INFRASTRUCTURE CAPABILTIES SUPPORTING CABLE's NATIONAL PLATFORM James Mumma, Sr. Director of Video Product Development, Comcas
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INFRASTRUCTURE CAPABILTIES SUPPORTING CABLE’S NATIONAL PLATFORM James Mumma, Sr. Director of Video Product Development, Comcast Cable Doug Jones, Chief Architect, BigBand Networks Abstract Capability to dynamically add or drop individual PIDs associated with bound One of the major initiatives for the cable programs; industry is the introduction of functionality Protocol interfaces to manage the giving subscribers opportunities to interact manipulations of identifiers associated with applications and services through their with bound programs; televisions. Doing so will enhance viewing Interoperability between the HFC experiences, usher in new revenue resource management system and the PID opportunities and provide competitive insertion function to account for the differentiation to satellite broadcasters and additional bandwidth used on a QAM as the telephone companies. bound applications are managed; An overall control mechanism to The ETV and the tru2way family of coordinate the management of bound specifications available at CableLabs applications with programmers, both describe how applications can be bound to national and local. programming allowing cable to deliver a national platform for advertising and other With a proper management framework services. While there are industry bound applications will provide both a specifications for delivering bound platform for national services as well as applications to a set-top box, there are no personalized services. The ETV and OCAP specifications defined on the infrastructure toolset provides for a plethora of services, but capabilities needed to manage these bound the management and control architecture applications. This paper proposes a technical needs to be designed in order to achieve the architecture and capabilities that can be used full potential for innovation of which it is to manage and deliver bound applications (in capable. The authors examine the both ETV and OCAP formats) capable of requirements associated with management providing operators with a flexible platform and control and explain how present for advanced services delivery. capabilities can evolve to satisfy them. ETV and OCAP applications are bound to THE NATIONAL PLATFORM individual programs by carrying those applications on MPEG-2 PIDs (Program Until recently, implementing interactive Identifiers) that are included along with the subscriber services on a national basis was not programming. There can be multiple PIDs feasible due to the lack of implementation associated with a bound program and the standards in the cable industry. The splintered paper proposes a flexible architecture to approach of proprietary technologies was cost manage them. These include: prohibitive for content providers and distributors. Today, with new and emerging Passing bound applications, which specifications such as ETV, which includes include extra PIDs, through headend the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format equipment; (EBIF) and the tru2way, which includes the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP), 2008 NCTA Technical Papers - page 30 specifications developed by CableLabs, the bound applications garner the most interest proliferation of interactive TV in North from content providers because of the America is closer to becoming reality. economic potential. Currently bound However deployment challenges still remain applications can be supported in linear and for cable operators. VOD content and will be supported in time- shifted content in the near future. The benefits of interactive TV to subscribers, programmers, advertisers and Unbound applications are not associated cable operators is mutual, as figure 1 shows. with specific programming and are not The shared benefits that interactive TV offers implemented as part of a programming each of these key stakeholders provides fertile service; they are, instead, resident in the set- ground for a nascent ecosystem, with the top box and can be run regardless of the potential to improve the viewing experience, programming being watched. Examples of while driving new corporate revenue streams. unbound applications include the standard guide or CallerID to the TV, both of which can be rendered on the TV regardless of the currently tuned linear broadcast. The delivery of applications, specifically bound applications, remains in its infancy. The CableLabs’ specifications define how the bound applications should be interpreted at the set-top box but stops short of governing Figure 1 – Enhanced Programming Flow supporting infrastructure components; justifiably so, since this area needs to evolve Interactive TV application will come in to ensure the most efficient and innovative two forms: ways to manage bound applications. Synchronous, or bound to the The focus of this paper is a suite of programming; capabilities that will support the national Non-synchronous, or unbound to deployment of interactive TV by streamlining programming. specific components that enable the localization and personalization of bound Bound applications are associated with interactive TV applications. specific programming. While a subscriber is watching a program, the ETV application will BUSINESS DRIVERS OF run, resulting in an enhanced viewing INTERACTIVE TV experience. A bound application provides the ability to interact with a program or with Interactive TV offers advantages to key advertising. For example, a subscriber would stakeholders including subscribers, content be enabled to vote during a reality TV providers, programmers, advertisers, and programming directly through the use of the cable operators through interaction, remote control rather than through a personalization and localization of content. secondary device such as a phone or PC. In another scenario a subscriber can request Subscribers more information about a product or service promoted during an advertisement. While One does not need to look far to find clearly enhancing the subscriber experience, evidence of subscribers’ interest in 2008 NCTA Technical Papers - page 31 participating, shaping and enhancing content. additional information to the subscriber. Personalized websites, video outlets such as Consider the local car dealership that can youtube.com and facebook, and the popularity promote its latest campaign during a national of reality TV in which subscribers can advertisement for the car chain by ‘piggy- determine the outcome of the programming backing’ onto that national advertisement. align with the principles that interactive TV Interactive TV also provides incentive to will enable. The adoption of these, and subscribers to watch time-shifted similar, phenomena indicate that subscribers advertisements once this functionality is should quickly embrace interactive TV as supported. well. As the CableLabs specifications are Programmers adopted and implemented among MSOs, an unrivaled national platform will emerge, With increasing alternatives to broadcast providing advertisers and cable operators TV, programmers continue to vie for alike with a robust opportunity. ‘eyeballs’ of live programming. Interactive TV differentiates their programming and Cable Operators strengthens their brand with enhancements. Straightforward opportunities to enhance the Since subscribers, programmers and programming with bound applications include advertisers can all be counted as customers or the capability for voting and trivia questions partners, cable operators will benefit as the while providing near real-time feedback about enabler of interactive TV. They can capitalize how other subscribers responded at either the on their scale versus that of DBS and/or telco national or local level, thereby creating a providers as well as their established sense of community. relationships with programmers and advertisers. In addition, operators can use Additionally, programmers can use enhanced advertisements to promote their interactive TV to keep subscribers ‘on brand’ own offers and services. For example, a cable before tuning away to alternative networks by operator could enhance a linear promotion to offerings opportunities to view their VOD telescope to a VOD clips to learn more about content, perhaps at the conclusion of program, the available On Demand services, how to or even offer content provided by sister interpret their cable bill, or even sign up for a networks (i.e., NBC, Bravo, USA). The service offering directly from their TV. programming community is well-positioned to provider subscribers with personalized and Each of these key stakeholders shares a localized experiences that are compelling and common ecosystem that powers the television difficult for the competitors to mimic. business today. The benefits afforded by interactive TV across these key stakeholders Advertisers provide a recipe for the broad adoption and consequent success of interactive TV that will As broadcast and cable advertising introduce a new era in the TV viewing continue to be threatened by internet or experience. mobile device alternatives, interactive TV provides advertisers with an effective UNDERSTANDING THE response. Advertisers can enhance ads to SPECIFICATIONS fulfill requests for information about products or by using interactivity to telescope directly Within a proper framework, bound to VOD clips about their products to provide applications can provide both a platform for 2008 NCTA Technical Papers - page 32 national services as well as individually standard MPEG-2 transport stream. These addressed services. But in order to architect include