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Untitled-12 1 20/08/2013 15:31:46 Contents Tablet TV Tablet www.csimagazine.com operators in the US are escalating, but also making and FTA future and FTA Carriage disputes

UK local TV their way into European markets

OTT content OTT 25 Android security As premium video content proliferates across Android Editor devices, there is a need for greater security. What role Goran Nastic can TrustZone play here?

september/october 2013 Commercial manager cover.indd 1 20/08/2013 11:36:32 Tiro Bestonso 30 Tablet TV How can service providers take a more integrated Design and production 12 Analyst corner approach with second screen services? Matt Mills (Manager) The ‘content crunch’ is OTT’s main problem going Jason Tucker forward. But how big a hurdle is it? Guy Bisson Matleena Lilja-Pelling provides the answer based on his new research 35 Conference review: CSI home gateways summit Keem Chung The day explored the role of the multimedia home gateway in a world moving towards the cloud Regular contributors 14 COVER STORY - 4K/Ultra HD special Adrian Pennington, Philip Hunter, Our special focus on 4K starts with a top level view David Adams, Stephen Cousins and asks if a mass-market exists for the technology. 4K 40 UK local TV will also require a new production paradigm and two A new wave of local TV services is about to go live Circulation Joel Whitefoot (Manager) experts share lessons from early field experiments on across the UK. What impact are they likely to have?

p18. GfK analyses its chances of success on p20 Accounts 50 IBC preview Marilou Tait, Lynta Kamaray 22 Carriage disputes in Europe A look forward to the conference and show floor high- Editorial The carriage wars between broadcasters and platform lights of IBC2013 tel +44(0)20 7562 2401 fax +44(0)20 7374 2701 [email protected]

Editor’s report: Advertising Over-the-top broadband delivery is one of a number of major changes sweeping the TV tel +44(0)20 7562 2427 fax +44(0)20 7374 2701 industry. One manifestation of this is exacerbating tensions between cable and satellite [email protected] operators and channel owners over retransmission fees, now emerging across Europe (see our feature on p22). While Time Warner Cable and CBS are in the middle of a dispute Subscriptions resulting in a lengthy blackout for subscribers, Netflix seems to go from strength to tel +44 (0) 20 1635 588 861 [email protected] strength, receiving 14 Primetime Emmy nominations for its programmes, the first internet content pro- Circulation manager: joel.whitefoot@ vider to be acknowledged in this way. OTT still faces content hurdles, but this won’t last forever and IHS perspectivepublishing.com has crunched the numbers on how many OTT subscribers would be needed to dismantle the market for UK premium movie rights on p12. Elsewhere, our Q&A is with Chello’s Jelmer Kleingeld, who talks Subscription rates VoD on p34. The technology spotlight falls under HbbTV and DASH on p44. Goran Nastic, editor Per year: Europe £88; UK £68; Rest of World £98. Cheques payable to Perspective Publishing Managing Director Perspective Publishing Limited and 3 London Wall Buildings John Woods addressed to the Circulation London Publishing Director Department EC2M 5PD Mark Evans www.perspectivepublishing.com ISSN 1467-5935 Printed by Buxton Press

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Liberty Global looks to virtualisation news in brief

Liberty Global has outlined how harmonise functions like OSS/BSS, EBU tackles authentication its move to the cloud has resulted customer management support, The EBU has set up an initiative in accelerated time-to-market of and applications like interactive that aims to develop an the Horizon TV platform in its TV, nPVR, UI, search etc as the alternative to proprietary single newest market. cablenet rolls out its next-gen sign-on systems, and in the Faycal Amrani, managing director Horizon brand across Europe. This process make it easier for and chief architect, said during CSI’s centralised location is called the broadcasters to provide more multimedia gateway summit that the Pan European Central Head End personalised user experiences. Horizon combined gateway and (PECHE), which powers Horizon The Cross-Platform multi-screen service platform will services in the four markets the Authentication (CPA) project move traditional headend functions virtualise these features and Amrani product is commercially available. group will develop an alternative such as encoding, transcoding, called results so far “very promising.” Amrani explained how the to systems such as Facebook and encryption and multiplexing to the “Our goal is to harmonise the launches in the first two markets of Yahoo!. The group will develop a cloud within the next year or two services and solution across our the Netherlands and Switzerland variant of the widely implemented across a series of virtual data centres, footprint with agility and we can’t do took 12 months at a time when open standard OAuth 2.0 depending on rights issues. This will it without the cloud. The move to the PECHE was not yet operational, protocol specifically targeted at create a more virtualised, “scattered cloud is clear,” he added, stressing compared to just three months IP-connected media devices. “A cloud” delivery infrastructure for its that cloud based architectures does using PECHE for Ireland and solution to this problem would 12 European operating companies, not mean the end of the gateway but Germany. “So when we talk about unlock the potential for a minor which will improve cost efficiency by a shift in what is right to do in each. elasticity, agility and service revolution in the usually “quite a big number,” said Amrani. Liberty has already created a velocity, we mean it, it’s real.” anonymous world of Liberty is testing the technology to central back-office to help it Amrani said. broadcasting,” the EBU said. News news in brief CableLabs consolidates globally

UK TV analytics partnership R&D body CableLabs has expanded adding that CableLabs global Latin America, including Japan, formed its reach in Asia-Pacific and Latin alignment of technologies and Indonesia, China and Argentina. Kantar Media has teamed with America and taken Cable Europe strategies will allow technology Twitter to develop a new suite of Labs into its fold. suppliers to develop and bring to tools to support planning and In the process, CableLabs has market solutions that scale across New CableLabs members analytics for the UK TV industry. added 14 new members in the cable operators worldwide. Bringing together social TV data three regions to its rostra, taking As part of the move, all Cable Com Hem (Sweden) from Twitter with the audience the total to 51 MSOs who together Europe Labs activities will Get (Norway) research expertise of Kantar, the serve over 120 million customers transition to CableLabs, which is Kabel Deutschland (Germany) companies said the tools will worldwide. The cable industry has taking over the development and LIWEST (Austria) enable broadcasters to assess long sought economies of scale to management of DOCSIS standards Ono (Spain) programmes and series, plan position it better against the telcos in the region and throughout the Tele Columbus (Germany) programme promotions more in particular, which this move world, and thus becoming the sole YouSee (Denmark) effectively and assist media should help achieve. arbiter of the current DOCSIS 3.0 Ziggo (Netherlands) buyers and sellers to integrate “As the global market becomes specs and the forthcoming ZON (Portugal) social data more comprehensively more competitive, it is critical that DOCSIS 3.1 specs. J:COM (Japan) into the TV component of their technology standards become Cable Labs gains nine new PT Link Net (Indonesia) media mix. The first of these new aligned to support and accelerate members in the region (see table). Topway (Shenzhen, China) products will be available the continued innovation necessary Other former Cable Europe Labs WASU (Hangzhou, China) commercially to UK broadcasters, for the cable industry to meet the members are also expected to join. Cablevisión (Argentina) media agencies and the wider future needs of consumers on an CableLabs will also see new industry in 2014. international scale,” the group said, members join from Asia-Pac and VISIT US ON BOOTH #4.B72

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news in brief EBU: frame rates improve 4K UX

New Ukraine DTH platform higher frame rate). Lybid TV, a new Ukrainian pay- To this end, various frame rates up TV platform, has started to 240 Hz with different content commercial operations on the genres are being rated by observers, Eutelsat 36B satellite having using sequences in both signed a multi-year lease for two uncompressed form and compressed transponders. Lybid TV is with HEVC. broadcasting up to 50 digital “Early results give a clear channels comprising national indication that higher frame rates are Ukrainian channels, including the appreciated by the observers, to a premium sport channels Football, significantly greater extent than Football +, Sport-1 and Sport-2, increased resolution. This supports Orange has tested UHD signals during the French Open tennis tournament in addition to European and the position that future UHDTV Russian brands. Until the end of Early 4K tests from the EBU show create a clearly perceptible difference systems should include higher frame the year, the platform is available that viewers appreciate higher frame compared to HDTV. Significant work rates,” the EBU added. for a three-year subscription of rates much more than increased is now under way to investigate other Given the practical limitations for $15 for homes equipped with resolution. parameters required to generate a screen sizes in many homes, it may 60cm antennas. The DTH service The tests, designed to gauge the more immersive experience with well be that higher temporal is secured by Exset’s conditional impact of higher frame rates on the UHDTV. resolution could have a more access technology, Exset CAS. viewing experience, are taking “In addition to resolution, significant effect than simply place this week at IRT’s facilities in technical parameters that are likely increasing the spatial resolution. On Netlfix local content Munich by the EBU’s Broadcast to be crucial include higher dynamic the other hand, it may be harder to Netflix is looking to produce Technology Futures (BTF) group, range, extended colour space and, of justify and explain the advantages to lower-cost local programming which is made up of the heads of course, the frame rate,” said the consumers, who generally just want internationally for the first time, the research labs of the BBC, IRT, EBU, which wants to discover bigger screens with more pixels. starting with a comedy series RAI and NHK. whether observers appreciate higher The detailed results will be targeted at Brazil. The online Last February, a set of subjective frame rates and what the upper limit examined in the BTF group and in streaming provider has ordered UHDTV resolution tests conducted of frame rates should be (the current the EBU’s Beyond HD strategic scripted comedy A Toca for its at the EBU revealed that higher UHDTV standard specified by the programme and more tests will Brazilian service and the resolutions would not be enough to ITU includes only 120 Hz as a follow in the future. Portuguese-language series commission represents the company’s first major project UK UHD Forum Launched outside of the US and part of a new strategy to commission lower The UK UHD Forum has been UK Ultra HD profile. DTG hope this In launching the UK UHD-Forum, budget scripted programming for launched by the industry association will build on the success of the HD the DTG is bringing together all international platforms.Netflix for digital television in the UK, The forum. relevant stakeholders to work towards has previously ordered one-off Digital TV Group. Although 4KTV displays are the managed delivery of stand up comedies for some of its Chris Jones Chief Engineer, already on sale in the UK, it is interoperable Ultra-HD services, Latin American services, but this Broadcast Strategy at BskyB and believed that the displays of the networks and devices.” is the first time it has ordered Andy Quested, the BBC’s Head of future will go much further, bringing • Spanish satellite operator local scripted content. Technology for BBC HD and a sense of exceptional immersion and Hispasat, meanwhile, plans to launch UHDTV, Co-Chair the group that depth through advances in colour, a new ultra HD channel, Hispasat BT Sport signs 1m subs will work hand-in-hand with FAME frame rate and dynamic range, as 4K, which will be available to the Over one million homes have and other European standard defined in the ITU’s industry as a testing ground, similar subscribed to BT’s new sports organisations and ‘co-ordinate UK Recommendation for UHD. It is also to initiatives from rivals Eutelsat and channels. BT began to accept requirements to build a knowledge considered important to avoid SES. orders on May 10, meaning that base for the future interoperability confusion that many customers Hispasat has already tested 4K million customers for BT Sport of Ultra HD’ experience of ‘HD Ready’, and it is transmissions in Brazil, Spain and have been added in just three Broadcasters and the Digital therefore vital that the technology several European countries and said months, as the telco looks to Production Partnership will also step-change demanded by UHD is it is cutting deals with technology break Sky’s market dominance. work with the DTG to discover understood prior to any introduction partners to promote the technology whether or not there is a need for a of an ‘Ultra-HD Ready’ logo. between producers and users.

08 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

News

news in brief Eutelsat to acquire Satmex

KIT becomes Piksel Eutelsat has agreed to fully acquire (Satmex 8) that cover 90% of the KIT digital is preparing to exit Satélites Mexicanos for $1.14 population of the Americas. The bankruptcy and will re-launch at billion as it looks to become a major company operates in C and Ku-bands IBC under a new name, Piksel. satellite player in the Latin and was granted Ka-band rights in KIT said the reorganisation plan American markets. 2012. The operator is targeting an will be confirmed by the US This acquisition, together with increased contribution from video Bankruptcy Court for the the recently ordered Eutelsat 65 through its positions at 113.0° West Southern District of New York West A satellite, gives Eutelsat and 116.8° West including through after the company filed for significant entry across a region the recently launched Satmex 8 voluntary bankruptcy protection that is experiencing high growth in satellite. corporate data networks and cellular three months ago to cleanse itself television, telecoms and digital The launch of Satmex 8 in March backhaul. of “legacy issues”, including media. added 21 incremental 36 MHz- In 2012, Satmex’s FSS business financial, legal and regulatory “With Satmex’s strategic orbital equivalent transponders to its fleet, generated revenues of $111.8 million matters. KIT digital will officially slots, state of the art fleet and of which 12 have already been and $89.1 million in adjusted rebrand on August 29, focusing upcoming satellites, Eutelsat is contracted. The company has EBITDA, on top of a backlog of on software applications, gaining a robust platform from committed to acquire two electric $242 million. Satmex also owns and partnerships, and professional which to access the significant propulsion satellites (Satmex 7 and operates Alterna TV, a provider of and managed services. opportunities in this region,” said 9) that will become operational in Hispanic television programming to Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen. 2015 and 2016 to more than double the US market. The transaction is KT to deploy HTML5 service Based in Mexico, Satmex its total in-orbit capacity. expected to close by the end of 2013, Korean telco KT is planning to operates three satellites at 113.0° Satmex has an estimated market subject to government and regulatory launch an HTML5-based IPTV West (Satmex 6), 114.9° West share of 11% in Latin America where approvals and other customary multi-screen service. The service, (Satmex 5) and 116.8° West it enjoys a strong franchise in conditions. called Olleh TV Smart, will be accessible from both set-top boxes and connected devices such as PCs, smartphones, and tablets. AOL to acquire Adap.TV With the shift to the HTML5 open interface, KT will introduce Internet giant AOL is taking a and measurement. and now a leading programmatic an app that supplements live bigger step into online video Adap.TV allows brands to target video platform. streamed baseball games with advertising with the acquisition of to a specific audience (so called Last year, Adap.tv supported more statistics about the players, and Adap.TV, in a deal worth around programmatic advertising) and AOL than 26,000 global ad campaigns, they will be able to instantly $405 million. expects the combination to create a which ran on approximately 9,500 re-play key moments of the game. California-based Adap.TV brings powerful cross-screen solution for websites and was used by many top KT will launch additional features the only complete global brands, agencies and publishers. brand advertisers. including HTML5-based programmatic video technology The combination will give AOL an Adap.tv will operate independently interactive education, cloud stack for publishers and advertisers end-to-end solution and video stack as part of AOL’s video organisation games, ‘Cloud DVD’ and private across all screens, as well as a for publishers and advertisers – from and be included as part of the broadcasting services in coming unified yield management platform premium original production, to overall solution offered by AOL months. Alticast provides the for advertisers and publishers for content aggregation and syndication Networks to its publisher and middleware for KT’s system. planning, targeting, adserving platforms, video CMS technology, advertiser partners.

Carrier ID survey The Satellite Interference Reduction Group (IRG) and Start-up touts MPEG-2 gains Newtec are undertaking an industry survey to find out what Euclid Discoveries is promising to Test results, measured by BD rate the conventional encoder’s the industry thinks when it comes boost MPEG-2 compression by and visual comparisons, have shown capabilities, it applies additional to satellite interference and 10-30% thanks to EuclidVision compression gains of between modelling information to those Carrier ID. The survey is technology, a software module that 10-30% for high motion, HD videos, regions to generate better available at surveymonkey.com/s/ can be installed in legacy MPEG-2 according to the company. When predictions. An H.264 compliant StopInterference2013 set top boxes, which the company is EuclidVision determines that the EuclidVision software module is pitching at cable MSOs. complexity of the video has exceeded expected before the end of the year.

