Coveer2018-April-v2.indd 1 www.csimagazine.com Sports streaming special June 2016 • OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The magazinefor global video The latest news, views andfeatures April 2018 21/03/2018 17:20:23
AV1, HEVC & future of Voice interfaces Cyber security AR vs VR video encoding 2018
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Untitled-6 1 23/03/2018 15:38:21 Contents
The magazine for global video 17 Voice interfaces Operators globally are finally deploying www.csimagazine.com
April 2018 voice control, starting with better content
AR vs VR video AR vs search and discovery. Two features in this
Cyber security section examine the latest trends and what Editor Voice interfaces Voice lies in store Goran Nastic encoding AV1, HEVC & future of & future HEVC AV1, Commercial Sports streaming special 24 Next-gen compression Camilla Capece
June 2016 • OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The latest news, views and features
Coveer2018-April-v2.indd 1 21/03/2018 17:20:23 AOM’s AV1 codec is emerging as a major Pallavi Pandey 05 News alternative family to the MPEG/ISO community, putting pressure on HEVC. Design and production The latest video news, views and analysis Matt Mills (Manager) What does it mean for the future of OTT Jessica Harrington and broadcast delivery? 08 Data corner: OTT sports Regular contributors Niche sports offer a low-cost way for global 28 Cyber security Adrian Pennington, Philip Hunter, David Adams, Stephen Cousins, streaming services to enter competitive An update on the Digital Production Anna Tobin sports bidding, while out-of-country rights Partnership’s new programme that tackles present the opportunity to scale globally security practices in broadcast Circulation Joel Whitefoot 10 COVER STORY 30 AR vs VR Accounts Assessing how digital giants are poised to A comparative look at the relative merits of Marilou Tait, Lynta Kamaray disrupt the status quo of live sports augmented and virtual reality formats as broadcasting they relate to television content Editorial tel +44(0)20 7562 2401 14 Q&A: ESL UK 32 CSI Awards [email protected] The final part of our sports special features All the categories in this year’s awards, a chat with the COO and executive producer Advertising which are now open for entries tel +44(0)20 7562 2435 of esports company ESL UK about [email protected] production technology in the esports world 34 Events diary tel +44(0)20 7562 2438 and what TV can bring to the table from a [email protected] content perspective Key industry events taking place in 2018 Subscriptions tel +44 (0) 20 1635 588 861 Editor’s report: [email protected] Circulation manager: joel.whitefoot@ The days of live sports being the last bastion of traditional payTV subscriptions perspectivepublishing.com have come to an end. Sports are already one of the key drivers for the increase in linear OTT services and channels. Thanks mainly to sport, Dataxis estimates there Subscription rates are over 7m European linear subs paying for streaming TV services. Disruption is Per year: Europe £88; UK £68; coming not just from digital giants but sports-centric OTT aggregators and sports Rest of World £98. Cheques payable to federations going direct-to-consumer, an especially appealing route for Tier 2 sports that have Perspective Publishing Limited and addressed to the a dedicated fan base globally. So while there is growing evidence that viewing of live scheduled Circulation Department sports is in decline, streaming formats have become the new engine for growth. As the old saying goes, in every threat there is an opportunity. The same goes for voice interfaces, where Printed by Buxton Press operators have found a new confidence on the back of smart assistants’ adoption. GN Managing Director John Woods
Perspective Publishing Publishing Director 3 London Wall Buildings London Mark Evans EC2M 5PD www.perspectivepublishing.com ISSN 1467-5935
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3-contentsSep.indd 1 23/03/2018 14:34:32 CSI Awards 2018 14 September 2018, Amsterdam
16th annual CSI Awards Deadline for entries: 18 June 2018
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CSIAWards2018.indd 1 15/03/2018 10:01:50 News
What does Telstra’s experience with news in brief Ooyala mean for the future of OVPs? Swiss operator launches 10Gig internet When Ooyala’s owner, and 4K HDR Apple TV Telstra, announced in early Salt has entered the Swiss February it would write down fixed line market with one some $500 million of its of the first commercial 10 investment, it led to questions Gbps broadband services of what exactly went wrong. anywhere in the world, and The Australian telco a promise to undercut its pumped hundreds of millions local triple-play rivals. Salt into Ooyala in three years to said it will offer the tap into the growing trend for 10Gbps internet product, online video. Ooyala also had 300 television channels designs to become a and unlimited telephony in YouTube-type platform for the Switzerland for 49.95 enterprise video space, an Swiss francs (EUR40) a ambition it has since month. The service also downscaled. Telstra is still Kaltura itself recognises technology providers such comes with a 2.2Gbps looking for a buyer for and admits that the world has as Ericsson have not been WiFi router and a new 4K Ooyala’s struggling ad-tech changed since the launch of able to make the necessary HDR Apple TV box. business, but is keeping its the first OVPs more than a shifts - from hardware to These speeds across 30 online video platform (OVP) decade ago. “All manner of software, and from on-prem cities and regions in and automated workflow- service providers have started to cloud and SaaS models.” Switzerland come courtesy management system units. looking at OTT and IP video These new software-driven of the FTTH network of Ooyala’s core OVP business streaming platforms not just cloud TV platforms need to Swiss Fiber Network, a helps companies launch OTT as a side car to their primary match the availability and joint venture comprised of services fast with ‘data-driven broadcast distribution scalability of broadcast TV; energy providers. insights’. But the OVP space business but as the offer the personalisation is a crowded one, with the cornerstone of their future and interactivity inherent in Digital payTV subs pass 1bn likes of Kaltura, NeuLion and growth strategy [Ed: Disney OTT technologies on the but OTT sets the pace Brightcove vying for a share being a good case in point]. big screen; support myriad There were over one of global deployments, on top They are making the move to business models, and a mix billion digital pay TV of larger players like Nokia, a cloud TV-shaped reality in of live, VoD and time-shift subscriptions across cable, IBM, Verizon and Comcast. which an OTT video platform services; among many satellite and IPTV Rethink Research puts the provides the core video other requirements. platforms even though blame partly on the wider platform for delivering all of There will arguably always OTT net-subscriber move to the cloud: “Vendors these next-generation TV be room to partner with additions outstripped net similar to Ooyala are now services,” says Gideon Gilboa third party providers to help pay TV subs by 3 to 1 in essentially worthless, ravaged of Kaltura. deliver a complete solution most regions. Western by the commoditisation of “From a vendor perspective for those who don’t have Europe added eight OTT video technologies inside the industry’s tilt to IP, cloud resources to launch multi- subscriptions for every pay cloud technology titans like and software creates a screen apps and other video TV net addition. Digital AWS. A shift in the video fantastic market opportunity. products. Perhaps one pay TV subscriptions in market has been approaching But the flip side is that it also lesson is that companies North America continued for some time.” throws up some rather large should focus on what they to decline, losing 3m While the doomsday technological, operational are best at and there will homes in 2017, while OTT hyperbole is perhaps and organisational hurdles. always be room for best-of- subscriptions increased by overstated, there is the real For many of the OVP breed technologies - storage, nearly 30m. Digital payTV question of where cloud vendors, the bar was set too encryption, encoding, has Asia-Pac to thank for giants leave OVPs and are high and they couldn’t clear analytics and so on – in its growth, with the region these platforms now the hurdles cleanly,” he says. dedicated platforms, even in accounting for 83% of net a commodity? “Even large legacy pay-TV a cloud-based world. adds, according to IHS.
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 05
05news.indd 1 23/03/2018 14:42:24 News
news in brief All US TV stations to stream by 2022
MediaFirst on Amlogic SoCs As streaming video continues Ericsson’s MediaFirst to gather pace, a new report middleware is being ported suggests that every major US directly onto Amlogic’s TV network will introduce a chipsets. The integration direct to consumer OTT of Amlogic’s S905X service in the next five years. chipset solution enables All major TV networks consumers to speedily will offer a direct-to- access content, including consumer streaming service High Dynamic Range by 2022, according to the networks will increasingly TV networks. “The legacy (HDR) content, across TDG, which will accelerate reserve their best titles for model is built upon decades MediaFirst set-top-boxes. the unbundling of cable their own direct-to-consumer of comfortable relationships Amlogic’s S905X chipset TV packages over the next services, which will help drive between networks and is optimised for both OTT five years. Big media total network DTC operators. If networks extract and IP environments, and companies are reacting subscriptions close to 50 too much high-value content deployed with major more boldly to changes in million by 2022.” too quickly, channel conflicts operators worldwide. The TV viewing behaviour, The industry first flirted are inevitable.” combination provides consolidating, bulking up with DTC models three years Seeing how these stations more choice and flexibility on originals, ago when HBO and CBS make the switch, at what to operators, the and marketing directly to launched the industry’s first speed, and what impacts it companies said. consumers are driving their standalone subscription will have on their economics strategic direction. services. Today, both brands and bottom line will be the RDK adoption globally “These are early signs of an enjoy five million paying interesting part. Presumably, ATX Over 40 million emerging media tribalism,” DTC subscribers. the argument is that those devices running RDK are says Mike Berkley, TDG Berkley warns, however, who fail to launch D2C now deployed by operators senior advisor and author of that DTC strategies come services will become extinct worldwide, while member the new report. “Major with great risk, especially for and it’s a case of adapt or die. companies are downloading RDK software components more Older viewers “hooked” on SVoD - study than four million times every month. RDK People aged 55 to 64 who and Amazon seems to be 55 to 64-year old SVoD Management said there are subscribed to an SVoD widening their reach, user watches over 1 hour now more than 40m RDK- service exhibit almost no spreading into older 20 minutes of SVoD per based set-top boxes and difference in viewing time generation. In the UK, the day, almost exactly that broadband gateways between younger age groups, penetration of Netflix of an 18 to 24-year deployed worldwide, up finds Ampere Analysis. subscriptions amongst 55-64- old subscriber. 63% from last year. New The net effect of on year old figure has risen Ampere polled 33,000 software is typically demand services like Netflix almost three-fold from 2015 people with an internet released every two weeks, to 25% now, connection across 16 and member companies according to markets. Overall, however, are downloading RDK the latest poll 55-64 year olds do consume software components more from Ampere. much less SVoD across than four million times The research the entire spread - less every month, a fourfold firm found that than eight minutes per day, increase from the same those between compared to nearly 40 time last year. Membership 55 and 64 are minutes daily for the also continues to grow, increasingly getting younger group. with the community now “hooked” on these At present, just 13% of passing 350 companies, services, almost as SVoD subscribers are 55 or which is up 17% much as 18-24 year older; the vast majority, 44%, from 2017. olds. The average are under 35 years old.
