The Shapes of Things to Come New Developments in Set-Top Technology EXCLUSIVELY ON

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The shapes of things to come New developments in set-top technology EXCLUSIVELY ON

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pIFC AMC DTVE JunJul16.indd 1 25/05/2016 10:33 Digital TV Europe June/July 2016 Contents June/July 2016

12. Thinking outside the box The shapes of things to come Ultra HD, voice control, smart home functionality and the ability to monitor your blood New developments in set-top technology pressure. The leading lights of the set-top box industry tell Andy McDonald what the next advances in STB technology will bring.

pOFC DTVE JunJul16.indd 1 26/05/2016 19:45

18. Wireless world

Growth in the number of devices that can be used to play back video means that more demands than ever are being placed on domestic WiFi networks. With 4K UHD TV and VR on the way, the problem is only going to get worse. Stuart Thomson looks at possible solutions. 18

24. Cloud cover

As operators recognise the limitations of traditional in-home service provision we are starting to see a steady rise in cloud technology adoption. Adrian Pennington looks at the development of three key cloud TV applications. 24 30. ANGA COM 2016: the preview

With ANGA COM due to kick off in Cologne on June 7,Digital TV Europe looks at some of the technologies on show and talks to ANGA COM managing director Peter Charissé about this years highlights.

33. Cable Congress 2016: the preview 30 Digital TV Europe looks ahead at some of the highlights of this year’s Cable Congress in Warsaw.

Regulars

2 This month 4 News digest 34 Technology 38 People 40 Final analysis

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p01 Contents DTVE JunJun16v3am.indd 1 26/05/2016 19:58 This month > Editor’s note Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

Issue no 326 Hub of the home Published By: KNect365 TMT Maple House 149 Tottenham Court Road TV operators’ investment in equipment that sits in the home London W1T 7AD Pay has always accounted for a huge part of their overall expendi- Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5000 ture. It is simply extremely costly to invest in the set-top boxes and gateways Fax: +44 (0) 20 7017 4953 that are needed to deliver video and broadband services to their subscribers. Website: www.digitaltveurope.net At the same time, residential hardware remains the key touch-point in operators’ relationships with their customers, and few are ready to relinquish Editor Stuart Thomson their role as the provider of the box – or boxes – in the home. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5314 This month we look in detail at operators’ involvement in the home and Email: [email protected] the various technology-related choices they face in delivering an ever growing array of services to multiple devices. First, to what extent does it make sense for operators to continue to use the set-top box as a Deputy Editor Andy McDonald key tool in differentiating their services from those of competitors? Does the branded consumer Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5293 premises device have a value in itself as well as enabling operators to provide a measurable and Email: [email protected] guarantee-able quality of service? This issue of Digital TV Europe will look in some detail at the evolution of TV operators’ Contributing Editor thoughts about the set-top box, including plans to invest in next-generation devices and to deliv- Stewart Clarke er services via a wider range of low-cost streaming boxes. Delivering content to a single set-top box is no longer enough to satisfy consumers who Contributors increasingly also want to view TV shows on their smartphones and tablets. This month we also Kate Bulkley, Andy Fry, Adrian Pennington, look at the issue of service providers’ involvement in consumer premises WiFi as a means of Adam Thomas, Anna Tobin, Jesse Whittock delivering content around the home. As demand for the ability to consume content everywhere in the home grows, operators are Correspondents expected to ensure that high-bandwidth services like 4K UHD video and virtual reality gaming can reach multiple devices wirelessly. We look at how they are tackling the need to deliver France: Julien Alliot; Germany: Dieter high-bandwidth in-home connectivity for multiple applications – including but not limited to Brockmeyer; Italy: Branislav Pekic video. An alternative to investing in expensive new set-top boxes or gateways is to try to deliver as Sales Director Patricia Arescy much as possible from the cloud. In this issue of Digital TV Europe we also assess the growing Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5320 importance of cloud technology in delivering mainstream TV services, focusing on three key Email: [email protected] applications: cloud-based DVR, targeted advertising and the overall user experience. Also in this issue we look at all the recent key industry and technology news, preview some of Art Director Matthew Humberstone the technologies and conference highlights of the forthcoming ANGA COM show in Cologne, and look ahead to Cable Congress in Warsaw at the end of June. l Publisher Tim Banham

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Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net 2 Q&A: Tor Helge Kristiansen, EVP, Principal Architect, Conax Tor Helge Kristiansen, EVP Principal Architect, Conax, talks about the evolution of multi-device, UHD and OTT TV content security.

What key challenges and new requirements are emerging in cable rapidly working towards meeting these requirements, and particularly operators’ content security requirements? on the STB and TV, we now see a dramatic improvement in security The biggest challenge is still related to the complexity of the levels through the introduction of new chipset designs. There is still a ecosystem due to a heterogeneous device market. To satisfy device long way to go for open devices, as they currently do not provide many and content-hungry consumers, today operators are expected to hardware security mechanisms that can be employed to implement provide a consistent and rich user experience on any device selected a Secure Media Pipeline. MovieLabs’ ECP is a very clear signal from by the consumer. Smartphones, tablets and browsers are increasingly Hollywood that security is to be taken very seriously going forward, vertically integrated into vendor ecosystems, while in order for an and more important than ever for operators to choose a security operator to successfully deliver OTT content to such devices he provider that can handle security from a holistic standpoint. Clearly, needs to cope with variances in video encoding formats, streaming you need a lot more than just a DRM! formats and DRM technologies. Balancing the need for security and convenience of use in such a complex ecosystem is a tremendous task How much investment should operators need to make in the area of for any operator. security? Good content protection security is still the most important element What do multi-play operators need to do to secure their content and in ensuring healthy revenue streams for operators of any size. The ensure customers can view it inside and outside the home? ability to collect payment from consumers accessing your service and As open consumer devices are increasingly vertically integrated into eliminating non-paying consumers’ access to the content or service vendor ecosystems, they also come with pre-embedded platform is vital. While availability of good platform DRM clients limits the DRMs such as Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay Streaming. Deeply necessary investment on the device side, it is increasingly important integrated into the devices with decent security levels, they provide to invest in strong, scalable security back-end solutions to cope operators with a good means for securely delivering OTT content to with the complexity of addressing multiple devices with multiple these devices. It does however force operators into using multiple DRM DRM options. There are an increasing number of secure and flexible systems in their back-end systems, creating significant complexity solutions available from experienced security providers such as Conax in the overall security management of the system when ensuring that enable operators of all sizes and varying levels of resources to start customers are able to view content in and out of the home. a secure and more advanced services operation to satisfy the growing When using platform DRMs, the operator has little to no control of demands of content and device-savvy consumers. the security level of each device being used and platform DRM options differ in terms of the business features offered, making it harder for To what extent do the security requirements of pure OTT services operators to set up consistent service across a multitude of devices. differ from broadcast and pay TV? Since the number of attack points in these complex ecosystems is We’ve seen different policies evolve within the content industry increasing, it is very important to invest in a security solution that regarding security requirements for OTT content, changing quite ensures holistic protection of the both the content and the service. a bit over the last years. Six to seven years ago, many studios were quite reluctant to embrace pure over-the-top content, as the market, To what extent are security issued around UHD TV content resolved? business models and choice of technology were still quite immature. Hollywood studios have, through the MovieLabs consortium, issued With OTT/multiscreen content consumption increasingly more a set of recommendations called Enhanced Content Protection. common, the industry has become more commercially and technically These recommendations are now gradually becoming mandatory mature and most operators offer TV Everywhere services. Security requirements for 4K and UHD as well as early release window VOD requirements have become more standardised and we’re in a content. The MovieLabs ‘ECPs’ describe security mechanisms covering transition where the latest technology trends are driven by OTT and a holistic security approach and mandate use of hardware based streaming services, like 4K and virtual reality. However, as the business security, Secure Media Pipelines and forensic watermarking, amongst grows, the market for hackers is also becoming more appealing. Thus, others. Complying with these stringent requirements means basing the industry is far stricter on 4K requirements and hardware regarding devices on a new type of security architecture with significant more security, adding a new level of security requirements compared to hardware security backing than historically used. The industry is traditional broadcast and pay-TV solutions.

pXX Conax Q&A DTVE JunJul16v2st.indd 1 25/05/2016 11:22 News > digest Digital TV Europe June/July 2016 News digest > 4 EC to enable content levy on OTT players > 6 Vodafone sees progress in converged services > 8 Google to launch VR platform > 10 iPlayer loophole to close

EC to enable content levy to be imposed on Netflix-type services

By Stewart Clarke & contributions are imposed on John Enser, a partner at me- Stuart Thomson > services based outside the tar- dia law firm Olswang said the geted state, these will be levied introduction of a quota for The European Commission only on revenues raised in that on-demand content will be con- has confirmed that it will oblige targeted state. troversial: “In an on-demand on-demand services such as Net- Netflix responded to the environment, the prominence flix and Amazon Prime Instant Audiovisual Media Service Di- obligation is likely to prove high- Video to ensure there is at least a rective proposals by saying that ly controversial and subjective – 20% share of European content “established in a different Mem- it already invests in European it will be interesting to see how in their catalogues. The EC has ber State but targeting their na- content, and that a European this is enforced, and whether a also said that EU member states tional audiences”. programming quota will not ‘European works’ genre in a list will be able to ask on-demand Netflix, whose European op- boost production in the region. of genres will be enough.” services to contribute financially erations are based in the Neth- “Our members around the The directive also calls for a to European content creation. erlands, could therefore poten- world love European program- loosening up of advertising re- The EC in May published its tially be obliged to contribute ming, that’s why our investment strictions placed on TV broad- revised Audiovisual Media Ser- to domestic production in, for in European programming, casters, which was welcomed vices Directive, which contains example, France. including Netflix original titles by industry groups representing the new proposals. The EC made it clear that the created in Europe, is growing,” linear channels and advertisers. The revised directive calls for obligations on promotion of Eu- Netflix said. “We appreciate the Jan Isenbart, president of on-demand services to “reserve ropean works would not apply Commission’s objective to have sales house industry body EGTA at least 20% share for European to players with “no significant European production flourish. said the proposals “delivered works in their catalogues and to presence on the market” and in However the proposed meas- some much needed flexibility”, ensure adequate prominence of particular, to “companies with a ures won’t actually achieve that.” but do not go far enough. such works”. low turnover”. In addition, states The subscription video-on-de- “There are still too many In addition, member states may waive obligations on some mand giant has started making specific rules that only apply to will be authorised to impose services where imposing them a select number of originals out linear broadcasters,” he said. financial contributions in the would be “impracticable or un- of Europe and noted that it is “We believe that more ambition form of direct investments or justified by reason of the nature “actively looking for additional could still ensure a more level levies allocated to national film or theme of the on-demand projects”. playing field, enabling the sus- funds to on-demand services in audiovisual media services”. The European Commission’s tainable production and financ- their jurisdictions – and also, in The wording of the revised plans attracted mixed reactions ing of original, premium Euro- certain circumstances, to those directive indicates that where elsewhere. pean content.”

BFMN Business and RMC. Altice SFR Presse, SFR Sport, SFR News, 2016 football championship, and France acquired its stake in NextRadioTV SFR Play and SFR Family – in April. BFM TV Paris, which will launch last year for €670 million through SFR Sport, an anchor TV service in October. I24 will become an HD CAB > SFR media plan a partnership with the group’s comprising five channels, will be channel. SFR Play is a live and Altice-owned telecom and cable founder Alan Weill, who will retain the vehicle for SFR’s coverage on-demand service built around operator SFR has completed the a 51% stake in the group until of the English Premier League. SVoD offering Zive. Separately acquisition of Altice Media Group 2019. SFR plans to build on the SFR News will include the existing SFR saw its revenues drop by 6.1% France, which owns print titles acquisition to create a convergent BFM TV, BFM Business and Israeli in the first quarter to €2.57 billion, L’Express and Libération as well media and telecoms company. i24 channels, as well as two new with its residential revenues hit by as a 49% stake in NextRadioTV, The group announced plans for services – BFM TV Sport, which discounting. SFR’s EBITDA also owner of TV channels BFM TV, the launch of five media services – will launch in time for the Euro dropped by 9% to €851 million.

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p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 4 26/05/2016 20:02 Digital TV Europe News > digest June/July 2016

SFR managed to grow its fibre base Vivendi also revealed that Vivendi ter. The company had 3.6 million by 66,000 thanks in part to migra- Content’s new mobile-targeted homes connected, serving 2.43 Events tion from DSL, but its fibre and DSL offering Studio+, will be available million customers, which translates base combined dropped by 61,000 in Latin America “in a few months” into 2.45 million cable TV RGUs NEM-New Europe Market thanks to a DSL box shortage that thanks to a deal with Telefónica. and 424,000 premium TV RGUs, Date: 14-16 June the company said had now been re- Vivendi holds a 0.95% stake in the it said. Internet RGUs amounted Venue: Hotel Dubrovnik Palace, solved. SFR’s fixed customer base Spanish operator, which it views to 475,000 and telephony RGUs Dubrovnik, Croatia droped from 6.52 million to 6.29 as a strategic investment that will to 441,000. The company aims W: www.neweumarket.com million year-on-year, with ARPU enable it to expand its content to keep the number of connected dropping from €34.30 to €33.90. distribution network, particularly in homes stable over the year and to Natpe Budapest Its fibre base increased from 1.6 Latin America. Studio+ will have 25 achieve mid-single digit revenue Date: 27-30 June million to 1.88 million. Mobile sub- mobile-specific original series avail- growth and high single-digit EBIT- Venue: InterContinental Hotel, scribers dropped from 18.14 million able when it launches. Increased DA growth for the year. Budapest, Hungary to 16.98 million year-on-year. losses at Canal+ have pulled down W: www.natpe.com/budapest parent group Vivendi’s quarterly SAT > Canal+ losses mount results. Vivendi revenue was more Ghana Cable Congress Canal+ France lost 183,000 sub- or less flat at €2.491 billion, down Date: 28-30 June scriptions in the first quarter, taking 1.4% in constant currency terms. SAT > SES in JV with K-Net Venue: Double Tree Hotel, its domestic total to 8.276 million. EBIT was down 3.6% in constant Satellite operator SES’s media ser- Warsaw, Poland The ongoing problems experienced currency terms to €213 million, vices arm, SES Platform Services, W: www.cablecongress.com by the group in France were partly while net income fell down by has formed a joint venture with offset by a strong international 27.3% to €99 million thanks to an Ghanaian communications technol- IBC 2016 performance. Overall the group unfavourable tax impact following ogy provider and telecom operator Date: 9-13 September added 170,000 subscriptions in the the settlement of litigation with K-Net to bring content to Ghanaian Venue: Rai Exhibition Centre, quarter, thanks to its strong show- Liberty Media. homes via DTH satellite TV and dig- Amsterdam, The Netherlands ing in Africa, taking its total to 15.4 ital-terrestrial TV. The partnership, W: www.ibc.org million. The group’s revenues to- which will contract capacity from talled €1.328 billion for the quarter, Germany SES at 28.2° East to bring DTH Content Innovation Awards down 3.1% despite a slight increase and DTT services to the country, Date: 16 October in ARPU in France. The pay TV unit CAB > Tele Columbus up builds on an existing relationship Venue: Carlton Hotel, Grand posted an operating loss of €59 In its first results since the between SES Platform Services Salon, Cannes, France million for the quarter. Free-to-air acquisition of Pepcom, German and K-Net. The joint venture will W: contentinnovationawards. channels in the domestic market cable operator Tele Columbus has use SES’s satellite capacity, K-Net’s com performed better, with advertising increased its revenues by 5% in the teleport services and SES Platform revenues growing by 11.5% year-on- first quarter on a like-for-like basis Services’ video platform services to MIPCOM year thanks to strong audiences for to €116.1 million. EBITDA increased offer a unified bouquet of free-to- Date: 17-20 October D8 and D17. International pay TV by 9.5% to €56.5 million. The air and free-to-view channels from Venue: Palais des Festivals, revenues increased, thanks to the company added 12,000 internet across West Africa, as well as some Cannes, France group adding 500,000 subscrib- revenue generating units and international channels, to viewers W: www.mipcom.com ers in Africa in the year to March. 14,000 telephony RGUs in the quar- in the region. OTT TV – THE NEXT PHASE June 8, 4.45pm, Cologne Dorint Hotel Conference Room London C