10 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com News

1bn payTV homes by 2018 news in brief

Global pay TV households will reach ZigBee takes off in STBs the one billion mark by 2018, up from Almost a third of set-top boxes 772 million in 2012 and 814 million Top 10 pay TV cuntries at end - 2018 shipped globally in 2018 will in 2013, according to Digital TV integrate support for ZigBee Households (million) Penetration (%) Research. RF4CE technology, according to The Asia Pacific region will ABI Research. A total of 30% of China 312.9 Netherlands 100 contribute 59% of the global total by India 158.0 Denmark 97 STBs will feature ZigBee by that Belgium 96 that time. China will have the most USA 106.8 date, up from just 3% in 2011. Russia 32.3 Hong Kong 96 pay TV subs, at 313 million by end- ABI believes the technology is Brazil 30.5 South Korea 95 2018, followed by 158 million in Japan 27.0 Sweden 92 also set to allow STBs to become Norway 91 India and 107 million in the US. Germany 23.1 the centre piece of automated Mexico 19.0 Puerto Rico 91 These three countries will account homes. The standard currently South Korea 16.9 Singapore 89 for 58% of global pay TV households UK 16.3 Estonia 87 serves as a replacement for IR in by 2018. remote controls. Operators such Pay TV penetration (analog and as Comcast, Pace, EchoStar and digital combined) reached 53.6% of Swisscom have already TV households by end-2012, and will from digital cable to take its total to FTA DTH up 31 million to 143 incorporated it in their STBs. rise to 55.7% by end-2013 and 63.1% 513 million. Primary FTA DTT million. by 2018. Penetration at end-2018 will [homes taking DTT but not There were still 652 million Android gains on 9” tablets range from 86% in North America to subscribing to cable, DTH or IPTV] analogue TV households by end- Over 34m tablets shipped in Q2 29% in the Middle East and Africa. will acquire an additional 225 million 2012 but this total will fall by 104 2013, a 43% YoY increase, Pay TV penetration will remain – bringing its total to 363 million. million in 2013 alone, with only according to Canalys, which said highest in the Netherlands, at 99.5% Pay DTT will add 7 million to total 127 million remaining by 2018 that tablets now account for 31% by end-2018. 16 million. when analogue penetration will of worldwide PC shipments. Of the 667 million digital TV Pay IPTV will increase by 98 stand at only 8.0% (77 million Apple’s market share dropped to homes to be added between 2012 million to 167 million, with pay DTH analogue terrestrial homes and 49 43%. The chasing pack of and 2018, 240 million will come up 73 million to 251 million and million analogue cable). Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and Acer each grew annually by over 200%, driven by increasing demand for small-screen tablets Netflix not cannibalising linear TV available for less than $150. Canalys estimates that 68% of Netflix households watch as much In a recent survey of nearly 10,000 Of the survey respondents 57% tablets shipped in Q2 had a traditional TV as homes that do not subscribers, TiVo found there was no stated that they subscribe to Netflix screen size smaller than 9”. take up the service, according to new significant difference in the amount and 18% had watched House of data from TiVo Research and of traditional TV viewing between Cards. Half also reported they Connected devices impact Analytics. Netflix and non-Netflix households. subscribe to Amazon Prime and secondary sets 18% to Hulu Plus, while 8% The TV set in the living room subscribe to all three over the top retains its importance, according services. to Ofcom, which found that 91% Netflix households also are of all viewing is on the main TV heavier viewers of other premium set, up from 88% in 2002. Live dramas: households who reported TV accounted for 90% of all viewing House of Cards watched viewing in 2012, with the average 85% more HBO than non-Netflix viewer watching just over four households. hours of TV a day - 15 minutes “Our data show that Netflix is more than in 2008. However, not currently a substitute for there were 41% of households traditional television, but offers a with only one TV set in 2012 way for TV lovers to watch more of compared with 35% in 2002, the kinds of programs they love,” while only 52% of 5-15 year olds said TRA. had a TV in their bedroom. Source: Netflix

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 11 Analyst corner OTT’s content crunch As TV evolves increasingly towards IP, the content crunch, content owners at this level and the price soon exceeds not technology, is OTT’s biggest obstacle the monthly cost of a high- end pay TV subscription cliché to start: content technical one. It doesn’t evolve on a Moore’s Law- today. is king. A truth for like timeline. The economic model for movie and seconds: good content is entertainment content has remained essentially Dismantling the content value chain very expensive. And now the same since the inception of TV. By modelling out realistic price-points based on a look to the future: as The UK market for movie and entertainment the monthly ARPU that a UK pay TV subscriber television evolves content within the pay TV subscription window is can support it becomes clear that between 1.3m increasingly towards IP worth an estimated £650m in terms of annual and 4.3m direct OTT subscribers would be and OTT delivery, the ‘content crunch’ represents rights spend. When channel carriage income for needed to dismantle the market for UK premium Athe biggest obstacle to change. the main content owners is added, this jumps to movie rights, although a realistic mid-point would I’ve noted in past analysis some of the €1.3bn. That, represents about 22% of the total suggest it could be done with as few as 2.7m technical cost issues around scaling large-volume value of the UK pay TV market and is the size of customers. Counting income from studio-owned unicast OTT delivery of television content (see the roadblock that will have to be dismantled UK channels and those of non-studio majors like CSI Jan-Feb issue), but the real road-block is before there can be a sea-change in the way Discovery would mean rights owners would have economic. It is the entrenched economics of the content is delivered. to find between 2.7m and 8.6m direct OTT content business, that of rights sales and channel Content owners have long talked of direct-to- customers to make back the revenue they would carriage agreements. consumer propositions, cutting out the lose from existing relationships and channel So just how big an obstacle is this? On the middleman represented by pay TV operators and carriage agreements, this time with a mid-point technical side, we can model CDN costs and, channels and taking home all of the subscription around 5.4m customers. from an engineering perspective, address certain spoils their content generates. For a long time this Some major players that are more heavily scaling issues through a combination of unicast has been little more than a fantasy, as believable entrenched in the UK market with both channels and multicast technology and, in the near-term, as the plot-lines of many a Hollywood blockbuster. and rights deals would need even more. Smaller through hybrid broadcast/IP technologies. But the But OTT is a potential game-changer in that it content owners too would also face an onerous content value chain is very different from the brings together the potential of an open network task. Although they have less money to make while removing the onus on a single closed- back, the price they would be able to charge for a UK: Relative importance of carriage network hardware solution for delivery of single-source content offer would also be far less. income, major content providers (2012) premium TV. The one thing that emerges perhaps more 100% To date, content owners have taken little clearly than anything else from this exercise is

90% more than baby steps towards this full that the current aggregation model based around

80% disintermediation. To offer their content branded channels and a strong branded platform direct would mean an end to lucrative, to aggregate and sell those channels is a highly 70% usually exclusive, deals with pay TV partners. efficient one. But in the rapidly evolving 60% Taken to its logical conclusion, not only world that is OTT delivery, it is no longer

50% would it mean an end to licensing iron-clad. Rights homes 40% relationships with premium channel

% TV customers, but it would also devalue the 30% entire linear TV channel proposition by 20% shifting all of the value traditionally placed

10% on this segment into the OTT delivery Carriage

0% platform. x There are other issues. What price

Fo Guy Bisson is research rner

Disney point could be charged? How do you value director, television, at IHS Wa output from a single content provider? Screen Digest. In this regular column, he gives CSI readers SPE/Columia A price point of £5 for all of the output NBC Universal exclusive insight from the of a major producer like Disney or Discovery Source: IHS company’s new channel strategies service Paramount/Viacom may sound reasonable, but add in a few more

12 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Cisco Videoscape Unity: Connecting Experiences Your Way

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Untitled-4 1 21/08/2013 14:04:25

4K jigsaw aligns for the bigger picture

Discussion about ultra-HDTV has advanced beyond whether A more natural progression than 3D it’s possible, toward practical considerations about how While NBCU’s approach is home viewers will actually receive the experience, but cautious, there are good reasons to suggest that broadcasters are understandably cautious, reports Adrian Ultra-HD will not whither Pennington on the vine as 3D appears to have done. HD to Ultra- HD would seem to hile His is far from the only voice sounding an represent a more natural technology progression, UltraHD is antidote to the prevailing UltraHD hyperbole. and an easier consumer proposition, than the expected to While broadcasters including SES, Sky, Netflix, necessity of wearing glasses. dominate Eutelsat, the BBC and NHK are pressing ahead With elements of the 4K broadcast equipment discussion with test broadcasts in order to stimulate and market already becoming commoditised, at IBC2013 measure demand, with the aim of launching momentum is building in support of the first and other commercially across 2014 and 2015, there is also UltraHD broadcasts (defined as Level 1 by industry forums, there are question marks being caution. Most broadcasters are wary of getting the ITU with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 - Wset against the sanity of pushing beyond 2K so bitten, as ESPN, Foxtel and others appear to have exactly 2x vertical and 2x horizontal compared to quickly. After all, what’s wrong with HD anyway? done with their soon-to-be-defunct 3D channels, 1920x1080; as with HD, the aspect ratio is 16:9). “It may have four times the resolution of high- by leaping wholesale into a format that has next However, a number of key issues still have definition television, but is it four times better?” to no consumer base. questions hanging over them, a basic one being asks Informitv consultant William Cooper, who is “The jury is still out,” admits Andrew Jordan, that TV manufacturers need to persuade chairing a session on the topic at IBC. “Is there SVP, International Operations & Technology, at consumers to upgrade to a higher resolution set any evidence of consumer demand or willingness Comcast-owned NBCUniversal. “The question for (Sony’s 55-inch 4K Bravia is £5,000; a Seiki to pay for further improvements in sound and us is under what circumstances is it most model costs around £1,000), at a time when the picture quality? Can people actually see or hear appropriate. Like any big shift in the industry we benefits of HD are only just going mainstream. the difference and is it really relevant to the have to understand its relevance. If everyone had “60% of the world’s market has yet to transition average viewer? Can broadcasters afford to go jumped in with both feet and bought 3D sets the from SD while others are prioritising multi- beyond HD to 4K formats?” he continues. world would now look very different.” platform distribution,” notes consultant Graham Sharp. “4K to the home is being driven by set manufacturers trying to boost their refresh cycle.” A demonstration of Cisco’s Project Fresco West European sales peaked at 51m HD sets in 2010 followed by a 4% decline in 2011 and 12% last year. Analysts Futuresource predicts a similar slide in 2013. All this in a market where three quarters of homes contain HD screens but only half currently receive HD broadcasts. “The single most important reason [for the push to 4K] is that TV manufacturers are losing money on TVs,” comments Jack Wetherill, senior market analyst at Futuresource. “They need to find a compelling reason for consumers to buy new more expensive sets.” Nonetheless, Ericsson’s 2012 ConsumerLab TV report highlighted a willingness among

14 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com 4K special

consumers to pay for ‘extreme quality’ as part of their overall TV and video service. “There are some who suspect the industry is simply pushing this technology just to sell more TVs but I think that’s unfair,” suggests Carl Furgusson, Ericsson’s head of business development, TV compression. “The introduction of UltraHD and the consumer benefits mirror the introduction of HD; there are a number of people who are reluctant to embrace the technology but equally, there are a similar number who want it now.” While there are those who believe 4K will sideline 3D because it offers a more immediate visual upgrade achieved without the need for A Samsung UHD demo from this year’s Anga show glasses, there are others who think higher resolution panels are beneficial to 3DTV. So autostereo displays could give 3DTV enough time to do the strategic planning, to manipulates sound according to the environment renewed impetus. learn all the lessons from HD such as avoiding you are sitting in. In addition, and very “UltraHD screens will give a much higher confusion with an UltraHD marque,” says the importantly, it needs to be cost effective from resolution for passive-glasses 3D viewing, industry body’s CEO, Richard Lindsay-Davies. cameras to compression.” effectively doubling the number of vertical lines to “We must be careful to manage the step change so a full 1,000 lines per eye,“ says Chris Johns, chief that the specifications are right, that the value is Live production challenges engineer, broadcast strategy, BSkyB. “The utopia right for the consumer, with the right timing and Discussion among broadcasters is also focused on is glasses-free 3D. UltraHD can lend itself to that appropriate communication.” the presentation of 4K on increasingly large home because it’s increasing the number of fields of With the first UltraHD services odds-on to be screens, reckoned to be of the order of 60-inches view that 4K screens can display.” launched by payTV companies, Sky Deutschland, for UltraHD visual benefits to be experienced. At Stakeholders in the format’s future are calling BSkyB and Fox Sports among others are testing the optimal viewing distance from the screen, for the industry to unite and ensure it gets out of production workflows to home delivery. around 60 degrees of the viewer’s field of view the starting blocks in a standardised not “With HD we went through a two-year test will be filled with the TV image. By comparison, piecemeal manner and before it hits public period, with 3D it was 18 months,” explains today’s viewing typically fills around 30 degrees of consiousness. Johns. “We are still at that early phase so that the field of view. “We must be patient and not rush to be first, when we are able to deliver a beyond HD viewing “Does the production grammar have to because if we get it wrong it may be the end of it,” experience we can deliver a high quality one.” change?” asks Heimbecker. “At screen sizes above stresses Stephan Heimbecker, head of innovation Much of the testing surrounds what the 55-inchs at an average 2.7 metres viewing and standards, product and operations, Sky attributes of a next generation TV service might distance, then conventional close-ups would Deutchland, which is thought to be preparing to actually be, with the feeling that resolution alone appear larger than lifesize which could be announce a UltraHD service at Berlin’s IFA. is not sufficient to convince the market of the discomforting to people. Perhaps we need to use “Let’s do it right.” need to upgrade. head to hip shots for a less disturbing experience.” Not confusing the consumer is the UK’s “Something beyond HD might have no The larger screen real estate could also be used Digital TV Group’s concern. “We still have interlace, more resolution, finer pixels... but what to split coverage of programming. A football else is there?” questions Johns. “It has to deliver a match, for example, could be covered in the lower new viewing experience. It has to be something half of the screen from a single wide view of the “The jury is still out. consumers want to have.” field of play, with other windows showing a Aside from a wide portfolio of content, (a traditional director’s cut, viewer choice of angle, The question for lesson learned from 3D channel’s padded another match or advertising. schedule), a key requirement is improved motion In 4K tests broadcasters have made of fast- us is under what portrayal and higher dynamic range. “Greater paced action it is apparent that the Level 1 spec colorimetry is a nice to have but will only needs to accommodate at least 50fps and ideally circumstances is it enhance the experience of certain sequences of 60 even 120 frame rates to overcome motion blur, certain programmes (general views in travel a startling artefact replayed at four times HD most appropriate.” shows, for example),” says Johns. resolution. “We also need to think about audio, perhaps “UltraHD TV needs a higher frame rate yet CE NBCUniversal in terms of new object-based technology which manufacturers are producing 30hz-only sets when

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 15

Datarates for the 4K UHDTV through the end to end chain

Contribution / Backhaul Distribution / DTH Delivery

Over Satellite Over Telco Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial, Telco IPTV

MPG - 4 AVC 2160p30 10 - 30 Mbps 2160p60 80 - 105Mbps 200 - 320 Mbps 12 - 39 Mbps

HEVC 2160p30 7 - 21 Mbps (Liner 1st Generation) 2160p60 8 - 27 Mbps

HEVC 2160p30 5 - 15 Mbps (Linear 2nd Generation) 2160p60 56 - 73 Mbps 200-320 Mbps 6 - 20 Mbps

Equivalent to today’s HDTV at... 1080i30 / 720p60 20 Mbps MPEG - 4 Hi422 8bit 80 Mbps MPEG - 4 Hi422 10 bit 5-12 Mbps MPEG - 4 120 Mbps JPEG - 200 9-16 Mbps MPEG - 2