06 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
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Artifi cial Intelligence (AI) Android TV Video Latency High Frame Rates Data corner
pay TV, it seems reasonable to state Sports and streaming that the position of sport has shifted. Sport is still key. Across the big By Guy Bisson of Ampere Analysis European markets and the US, between 40 and 52 per cent of the population n 1996, Rupert Murdoch soccer in particular suggested that say they ‘love sport’, and those that love described sport as a nothing about Murdoch’s view 22 years it, just as Murdoch said all those years ‘battering ram’ for success in ago had changed. But with the recent ago, tend to love it above all other pay TV, going on to tout its pull back by Sky and BT in the latest content. Of the big European markets, importance above all other round of bidding for the UK Premier it will surprise no one to discover that genres and types of content. League; the rise of mega-budget TV Italy and Spain are the biggest sports Until very recently, the drama driven by the likes of Netflix and lovers. For pay TV, eager to service Ispiralling costs of sports and the other SVoD players; and the push back mass-market demand for subscription bidding frenzies around top-league in several markets around traditional TV, sport then will need to remain central to the offer. But what about streaming and SVoD services? Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have made tentative moves into sports rights acquisition, particularly in the USA, but beyond sports-specific niche SVoD services and the platforms of the major US leagues themselves, SVoD players have yet to make inroads into the sports arena. A mooted bid for UK Premier League rights by Amazon failed to materialise, despite reported efforts by the League to package and re-package rights to suit Amazon’s needs.
Changing attitudes to sport and the niche sports opportunity Attitudes to sports are changing. And these changes are particularly noticeable among the youngest consumers and among those who have chosen to substitute traditional pay TV platforms for SVoD services. SVoD-only homes; that is homes where the only form of paid TV is an SVoD platform, show noticeably lower interest in all types of sports, with the exception of mixed martial arts. So if streaming and SVoD players are to look to sports in the future, where should they be focusing their attention? Not all sports are created equally, particularly when it comes to willingness to pay to watch. Across several hundred specific sports and events analysed by Ampere, the most common rate of willingness to pay is
All charts sourced to Ampere Analysis Ampere to All charts sourced between 20-40%, meaning that for most
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sports, this proportion of fans are willing to pay to watch. Within this most common range, however, there is wide variation across countries and sports. For the crown- jewel rights of the national major sport leagues like Premier League in the UK, NFL in the US, Bundesliga in Germany, between 50% and 80% of fans are content to pay to watch. Less popular sports, that nonetheless have very specific fan-bases, like cricket and motor racing, also have a relatively high willingness to pay — typically between 30% and 60% of fans. Other key second-tier sports, though, can be highly variable in pay willingness, notably rugby and golf, where the range of attitudes towards paying to watch is highly variable with lots of fans not willing to pay to watch at all. One clear opportunity for streaming services is niche sports. Martial arts and other fight sports have a low interest overall within the population, but a particularly high willingness to pay within the fan base. Given low relative interest, rights are also far more affordable. Interestingly, fight sports are the only general category of sports where SVoD homes have higher than average interest overall in watching. But another area, and one that fits strategically with the global model of streaming and SVoD distribution, is to look to key national leagues outside their country of origin. Using the UK as an example, it is clear that the youngest consumers (18-24 year olds) are more likely than average to enjoy international soccer leagues, a trend that is also clear in other countries. taking all rights outside the country Tour Live. The Xumo-powered service So niche sports offer a low-cost way of production. will be made available on LG’s Channel for global streaming services to dip • The PGA Tour, the professional Plus platform and across the Xumo their toes in the pool of competitive golf body, is the latest sports distribution network, including Hisense, sports bidding, while out-of-country organisation to go direct-to-consumer, Sharp, Vizio and Panasonic connected rights present the opportunity to scale with the launch of its first channel devices. “The PGA Tour continues its globally. Interestingly, this is the same across smart TVs. The OTT channel quest to serve golf fans wherever they model that is being used for a lot of will be ad-supported and content will are, and however they want to consume high-budget drama within the SVoD and include highlights/recaps, player our content,” said Luis Goicouria, SVP streaming space, where a streaming interviews, tournament previews and of digital platforms and media strategy partner works with a local broadcaster, live featured hole coverage from PGA at the PGA Tour.
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8-9-DataCorner.indd 3 29/03/2018 12:03:38 OTT sports
content for a to further monetise sports on TV,” says Streamers pick up new generation Ampere’s Alexios Dimitropoulos. of fans.” “The challenge will be to balance the This is enthusiasm for niche competitions, the battering ram especially the particularly evident among younger case for the viewers, with the demand for big ticket Digital giants are poised to relatively small events such as the Champion’s League. number of Online services have a chance to disrupt the status quo of live sports events maximise this demand, with an and brands that have expanded offering of sports events, and sports broadcasting with genuinely global that’s why we’re seeing Facebook, implications for infl ated rights, appeal. The Amazon and Twitter make their first exclusivity of forays into this space.” editorial presentation and those rights is Naturally this drives prices up. For a major factor in example, last year Fox bid $2.5bn to new partnerships. By Adrian driving subscriptions. keep out Facebook’s $600m offer and Pennington and Goran Nastic Ofcom’s 2017 secure 20/20 Indian IPL cricket for Star Communication India for the next five years. he value of live sports Market report found The threat of a bid from Silicon - often considered the that over half of UK homes subscribe Valley ahead of the latest EPL auction last preserve of for original content while Recent led UK incumbents to circle the linear scheduled Ampere Analysis research identified a wagons. A carriage deal announced at television against the large and affluent group of sports fans the end of 2017 permits Sky and BT The magazine for global video rise of on-demand - which can, and do pay, a significant customers to gain access to all Premier continues to soar. premium to watch their favourite teams League matches without being forced to TBut audience behaviours have and competitions. For example, 18% of choose to buy TV packages from either changed and many viewers are moving BT subscribers cited sports as a or both. By reducing the rivalry to away from large cable packages. motivation for choosing the service. obtain the best games package in the Traditionally, viewers have been happy Now, OTT providers are focusing on EPL auction meant the pair were able to pay for TV packages to ensure they streamingwww.csimagazine.com live content in attempt to to reduce the overall cost this time are able to watch their favourite sport boost subs. around (with Sky paying on average £1
or team. Competition from broadcasters “With sports fans so overwhelmingly million (16%) less per match for theApril 2018 anxious to attract and retain sports fans, eager to pay to access their favourite period 2019-2022). especially younger ones, within their competitions, there is tremendous scope Exclusive sports programming subscriber base has already driven the value of premium sports rights to all- time highs. Now cash-rich internet players are muscling into the sports arena and VR video AR vs making the future of live broadcaster packages uncertain. These social media
networks and tech giants are fuelling Cyber security disruption and further fragmenting the sports broadcasting arena. “For both traditional broadcasters and their new internet competitors, a interfaces Voice new battleground is emerging and once again sports content is at the heart of
it,” declares Comcast Technology encoding
Solutions (CTS) in a white paper on of & future HEVC AV1, the topic. “The winners will be those most able to acquire, deliver and generate value from premium sports
10 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com Sports streaming special 10-13_LiveOTTSport#.indd 2 23/03/2018 14:35:25
June 2016 • OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The latest news, views and features
Coveer2018-April-v2.indd 1 21/03/2018 17:20:23 OTT sports
OTT. The English social media. Cricket Board’s Twitter partners with BT Sport each decision to return a week to simulcast its ‘live score’ show portion of test on Saturdays and is working with a coverage to the BBC number of US rightsholders to bring from 2020 after live highlights, news and bespoke granting exclusivity programming to the platform, he notes. to Sky in return for a substantial fee is OTT sport multiplies another example. In exclusive research, Ampere Analysis Nonetheless, polled 28,000 internet users across 14 Facebook, Twitter, markets to evaluate their willingness to Source: Dataxis Source: Amazon, Google and pay for sports content. Of those that Snapchat have all enjoy watching sport (42%), the vast remains, as Rupert Murdoch famously dabbled in live sports over the past majority would be willing to pay decalred a decade ago, “the battering couple years either winning rights (such regularly to watch at least one of their ram” on which to build and secure a as Amazon’ serving of ATP Tennis favourite events. With interests ranging pay TV business. events from 2019) or working in from soccer to the Olympics, tennis to “EPL are the crown jewels and partnership with a broadcast rights motor racing, basketball, athletics and securing them enables protection on holder, such as BT Sport streaming the cycling, are broadcasters and channels growth, provides resources to ramp up 2017 UEFA Champions League live missing out on opportunities to further OTT and broadband offerings, and and free over YouTube to broaden monetise sport? allows both BT and Sky time to viewership and thereby also appeal to Sports are set to feature heavily on grow other genres such as exclusive (or appease) advertisers, or NBCU’s Facebook video hub Watch. The dramas, to lessen the impact of pact with Snap to live stream clips of network’s sports rights effort will be sport,” says Stuart Ferreira-Cole, the Winter Olympics). spearheaded by Peter Hutton, the commercial director at digital TV Additionally, the NFL and the EPL former Eurosport CEO who helped designer Ostmodern. are keen to test the water by tendering deliver the Olympics for the pan- digital packages for NFL Thursday European digital broadcaster. Broadcaster reach versus Night Football and mid-week Premier Internet tech companies not only digital monetisation League games in the UK where multiple bring cash, but also expertise in using Yet no technology giant has become the matches are played, and potentially data and analytics to better engage and main video partner to a major UK or streamed, simultaneously. extract value from fans via advertising. US sports league, in part because of a Facebook and Twitter’s business At the same time, sports fans now reluctance among leagues to pull games models currently rely on advertising and expect flexible options for viewing; off mainstream TV and award full rights will look to serve in-stream and live ad broadcasters, rights holders and brands to an online provider. breaks to recoup the cost of content need to create more content and In the US, rights to the most lucrative licensing fees – in addition to the viewing options than ever before. league in the world, the NFL, remains broader strategy of using video to keep Consequently, while there is evidence the preserve of broadcasters Fox, more people on the platform and that viewing of live scheduled sports is NBC and CBS, who collectively generate ancillary advertising income. in decline, OTT formats have become paid $27 billion over the eight-year Twitter has a more established video the new engine for growth embraced by period 2014-22. advertising capability for premium sports-centric aggregators like Eleven While public service broadcasters content, building on the launch of Sports and Perform’s DAZN, on top of have long ceded control of sports rights, Twitter Amplify with the NFL in 2014. leagues or federations like MLB.TV, their national reach and cultural status “Both Facebook and Twitter have a WWE Network, NFL GamePass, remains attractive to federations. global user base that would certainly NHL TV and The PGA Tour. Properties like Wimbledon, FIFA World appreciate the addition of live sports F1, the world’s most popular Cup, Match of the Day, the Grand content, but for now, both are looking motorsport now under the management National, London Marathon and to build out new formats for viewers of Liberty Media, will be the next to live Olympics will remain a staple of BBC around the major sports,” says Gareth stream races although the sport has or ITV coverage for as long as their Capon, CEO, Grabyo which creates and existing pay-TV deals to untangle before audiences dwarf those on pay TV or publishes content for sports clients on it goes completely OTT.