Anvato Chief Evangelist Matt Smith in conversation with Digital TV Europe Editor Stuart Thomson. Come and join us! Register with [email protected]

p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 5 26/05/2016 20:02 News > digest Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

and broadband revenue offsetting chief technology officer Alexandre Global Wrap Poland decreased voice revenues. Group Fonseca, cited by local press, it is EBITDA was PLN865 million, up the first 4K box to be certified by US cable association the NCTA SAT > Polsat growth 3.6%. The group posted a net Mediaroom, the Microsoft-originat- and leading operator Com- Pay TV operator Cyfrowy Polsat profit of PLN179 million. ed operating system now owned by cast have launched an all-out had 16.532 million revenue-gen- Ericsson that is used for the Meo assault on regulator the FCC’s erating units at the end of March, service. Meo said customers will plans to force cable providers with 5.893 million customers, the Portugal also be able to access 4K content to open up their set-top boxes group reported. The operator grew spanning nature, culture and other to competitors. The NCTA its total base of contract services IPTV > PT launches 4K box genres available via the Hispasat described the FCC’s set-top box by 2.8% year-on-year, with its mo- Portugal Telecom has launched a satellite position. Meo customers mandate plans as “complicated bile internet base growing by 14.7% new 4K Ultra HD set-top box and will have access to a dedicated 4K and backwards-looking” at a and pay TV RGUs increasing by has unveiled plans to offer a wide channel to watch the Euro2016 time when the TV world was 3.5% thanks to strong multiroom range of 4K sport content as well football championship, including moving away from a hard- sales and strong OTT sales. Multi- as other 4K channels and on-de- the opening match between France ware-centric world to one that room customers grew by 9.8% to mand content. The Altice-owned and Hungary, as well as the quar- relied on apps and IP delivery. 957,952 out of a total pay TV base operator, which provides services ter-finals, semi-finals and final, in According to projections from of 4,560,267. Cyfrowy Polsat said under the Meo brand, has launched 4K. The operator will also offer the Digital TV Research, OTT that 18%, or 1.09 million, of its base the MEOBox4K, enabling its Champions League final between TV and video revenues in the were now multi-play customers. fibre cutomers to view a range of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid Asia Pacific region are set to Cyfrowy Polsat’s revenue grew by sports and lifestyle content, the from Sport TV in 4K. Meo is offer- rocket to US$18.4 billion (e16.5 1.3% during the first quarter to operator said. The box is based ing on-demand nature, fashion and billion) over the next five years, PLN2.284 billion (e0.5 billion), with on a Broadcom chipset and has a other content on-demand via its up from only US$5.7 billion stronger ad sales, equipment sales 1TB hard drive. According to Meo fibre network. last year. Advertising will be the key revenue source for OTT services, bringing in over Vodafone sees progress in converged services US$8.7 billion by 2021, a US$6 billion increase on the figure By Stuart Thomson > Vodafone plans to launch for last year, according to the the cloud-based TV service in research outfit. International Vodafone had 9.4 million TV the UK and Italy this year and cable outfit Liberty Global has customers at the end of its fi- has designed it so that it can be completed the acquisition of nancial full year, out of a total ported to multiple markets. Caribbean operator Cable & of 13.4 million fixed broadband The company is also plan- Wireless Communications, customers. ning to ensure that mobile video combining it with its existing Just over half (51%) of the services are available wherever it LiLAC group to create what company’s customers took a lephony with high-speed broad- offers mobile voice, according to the company describes as the high-speed broadband service at band and TV on the former Ka- chief technology officer Johan leading TV, broadband and tele- the end of March. bel Deutschland cable network, Wibergh. coms firm in Latin America and Vodafone said that 1.5 million which was launched in Novem- Speaking on an analyst call the Caribbean. The integration customers had subscribed to its ber, had attracted 54,000 cus- on the results, Wibergh said of Cable & Wireless Commu- Vodafone One converged offer- tomers by the end of the period. that Vodafone would deliver nications means that LiLAC ing in Spain, which combines Overall, Vodafone added TV from its private cloud to now serves 10 million video, mobile telephony with broad- 414,000 fixed broadband cus- low-cost boxes. He said that the voice, broadband and mobile band and TV on the former tomers in the course of the product could be deployed once customers in over 20 coun- Ono network, at the end of the year, and added 426,000 to its and then subsequently sold “in tries. Discovery has taken a quarter. The company said that, next-generation broadband net- many markets”. majority stake in FoodFood, the combining the Ono network works. Some 21% of the compa- Referring to video plans for Indian culinary network. The with its fibre joint build-out ny’s revenues now come from Vodafone’s mobile business, deal sees Discovery join forces with Orange, it now reached 8.5 its fixed network activities. Wibergh said that the com- with Indian foodie star Sanjeev million premises in Spain with Vodafone said its long-de- pany’s goal was to have video Kapoor, who will be a minority fibre or cable. layed UK TV offering was in available everywhere it is pres- shareholder in the channel and Vodafone’s equivalent offer- “field trials” with “plans to ent that voice is available, with stay on as a presenter and ing in Germany – Vodafone Red launch later in the current cal- a “continuous experience” of ambassador. One – combining mobile te- endar year”. around 10Mbps.

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p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 6 26/05/2016 20:02 SECURING THE CONNECTED FUTURE

The world of video is becoming more connected. And next- generation video service providers are delivering new connected services based on software and IP technologies.

Now imagine a globally interconnected revenue security platform. A cloud- based engine that can optimize system performance, proactively detect threats and decrease operational costs.

Discover how Verimatrix is defining the future of pay-TV revenue security.

www.verimatrix.com/verspective

p07 Verimatrix DTVE JunJul16.indd 1 25/05/2016 11:41 News > digest Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

CAB > Rights sharing deal said that the agreement was a key to strike a deal. The Portuguese deal leaves MTG with no further Service providers Nos and Vodafone step in ensuring that sports content football championship is broadcast interest in CTC or its operations. The have struck a deal to share their was available to all operators. Voda- on the Sport TV channel owned by sale will result in MTG provisioning national and international sports fone Portugal CEO Mário Vaz said Nos and Portuguese businessman for a total negative non-cash impact content. The deal is designed to en- that the deal represented a “very Joaquin Oliveira, although Benfican of SEK1 billion (e0.1 billion) in its sec- sure that football matches based on important and decisive” step for the home matches have been exclusive ond quarter financials, mostly due rights held by each company, as well company as it allowed to “fulfill the to the Benfica TV channel. to accumulated currency changes as distribution rights to sports chan- promise to bring our customers the and an adjustment to the fair value nels and football club channels. The content they value”. Nos secured of the holding when compared with agreement will take effect from next the rights to Benfica’s matches at Russia the value on the balance sheet as season, ensuring that all customers the end of last year in a €400 mil- of the end of the first quarter. MTG of both operators will have access to lion deal, beating competition from PROG > CTC sale complete said it would use the proceeds of the Benfica Channel and Benfica home Portugal Telecom/Meo. Portugal Modern Times Group (MTG) has deal to reduce its borrowing levels matches, regardless of the channel has experienced ongoing problems completed the sale of its 38% stake and fund the development of its that transmits the matches. The in reciprocity of sports rights. In Feb- in Russia’s CTC Media. The Swed- business. The sale was forced on it pair said that their agreement could ruary, Meo pulled Porto Canal, the ish-based free and pay TV group by Russia’s media law that restricted be extended to other operators in channel of the FC Port club, from received a total of US$123 million foreign ownership of domestic Portugal. Nos CEO Migual Almeida Nos’s platform after the pair failed (e110 million) for the stake, and the media assets to a 20% ceiling.

Google Daydream virtual reality platform to launch this autumn

By Andy McDonald > have an ‘orientation centre’ bled apps,” said Bavor. built in and touch controls – a “But we knew it was just a Internet giant Google is set to demonstration video of which start, because there’s a limit launch a mobile VR platform was played to I/O attendees. to how much you can do, how this autumn that will encom- In terms of apps, Bavor immersive an experience you pass smartphones, a reference named a number of partners can create with some cardboard design for a headset and control- that will bring immersive appli- and with phones that were real- ler, and apps. These specs include a high per- cations to Daydream, including ly only meant to be phones. We Announcing the plans at the formance sensor for accurate The New York Times, Wall Street wanted to create something that Google I/O developers confer- head tracking, displays with a Journal and CNN – “so you will has the best attributes of Card- ence in Mountain View, Califor- fast response time to minimise be able to experience the world’s board but is also comfortable, nia in May, Google’s vice-presi- blur, and powerful mobile pro- news like you’re actually there.” richly interactive and far more dent of virtual reality Clay Bavor cessors. The Google exec added that: immersive.” said that Daydream will include “There are going to be a lot of “Hulu, Netflix, HBO, even Commenting on Google’s “all the ingredients you need to Daydream-ready phones,” said IMAX are bringing their librar- announcement, analyst group create incredible, immersive VR Bavor. ies to Daydream so you’ll be able CCS Insight’s vice-president, experiences”. “In fact Samsung, Alca- to watch shows and movies in a Americas, Geoff Blaber de- “Over time Daydream will tel, Asus, Huawei, HTC, LG, virtual cinema, or an immersive scribed Daydream as “phase encompass VR devices in many Xiaomi, and ZTE all will have 3D film in a virtual IMAX thea- two” in Google’s mobile virtual shapes and sizes. But today is smartphones that are compat- tre.” reality ambitions and said “the about how Daydream will ena- ible with the Daydream-ready The plans are set to build on scale of Android coupled with ble high quality VR on Android spec. Several will be available the early gains Google has made content, service, computer vi- smartphones,” said Bavor. this fall.” with its Cardboard VR headset, sion and AI assets puts Google The latest version of Google’s Google has developed a ref- which it launched at Google I/O in a strong position to become a mobile operating system, An- erence design and is working two years ago. leading force in virtual reality.” droid N, will include ‘VR Mode’, with partners across the eco- “Cardboard has done some “Google has learned a lot a development that is designed system to develop headsets that pretty amazing things. There from the more than five million to offer high-quality virtual real- will “work seamlessly with Day- are millions of them out there Google Cardboard devices that ity performance along with low dream-ready phones” – several in the world in all shapes and have been shipped so far. It will latency. of which will also be available sizes. We’ve enabled thousands be hoping its new Daydream Google has also created a set of this autumn, said Bavor. of developers to build their first reference design will help its phone specifications for virtual The controller that will work VR app and users have installed Android partners go head-to- reality called ‘Daydream-ready’. alongside these headsets will more than 50 million VR-ena- head with Samsung’s Gear VR.”

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p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 8 26/05/2016 20:02 Q&A: Dr Neale Foster, ACCESS Europe

Dr Neale Foster, COO and VP Global Sales, ACCESS Europe talks about multiscreen TV, appealing to the right audience and the value of data.

To what extent have pay TV operators overcome the challenges posed to reach these captive social audiences and alternate revenue streams by seamless multiscreen TV service delivery and what do they still need beyond the traditional TV subscription and advertising models. Players to do? within the media and entertainment sectors are experimenting with The emergence of web-based content has transformed the TV industry practices that include targeted advertising and using social media to into a multiscreen world as consumers increasingly realised the appeal increase skinny bundle subscriptions. and flexibility of TV Everywhere. Most Pay TV operators have responded by integrating scalable, high-performance solutions to enhance the What do operators need to make sense of the vast amount of data traditional content offering, drive profitability and fight churn through the potentially available to them from digital distribution? support for new consumption models and today’s sophisticated display There is a vast amount of data that operators could collect, but what devices. creates the most value for them lies in aggregating and analyzing The next step is optimisation. In order to deliver a satisfying consumer the right set of data to obtain actionable insights. Information about experience, pay TV operators should focus their efforts on these four key consumers’ viewing habits, the devices used to access services and other actions: harmonising the user experience across all supported devices; personal data that would provide relevant information to help operators integrating enhanced measurement offerings; driving usage, ROI and develop personalised content catalogues, services and offerings are key profitability and reducing operational overheads. deliverables in enhancing the user experience. The “Privacy by Design” debate is alive and well, so operators need to How far are TV operators able to differentiate their service primarily be very careful in their data collection and analysis to avoid becoming around the user experience and gain new subscribers? intrusive. ACCESS Twine enables the TV industry to aggregate data on The proliferation of connected devices, most notably mobile, has fashioned consumer habits and device usage, as well as facilitate the deployment a culture of constant connectivity and changed the way consumers think of highly targeted content catalogues, personalised search and discovery about content consumption. Now, it all comes down to universal access options while respecting consumer privacy. to personalised services, as personalisation contributes to an enhanced Employing a standardised measurement system ensures operators user experience and more consumption, translating into higher customer can use familiar metrics throughout their business – an important step satisfaction. To achieve this, operators need to focus on analysing the in optimising and personalising services. This is complex to achieve in- right data to accurately understand consumer viewing habits and trends house, so employing a measurement partner to flexibly pre-integrate and apply these insights accordingly to tailor their offerings to secure measurement capabilities into offered solutions is the preferred option customer loyalty and attract new subscribers. of many operators. For instance, by deducing from data aggregation that OTT viewers would watch more content if their favourite programming was automatically What should operators prioritise in applying this data to practical uses synced with their mobile, providers could use automation services to and why? satisfy consumers and upsell additional complementary services. Operators should prioritise applying data towards generating an enjoyable multiscreen user experience. The proliferation of connected What are the challenges posed to operators by younger audiences devices and systems used to access content is driving an increased turning to social media networks and other digital platforms and how tendency for consumer ‘switch screening’ with over 70% of online can pay TV operators adjust? adults in the UK using another screen while watching TV, according to Factors like viewing location and type of device are undergoing a dramatic a recent IAB UK study. While the active presence of these other devices shift. With broadband penetration reaching over 80% in Europe and creates risks of distracting consumers away from TV content, there 60% in the Americas, the plethora of personal device options capable of too are opportunities to extend viewer engagement, and a seamless delivering video content is moulding consumption habits, most notably multiplatform interface is the key to giving consumers a flexible, on- among younger audiences as 11 to 15-year olds watch half the amount demand option that can be optimised across all connected devices. of live TV per day as adults, according to a 2014 research by the UK TV Additionally, it’s particularly important that the user experience is regulator Ofcom. personalised on smaller screens. With fewer content and service options Social media has grown to become an important source of video able to be featured on smaller screens, it’s critical that those that are entertainment, prompting pay TV operators to look at alternate avenues highlighted are the ones likely to be chosen by the consumer.

