaptive-streaming media over IP multicast in parallel with unicast, so that the client still consumes what looks like a DASH presentation. This is the natural fit for multicast/broadcast bearers.
- DVB Native IP (DVB-NIP) (DVB A180): an end-to-end native-IP broadcast system that itself builds on DVB-I for discovery and on DVB-DASH/DVB-MABR for media, referenced as context for IP-based broadcast delivery.
The two 5G delivery paths
DVB-I over 5G maps onto two 3GPP transport families:
- 5G Media Streaming (5GMS), the unicast downlink path, defined primarily by 3GPP TS 26.501 (architecture) and its companion protocol and format specifications. A DVB-I DASH service instance is served through the 5GMS Media Application Server and consumed by a 5GMS-aware client.
- LTE-based 5G Broadcast, specified by ETSI TS 103 720 (which profiles the 3GPP LTE terrestrial broadcast / evolved MBMS work), the one-way wide-area path. Here DVB-MABR-style delivery is carried on the broadcast bearer and the DVB-I service instance references the broadcast source.
The concurrent/hybrid case combines both, letting a client fall back between broadcast and unicast, or consume a hybrid service that spans the two.
Key Specifications
DVB / ETSI
DVB publishes a specification as a numbered "BlueBook" (for example DVB A177), which is then published in identical technical form by ETSI under an ETSI number. The pairs relevant here are:
| DVB BlueBook | ETSI publication | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| DVB A177 | ETSI TS 103 770 | Service Discovery and Programme Metadata for DVB-I |
| DVB A178 | ETSI TR 103 972 | DVB-I service delivery over 5G Systems; Deployment Guidelines |
- ETSI TS 103 720: 5G Broadcast System for linear TV and radio services
- DVB A177: Service Discovery and Programme Metadata for DVB-I (the main DVB-I specification; published as ETSI TS 103 770)
- ETSI TS 103 770: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Service Discovery and Programme Metadata for DVB-I (ETSI-published form of DVB A177)
- DVB A178: DVB-I service delivery over 5G Systems; Deployment Guidelines (broader 5G delivery guidance for DVB-I, not limited to 5G Broadcast; published as ETSI TR 103 972)
- ETSI TR 103 972: DVB-I service delivery over 5G Systems; Deployment Guidelines (ETSI-published form of DVB A178; produced by the DVB / 5G-MAG Joint Task Force)
DVB delivery formats
- ETSI TS 103 285: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); MPEG-DASH Profile for Transport of ISO BMFF Based DVB Services over IP Based Networks (DVB-DASH; the DVB profile of MPEG-DASH, ISO/IEC 23009-1)
- ETSI TS 103 769: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Adaptive media streaming over IP multicast (DVB-MABR)
- DVB A180: Native IP Broadcasting (DVB-NIP), the DVB end-to-end native-IP broadcast system that reuses DVB-I, DVB-DASH and DVB-MABR
3GPP
The 5G transport specifications that DVB-I over 5G relies on sit in the 3GPP 26-series (SA4 media codecs and formats). The unicast path is 5G Media Streaming:
- TS 26.501: 5G Media Streaming (5GMS); General description and architecture
- TS 26.512: 5G Media Streaming (5GMS); Protocols
- TS 26.511: 5G Media Streaming (5GMS); Profiles, codecs and formats
For multicast/broadcast transport, the relevant 3GPP work is the 5G Multicast Broadcast Services (MBS) user-service architecture, alongside the LTE-based broadcast profile published by ETSI:
- TS 26.502: 5G Multicast-Broadcast User Service Architecture (MBS)
- TS 23.247: Architectural enhancements for 5G multicast-broadcast services
Specifications by role
| Role in DVB-I over 5G | Specification(s) |
|---|---|
| Service discovery and programme metadata | DVB A177 / ETSI TS 103 770 |
| Deployment guidance for 5G | DVB A178 / ETSI TR 103 972 |
| Commercial requirements input | DVB C100 (Commercial Requirements for DVB-I over 5G) |
| Unicast media format | DVB-DASH (ETSI TS 103 285), profiling MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009-1) |
| Multicast media delivery | DVB-MABR (ETSI TS 103 769) |
| Unicast 5G transport | 3GPP 5GMS (TS 26.501, TS 26.512, TS 26.511) |
| Broadcast 5G transport | ETSI TS 103 720 (LTE-based 5G Broadcast); 3GPP MBS (TS 26.502, TS 23.247) |
Release and organisation view
DVB-I over 5G spans three standards bodies, so there is no single release line. The dependencies track as follows:
- DVB: A177 (published in successive revisions as ETSI TS 103 770) is the stable service-discovery base; A178 (ETSI TR 103 972 V1.1.1, 2023) is a technical report rather than a normative specification, so it records guidance and gaps rather than mandating behaviour. The commercial input came from DVB C100 (2021).