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“OTT services offer fans the flexibility non-exclusive deals with a variety of to watch live away from TV, whilst streaming platforms to gain visibility offering rightsholders the ability to and increase fan engagement,” suggests “Sports TV channels own each fan’s personal, shopping Alon Werber, CEO of automated sports and behavioural data, using this to production vendor Pixellot. will cease to exist in advertise and cross-sell with regional, “While the most expensive leagues targeted messaging – a relationship will continue selling their rights to the format we know which is missing from linear TV,” broadcasters, we will see some shifts in them today.” suggests Capon. tier 2 sports and second-level leagues,” Broadcasters are looking to give he says. “For these leagues, the advent customers the same flexibility in of OTT, together with automated sponsorship. “Traditional sponsorship viewing while also keeping them within production, is a game changer,” he says. packages have been sold on reach and the live pay-TV product by launching Werber thinks women’s sports will impressions. Yet the trend in their own versions: Eurosport Player, drive this revolution. “Today about 95% sponsorship is towards meaningful Bein Sport Connect, Fox Sports Go, of sports programming is male. In many partnerships between brands and rights Sky’s NOW TV. cases, streaming services have the holders where results are measured The daddy of the them all is Disney’s power to democratise sports beyond awareness and reach metrics. ESPN-branded sports app. With broadcasting by opening programming Fan engagement is a key part of this. technical backend under command of to more sports and levels of Social networks give brands and rights BAMTech, the technology outfit it professionalism. Facebook, for example, owners the potential to maintain an bought from the MLB for $2.5bn, and a broadcast two qualifying matches of the ongoing conversation with fans new base for BAMTech Europe in women’s World Cup tournament and throughout the week, rather than just Amsterdam, Disney has a launching drew a large audience. Youth sports are during the match or game, and to build pad for the $5 per month service on an important segment for OTT too, hype around live events.” this side of the Atlantic. Disney boss targeting parents and school alumni.” With the shift to OTT comes a shift Bob Iger calls this “a massive strategic A new breed of ambitious digital in editorial presentation in which linear shift in the company’s content publishers like Goal.com, Dugout and viewing is eschewed in favour of shorter distribution strategy.” Copa90, are attracting millions of highlights sessions and engagement Sports federations employ a dual younger users who appreciate the around the live event. “Data suggests strategy of D2C and broadcaster deals opportunity to access an engaging mix that younger audiences are not tuning depending on market dynamics in of footage, social interaction with their into watch full-length matches, instead each region. favourite players and teams, and fan- relying more on short, catch up clips,” generated content. These sites too are says Ferreira-Cole. Niche opportunities picking up niche live rights. Dugout, for “Digital content that is shareable or With the number of available channels example, has begun showing Scottish even editable generates a high level of multiplying over the top come great Football League action; Copa90, which engagement, particularly amongst opportunities for second-tier events, generates 80m views a month, streams younger age groups,” adds Werber. niche sports as well as female and youth friendly fixtures. Sky Sports, for example, acquired the sports. OTT allows for a lower barrier “Sports content often drives rights to EPL clips offered by News to entry than traditional methods and significant levels of online UK, via The Sun app, to connect with allows new specialist services to go conversation,” says Capon. “Social these audiences. direct to consumer. While the platforms are arguably the most direct, addressable audience may be smaller, scalable medium for clubs to interact Think 9 seconds, 90 seconds, fans are passionate, usually without with fans on a global basis.” 90 minutes other means of other access and can The average Winter Olympics fan If traditional media has been slow to subsequently be charged a premium. spent nearly two and half hours on understand this behaviour when trapped The BBC’s move to stream an extra social media, according to a in large broadcast deals, it’s become 1,000 hours per year of mostly niche GlobalWebIndex survey. imperative to think in a shorter sports like bowling is possible in part mindset, but combining new forms of because some sports have cut a deal for Social influence popular short-form content with exposure via BBC online. Capon thinks a growing focus on live broadcast-quality live event coverage. “Less prestigious leagues whose streaming will force clubs to change the For this reason, Ferreira-Cole thinks games aren’t fully broadcast will make way that they look and sell social the tech giants are still not ready to
12 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
10-13_LiveOTTSport#.indd 4 23/03/2018 14:35:55 OTT sports
new entrants in the Mayweather v McGregor fight in market are also seeing August. Live stream piracy – which also success including ITV afflicted the Showtime internet service Box Office World – needs constant attention by rights Boxing Super Series, holders too. which uses a 12 million As IHS notes in a recent report, ‘New addressable audience Frontiers for Distribution of Sports and a free-to-air Content’, the biggest challenge for platform to drive new operators is to develop a model that is ITV audiences to a economically sustainable and PPV experience.” sufficiently appealing to consumers to As the cost of rights replace or at least diminish pirated increases, so too does streams on websites and set-top boxes. the importance of sports OTT services What’s a broadcaster to do? being able to monetise To survive cord cutting, traditional their content effectively. media has to offer subscription options For established combining incumbent TV and OTT. broadcasters, this Werber argues. “Sport fans will pay requires rethinking more for the content they want but traditional business won’t buy a buffet of sports channels. If models and offering you’re a hockey fan you will pay for a customers a variety of hockey channel and not a premium ways to pay for the channel that also broadcasts hockey. content they consume Similar to the NBA league pass, on their services. For NBCUniversal launched a $50 ‘Premier example, the NBA League Pass’ live streaming subscription League Pass streaming service to US customers. I predict more become full-on sports streamers. service lets subscribers select from a leagues will go in that way.” “Sports broadcasting requires building menu of à la carte content, including The trends are strong enough for a narrative and storytelling around skinny bundles and one-off events, PPV Werber to declare, “Sports TV channels the ebb and flow of sporting events one team, day pass, SVoD, ad-funded will cease to exist in the format we which means you need continual and a variety of other models. know them today.” engagement with fans, whether it’s But it will take more than fresh Ferreira-Cole also believes the writing through fantasy league updates, business models and opening the is on the wall for broadcast aggregators. social media, team updates or gossip,” wallet for rights for OTT to take-over “Would you argue that broadcasters he says. “This is something that the mainstream sports coverage. OTT govern reach when Netflix has over streaming giants, who provide a much will need to deliver on the high 100m subscribers and audiences in over more PPV-based experience, cannot production values viewers have to 130 countries? This domination is currently provide.” expect from broadcast. exactly what many of the biggest sports For example, putting an Anthony Technically, high-resolution and rights holders crave. Broadcasters may Joshua fight on Netflix as a PPV won’t reliable low-latency feeds over IP will be dominate their local markets and will work in this context as it doesn’t allow challenge. Buffering continues to dog likely continue to do so for some time, the drama of the fight to be built up, sports streamers. DAZN suffered these but they just don’t have the financial reckons Ferreira-Cole. One partnership glitches when launching into Canada backing to compete in the long run on a he feels does demonstrate the power of with exclusive NFL coverage at the start global scale. creating a buzz around a sporting event of last season. Eurosport also had to Traditional players will need to is Matchroom and Sky (signatories of a apologise to subscribers and offer consolidate, combine forces or rethink 7-year deal to 2025 to show Matchroom refunds when Bundesliga live streams their offerings in order to stay relevant - events like boxing and darts). were similarly hit. An alleged failure to but intrinsically and historically, “The collaboration has revived make good on an HD service resulted broadcasters aren’t well equipped, boxing, creating a fantastic in a class action brought against structured or even legally permitted to entertainment product,” he says. “Other Showtime for its online PPV of the work together.”
