March/April 2018
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March/April 2018 EUROPEAN PREMIERE MARCH 29 pOFC DTVE MarApr18.indd 1 23/02/2018 11:22 FILM DIGITALDIGITAL VIDEO MOBILE CONTENTCONTENT TELEVISION AR/MR/VR ISIS THETHE NEWNEW ADVERTISING DIGITAL CONTENTCONTENT LIVE EVENTS AUDIO ECONOMY.ECONOMY. RADIO GET THE EFFECT. THRIVE ON. From creation to consumption, NAB Show® will help you optimize and monetize your content. This is where the latest digital tech is unveiled, professional communities gather, and world-renowned thought leaders fuel the digital ecosystem. Come and seize the opportunities enabled by the convergence of media, entertainment and technology. THIS IS WHERE THE GLOBAL CONTENT ECONOMY THRIVES. APRIL 7–12, 2018 I LAS VEGAS, NEVADA USA REGISTER TODAY: NABShow.com Free Exhibits Pass Code: PA55 pIFC NAB DTVE MarApr18.indd 1 22/02/2018 13:27 Digital TV Europe March/April 2018 Contents 20 10. The cable top ten What are the key industry developments shaping the future of cable? Ahead of this year’s Cable Congress in Dublin, Digital TV Europe presents its take on the top 10 priorities for the industry. 20. A sharper picture Opinions differ about how quickly consumers are warming to UHD TV, but many hurdles still stand in the way of the format becoming mainstream. Adrian Pennington provides an update. 26. Moving pictures Video is expected to dominate mobile traffic in the years ahead, but much still needs to be done to ensure a seamless video experience over mobile networks. Anna Tobin reports. 26 Regulars 2 This month 4 News digest 30 Technology 34 People 36 Final analysis Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.com 1 p01 Contents DTVE MarApr18v3st.indd 1 23/02/2018 19:32 This month > Editor’s note Digital TV Europe March/April 2018 Issue no 337 Cable priorities Published By: KNect365 TMT Maple House is the month of Cable Congress, the European cable 149 Tottenham Court Road industry’s annual get-together. London W1T 7AD March Cable remains the key distribution mechanism for TV in Europe but Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5000 TV itself has become progressively less important to top-tier operators as Fax: +44 (0) 20 7017 4953 a driver of growth in recent years. Website: www.digitaltveurope.net As the video landscape has become more competitive, operators have focused on their key advantage – their network infrastructure – and on Editor Stuart Thomson broadband access, which had delivered most of their growth. Cable TV Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5314 numbers have been declining over the past decade as operators have Email: [email protected] turned their attention to marketing higher-value premium packages and advanced TV functionality and allowed analogue tiers to decline. At the same time, broadband and, above all, the bundling of broadband, TV, fixed telephony Contributing Editor Andy McDonald and mobile, has delivered higher ARPU for cable operators. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5293 In this issue of Digital TV Europe, we look at the top 10 issues facing the cable industry as they Email: [email protected] pivot to address high growth areas. Delivering higher revenue from TV itself generally means more choice and more premium content. On the other hand, the business case for higher picture quality has proved elusive. It is Contributors not clear, for example, that 4K UHD TV will bring much in the way of additional revenue to TV Kate Bulkley, Andy Fry, Adrian Pennington, operators, broadcasters and OTT TV players. But TV service providers are increasingly using Adam Thomas, Anna Tobin, Jesse Whittock UHD as a marketing tool to win over high-spending customers. One danger associated with UHD however is that consumers may be disappointed or con- Correspondents fused because the experience of viewing falls short of expectations. France: Julien Alliot; Germany: Dieter In this issue, we take a look at the current and future state of UHD TV, encompassing the Brockmeyer; Italy: Branislav Pekic availability of content and services and the firming up of standards. The DVB’s UHD-1 phase 2 spec is now complete but many questions remain over how fast broadcasters and manufac- turers will develop UHD services. What are the key elements that will determine how fast the Commercial Director Patricia Arescy market takes off? To what extent are the technology stars now aligned and what remaining Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5320 issues, if any, are likely to act as a brake on development? Email: [email protected] With some studies predicting that half of all video consumption will be on mobile screens by 2020, video is something that mobile telcos as well as fixed line TV service providers are going Art Director Matthew Humberstone to take seriously. Most mobile video consumption is via WiFi or download-to-go, but streaming over cellular networks is also likely to take some of the pie. For mobile operators this raises a number of questions – both technical and