pXX Access Q&A DTVE JunJul16v2st.indd 2 24/05/2016 19:53 News > digest Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

called HBO España. HBO said its English Premier League games SES-5 satellite at 5° East. Slovakia Spanish service would launch with and those from the Champions Viasat will also be launching a an extensive catalogue of premium League. There will also be coverage new Ultra HD set-top box from CAB > New Horizon content including current series of football from Spain and Italy. Samsung, as well as a conditional Liberty Global-owned UPC Slovakia such as Game of Thrones, True With sports rights – and notably access module enabling customers has launched the group’s advanced Detective, Veep, Silicon Valley and Premier League rights – increasing- with an Ultra HD TV to see the TV offering Horizon. The service will a variety of HBO movies, docu- ly expensive, MTG has segmented channel. The channel will initially offer a new user interface, internet mentaries and other series. HBO its offering across free and pay TV. be available to all Viasat satellite TV services, seven-day catch-up TV España will also offer new series TV3 Sport HD launched earlier this customers with sports channels in and the MyPrime video-on-demand from other TV series providers. year and MTG also has a dedicat- their package. Viasat Ultra HD will service with 1,600 titles available. Vodafone customers will be able ed e-sports channel, eSportsTV. feature selected live sport events UPC Slovakia already offers the to access HBO España from their Separately, MTG is to launch from the UEFA Champions League mobile version of Horizon, Horizon Vodafone TV service and also the first Ultra HD channel in the and other MTG sports rights spe- Go, which has been available in the via mobile devices, tablets and Nordic market. Viasat Ultra HD cially produced in Ultra HD. country since May last year. computers. will be a premium sports offering that will launch in time for the autumn sports season, according Switzerland Spain Sweden to the group. MTG has teamed up with satellite operator SES CAB > UPC drops Cablecom CAB > HBO to launch SAT > Sports for MTG and electronics giant Samsung to Liberty Global’s Swiss unit UPC HBO has struck a deal with Voda- Modern Times Group (MTG) will launch the channel, which will be Cablecom is dropping the name fone in Spain for the launch of its launch a new premium sports broadcast via satellite in Sweden, Cablecom from its brand. The com- planned streaming video-on-de- channel in Sweden. The Viasat Norway, Denmark and Finland. SES pany said that the name change mand service in the country, to be Sport Premium channel will have will broadcast the channel via the reflected its switch from being

BBC iPlayer loophole to close, scope to trial pay services

By Stuart Thomson viewers to watch iPlayer content five years from 2017-18. & Jesse Whittock > through user verification. Other key measures in the “The government thinks White Paper, many leaked in The UK government has com- there is a case for iPlayer to re- advance of publication, include mitted to retaining the current quire verification – i.e. access the creation of a unitary board to Licence Fee model of financing should be conditional upon ver- replace the BBC Governors and the BBC for the coming 11-year ification of licence fee payment the BBC Trust. The BBC will be Charter period, while pointing – so that individuals in other responsible for appointing “at to a number of areas where a countries, and those in the UK of the next Charter period, and least half” of the board mem- subscription model could be not paying the fee, cannot ac- to consider whether elements bers. trialled, according to the White cess licence fee funded content of subscription could provide The White Paper also calls for Paper published in May. for free. The government will a more sustainable funding Ofcom to be made the external The government has said discuss verification and other model in the longer term”. It independent regulator for the it will “modernise the current options with the BBC and look said subscription would be in- BBC, while the National Audit licence fee system to make it at the best way of implementing troduced “for additional services Office will become the BBC’s fairer” including closing the this, including through regula- only”, and that the “BBC may financial auditor. The remuner- ‘iPlayer loophole’, introducing tions if needed. It will be up to therefore lead further develop- ation for BBC talent that is paid more flexible payment terms the BBC to determine whether ments, pilots and exploration of over £450,000 will be made for lower income households this is an appropriate means of elements of subscription in the public. and enabling the BBC to make charging international viewers,” second part of the Charter peri- The BBC Executive will set its content portable so that UK it said. od, if justified and required, in strategy and deliver services, licence fee payers can access While rejecting a subscription order to inform the next Charter while Ofcom will issue licences iPlayer while travelling to other model, the government said it Review process and for potential and regulator editorial standards EU member states. welcomed “the BBC’s commit- wider roll-out in the next Char- as well as regulating commer- The changes proposed by the ment to develop and test some ter.” cial activity and market impact government could include the form of additional subscription The licence fee will be in- and will monitor and review ability to charge international services during the first part creased in live with inflation for performance.

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p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 10 26/05/2016 20:02 Digital TV Europe News > digest June/July 2016

solely a cable operator to a provider com-backed Cinetrade/Teleclub for satellite. The ONT is consolidating al pay television distribution strate- of converged services including failing to offer rights to football and about 10 Tunisian channels in a gy. We look forward to accelerating mobile entertainment communica- ice hockey competitions to rival TV single package aired from the 7/8° the growth of the business through tions. The operator will henceforth platforms at non-discriminatory West position. Nôomên Elfehri, investment in exclusive content be known as UPC in both Switzer- terms. Swisscom and Cinetrade say Tunisia’s minister of communi- rights and supporting its develop- land and Austria. Liberty Global they comply with the law and that cation technologies and digital ment as it expands into new territo- combined both country subsidiaries the high levels of investment they economy, said: “The launch of this ries.” Cirkus launched in 2013, and under a single management team have made in sports justify the cre- national project is a vehicle for ITV’s initial investment was made led by Eric Tveter at the end of ation of an expanded sports offer- Tunisia’s sovereignty in the field of a year after.. Cirkus has launched 2014. Separately, UPC is launching ing via the Swisscom TV platform. broadcasting. Viewers will be able with Boxer and Com Hem in the a new infotainment programme, The operator said it would study to enjoy a diversified and quality Nordic region, and has branched UPC News TV, in Switzerland. The the judgment and would appeal line-up of Tunisian content.” out from drama to factual with the magazine presented by Sandra Zot- the fine with the Federal Adminis- launch of the Curio brand. ti has already existed for nine years trative Court and, if necessary, the in Austria and will now be broadcast country’s Supreme Court. UK IPTV > TalkTalk down weekly in both countries. TalkTalk lost 14,000 TV customers OTT > ITV takes Cirkus in the fourth fiscal quarter, despite IPTV > Sports rights fine Tunisia ITV has taken a majority stake in bouncing back in overall reve- Swisscom has said it will appeal Cirkus, the best-of-British on-de- nue-generating unit additions from a fine imposed on it by the Swiss SAT > New platform mand service. The UK broadcaster the cyber attack and data leak competition regulator for allegedly Tunisian state broadcaster the was already a minority shareholder, last October. The company added prohibiting the fair marketing of ONT has struck a multi-year deal but has now upped its ownership 148,000 RGUs in the quarter to sports content via pay TV in the with satellite operator Eutelsat to level in the streaming service. Mar- March. On-net customer additions country. COMCO has imposed broadcast a new subscription-free tin Goswami, ITV director of pay were flat over the quarter, but a fine of CHF71.8 million (e65 TV platform across North and West and distribution, said: “Cirkus is an TalkTalk reported its lowest ever million) on Swisscom and Swiss- Africa via the Eutelsat 7 West A important part of ITV’s internation- quarterly churn at 1.3%.

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p04-06,08,10-11 DTVE News Digest JunJul16v5st.indd 11 26/05/2016 20:02 Technology focus > Advanced set-top boxes Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

Ultra HD, voice control, smart home functionality and the ability to monitor your blood pressure. The leading lights of the set-top box industry tell Andy McDonald what the next advances in STB technology will bring. Thinking outside the box

IPTV operator Post Luxembourg announced Over-the-top and into 4K it would launch a 4K set-top from Netgem, box the STB N7900. Last year, France’s SFR also The set-top market is Many of the developments that we are seeing launched La Box Fibre Zive de SFR, a 4K Ultra at a pivotal point in its history with shifts in in the set-top box market today rest around HD gateway that runs on its fibre network. technology posing existential questions about cloud functionality, the integration of over-the- “4K is being used as a way to market the what role these devices will play in years to top services, sophisticated search and discovery services and the boxes, and get people onto come. features, and the addition of 4K. premium packages, but there isn’t actually a The rise of the streaming device market has According to Ovum, 4K Ultra HD set-top lot of 4K content out there, especially for linear led some to hint at a light-touch, cloud-focused adoption in Europe will climb rapidly in the broadcast,” says de Renesse. future where the set-top will be reduced coming years as a proportion of overall DTT, Technicolor’s chief technology officer, to a dongle hidden behind the TV. Others DTH, IPTV and cable set-top box sales. In 2015, connected home, Jon Walkenhorst agrees claim that the advent of IoT and smart home 4K UHD capability was present in just 1.02% that while there is 4K awareness among its technology will start to change the basic role of of the 39.36 million set-tops sold in Europe. customers, there is not “radical adoption” of the set-top box. This will rise to 27.62% of 41.70 million units the technology yet. He puts this down to a However, against a backdrop of continued sold in 2020, according to the research firm. lack of original content and the bandwidth consolidation amongst the set-top box makers “I think we’re seeing a lot of changes around requirements needed to deliver Ultra HD. themselves, recent moves by some of the 4K. Now a lot of pay TV operators are pushing “These technologies tend to be more IP biggest operators in the TV space hint at the 4K set-top boxes, so there’s a new generation video-based and less QAM-based. DSL today continuation of high-end, sophisticated device of boxes coming in since the beginning of is typically not enough bandwidth to deliver deployments. the year or the end of last year, especially in those. So I think we’re going to see 4K and Sky's next-generation entertainment service, Europe," says Ovum practice leader, consumer Ultra HD become more ubiquitous as IP Sky Q, represents a ground-up rebuild of Sky's technology, Ronan de Renesse. delivery becomes more ubiquitous,” says set-top offering. Meanwhile, Liberty Global “What’s interesting is that most of them tend Walkenhorst. CEO Mike Fries announced on the company's to be on IPTV – so IPTV-type set-top boxes or Technicolor works with major operators Q1 earnings that its next-generation set-top hybrid IPTV set-top boxes rather than maybe including Telefónica and in France it provides platform, dubbed ‘project Eos’, would be satellite or cable," he adds, acknowledging Sky Canal+ Group’s compact, 4K-compatible, “faster” and “provide more functionality than Q with its 4K functionality as an exception. over-the-top box, the Cube S. “We’re seeing today’s Horizon box” – all for a cheaper price. Recent launch news seems to bear this theory our skipper box and our zapper boxes become But away from these headline-grabbing out. In May Portugal Telecom launched a new smaller, almost to the point of the size of a deck developments, what are the broader future 4K Ultra HD set-top box, the MEOBox4K, for of cards,” says Walkenhorst. trends that are taking hold of this space and fibre customers. In March, Vodafone Spain He claims that, informed by devices like what changes should we expect in the long- officially launched a new 4K UHD set-top Roku and Google’s Chromecast, customers are term? aimed at its XDSL base, while a month earlier now looking for little boxes that will slot easily

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p12-14,16 STBs DTVE JunJul16v5st.indd 12 26/05/2016 18:05 Digital TV Europe Technology focus > Advanced set-top boxes June/July 2016

into the TV, with the value-add coming from taking off in set-top boxes. Why do you have the addition of features like apps. The advent of IoT to use a remote control? Sometimes for just “If we look at a traditional MSO, they’re flipping up through channels, it’s the easiest looking at boxes that they can place [in] The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) is way,” says Humax commercial director, numerous [places] around the house. For something that promises to take the traditional Graham North. example, if you have a consumer with three set-top box into new territory – though this is Humax is a global set-top box provider and TVs in North America, versus a consumer with territory that is already being explored by major its customers include DirecTV in the US. In the one TV in Europe, you’re more concerned with tech companies like Amazon. UK it makes boxes for the Freeview and Freesat how do I get those boxes to connect.” The e-retailer’s Echo hands-free platforms, as well as a 4K-compatible YouView He says that the “much broader speaker and Alexa Voice box that it provides as the high-end TV option question” that certain operators are Service technology already for operator BT. Discussing the firm’s current looking at is how to apply multi- let consumers in the US strategy, North says “we used to just be [about node, multi-repeater technologies play music, access news the] set-top box but now we have gateway teams and how to extend wireless and weather reports, order a and we have teams looking at new technology connectivity. He also foresees a move pizza or even turn on lights like IoT, so we’re moving into new areas.” to more immersive, interaction- as part of a smart home At recent trade events the firm has based experiences. “If you can walk system. Apple is reportedly demonstrated a complete IoT service, with into a room and say ‘turn on the TV’ looking to develop a similar cameras and apps. “We can offer a complete or ‘tell me what the temperature is’… device using its Siri voice white label package to an operator,” says North, that could come from the box [with] assistant technology, and the describing a cloud-hosted IoT solution that the box as an IoT hub or controller.” potential has not been lost on “works quite seamlessly with the set-top-box”. traditional set-top makers. Describing the real-world implications of “We’ve all seen what this kind of offering, North gives the example An Arris design (left), Sky Q (above) Amazon’s trying to do with of someone ringing the doorbell while you are and Amazon Echo (right) represent Echo, initially in the States. watching TV. “It pauses your TV, brings up a new directions for CPE devices. We see that type of technology picture of someone on the doorstep.” Another

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p12-14,16 STBs DTVE JunJul16v5st.indd 13 26/05/2016 18:05 Technology focus > Advanced set-top boxes Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

application is using the camera and TV link-up of the Reference Design Kit (RDK). Originally “We focused on set-tops, next was RDK as a sophisticated baby monitor, he says. conceived as a common framework for Broadband and now that community is trying Arris’ chief technology officer, customer operators to power set-top boxes, the focus of to figure out the software profile for the next premises equipment, Charles Cheevers, the software bundle has since broadened out. connected devices in the home. That’s the agrees that connectivity is key to the future of Driven by a roadmap determined by a multi-year journey,” says Steve Heeb, president the set-top box. “I have a 10-year view that the community of more than 275 companies, the and general manager of RDK Management. set-top doesn’t disappear all together, because initial RDK-V (video) software for STBs has While RDK for the set-top has won big it’s never going to disappear. But one thing that recently been supplemented with a new RDK backing from the likes of Comcast and Liberty could happen is that every room has a wireless software solution available for broadband Global, Heeb says it is RDK-B deployments, device in it, and the wireless device could be gateways called RDK-B (broadband). rather than RDK-V, that are tracking ahead something as unobtrusive as possible.” With better WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, Cheevers sees the potential of the set-top box Roku’s Now TV box reflects industry shifts as an “IoT hub” that could have implications that extend into health, wellbeing and medical Sky is gearing up to launch a new Roku-powered market, as well as bring increased appeal to the applications. [If] someone is sent home from Now TV box later summer that will give users current Now TV market,” says Ferrone. hospital he is typically sitting in front of the TV,” access to live linear TV channels for the first The new iteration of Now TV box speaks to says Cheevers, explaining that a set-top could time, alongside on-demand content. the continued evolution of viewing habits – a interact with the censor on medical devices to The new device, which the companies first wave of change that Roku will also continue to do tasks like monitor blood pressure. announced back in January, will further a benefit from in markets outside of the UK. partnership that dates back to 2013 – when Sky “Broadcast standards are quite geographically launched its first Now TV box and inadvertently specific. This will be a box designed for the UK Gateway to the future kick-started Roku’s operator partnership market but there are several other markets programme. that use standards and technologies not so For many industry-watchers it is the gateway, Roku’s vice-president of pay TV, Andrew dissimilar from the UK,” says Ferrone. “Roku is a not the set-top box that will take centre stage Ferrone, says that the new Now TV box marks globally scalable platform, so certainly it’s been in this brave new world of smart-home an evolution of the product, which was last designed with that in mind.” capabilities. For Technicolor’s Walkenhorst, upgraded in 2015, offering a revamped user Indeed, the US-based company is already as intelligence moves toward the gateway, a interface and a “leap forwards” in terms of making in-roads in markets like Australia, where certain level of commoditisation will take place search and discovery. Telstra partnered with Roku last year to offer in the set-top box space. Adding in linear channels also recognises the its streaming service and player, Telstra TV, to “What we’re seeing more [of] is requests to “importance of free-to-air in the UK market”, consumers. enhance the gateway and less to enhance the and the “positioning of the Now TV service as In the US, Time Warner Cable started trialling set-top box,” he says. “We’re seeing set-top a viable pay TV option”, according to Ferrone. TWC TV in late 2015, offering its pay TV service, boxes becoming less and less advanced and Since the launch of its standalone over-the- unbundled from its traditional set-top box, we’re seeing our gateways becoming more top offering, Sky has been keen to stress that through Roku streaming devices. Charter and advanced – more radios, more capabilities, Now TV is not cannibalistic to its core business. Comcast have since followed suit with Roku more memory, more CPU capabilities.” At the recent TV Connect conference in London, apps for their respective Spectrum and Xfinity At the recent TV Connect conference, Sky’s director of business development and TV services. Deutsche Telekom’s UK head of business partnerships, Emma Lloyd, said that 90% of “Consumer behaviour is undeniable. Roku development, Jon Carter, predicted that IoT will Now TV users had never considered a Sky streamed 5.5 billion hours last year – that was up disrupt “where value is, how it’s captured and service before – a statistic also cited by Ferrone. from three billion hours the year before and so the relationship you have with your customer” However, by bringing together linear free- with change comes challenges, but with change and said that from later this year its Speedport to-air channels – watched, if research is to be comes opportunities as well,” says Ferrone. “The router will have smart home capabilities built believed, by an ageing viewing population – with market never stops changing. What we try to do in – paving the way for its use in applications the on-demand Roku channels favoured by is enable operators to bridge that gap to this like energy management and security. millennial viewers, Sky is likely to appeal to a new streaming world by providing them with the “Our view is actually it’s the router [that] is wider audience with its new box. platform for distribution, driving engagement the most natural and most obvious place in “I don’t know if I can quite comment on and ultimately driving monetisation through terms of providing the level of quality of service shifting demographics, but certainly we think advanced services.” in terms of consistency of experience for the that it will have an appeal to a broader customer,” said Carter, who dismissed the smart TV as not having enough “headroom” to Roku’s box for Now TV be used as a smart hub. addresses changing The increased promise of the gateway can viewer habits. be seen elsewhere in the development path

