Skip to content
Nab Banner

The Future of Satellite Replacement

Tuesday April 21 | 0730 - 0900 | The Renaissance Hotel, Las Vegas

As broadcasters continue to lose C-band spectrum over the next two years, distribution strategies across North America are coming under increasing pressure. Capacity constraints, repacking, and long-term spectrum reallocation are forcing operators to reassess satellite dependence and accelerate evaluation of alternatives, including IP terrestrial distribution and hybrid architectures.

In response to growing industry interest in this topic, a focused breakfast panel will take place during NAB to examine the realities of satellite replacement and the practical pathways forward.

The session will be held at the Renaissance Hotel on April 21 from 7:30–9:00 AM and will bring together senior industry leaders for a candid discussion on how the industry is responding to the evolving distribution landscape.

The format will include a 45-minute moderated discussion followed by audience engagement, with capacity for approximately 100 senior-level attendees.

Sponsored By

The Core Discussion

This is designed as an educational, balanced industry forum — not a sales presentation. Key topics will include:

  • How broadcasters are coping with continued C-band spectrum reduction
  • The operational and economic implications of shrinking satellite capacity
  • Whether “satellite replacement” is truly a replacement, or a transition toward hybrid models
  • The growing role of IP terrestrial delivery, fiber, and cloud-based infrastructure
  • Resiliency, redundancy, and service assurance in IP-based architectures
  • Perspectives from across the ecosystem, including satellite operators, IP transport providers, telcos, and cloud platforms

The goal is to facilitate an open and balanced discussion across the broadcast distribution ecosystem, ensuring multiple viewpoints are represented.

Industry Context

Broadcasters are navigating immediate spectrum loss while simultaneously planning long-term distribution architecture changes. This session provides a timely opportunity for the industry to come together, examine satellite alternatives, including IP terrestrial distribution, and discuss what the next phase of broadcast delivery may look like.

Speakers

Eluvio CEO Michelle Munson_2025Michelle Munson is the co-founder and CEO of Eluvio (https://eluv.io) and co-creator of the Content Fabric protocol, an open and decentralized Internet protocol for owner-controlled streaming, storage and monetization of digital content at scale. The Content Fabric provides premium content distribution and management for tier1 sports, studios, and artists globally, and has won multiple product awards from leading organizations at global industry events including HPA, IABM, IBC, NAB, and SEIcon. Eluvio users include Amazon Studios/MGM, Cricket Australia, European Professional Club Rugby, Red Bull, SONY Pictures, Telstra Broadcast Services, UEFA, Warner Bros., WPALiveTV, WWE, and others

Michelle previously co-founded Aspera in 2004 and led the company as CEO until May 2017, including through acquisition by IBM in 2014. She co-invented the Aspera FASP™ transport technology used in the digital media supply chain for high-speed, low-cost secure digital content transport, replacing satellite and traditional tape-based delivery technologies, and won an engineering Emmy.

Michelle holds fifteen US patents in the areas of content networking, machine learning, block chain and distribution infrastructure. She is also the recipient of the SMPTE 2019 David Sarnoff Medal for technology innovation with lasting impact in film and television and the SMPTE 2025 Workflow Systems Medal for video workflow innovation. She holds dual B.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Kansas State University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Cambridge University where she received a postgraduate diploma in Computer Science. In 2022, she became the youngest person inducted into the Kansas State University Engineering Hall of Fame.

When styling your tabs, highlight the selected tab by giving it a color that differs from your unselected tabs, so that it's easy for your visitors to navigate.

Register