Optimizing content item compression for adaptive bitrate streaming by internet protocol television (IPTV) providers

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a quality determination system of a headend from a broadcaster, data packets, wherein the broadcaster was configured to:
• access a content item from a source;
• access a quality score of the content item;
• encode the content item to generate a broadcaster-encoded content item;
• multiplex a message indicating the quality score into a plurality of data packets that comprise at least a part of the broadcaster-encoded content item;
• and
• transmit the data packets to the OTT provider;
• identifying, by the quality determination system of the headend, the quality score based on the message multiplexed into the plurality of data packets;
• selecting, by a backoffice of the headend, a set of bitrates for the content item based on the quality score;
• transcoding, by a transcoder of the headend, content item data from the plurality of data packets into a plurality of streams, wherein each respective stream corresponds to a respective bitrate of the set of bitrates for streaming the content item selected by the backoffice;
• selecting, by the backoffice of the headend, a plurality of network addresses, wherein each network address of the plurality of network addresses corresponds to a respective bitrate of the set of bitrates for streaming the content item;
• making available, by a gapper of the headend, each respective stream of the plurality of streams from a respective address of the plurality of addresses;
• and
• transmitting, by the backoffice of the headend, the plurality of network addresses to a user gateway to enable the user gateway to provide streams from the plurality of addresses to a user internet protocol television (IPTV) device.

A system comprising:

• a quality determination system of a headend configured to:
• receive, from a broadcaster, data packets, wherein the broadcaster was configured to:
• access a content item from a source;
• access a quality score of the content item;
• encode the content item to generate a broadcaster-encoded content item;
• multiplex a message indicating the quality score into a plurality of data packets that comprise at least a part of the broadcaster-encoded content item;
• and
• transmit the data packets to the OTT provider;
• identify the quality score based on the message multiplexed into the plurality of data packets;
• a backoffice of the headend configured to select a set of bitrates for the content item based on the quality score;
• a transcoder of the headend configured to transcode content item data from the plurality of data packets into a plurality of streams, wherein each respective stream corresponds to a respective bitrate of the set of bitrates for streaming the content item selected by the backoffice;
• the backoffice of the headend further configured to select a plurality of network addresses, wherein each network address of the plurality of network addresses corresponds to a respective bitrate of the set of bitrates for streaming the content item;
• a gapper of the headend configured to make available each respective stream of the plurality of streams from a respective address of the plurality of addresses;
• and
• the backoffice of the headend further configured to transmit the plurality of network addresses to a user gateway to enable the user gateway to provide streams from the plurality of addresses to a user internet protocol television (IPTV) device.