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p12-14,16 STBs DTVE JunJul16v5st.indd 14 26/05/2016 18:05 Q&A: Charles Dawes, Rovi

Charles Dawes, Senior Director, International Marketing, Rovi talks about the importance of metadata in content discovery and the role of voice technology.

What are the key challenges faced by broadcasters and TV operators on multiple factors, for instance what’s trending in the news. Rovi uses in enabling content discovery and how ‘fit for purpose’ typically is the our patented Knowledge Graph technology to achieve this, looking at metadata that is available from various sources? over 100,000 sources to generate 100 million smart tags, 20 million key In today’s entertainment discovery environment the consumer expects word assignments and 545,000 sub genres. Something that wouldn’t be to have a visually rich discovery experience. This can present a challenge possible with just our human editors. to both the broadcaster and the operator as they need to provide a level of information that is over and above a simple set of time, title and What are the specific metadata requirements for advanced search synopsis. For example, many user interfaces are now displaying series and recommendation features such as voice-based discovery? content using thumbnail images. This means that the TV operators As I intimated in the last answer, the key to providing the answers for require all broadcasters to provide episodic images for their content, advanced search, discovery and conversation is the Rovi Knowledge something that can be challenging. Companies like Rovi not only Graph. This ensures that results are continually updated and sorted by aggregate and standardise the information for thousands of channels relevance and popularity using a cross-section of sources, while driving a but also enhance it with deep, dynamic, and descriptive metadata to deep understanding of relationships and intersections. We also employ meet TV operators’ increasing needs for next-generation guidance a natural language-understanding engine that can comprehend experiences. Companies like Rovi are best placed to provide this type negation, timing and context to ensure that the results you’re looking of information as they can standardise the delivery across multiple for will appear first. channels to ensure the operator gets the metadata they require. What are the other key challenges in delivering effective voice-based How important is international scale in supporting broadcasters with discovery and how might they be overcome? the metadata they need to provide content discovery tools to their One of the largest challenges doesn’t come from the technology itself, customers and to how rich is the metadata available across different but rather humans and their experience of voice interaction in the international markets? past. Previous systems that are what I’d term ‘command-based’ haven’t In today’s market we see more and more industry consolidation. This allowed you to interact in a ‘conversational’ way and move naturally from in turn leads to more international deployments of discovery tools. one query to the next as you would when you talk with your partner or Operators are looking to be as efficient as possible and minimise friends, and people haven’t experienced voice-based discovery as they their integration points as well as ensuring a consistently high-quality should have. I’m a firm believer that the ‘conversation revolution’ is upon experience in each country in which they operate. Working with a us. ComScore has predicted that 50% of all searches will be voice-based company like Rovi that provides rich standardised metadata across more by 2020 and, as you use a system like Rovi Conversation services that than 70 countries is one way to ensure that you meet that requirement. just works, you return to it as the natural way to find your content. After You don’t need to go through multiple integrations with multiple all, what’s simpler than sitting on your sofa at the end of a long day and suppliers who might not all have the same level of information available. saying ‘show me some classic British comedy that I haven’t watched in a while …’ and your entertainment provider finds you those classics from What combination of automated processing and manual intervention across all your entertainment sources. is best-suited to generate a truly comprehensive set of metadata for programming services? At the base level, editorially curated metadata forms a core foundation, however in today’s world we need to move above and beyond this ‘static’ To find out more about how Rovi’s solutions can help you deliver the set of information. Advanced discovery solutions need to have metadata most engaging content discovery experience please contact us at that is aware of how content relationships change dynamically based [email protected] or visit our website at www.rovicorp.com

pXX Rovi Q&A DTVE JunJul16v2st.indd 1 25/05/2016 11:25 Technology focus > Advanced set-top boxes Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

of expectations. In May RDK Management Nagra’s IntuiTV is designed to address revealed that more than 15 million devices changing user behaviour. running the RDK have now been deployed by operators worldwide with RDK-B now In line with this thinking, Nagra recently in use by SoC and CPE suppliers, including introduced IntuiTV – a set-top box and cloud- integration in Intel’s Puma chipsets, and is based platform that can be configured with a “making its way onto software roadmaps of line-up of content and TV services including operators around the globe.” live TV, VoD and SVoD. As Smith-Chaigneau Arris already supplies Comcast’s RDK-V- puts it, “[it is] our concept of how we think supported X1 set-top box, but for Cheevers a very advanced, user-focused, consumer- RDK-B promises to give RDK uptake a boost focused offering would be.” owing to compelling features such as support Humax’s North predicts that “some form for IoT, support for IP video and better WiFi of PVR in the home” will be around for a long capabilities. time as a “lot of people still like to keep their “The broadband piece now is coming up favourite programmes stored ready to watch generation off the ability of the leading games on an inflection point,” he says, with cable on a local drive” – despite the rise of catch- console. So when old games go to retire off the operators in particular making a bigger push up TV. “I don’t think the simple, tiny set-top leading games console, they retire to the set-top into IP. “Within RDK Broadband there’s a box is ready yet and won’t be for some time. box,” says Cheevers. He draws parallels to the move to support video. So the gateway itself Even when you get to the point where there’s latest version of Apple TV, which now runs on becomes a video multiplex. Its job is not only more in the cloud, I think there will be a lot the iOS-based tvOS operating system, allowing to send HSD [high speed data] but also now to more sophisticated equipment in the home iOS developers to create new apps and games treat and improve IP video in a way that makes that will enable you to do more things – it will for the device. it much more viable to work in the home.” just become a different kind of proposition,” The RDK’s Steve Heeb agrees with the notion that the set-top box “will probably get higher functionality [and] will probably shrink “We focused on set-tops, next was RDK in size” over time. “Things will expand with applications. I think the set-top boxes will get Broadband and now that community is more powerful, slimlined and they’ll also get, I trying to figure out the software profile for think, better looking.” However, like his industry confreres he the next connected devices in the home.” doesn’t see the box disappearing. “The set-top Steve Heeb, RDK box has a very powerful role and a lot of time it is with security – whether it’s DRM, whether says North. “Now someone has one set-top it’s conditional access – and I think that is STB: here to stay box in the lounge and maybe a second room. [going to be] around for quite some time.” The difference in the future might be several As the set-top box industry continues to Unsurprisingly those working in this space are devices around the home, so there will be evolve, it is important to note that an ever- keen to stress the ongoing significance of the multiple devices all communicating and smaller pool of companies will determine the trusty set-top box. “We get this story year in, sharing content.” changes that will shape it from here out. year out, that the set-top box is dead – it hasn’t For Arris’ Cheevers, there is potential to Technicolor completed its buyout of Cisco’s died yet in the 20 years that I’ve been in the move in other directions in terms of set-top set-top box division for US$600 million last industry,” says Nagra’s senior director, product capabilities. Developments in the smartphone year and Arris closed its £1.4 billion (E1.9 marketing, Anthony Smith-Chaigneau. and tablet space in recent years point at the billion) acquisition of Pace this January. In the From a practical point of view, Smith- increasingly sophisticated processing and last couple of months, Rovi has also agreed to Chaigneau says that set-top box functionality graphics capabilities of small buy TiVo for US$1.1 billion. cannot migrate entirely to smart TVs and the chips, and he believes that these Announcing the Rovi-TiVo acquisition, cloud because of the lack of accountability could be used to incorporate IP- Rovi CEO Tom Carson said that the combined should apps and services no longer be delivered gaming into the set- firm, which will be called TiVo, will offer supported on certain devices: “There are some top. services “across platforms” to a customer people that consider the set-top box to be “I've often recommended that base that includes “traditional, over-the-top fundamental for their business, because they we make the set-top box one and emerging players.” own the customer, they own the device. If the The comments heavily suggest that TiVo device goes wrong, they’re responsible for it.” will continue to move away from its roots as a pure DVR provider, and serve as a timely Apple TV’s latest iteration runs on the iOS- reminder of a set-top box market that is in a based tvOS platform. state of flux. l

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p17 IBC Conf DTVE JunJul16.indd 1 25/05/2016 11:52 Technology focus > Service provider WiFi Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

Wireless world

Growth in devices that can play back video means that more demands than ever are being placed on domestic WiFi networks. With 4K UHD TV and VR on the way, the problem is only going to get worse. Stuart Thomson looks at possible solutions.

multi-play HD – channels, supplied to an ever-expanding Charles Cheevers, chief technology officer, Fixed-line operators have number of devices in the home, the burden on customer premises equipment, at technology long supported in-home WiFi as part of WiFi is becoming greater. provider Arris, says that operators must build their broadband offering and, more recently, The issue is particularly pressing for service in-home networks that can cope with the in-home WiFi has been used to deliver TV providers as problems with WiFi connectivity expected growth in bandwidth consumption everywhere services. Now, with the launch of account for a huge proportion of calls to their driven by the proliferation of connected devices advanced TV offerings, including complete customer care centres and ultimately for and the popularity of ultra-high-bandwidth line-ups of HD – and increasingly also 4K Ultra people churning from their services. applications such as virtual reality gaming.

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Technology providers are addressing the of devices now being used to consume video challenges posed by increased use of WiFi. within the home. “OTT streaming is not that big in Europe yet but it is in the US,” he says. The other two tipping points relate to HD Taking a basic mobile device upstairs in and UHD virtual reality applications. The a home will reduce the performance of that addition of HD virtual reality could require device in playing back video. 350Mbps while full UHD virtual reality could The only clear solution, says Çelebi, is to lead to bandwidth demand over 10 times that build multiple access points in the home. “In required today for IP video – perhaps 675Mbps. particular, you have mobile devices and people Growth in demand for these high-bandwidth moving around inside the house, away from applications will go hand-in-hand with growth the main WiFi access points – this creates a in the number of connected devices – tablets, perfect storm,” he says. To solve the problem smartphones, wireless cameras, and other operators are now deploying a minimum of devices – all of them consuming video two access points and often as many as six, he wirelessly. says. “The good news is you can keep on adding them until you get coverage everywhere,” he says. For Sky’s advanced TV deployment, Sky WiFi architecture Q, in which AirTies was involved, the UK pay TV operator “turned all its set-top boxes With a growing need to move beyond best- to smart access points” enabling homes with effort WiFi and support the delivery of multiple multiple TVs to distribute video around the streams of video to multiple devices, operators home wirelessly. are still working out how to deliver quality While delivering the in-home network fully assurance for in-home video distribution. through wireless is the most cost-efficient For Bülent Çelebi, CEO of wireless way to go, some operators have successfully networking specialist AirTies, operators have passed the cost of connecting access points to move beyond straightforward solutions via hybrid deployments, using Powerline or such as deploying modems that work in Multimedia over Cable Access (MoCA) as both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands – the latter is an in-home backbone, to their consumers. able to deliver higher throughput and is less “You have cable operators in the US charging prone to interference, but is effective only US$10 a month for premium WiFi, so they over shorter distances – which he says is “not are making incremental money from it,” says good enough” to solve the problem. Deploying Çelebi. Operators can also provide an in-home higher-specification devices such as DOCSIS network to subscribers who trade up to higher gateways with 8x8 channel configurations will broadband offerings as an incentive to do so. be insufficient, he says. “Operators are investigating what path to go down,” says Çelebi. However, until now Hybrid solutions few operators have deployed advanced WiFi systems. Single access points situated under Çelebi says that a ‘pure WiFi’ solution can the staircase or out of sight in a cupboard currently provide about 200Mbps around remain the most common basis for delivering the house, which, he says, “at this point is While video streaming, even of 4K UHD TV in-home connectivity – a situation that more than good enough for multiple UHD content, along with a migration of QAM video technologists in the field believe will ultimately streams”. Further down the line, there may be to IP will ultimately only require about 25Mbps be unsustainable. a more pressing need for hybrid solutions, he within the home, Cheevers foresees four Brick walls inside homes immediately says. However, not all of these are equal. While tipping points that could dramatically increase compromise the bandwidth available from plumbing in Ethernet cabling is clearly the in-home bandwidth demand. WiFi. In the US, where houses are often made best solution available, relying on Powerline is One is the switch to UHD video over IP, of wood, this is less of a problem, but even in much less reliable, he claims, because of the leading to a fourfold growth in bandwidth. A areas where wood construction is predominant, huge variations in bandwidth available from second is uptake of wirelessly connected 8K tiling in bathrooms and heavier exterior walls different sockets and the difficulty of predicting TVs, thin enough to be wall-mounted, that will can present challenges. In Europe, where available bandwidth. For this reason, he says, likely be wirelessly connected, avoiding the brick and concrete are more widely used, the Powerline is best used as a complementary need for an ungainly set-top box to be mounted challenges are even more pronounced. backbone solution to wireless, adding in alongside them. Together with existing The situation in the US is also exacerbated, capacity to what is already available. applications, this could require 170Mbps. says Çelebi, by the proliferation in the number For Çelebi, using a combination of the