Source: Ericsson the current standard goes up to 120fps,” says A Blu-Ray task force has been established to Increased storage and editing power BBC lead research engineer Richard Salmon who revise the current spec to accommodate 4K, while requirements plus lack of a business model for is involved in standardisation initiatives through Netflix, Discovery 3Net and BSkyB (both with delivery in 4K are however causing film and TV SMPTE and DVB. This will change when HDMI 3D / 4K documentaries) are among those producers to hesitate and post produce at 2K. 2.0 is released to support displays at 50/60p, building a 4K library. Netflix’ original drama “Artistically, 4K can enhance the storytelling though this is not expected until next spring. House of Cards was acquired 5K on Red Epics (by providing a higher sample of dynamic range Live 4K production remains a challenge and is in readiness for when the OTT powerhouse and detail before post and VFX) but producers at least 18 months away from readiness. Sony is launches into 4K VoD (pre-canned and pre- have to weigh how much 4K is going to add value pushing hardest, testing an array of equipment encoded movie and drama content), a plan that to their production today by giving the movie including its single 35mm sensor F5/F55 cameras chief product officer Neil Hunt hinted at earlier another life in 5-10 years,” says Axel Ericson, rather than traditional 2/3-inch broadcast optics, this year. founder of facility Digital Arts which houses New at June’s Confederations Cup with a view to Better standards and format conversion are York’s first 4K lab. convincing FIFA of greenlighting 4K capture also beneficial from 4K source material: Deriving Lack of content is an impediment to operator during next year’s World Cup. That decision also 1080i at 25Hz or 29.97Hz can be done with high UltraHD launches. Sony is trying to seed the rests on FIFA selling the rights, though at the quality, starting with a UltraHD Level 1 master. market with its own 4K Media Player. Essentially very least the final is thought likely to be captured 720P or 50 / 59.94hz (2x frame rate of HD) can a server bundled with a dozen 4K features [Sony 4K for posterity. likewise be derived from higher quality source. Pictures-produced The Amazing Spiderman, Total “Most 4K live production tests are outputting HD content can also be extracted by electronic Recall (2012) and catalogue titles scanned from four HD tiled feeds [QuadHD] for backhaul to a pan/zooms either in near-live replay (as has been 35mm such as Taxi Driver] as well as some studio or limited large screen experiences,” says used live on air by CBS Sports during its 2013 additional TV and short-form video. Fresh Ericsson’s Furgusson. “You are looking at Superbowl coverage) or to reframe in post. The content will become available via Sony’s Video 80-110Mb/s in Quad HD, equivalent to 20Mb/s former has potential to reduce operator cost in Unlimited 4K content service [US only], slated to per HD panel at 422 10bit sampling. To do true the field by needing fewer camera-ops. debut in the autumn and costing $7.99 per rental 4K broadcast, rather than just playing with the title or $29.99 download to own. technology, we need 4K-capable mixers, real-time edit suites, graphics and logo overlay and these Supplementing – not replacing - HD aren’t ready to go in 2013.” “We must be patient This is a short-term measure ahead of 4K to home and not rush to be services for which HEVC will be fundamental to 4K content ensuring deployment on a large scale, cost- UltraHD as an origination format for recorded first. Let’s do it right.” effectively. “Finding the extra bandwidth required programming does have advantages, the chief to dedicate the transmission path to the home is a among them being to hold a master copy in Sky Deutschland daunting prospect as UltraHD will supplement, higher resolution as future proofing. not replace, HD for many years,” says Fergusson.

16 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

With a framerates at least 50Hz (100,120, A mass-market for UHD? unobtrusive, frameless, ambient and UltraHD. Its 150fps may be necessary) the baseband data All the major TV brands will have 4K TVs on OLED-based project Fresco is on show at IBC’s rate is therefore at least 8x conventional HD, or retail by Christmas with Futuresource predicting Future Zone. Developments such as these will approximately 12Gbps. By comparison, current that 8,000 of them will ship in Europe this year – help overcome the mass-market questions arising MPEG4 AVC HD delivery to the home by but that’s out of 38m total set sales. By 2020 half around UHD. satellite is in the order of 5-12Mbs (at the higher of 50+inch sets sold will be 4K-ready, but that’s a As HBO’s retiring CTO Bob Zitter noted end of that range in Europe). long time to wait for a viable commercial earlier this year, even in the US only about HEVC of course has the capability to achieve business. “4K is here to stay and a natural 25-30% of homes have space for a TV large a 50% bitrate reduction over MPEG-4 AVC but progression from HD,” concludes Wetherill. “4K enough for viewers to discern the difference requires 10x the processing power to fully exploit is a premium technology for years to come.” between regular HD and 4K. He said that the toolset. The first generation of ‘live products’ Imagining what we may all be watching in our broadcasters would not have an incentive to in 2015/2016 will likely only provide a 20-25% homes by 2021, Andy Quested, BBC technology migrate from HD to 4K if less than a third of the gain, reckons Furgusson. “It will take the second chief for HD and 3D predicts: “My TV is agile. It market could be addressed with the technology. generation HEVC UltraHD realtime encoders to can do 300fps and will switch framerates He did, however, point out that ultra HD could achieve 6-20Mbps bitrates cost effectively.” automatically depending on content. It has at take off if new technologies such as wall-panel That’s not the only hurdle. Enabling new least 4000 lines, has extended dynamic range and TV or OLED-based flexible wallpaper decoding devices integrated into TVs, STBs, and it’s a 21.9 aspect ratio. It displays stereo 3D screens emerged. consoles are also required and not available without glasses and it includes object-orientated This is also Sony’s argument when it comes to until NAB 2014 at the earliest. “We won’t see audio rendering sound according to the space questions about mass market economics of 4K. HM 10 60p reference chipsets with the full HEVC around me.” Andrew Kydd, programme manager of future toolset [from manufacturers like STMicro and Where will TV manufacturers go then? business innovation at Sony Europe, argued that Broadcom] integrated into a device before the end Whole wall screens or holographic devices, sets are generally getting bigger in the home as of 2014,” says Furgusson. “My prediction is for naturally. According to Cisco, within the next five prices come down, so people are generally World Cup Brazil we will see 4K big screen public years advances in display technology will make acquiring larger screens. show events but not 4K to the home in any science fiction reality, with screens that are This mass-market potential will remain an open significant way.” question but in the UHDTV capture: early experiences demonstrated on current Ateme’s Jérôme Vieron and Matthieu Parmentier of France broadcast delivery Télévisions dissect the technology challenges associated infrastructures, and little is known about the required with 4K and outline some of the early experiments bandwidth that could be undertaken in this space to evaluate future workflows, envisioned for live applications. specifically work on adapting filming methods and materials Beyond technology: UHDTV aesthetic skills he two ends of the broadcast this bottleneck by aggregating multiple available UHD is synonymous of a new shape, leaving HD chain - cameras and TV sets - links like 3G Serial Digital Interface (3G-SDI) or screen size (42” on average) to welcome a new have started supporting 4K/ HDMI in proprietary ways. At IBC2012, some reference size: 84”. This must affect the way of ultra HD. But UHDTV providers promoted different technologies, such filming. Three topics, relative to filming skills, are support has not yet been as dual-link 3G over Bayonet Neill–Concelman particularly explored. announced for many other (BNC) connector, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort. First, a UHD natural close-up is able to bring devices, such as switchers, In parallel, standardisation bodies are actively the definition of a 50X magnification microscope. encoders, and set-top boxes. Moreover, the post- involved in the specification of new transport It could offer a different, slightly more intimate Tproduction workflow requires adaptation to higher interfaces with higher capacities. Thus, the HDMI meaning, where every detail of the character face bit rates, processing, and storage capacities. forum is working on a new specification for would be seen. Figure 1 shows how sharply a Therefore, the first challenge in deploying UHDTV release at the end of 2013. UHDTV 50p screenshot enhances the impression is in baseband: How do we acquire, transport, and Although many UHDTV devices, such as TV of realness. A standard close-up in HD can be display uncompressed video? sets, video projectors, and professional monitors, frightening in UHD. Assuming a 4:2:2 10-bit pixel format, about 12 and cameras were made available in 2012, and Second, a UHDTV background is difficult to Gbits/sec are needed to transport uncompressed despite the ITU recommendation, no established ignore, even if the focus choice helps one’s eyes UHDTV video and audio. Currently, there is no standard accurately defines what UHD means in concentrate on the foreground. The numerous established standard to handle that much data the context of broadcast TV. There is still great details multiply the constraints. With such a large between professional equipment or between set- uncertainty about various parts of the broadcast screen, combined with a reduction of the viewer’s top boxes and TV sets. Therefore, the limited chain, including video compression and delivery. distance, UHDTV calls for large shots that allow number of available UHDTV devices work around Video compression of this new format is yet to be the eyes to circulate. If a cinema crew knows unfocused backgrounds help concentrate the viewers’ attention on the actors, in television this constitutes a difficult task as TV lenses facilitate a large field of depth as shown on Figure 2, on the next page. Dealing with distracting background items that may show up under these circumstances can prove problematic. Third, large camera movements are prohibited. Enlarged UHDTV picture size and definition bring a large amount of information to viewers’ eyes and brain. Camera movement naturally accelerates this information stream. Comparing HD and UHDTV, considering a necessary 45° panning movement in HD, a larger shot is Figure 1: Close-ups have to be preferred in UHDTV limited to a 10° panning rethought in UHD movement to keep the dynamic impression

18 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com without overloading the information stream. Télévisions. In 2012, These three examples are the beginning of a ATEME and six other new way of shooting for UHDTV. partners, setup the 4EVER During post-production, apart from the project, covering the entire workflow adaptation to higher bit rates, production and delivery processing, and storage capacities, UHDTV chain. This three-year definition of up to 60 frames/sec considerably collaborative research and enlarges the editing field. development project aims A higher resolution involves a new rhythm - a at exploring, developing, new way of telling stories. It is obvious that there and promoting an is much to see in a UHDTV picture. At this time, enhanced, quality TV and until audiences become accustomed to giant experience. TVs and such, an immersive viewing angle, From this first UHDTV UHDTV stories should remain smoother. The capture at the French first consequence is that to digest all the meaning Tennis Open, where a Red of a shot, the edit should be slower. A single shot Epic camera was used by Figure 3: Thumbnails of UHDTV content used in the study that lasts five seconds in HD could last about ten Orange Labs (Fig. 3 (a), the or 15 sec in UHDTV. But this does not mean that consortium conducted several other shooting are far from negligible. all movies will run twice as long. Rather, if the sessions. In spring 2012, France Télévisions As an early attempt to figure this future, we filmmakers need three different axis or shot started a specific study of the overall UHDTV have encountered the 4K reality in television values in HD, they should restrain themselves to workflow, with the production of a short world, dealing with different camera concepts only one of those values in UHDTV. programme Le Chien Couché à Ses Pieds, directed for capture, slightly huge files and bitrates, In addition, less work will apply to editing, and by Christel Delahaye and shot in the conditions thinking to new skills to film and edit these more work will apply while shooting. The camera of a regular TV project (Fig. 3 (b) and (c)) with a contents. These first experiences lead us to a position, focal, and field depth shape a large part Red Epic camera. During the summer of 2012, completely new dimension, with the promises of every shot meaning. With more information in Orange Labs and 4EVER partners used the Sony of enhanced information and emotions. These the picture, fewer shots, and fewer edit cuts, the F65 camera for a specific shooting of stress efforts have to be followed by a complete study future UHDTV content should probably look like contents at the Brest 2012 historical sailing event of the overall production chain to bring 4K today’s Super 35 productions. (Fig. 3 (d)). This was done after a deep study of to the audience. this camera’s potential during a shooting session UHDTV field capture in Paris (Fig. 3 (e)). Finally, the JVC GY-HMQ10 This is an excerpt from a paper written by To study both UHD signals and the HEVC camcorder was used in Nantes (Fig. 3 (f)) and Jérôme Vieron, advanced research manager at ATEME, and Matthieu Parmentier, potentials for delivering UHDTV signals, field Brest (Fig. 3 (i)) to explore its spatial and project manager of R&D at public captures were and will be performed as part of temporal definition skills. broadcaster France Télévisions the 4EVER consortium. Figure 3 provides In addition, UHDTV scanned film sequences thumbnails of the UHDTV content considered in provided by SVT, namely, Crowdrun and Ducks the current study. (Fig. 3 (g) and (h), respectively) were added to Studio 4K content Since 2008, Orange Labs and France the UHDTV content test set. Filmmakers have been shooting movies on Télévisions have been involved in many projects 35mm film, for more than 80 years. Despite to map out the future of TV. In 2011, Orange Conclusion the physical misalignment between 35mm film Labs began its study of UHD signals at the Enhancing the sense of realness, the viewing and video structure, its effective resolution is French Tennis Open, produced by France comfort and creating an immersive experience, considered at least equivalent to 4K (DCI). such is the quest of any incumbent broadcaster Hence, films are increasingly scanned, post- like France Télévisions looking to embrace the produced, and archived at 4K resolution. In future of television. In this context, UHDTV and addition, new masters related to restoration in particular 4KTV is considered as the next work or commercial distributionare often natural step after HD and 3D. created at this resolution. Digital filmmaking After introducing why broadcasting a 4K signal has also moved to shooting at 4K, and even would bring television in a new dimension, some Hollywood filmmakers are moving multiplying the amount of information and beyond 4K and high frame rate. Thus, there is emotions, we outlined a 4K format that would fit already sufficient 4K content for studios to Figure 2: Distracting background items can realistic expectations for the broadcast television release in UHDTV format. show up shooting in 4K industry. The challenges to implement this format

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 19 4K TV–The next 3D or HD?

GfK’s Phil McCann analyses ultra HD’s chances of success Despite a slower replacement cycle (pan- t the Consumer Smart TV in terms of likely uptake and usage – European TV value sales Electronics Show in fact, the main benefit of 4K (and HD) is the fell by €7 billion between 2010 and 2011), this is (CES) 2013, major experience rather than how it’s used. a likely indication that the next round of TV TV manufacturers 2. The willingness of broadcasters and content buying will show a similar level of upgrading to announced their providers to support it. If we accept that the that seen between 2007 and 2010 when flat intentions for the future difference in viewing experience between HD/4K screen and HD purchasing really came to the fore. of the industry through and 3D is significant enough that comparisons Whilst high value 4K sets may still remain niche - a series of product roadmaps detailing the growth between the two are somewhat invalid, any notion Deloitte estimates that around half of sets this Aof 4K technology. This growth is aligned with a that recent high-profile withdrawals from the 3D year will retail at $10,000 - the likelihood is that trend of increasing screen sizes – that is, with 50” market by ESPN and the BBC are likely to impact we will quickly see a combination of Chinese screens being the minimum size. With only 50 on future investment on 4K are far from like-for- manufacturers entering the market at a sub-$3,000 such TVs sold in the UK this year, we’re evidently like. Regardless, broadcasters are progressing price point and gradual reductions from the still in the early stages of this process. However, with test broadcasts in order to stimulate and bigger players. Whilst markets are currently despite a number of undetermined factors, there measure demand, with the aim of launching experiencing a slump in overall TV sales, the fact are a few ways of assessing the likelihood of commercially across 2014 and 2015. On top that 4K offers genuine improvement in both success for this new-screen technology. of this, it is also likely that Xbox ONE and picture quality and screen size, aligned with 1. The comparison against 3D and Smart TV. PlayStation 4 will both support 4K broadcasting, consumer-sensitive pricing, means that GfK’s global study into TV usage in 2012 showed particularly taking into account Microsoft’s desire manufacturers are ably positioning themselves to that fewer than 50% of TV owners were utilising to dominate the living room. This level of support, maximise the value of the next significant round Smart TV and 3D. A combination of the effort in tandem with the ability of 4K to upscale HD of upgrading. required to engage with these TVs and a wider broadcasts, appears comparable to the way in media focus on augmenting the viewing which HD grew organically, gradually pervading So what does this mean? experience via the second screen (rather than the viewing experience rather than rapidly The TV market is well set for the introduction 4K dominating the living room as in years gone by) intruding upon it in the manner of 3D, and technology, with the average screen size on the are likely reasons. 4K TV is the next upgrade as a result easier for broadcasters to adopt a rise and a clear message from consumers that from HD, a continuation in the improvement of patient strategy. non-invasive innovation will drive sales (rather picture quality and screen size, rather than a 3. The current market trajectory. In the year to than disruption in the form of 3D, Smart TV, disruptive element in current behaviour patterns May 2013 the proportion of 40”+ TVs sold moved etc). However, the extent to which this technology and thus bears little comparison with 3D or to 60% (up 9%-points from December 2011). is strong enough to re-ignite the market is far more complex. The 7 Billion Euro Drop It is more likely that, rather than an explosion 36.1 SALES BIL. EUR +/- %PY SALES BIL. EUR +/- %PY of interest and sales, the growth of 4K will be as gradual as flat screens (six years between launch 32.20 31.80 29.1 30.53 31.19 in 1996 and first sign of volumes sales in 2002) 28.96 27.60 and HD, with market forces determining that 24.18 22.43 consumers move over to the technology, rather than any rush or demand in the same way we might see for the launch of a new games console 11.2 or smartphone. 8.18 What 4K can do is provide more forceful

- 2.2 reasons to upgrade at a time when the - 1.2 replacement cycle has stagnated and a coherent 22.43 28.96 32.20 31.80 30.53 31.19 27.60 24.18 8.18 - 4.0 platform around which manufacturers can Jan 05 - Dec 05 Jan 06 - Dec 06 Jan 07 - Dec 07 Jan 08 - Dec 08 Jan 09 - Dec 09 Jan 10 - Dec 10 Jan 11 - Dec 11 Jan 12 - Dec 12 Jan 13 - Dec 13 market the continuing move to larger form-factor - 11.5 - 12.4 sets.

