IPnetworking
For decades, broadcast ran on boxes. Expensive, single-purpose hardware, racked and wired, each doing one job very well. In 2026, that era is ending in earnest. The boxes are losing to software, and the shift is reshaping how media gets made and moved from the cable up.
IP is no longer the plan, it’s the deadline
Moving to IP-based workflows used to be a roadmap item, the thing everyone agreed they’d get to eventually. Two forces turned “eventually” into “now”: aging hardware that’s expensive to keep alive, and the ongoing reallocation of C-band satellite spectrum, which is squeezing the transponder capacity broadcasters have leaned on for decades. The FCC’s Upper C-band proceeding (3.98–4.2 GHz), published in December 2025, is the clearest signal yet that the ground is moving under satellite distribution. Broadcasters no longer have the luxury of waiting.