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 13
10-13_LiveOTTSport#.indd 5 23/03/2018 14:36:11 Q&A Q&A It’s sport, but not as we know it CSI’s Goran Nastic caught up with Rob Black and Sam Deans from ESL UK, about the growing esports phenomenon, how TV can fit into the ecosystem, and what impact technical advances coming out of the esports world are having on more traditional sports broadcasting products like ESL1 and we work with computer games, it’s becoming much publishers like Blizzard. We do more accepted. production for them and run esports tournaments for them. What’s the business model and how It’s been a gradual shift. Around do you use different platforms? 2004/5 you couldn’t really stream or Rob: We have owned and operated watch video games online, the products, like the upcoming DOTA bandwidth wasn’t there and it cost a tournament in Birmingham in May. bomb to push video content over the They are our tentpole events we have a internet. That improved with broadband few times a year and we have Intel Rob Black, COO, ESL UK COO, Black, Rob and online streaming solutions coming Extreme Masters (IEM) which is Intel’s along, but the real seminal moment was longest running marketing campaign, Twitch for the pick-up of esports running for over 11 years now. They are globally because a lot more people were the World Cup or Champions League able to access the content. We were of esports. doing TV productions in Germany in Then we have other products like 2006/7 with quite basic broadcast national championships that cover equipment and that’s now levelling up different games and that we monetise to the point we’re using OB trucks for through sponsorship and media rights. our big stadium events. At the moment that is weighed more towards sponsorship but we are seeing Is the success of esports globally a an increasing trend for media rights to surprise for you? take over in the next couple of years. Rob: Gaming globally is incredibly The other revenue pillar is growing for popular, with an estimated 2bn gamers publishers to operate competitions ion on different platforms. The UK is the their behalf, like Blizzard (the company second biggest gaming market in behind Overwatch), which might be Sam Deans, executive producer Sam Deans, executive Europe and esports is a tranche of white labelled or co-branded. gaming. From our point of view, one of our big modus operandi for SL is to How does the technology work CSI: Can you tell us a little how ESL grow that esports bit of the pie and from a production, broadcast and started and how it has evolved? puzzle for gamers. We are able to create streaming viewpoint? Rob: ESL was founded in 2000 in exciting and engaging content that is Sam: Primarily we do own our own set Germany. It originally started as a gaming ultimately but with a of fly-away kit, which we chose for a website for people to compete in video competitive twist. We’re not surprised couple of reasons. It’s ultra-mobile, and games against each other, and since that at the size but maybe the speed over the we end up doing broadcasts in different it has become a global leader in esports. last couple of years has been quite wild. venues, even inside cathedrals. We’ve We run and broadcast competitions. We I think it’s because the stigma of designed our own kit and infrastructure create content on a national basis for gaming is starting to be washed away by because there aren’t a lot of off-the-shelf some of the products we run and global the acceptance of people playing broadcast options that we can use to
14 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
14-15_Q&A.indd 1 23/03/2018 14:58:21 Q&A ESL UK Hearthstone premiership finals, Autumn 2017 premiership ESL UK Hearthstone
create esports productions. Esports and software that fits with the fast pace to offer on-air graphics services for the requires a different set of skills, people and technical emphasis of esports intentional table tennis world and hardware to a typical sports productions. In a football match, for championships. It was nothing to do production, mainly because it doesn’t example, it’s about the cameras and a with esports or gaming but the reason follow the content format of a lot of research has gone into the lens we got this contract to work with an OB traditional TV sports show nor and 4K UHD, but in esports are games truck with a TV production company technological practices. It means we’ve are in a virtual world so it’s more about for a host broadcast was because we re-written the rules. the experience and how to present that were able to execute so quickly on this We’ve developed systems that can environment, giving the user as much graphics project - we had a three-day extract live data out of games and out of information as possible to complement turnaround on on-air graphics creation the online chat like Facebook chat or their experience and deep diving into and on the fourth day we were onsite Twitch chat and people participating in stats, deep diving into different camera with the TV crew. The Air 4820 access point conversations around our broadcast, we angles in the game, and what they get For us that was a milestone, the first can pull data and specific matches from back from watching an ESL broadcast time in the UK we were able to provide that and bring it into our broadcast, we versus playing the game themselves. services to the TV industry not the can complement our broadcast with What it’s done, because we’ve go so other way round. We beat traditional stats which are pulled digitally from the far in our technological advances, is TV graphics houses who couldn’t turn game. We’ve created our own hardware that a couple of weeks ago we were able that project fast enough. That’s a really
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14-15_Q&A.indd 2 23/03/2018 14:58:20 Q&A
good milestone of how far esports two-way conversation. A company have esports on television but a lot of production has come and we are now called Blurrt we work with take data that has been driven from a naive actually beating traditional TV feeds from social media like Twitter and point of view prior to Twitch. Taking companies in some respects these days. other live chats and can analyse it for standard esports content onto TV sentiment, they can sentiment track the we’re not really going to gain any There is a massive shift in data, use the cloud to render the kind of viewership from that, that core broadcast into the cloud. Is this graphics and pull it back into our demographic is not really watching something you are using as well? broadcast system, it’s all done online, linear TV any more. This ‘shoulder’ Sam: Yes. We use Amazon Web live and dynamic. It’s all done using content we think is a better discovery Services a lot. Our end-destination is cloud-based data aggregation and tool for new fans of esports that the online streaming and we use AWS to rendering, we’re bringing that out actual pure content. It’s an interesting distribute our content further. One through HTML5 rendering back into piece and we are in the middle of recent event, Clash Royale, where ESL our broadcast solution. everyone finding their way in terms UK was broadcasting in 9 different of what kind of content is best on languages at once, we had 9 full What can TV bring to esports and linear platforms. We’re starting to workflows remotely in the arena, with 9 what benefits do you see there? see interesting formats come out sound-desks, being streamed out to 9 Sam: From my angle it’s really on Hulu and similar services and different locations across the world and interesting because two years ago the we will see more of that coming in our technology manager had to set up conversation was how to get esports the future. these instances of Amazon servers onto TV and now it’s flipped to ‘What around the world to help ping our left in esports for TV to pull out?’ Finally, there’s been discussion streams worldwide. We went into India That switch in mentality is super about esports becoming an Olympic to get into Asia, and we had different interesting because the format of medal sport. Is this something you European hubs, it’s amazing the esports programming doesn’t are keen on? network of servers we spun up for that. necessarily suit TV nor do we think Rob: The Olympics is obviously a It’s different to cable and satellite we have to put our content onto TV, prestigious event, but they are distribution, it’s all done over the that’s not a requirement we’re aiming celebrated on a national basis internet, streaming servers and IP. for any more but I think there are competing, which doesn’t fit the esports Actual cloud based broadcast, the still massive opportunities’ for TV model in many ways, where teams mix interesting thing for us is the two-way networks and content producers to multiple nationalities. That’s one integration with our audience and that tap into esports as an entertainment difficulty though maybe there are sets us apart most right now from TV. sector. We’re doing reality games where a single player can How we distribute content using Twitch documentaries about following an represent their country. or Facebook Live or YouTube Live, all esports team and we’ve sold that The other issue to bear in mind is these online streaming platforms offer a content to Hulu and that was an that the Olympics is ultimately a interesting case study for us where we product vehicle with a heavy can take a different type of content, commercial aspect. Not only that but “It’s almost got to more TV friendly, and it did really the Olympics have dwindling well. It’s not so much taking esports viewership, while ours is growing. It’s the point where the broadcasting into TV but using what almost got to the point where the TV us really good at which is telling Olympics need us more than we need Olympics need us stories and the personal element them. I don’t personally mind whether of interest. or not we are involved with the more than we Rob: That content is from an esports Olympics, but from a commercial point point of view more what we are of view that’s probably the strongest need them. ” interested in pushing onto linear. driver for them in having an interest There’s been an appetite for years to in esports.
16 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
14-15_Q&A.indd 3 23/03/2018 14:58:29 Sponsored by: www.csimagazine.com
Voice interfaces
Special focus on voice control in television
17-21_Focus-Voice.indd 1 23/03/2018 09:55:43 Voice interfaces
operator more control over the search PayTV fi nds its voice and discovery experience and potentially allows the operator to deliver Operators are embracing voice control in a much more personalised and focused voice service than a generic assistant growing numbers. The next step will see could manage, according to David Watkins of Strategy Analytics. them widen the use of the technology for “TiVo has the advantage of years of new services, fi nds Goran Nastic experience building a vast database of entertainment focussed metadata which oice interfaces have our customers use voice for TV already. helps power its knowledge graph engine had a rather long The conventional remote control will be and so it has the capability of handling gestation period, but gone in a few years. It’s ‘90s technology fairly complex voice based search this virtually that will be thrown in the trash.” commands,” Watkins says. changed overnight Voice or conversational search is one Sky is one operator that has taken when CES2017 way of improving content discovery, this approach and uses TiVo’s became the “Alexa something that has become more technology for its Sky Q platform (see Vshow” with over 1,000 Alexa- difficult in an era of apps and platform table, on the next page). controlled products found at the fragmentation. VAs also transform the The second approach, meanwhile, exhibition. Partly thanks to Alexa, EPG into a more interactive experience. requires very little investment on their 2017 became something of a Both these reasons are driving the new part (and no replacement of boxes or banner year for voice interfaces. wave of operator interest in voice. remotes) and operators can leverage the According to Futuresource, smart So is the fact that voice recognition is rapidly expanding base of smart speaker speakers represented over half of the improving, thanks to machine learning/ owners, as well as their internal AIs. total 49.6 million voice-assistant (VA) AI and new DSP entrants. But the Most operators are expected to take a devices shipped worldwide last year challenge remains to get the system to cautious approach and deploy fairly and the research firm expects that work almost perfectly (95%+ accuracy is basic voice capabilities initially before 2018 will see a marked increase the target, even in loud environments), adding more complex functionality. It is in devices supporting far-field otherwise consumers will stop using it. thought they will then build full support voice communications. for high profile third party assistants “It does seem like we have been Set-top boxes as smart assistants into their products and maintain their talking about voice for at least five years There are currently two main ways in own entertainment focused assistant in but solutions like Alexa have thrown which TV operators are deploying the form of a skill or app that sits on this into the mass consumer conscious,” voice. For the most part, they are using top of the Alexa or Google Assistant admits TiVo’s Charles Dawes. push-to-talk TV voice remotes (see platform, both of who have a wealth of At the recent Cable Congress, chart), and in a handful of cases they data on their users that an operator operators agreed that voice control is also include integration with generic could potentially tap into. the future. Jeff Binder of Layer3, now voice assistants, such as Alexa and “We actually think the way forward part of T-Mobile US, even declared the Google Assistant, using a combination could be a combination of all of them. death of the traditional remote: “Lots of of AI and their natural language engine. Operators seem to relax when you give Direct integration of them that alternative,” notes Charles voice recognition Cheevers of Arris. Being able to bypass capabilities into the Google and Amazon but still keep users TV remote requires in the same environment makes for a more investment cost better user experience, he argues. (although operators The virtual assistants of Telefonica, may look to introduce Orange (Djingo) and Deutsche voice capabilities Telekom, for example, have skillsets as part of the developed that are unique to them. usual hardware Cheevers thinks specific operator upgrade cycle). skills could become something of a Source: Rethink Research Source: On the other hand, killer app in the realm of voice it does give the controlled smart homes. One example
18 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
17-21_Focus-Voice.indd 2 23/03/2018 14:37:15 Voice interfaces