- 17.6 Phil McCann is research manager at GfK

20 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Take Center Stage with the AMOS Satellites

Meet us at IBC September 13-17, 2013 Amsterdam Spacecom, operator of the AMOS-2 and AMOS-3 satellites co-located at 4°W and AMOS-5 located Hall 1, Booth C65 at 17°E, provides high-quality satcom services in Europe, the Middle East, the U.S. East Coast and Africa. The launch of AMOS-4 in 2013 to a new orbital location at 65°E, with coverage over Russia and Southeast Asia, and the launch of AMOS-6 at 4°W in 2015 with coverage over Europe and the Middle East, will further enhance Spacecom’s position as a multi-regional satellite operator. We deliver comprehensive solutions for Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators, TV broadcasters, broadband Internet service providers, governments, and international corporations.

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Untitled-1 1 20/08/2013 09:25:55 he seismic changes in distribution and content Shifting balance models sweeping through broadcasting and pay TV are spilling over into disputes about carriage fees. In some of power cases arrangements that have The structural changes afflicting TV are causing been stable for years stoking little controversy Thave become contentious, occasionally leading major tremors along its distribution faultlines, to channels being dropped from leading pay resulting in carriage fee disputes that have spilt TV platforms. For example, Belgian incumbent telco from the US into Europe. Philip Hunter reports Belgacom decided in February 2013 to cease carrying the channels of German broadcasters ARD and ZDF over its IPTV service, saying that they had been demanding too much money for the rights to retransmit their content. Instead Belgacom negotiated deals with other German broadcasters to satisfy that niche in its market. “We have added RTL, ProSieben and Sat1 to our offer in order to continue to offer the most watched German channels to our customers,” says Belgacom’s VP content acquisition and sponsoring, Stéphanie Rockmann. While declining to reveal commercial details, Rockmann confirmed that Belgacom was currently negotiating with other broadcasters that supply the more than 200 channels it distributes, highlighting that these had to be kept confidential to avoid misunderstandings. It is a highly sensitive area, largely because there are no agreed models or formulae for assessing the relationship between the values of content to a pay TV operator on the one hand, and the value of the distribution to the content owner on the other. For this reason money can change hands in either direction, with sometimes the operator paying as Belgacom had been doing to ARD and ZDF and in other cases the broadcaster or rights owner paying the distributor. “The issue of who pays and how much varies a lot country-by-country,” says Peter Litman, media consultant specialising in content distribution rights. “The leverage on either side varies dramatically depending on the particulars in place in the country in question, especially the regulatory scheme in place and the level of the competition in the distribution market.” Naturally the balance of power also shifts over time, both within countries and for individual players in the market, be they content owners,

22 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com regarded as a turning point in the relationship flowing the wrong way and has threatened to “This subscriber between operators and rights holders. It was impose carriage fees in return. deemed to be the first significant case where the Both sides have a case. Sky argues that the based carriage distributor won the public relations war. BBC benefits greatly from the investment it has Previously subscribers tended to blame their made in its platform and that in effect it is fee model proved operator in the event programmes they want to providing a utility service that should be paid for, watch were not available, with the result that like electricity. “Public service broadcasters relatively durable with blackouts tended to cause some churn away to (PSBs) benefit from the billions of pounds we’ve rival services. invested in our TV platform, and the technical mostly only minor services we provide them,” argues Rob Webster, European carriage wars director of Sky’s Commercial Group. “Thanks to skirmishes until The Viacom/DirecTV case may have had an Sky’s investment, they reach 40% of their 2012, when a rash of impact in Germany where a number of carriage audiences via our platform and use our disputes were smoldering, and where like the US technology to customise channels and services for disputes broke out.” cable operators have been paying broadcasters for the benefit of their viewers.” rights. As it happened though while the dispute Webster emphasises that Sky’s situation is between DirecTV and Viacom was ongoing, RTL different from cable operator Virgin Media’s in broadcasters or pay TV operators. In some cases struck a landmark deal with Kabel Deutschland, that its platform is open and subject to regulation this can lead to a reverse where one party that the country’s largest cable operator, over HD on that basis, such that it still delivers BBC originally received money ends up paying the content. Under this arrangement reached in June channels to households with satellite dishes even other. The most significant case of that is the US 2012, RTL receives a share of the additional fees if their subscription to the pay TV programming market as a whole, where leading network cable operator Kabel Deutschland collects from such as sports content has lapsed. “This is about operators providing TV shows now receive customers for the HD version of the commercial cost recovery,” says Webster. “As an open and carriage fees from cable operators. channels, offsetting some of the carriage fees. regulated platform, we can’t recoup these costs “In the US, originally the cable programme Kabel Deutschland said that replicated an existing through our customers’ subscriptions as the services paid the cable operators for carriage,” arrangement it had with commercial broadcaster public service channels are not part of Sky’s pay says Litman. “That was the model from the US proSiebensat.1. TV package. This is different from cable TV, broadcast business in which the networks paid This was a case perhaps of a broadcaster which is a closed platform, which effectively stations for carrying their programmes and flexing its muscles, but in the wake of the means that the PSBs are then retailed to national advertisements.” DirecTV/Viacom case, Belgacom seems to have customers.” But, as Litman points out, this was founded on taken a tougher line in its stance against RTL. The BBC declined to comment now while the the business assumption that support from Generally, though, tensions seem to be simmering dispute is ongoing but its case is that while Sky advertisers would be sufficient to fund attractive down in Germany, partly because the amounts has indeed incurred costs retransmitting its programming. This turned out not to be the case. involved in carriage fees there are relatively small. content no account has been taken of the value of “What resulted was that viewership of cable But in a few cases elsewhere long standing its content in making the platform more attractive channels was modest and advertiser support for arrangements that appeared stable because they and “stickier”. The BBC believes the arrangement them was even more modest and so the then- were underwritten by the regulator, have been should be more like others such as that between nascent cable channels did not appear to have a called onto question. One somewhat unique RTL and Kabel Deutschland, where both costs path to profitability. Instead of letting the cable example concerns the BBC’s transmission over and content value are taken into account. channels close up shop, the cable operators BSkyB’s DTH platform in the UK, which has agreed to pay licence fees, on a per-subscriber- been governed by Ofcom regulation. Under the basis, to the channels they thought were worthy.” deal, the BBC along with the other public services “In the wake of the This subscriber based carriage fee model broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 paid proved relatively durable with mostly only minor Sky a diminishing amount of money designed to DirecTV/Viacom skirmishes until 2012, when a rash of disputes compensate the operator for the costs incurred broke out. One of the biggest was between media transmitting the content. case, Belgacom seems giant Viacom and the world’s largest satellite TV Currently the BBC pays £5 million a year as its provider DirecTV. This dispute affected around lion’s share of the £9.5 million total paid by the to have taken a 20 million of DirecTV’s satellite TV subscribers, four. Two years ago the BBC paid £10 million, so with Viacom networks including Comedy Central, it has been halved and will continue to decline as tougher line in its MTV, Nickelodeon, and Spike all going off-air. Sky recoups its historical investment in This dispute was resolved in July 2012, but its infrastructure. Yet under pressure to cut costs the stance against RTL.” ramifications rumble on and the case is widely corporation has come to the belief that money is

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 23 Sky for carriage similar to its expiring BBC deal. The fact that the other distributors do not pay to carry the BBC’s channels strongly suggests that a no-fee arrangement would be better for Sky than not carrying the BBC channels on a long- term basis.” Litman did admit though that Sky was in an unusually strong position with around two thirds of UK pay TV subscribers. “That certainly strengthens Sky’s hand at the negotiating table,” Litman agrees. “To the extent that Sky customers have no similar pay TV substitute, that is they are not in a place where cable service is available or attractive, then Sky’s hand is strengthened enormously. Still, I have a hard time seeing how Sky’s leverage would force the BBC to pay for its carriage.” It is questionable though whether the BBC would go so far as to pull content from Sky, because that would compromise its position as the country’s leading public service broadcaster reliant on the licence fee for most of its income. Although Sky subscribers could access BBC content over the air they would have to invest in a Freeview receiver on top of their dish. It could be that the corporation would end up getting blamed by Sky customers unhappy at having to pay a licence fee and still not able access the content over their first choice platform. Against this background there looks like being a certain amount of bluff calling on both sides.

The future of free-to-air TV The BBC’s dispute with Sky also had a The other big elephant in the room is online markets, with MABB, the local media authority political dimension looming much larger than distribution and this is also having an impact on of the country’s federal states of Berlin and in other disputes, partly because of recent events the carriage issue and continued survival of FTA Brandenburg, first stating the previously surrounding Sky’s part-owner News Corp. Sky (free-to-air) services. While FTA over digital unthinkable in January 2013 - that the internet and the BBC are also competitors as providers of terrestrial is growing in some countries such as would become the most suitable TV distribution programming and holders of rights and this has the UK, where it is restricting further overall platform for the country and endorsing RTL’s coloured the recent dispute. Then the government growth in pay TV, in some markets it is under decision to exit from DTT. weighed in, with Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, threat not just from mobile operators angling to MABB also argued that while another major earlier this year calling on BSkyB to scrap take over the spectrum but also from online public broadcaster ARD had earlier committed charging public service broadcasters and hinting distribution. to second generation DVB-T2, it was already at possible regulatory action in the absence of a Germany is again in the spotlight here, with streaming its full 24-hour channels via the internet deal between the parties. RTL also at the head of this controversy after at sufficient quality for large TV screens, at least Litman’s view is that Sky will end up worse if announcing its attention to withdraw from DTT for those subscribers with adequately fast the dispute escalates to the extent that the BBC transmission in Germany. This partly reflects broadband connections. pulled its channels from the Sky platform. “In the Germany’s historically low DTT penetration with Consumers, of course, do not care how US the only channels that pay for distribution are only around 6% of homes receiving TV this way, their content comes but they should be more those with very low appeal programming, notably but also the growing belief there that by the time concerned over the possibility that FTA home shopping,” Litman notes. “If the BBC long term DTT licences currently being distribution as they know it may cease to exist. refused to pay Sky, I don’t think there is another negotiated come into force the internet will have Current friction over carriage rights may just be programme provider with similarly attractive taken over for video distribution. This sentiment symptoms of the longer term structural changes content that would like the opportunity to pay is stronger in Germany than in most leading TV across the broadcast spectrum.

24 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Focus sponsored by: www.csimagazine.com

Android security Sponsored feature

hen looking at smartphone Towards a more and tablet devices, recent secure Android market data suggests that Android-based products have rapidly Wachieved a significant lead in sheer numbers - as Petr Peterka, CTO of Verimatrix, explores much as a 53% market share, which is significantly TrustZone’s role in securing Android-based more than Apple. With more than 1.5 million Android-based devices activated every day, the devices amid growing premium video usage prominent role of these devices as second screen video clients is growing rapidly. Amongst the issues services are isolated, they can run and perform In addition to being perceived as very to be addressed is that the security of services to independent of whether the operating system fragmented, TrustZone also previously required these devices and the associated applications has (OS) has been jailbroken as they are running that secured applications be preloaded when the become of paramount concern to content owners. outside of the OS. phone or device was being built. This obviously The Android application landscape has been For example, on ARM-based mobile devices, presented many challenges as chip vendors and rightly criticized as one that is riven with ARM’s TrustZone technology provides a device manufacturers are not inclined to preload fragmented versions and inconsistent mechanism to utilise chipset security features with third-party software. implementations. While recent versions of a Trusted OS software layer to run trusted Android do offer some baseline security for video services, such as digital rights management Expanding access to TrustZone services, the premium device implementations (DRM), outside of the main operating system. Recently, however, standardization efforts within desperately need to be augmented with the latest This combination of hardware and software GlobalPlatform related to TrustZone and TEEs security techniques to provide the robust revenue security technologies is referred to as a Trusted have made several improvements that will likely security for video services that content owners Execution Environment (TEE), which is increase its integration into Android-based phones today demand. standardized within GlobalPlatform, an and devices and reduce fragmentation. In fact, Many revenue security techniques try to isolate organization specializing in chip security and there is currently an initiative to implement the security regime from Android’s inherent secure application deployment technologies. TrustZone across multiple chipsets and multiple weaknesses, including its open environment, While such an approach has been well received, devices. proneness to jailbreaking, and varying in the past there have been many obstacles There are two sets of interfaces that need to be manufacturing standards. If security-related surrounding its widespread adoption. standardised for TrustZone to become a universal environment, making the choice of a chipset and a device completely transparent, at least from a security point of view. The first one that needs to be standardised is the connection between an application running in the regular untrusted spaces, and the Trusted Application executing in the trusted space. This allows an implementation of applications that use the TrustZone’s trusted services to be portable across different implementations of TrustZone. The second interface is between the Trusted Application and the cryptographic services provided by the SoC’s TEE implementation. When this is achieved, developers of trusted services can implement a Trusted Application once and let it run on any compliant chipset. A TEE must include both of these in order to eliminate fragmentation between different TrustZone implementations. These two sets of interfaces are referred to as TEE Client APIs and TEE Internal APIs within GlobalPlatform and the