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p18-22 WiFi DTVE JunJul16v4st.indd 19 26/05/2016 18:22 Technology focus > Service provider WiFi Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

different technologies available should enable that would deliver speeds over Ethernet cabling bandwidth delivered to the home is generally operators to stay ahead of the development of of 2.5Gbps to 5Gbps, requiring a less heavy more of a bottleneck than the WiFi network the broadband pipe into the home and changes investment than 10GbE. An alternative, he itself. Within the home, he says, the capability in consumer expectations about available says, is to use a pure wireless solution, perhaps of technologies such as Ruckus’ own Beamflex bandwidth. based on the 802.11ax standard delivered over a enables the wireless signal to be focused, Wireless technology itself will get smarter Mesh or 60GHz network. permitting more devices to be connected, and will make more use of available spectrum The future in-home network may require generally without the need for additional access to improve bandwidth and performance, says Çelebi. “The next wave of innovation will focus on making use of available spectrum,” “Nothing frightens an operator more than he says. The 802.11ax standard represents the next generation of the WiFi standard and moving everything to WiFi because [poor will help. 802.11ax make use of time division quality WiFi] is the thing that can make multiplexing techniques to ensure optimal use of the available spectrum, delivering a likely customers churn fastest.” fourfold improvement in bandwidth compared Charles Cheevers, Arris with the current 802.11ac standard. Use of this technology can go hand in hand with technical creativity from service providers in persuading points in small-to-average sized homes. innovations such as AirTies’ client steering, customers to pay extra for services and to “Nothing frightens an operator more than says Çelebi, enabling slower client devices to position gateway devices more centrally in the moving everything to WiFi because [poor be kept out of various bands so that they don’t home. The two things are not unconnected. quality WiFi] is the thing that can make drive down the speed of the network. Operators have been busy working on designs customers churn fastest,” says Cheevers. Video Most agree that operators will have to invest that consumers would be happier to display in transmission requires a very high degree of significantly in their in-home networks. Arris’ the open rather than hide under the staircase, reliability. The general rule, he says, is that Cheevers postulates a typical current home but, as Cheevers points out, “the cost is not you need to provide four times the bandwidth network based on a single WiFi access point insubstantial”. to the home that you want to guarantee for a using 2.4GHz spectrum, probably poorly For Steve Johnson, regional director for particular service such as 4K UHD TV. He says located and which does not connect to low- northern Europe at WiFi technology specialist that operators may try to persuade consumers power Internet of Things devices. Ruckus Wireless, service providers have to pay, directly or indirectly, for differentiated Cheevers says that the ‘Gigabit home’ could typically sought to deploy WiFi using low-cost bandwidth, with premium services being involve a primary gateway – possibly an 8x8 consumer technology platforms that provide privileged over other services. device, and 4x4 extenders to enhance coverage, best-effort coverage and bandwidth, with many “If you buy a pay-per-view event and your using both 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum. The areas within the home not covered. The use kids are doing whatever they want elsewhere, in-home backbone could be wireless, or wired, of multiple devices simultaneously is causing then nothing will stop the pay-per-view because based on Ethernet or MoCA. problems and this is only going to get worse you are paying for that to be the priority and The need to connect IoT devices will lead as more consumers use more devices at the the other [uses] can be throttled a bit,” he says. to the addition of low-power radios, possibly same time. “That is leading to a requirement “Free VoD will have a lower priority than paid based on the Zigbee/Thread protocol. There for enterprise-class technology as against for VoD – we think there are dynamics in the is also potential in the future for the use of consumer-level technology,” says Johnson. market that will allow us to prioritise services.” 60GHz spectrum – part of what is known as “Operators are willing to invest.” The delivery of data to an ever-growing millimetre wave band – which can deliver very For Johnson, the shared nature of WiFi number of devices in the home is not without high bandwidth over very short distances. means that growth in the number of internet- its challenges. “When you start adding different To feed the network, the backbone could be connected devices in the home is the key applications together you have the equivalent built on a hybrid solution involving existing challenge. He says security of WiFi is also of an enterprise network in the home,” says cabling, new cabling or via a pure wireless becoming increasingly important. AirTies’ Çelebi. “However consumers don’t solution, says Cheevers. have their own IT department and they do have “We try to leverage what we have. There is size and cost constraints.” coax which is more prevalent in the US. You Number of devices Çelebi says that AirTies is involved in field could have a 10Gbps coax network that could trials that feature 25-30 devices feeding off feed these [extenders] without having to rewire,” In-home networks are also increasingly the same network. As the Internet of Things he says. “Powerline is another option but it having to cope with applications that require begins to take off, things are “only going to get struggles to give you multi-Gigabit speeds due huge bandwidth and bandwidth at irregular worse”, he says. In addition to the proliferation to interference and so on. Structured cabling is intervals, but for Johnson this is less of an issue of devices, consumers are also becoming another option.” Regarding the latter, Cheevers than the number of devices. more interested in ultra-bandwidth-hungry says that there is considerable interest in the “However, the biggest challenge is operator applications such as virtual reality gaming, effort to create a standard, dubbed 802.3bz, bandwidth,” he says, arguing that the requiring huge amounts of capacity.

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While a number of technologists believe more robust data model and better remote According to Nevo Junowicz, three out of the time has come for operators to seriously management on the LAN side of things,” says five routers returned for refurbishment are consider investing more heavily in multiple Marks. “Another thing they do after that is look found to be in perfect condition. The problem in-home access points and extenders, others more closely at the data collection and analytics is interference of the signal, with neighbouring argue that there is still a lot that could be done piece – how to use analytics capabilities across WiFi clouds and indoor and outdoor units to make existing deployments work better. the whole infrastructure.” causing each other problems. The problem is Alan Marks, senior solutions marketing Marks concedes that there is a cost associated even greater, he says, in the 5GHz spectrum manager at Nokia, says that changing the with putting TR-181 capability in gateways than in the 2.4GHz range. physical architecture of the WiFi network only but points out that this will enable operators According to Cisco’s own analysis, over half makes sense if operators know what is going to configure the in-home network more of installed residential gateways are tuned to on inside the network. To enable a better efficiently, including by showing subscribers a non-optimal channel both in the 2.4GHz understanding of the in-home network, cable how to optimise their networks without the an the 5GHz spectrum ranges. One in 10 operators have for the last couple of years been need for an expensive truck roll. Analytics gateways are transmitting on too much power, deploying TR-069-enabled devices. TR-069 is can help the operator and subscriber figure leading them to interfere with a further 15% of a technical specification that enables remote out what needs to be done, including whether gateways located nearby. Overall, the density management of end-user devices. More there is a need for a physical reconfiguration of of residential gateways, small-to-medium recently, operators have also started deploying the network he says. business WiFi installations and outdoor access TR-181, a data model-enabling specification Meanwhile, Jonathan Nevo Junowicz, points are contributing to the problem. that works in conjunction with more recent business development manager for the For Nevo Junowicz, operators would do TR-069-enabled devices. Residential Clean Air project at Cisco, well to more effectively manage their indoor “WiFi-related home networking issues are maintains that currently “no-one is optimising networks to minimise the interference the top drivers of calls to customer care centres. in-home WiFi”, which accounts for the vast problem rather than invest in new hardware. What we’ve seen in the cable segment is an bulk of calls to care centres. Typically these calls, To help solve this problem, Cisco has adoption of TR-069 remote management which are already expensive to the operator and proposed what it describes as a Residential capabilities. Operators have been rolling out frustrating to the customer, result in a router Clean Air cloud-based offering, designed to TR-069-enabled gateways that give them a being (expensively) replaced by the operator. manage the in-home network remotely to

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AirTies’ client-steering technology is Implementing a major role for WiFi designed to improve WiFi performance. outside the home is more challenging. Cable operators in particular have investigated a reality and IP video services. The problem ‘WiFi first’ approach to delivering mobile data is when you mix 802.11ax with 802.11ac. It – and voice – to their subscribers, both inside is not quite as inefficient as ‘all 802.11ac’ but and outside the home. WiFi First can mean there will be collisions.” This is a problem that a number of things, however. The use of in- will only be worked out over time as 802.11ac home networks to deliver wider public access devices are phased out. through partitioning and multiple SSIDs has Cellular technologies could also potentially been widely discussed and implemented by a cause problems, although the extent to which number of operators, but it meets with mixed this is likely to be true is contentious. In the US, reactions from technologists. the telecoms regulator, the FCC, has allowed Çelebi, for example, is extremely sceptical operators to use unlicensed 5GHz spectrum about the wider potential of the use of for LTE as LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), which has partitioned home networks to deliver public given rise to concerns that it could seriously WiFi. “The first problem is that these access compromise the efficiency of WiFi networks points are in poor places [for public WiFi] using the same spectrum. In Europe, where such as the study or garage. The WiFi signal regulators have insisted on a ‘listen-before-talk’ has to cut across an exterior wall which might avoid interference issues arising. He says that protocol to avoid this issue, the 3GPP Group be concrete, and then someone has to walk trials have shown that once a network was has created ‘Licence Assisted Access’, whereby in front of the house and make a connection properly configured, traffic across that network LTE signals will only use the spectrum in time – and it could be a poor connection,” he says. increased by 30%. slots when the WiFi traffic is not using it. Such a solution will, he says, only be effective “The service provider, without changing if operators use multiple frequencies and client the architecture of these networks, with steering with multiple access points close to the a small client [download] can deliver the Cellular technology street. correct configuration for any given consumer With over 50% of mobile traffic estimated to premises equipment,” he says. “The ‘last meter’ While cellular technology could theoretically originate from inside the home, it could make problem has not been solved and optimised compromise WiFi performance, the fact that more sense to focus on ensuring seamless and most vendors have not taken care of it.” the same companies that operate cellular roaming between cellular and WiFi networks Nevo Junowicz claims that Cisco will be able to networks generally also support WiFi makes once people go inside. differentiate between homes that simply need this less likely in practice. In any case, while mobile companies have a reconfiguration of their existing equipment There seems to be a consensus that cellular been effective in pressing for more and more and those that require additional extenders and will not emerge as a substitute for WiFi. Further spectrum for wireless networks, WiFi has access points to deliver the desired bandwidth. down the line there is ultra high-bandwidth emerged as the clear technology of choice for “This is the first time that the service provider 5G mobile to look forward to. For in-home most things that consumers want to do in the has been able to see inside the home.” networking, however, WiFi is likely to reign digital home. For Nevo Junowicz, cellular technologies supreme and there will be no place for current “The World – led by Apple and Google – contribute to the problems, with Bluetooth and or future cellular technologies in delivering in- is going ‘WiFi First’,” says Nevo Junowicz, microwave technologies active in the 2.4GHz home connectivity. who adds that, just as SMS revenues were range and LTE-U promising to colonise large AirTies’ Çelebi thinks WiFi will be able to decimated by the arrival of the iPhone and sections of the 5GHz spectrum. He says that the provide the capacity necessary to support the all that followed, so video revenues are now crunch facing operators as they look to a future emerging range of devices and applications running towards Netflix and voice revenues are involving more devices hanging on the WiFi that consumers are likely to want, and does heading to Facebook. network, consuming every greater amounts of not believe that cellular technology will have WiFi is clearly the technology of choice bandwidth, could be deferred significantly by a significant role in delivering connectivity in to enable the digital home to reach its full solving the interference problems that exist in the home. Operators will be able to manage the potential. But this means that the fixed-line the home today. WiFi-based in-home network to support the broadband service operators that provide that Arris’ Cheevers points out that legacy devices that rely on it, he says: “The capability network as part of their overall offering of networks could also pose problems. He says is there so why bring in another standard and multiplay services – including TV – are going that 802.11ax’s ability to deliver a step change technology? I don’t see any reason for that.” to have their work cut out to make sure that the in in-home bandwidth could be compromised For Ruckus’s Johnson, WiFi is only going coming wave of high bandwidth applications to some extent if it has to coexist with 802.11ac. to become more, rather than less, important, using these networks does not result in “802.11ax is four times as efficient as 802.11ac. with cellular technologies continuing to be their call centres being swamped by angry That’s great. It gives you 400Mbps instead of challenged to provide effective in-building customers, leading to a dramatic shift upwards 100Mbps so you have plenty of room for virtual coverage. in churn. l

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MIPCOM® MIPJunior® are registered trademarks of Reed MIDEM. Création THE WORLD’S ENTERTAINMENT CONTENT MARKET 17-20 OCTOBER 2016 // CANNESFRANCE MIPCOM.COM 23/05/2016 14:41 25/05/2016 11:44 Technology focus > Cloud TV Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

Cloud cover

to match the of the set-top box and use DevOps models and In order heightened consumer ubiquitous IT tools like HTML5 and JavaScript Cloud DVR expectation for TV everywhere, all service for app development.” providers have cloud technologies on their It’s also worth observing that cloud tech Some reflection of this shift in thinking is in roadmap. Rollout is hampered in many cases promises to revolutionise business models the terminology which, in relation to DVR by existing investments in legacy on-premises even further. “The next big step is providing services, has shifted from RS-DVR to nDVR equipment, copyright and legislative issues and events-based channels and disaster recovery to cDVR. However, while cloud-based DVR is some technical nuts that have yet to be cracked. capability and ultimately doing full linear being deployed, “there’s no big bang shift in The benefits, though, of a shift to the cloud playout of sophisticated channels in the cloud,” behaviour” according to Accedo’s EMEA vice- are widely understood. As John Carlucci, says James Gilbert, co-founder, Pixel Power. “In president Adam Nightingale. president and chief technology officer, Alticast, that light, cloud DVR and ad insertion are good Accedo expect over 50% of cDVR penetration says: “What’s important about cloud is how it tests of the infrastructure, but in terms of the to have occurred by 2022, roughly the helps operators to break free from the bounds future, the cloud is about much more.” timeframe that Ericsson also forecasts. Parks

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Associates research predicts cDVR subscribers a unique copy is required for every subscriber. This plays into the three main technical worldwide will total 24 million by 2018. Each deployment has its own challenges and challenges: scalability, flexibility and reliability. Nokia, which recently took over Alcatel operators must ultimately decide between a Regarding the first, says Mestric, “We need Lucent, says it has nine deployments for private, shared, or hybrid architecture. storage that can scale from a few TB to tens of cDVR including Liberty Global, Telefónica, “In the US for instance, the landmark petabytes. We need to ensure the platform can Numericable and Vodafone Portugal. [2008] Cablevision decision deemed a unique ramp from start to full deployment.” South Korea’s KT Skylife is among those copy saved per user as the standard, although More flexibility in the system is vital to make using software specialist Alticast’s solutions we are still seeing MSOs looking to redress sure the service is optimised based on service to deliver either cDVR or hybrid systems that that decision independently,” says Tomer. “In or use case requirements. “With cDVR you leverage the set-top box and cloud. Spanish cable service provider Euskaltel meanwhile launched cDVR last year using a Nagra solution to offer a multiscreen service on legacy set-top “The always-on nature of the cable network boxes and OTT to connected devices. enables the cloud to be harnessed so The upsides are numerous. For end that operators can deliver advanced user users, content deployed in the cloud enables multiscreen access and recording of multiple experiences.” simultaneous shows. Without the limit John Carlucci, Alticast of a 500GB hard disk, storage capacity is dynamically allocated. In addition, the Europe it varies according to region with issues can deploy a number of end user services like relatively high failure rate of set-top disks and ranging from high costs [of deploying a private live restart or catch-up,” says Mestric. “The the consequent loss of personalised content copy solution], to securing the rights to content characteristics of a system for live are, however, can be mitigated. Customers can also retain and consolidating within a variety of regions not the same as for VoD or catch-up, so based recordings when they upgrade to new devices. with different regulations.” on the requirements of operators a system has For the service provider there are capital Matters are evolving, at least in some to have the flexibility to be optimised. Moreover, savings from using shared and scaleable markets. For example, new legislation before if an operator starts with catch-up they need to storage, and theoretically fewer service issue the French Senate should provide a legal be able to add full cDVR as it negotiates rights call outs. Ericsson says a typical truck roll costs framework encouraging the deployment of with content providers.” Platform robustness US$75 (E67) per subscriber. This was the main cDVR solutions in France. ensures consumers have access to content and driver for the deployment of cDVR by operators Private copy deployments are extremely don’t lose it. “If a hard disk fails it needs to be such as Cablevision in the US and KPN in the costly. Tomer says, “A private copy system recovered very quickly. Performance and speed Netherlands, it suggests. “Associated costs requires a unique copy of a programme to is the key criteria,” he says. quickly add up given that approximately 5% be saved for every subscriber that requests it, At the network level the technology is of hard drives fail per year and new features meaning recordings cannot be shared. Each now available from streaming and content and upgrades require hardware replacement,” single, unique copy of the programme has to delivery network vendors such as Harmonic says Itai Tomer, head of cloud DVR, Ericsson. be saved for each user, which requires a huge, or Edgeware, enabling robust solutions to be “A centralised network is more reliable than growing volume of storage, very high recording deployed. Of course, ‘cloud’ in cDVR doesn’t distributed drives.” and playout concurrency and that can be mean a ‘public’ cloud. “Operators are, for the More importantly, cDVR delivers a greater problematic to sustain.” most part, still skittish about public cloud due degree of control over content for customer, service provider and advertiser alike. “A content provider can assign rules around which content can be recorded and for what period,” says Roland Mestric, Nokia’s head of video marketing. “Such data can be used by advertisers who can place relevant ads around content when it is actually watched. You can also ensure the ads aren’t skipped.” However, technical and licensing challenges are still hampering rapid advancement of this kind of service. Negotiated rights vary from programme to programme and country to country, with the pivotal issue being whether