is customer support calls, either self- Select recent operator deployments of voice technology help assistance with service issues or where a user says ‘What’s my current Sky One of the biggest voice deployments. Users have to bill?’ or ‘I want to buy more broadband’. push the voice button on the side of the Ruwido remote, “We see that as an interesting with the underlying solution provided by TiVo. Sky application. We see the TV and the set- revealed that Sky Q customers, of whom there were top box as a good portal for those kinds roughly one million at the end of June, had made over of things. You can use the real estate, 9 million voice searches to date since the functionality speakers and graphics of the TV to talk was introduced in March 2017. back to you,” Cheevers explains. According to Cheevers, effectively Virgin Media Ireland The cable operator has integrated Nuance’s Dragon TV any set-top box that has RF4C (Zigbee) voice technology to allow subscribers to fi nd and play or Bluetooth can be turned into a smart video by speaking. The new functionality is enabled via assistant, citing growing interest in the Virgin Media TV Anywhere App on mobile phones. Virgin Media subscribers in Ireland can search and putting far-field microphones and access fi lms and TV channels by speaking into their speakers in the STB. smartphone microphone. And STBs are generally located in rooms where there is a lot of engagement and within speaking Yes The DTH provider was the fi rst Israeli operator to distance of a microphone. The nice launch voice, in September 2017, making it easier for thing, from a payTV perspective, is that subscribers to search and fi nd premium video con- the set-top box can become more than a tent in both Hebrew and English. The conversational interface is powered by Nuance’s TV speech recognition video decoder. solution and integrated into the voice-powered remote control from Universal Electronics (UEI). Room for other forms of input Comcast reports that voice queries via its millions of deployed voice remotes DISH Customers with a Hopper, Joey or Wally set-tops will more than doubled for Pyeonchang soon be able to use Google Assistant voice to control compared to the 2016 Summer their TV in multiple languages, including English and Olympics. During the first few days of Spanish. It is designed to help users navigate, play, pause, fast-forward, rewind and search TV content the games, voice was driving nearly 50% based on channel, title, actor and genre. DISH already of all traffic to the Olympics homepage offers a voice-based TV interface, powered by TiVo. on its Xfinity X1 set-top box. Comcast said using voice remotes “becomes habitual really quickly”, a habit that the Canal Digital Its new Android TV-based OnePlace service features industry would like to see spread. a 4K UHD box with voice search for satellite and OTT However, voice is by no means the viewers. It offers universal search across all available best suited input mechanism for all sources. Incidentally, it’s also one of the fi rst Android TV based deployments for DVB-S. situations, such as volume up/down or scrolling through a list of channels. For this reason, Watkins believes Swisscom TV Voice search turned into a comprehensive voice control basic control is unlikely to disappear function in 2017, powered via the ‘Smart Remote’ that anytime soon and operators will do well can cope with multiple dialects – it understands com- to remember that it is difficult to force mands in Swiss German-, standard German, French, Italian and English – and “quirks of speech”. change on consumers. “There are still a lot of consumers who are simply not interested in voice control. Operators SK Broadband Augmented its IPTV service with voice-controlled AI for face a big challenge in convincing them more intuitive search. B tv x Nugu now allows users to of the benefits of voice interactions. search for a programme using natural language even Industry may present voice as a natural if they do not know the exact name of the programme, and apparently the AI understands the context between interface but many feel awkward and sentences. uncomfortable using their voice to communicate with technology.” Source: CSI
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17-21_Focus-Voice.indd 3 23/03/2018 14:37:27 Voice interfaces
Generation Y (also known as interaction will become a core part of Talking about millennials, the generation the content discovery experience for born in the 1980s and 1990s) consumers around the world; and earlier will remember the re-simplifying the way that consumers entertainment time before on-demand search and discover their content. Over content became ubiquitous; the past 18 months, an increasing a time when content was number of solutions have come to discovery relatively simple to find. market and we’re now past the tipping The industry has started to point where talking to your devices is Charles Dawes outlines introduce systems to enhance no longer a sign that you’re losing content discovery, starting your mind. how voice simplifi es the with tools to allow consumers However, in reality, bringing this to search through to more simplicity to the end-consumer is way consumers fi nd their advanced solutions that actually a complicated set of tasks that favourite content can predict, suggest and is the result of many millions of dollars personalise content choices of investment in research, development ince the launch of based on the needs and desires and innovation by companies like TiVo. services such as BBC of the consumer. Ironically, the main method of input iPlayer and Netflix in However, for the most part the for most consumers with a voice- 2007, content consumer has been stuck with a enabled content discovery experience, is discovery has cumbersome input device – namely actually that device that was previously become an the remote control – to try to express limiting their ability to concisely express increasingly what they are looking for. This has themselves. However, the advent of a Scomplicated proposition for arguably limited the amount of usage new generation of devices to introduce consumers as more and more and has frustrated consumers who all services, such as 4K video, has given content has been made available to too often say, “There’s nothing on operators and consumer electronics them from multiple sources. TV for me!”. manufacturers the opportunity to roll Whilst those in Generation Z (people But all is not lost – for the last few out voice-enabled remote controls. born from the mid 1990s to the early years, the industry has been awash Additionally, the introduction of far- 2000s) know no different, many from with a buzz about how voice-based field voice devices, such as Amazon’s Echo range, Google’s Home and Apple’s HomePod smart speakers, are providing new ways to interact with content discovery services. When a consumer uses a voice-based discovery experience, their voice is first transformed by the speech recognition software into a string of words that can be processed by a natural language understanding (NLU) engine. The real intelligence behind it is the second part and how it is further Source: TiVo Source: linked to the information about
20 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
17-21_Focus-Voice.indd 4 23/03/2018 09:56:28 Voice interfaces
entertainment content. Basic systems that don’t have advanced NLU can recognise the name of an actor or a specific genre, but they are unable to decipher the complex multi-faceted queries that consumers expect to be able to use. TiVo’s entertainment-tuned NLU engine that is combined with TiVo’s Knowledge Graph, colloquially known as its ‘Entertainment Brain,’ is what gives services using TiVo a competitive advantage. When the typical consumer sits down to watch TV and he or she can simply say, “What’s on TV?”, and have a system that will respond with a set of personalised results that include appropriate content for the time, day, where they are in their latest favourite show and what’s going on in the world, then consumers have the ultimate discovery experience. However, TiVo’s technology takes this a step further. Users can simply say, “Find me Roger Moore movies from the 80’s,” and the NLU will understand “Roger Moore” as an actor, “movie” as the type of content and “80’s” as the time for release of these movies. Imagine the number of key strokes with a remote control it would take to do this similar search the platform even allows users to filter the results by simply saying, “Just comedies,” to give results such as the ‘Cannonball Run’ or ‘Curse of the Pink Panther’. This allows the user to speak to the device as they would to a friend or family member. of Respondents: 18+), it’s evident that also be deployed to in-market devices TiVo is helping operators in North there is steady growth in the number of using a Bluetooth USB dongle, this America and Europe to roll out respondents using voice search 9–16+ makes the potential market penetration advanced, voice-based discovery times per week and a drop in the even deeper. experiences, and it has even started number of users doing 1-7 searches Right across the demographic divide, to uncover some interesting insights per week. consumers are embracing the simplicity into real usage. Each quarter, TiVo These year-over-year figures tell us and enjoyment of finding their favourite seeks real consumer opinions to that as users get more acquainted with content easily, enabling them to spend uncover key trends relevant to pay-TV voice search, they find greater value in more of their precious leisure time providers. This survey includes the feature and tend to use it more. consuming entertainment. questions including how consumers Ultimately, voice-based discovery is interact with voice recognition transforming the entertainment technology and how often. In the Q4 experience and is therefore becoming a Charles Dawes is senior 2017 Online Video and Pay-TV Trends must-have feature of any new platform director, international Report from TiVo (Survey Size: 3,330 / that is coming to market. Since TiVo marketing, at TiVo Geographic Regions: US, Canada /Age has demonstrated the technology can
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17-21_Focus-Voice.indd 5 23/03/2018 09:56:56 Untitled-1 1 21/03/2018 12:18:33 TV Connect 2018
the most The future of content distribution: complex, smart interfaces. New solutions a 360-degree approach tackling piracy and content By Niall Hunt delivery is something we, and the industry’s future. Discovering major industry, expect to see grow. themes in today’s content distribution landscape, the survey gathered Next-generation storytelling responses from 280 participants across Content creation continues to drive 78 companies ranging from cable and opportunities for cord-cutting and as a satellite operators, OTT players, content sector, is a major player in the creators, and more. distribution trends and models we know today. Multi-platform, multi-screen A large percentage of participating In the survey, broadcasters emphasise content creators say they are benefiting that a rise in SVoD services, 4K/UHD from the original content boom. We’ve content, and OTT has meant traditional seen Netflix successfully lead the way – content distribution processes have a view widely accepted by survey been pushed into reinvention. Offering participants who named the SVoD he content a hybrid linear, on-demand model, platform the top innovator in content distribution industry broadcasters have begun to adopt a creation – and we’re beginning to see is going through 360-degree approach to grow audiences, more and more media players take note a period of improve viewership, and ensure including Disney and Fox. extraordinary change. programming is monetised. This same With original content placing greater Shifting trends approach is thriving in the cable and demand on costs, processes, and next- in technical satellite sector with operators moving generation storytelling such as AR and Tarchitecture, distribution models, toward consolidation as response to TV VR, it’s encouraging that the survey and audience demand has disruption and growth in multi-platform concludes that content creators’ top prompted organisations to adopt a delivery. PayTV bundling is also being priorities for the future align with more responsive content delivery challenged, so opportunities to expand overcoming these challenges. Scaling strategy in an attempt to future- into OTT and adjacent businesses are businesses to work in parallel with the proof content distribution an increasingly inviting option. current, and future, content distribution processes in an increasingly Keeping up with OTT rivals, industry provides new opportunities competitive, fast-moving market. broadcasters are boosting their agility to produce and distribute original With greater agility and appetite for with cloud-based technologies. By content efficiently. change, media organisations can focus moving processes to the cloud, Every industry sector reported more on the innovations that are broadcasters can build an efficient improved business performance as they influencing content creation and distribution model where the delivery continue to gain momentum in an ever- distribution – and deploy new solutions cycle is faster, streamlined, and more evolving landscape. Joining forces to with confidence. At Media + Networks, scalable. Couple this with a rise in overcome shared challenges, media it’s our priority to document these multi-screen viewing on mobile, organisations are listening by adopting changes as they happen and share them broadcasters are gaining greater new innovations in content creation and with key influencers to accelerate audience control by boosting their delivery to embrace new opportunities. discussion and new ideas. presence in the broader media space TV Connect returns to London Olympia The Media + Networks State of the across several platforms with ease. in May 2018. Industry survey gathers these trends The main challenge content delivery and insights. Released ahead of our is facing across every industry sector video distribution event, TV Connect is piracy and security. Piracy continues Niall Hunt is Digital Content 2018, the survey identifies the to have an unwelcome presence in Lead, TV Connect opportunities, challenges, and the content delivery industry and is innovators that are shaping the driven by professional pirates operating
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 23
23-TVConnect.indd 1 23/03/2018 14:46:57 Compression