26 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Sponsored feature

specifications have already been published for leased to the subscriber. Now, the retail model costs - and making the ecosystem affordable - will implementers. prevails, and devices that are pre-provisioned with go a long way in helping TrustZone become Another recent enhancement includes making a single key cannot be assigned to a specific successful. Trusted Applications downloadable, which allows service provider. GlobalPlatform’s current TEE GlobalPlatform’s standardization efforts also consumers to download them only if and when standardization efforts attempt to solve this issue attempts to solve the business model problem by they actually need it. The main benefit is in by supporting a hierarchy of Trusted Service being agnostic and ensuring that the eliminating the need for device makers to decide Managers (TSM). Each device may have multiple specifications and the architecture for TEE what applications to preload during instances of security containers managed by a accessibility and application deployment are manufacturing. Such a decision is becoming number of TSMs provisioning Trusted available on a royalty free basis. While this does impractical considering the millions of Applications for download, and there are costs not guarantee success it could be the best applications that may take advantage of associated with taking this sort of approach. approach to allow a fair business model to be TrustZone. This goes beyond streaming premium Having several different parties involved in established in different industries in the rapidly content because security and privacy is important growing mobile ecosystem. also for banking, e-commerce, healthcare and many other application types. Taking a complete approach to revenue Trustonic, the joint venture between ARM, security Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient is the leading Our sense, however, is that TrustZone is in fact provider of not just the TEE software but also end going in the right direction by offering a real-time, downloadable solution that is portable across many different devices and chipsets. When used as part of a layered security regime, TrustZone can help ensure that Android-based devices are effectively secured, enhancing revenue security for the operator, and ensuring that subscribers have access to the content they want, when they want it. When combined with a highly reliable multimedia streaming player, a robust DRM system that has been properly architected to combine hardware-based device cryptographic identity, solid authentication and key management to end trust management to allow Trusted securing TrustZone applications may hinder it protocol implemented as a Trusted Application, Application deployment in this new downloadable from developing the competitive pricing structure and a secure video path with output protection model. While it may take some time for the it needs to become widely adopted. If the enabled by TrustZone, the resulting content solution to achieve critical mass, its ecosystem is not set up with a reasonable pricing streaming service will be able to protect and ‘downloadability’ and portability certainly make it model, the whole initiative could collapse. deliver the best content Hollywood has to offer to an effective solution. Consider for example, the cost of a security key millions of Android-based devices. These devices versus the cost of an application. Previously, in are not limited to smartphones and tablets and Barriers to success the leased model, there was only one or a small will include HDMI dongles, multimedia and Despite the positive progress discussed above, number of keys, and they were located in the STB. multi-source STBs, connected TVs, etc. widescale adoption of TrustZone and TEEs is not The cost of such device keys and certificates was TrustZone technology is still a moving target without challenges. The Trust Model, which in the range of several pennies (eg, for DTCP and it will take some time before it is fully includes provisioning of chips with unique certificates). In the retail model, a large scale of supported by a majority of devices. In the identifiers and cryptographic keys, mechanisms possible adoption of TrustZone and hundreds of meantime, additional techniques such as software for signing and provisioning Trusted Applications millions of Trusted Applications may allow a obfuscation, application integrity, anti-debugging originating from many different sources, and business model where the price of application- and anti-tampering, whitebox cryptography and authentication of service providers, quickly related keys will decrease while still covering the other software-based techniques are used to bridge becomes very complex. With so many parties cost associated with running TSM services. the current gap. involved in the trust chain, it may be easy for the The volume is obviously quite different now as Such an ecosystem that combines advanced TrustZone ecosystem to become very expensive. there are millions of tablets and smartphones, all security technology, rich content offering and a Previously, security assets were loaded directly of which are downloading multiple applications. scalable business model will benefit content into service providers’ set-top boxes (STBs). Finding the right business model and the right owners, service operators and most importantly These are single purpose devices typically ratio between the key costs and the application consumers seeking premium content.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 27 Join us for

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base.indd 1 20/08/2013 09:49:17 Appointments Ins and outs

Welcome to the latest in a new series that will track executive changes taking place in the industry

Charlie Vogt, Harris Broadcast Fredrik Tumegård, Net Insight Harris Broadcast has appointed Charlie Vogt as Fredrik Tumegård has been appointed as the new CEO. The 25-year IT and communications veteran CEO of Net Insight, succeeding Fredrik Trägårdh joins Harris following nine years as president and CEO who left the media transport company after seven years of VoIP specialist GenBand where he oversaw six as CEO. Tumegård holds the position as VP Northern acquisitions, as well as CEO of an IP switching Europe at NEC and will assume the role at Net Insight company. Harris believes he is the right man to be in at the latest on October 1 2013. He has a broad charge as the broadcasting industry is embarking on a significant experience from the telecoms industry and has worked in various transformation from digital to IP. Vogt replaces Harris Morris, who executive positions at TeliaSonera International Carrier and Huawei parted ways with the company after only six months in the job. Technologies. Anders Persson, executive VP, maintains the position as CEO until Fredrik Tumegård assumes his new

Masood Sharif Mahmood, YahSat Jakub Kabourek, nangu.TV Middle East satellite operator Al Yah Satellite nangu.TV, a platform provider for IPTV and OTT Communications has named Masood M. Sharif services, has appointed Jakub Kabourek as CEO. Mahmood as its new CEO. Mahmood has been Prior to joining nangu, Kabourek was CEO and a promoted to the role having previously held the post of board member of Visual Unity. He has also held the deputy CEO since June 2012. He previously worked positions of CEO and board member at KIT Digital within Mubadala for several years, as well as roles in Czech and Visual Connection. He has a track record in investment management and business development. Tareq Abdel the telecoms and broadcast media technology markets combining his Raheem Al Hosani will join the Board of Directors and will continue knowledge of telco, IT, media and software development. This to play a role in the organisation’s strategic direction, which announcement follows nangu’s recent expansion, which has seen includes the rollout of the YahClick satellite broadband the company invest in key sales and product management

Delia Bushell, Sky Italia Gavin Patterson, BT Delia Bushell has become the chief commercial Gavin Patterson will succeed Ian Livingston as officer at Italian payTV operator Sky Italia. Bushell chief executive of BT Group. Patterson has served was before that the service provider’s chief strategy & as chief executive of BT Retail and as a BT Board commercial initiatives officer since 2012 and previously member since 2008, having joined the company as a she spent 12 years at BSkyB in the UK and Ireland, senior executive four years prior to that. Livingston has where she covered various positions. Under her new agreed to take up a role in government as Minister of mandate, she will lead the Marketing & Sales department. She started State for Trade and Investment. He will continue as chief executive of her career in BSkyB in 1999 as member of Sky Ventures and then BT until he steps down from his post and from BT’s Board in became head of Business Development. September.

Gustavo Lopez, AMC/Sundance Channel Global Markus Fritz, Eutelsat Gustavo Lopez has joined under the newly created Markus Fritz joined Eutelsat in June as director of position of vice president of global distribution and commercial development and marketing, reporting business development for Latin America to support to Jean-Francois Leprince-Ringuet, the group’s chief Sundance Channel’s expansion across the region ahead commercial officer. In this role, Markus is responsible of its upcoming launch. The news follows the for further developing Eutelsat’s commercial strategy agreement with DIRECTV Latin America to launch internationally and developing strategic marketing Sundance Channel in September across Argentina, Chile, Colombia, partnerships with customers to strengthen Eutelsat’s competitive Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Based in Miami, Lopez will advantage globally. Markus comes to Eutelsat with over 20 years of oversee the distribution of Sundance Channel throughout Latin international experience in the satellite, ICT and consumer America. Prior to joining, he was VP and regional counsel for electronics industries, including over ten years at SES Astra.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 29 Tablet TV Taking companion apps to the next level experiences.” It is believed Are service providers is in a better position to take these types of technologies advantage of second screen capabilities and how can they could enable new kinds of viewer interactivity and take a more integrated approach, ask David Adams engagement, including additional content, gaming, espite the preference for that to their advantage? After all, there are social network activity, lean-back experiences many other industry players, from telcos to marketing and T-commerce. there is growing evidence app developers, smart TV and other technology But anyone seeking some degree of control or of an appetite for second providers all chasing a slice of second influence over those interactions needs to ensure screen or companion screen revenue. the viewer is looking at their platform. One device interaction. In the “It’s important to understand the relationship obvious answer is to tie these technologies into UK, 70% of people between the two screens,” says Albert Lai, CTO, the EPG. Digital entertainment specialist Rovi is regularly use a mobile device while watching TV, media and broadcast solutions at Brightcove. helping operators and broadcasters build second Dwith 41% doing so every day, according to “Dual-screen apps redefine second screen: the screen services to complement their existing Ofcom’s most recent study of UK broadcast handheld device orchestrates the entire lean-back services. Its technology is being used to power a media audiences. video experience, using the television to render new iPad application, TotalGuide xD, launched in More than half (54%) said they used the video programming, but allowing social, July by Canadian operator Eastlink. This internet at the same time as watching TV. In the advertising interaction, discovery and engagement combines navigation with access to Eastlink’s US, figures from Nielsen show that 46% of on the handheld device. remote DVR service, allowing viewers to smartphone owners and 43% of tablet owners use “The best experiences will be those in which personalise TV guides and schedule recordings their devices as second screens while watching TV each device plays an equally important role, from iPads, wherever they are. every day. serving different but interrelated purposes. There is some debate as to whether a service But how can a broadcaster, or a pay TV Apple’s AirPlay protocol and the Miracast operator is in a better or worse position than a provider without their own network, turn standard have opened the door to these kinds of non-operator broadcaster to take advantage of second screen capabilities. Many operators are at an early stage of second screen experimentation, says Simon Leadlay, product manager at Pace. “They’re not taking an integrated or synchronised approach: the strategy has just been ‘we’ve got to get something into the hands of the consumer,” he says. He is more excited about forthcoming developments: “We’re talking to operators about an approach that allows control over the TV, search and discovery on the second screen then playback on the main screen, or moving content from the main screen to the second screen. We see operators as the primary aggregators of all entertainment in the home. If that operator is also a pay TV operator they can access DVR recordings too. Broadcasters’ companion apps have been very content-focused. But those services only allow access to that broadcaster’s content, so will be weaker than a service offering an umbrella view over all the broadcasters.” 2nd screen: the first step

30 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Tablet TV

“Many US broadcasters have concluded that building apps for every show is not a sustainable approach.”

Bypassing the ‘app graveyard’ Technology companies of various kinds are also keen to work in this space. Capablue is working with set top box manufacturers to develop integrated second screen solutions. Alan Wolk, global lead analyst at KIT Digital, reports that smart TV manufacturers would like to sidestep the set-top box and get viewers to interact with the KDDI’s UI on an iPad TV directly from the second screen. Technology giants like Apple and Microsoft are hovering in the background. And then there are the third party app impressive numbers of viewers to interact, as in were interested, to interact with the additional providers, like Zeebox. “Broadcasters know the case of the gameshow ‘Weet Ik Veel’ in the content at a later stage, maybe even going on to people are already engaging around their shows Netherlands. Service providers like Rovi have make a purchase. through Twitter, Facebook and services like developed propositions for second screen One common goal across many second screen Zeebox,” says Anthony Rose, Zeebox co-founder advertising. “We work with advertisers and media propositions is to increase personalisation. “We and CTO. “They know they need to create buyers, then we build creative for different want to provide a personalised TV experience to exciting second screen formats. The advantage platforms; and then we have the analytics on the each member of a household using their personal they have is high levels of control over the back end to show what people did within the devices,” says Ido Wiesenberg, vice-president for content. The problem is that the show is only on advertising experience,” says Charles Dawes, business development and co-founder of Tvinci. for one hour a week. And what happens when the global strategic account director at Rovi. “Then they can use that smaller device to season ends?” He refers to the ‘app graveyard’ in He is intrigued by emerging business models: communicate to the big screen: ‘This is me; I the US: the huge number of out of date apps for “Many catch-up TV services can now be accessed want you to show me content relevant to me’.” US TV shows. through multiple devices using business models Many US broadcasters have concluded that funded by advertising, but some broadcasters are building apps for every show is not a sustainable saying ‘if you subscribe you can watch the content “This is actually about approach, says Rose. He would argue you can’t without advertising’.” even apply the model to TV channels, because Yet it would be a mistake to base a whole how we tell stories there are so many. His answer, naturally, is strategy on black and white commercial factors, Zeebox. “There are hundreds of people who work says Claire McHugh, CEO of the Irish TV app across these devices, for TV channels using our tools to enhance their provider Axonista. “This is actually about how we shows with games, sharing functions, voting and tell stories across these devices,” she says. “You because people don’t playing; and social models they can brand, have to create additional fun stuff to get the customise and monetise – all zero technical viewer to watch the ads, because people don’t like like being monetised development,” he says. Zeebox is also developing being monetised or engaged, but they do like to synchronised second screen advertising, marketing be entertained.” or engaged, but they and T-commerce propositions that could be used If a broadcaster can do that they can take by broadcasters. advantage of technologies like KIT Digital’s do like to be Many broadcasters are already working with Ad Locker, which consumers can use to store the second screen. Some ventures have persuaded away adverts they have seen in which they entertained.”

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 31 Tablet TV

Digital device penetration by country (% of adults owning/using)

Smartphone Laptop/Netbook computer Tablet computer

80 80 80 75 73 68 72 71 71 70 69 70 64 60 58 60 55 56 50 50 50 45 44 40 40

30 30 30 23 24 24 20 19 20 20 15 12 10 10 10

0 0

UK FRA GER ITA USA JPN ESP AUS

Effective personalised TV based on cacheing, so you lose the individual, is to make sure they can be accommodated in a But while attempts to develop a truly effective personal experience,” he says. compelling consumer proposition.” Only then, he personalised recommendation engine for Networking providers like SeaWell can help says should you try to pick the best technologies TV continue, no-one’s quite managed it yet. operators to add a new layer of intelligence across for the task in hand, basing the choice on the And debate continues as to how best to tie the delivery infrastructure already built, focusing viewing patterns a service provider wants to personalisation and other interactive elements on session control and management. “Then you support or promote, the devices they want to of these services into social networks. can start thinking about personalised ad include [and] the demographic they want to At present, while there certainly seems to be a insertion,” says Potter. “And if I can insert reach. lot happening in this space – it will, for example, alternative content I can start to rethink the “There will be competition between be fascinating to monitor the progress of Channel concept of a channel.” broadcasters and operators,” Tom Cape, CEO of 4’s new 4Now second screen app in the UK – When and where someone is viewing content Capablue. “I think you can look at second screen many propositions are still finding it hard to gain and the device they’re using are also important on three levels: apps for the programme brand, critical mass. Many broadcasters, operators and factors to consider, says Rovi’s Dawes. For the broadcast or the operator. There’s a place for content creators remain reluctant to commit large example, in households with children “unless you all three. It will be a bit of a bunfight, but scale resources. Content rights issues also remain live in Silicon Valley” a tablet is still more likely to ultimately the customer will decide.” a source of strife in many markets. be a shared, not a personal device. Axonista’s McHugh anticipates more Some operators and broadcasters will also need What will be the long-term effects of a growth broadcasters hiring people specifically to create to overcome technology barriers. Much will rest in second screen services? “On multiple devices, content for the second screen, but she also warns on the management and exploitation of metadata. with personal TV, I believe our children will have against getting too carried away too soon. “The “The richer the metadata the better the a totally different way to consume TV,” says average end user is still probably my auntie, say, experience,” says Dawes, flying the flag for Rovi Tvinci’s Wiesenberg. “It will all be about watching who probably doesn’t have a smartphone,” she technology that can link video, music, and games what I want, when I want.” points out. “It may sometimes feel like things metadata. “If you start with a movie, that will are moving very fast, but they’re actually moving have a soundtrack, so you can discover the The next steps very slowly. musical content separately and people can link to So what steps should broadcasters and pay TV “But broadcasters are in a sweet spot, because iTunes,” he explains. operators be taking to develop second screen they know how to create compelling content and Many operators will also need to improve their services that will deliver the best results in this they can influence the people they sell their infrastructures, says Duncan Potter, CMO at new world? content to. I would say to the broadcaster: SeaWell Networks. “What a lot of operators have “First, clearly define who the second screen concentrate on the content. There are very good done when OTT services came along is rushed app is going to serve,” says Steve Plunkett, CTO technical developers out there, so you don’t have out a parallel infrastructure to their walled garden at Red Bee Media. “It will most likely be a to build all of this yourself. They will let you that gives them no extra benefit because it is composite of different needs so the challenge concentrate on doing what you do well.”