- 3GPP SA4: the 5GMS architecture (TS 26.501) was introduced in Release 16 and has been extended in later releases; the MBS user-service work (TS 26.502) and the underlying system architecture (TS 23.247) were introduced in Release 17 and continue to evolve.
- ETSI JTC Broadcast: the LTE-based 5G Broadcast profile (TS 103 720) has been aligned to successive 3GPP releases, with work items updating it toward Release 18 and Release 19.
Because A178 is a technical report, its main output is a set of recommended changes to specifications owned by DVB, 3GPP and ETSI; the follow-up happens in those bodies rather than in a single DVB-I-over-5G specification.
Delivery over 5G
DVB A178 (ETSI TR 103 972) maps the commercial requirements for DVB-I over 5G (captured in DVB BlueBook C100, the DVB commercial-requirements document) into a reference architecture and deployment guidance. It addresses three service scenarios:
| Mode | Bearer | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Unicast | 5G Media Streaming (5GMS) | On-demand and linear services delivered per device over broadband 5G |
| Broadcast | LTE-based 5G Broadcast | One-way, wide-area linear TV and radio to many devices |
| Concurrent / hybrid | Both 5GMS and 5G Broadcast | The same service over both bearers, or hybrid DVB-I services combining them |
Across these scenarios the guidelines cover DVB-I service discovery referencing the relevant delivery mode, alignment of DVB-I metadata with 3GPP service announcements, and the use of DVB delivery formats such as DVB-DASH (the DVB profile of MPEG-DASH adaptive streaming) and DVB-MABR (DVB Multicast Adaptive Bit Rate delivery). The report also records gaps identified in existing specifications under the control of DVB, 3GPP and ETSI.
How discovery meets transport
The consistent pattern across all three scenarios is that DVB-I stays the discovery and selection layer, and the 3GPP/ETSI systems stay the transport layer. In outline:
- The client bootstraps a DVB-I service list, optionally via a Service List Registry, and parses the service instances.
- For a unicast (5GMS) instance, the client resolves the referenced DASH presentation and streams it through the 5GMS downlink; 5GMS provides the session handling, edge/AS behaviour, and reporting.
- For a broadcast instance, the client uses the LTE-based 5G Broadcast bearer (ETSI TS 103 720) to receive a DVB-MABR-style multicast carrying the same DASH content, so the media pipeline above the bearer is the same as for unicast.
- In the concurrent/hybrid case, both instances are present and the client selects or switches between them based on coverage and capability.
A key alignment point that A178 examines is the relationship between DVB-I service discovery and 3GPP service announcement: on the broadcast path, 3GPP defines its own service announcement mechanism, and the report considers how a DVB-I service list can reference or coexist with that announcement rather than duplicating it.
5G-MAG tracking and contribution focus
5G-MAG follows the DVB / 5G-MAG Joint Task Force output and the downstream work in 3GPP and ETSI, and maintains reference tooling that demonstrates DVB-I discovery driving both the 5GMS unicast path and the 5G Broadcast path. The practical focus areas are:
- Keeping the reference client's DVB-I service-instance handling aligned with the delivery parameters used by the 5GMS and 5G Broadcast reference tools.
- Tracking the recommended specification changes from A178 as they are taken up in DVB, 3GPP SA4, and ETSI JTC Broadcast.
- Interoperability between DVB-I discovery and 3GPP service announcement on the broadcast path.
For the implementer-facing view of the reference architecture and procedures, see the Tech: DVB-I Services over 5G page.
These identifiers on this page were not confirmed against a primary source (the 3GPP/ETSI portals block automated access): 3GPP TS 26.512 (5GMS Protocols), 3GPP TS 26.502 (5G Multicast-Broadcast User Service Architecture), 3GPP TS 23.247, and the Release placements stated for TS 26.501, TS 26.502 and TS 23.247. The DVB and ETSI document numbers/titles (A177/TS 103 770, A178/TR 103 972, C100, TS 103 720, TS 103 285, TS 103 769, A180) were confirmed against DVB/ETSI sources. Verify all against the 3GPP/ETSI work plan before publication.
Related Standards Work
- Standards: 5G Media Streaming
- Standards: 5G Broadcast
- Standards: Multimedia Delivery Protocols
- Feedback and Requirements: how 5G-MAG processes feedback on the specifications it tracks
Refer to the Standards repository to contribute to this documentation.