to iOS devices using AV1, so that they Apple fuels fl ames of do not have to support multiple codecs to reach all their users. This also looked like recognition by Apple that AV1 was next-gen encoding wars likely to be the favoured codec on non- iOS mobile devices. Apple will have AV1 codec arrives with all OTT guns blazing been aware of Netflix’s stated intention that it will initially support AV1 in - but will broadcasters stick with HEVC, browsers as soon as it is available and then on connected devices once the asks Philip Hunter chips have been developed 18 months he video compression tight royalty pools associated with to two years later. Netflix is fed up business has entered MPEG patents whereby technology paying HEVC royalties and joined the most volatile developers recoup their investment has AOM in the hope of avoiding these phase of its 25-year disintegrated somewhat in the last few costs by moving to AV1, providing the history as the code years after arrival of the latest codec QoE is not reduced. Apple is also likely base for the Alliance called H.265 or HEVC. Perhaps to launch its own OTT services and so for Open Media (AIM) mindful of this threat recently decided encoding in AV1 may be essential to TAV1 codec is on the verge of to eliminate streaming content reach non-Apple devices. being frozen so that it can be distribution royalty fees, on top of Apple might also have noted the incorporated into devices and reducing certain royalty rates and caps. comment by Thierry Fautier, Vice services. For the first time there is Meanwhile Google had produced its President of Video Strategy at a serious competitor to the long- own open source codec VP9 for its own Harmonic and President of the Ultra standing codec range developed by ecosystem, but the deteriorating HD Forum, that HEVC has seen little the ITU-T Video Coding Experts licensing situation surrounding MPEG traction outside Ultra HD deployments, Group (VCEG) along with the ISO/ and HEVC helped galvanise activity and even among broadcasters. This is IEC Moving Pictures Expert wider cooperation around its successor chiefly because HEVC is complex to Group (MPEG). VP10, which became united with deploy and expensive from a licensing The AOM camp was given a huge lift Cisco’s Thor and Mozilla’s Daala into a perspective, so that the established early 2018 when Apple joined common development effort H.264 codec has tended so far to be retrospectively as a founding member, culminating in AV1. retained for non-UHD content. just as Facebook had done in November However, HEVC had a head start on However, with anticipated 2017. These two giants joined the real AV1 and is already being deployed by a proliferation of UHD content, as well as AOM founders such as Amazon, ARM, number of broadcasters for transmitting VR 6DoF (6 degrees of freedom) and Cisco, Google, Netflix, Microsoft and ultra HD or 4K content over the air, at 360-degree video, with even 8K and IBM. A number of major key least in trials. It is also worth noting FOV (Field Of View) set to figure technology companies joined as general that just 7 months before joining AOM increasingly in trials over the next few members, including chip makers AMD Apple had given an equal boost to years, there is growing demand for more and Sigma Designs. This left Samsung HEVC with the announcement in June efficient codecs. For that reason, there as one notable absentee among the big 2017 that is was deploying the has been quite heated debate over the technology giants, but it is about to join compression standard across all of its relative merits of HEVC and AV1, according to sources inside the camp. platforms, including Mac, Safari, Apple although it is hard to assess because With such weight behind it AV1 TV and iOS11. This announcement was the two are at different stages of would look to have gained unstoppable naturally interpreted widely as a big their lifecycle. momentum, especially as AOM was set endorsement for HEVC, given that iOS So while there are some claims that up out of frustration with growing traffic accounts for about half of all AV1 can be more efficient than HEVC, disarray within MPEG. This has been video streaming over the internet. at least in some circumstances, it is too acknowledged by MPEG chair and But then with Apple subsequently early to compare meaningfully, founder Leonardo Chiariglione, who joining of AOM it became clear not all according to Fabio Murra, SVP Product recently wrote two blogs expressing his that traffic would be encoded with & Marketing at V-Nova, developer of regret over the broken model and ideas HEVC after all. Apple was perhaps the proprietary Perseus codec. “V-Nova over how to repair it before it is too late. planning to support third-party has integrated all of these major codecs The main point is that the formally developers who want to stream videos with Perseus and we have compared
24 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
24-26_AV1.indd 2 20/03/2018 15:15:43 Compression
and evaluated their performance,” says approach makes the raw product a bit attempt to do this as efficiently as Murra. “It turns out that each codec rough round the edges, with a range of possible. The greatest focus in advanced has different strengths and weaknesses options sometimes designed as codec research is now on inter-frame for different use cases. However, the “experiments” in the case of AV1. temporal compression because fact that the AV1 standard is not yet These are configuration options in the that is where there is greatest scope finalised means that for now we can form of extra coding tools that can be for optimisation and further only talk about potential benefits, and either included or omitted from the efficiency improvement. not a tangible technology that we can final implementation, which confers AV1 was rather confusingly set the yet measure in terms of value. It will greater flexibility and potential for goal of improving on efficiency of both take considerable time for production tuning to specific service types or VC9 and HEVC by about 50%. That workflows to be upgraded to support qualities, but with additional would have been expected in the case of AV1 as codec support on legacy complexity. There are, for example, VC9 being a predecessor but HEVC is hardware will take time to implement, some more advanced entropy coding more of a contemporary so that goal or may require expensive hardware tools, designed to minimise the number was more ambitious and has not been upgrades. This means that AV1 is of bits needed to represent a given level achieved, according to Fautier. He is most likely to be adopted first in of prediction between frames. scathing of claims by AOM sources that consumer-side applications such as AV1 performed 25 to 35% better than YouTube and for video on social Building blocks HEVC, which as he says has not been networks, rather than in traditional Video compression has two principal verified by independent sources. Fautier broadcast workflows.” components, within frames or intra- cites tests indicating that AV1 Murra argues that AV1’s open source frame, and between frames or inter- performed worse than HEVC for model meant it would not readily yield frame. For the former, the idea is to premium content, especially where turnkey off the shelf solutions for exploit redundancy such as regions all there was fast moving action. broadcasters and would introduce risks with the same pixels that can be But AV1 being younger has greater over who would be willing to undertake summarised in just a few bits. For inter- scope for optimisation and has the significant development work, frame or temporal compression the additional tricks up its sleeve, according maintenance and testing required. This focus is on accurate prediction of to Dorota Bouskela, Corporate could be overcome if AV1 gained motion in as few bits as possible. The Marketing Project Manager at Ateme, sufficient momentum, since that would prediction has a probability of being which has already integrated the codec make it worthwhile for relevant right, which can be raised or lowered into its Titan encoder platform. “AV1 developers to commit the resources. according to the accuracy required and has taken the opportunity to revisit It is true that the open source techniques like entropy encoding some of the coding tools previously
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 25
24-26_AV1.indd 3 20/03/2018 15:16:06 Compression
taken for granted,” he says. come around only every 10 years but acceptable bit rate for full HD or 1080p Bouskela cites various features that he there is a feeling now that time lag will using the established H.264 codec. considers gave AV1 an edge, such as have to be almost halved. Netflix notes that its “one size fits all” motion warping, which is an object- There is similar urgency within AOM, key ladders failed to deliver the best based approach to inter-frame which is already looking ahead to AV1’s quality for a significant amount of prediction by allowing for changing successor AV2. There is speculation content at both ends of the complexity shape of forms such as animals or that Apple’s joining at this stage was spectrum. At the low end, human figures as they move. It was motivated by a desire to be in at the as in some cartoons or talking heads, developed in the 1990s in a different design stage of AV2 so that it can wield it would encode at an unnecessarily context, to help animators portray much more influence over its course low resolution and deliver images not natural motion of such objects, allowing than it has done in the case of AV1. as sharp as they could be. At the top for the distortions in walking for Samsung may be joining for the end, for example fast moving sports example, or turning. In compression same reason. content or where there is a lot of this can allow more accurate movement camera noise, it would encode at too prediction than traditional block-based Enter content aware encoding high a resolution resulting in annoying approaches that do not identify objects However, there is another way forward artefacts, such as blurring or forming or understand the changing geometry of that may prove more persuasive for rings around images. their movement. broadcasters and pay TV operators, if Now interest in content adaptive not for devices makers. That is content encoding is growing not for re-encoding Looking to JVET and AV2 aware or adaptive encoding, which can a catalogue but as an adjunct for Whatever the relative merits of HEVC be employed alongside established existing codecs in live operation. Beamr and AV1, neither is the last word in codecs to yield a performance boost. offers a combination of HEVC and compression and both already have The idea is simply to exploit the fact content aware encoding, claiming the successors on the drawing board. There that not all content is created equal latter achieves 20% to 40% savings in is recognition that further with some being much more complex or bandwidth in addition to the 50% improvements in compression efficiency involving faster less predictable motion achieved by HEVC against H.264. “As a will be needed to stream full ultra HD than others. This approach has been point of reference, a streaming quality services at high frame rates and immortalised by Netflix which has of 1080p HEVC at VBR bitrate is resolutions, certainly for 8K at 4320 x applied it to re-encode its entire content 3Mbps,” says Beamr’s Mark Donnigan 7680 pixels. For this reason, the catalogue for more efficient distribution This gives operators and broadcasters so-called Joint Video Exploration Team in a project now almost finished. an extra option when plotting their next (JVET) on Future Video Coding was Netflix cited an example with codec move. As Donnigan notes, many set up by ITU-T VCEG and ISO/IEC reference to its “key ladders” which service providers face the decision of MPEG a mere two years after final associate specific bit rates and whether and when to migrate to a more approval of the first HEVC version. In resolutions, so that 5.8 Mbps for advanced codec, with the alternative the past new MPEG standards have example is deemed the minimum being to continue using their legacy package, probably H.264. “Of course, there is also the hybrid approach where a service provider uses H.264, the legacy, for their SD and HD content, and an advanced codec for their 4K assets, of which the only viable choice today is HEVC.” There is always the further option of waiting for an even better codec to emerge, but at some point an upgrade is required. Content adaptive encoding offers an alternative that could delay that decision. But the wider picture is that AOM is emerging as a major alternative family to the MPEG/ISO community that has dominated the codec field for so long.
26 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
24-26_AV1.indd 4 20/03/2018 15:16:24 Industry column
Member at Ofcom. how organisations are attracting and Transforming TV Speakers will give their retaining the best individuals at a views on the underlying time of heightened competition for This year’s DTG Summit will drivers of TV highly trained and creative staff. How is explore fi ve key themes transformation and, in the world of work changing in our a panel discussion, will industry? How are some organisations he launch of digital share their predictions for the future. improving the workplace culture? We television in 1998 • Delighting Audiences – we hear also look at initiatives aimed at ushered in a new era how broadcasters are serving viewers increasing diversity. for UK broadcasting. across multiple networks and devices, • Futureproofing TV Infrastructure – Screens became and how the user interface is becoming our closing theme explores future TV bigger; picture and more personalised, and more invisible distribution. How might 5G support audio quality as voice search and navigation take new broadcast? How will IP networks scale Timproved; the number of channels leaps. We look at changing TV to cope with increased live channel and increased. Now, 20 years later, consumption trends, and the latest on-demand consumption? Ed Vaizey television is again being approaches to programme discovery. MP, former Minister of State for transformed by new distribution Our international keynote will be Culture and the Digital Economy, will networks and devices that deliver presented by James Gibbons, General deliver the closing keynote exploring new viewing experiences. Manager of UK, Ireland, Australia the implications for public policy. The DTG Summit 2018 explores the and New Zealand, and Head of The DTG Summit takes place at 1 impact of this transformative change, Commercial Development for EMEA Wimpole Street – a state-of-the-art event and considers TV’s evolution over the at Discovery Communications. space in London’s West End. next 20 years. The event – this will • Offering Immersive Experiences – Richard Lindsay-Davies, CEO of be The DTG’s 12th annual summit – we take a look at the rise of augmented The DTG, said: “The DTG was founded takes place on May 10. It has five reality (AR) mobile apps and consider three years before the launch of digital key themes: the technologies that are enabling these television. As a world-class centre for • Driving Transformation – this is the new viewing experiences, and we hear collaboration we have driven growth opening theme, with keynote about the latest advances in virtual and innovation in the television and presentations from Matthew Postgate, reality (VR) production – including technology sectors. It’s in that same Chief Technology & Product Officer at volumetric capture – which promise spirit of collaboration that we consider the BBC; John Simmons, Media more lifelike and compelling images. the next chapter for television, and Platform Architect at Microsoft; and • Innovating The Workplace – in this meet those that are transforming Steve Unger, Group Director and Board part of the programme we consider the medium. “It’s a great opportunity to take stock and hear from world-class speakers. As with previous DTG Summits it’s also a chance to network with friends and colleagues from across the industry, and make new contacts as well.” DTG Members can receive complementary passes to the event by registering their interest online. Non-members can purchase tickets by emailing [email protected]. Details of the event, and the speaker line-up, can be found on the DTG website.