32 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com IHS Electronics & Media / Events The Future of Digital Media Distribution 2013 26 September 2013 | Kings Place, London

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base.indd 1 20/08/2013 09:58:55 Q&A Q&A The DHL of media

From its traditional broadcast roots, Chello DMC has evolved into a self-proclaimed digital courier focused on VoD and multi-platform, as VP Jelmer Kleingeld tells CSI editor Goran Nastic

GN: Tell us a little about package analogy, we have a large and growing HD. We are able to provision the media for Chello DMC for those amount of data going out of our building every multiple platforms and this generally increases the that might not be familiar day. Why we do that well is because we’ve been reach of eyeballs. We let our clients do the maths with the company. digital for a decade now. The reason why 80% of as to whether they think that’s the right way to go. JK: Chello DMC has media transfers are still taking place by tape is been in the business for something that we from our side don’t really GN: Are there any technologies coming up to make more than ten years. It understand because there are so many more cost yours and everyone else’s lives easier? started off as a couple of effective ways to do that. I do think however that JK: There are many and it’s mainly called the linear playout channels VoD and connected devices are triggering internet. We can give remote access to a client to and now we run more companies to rethink to rethink and speed up on control content. There is also more tracking and than 100 on the linear digitalisation. The industry is facing an interesting tracing type of software. Technology helps us in a

Chello’s Chello’s Jelmer Kleingeld side, a full DTH time in this sense: if you’re not digitised you’ll big way; it helps make it more transparent. Cloud platform that serves 20 million clients and we’re probably miss out on VoD. is a vivid theme in the industry but eventually you doing all the VoD operations for our largest have to have your media picked up and delivered client, LGI, as well as eight other clients. What GN: But even with VoD, broadcasters and cable somewhere. Regardless of whether your control started as a purely broadcast driven company has complain about standardisation, fragmentation and over that media is in the cloud, your media has to now become what I like to call the ‘DHL of other issues. Can you help with this? move from one side to another, and that’s where media’ – we promise that wherever you want your JK: In our Amsterdam office there are 30 the internet helps. files delivered and in what language, version and nationalities with many languages spoken so that format, we will guarantee this delivery. complexity of specification has always been there GN: Where do you see yourselves in 12 months? for us. We serve 45 languages from our facility JK: We’d like to have a bigger VoD business and GN: How did this process come about? and we don’t care about different specs and we think we can deliver that. We have some JK: We have facilities in Amsterdam, Budapest, languages. I don’t think the specification race will interesting developments lined up for IBC this Barcelona, Miami and Buenos Aires. The route end – yes, we might have less of them – but I year. With our clients we don’t see a massive shift strength is that we are on the mainland which has think the industry is still learning so much to go OTTm but cutting it down to its essence, it’s a couple of advantages, primarily that we are very technically and we just live with that. We do just another stream for us and we don’t care what used to the multi-lingual approach. As an understand our studio clients get fed up with that, device it’s delivered to. It’s another way you can example, we have a feed that has more than 20 which is why we say ‘let us take that care of that multiply the value of your content. It’s a question languages added to it. All that multi-territory part’. Serving UPC, the biggest cable operator in to individual content owners in individual expertise is what we grew up with. Only when we Europe, we have learned how we can use our countries as to whether they want to launch that know we can deliver end-to-end do we ramp up. ability to version different items. We see ourselves type of service. So we take growth and the pace of growth as the hub in between content delivery. seriously because it is quality partners that we are GN: Finally, how do your clients see 4K TV? serving. Clients like Fox and Disney trust us with GN: Studies show that 90%+ of viewing is still JK: Like with OTT, we want to be able to offer it complex matters like multi-platform. linear and that this won’t drop below 80% for the as just another flavour of a version of that same foreseeable future. Are some companies wrong to content. But it’s up to our clients whether they GN: In terms of digital media delivery, this has focus too much on VoD? can make a business out of it but we haven’t heard been talked about for years but things still seem to JK: It will always be a case of one and another. a huge thrill from content providers so far and be moving pretty slowly... We multiply the value of that content. Whichever they haven’t spoken to us about it. Technology JK: The complexity we see is a vast amount of way consumers use that media we can deliver, wise it’s brilliant but everyone in the industry is data you need to transfer. Going back to the DHL whether it’s on-demand or over-the-top, or SD or trying to find a way to monetise it now.

34 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Technology Conference 2013

Multimedia Home Gateways conference review

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A gateway to the cloud

What role gateways have in a world moving towards the cloud was a key theme assessed during CSI’s home gateways conference

technical elements inside CE devices which can be very varied. With the gateway, we can allow for consumer behaviours which we know are already happening but we can’t allow through pure unmanaged means,” said Morrod. It’s early days but Screen Digest estimates there are 13 operators globally that have deployed MHGs inside the home. These include Comcast, ore and more Screen Digest’s gateway research. The DirecTV, EchoStar in the US, Norway’s Get, operators are proliferation of IP devices that consume video has French-based Numericable and pan-European embracing the resulted in TV becoming much more complex and cablenet UPC, all of who deploy a maximum of concept of fragmented. These barriers and options provide a one MHG per home that then serves thin-clients multimedia home good context to what gateways are and why they and other connected devices. MHGs are also gateways (MHG) make sense, according to Morrod. holding up the STB market in Europe and North to take greater At its crudest description, gateways serve as an America and account for the majority of revenues, control of the digital connected home. At the same entry and exit point of the home network. All Morrod added. Moreover, they have huge Mtime, a growing number of service providers are data inward or outward must first pass through opportunities to provide high margins due to their also embracing various elements of the cloud in an and communicate with the gateway. They can ARPU generating potential that comes with the effort to speed service deployment while reducing handle unicast and broadcast traffic (or OTT extra services they enable. associated costs. So how do the two fit together? and managed distribution) distribution, And how do operators choose between nPVR and transcoding, CA-DRM termination and other Cisco looks to the cloud local storage, remote UI or resident EPG, and advanced functions. Yves Padrines, VP and general manager, Service broadband or broadcast? This approach allows operators to maintain an Provider Video Group at Cisco, talked mainly Against this backdrop, CSI held its second established business case, ie bundled content about the cloud and how this ultimately ties in event dedicated to multimedia home gateways, controlled by an aggregator. It also allows control with MHGs. Managing this explosion of devices which took place at the British Film Institute without having to manage every single device in will clearly lead to cloud-based platforms, he (BFI) on London’s Southbank. The one-day the home or be under the mercy of consumer argued, which will also open new business conference was chaired by Paul Robinson of electronics cycles. “You just have to have some models. Creative Media Partners, and sponsored by general purpose mechanism like HTML5 that “The question is how much do we put server Cisco, Nagra, ADB and Access. allow you to bridge that gap to the screen without side and how much functionality do we reside in Tom Morrod gave some background on IHS having to fully rely on rendering and other the MHG versus the cloud,” he asked.

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DLNA is a good technology and Cisco uses of the cloud, on the other hand, ties in well with we can’t do it without the cloud. The move to the half a dozen or so DLNA stacks, but it won’t be TV’s peaky nature which Cisco is working cloud is clear,” he added. To this end, in the cloud enough for a multi-screen experience. “It has to be towards and preparing as a future solution. versus STB debate, Amrani and Liberty see room managed in a more centralised way and this needs So what about the gateway? As a termination for both in a hybrid model, where each opens a to be orchestrated by a superior, overarching point for CA the MHG is essential, and it can new set of services and opportunities. entity which we believe will reside in the cloud,” be looked as the most advanced edge of the Liberty has already created a central back- said Padrines. This will also allow for more cloud in the home where things like caching and office to help it harmonise functions like OSS/ flexible silos and much more rapid service storage can be managed, not just PVR, in addition BSS, customer management support, and deployment across these silos for quicker time-to- to services related to home automation, which applications like interactive TV, nPVR, UI, search market, he said. Cisco believes will converge around the same and recommendation as the cablenet rolls out its PayTV operators upgrading platforms once or device and which can be seen as a mini-IP next-generation Horizon brand across Europe. twice a year is no longer good enough in light of headend inside the home. This centralised location is called the Pan the greater competition they face from OTT and European Central Head End (PECHE), which new market entrants, according to Padrines. Liberty’s PECHE powers Horizon services in the currently four Cisco believes in all forms of cloud, be it Liberty Global continued the cloud/gateway available markets. public, private, hybrid or an emerging community theme, with a keynote given by Faycal Amrani, Demonstrating the accelerated deployment model, and there is room for each version, managing director and chief architect of Liberty, time enabled by PECHE, Amrani noted that the depending on migration scenarios. “It’s a now the world’s largest cable company following launches in the first two markets of the fascinating journey to a whole new set of its recent acquisition of Virgin Media. Netherlands and Switzerland took 12 months technologies,” said Padrines. Amrani noted that the operator’s well- when PECHE was not yet operational. The next The cloud is a way of removing device-side publicised Horizon TV combined gateway and two markets by comparison, Ireland and complexity and, in Padrine’s words, how Cisco multi-screen service platform will move traditional Germany, took only three months. “So when we can “move lines of software back from the clients headend functions such as encoding, transcoding, talk about elasticity, agility and service velocity, and into the cloud.” To this end, Cisco has encryption and multiplexing to the cloud within we mean it, it’s real,” Amrani said. “Cloud based experimented with reducing the middleware the next year or two across a series of virtual data architectures does not mean the end of the complexity of the STB or gateway and Padrines centres, despite much resistance from headend gateway. It means a shift in what is right to do in mentioned that the positive results had taken an vendors and broadcasters. This will create a more the cloud versus the gateway,” he added. originally sceptical team by surprise. The promise virtualised, “scattered cloud” delivery of the cloud also includes new areas of Big Data infrastructure for its 12 European operating Gateways vs Cloud and analytics but there is a real need to educate companies, which will improve cost efficiency by In the first panel of the day, ADB, Pace, the industry better as to the advantages and “quite a big number,” stressed Amrani, who like Simplestream, Samsung and Vodafone weighed in disadvantages of the cloud, he argued. other operators wants to see CPE costs go down. with their thoughts on the topical cloud vs STB “It’s important to remove the fluffy messages “So far it seems very promising. From an debate, looking at cost implications, transcoding around the cloud and really get into the operational proof-of-concept to reality, we are and other issues. technology to understand why it’s efficient. Not probably talking about 18-24 months for this “For us, 95% is about the software and how we everything works better, there are caveats and to happen,” said Amrani, who added that make this manageable on a daily basis and get many ways to get it completely wrong,” said Liberty was testing the technology to virtualise things to work together. To make things simple Padrines. these features. and ‘just work’ takes an awful lot of lines of There are three things that can go badly wrong, “It is not so much the location that is code,” said Paul Bristow, VP of strategy at ADB. according to Padrines, namely security/privacy, important; it is more about whether you own Pace chief technical engineer Darren Fawcett performance and scalability. The elastic property that infrastructure or not. The aim is to perform noted that ultimately broadcasters are very the video processing in the mindful of the user experience, making MHGs as best and most cost efficient a de facto standard of providing services around way. Our goal is to the home by the company’s customer base, who harmonise the services and are all moving down this route. “As you extend solution across our coverage into devices you don’t control you need footprint with agility and to repurpose the content. The ability to extend

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to new devices you don’t control, a good reliable here, but as Bristow noted a browser cannot director of business development for Europe way to do that is to transcode the content at the replace what a gateway or even simple STB can at Shazam. edge of network, through a device such as a do in terms of UX control, which is why there is a So how do operators and broadcasters add managed gateway.” good future for both STBs and MHGs. value in this space and prevent viewers being Bristow agreed, pointing out that multi-room The key message from the panel was that cloud cannibalised by competing devices? Search and and multi-screen deployments cannot rely solely and MHGs are almost complimentary and not a discovery is one way, according to the panellists, on the cloud, especially in households with four case of either-or. “It’s only at the beginning but as well as delivery, recording, storage and or more screens. “Many people can get an 8Mpbs the more cloud you have the more gateways you reminders. The point is that there needs to be payTV service but that slows down at peak time have,” concluded Poussot. enough value to add through that app around when people watch TV. OK there’s ABRS but if what’s going on with the show, perhaps some you’re paying for a service that deteriorates at Companion devices and apps commerce elements, social communications, peak time quality diminishes you won’t be a The next panel looked at the hot topic of voting and participation. Broadcasters can prevent happy customer. So you need to take a step back. companion devices and what role, if any, gateways users from finding information via IMDB through We live in a real world where you have to deal can play here. more holistic business models. As ever, 2nd with realities and not many have 100Mbps fibre “You have a brand, an advertiser who wants to screens activities are an opportunity and a threat to the home,” he said. interact with the channel, and then you have the depending on how media companies react. Guilhem Poussot, head of connected devices at channel and the operator. All of those will play a Vodafone, echoed these sentiments, noting that part in how they make the value chain work. The Technology focus while the operator was looking to migrate services business model will change but it’s a massive Liberty, Home Gateway Initiative (HGI), Intel, to the cloud it has to do this carefully because of market and commercial opportunity and I don’t Nagra and Screen Digest analysed the various these practical considerations. “The cloud is very think people truly understand that yet,” said Tony flavours of MHG and the many technology attractive for all of us, but we have to serve Henderson, TV and entertainment lead for the decisions that have to be made. customers and make sure they receive service Industry association HGI has set out common quality they pay for. In Europe there’s still huge requirements for MHGs in various areas, one of variety of access technologies and that’s difficult them being software modularity to allow to manage. We need to be careful of migrating applications to be installed on gateways, as well as everything to the cloud, which is fantastic, but test programmes for manufacturers. The body is also finding the right economic balance.” now working on smart home architectures for Poussot gave storage as an example, where MHGs, looking at different wireless interfaces storing content in the cloud is cheaper than giving and an API abstraction layer for instance, the right hardware to all customers, but at the according to Duncan Bees, chief technology and same time this has to be balanced against the cost chief business officer at HGI. of upgrading networks. On the media side, the HGI is looking at the In reply to the ROI question, Vassilis Seferidis, role of the MHG as it evolves, as an enabler for director of European business development at multi-screen, content bridging, PVR, time shifting Samsung, which was the first Horizon box UK at Microsoft, adding that cooperation is and other functions. The gateway is still a fluid supplier, described MHGs as a platform for necessary as no one company is best positioned work in development. delivering a plethora of new revenue generating to dominate alone. Liberty also eventually sees gateways – whether services. “The cost and timeframe for Horizon is Shazam does on average 10m recognitions headed or headless (ie with or without HDMI much longer than simple zappers, but you every day and a lot of users are tagging TV which interface) - as an enabler for the smart home. anticipate new service, some of which that you the company uses to give an enhanced 2nd screen Amrani favours an MHG that acts as an IP might not even foresee, to recover that experience around programmes with add-on headend in the home, providing services such as investment,” he said. information. Shazam doesn’t try to be an EPG or multimedia, broadband, as well as utility services Like Ziggo and a growing number of other a way to control the STB but primarily sees itself like metering, security and health. operators, Vodafone is also reviewing cloud UIs, as an engagement tool via the 2nd screen. It In terms of transcoding and how much which it sees as a very attractive way of reducing ingests audio from some 150 channels so users transcoding functionality might be needed in the fragmentation of smart TVs and other connected know they will get data back if they do a call to hardware (compared to the cloud), there isn’t a devices in the home. HTML5 plays a big role action on the TV, according to Iain Dendle, one-size-fits-all answer, according to Intel’s

