Linear TV services can be made available on 3GPP services, e.g., based on MBMS, PSS user services and 5GMS. For traditional linear TV distribution, TV services accessed through Satellite, Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT), cable or IPTV obey to requirements on the video profiles to ensure a consistent quality of experience while accessing different channels within a TV bouquet. On-demand video services, via streaming or downloading, generally obey to the same requirements. The purpose of the present document is to specify TV distribution formats with detailed definitions of consistent video distribution formats (such as spatial and temporal resolutions, aspect ratios, random access points, etc.) for which operators can provide consistent quality of experience for TV services. The document is not restricted to operator services, but may also be referred to and used by third-party services that expect to have consistent quality of experience for TV services on 3GPP-defined radio bearers.

The present document specifies requirements and guidelines on video source formats (frame rate, resolution, aspect ratio, colorimetry, bit depth…) and encoding parameters (codec format, random access point period, SEI messages…) for different types of TV services, including linear TV, catch-up TV or on-demand services. A limited set of Operation Points (e.g. SDTV, HDTV, UHD, 8K UHD…) are defined to provide confidence to content providers/broadcasters on the quality of experience offered by 3GPP services when used for TV-like distribution. Operation Points define format and encoding restrictions, but may also be viewed as compatibility points for UEs. In particular, the Operation Points defined in the present document may serve as the primary tested configurations for TV centric video distribution. The Operation Points are defined based on the analysis and findings in the technical report TR 26.949. In addition, in the context of DASH operations, not only the main distribution formats are defined, but also a subset of spatial and temporal resolutions. In order to minimize testing for seamless switching experience, suitable lower resolutions of distribution formats are defined. Furthermore, to compensate congestion situations, a minimum service quality is defined in order to provide service continuity. The specification is aligned with the Common Media Application Format (CMAF) as defined in ISO/IEC 23000-19 [13] to a large extent. Differences and further restrictions compared to CMAF baseline formats as well as media profiles are highlighted.

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

• References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
• For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
• For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.