PSM independence, third party web services and the security of supply

On-demand video, streaming and other IP-based services are becoming important for PSM content distribution. The necessary technologies are being delivered by a large set of external companies, many US-based. The other type of distribution - digital broadcasting - involves a much smaller set of external companies. Based on measurements of the presence of external webservices - third party web services - at 117 PSM web sites from 40 European countries visited eight times in the period between June and August 2018. Based on the preliminary analysis we conclude that a large number of PSM organizations use external companies for the distribution of content. Finally we ask whether the rationale of national independence and control that led to the costly deployment of DVB-T has been abandoned in the transition to IP-based distribution.