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Richard Crossley, with the individual operator’s and security, and assisted living. RWE is also strategy and cost consideration among the many looking at strategic partnerships to develop factors that will influence the final decision. software SDKs and device kits so in the future “When we talk to customers about next-gen it’s not reliant on its own work but to companies silicon we take these into account,” he said. who have that expertise to enrich the smart As Nandini Iyer, senior product manager at home environment. Nagra, explained, the industry is familiar with the In the final panel, Cees Links, founder and concept of gateways, whether residential, Docsis CEO, GreenPeak, a supplier of ZigBee-based or broadband. What changes with MHGs is they sensor control networks, pointed out that in the go beyond service delivery and become service US only California and Texas have a reasonable assurance platforms managing the complexity out experience of the user and also reduces the penetration of smart metres. Other countries have there, she argued. “The MHG makes sure that all complexity of the gateway, Egan argued. started to develop their own flavour of ZigBee or of this works together in a way that users don’t Telefonica and BT are among G.hn board communications variants in 2.4Gh or 900Mhz need to be tech geeks to figure out. It’s positioned members, and Egan expects a lot of public bands. Links hopes momentum will pick up but between the managed and unmanaged network of announcements coming over the next few months claims that for security and privacy reasons the the chaotic home where the operator owns some with regards to operator trials and deployments. technology has become very complex. Another of the pieces but not all of them.” “Ultra HD will eat up existing home networks reason is that energy companies have been slow to So, in Iyer’s eyes, this is a good opportunity to and people will need to be ready for change. drive it because they want consumer to use as make SA, content discovery and conjunction of All roads lead to Rome when it comes to the much energy as possible but this is now changing, services meaningful for the end user. Morrod gateway,” said Egan. he argued. agreed: “We can define the MHG as whatever we Edmund Barrett, product manager at gas and Smart meters are only available in new builds want to but what’s more important is at what electricity supplier RWE, which rolled out its in Germany. “We need to address the wider point is that definition meaningful in terms of smart home product in the German market market but people don’t necessarily want to pay new business models or technology capabilities.” almost three years ago, at a time when it faced extra for a smart meter/intelligent socket, which is “The gateway is a gateway to new business,” challenges around introducing people to the mart a hurdle” said Barrett. said Amrani, where the MHG becomes the last home concept. “We wanted something to control It was agreed that proprietary solutions that mile intelligence in the home heating and identified a gap in the market both in don’t meet all the needs is also hindering the The panel also tackled challenges around CA terms of price and what kind of functionality success of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the termination, DRM bridging and home we’re looking for,” he said. energy management subset of that. Too many networking. Even with 802.11n and MIMO there RWE supplies customers with a central unit protocols are limiting volumes and therefore are limitations, with Amrani pointing out that that connects to the router via an Ethernet link prices. No one solution will likely win out but 40-50% of Liberty’s call centre calls are related to which then connects wirelessly to switches, more interoperability is needed to extend WiFi. sensors, heating controls and fire alarms around availability and unify the overall offering in some the house using a proprietary wireless protocol. ways. The good news is various drivers, including Towards a smarter home The company can perform OTA updates to all government, regulatory and environmental, are Home networking and the smart home were the devices to increase their lifespan. Customers emerging that are creating user demand for the the main topics under the microscope in decide how they bundle and create profiles. smart home market to finally kick off. the afternoon. It’s about convenience and the company’s Panellists also agreed the gateway would be “We all know the home network will be a system can support additional functionality such the right place to also put information about the hybrid one,” said John Egan, president of the as smart metering in the future that allows aspects of the smart home, reducing the number Home Grid Forum, seeing a future where wireless customers to take action around setting budgets of interfaces and simplifying the user experience. and a variety of wireline technologies co-exist. or device control beyond mere observation. So a number of hurdles to be overcome before Indeed, the G.hn standard that the Forum has Linking these to the smart grid is also a future this becomes mass market, something CSI will helped promote features an abstraction layer for plan, as is making the system appropriate for pick up on again next year. We would like to all wireline methods and there plans to include it other countries. thank all our sponsors and media partners that for wireless too (much as exists in the emerging Beyond energy, Barrett explained how RWE made this event possible and look forward to IEEE1905.1 standard). G.hn serves improves the is looking to expand to new verticals in safety seeing all attendees in 2014.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 39 Local TV

ver the next two years a host of local TV services will go live across the UK, starting with a launch in Grimsby this November. At the end of March, 19 licences were awarded by regulator Ofcom for Ocompanies to operate local television in the UK using digital terrestrial television (DTT) frequencies. Winning bidders, which comprise independent entities and those run by more familiar broadcast and publishing firms, were granted L-DTPS licences for a 12 year period, with a stipulation for producing original content. Local stations will have access to shared infrastructure and a £25 million grant courtesy of a funding agreement with the BBC. They will also have the luxury of a prominent position on the Freeview EPG, as high up as channel 8 on the country’s DTT free-to-air (FTA) platform that is currently in 11 homes as the main-set television and of almost 20 including secondary sets. But UK local TV has seen a chequered past, with stations such as Channel One and Channel M operating in London and Manchester respectively folding due to the inability to find a sustainable business model. So what’s different this time, and can the new batch of licensees expect a similar fate? According to Ed Hall, chief executive at Comux, the company in charge of running the network that connects all the transmitter sites, the digital switcher (DSO) that was completed last year offers a fresh and a favourable set of conditions ripe for these services to flourish. “Local TV has been tried in individual towns and cities in poor analogue frequencies when it was difficult to retune television. It was always UK local TV gets challenging to make a sixth work.” With the onset of digital, the national awareness and value to advertisers is very another shot different, Hall argues. He believes that the advertising and sponsorship opportunities, on top of the funding support, lower the costs and As a new wave of local TV services is about to go create the right mix for success. live across the UK, Goran Nastic assesses what “Media is being bought in more complex ways, the more you can identify and measure the future holds in this space targeted audiences the better. It’s always been a challenge for television but this should help and Hall pointed out during the recent launch of technology needed to manage the chain, thereby we are delivering the urban audiences that have the local TV ‘manifesto’ that local licensees have pooling resources. This is particularly important significant value and interest for advertisers,” control of their channels from content creation to to help the smallest licensees who might not be says Hall. transmission as well as full access to the able to run their operations otherwise, he added.

40 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Local TV

to begin the licensing process for phase two TABLE: Local TV licence awards locations in the autumn. But potentially the most interesting part Location Winning operator Households (000s) here is the connected TV option, which Comux is actively exploring. Hall pointed out that the London London Live 3,200 company is looking at how it can make all local Birmingham City TV 1,200 TV services available via the Red Button or online Manchester YourTV Manchester 1,200 streaming irrespective of location. So London- Leeds Made in Leeds 1,100 based people may want to watch local content Newcastle Made in Tyne and Wear 1,000 where they are from, for example. Liverpool Bay TV Liverpool 880 Over the past few years, a host of over-the-top Glasgow GTV 750 services have sprung across the world providing Edinburgh ETV 610 niche content and targeting expat communities Cardiff Made in Cardiff 500 across the world, and Comux, together with the Southampton That’s Solent 460 UK’s local TV operators, wants to tap into this Bristol Made in Bristol 380 trend, which in itself opens up a new set of Preston YouTV Blackpool & Preston 350 advertising opportunities. Nottingham Notts TV 313 This is also where Virgin Media’s Ian Grimsby Lincolnshire Living 270 Mecklenburgh, the cable operator’s director of Belfast NVTV 260 consumer platforms, sees the most promising Sheffield Sheffield Local Television 193 potential for local TV. “We can deliver local TV Norwich Mustard TV 155 but it will vary massively in its production quality. Brighton & Hove Latest TV 151 So one of the issues we have is that a lot of those Oxford That’s Oxford 108 guys somehow feel they deserve this high EPG Swansea No bids 116 slot,” Mecklenburgh said at a recent BBC R&D Plymouth No bids 94 breakfast event. Virgin, on the other hand, believes that app- Source: Ofcom based IP delivery is a much better option where their content is available nationally. “It’s much more network economically efficient for us,” he “It’s a community-owned business if you like.” media affiliations should help here), Hall also said, adding that Sky has the same issue (the Some like Your TV (see table, above) will share sees the upcoming targeted advertising service DTH operator has offered channel 117on its EPG overheads and resources by being part of a larger from Sky acting as a booster for local TV, proving for local TV). network. All licensees, moreover, can share there is a demand from advertisers for local TV “Most people understand the economics content, for example, through a common advertising, rather than providing a competitive of a national IP-based platform and what that presenter or graphics package, as the content is challenge. could do, whereas a lot of these guys are very delivered centrally from Birmingham, according For its part, Sky sees the AdSmart initiative driven around a local franchise. But a lot of to Hall. creating an opportunity for the broadcaster and people will be interested in what’s happening As IHS Screen Digest put it in a research its advertisers to use TV in a truly regional way. who don’t live there probably. So this is an note, “Regional channels have a few advantages “What we are eventually looking to do is to take it opportunity to say, here’s a platform that can over national, as they can tailor content and to the point where it might be hyper local,” said give you national distribution.” advertising to a select audience and pay less Jamie West, director of AdSmart & Commercial Discussions between the cablenet and local TV than the average in transmission costs per Development at Sky Media, which is looking to channels are ongoing with agreements reached capita reached. New stations will also be able rollout the first addressable advertising projects with only a handful of these stations, according to exploit some opportunities like time sensitive by the end of the summer. to Mecklenburgh. local advertising.” The issue mirrors the wider debate seen across But the analysts also warned that the system From local to OTT the industry, namely is TV about an era that is has its drawbacks; primarily that targeted local Local TV has 9Mbs of capacity in all locations based on EPGs and spectrum scarcity or is it an channels – even those with a high proportionate and an additional capacity equivalent to two SD internet view of the world? While the long-term local audience share – come with limited ad or one HD channels available in ten million future for DTT spectrum and FTA broadcasting revenues and impressions. Freeview homes under so-called City-based looking increasingly murky, it seems that local TV While local TV will compete for ad revenues streams. Meanwhile, a further 23 locations will be will be coming to an app near you sooner rather with local radio and newspapers (the existing up for grabs over the next year and Ofcom expects than later.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 41 Guest column A delicate power play

It’s time for eco, not ego, systems when it comes to affair, starting with mutual infatuation, each seeing the future in spectrum access each other’s eyes. This swiftly ran he demands on the broadcast for five new HD channels by early 2014, with into difficulties with each side unsure spectrum have never been potentially a further five more regional HD of how to live together, but in the end, TV and the greater, and with the services being planned. Add to that the chain of internet have flourished into a proper partnership. economic value of spectrum 19 new local TV channels set to broadcast on The same applies to mobile and broadcast. use increasing to over £50bn Freeview channel 8 and you start to see a This true collaboration is working in the UK in the UK this year, the platform in demand. already. The DTG is leading discussions with the stakes have never been higher. The debate around spectrum use to support mobile industry through its filter testing for 4G The latest 4G mobile signals now use the 800 future mobile growth is well underway at national, coexistence with DTT in 800 MHz band, through TMHz space cleared by digital switchover, and the European and international levels, with regulators, our support of the Wireless Test & Innovation planned launch of five new BBC HD services in manufacturers, broadcasters and producers all Centre (WIC). The WIC is at the forefront of the 600MHz band early next year, the delicate exploring how mobile and DTT can coexist. innovation and testing of coexistence between power-play between broadcasters and mobile One key question is how much capacity will DTT, short range devices and white space devices. operators for airwaves is on. mobile data need? The problem is that it appears Another example is DTG’s relationship with With WRC-15 on the horizon, the expectation to be growing faster than most experts have the 5G Innovation Centre, which is at the is for yet more clearance. At WRC-12 it was predicted. According to Cisco, global mobile data forefront of research currently underway to ensure indicated that the 700MHz band, now reserved traffic grew 70% reaching 885 petabytes per the UK is central to the development of the next for broadcast, could be allocated for co-primary month at the end of 2012, up from 520 petabytes gen of mobile network standards. The timing is use of mobile and broadcasting as soon as 2018. per month at the end of 2011. That growth is critical, laying the foundations of an essential Spectrum is a finite resource and while the nearly 12 times the size of the entire global partnership for the future. well-resourced mobile network operators are Internet in 2000. Without this true collaboration beginning now, looking for access to ever more capacity, in And most interesting to broadcasters is that at both a national and European level, the risk of response to the exponential demand for mobile mobile video traffic accounted for over 50% of misallocating spectrum are great and irreversible. video, we also need to recognise that digital this total by end-2012, with no indication that this Only by entering a proper partnership, with each terrestrial television (DTT) is here to stay. is slowing down. Cisco forecasts that mobile video side working together with a real understanding Let’s not forget that around 40 million people will grow at a CAGR of 75% between 2012 and the needs of the other, will we succeed. in the UK watch DTT, primarily Freeview, 2017, the highest growth rate of any mobile Richard Lindsay-Davies, DTG Director General, whether on main TV sets or supporting devices, application category that it forecasts. will be chairing an IBC conference panel on this and nine out of ten of the top watched shows are The pressure from mobile video is only set to subject, titled ‘Money from Thin Air? The Future of delivered by aerial. There’s no question that DTT grow and there will simply never be enough Broadcast Spectrum’, Sept 15, 10am, The Forum. performs a vital public service, giving almost capacity on the broadcast spectrum to universal access to affordable news and accommodate this growth. information and underpinning the creative industries in the UK. The need for co-existence And it’s evolving. Now digital switchover in the The DTG believes that the time has come to bring UK has been completed, Ofcom has awarded the spectrum power struggle to an end, with both extra spectrum in the 600 MHz band to the BBC sides acknowledging that DTT and mobile data networks are here to stay. It is time for broadcasters and mobile operators to start to work together in an eco- rather and ego- system for the benefit of both sides. The spectrum requirements to support Simon Gauntlett is technology terrestrial television have to be balanced with the director at the DTG, the industry mobile operators drive to innovate and meet association for DTV in the UK. consumer need, and this will only be achieved This is the latest in a line of regular guest columns to with true collaboration. provide CSI readers with updates on the The relationship between television and the DTG’s initiatives and activities. internet has been compared to that of a love-

42 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Untitled-9 1 20/08/2013 14:36:02 Technology corner The future of multi-screen Delivering on the promise of MPEG-DASH and HbbTV. participation of all the major players such as By Duncan Potter Microsoft, Adobe, Apple and Qualcomm he rate of change and DASH Industry Forum website): in the development of the standard. In addition, development in the area of • Independent, stable international standard. the standard itself was developed to represent broadband video shows no • Common encryption – one-time encryption a superset of the existing deployed formats. This signs of slowing. With this and packaging of content allowing obviously has to be balanced with the fact that change comes all of the simultaneous use of multiple DRM Apple alone has been reticent to provide further accompanying growing pains, technologies. deployment commitments. such as new devices, • Templated manifests – Compact manifest for 2. There must be significant education of DASH’s platforms, and formats, which only serve to fast start-up, as well as avoiding manifest benefits to accelerate the re-examination of Tfrustrate any attempts at standardisation. download with every segment. existing investment in proprietary solutions. To However, from the midst of the ruckus has • Industry convergence for streaming delivery. this end, the DASH Industry Forum was founded arisen MPEG-DASH. out of the original DASH Promoters Group. This While the debate rages on about whether and While some of these are clearly more important group of over 70 members has been very active in how DASH represents a solution, the European or more achievable in the short term, the key providing DASH-AVC/264, as well as the Broadcasting Union has embraced it for its hybrid challenge is widespread adoption. Here is a associated test cases, test vectors, conformance internet TV (HbbTV) platform. shortlist of what has to happen: software and reference client software. DASH provides many benefits over the current 3. There must be further adoption or mandating crop of protocols in use or being proposed for 1. First and foremost, there must be broad of MPEG-DASH by additional standards-setting ABR or multiscreen delivery. Following are the player support across the majority of likely bodies and organisations to require the key elements proposed (for a complete list see the end devices. This was accelerated by the deployment of DASH. As mentioned above, DASH adoption as an integral part of the HbbTV 1.5 hybrid Internet TV platform is a fundamental step in this direction, and therefore worthy of further study.

MPEG-DASH meets HbbTV MPEG DASH is a highly logical choice for HbbTV 1.5. It provides an independent stable standard that has had participation of all major vendors and has an active Industry Forum continuing to drive it. DASH provides a solid and standards-based answer to a significant challenge. To understand DASH’s role here, we must first understand HbbTV.

The challenge of implementing HbbTV broadband services The broadcast element of HbbTV is very well understood and extensively deployed. However, the key difficulty lies in extending the broadband service portion to a hybrid broadband / broadcast device, such as a STB or connected TV (“terminal”). Multiple protocols, security issues, and the ability to take advantage of unicast’s personalized nature with capabilities such as Diagram 1: HbbTV Showing Hybrid Delivery Model targeted ad insertion, make the goal of HbbTV both appealing and problematic.