Graham Lovelace is Executive Producer, DTG Summit
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 27
27-DTG.indd-.indd 1 23/03/2018 14:46:43 Cyber-security
Our production Solving the other cyber checklist, meanwhile, built on work we undertook in 2016 to security problem create a means for production and post Mark Harrison, Managing Director of the Digital production companies to assess their Production Partnership (DPP), provides an update security. The on the industry group’s new programme that tackles production supply chain is more complex security practices in broadcast and production and diverse than for broadcast. veryone in the media The moment data moves, it is at its industry is now aware weakest. That’s why everyone in the What about existing standards? of cyber crime and supply chain has to understand their We developed our checklists with an the need for cyber- responsibilities. Platforms from major awareness of existing security standards. security. Every media- suppliers may have security built in – There is plenty of overlap - which is a related conference is but they can still be breached if the good thing - but there were also some now debating the environment in which they are used gaps, particularly for the production Eproblem, looking at how to is insecure. checklist. For example, existing measure risk and how to invest in So what can we do about this? The standards don’t consider long-term protective measures. answer, the DPP Member community storage concerns. Such concerns put The DPP has been looking closely at was telling us, seemed counterintuitive: the less headline-worthy – though no this area for some time. Our starting the best means of defence is openness less important - issue of content point, back in 2015, was the even more and collaboration. Our working group accessibility to the fore. fundamental question of how to build suggested the industry was in need of a Tom Blake, Managing Director at trust in connected services, at a time common, shared basic language to Imagen, explains: “Most think of when the moment a company goes ensure that everyone was addressing the security as protection of copyright, i.e. online it seems to be putting itself at same fundamental requirements. from leaks, piracy or cyber attacks; risk. Then a year ago we assembled a This was the starting point for the however, just as important is ensuring group of security experts from the DPP to create standardised best that content is not simply lost through broadcast and supplier community with practice for industry security: the format obsolescence, data corruption, the explicit purpose of finding a way to Committed To Security Programme. human error or business failure of a build security - and in the process, supplier. How can you be sure that build trust. Creating checklists your content will still be there when you And that’s when we found the We wanted to create a means of need it, next week, year or decade? security problems beginning to multiply. assessing security that would be low Content owners are wise to adopt “We work with some of the world’s cost and simple for the companies industry standards and best practices in leading media companies and often find involved. So, working with a range of data management to avoid proprietary ourselves dealing with security security specialists, we devised self- lock-ins, and to challenge suppliers compliance processes that are time- assessment checklists that would lead on their business and platform consuming for us and our partners,” companies through a common set of continuity planning.” says Peter Elvidge, VP Technology at basic security controls. TVT. “In some cases, this is because We decided there should be separate Launching the ‘Committed to standards differ significantly, making it checklists for broadcast and production security programme’ challenging to effectively collaborate to environments. The broadcast checklist With broadcast and production prevent potential threats.” was based on the excellent work already checklists in place, we began beta With varying standards of security, undertaken by the North American testing with members of our original and no way of knowing who is doing Broadcasters Association (NABA) in working group, to ensure first that we what, the good security practices of one defining basic cybersecurity measures had covered all the key elements, and company can be undone by the poor that should be adhered to by suppliers secondly that they would work for any security practices of others. to broadcast. sized company – from global entities
28 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
28-29_DPP.indd 2 20/03/2018 15:31:25 xxxxxx Cyber-security
such as Microsoft through to start-ups. Security at Dropbox, comments: “The it takes to protect data, but other The Committed To Security DPP’s approach to codify industry- companies, whose core skills are only in Programme had a soft launch at IBC wide security standards is a forward- providing one type of service to the 2017, with ten companies that had thinking step that highlights the broadcast industry, are likely to benefit worked with us to develop the importance of information security in from having a checklist laid out for programme. They all went through the the media sector. Whether you are a them to help them identify a minimum checklist process and were awarded the broadcaster, production company or standard and expectation for all Committed To Security mark. The vendor, trust and security needs to be technology suppliers going forward.” development of the governance a priority, and all parties should work processes was supported by DPP in tandem to protect their employees What’s next? Member company, Eurofins Digital and users.” As more organisations take up the Testing, which now provides audit Dominic Jackson, Product Manager, programme we hope that the and administrative support for Enterprise Products at Telestream, Committed To Security mark will the Programme. adds, “When Telestream customers see become a globally recognised standard In mid-October we announced the a DPP Committed To Security that broadcasters and content owners Programme more widely and invited all designation, they know they are adding will come to expect of their suppliers. suppliers in the media sector to apply technology to their infrastructure which As Jaspal Jandu, Head of Cyber for either or both of the marks. The will maintain security protocols as Security at ITV, comments, “For most Committed To Security mark is integrated with other program- major broadcasters there is a heavy awarded free of charge to qualifying compliant vendors.” reliance on a handful of key suppliers DPP Members, while non-members can It has also been a useful process around the delivery and transmission of also apply at a license fee of £1,500 for for many to test and confirm their our content. If these key suppliers are the award of the Security mark for each security measures. compromised in any way, it’s our brand of the checklists, payable annually Paul Clennell, Chief Technology and viewers that are impacted. Having a on renewal. Officer at dock10, comments, “We DPP mark for our suppliers allows us to The Programme recently hit its first work for national and international gain a level of assurance around the milestone with over 20 accredited broadcasters and content producers resilience of our supply chain so that in companies. It is an extraordinarily who are under increasing threat of turn our viewers can continue to enjoy diverse list in terms of both size and cyber attack. We have always pursued our content uninterrupted.” activities; but all have a common the highest level of security integrity, For our part, the DPP is delighted at commitment to security best practice. but the DPP’s initiative distilled the the speed and enthusiasm with which Dropbox was among the first really key criteria for cybersecurity the Programme has been taken up, and organisations to be accredited. Mark into meaningful checklists.” it has certainly fulfilled our ambition of Crosbie, Global Head of Trust & Ian Munford, Director of Product creating a security programme that Marketing, works across the whole supply chain. Akamai, adds, To continue raising awareness of “The DPP’s security best practice, the DPP will hold Committed an exclusive summit later in 2018. The To Security event is designed for IT professionals, programme CTOs, COOs, heads of department and provides a anyone with responsibility for security. thorough The aim is to create a highly practical lens through event at which people with direct which interest and experience in security suppliers can matters will be able to share and build examine their best practice together. More details own service about this event will follow. offerings. For details about the Committed To We’re both a Security Programme please go here: media and https://www a security digitalproductionpartnership.co.uk/ company so what-we-do/committed-to-security- we know what programme/
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 29
28-29_DPP.indd 3 20/03/2018 15:31:48 VR vs AR
n the movie ‘The Graduate’, our hero Benjamin, just out of Success, VR, AR, and college, is pulled aside: “I’ve got just one word to say to you”, a neighbour insists, Benjamin’s Neighbour “Plastic!” This, he claims, is the key to a successful Augmented Reality has fewer weak Icareer. With hindsight he was right, albeit at the cost of the points and can be an exciting addition planet’s ecosystem. What would a good neighbour in our business to content, but what are its chances of say today? Could the one word(s) of advice now be either ‘VR’ or success, asks David Wood, Consultant, ‘AR’? If so, which will be the EBU Technology and Innovation more successful? There is no certain way to predict change/disruption versus gain in user success in new media technology, but experience. The more you gain in user one view by Prof David Jofie at Harvard experience for the least disruption, the Business School is that you get a clue if more rapid could be success. A model you delineate the elements that matrix is shown below with some contribute to success, and score them. examples marked. If they all have high scores, you are on to a winner, and of course the reverse What would be the scores for VR? could be true also. The success factors VR is not just one system; it is a family can be weighted for importance, and of systems. The family begins with they should probably be seen as the ‘surround’ video, and the most common equivalent of mathematical vectors that options here are 180 degrees and 360 combine with vector addition. My degrees. It continues with systems that though standalone systems are simplified unweighted list of potentially need a HMD (Head Mounted Display). coming soon. relevant success factors for new media The first is the 3DoF (Degrees of VR is used for the live delivery of is as follows. Do you agree? Freedom) or DVB Type A system. The 360/180 video with audio image Another simpler approach would be user (roughly) can move his head in the following the ‘gaze’. It can be viewed on to try to locate the position of the new virtual world but not his body. The a TV, Tablet, or smartphone, by systems on a matrix of degree of HMD is usually a container for a swiping. It’s often used for sports and smartphone. events. Fixed screen compatible views SUCCESS FACTORS Score Score The second is can be available for normal broadcast. VR AR the 6DoF 3DoF for HMDs can be stereoscopic Quality of user experience system or or monoscopic. The content length Ease of use DVB Type B needs to be short. It can be used for system. The short features to supplement dramas, Equipment availability user can and for the augmentation of linear Equipment costs move his content. 6DoF, the more elaborate Content desirability body in one, is used for video games, medical virtual space. use, museums, and sometimes Content availability It uses a personal communications. Content cost purpose-built What scores would we get for VR Usage externality (can we use the equipment HMD. Type on our chart? The reader may care to for other things too) B systems complete this for themselves. Here’s Network externality (does it become more are usually what I found – without giving away attractive, the more users there are) connected the detail. Adaptability of users to a PC For 3DoF, the author found a mixture or games of good, modest, and poor scores. The Creativity of content providers machine, biggest advantage of 3DoF is probably
30 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
30-31_VRvsAR.indd 2 20/03/2018 15:37:55 VR vs AR
manifestation, using the mobile phone, arm’s length viewing can be tiring. Overall we can conclude that success is possible, but not certain.