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to concerns about security, quality of service, connected screens will become more benefit as much as a mitigation of the extra and control. So these cDVR deployments are transparent to broadcasters, brand advertisers, cost associated with deploying full targeting happening on private clouds,” says Yuval Fisher, and measurement firms. capability. More important, new ad insertion CTO, MVPD, Imagine Communications. “The deployment of next generation fully mechanisms are based on software, and that “The general view is that a cloud is an infinitely connected set-top boxes, complemented by brings significant operational simplicity.” scalable and fungible collection of resources. other screens, is clearly the enabler that will Cloud ad insertion also overcomes key But the reality for cDVR is that this doesn’t drive demand,” says Trudelle. problems with ad blockers, so operators can scale. As a result, cDVR deployments require While early adopters are beginning to increase revenue from ads, although it won’t specialised clouds, and this is something the implement ad insertion technologies, others totally eradicate blocking. industry is just now digesting.” are in wait and see mode. “It’s early days,” says “Generally the user experience is better The verdict on cDVR is that it confers benefits Tomer. “One thing is clear: operators agree that with cloud ad insertions but probably the to operators and users by enabling the delivery changing viewing habits combined with OTT most important advantage is that an operator of content to multiple screens. “Rights holders video and innovation in cDVR technology have is in control of the ads, rather than having to are also starting to realise that cDVR actually changed the game for advertising.” rely on the platform owner,” says Accedo’s offers new opportunities to monetise content The promise of cloud-based delivery in Nightingale. with services that appeal to a new generation of multiscreen TV viewers that value convenience and flexibility more than any other market segment before,” says Simon Trudelle, senior “The general view is that a cloud is an director, product marketing, Nagra. infinitely scalable and fungible collection of However, says Tomer, “cDVR isn’t a trivial resources. But the reality for cDVR is that this deployment and legal issues, storage concerns and performance requirements must be doesn’t scale.” considered.” Yuval Fisher, Imagine Communications

relation to advertising is that it can help enable Whether server-side or client side, ad Cloud ad insertion a much more effective and deeper degree of insertion is now well defined from a technology targeting than has hitherto been possible. standpoint. Client side solutions include using Ad insertion has long been seen as another “The real value of the cloud here is one player to play the main content while a central application of cloud technology. targeting,” says Imagine’s Fisher. “A different second is used to play ads. Nightingale says this However, generally speaking, operators are way to look at this is that as advertising moves solution “permits the app to initialise the players yet to fully embrace the cloud to deliver ad towards impression-based targeting, it is also ahead of playing the content and then switches insertion across live and on-demand services. moving toward software and cloud deployment players [brings a player to the foreground] According to Thinkbox, citing 2015 as a natural evolution in how solutions are when required.” He says the customer doesn’t figures, linear still accounts for 81% of all TV packaged.” see any buffering or delays between the main broadcaster viewing in an advanced market like Cloud enables scaling – the ability to utilise content and ads. “This solution generally works the UK. As overall cloud-based on-demand TV more ad insertion resources when needed, well but it does require a lot more memory on consumption increases, the value in managing such as at prime time. This is “basically a cost the client device.” addressable ads delivered to personalised, saving feature” for Fisher. “So it’s not really a Alternatively, client-stitching applications make use of one player, and while playing either the ad or the main content, are able to buffer the other content for the next item ready to be played when required. “No buffering is seen by the customer and the UX is seamless,” he says. The player can also be given a playlist of assets that play sequentially one after another. Dynamic stream stitching, sometimes called manifest manipulation, is performed on the server side and requires very little customisation of the client side player. Nightingale says: “The client tells the server what content the customer wants to play and any ad requirements and the server makes the

ActiveVideo has specialised in delivering UIs from the cloud.

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p24-26,28 Cloud DTVE JunJul16v6st.indd 26 26/05/2016 19:17 Q&A : Roland Mestric, Nokia

Roland Mestric, head of IP video marketing, Nokia, talks about the benefits of cloud technology to deliver advanced TV services.

What new service opportunities does cloud technology offer to service intensively use the new services from day one, but ultimately the usage providers? can be massive. This is what happens: some subscribers will try the new We all know the cloud offers cost reduction and faster time-to-market, services. Once they see the value and get used to it, they use it more. They but it also enables service providers to offer a wealth of new video spread the word and new subscribers get on board. The ramp up can take services to their subscribers. For example cloud DVR allows them to time but it is inevitable and steady. In the end, it means that the system deliver time-shifted TV services on any device. The cloud breaks the needs to scale in a cost-effective way, from a few hundred terabytes of limitations of the home-based DVR in terms of tuners and capacity, storage capacity to tens of petabytes. since end users can now record as many programs as they want, even simultaneously if they like. The failure rate of the hard disk is known to be an issue with home- based DVR. Does cloud DVR solve this? Does this translate into additional revenue for service providers? Many of us have had the annoying experience of losing our recordings Potentially, yes. These new cloud-based services can be monetised. For due to hard disk failure. Availability of the content is a key promise of cloud example, the extra DVR capacity above one terabyte can bring in a few DVR. You can easily duplicate the content into the cloud. The challenge is euros from the end user. to do it in an economical way, with performance: consumers don’t want The shift to on-demand video services, and unicast streaming in to wait a day or two before their content is recovered after a failure in the particular, also opens new revenue opportunities. With unicast the server. service provider can not only personalise the content delivered to each user but also can personalise ads delivered as well. The service providers Is content rights still slowing the adoption of cloud DVR technology? can make ads more relevant to their subscribers, for example, ensuring Looking at the economical equation only, the private copy model has they don’t get Christmas promotions during summertime if they are always been a blocking factor for cloud DVR. However, things are moving watching a content they have recorded six months earlier. and many service providers today have obtained the rights with some content providers to deploy a shared copy model, which improves the This shift to unicast you mention, isn’t it creating challenges for service business model. providers? But you need to balance this against the benefits of cloud DVR for the Definitely. The shift to unicast translates into more traffic. Fortunately consumer, the service provider and the content provider. Today we have we have some solutions to limit its impact, by caching content closer to reached a point where service providers see the payback of deploying the consumers. Content delivery networks (CDN) are widely used now in cloud DVR despite the remaining content rights issues. combination with cloud DVR. How do service providers deploy cloud DVR and is there an impact on We know video traffic can go up dramatically at certain times of the day its characteristics? if it’s unicast. How can service providers handle this? A cloud DVR platform has to adapt to the service provider needs, now and We’ve all heard about failures of OTT services to deliver popular live sport in the future. We are currently deploying cloud DVR with a mix of private events. One solution is to dimension the network to handle those traffic and shared copies, but the platform has the ability to migrate into a fully- peaks. This is very costly and is a waste of capacity since 99% of the time the shared copy model in the future. capacity needed is hundred times below the peak capacity requirements. We also have customers who start with a subset of services, for Another solution is to leverage the cloud technology by deploying an example live TV with pause and restart, and are planning to introduce elastic CDN on virtual machines, which allows to dynamically spin up and catch-up and network PVR services later. down the capacity as needed. The end user service directly impacts the system characteristics: live TV will require a high throughput while video on demand will require more Do you see other challenges remaining, for cloud DVR in particular? storage. We can dimension these two characteristics independently from Scalability is the biggest challenge. Don’t expect all the subscribers to each other and evolve them smoothly over time as the demand evolves.

pXX Nokia Q&A DTVE JunJul16v2st.indd 2 23/05/2016 16:31 Technology focus > Cloud TV Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

calls to the ad server. The ads are stitched into There are a number of instances illustrating However, some industry participants the main content and delivered to the client.” how Cloud UIs can bring a diversity of express caution. While agreeing that cloud While cloud ad insertion requires greater advanced UXs to existing set-top boxes: UXs can tap “virtually unlimited back-office pre-processing of ad content in terms of the use VoD and catch-up services with Ziggo in the CPU power” Nagra believes this is “driving the of adaptive bit-rate, video quality, sound codecs Netherlands; trend-driven UIs with multiple industry to a position of compromise” because and so on, the challenge service providers face tiles of live video on single tuner set-tops with the functionality of a native UI/UX “cannot be is often more on the business front. Liberty Puerto Rico; and the complete YouTube replicated with today’s cloud UI offering.” “With the exception of the US market, experience to upwards of 500,000 existing Anthony Smith-Chaigneau, senior director, where MVPDs actively manage some of STBs at UPC Hungary – all of which are product marketing at Nagra, says: “Cloud the advertising space on behalf of broadcast ActiveVideo deployments. Similar innovation UX deployment has its share of technology networks, demand for addressable ad insertion is taking place in the US, where Cablevision challenges. These include the latency of the remains low as the ad space is managed by was the first to make the full Hulu experience remote control, as each action of the remote has broadcasters,” says Trudelle. available on all its current-generation boxes. to be transmitted to the cloud for processing. If For scenarios where set-top box connectivity Cloud-based and set-top strategies are not network resources are limited it is difficult to and interactivity are not guaranteed or are mutually exclusive. “You’ll see the industry anticipate the actual load of the network. This limited to a subset of the subscriber base, the continue to use the cloud to deliver TV UXs is the case in particular for live/linear services cloud may not achieve value in the short-term. “It really means that service providers should have a plan to go ‘fully connected’ before “Generally the user experience is better with envisioning deploying cloud ad insertion,” says Tomer. “Those who can move fast will clearly cloud ad insertions but probably the most reap the benefits of this new technology.” important advantage is that an operator is in control of the ads.” Cloud TV UX Adam Nightingale, Accedo

Transplanting user experiences to the cloud even as boxes become more capable,” says where each video stream is unicast.” There’s a offer many of the same advantages to operators, Carlucci. “We will leverage what the improved real question about the simplicity of the set-top/ notably the ability to change the UX rapidly and STB can do but we also will continue to see the CPE client, he suggests. “Both video and audio at scale, rather than rewriting UXs for every cloud and the network evolve.” still need to be decoded, taking into account the make and model of set-top box, and enabling There’s a similar strategy at ActiveVideo numerous compression and transport formats, an operator to tailor personalised UIs. which offers GuideCast and StreamCast this requires a variety of computing power “The always-on nature of the cable products to ensure that next-generation requirements.” Smith-Chaigneau also asks network enables the cloud to be harnessed services can be delivered at scale to set-top how providers like Netflix or YouTube will react so that operators can deliver advanced user boxes already in customer homes, as well as to to being “proxied” by a cloud infrastructure. experiences – such as Millennial navigation, new devices coming to market. Currently they have their UI implemented in kids’ modes and sports zones – that are not “Some [operators] are streaming the entire the client device. capable of being supported by the set-top box UX from the cloud; some are using cloud “Ironically TV everywhere is addressing alone,” says Alticast’s Carlucci. “Since UXs resources to complement a next-gen device laptops, smartphones and tablets that have no longer need to be resident on the set-top strategy,” says Nemani. enormous computing power,” he says. “So box, operators – and customers – can have an US cable company Charter has moved to with a cloud UI-UX are we just talking about infinite number of UX variations.” stream its entire UX from the cloud beginning the issue of ‘incapable’ set-top boxes/CPEs With Accedo AppGrid, users can update with its Spectrum Guide. Tom Rutledge, in the field? Is that the problem that we are applications in real-time across platforms Charter president and CEO, speaking at CES addressing with this solution?” He answers his and control it per user, country or time of last year, said: “We’re taking the intelligence own question: “It may well be that the cloud day without redeploying and submitting out of the box and putting it into the network UX is the solution for small and medium applications. “Being cloud-based means and making the box a thin client box so that operators that want to deploy advanced services providers can easily engage with viewers, for the processing power of the box is no longer a and an advanced UX without having to bear example through in-app notifications,” says relevant issue; the processing power moves to the cost of implementing a middleware in the Nightingale. the network. That’s a breakthrough.” client set-top box/CPE. It could at least support UXs delivered as streams to every set-top box Craig Moffett, partner and senior analyst at a middleware that provides mainly the video enable operators efficiently to deploy services MoffettNathanson Research, estimates that and audio rendering without a PVR, video “that are equal to – or better than – experiences Charter will spend US$2 billion (e1.8 billion) gateway or home network. Network bandwidth that run on the box itself,” says Murali Nemani, over five years for its cloud-based guide build still remains a challenge, but there might be CMO, product management and marketing, compared to US$8.4 billion for IP-enabled fewer problems as these operators have to serve ActiveVideo. boxes – a 77% capex saving. smaller number of clients.” l

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p24-26,28 Cloud DTVE JunJul16v6st.indd 28 26/05/2016 19:17 17905 Cable Congress Main Advert_Layout 1 14/04/2016 08:45 Page 1

28-30 June 2016 Double Tree Hilton, Warsaw

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p39 Cable Congress DTVE AprMay16.indd 1 14/04/2016 10:24 ANGA COM 2016 > Preview Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

ANGA COM 2016: the preview With ANGA COM due to kick off at the Köln Messe in Cologne on June 7, Digital TV Europe highlights some of the new innovations that will be on display.