44 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Technology corner

Graph 1: Showing Cost Comparison for Edge Repackaging and Edge Ad Insertion vs Head End Packaging Only Option with No Ad Insertion

HbbTV delivery model initiation or dynamically at any time during insertion on a fully customized per session basis HbbTV supports two distinct content delivery the session brings a tantalising view of the future of live channels: • Per-session targeted ad or alternate content television, where channels based on an archaic insertion frequency derived model become obsolete and 1. Traditional OTA DVB Broadcast (multicast) • Full support for the HbbTV 1.5 specification video content becomes truly individualized. a. Linear Broadcast Content, Application Data In addition to these requirements, there are However, as with all exciting visions, there and Signalling additional capabilities that are also needed to are a few ‘minor details’ to be understood and 2. IP delivery based on HTTP (unicast) provide a compelling and differentiated service: dealt with. a. Linear HTTP Content, Non-linear HTTP • Providing live, on-demand, rewind and catch-up Content, and Application Data. In an HbbTV services to any Second Screen Manifest manipulation alone doesn’t network this would be based on MPEG • Delivery support to any connected device: always work DASH* (ISO/IEC 23009-1) and ISO BMFF game console, tablet, smart-phone, etc. whether One major example of this is the range of issues Common Encryption (ISO/IEC 23001-7) or not it supports a direct MPEG DASH player associated with manifest manipulation. capability The manifest is primarily a “playlist” that HbbTV deployment challenges provides the player with the list of upcoming For organisations looking to implement HbbTV An example: Issues of targeted ad/ assets that are available for download. It is an 1.5 there are a series of requirements that provide alternate content insertion XML file. This has led to many assumptions significant challenges: Of the requirements mentioned above, few if any being made that inserting ad or alternate content bring as much incremental revenue opportunity, would be a matter of simply “manipulating” or • Extending linear broadcast content delivery to or as many challenges (and cause as much writing the entry into the manifest file at the the HbbTV terminal via Broadband controversy) as targeted ad insertion. appropriate place to tell the player to play • Implementing on-demand (VoD, Catch-up, additional or targeted content with no need for Rewind, etc.) on the HbbTV Terminal Few organisations can ignore the huge scope any change the actual video fragments. • Providing secure per-content or per-session for additional services that being able to deliver To make the situation more complicated, this encryption and DRM targeted ads and alternate content brings. model actually can be made to work with Apple • Providing content personalisation and fully Looking further than parity with today’s existing HLS and most IOS devices. Unfortunately, as managed Quality of Experience at session ad model, the possibility of alternate content with all seemingly simple answers, it doesn’t work

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 45 Technology corner for anything outside that community of devices – even HLS on Android devices does not support “discontinuity” to allow this type of manipulation. This means that the player must support “discontinuous” video fragments with different timing and encoding characteristics. Unfortunately ISO BMFF based protocols such as MPEG DASH AVC.264 do not support discontinuity. Both alternative models of client side insertion and “pre-writing” of manifests (the creation of custom manifests written at the time of encoding or head-end packaging) have massive limitations in terms of scalability, security, and quality control. A true solution is provided when the manifest is manipulated in real time, and in line with actual fragment delivery to ensure that the time stamps and critical container information are manipulated in line with the custom manifest for that client. Diagram 2: HbbTV Delivery Network Showing Session HbbTV broadband deployment for Delivery Controller Deployment (labelled SeaWell Spectrum) operators Once the deployment requirements (of which there are clearly many more than the main questions of cost and supportability become decentralised model, but closer examination of requirements listed above) are understood, it paramount. future looking models such as Software Defined becomes clear that today’s cache based CDN Networking (SDN) show a similar approach models require many more services closer to the Reducing cost while adding new services whereby centralised intelligence leverages highly edge of the network to be able to meet both the and revenue opportunities distributed agents providing critical underlying delivery as well as the cost requirements. In a recent case study, a leading cable operator in services for optimized application delivery. In effect this demands a new intelligent video North America implemented an open source delivery control layer to be implemented within based CDN shared the details of their Summary the network that provides services to the Back implementation. Their experience demonstrated There are many challenges in bringing MPEG Office Support Systems, Ad Insertion Systems, the potential to build a highly compelling business DASH and HbbTV together while continuing to and Policy Servers, while implementing a full case for distribution of some of this traditionally exploit revenue opportunities and further session management approach to ensure QoE, “head end” or data center based services. In their optimize costly distribution infrastructure. effective operational monitoring and management model, by implementing format repackaging, the However, by rethinking a few key assumptions and further session management at the edge of hardware and centralised packager cost savings around protocol and manifest manipulation, a the network. alone reduced CAPEX by a stunning 44%. picture begins to emerge of a highly optimized, Increasingly, a range of video delivery services The reduction in OPEX resulting from far distributed infrastructure that enjoys lowered is becoming available at the edge of the network. higher network backhaul, cache optimisation and distribution costs without sacrificing quality. the all important individual session management In fact, a fully session based management - Dynamic repackaging of ABR formats (e.g. and analysis for the operations staff is NOT system for ABR promises a significant increase HLS, Smooth Streaming, HDS and MPEG calculated within these savings. Nor is the fact in functionality for service providers, by giving DASH) that when one calculates the ability to provide them control over each individual stream as - Support for full session management targeted ad insertion, the cost is still LESS than it is delivered. - Quality of Experience management the cost of the original packager and server Providers who adopt these new methods - Policy Enforcement hardware needed to support the open source and incorporate them with MPEG-DASH and - In-network targeted ad and alternate based cache network. HbbTV will reap the profits inherent in quality content insertion. control, per-session analytics, and truly targeted Looking forward to new models of advertising. As it becomes possible to deploy these advanced network deployment services at the edge of the network, the inevitable This does not mean adopting an entirely Duncan Potter is CMO at SeaWell Networks

46 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com Migrating to the cloud

redundancy, relies on a relatively Can cloud-based solutions help operators drive narrow upstream path and is multiscreen revenue, asks Aditya Kishore constrained by the box’s transcoding and other content optimisation and ay TV operators around and delivered at a lower bit-rate. Mobile multiscreen delivery capabilities. All of these the world are expanding networks are also more bandwidth constrained video preparation and delivery requirements can their services to additional than fixed-line and so the consumer experience now be effectively managed via a cloud-based devices. There are clear can often be affected. Operators therefore need service. In addition, moving this capability into reasons for this: mobile to invest in a substantial video adaptation and the network and integrating it into a broader video views grew 300% manipulation eco-system to deliver a paid service content delivery architecture could greatly improve in 2012, accounting for to mobile devices. service reliability and the subscriber experience, 10.4% of video starts compared with 3% in 2011. That brings us to the placeshifting scenario. both for fixed-line and mobile delivery. PAccording to Adobe, tablets were a key driver of According to our recently conducted survey of Cloud-based video delivery also fits into a this growth. US online consumers, 62.4% were “very” to broader set of initiatives from operators to leverage In the past, proximity has traditionally been “somewhat” interested in viewing shows from their the cloud. They are looking for ways to speed up seen as the key to maintaining a high quality pay TV service or DVR via a web-connected PC activation of new services and cloud based experience for video viewers. That was the idea anywhere in the world, and interest had remained services can often be upgraded and adapted more behind CDNs: store Internet content as close as largely consistent when compared with the quickly, since the platform is housed on servers in possible to the end-user and eliminate upstream previous year. comparatively central locations and is independent congestion issues. The advantages of local caching For business travellers in particular, stuck of the end-user’s device. Often it allows operators continue to hold true, but the complexities in a hotel room after a full day’s work, viewing to use standards-based technologies which can associated with multiscreen content delivery unfamiliar programming in a foreign language further simplify development and deployment. allow for benefits from using a somewhat more is not an attractive option. Convincing these Lastly, some DVR technology vendors have an centralised approach as well. relatively high-income professionals to pay a small extensive suite of patents for device-based time- The attention being given to cloud computing transaction fee or subscription premium to access shifting, but these don’t extend to the cloud. As a in the enterprise world is near deafening at the their favourite and familiar TV shows via a laptop result, some operators are reportedly exploring moment, but it’s also having an impact on pay TV or tablet should be a viable proposition. cloud-based time-shifting as a way to develop new operators. Managing and manipulating video in capabilities without stepping into patent disputes. the cloud not only simplifies some requirements, The set-top vs the cloud While proximity to the end-user is still an but could even influence the model for There are two main approaches to offering important advantage for video delivery, cloud multiscreen monetisation. placeshifting. technologies can help operators deliver a high- Launched in 2005, the Slingbox is an in-home quality multiscreen service. In particular, they Monetising multi-screen set-top box that connects to the DVR/set-top to could help with key monetisation initiatives such For operators that find it difficult to charge a flat access TV content and can “sling” it to a web- as mobile video and placeshifting. fee for multiscreen video, it may be worthwhile connected PC anywhere in the world. At its The specific business case will, of course, vary exploring specific use cases that would drive launch, placeshifting was an extremely by operator and will depend on access to content, willingness to pay. In-home viewing is a difficult controversial issue within the TV industry, scale, existing infrastructure, local subscriber scenario to monetise given that customers have with broadcasters arguing it was illegal since behaviour etc. But a growing number of operators access to the content in their homes via a paid it subverted local market exclusivity deals. worldwide are now looking to shift traditional service already. That leaves only two scenarios: However, device-based placeshifting continues head-end functions for multiscreen delivery to via devices connected to a cellular network when to exist. Sling Media is now a part of US satellite the cloud. the consumer is outdoors; or “placeshifting,” using company EchoStar, and several other pay TV a Wi-Fi or fixed-line connection to view content providers have since licensed the technology. Aditya Kishore is principal when outside the home (for example, on a Various models of Slingboxes are also available at analyst at Diametric Analysis, business trip to another city). electronics retailers in 20 countries. a consultancy focused on The first use case lends itself to mobile Though widely available, the device-based analysing the disruptive impact consumption, and this is growing rapidly. But approach has its constraints. It requires users to of Internet distribution on the the mobile phone is poorly suited to TV video remotely access the in-home set-top box rather video and telecom sectors. He can be reached at [email protected] streams and so requires the video to be resized than an optimised media server, has no built-in

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48 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 49

will be tackled by broadcasters and mobile operators alike in the shape of Telefonica Europe, The old and the Globo TV, ITV, Arqiva and Ericsson. Other topical subjects under the spotlight include ultra HD (including a session sponsored new in Amsterdam by Sky Deutschland), Cloud and IP in broadcast, adaptive streaming, smart user interfaces, and the battle for the viewer experience as TV fights the plethora of connected device for eyeballs and user attention. In what should be a lively debate, the last topic will see speakers from UPC, Microsoft, YouView and Samsung debate the place and role of TV in the future living room.

Around the halls Elsewhere, that always fascinating Future Zone offers a glimpse into what technologies we might expect coming our way over the next few years, usually in the form of prototypes from R&D labs around the world. This year, the chosen few involve next-generation HbbTV with contextual recommendations, Cisco’s Project Fresco (see page 14 for more information on this and ultra he 14 exhibition halls will Goran Nastic previews HD), augmented broadcasting from ETRI and officially open their doors High Dynamic Range (HDR) video among to the public on Friday 13 what looks set to be others. BBC R&D will also reveal some of the September, although by then another action packed team’s latest work here, while a German the conference will already university will propose a Tower Overlay network be in full swing. IBC show for LTE-Advanced, which it is positioning as more Conference keynotes at efficient concept than eMBMS. IBC 2013, still Europe’s largest broadcast show, UHD comes with a lot of unanswered Tcome from the old and the new of the media viewers demand to make their TV consumption a questions about value, content and mass market world, and will include senior execs from ZDF, more sociable and interactive experience. Among potential but this hasn’t stopped much excitement TDF, Channel 4, Tata Sky, Multichoice, Twitter the subjects explored is the question of how being generated by the industry, with content and Shazam, as well as retailers such as Amazon broadcasters can use this attention and owners exercising the most restraint in this area. and Tesco (who are now OTT providers too). technology to help their shows and channels. Cost is another big issue. The conference programme kicks off early Understanding the value of Big Data and the As a number of service providers dip their toes Thursday morning, with a session focused on future of broadcast spectrum are interesting in 4K by testing the waters, SkyD is leading a sports broadcasting, set against the backdrop of debates and both feature multiple sessions with an demo of an end-to-end live on-air broadcast chain major events in 2014 such as The FIFA World impressive group of panellists. in tandem with Sony, 3net, SES and Pace. Cup in Brazil, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and The idea of Big Data is not new but only a The companies will show a trailer comprising the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. While handful of traditional broadcasters have begun to Ultra HD content, mixing sports, movies and sport drives many innovations in broadcast, its seriously take up the challenge and use them in documentaries, aired live over satellite by SES in popularity comes at a price, and it is a large new monetisation or operational strategies. Two a sponsored session free to all delegates. The contributor to escalating programme costs borne back-to-back sessions on Friday afternoon will content will be encoded in HEVC by Harmonic by networks and operators – it will be interesting explore the pitfalls and opportunities on offer, and will be received by a prototype UHD receiver to see to what extent rising tensions, reflected in with input from Oracle, Amazon, BSkyB, BBC, presented by Pace. The results will be displayed retransmission disputes for instance between Tesco and Channel 4. on several Sony 4K displays of different sizes. different parties, are tackled in these sessions. Meanwhile, as wireless technology begins to No doubt we can expect a number of other 4K, The 2nd screen, of course, is a theme that will encroach on terrestrial turf, the very future of HEVC and associated demos across the exhibition run over the six days of the show, tapping into FTA television is thrown in doubt, an issue that floors this September.

50 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com RAI Amsterdam Conference 12-17 September : Exhibition 13-17 September IBC Conference Stimulating debate and sharpening strategy, the IBC Conference attracts the industry’s most influential and authoritative speakers to discuss the future of electronic media and entertainment.

The conference is designed to: IBC2013 Keynote Speakers include: • stimulate discussion to challenge • Peggy Johnson, Executive and exchange ideas Vice President, Qualcomm • enable you to network with the top Technologies, Inc. and President, minds in the industry Global Market Development, • allow you to formulate strategies to Qualcomm implement in your business • Tony Wang, General Manager, Twitter • Rajesh Kamat, CEO, CA Media

For more information please visit: www.ibc.org/conference IBC Exhibition Each year, 50,000+ attendees from over 160 countries come to IBC. They are able to browse fourteen themed halls housing the latest innovations from more than 1,400 leading brands. In addition there is a wealth of free to attend feature areas including: IBC Connected World IBC Big Screen a special area of IBC which encapsulates providing the perfect platform the very latest developments in mobile T V, for manufacturer demonstrations 3G and 4G services and ground breaking screenings

IBC Production Insight Future Zone centred around a professional standard a tantalising glimpse into the future studio set, attendees have a host of the of tomorrow’s electronic media latest technology to get their hands on IBC Awards IBC Workflow Solutions celebrating the personalities and the dedicated to file-based technologies and organisations best demonstrating provides attendees with the opportunity to creativity, innovation and track the creation management journey collaboration in our industry

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Untitled-1 1 20/08/2013 10:34:23 Reaching the right audience comes down to a simple equation. Intelsat has always been forward thinking when it comes to media. When we launched IntelsatOneSM, we built the satellite industry’s largest IP/MPLS fi ber network to create fl exible, hybrid content delivery options for our customers. And now, we’re introducing Intelsat EpicNG, our next generation satellite platform, which combines high-throughput spot beams, for content regionalization and targeting, with wide beams, for total continent coverage. That’s intelligent design. Good for your operations and your bottom line.

Meet with Intelsat during IBC 2013 at Stand 1.C71.

Learn how Intelsat can help you reach more viewers. Visit www.intelsat.com/Forward-Thinking for details.

Designed for 2030. Launching in 2015.

6849-CSI_Media.indd 1 8/20/2013 12:51:35 PM