Common standards? One element to aspire to with both VR and AR is having common technical standards. For media systems in general they enable greater competition, bring greater consumer awareness, and with exceptions can What could help make them bring more success. In both areas, VR successful? its low cost and availability of content. and AR, there are large numbers of There is clearly a need for greater From the scores we might conclude that companies independently developing cooperation between the creative and commercial success in the long term is systems, and this may work against technology industries to identify possible but not certain. Do you agree? success for both. The good news is that compelling content for the two systems. For 6DoF, the author also found a there is some convergence on common Furthermore, could we try to take a mixture, though a different set, of good standards in MPEG for VR and the more scientific approach to success and modest and poor scores. The IEEE for AR. factor analysis – building on Prof. biggest advantage is the better user Jofie’s ideas? Could we substantiate experience. From the scores, we might Decisive aspects of VR and AR the list of success factors and weight conclude once again that commercial Certainly, VR is an exciting experience. them, then suggest how the scores success in the long term is possible but But at the same time, there are might add? Finally, how about greater not certain. Do you agree? limitations, including the following: cooperation between companies to Headsets are not comfortable for users; agree common standards? What would be the score for AR? you cannot socialise with others AR is the mixing of digital content such wearing a headset unless it’s in a Conclusions as computer graphics with the real multiuser virtual world; watching TV 180/360, 3Dof, and 6DoF do offer a world surrounding the user, seen via his or the VR world and also using a user experience that is novel and device, without blocking it out. Interest tablet (multitasking) at the same time attractive, but full mainstream success has peaked in AR with Pokémon Go. cannot be done wearing a headset; for VR media delivery is not certain. At There is no need to explain to you how and a further critical limitation is least niche success is likely. it works, I’m sure. It is used for the that VR content needs to be short, AR can offer an interesting and augmentation of linear content. It can up to 20 minutes in duration, so it attractive experience, but full be viewed on a “plain screen” via cannot be used for some types of mainstream success for media delivery smartphone, tablet, or TV. AR has an content, and strict production grammar to the consumer with smartphones important role to play in TV rules need to have been applied for is not certain. At least niche success programme production, but for the comfortable usage. is likely. purposes of this article, we consider AR can be an exciting addition to Of the two, AR has fewer weak only its use in consumer services. content. AR has valuable uses that do points, and will need considerably less AR glasses can provide the not need an HMD. Holding a bandwidth. Particularly given small combination of surrounding scene and smartphone at arm’s length is not lightweight AR glasses are available, AR the generated graphics, and lightweight comfortable for long periods. AR could serve in many roles, including as glasses may eventually serve as a glasses, including sophisticated types an in-sight smartphone, and it could substitute for smartphones. such as the Hololens, or simpler forms, even achieve mainstream success in the What scores would AR get on our may be the future. long term. We could conclude that, on chart? The author found again a the face of it, wider success will come mixture of good, modest, and low Where do VR and AR lie on the to AR than to VR – but time will tell. scores. The biggest advantage is simplified matrix? What do you think? Maybe the surest probably relative simplicity. AR needs You may care to examine where VR and new advice for Benjamin in a new nothing like the bandwidth of VR AR might lie on our simple matrix. The ‘The Graduate’ would be to stick with services. But in its present author’s ‘guestimate’ is shown below, Mrs Robinson?
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 31
30-31_VRvsAR.indd 3 20/03/2018 15:38:12 AWARDS CEREMONY 14 September 2018 Amsterdam
The CSI Awards 2018 – Open for entries Deadline for entries: 18 June 2018 Established in 2003 the awards are among the most prestigious and competitive technology awards in the industry, designed to recognise and reward innovation and excellence in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, broadband/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors.
NEW CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED! • Best TV user experience (UX) • IP Playout • Best use of AI in video
For the latest news and updates follow us @CSI_Magazine #CSIAwards
The CSI Categories 1. Best digital video processing technology 11. Best TV everywhere/multi-screen video 2. Best network delivery technology 12. Best social TV technology, service or application 3. Best customer premise technology 13. Best data & analytics innovation 4. Best monitoring or network management solution 14. Best cloud/virtualisation innovation 5. Best content protection technology 15. Best IoT or smart home service or solution 6. Best content-on-demand solution 16. Best virtual reality innovation 7. Best interactive TV technology or application 17. Best 5G project or innovation 8. Best mobile TV technology or service 18. Best TV user experience (UX) - NEW CATEGORY 9. Best internet TV technology or service 19. IP playout - NEW CATEGORY 10. Best ultra HD TV technology or project 20. Best use of AI in video - NEW CATEGORY
page thirty two www.csimagazine.com Awards 2018 CSI magazine • Awards
32-33_Awards.indd 2 15/03/2018 10:07:35 AWARDS CEREMONY ENTER NOW
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32-33_Awards.indd 3 22/03/2018 16:23:15 Events diary 2018
Date Name Location Website
14-16 January CabSat Dubai www.cabsat.com
13-15 February FTTH Council Europe Valencia www.ftthconference.eu 30-January - 1 February CSTB Telecom & Media Moscow https://en.cstb.ru 26 February - 1 March Mobile World Congress Barcelona www.mobileworldcongress.com 27 February - 1 March BVE London bvexpo.com
6-7 March Cable Congress Dublin cablecongress.com 12-15 March Satellite 2018 Washington DC http://2018.satshow.com 12-14 March DVB World Warsaw dvbworld.org 20-21 March Connected TV Summit London connectedtvsummit.com 27-28 March Broadthinking Geneva tech.ebu.ch/events/2018/broadthinking2018
9-12 April MIPTV Cannes www.miptv.com 07-12 April NAB Las Vegas nabshow.com 26-29 April ASBU Radio & TV Festival Tunis www.asbu.net/home.php?lang=ar
9-10 May TV Connect London Olympia https://tmt.knect365.com/tv-connect 10 May DTG Summit London dtg.org.uk/dtg/summit.html
26-28 June Broadcast Asia Singapore broadcast-asia.com 12-14 June ANGA Com Cologne angacom.de/en
31 August -5 September IFA Berlin https://b2b.ifa-berlin.com 13-18 September IBC Amsterdam ibc.org
4-6 October IFTV Istanbul http://iftv.org/US/index 10-11 October AI World Summit Amsterdam worldsummit.ai 15-18 October MipCom Cannes mipcom.com 22-25 October SCTE/ISBE Cable-Tec Expo Atlanta expo.scte.org
November 2018 OTT TV World Summit London ottworldsummit.com November 2018 CDN World Summit London cdnworldsummit.com November 2018 Connections Europe Amsterdam parksassociates.com/events December 2018 Future TV Advertising London futuretvads.com
For a full list of events taking place in 2018 please go to http://www.csimagazine.com/csi/events.php
34 April 2018 www.csimagazine.com
34-EventsDiary2018.indd 2 12/03/2018 15:29:08 BUSINESS To advertise contact Camilla Capece +44 (0)20 7562 2438 DIRECTORY [email protected]
ATX Networks is a market leading global provider of access & video network solutions serving commercial, enterprise, and residential markets. ATX’s solutions include optical transport, RF management (1.2 GHz), video gateways & headends, video insertion, RF filters, transmitters/receivers, headend & MDU amplifiers, node segmentation, node/amp upgrades, monitor/control equipment, pads/EQs, digital voice switches, & connectors. Corneliusstrasse 22, 60325 Frankfurt am Main Tel: +49 171 998 3676 Email: [email protected] Web: www.atxnetworks.com
There’s never been a better time #neverbetter for Cisco to partner with Service Provid- ers to transform Entertainment. As the longstanding, market-leading supplier of video entertainment solutions and cloud services, the company empowers Service Providers and Media companies to connect consumers and businesses to a world of new experi- ences. With more than 7000 video professionals, Cisco has the scale, resource, and vision to deliver differentiated solutions. Cisco, One London Road, Staines, Middlesex TW18 4EX Tel +44 (0)178 484 8500 Fax +44 (0)178 484 8600 Web: cisco.com/go/videoscape
EchoStar Europe is dedicated to enabling digital entertainment providers to optimise revenues by delivering added-value connected device solutions, services and applications. Through a comprehensive product range, including STBs, DVRs, home networking and TV anywhere technology, our solutions enable the provision of state- of-the-art and cost effective entertainment services.
Headquartered in the UK, EchoStar Europe comprises a number of business units Beckside Design Centre, Millennium Business Park, Station and is affiliated with EchoStar Technologies, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Road, Steeton, Keighley BD20 6QW, United Kingdom EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS). Tel: +44 1535 659000 Fax: +44 1535 659100 Web: www.echostar.com
Intelsat is the leading provider of fixed satellite services worldwide. Intelsat supplies video, data and voice connectivity for leading media and communications companies, Internet Service Providers and government organizations. Intelsat’s valuable regional video neighborhoods deliver more television channels than any other system. Intelsat’s terrestrial network of eight strategically-located teleports and over 36,000 miles of leased fiber complements a global satellite fleet of more than 50 satellites, covering 99% of the world’s population. Intelsat utilizes a fully integrated satellite 3400 International Drive, NW, Washington D.C. 20008 USA operations model, enabling global delivery from a single platform. With Intelsat, Tel: +1 202 944 6800 Fax: +1 202 944 7898 communications with your customers are closer, by far. Web: www.intelsat.com
Verimatrix specializes in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-screen digital TV services for more than 500 operators around the globe. The award-winning and independently audited Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS™) and ViewRight® solutions offer an innovative approach for cable, satellite, terrestrial and IPTV operators to cost-effectively extend their networks and enable new business models. As the recognized leader in software-based security solutions for premier service providers, Verimatrix has pioneered the 3-Dimensional Security approach that offers flexible layers of protection techniques to address evolving business needs and 6059 Cornerstone Court West, San Diego, revenue threats. Maintaining close relationships with major studios, broadcasters, CA 92121-3713, US industry organizations, and its unmatched partner ecosystem enables Verimatrix to Tel: +1-858-677-7800 Fax: +1-858-677-7804 provide a unique perspective on digital TV business issues beyond content security as Web: www.verimatrix.com operators seek to deliver compelling new services. www.verimatrix.com
www.csimagazine.com April 2018 35
Directory2018.indd 1 22/03/2018 16:24:43 NOT EVERY FORMULA FOR SUCCESS IS A WINNER!
Your customers want live anytime, anywhere. Can you deliver? With Ascendon, give viewers first run content like TV shows and live events (think sports, concerts and more) on their terms, on any device and with all the features that keep them loyal. The Ascendon SaaS, cloud-based platform gets you live in 90 days or less. Learn more at csgi.com.
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