in terms of their Marketing Manager Marita Eleftheriadou business model. Also in this issue of Digital TV Europe, we look at how mobile broadcast and live streaming technology is evolving and whether this is an urgently needed technology or a Printing Wyndeham Grange, West Sussex technology in search of a use case. l To subscribe to this magazine or our daily email newsletter please visit digitaltveurope.net/registerhere © 2018 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved Stuart Thomson, Editor Reproduction without permission is prohibited [email protected] Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.com 2 p02 Ed Note DTVE MarApr18v3am.indd 2 23/02/2018 19:35 p03 CSG DTVE MarApr18.indd 1 22/02/2018 10:21 News > digest Digital TV Europe March/April 2018 News digest > 4 Deutsche Telekom: Vodafone-Liberty Global deal ‘completely unacceptable’ > 5 Fries: Liberty Global will not ‘dismantle’ European business > 6 Telefónica claims success for originals strategy > 8 Richard: Orange will not take part in consolidation Höttges: Vodafone-Liberty Global deal ‘completely unacceptable’ By Andy McDonald > confirmed it was in early stage Höttges: “Our offer also includes at- discussions with Liberty Glob- Deutsche tractive TV content across all Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim- al about potentially acquiring Telekom will screens – on any device. In Ger- otheus Höttges has spoken “overlapping continental Euro- protest the many, for example, with Enter- out against a potential tie-up pean assets”. deal if it’s tain TV, we aggregate linear tel- between Vodafone and Liber- According to reports, the agreed. evision and the best streaming ty Global-owned Unitymedia, discussions are focused on Lib- offers of our partners like Netflix branding it “completely unac- erty’s cable assets in Germany, or Maxdome on one platform,” ceptable” though the two companies also Telekom’s IPTV and satellite TV said Deutsche Telekom in its Speaking on the company’s have overlapping operations in subscriber base climbed to 3.14 earnings statement. fourth quarter and full year the Czech Republic, Hungary million at the end of 2017 – an “What’s more, since 2017, the earnings call, Höttges raised and Romania. increase of 260,000 from 2.88 offer has included exclusive TV concerns about market concen- Unitymedia is the country’s million a year earlier. series such as The Handmaid’s tration in the TV space and said second largest cable operator In the rest of Europe its IPTV, Tale, Valkyrien, and Cardinal, that a combined Vodafone and with some 13 million service satellite and cable TV base grew and our unique Telekom Sport Unitymedia would dominate subscribers as of September to 4.24 million – up 195,000 offering.” the German market. 2017. Vodafone is Germany’s from 4.05 million a year earlier. The company said that it “I do not see that this kind of cable leader after it bought Kabel The majority of these additions plans to continue to expand its concentration in the cable mar- Deutschland in 2013. were at Deutsche Telekom’s na- content portfolio in the coming ket can be supported from reg- Separately, Deutsche Tele- tional companies in Hungary, years – for instance through its ulatory bodies,” he said. “I don’t kom-owned T-Mobile Austria Slovakia and Greece. international partnership with believe that Germany wants to agreed to buy Liberty Glob- In Germany, the company Netflix. It also said it plans to go into a situation like Eastern al-owned UPC Austria late last said that it is focusing on mar- implement new operating con- European markets where TV year for an enterprise value of keting integrated offers and on cepts like voice control through markets are dominated by telco 1.9 billion. TV and fibre-optic lines, due to smart speakers. players.” During 2017 Deutsche Tele- the “persistently challenging In other news, T-Mobile US Höttges said that Deutsche kom grew its TV customer base development” in the fixed-net- announced the acquisition of Telekom would protest the deal, by 9.0% in Germany and 4.8% work market, primarily owing online TV provider Layer3 TV in if it is agreed. in the rest of Europe. to aggressive pricing offers of November, which closed on Jan- Earlier this month Vodafone In its home market, Deutsche competitors. uary 22, 2018. ongoing transformation from a online businesses, which together UHD TV channels and other Bulgaria “traditional national broadcaster to generated SEK 991 million in sales services. The multiplex will serve a global digital entertainer”. MTG and SEK 195 million in operating as an experimental platform for PROG > MTG sells Nova said it will use the proceeds from income for full-year 2017. DTT broadcasters. The regulator Modern Times Group (MTG) has the sale to invest in its digital en- envisages a launch by 2024 at the sold its 95% shareholding in Nova tertainment business, as well as in latest with coverage of at least Broadcasting Group in Bulgaria in a its Nordic Entertainment and MTG France 60% of the population of France.