WHAT’S NEW? RF/L-Band solution. ATX’s next and backhaul applications. Video Arris MAXNET II; SignalOn; VidiPlay; generation UCrypt IP-to-PAL (IP- inputs include HD/SD-SDI, CVBS, HALL 10.2, STAND E21 DigiVU II; VersActivePro 2PAL) mini-headend is designed HDMI, and Component. Outputs for conversion of IP video streams include MPEG-2/H.264, SD/HD, WHAT’S NEW? WHAT DO THEY DO? to PAL in a space-efficient and and multiple output profile encod- Gigabit services demos; vid- ATX Networks is highlighting five cost-effective manner, according ing. It features optional integrated eo-over-WiFi; next-generation new product lines and is also to ATX Networks. This device can Zixi Feeder or VideoFlow DVP set-tops participating in a panel discussion ingest up to 60 MPEG-2/H.264, technologies for reliable video de- covering “Considerations for HD/SD video streams and convert livery over the Internet, according WHAT DO THEY DO? Extending the Lifespan of HFC them to PAL. VidiPlay middleware to the company. ATX’s VersA- Arris will demonstrate delivering Networks with DOCSIS 3.1 and 1.2 is a part of ATX’s end-to-end IPTV tivePro licence-free transcoding gigabit broadband to the home, GHz Bandwidth Enhancement” solutions. The system can include platform was designed to be the including DOCSIS 3.1, Remote PHY/ at ANGA COM. ATX’s CCAP-com- IP ‘set-back’ boxes and smart most budget-friendly solution in DAA, 1.2GHz access networks and pliant MAXNET II and SignalOn TV clients to deliver IP video to the professional quality transcod- PON solutions (EPON, NG-PON2 modular RF management large format displays as well as er market, according to ATX and RFoG). The technology com- platforms have been expanded to clients for PCs, tablets and mobile Networks. A software-only version pany says it will also demonstrate 1.218GHz bandwidth in order to devices. VidiPlay also manages is also available to run on off- reliable video delivery over Wi-Fi support the complete frequency client authentication and access the-shelf hardware for operators around the home and beyond. In range of DOCSIS 3.1 specifications. control, provides client UI custo- preferring to leverage existing addition, Arris will showcase its MAXNET II is described by the misation and supports features servers for their transcoding next-generation set-tops, software company as an ultra-dense, MCX- such as an interactive programme requirements, according to the platforms and set-top function /F connector-based RF solution guide, VoD, nDVR, digital signage company. virtualisation, as well as opti- with SNMP/web remote control/ and more. The DigiVu II Micro misation of all-IP video delivery monitoring. SignalOn is a high broadcast quality encoder is CONTACT including the converged video density, F/BNC connector-based designed to enable local insertion www.atxnetworks.com headend delivering video over mABR enabled networks. Arris’s Bruce McClelland, president, net- Anvato in conversation with DTVE at ANGA COM work and cloud and services, will be speaking at the International OTT TV is evolving. Growing pressure on OTT providers to Television & Broadband Summit, interest in live services, the need Smith: will make money – as well as the and Cornel Ciocirlan, CTO EMEA, to make money from services discuss key challenges in delivering a mix will be sharing how Arris is getting through targeted advertising, developments of live and on-demand content ready for IP video over DOCSIS. and the emergence of new in OTT TV. economically, the challenges in formats such as 360° video, are delivering formats such as UHD CONTACT just some of the developments TV and 360° video over OTT www.arrisi.com that are placing additional Thomson. This free event, to be networks, how far along OTT demands on OTT video delivery held in the Dorint Hotel opposite providers are in realising the full infrastructure. the conference centre on June 8 advertising revenue potential of ATX Networks At ANGA COM on June 8, at 16:45, will look at the changing the content they publish, how TV HALL 10.2, STAND J18 attendees are invited to a special needs of video consumers and operators can most effectively event featuring Matt Smith, OTT providers in an ever-more deliver TV Everywhere OTT chief evangelist at online video competitive world. services to complement their provider and a pioneer in live The pair will discuss some of mainstream pay TV offerings streaming, OTT monetisation the key developments in OTT and more. To register your and live-to-VoD workflows video over the last year – such interest contact Patricia Arescy Anvato, in conversation with as a growing interest in live TV, (patricia.arescy@KNect365. Digital TV Europe editor Stuart new formats, and the growing com).

Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net 30

p30-31 ANGA COM Preview DTVE JunJul16v4st.indd 30 26/05/2016 18:14 Digital TV Europe ANGA COM 2016 > Preview June/July 2016

TV distribution systems want to price than comparable coaxial SES Platform Services WISI enable channel multiplexing from cable installations, according to HALL 10.2, STAND E15 HALL 10.2, STAND E9 different transponders, central the company. Moreover, optical decryption of pay TV channels distribution systems are less and static channel assignment sensitive to interference. OL-series to the TV sets to avoid frequent consists of a full suite of products retuning, according to WISI. To including optical LNBs, converters, meet these requirements, the switchblades, optical splitters, company is providing micro pre-connectorised fibre cable for headends OM 10 and OM 20. OM indoor and outdoor use, as well as WHAT’S NEW? WHAT’S NEW? 10 can receive six DVB-S/DVB-S2 adapters and optical measuring Fluid MAM; Lucid OVP Fibre termination platform LR 10; satellite transponders and convert devices. OH16 SC is designed for Micro headends OM 10 and OM them in eight COFDM channels satellite TV reception and distribu- WHAT DO THEY DO? 20; OL: Optical distribution for TV sets with integrated DVB-T/ tion in small CATV networks, SES Platform Services will demo T2 tuners. OM 20 converts six condominiums and hospitality Fluid MAM, which combines ser- WHAT DO THEY DO? DVB-S/DVB-S2 transponders into networks. The transmodulator vices for the processing and dis- WISI will demo new systems and eight QAM channels. Both micro converts 16 DVB-S/S2 transpond- tribution of all media content with solutions for SMATV and FTTH headends can be programmed via ers into 16 QAM channels. It a secure, managed media archive networks at ANGA COM. The a web browser and are equipped provides a common NIT and LCN in SES Platform Services’ private fibre termination platform LR 10 with four CI slots for central functions for rapid tuning and cloud. According to SES Platform handles fibre in the residence. decryption. The multiplex function operator-determined channel Services, the platform provides The new system offers options before and after the CI slots sequence as well as PID filtering. easier management of metadata to network operators to adapt reduces the number of required The headend comes in a box with and the efficient delivery to VoD to installation situations ranging CAMs and necessary output chan- dimensions 440mm x 44mm x platforms such as Netflix, Google from passive splice and tray and nels. Additional features are an 260mm for rack and wall-mount. Play, UPC or Amazon Prime. Lucid optical filter accommodation to integrated DHCP server, NIT and OH16 SC provides four integrated OVP is an online platform for different active connecting sys- LCN functions. WISI’s new OL-se- input switching matrices which broadcasters, operators and OTT tems. The modular platform offers ries is a SAT-FTTH and FTTB solu- support facility input splitting, players that SES Platform Servic- flexibility for further expansion of tion, providing optical distribution loop-through and operation with es says allows it to quickly build its networks, and the new platform of digital satellite and terrestrial external 17 path multi-switches. customers their own online video can provide various services such DTT, DAB and FM signals. Accord- Additional ly, OH16 SC provides services in addition to direct- as distribution of TV signals and ing to WISI, even large-scale struc- a DHCP server that supports re- to-home services. SES Platform Ethernet for any kind of network tures with an unlimited number mote maintenance and program- Services will also demo Ultra HD operator, according to WISI. LR of subscribers can be supplied via ming via the web browser without broadcasting at the show. 10 is a complement to WISI’s fibre without incurring any signal any additional software. optical access platform Optopus or quality losses. Fibre cabling CONTACT and is used for the build-up of RF provides space savings in ducts CONTACT www.ses-ps.com overlay networks. Operators of and comes at a more favourable www.wisi.de

Hall 10.2, Stand #J18

p30-31 ANGA COM Preview DTVE JunJul16v4st.indd 31 26/05/2016 18:14 ANGA COM 2016 > Preview Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

Q&A: Peter Charissé, ANGA COM Peter Charissé, managing director of ANGA COM, talks to Digital TV Europe about new features at this year’s event and the challenges facing service providers in the German market and internationally.

What would you identify as the main highlights of ANGA COM this year? “We are facing more and With 450 exhibitors from 36 countries we have already reached the same booking level as in the previous year. Several leading exhibitors, more competition to our including Eutelsat, Huawei, and Deutsche Telekom, will significantly linear TV offerings from OTT expand their presence. Let us look at the conference track: for the first time the CEOs of operators.” Vodafone Germany and RTL will join the opening session. One Peter Charissé, ANGA COM highlight of the international congress track, with 13 panels in English, will be the upgraded International Television & Broadband Summit. top-class panel deals with the competition between mobile TV and the The speakers include Michel Azibert, CCO and deputy CEO, Eutelsat, next generation of terrestrial television – DVB-T2 – which will begin Wilhelm Dresselhaus, spokesperson of the management board, Nokia operating in Germany one week before the opening of ANGA COM. Solutions and Networks, Bruce McClelland, president, network and A further international highlight is the new ANGA Overseas cloud and global services, Arris, Xinbing Tang. CTO of Huawei fixed Panel. Here, experts will give a market overview and speak about TV network product line, Dirk Wierzbitzki, EVP products and marketing, distribution in the Middle East, India and Africa. This panel will take Swisscom, and Dr. Dirk Wössner, president, consumer business unit place in the Speakers’ Corner which is located directly in the exhibition from Canada, Rogers Communications, from Canada. hall 10.1 and can be attended by all exhibition visitors and congress The international highlight of the second day will be a keynote of the attendees. No additional registration is required. European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. Günther Oettinger will speak about broadband investments and connectivity in How significant is ANGA COM’s partnership with the ISBE the Gigabit Society. The European Commissioner’s speech is open for and SCTE in the US and what are your goals? all visitors and exhibitors even without a congress ticket. The globalisation of our industry has created a growing need for an exchange of technical skills across borders. The SCTE/ISBE with its What key themes do you think will feature at the ANGA high expertise is the perfect transatlantic partner for us. We highly COM conference sessions? appreciate the exchange of know-how, topics and speakers, as this will Several panels will focus on new TV features and OTT: Personalised surely make our event more international than ever. TV: Recommendation Engines and NetPVR; TV goes App: Multiscreen and TV Everywhere; and New TV Advertising and Big Data. Another What would you identify as the key priorities for the cable industry in Germany and internationally this year? We are facing more and more competition to our linear TV offerings from OTT operators. Therefore it is a big challenge to improve our cable access products with new interactive features like replay TV, multiscreen and app TV.

What are the main regulatory and commercial challenges facing the cable industry currently? What solutions are emerging? The legal framework for media offerings has not kept pace with technological development. We still lack a level playing field, especially in the copyright law where there is a growing need for an extension of the licensing rules for cable television to time-shifted TV functionality. In essence, it is just a matter of adapting copyright law in line with the changing usage in the digital world. Therefore it would be enough to extend the scope of the Satellite and Cable Directive of the European Union to new TV forms. There is no reason why the usage of digital video recorders in set-top boxes is permitted but not a similar network-based service, where rights-holders and broadcasters would continuously receive a share of the usage fees. l

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p32 ANGACOM Prev DTVE JunJul16v3st.indd 32 26/05/2016 18:06 Digital TV Europe Cable Congress 2016 > Preview June/July 2016

Cable Congress 2016: the preview DTVE looks ahead at some of the highlights of this year’s Cable Congress in Warsaw.

Congress hits Warsaw this and managing director, Kasia Kieli, will talk sit on this panel. Cable year and returns with a before lunch about how to ‘engage locally to Day two will feature panels about both stellar line-up of some of the best minds in succeed globally’ in the context of Discovery’s virtual reality panel and capacity issues. The the cable industry, who will take the stage to overall expansion efforts. This comes a year on latter, titled ‘Capacity Tsunami’ will look at discuss the biggest topics facing the industry from Discovery’s move to take full ownership whether the trend for more bandwidth will today. of European sports channel Eurosport, after ever abate and will feature discussion from As viewing habits continue to evolve, it agreed to pay France’s TF1 Group €491 representatives of Arris, Ampere Analysis particularly among younger viewers, speakers million for the 49% of the company it didn’t and Cicso Systems. will try to define the future of television, already own. The ‘Born in the EU’ panel on day two identify where both disruption and growth Elsewhere, IHS’s vice president, consumer, will bring together leading EU startup opportunities lie and look at the implications media, telecoms and displays, Ben Keen, is incubators who will share their thoughts of policy changes on a Europe-wide level. due to present some of the research firm’s on the development process and how to Day one features an interview session in latest cable industry statistics. create breakthrough ideas. Innovate UK, the morning with Liberty Global president Across the three days numerous panels HardGamma Ventures, D-RAFT and and CEO Mike Fries. A 30-year veteran of sessions, sub-divided into different streams, StartUp42 will all be represented. the cable and media industry, Fries has spent will cover various aspects of the industry. Day Following the penultimate day’s gala most of his career building international one highlights include a ‘trends watch’ panel party at Warsaw Castle, day three will feature distribution and programming businesses on the rise of the social media strategist. This a morning panel about programmatic and today claims to lead the largest will include participation from Virgin Media, advertising and how technology continues to international cable company in the world. Viacom, and US-based boutique agency Tiny re-architect the ad industry. This will feature Joining him is AMC Networks president Horse. the likes of majority RTL-owned online and CEO Josh Sapan, another veteran leader A panel titled ‘What Would It Mean if Apps ad company SpotX, video platform and who oversees a number of award-winning Really Are the Future of TV?’ will feature monetisation specialist Ooyala and billings cable TV networks including AMC, IFC, debate from executives at Discovery, Vectra and customer management provider SundanceTV, and BBC America, which is and Telenet. Meanwhile a session on the Amdocs. operated through a joint venture with BBC European Commission’s digital single market Finally, the conference close will close Worldwide. Having held the chief executive strategy will feature Cable Europe managing in the afternoon with a ‘View from the Top’ role for more than 20 years, his brands director Caroline van Weede alongside Georg session featuring Liberty Global, Telenet. have produced much-loved shows including Serentschy, senior advisor at Brussels-based Virgin Media and Tele Columbus. l AMC’s The Walking Dead and Mad Men and law firm and public policy practice Squire Sundance’s Rectify. Patton Boggs. Polish copyright specialist Cable Congress will run from June 28-30 at Day two will feature a keynote from Liberty Krystyna Szczepanowska-Kozlowska will also the Double Tree Hilton, Warsaw. Global’s chief technology officer, Balan Nair, who will discuss both fixed and mobile opportunities for connecting consumers, with a particular eye on technological developments. CableLabs president and CEO Phil McKinney will also speak in the morning about innovation in the industry. Day three’s keynotes include a talk about keeping up with consumer behaviour from Charles Dawes, senior director international marketing, Rovi. His appearance comes hot on the heels of Rovi’s agreed buyout of TiVo in a cash and stock deal worth roughly US$1.1 billion (€961 million), which is expected to close in the third quarter. Discovery Networks CEEMEA’s president

Last year’s Cable Congress was held in Brussels; this year it heads to Warsaw.

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p33 Cable Congress Prev DTVE JunJul16v4am.indd 33 26/05/2016 20:03 Technology > in focus Digital TV Europe June/July 2016 Technology in focus Infrastructure equipment and product news for digital media distribution

In Brief Liberty Global to create single set-top for all Europe

Polaroid goes with Google Liberty Global is to consolidate its remain competitive with Sky. The Iconic camera brand Polaroid is next-generation set-top platforms, Nair: Liberty latter has recently launched its own making a push into the smart TV including ultimately that of Virgin Global’s goal is high-end box, Sky Q. Mockridge space, unveiling its first line of Media in the UK, as part of a pro- to deploy Ho- said that Eos would be “a big part” Google-powered 4K TV models. ject dubbed ‘Eos’ by the company. rizon across of the company’s plan to improve The Ultra HD LED TVs will start Eos is in turn part of the wider Europe. its TV offering in the future. shipping this summer and will strategic plan that will see the com- Fries described Eos as a “project incorporate Google’s Cast tech- pany reduce costs across the board name for our cloud-based set-top nology, allowing viewers to ‘cast’ through, among other things, Balan Nair said that this would be box” that would be “trialing later entertainment, movies and mu- common technology platforms, and a “pretty high-powered box that this year” and would be “faster, sic from their phone, tablet or build revenue through marketing will get a refreshed TiVo UI on it cheaper and provide more func- laptop to the TV. Polaroid, which advanced services. later this year” but added that “our tionality than today’s Horizon box”. announced its partnership with Speaking to analysts as Liberty goal is to get Horizon across all of He also said that Liberty’s new Google at the internet firm’s Global reported strong Q1 results, Europe” ultimately, referring to the WiFi router, the Connect Box, which I/O developer conference, said president and CEO Mike Fries de- advanced set-top platform already is now available in multiple Europe- that Google Cast’s system offers scribed Eos as “a set-top we plan to in use in multiple Liberty Global an markets, “sets us even further more apps and frequent updates roll out everywhere at some point, markets. He said that Eos would apart from the competition” by than many dedicated smart including in that market [the UK]”. be the “engine for next generation providing up to 1Gbps across TV systems. The Polaroid 4K Virgin Media previously an- video” for the company. in-home networks. “This is a big UHD connected line will come nounced that it planned to roll out Virgin Media CEO Tom Mock- issue,” he said. “When you’ve driv- in sizes ranging from 43-inches a new 4K-ready box that will be ridge, also on the call, said that the en average customer speeds up to 65-inches, priced at between based on its existing TiVo platform. TiVo-based box would “give us a to 100Mbps but you don’t control US$500 (e450) and US$1,000. Speaking on the analyst call, lot more functionality for our cus- the in-home WiFi router, customers A 75-inch screen model is due to Liberty’s chief technology officer tomers” and enable the operator to complain.” launch in Q4 and will be priced at roughly US$1,900. SeaChange acquires DCC Labs 4K STBs to quadruple The 4K set-top box market will Video technology provider projects supporting millions of DCC Labs CEO Marek Kielcze- quadruple this year, despite an SeaChange has acquired War- set-tops, mobile devices and smart wski, who has led the company overall decline in the STB space, saw-based set-top and multiscreen TVs, with deployments based on since 2009, has been named as according to ABI Research. device software developer and the Reference Design Kit (RDK) as senior vice-president of consumer The new forecast claims that integrator DCC Labs. well as Android and Linux operat- premises equipment software and the 4K STB market will grow According to SeaChange, the ing systems. will lead SeaChange In Home. from less than 2 million units in acquisition will take forwards its SeaChange last year turned to The company was previously 2015 to more than 7 million in set-top, multiscreen subscriber DCC Labs to support a major Eu- owned by 7bulls.com, a private 2016 and will then grow by 46% device and application strategies. ropean cable set-top project, the group of software development annually through 2021. At the The deal, which closed on May company said, using DCC Labs for and integration companies same time, ABI predicts that the 6 but was announced later in the the deployment of a user interface focused on delivering advanced overall set-top box market will same month, sees SeaChange pay and an RDK 2.1-based home video technologies and IT solutions drop by about 9% in 2016 to less approximately US$8 million (e7 gateway for field trial tests. for large enterprises throughout than US$16 billion (e14 billion) in million) in cash and shares for the SeaChange has also used DCC the Americas, Asia and Europe revenue, with both pay TV and Polish company. Labs to help improve quality for across industries spanning free-to-air boxes losing value. DCC Labs, which employs another European cable operator’s finance, automotive, retail and over 70 engineers, has deployed deployed home video gateway. media.

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p34-37 DTVE Tech JunJul16v4st.indd 34 26/05/2016 18:26 Digital TV Europe Technology > in focus June/July 2016

Nokia Bell Labs demos 10Gbps over DOCSIS 3.1 In Brief

Nokia Bell Labs has achieved what By using this technology, Roku still most popular it says is the world’s first 10Gbps operators can effectively use Guillén: provid- Roku is still the most popular symmetrical data speed over a existing HFC cables over the last ing 10Gbps streaming media player in traditional cable access network 200 metres to provide hitherto symmetrical the US, accounting for 30% using DOCSIS 3.1 technology. unrealisable upstream speeds, services is of players sold in the year to The company said that the according to the company. possible. March, according to figures com- proof of concept of the technol- Federico Guillén, president of piled by Parks Associates. The ogy, dubbed XG-CABLE, demon- fixed networks, Nokia, said: “The research, which was unveiled at strates feasibility of Full Duplex XG-CABLE proof of concept is providers are able to deliver.” INTX in May, said that Amazon DOCSIS 3.1 laid out by CableLabs. a great example of our ongoing Robert Howald, vice-president, is now running in equal second The XG-CABLE test used effort and commitment to provide network architecture at Comcast, place with Google, each with point-to-point cable topologies to the cable industry with the latest said: “While it is still early in 22% of the market, followed deliver 10Gbps symmetric data innovations and technology the development of full duplex, by Apple with a 20% share. speeds over coaxial cable using needed to effectively address Nokia’s XG Cable proof of concept Together the big four providers 1.2Ghz of spectrum. the growing demand for gigabit shows that multi-gigabit symmet- of streaming media devices According to Nokia Bell services. The proof of concept rical speeds over HFC, as targeted account for 94% of the market, Labs, the technology can easily demonstrates that providing in the CableLabs FDX initiative, up from 86% in 2014. Apple TV integrate into the CableLabs new 10Gbps symmetrical services are achievable. As we continue saw the largest increase in unit Full Duplex DOSCIS 3.1 concept, over HFC networks is a real our DOCSIS 3.1 deployments, this sales – 50% – over the year, which is focused on providing possibility for operators; it is an development illustrates the power thanks primarily to the launch of cable operators with technology important achievement that will and flexibility of the DOCSIS 3.1 as the new version of the product. innovations that can transform define the future capabilities and a tool to deliver next-generation Amazon also saw strong sales the industry. ultra-broadband services cable broadband performance.” growth. Amazon and Apple have made the biggest strides since 2014, when Amazon Fire TV Google to launch dedicated YouTube VR app accounted for 16% of US sales and Apple TV accounted for Google is due to launch a dedicated you’ll be able to step inside the 13%, with Roku accounting for YouTube VR app later this year world’s largest collection of VR vid- 34% and Google Chromecast for its forthcoming mobile virtual eos and experience places and con- accounting for 23%. According reality platform, Daydream. certs and events like you’re actually to Parks Associates, 86 million Announcing the launch at its I/O there. And by the way, you’ll also be streaming media players will be developer conference in Mountain able to watch every single standard sold globally in 2019. View, California, Google said it is reality video more accessible to video currently on YouTube, but in creating the YouTube VR app to content creators. a very different way.” Netgem signs global OTT provide an “easier, more immersive GoPro Odyssey cameras are Discussing Google’s other virtual deals with Wuaki, Hopster way to find and experience virtual compatible with Google’s VR Jump reality app developments, Bavor Netgem has agreed global deals reality content on YouTube”. camera rig – which consists of said that Google Play Movies is with Wuaki and Hopster, offering The new app will give users 16 camera modules in a circular coming to Daydream, with high the over-the-top services to access to all of YouTube’s content – array – and YouTube plans to roll definition DRM video support. telecoms operators as part of including 16x9 videos, 360-degree out its Jump programme to all its “That means you’ll be able to its network of channels and footage and VR experiences in “full YouTube Space creator studios watch movies and TV shows from content. With the agreements, 3D”. around the world, starting with Los Play, but in a virtual movie theatre,” consumers will be able to rent YouTube is collaborating with Angeles and New York. he said. or buy films and TV shows partners like the NBA, BuzzFeed Speaking at Google I/O in May, He said that Google Street View through Wuaki.tv on a pay-as- and Tastemade to “explore new Google’s vice-president of virtual is coming to Daydream, “so you’ll you-go basis via Netgem’s telco ways of storytelling in virtual reality, Clay Bavor, said: “We’ve be able to walk the streets of the TV offering. The deal with kids environments”, according to Kurt rebuilt YouTube from the ground world without having to fly around OTT service Hopster marks an Wilms, senior product manager, up for VR. In it is voice search, the world.” extension of its partnership YouTube Virtual Reality. discovery, your favourite playlists Bavor also revealed that Google with Netgem, which will now It is also working with camera – all in VR. Photos will support virtual reality, be able to supply the Hopster partners such as GoPro to help “We’ve added spatial audio, “so you can step inside and re-live programme globally. make the production of virtual improved VR video streaming so favourite moments.”

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p34-37 DTVE Tech JunJul16v4st.indd 35 26/05/2016 18:26 Technology > in focus Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

In Brief Piksel acquires metadata innovator LingoSpot

Kudelski and Yahoo settle Online video platform provider tion of the particular timeslot of patent dispute Piksel has acquired metadata Hamaide: a goal by a particular player, for Kudelski Group and Yahoo extraction specialist Lingospot to LingoSpot example. have settled all pending patent enhance its expertise in machine can extract Hamaide said that Lingospot’s litigation between the pair. The learning and artificial intelligence metadata from technology complemented its two companies have entered for video. “inside the core product with artificial intelli- into a patent licence agreement The acquisition adds Lin- asset”. gence-based techniques and will whereby Yahoo will make a gospot’s metadata extraction have a particular application for one-time upfront license fee services to the Piksel Palette. problem of only 20% of availa- mobile video, where users typical- payment to Kudelski. Kudel- According to Piksel, Lingospot’s ble content in catalogues being ly do not want to view a long-form ski-owned OpenTV filed a patent technology will strengthen Piksel viewed by 80% of the available asset from beginning to end. infringement counter-suit Fuse Metadata, a product that audience. “Broadcasters look at the num- against Yahoo in the US in April consolidates and enriches meta- “To solve that you can work on bers and see that consumption in the District Court for the data while sharing it across both search and discovery from the is growing through the roof on Northern District of California. broadcast and OTT workflows. asset side,” he said. mobile but content is not mobile The group alleged that Yahoo Lingospot’s patented and Hamaide said that Lingospot’s ready,” he said. infringed 10 US patents owned patent-pending natural language technology enabled the extraction LingoSpot technology by OpenTV. OpenTV’s filing processing, semantic search, im- of metadata from “inside the generates metadata based on responded to a complaint for age analysis, and machine-learn- asset” in a way that is “scalable”. a range of techniques including declaratory judgment filed by ing technologies will be used in If a mobile video viewer only frame-by-frame analysis and face Yahoo on January 21. In that fil- the Palette to create proprietary wants to view a small part of an recognition. ing, Yahoo, following receipt of a metadata on a scene-by-scene asset – for example a football “Some of the technology is letter sent to it by OpenTV, said basis. Piksel president Fabrice match – it will be useful to be able patented and the rest in pat- that it did not infringe seven Hamaide told Digital TV Europe to search based on “fine-grained ent-pending. None of it is in use OpenTV patents. In its suit, Ya- that “everyone is trying to work metadata that allows you to im- in video today, but some of it is hoo also attempted to partially on recommendation and user pro- mediately watch what you want”. used in bookselling by the likes of invalidate one of the patents. files based on the usual engines” Lingospot’s metadata extraction Amazon, such as plot analysis,” but that this resulted in the classic capabilities enable the identifica- said Hamaide. Kaltura launches service Kaltura has launched the Kaltura Video Platform as a Service IMAX unveils VR plans, signs deal with games (VPaaS), which it describes as “the world’s first specialised IMAX Corporation has announced VR content partnerships through cloud video service, enabling or- a major virtual reality push, which its existing Hollywood filmmaker ganisations to build and rapidly includes a joint venture agree- and studio relationships. deploy any video application, ment with Swedish games studio “As technology and enter- workflow and experience”. and VR content and hardware tainment options evolve, we According to Kaltura, VPaaS lets creator Starbreeze. continue to innovate and find new software-as-a-service providers, IMAX said it will develop a platforms to extend The IMAX Ex- integrators, in-house teams in premium, location-based virtual perience,” said IMAX CEO Richard large organisations and devel- reality offering that includes en- Gelfond. “We believe VR is an area both domestic and international opers to quickly add video ca- tertainment content and games – that holds tremendous promise markets”. If successful, the con- pabilities and integrate video as delivered to multiplexes, malls and and is a natural progression for cept will then roll out globally. a native data type into existing other commercial destinations. IMAX given our established world- Last week, IMAX also used platforms and workflows by us- Through its deal with Star- wide brand presence, our immer- Google’s I/O developer con- ing the Kaltura APIs, SDKs and breeze, IMAX will create a virtual sive entertainment technology ference to announce that it is developer tools for their specific reality experience that will use the know-how, and strong industry working with Google to develop a needs. The company says that Swedish firm’s StarVR headset relationships with filmmakers, “cinema-grade virtual reality (VR) VPaaS is infrastructure-agnostic technology. Starbreeze’s library of studios and exhibitors.” camera”. The IMAX VR camera and is available immediately as virtual reality entertainment con- IMAX said that a test site for will be designed “from the ground a public, private or hybrid cloud tent and games will be made avail- the first IMAX VR location has up” by IMAX engineers and deployment. able to consumers, while IMAX been selected, and that it plans to camera specialists, in partnership said it will look to establish new launch “up to six sites this year in with Google,.

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p34-37 DTVE Tech JunJul16v4st.indd 36 26/05/2016 18:26 Digital TV Europe Technology > in focus June/July 2016

Rovi agrees US$1.1 billion TiVo buyout In Brief

Rovi Corporation has agreed to to redefine television”. Cisco video revenues buy TiVo in a cash and stock deal Carson: Rovi “In joining forces with Rovi, our boosted by China worth roughly US$1.1 billion (€961 and TiVo will customers, employees and stock- Cisco’s service provider video million). revolutionise holders will benefit from being business turned in an 18% Rovi CEO Tom Carson will lead how consum- part of a more diversified industry increase in revenues in the com- the combined firm, which will ers experience leader with significantly greater pany’s fiscal third quarter, con- “adopt the iconic TiVo brand” as media. market opportunities,” he said. tributing to an overall increase the new company name. The deal will combine TiVo’s in revenue of 3% to US$12 Announcing the deal, Rovi said customer base that includes tradi- experience in traditional TV, OTT billion (e11 billion). The figure that combining the two companies tional, over-the-top and emerging and on-demand UX and content excluded the service provider’s would provide them with comple- players across the globe,” said discovery with Rovi’s strength in video consumer premises equip- mentary products, services, and Carson. “By working together, Rovi guides, personalisation, advertis- ment business that Cisco sold intellectual property. and TiVo will revolutionise how ing, analytics and cloud services. to Technicolor, with that deal Carson said that the TiVo deal consumers experience media and The new TiVo will serve nearly closing in the second quarter. “strengthens Rovi’s position as a entertainment and at the same 500 service providers across On a conference call following global leader in media discovery, time build value for our stockhold- countries, adding Rovi’s current the company’s results, chief fi- metadata, analytics, and IP licens- ers.” base of approximately 18 million nancial officer Kelly Kramer said ing” with the arrangement coming TiVo’s interim CEO and chief households using Rovi guides to that the growth in the remaining at a time of “significant evolution” financial officer Naveen Chopra more than 10 million TiVo-served service provider video business in the entertainment landscape. described the deal as the “logical households. reflected ongoing strength in “The combined capabilities next step for TiVo” and said that The expanded company will also the Chinese market. of TiVo and Rovi place us in a the combined company will be a have a combined IP portfolio of tremendous position to extend “more influential global player” more than 6,000 issued patents Arris upbeat about 2016 services across platforms and to a that is “incredibly well positioned and pending applications. targets, despite net loss Arris said it is “increasingly confident” it will meet full year AT&T acquires Quickplay Vestel-Opera targets after getting off to “a good start” in 2016, despite US telecom giant AT&T has IP connected end points, will allow HbbTV pact reporting a massive first quarter acquired OTT and TV Everywhere us to host and distribute all forms TV software provider Opera and net loss. Announcing results for video technology specialist of video traffic. We intend to scale manufacturer Vestel are teaming the three months ending March Quickplay Media from Madison and operate an industry-leading up to deliver HbbTV-enabled 31, Arris reported revenues of Dearborn Partners. video distribution platform, and smart TV services. Opera TV’s US$1.61 billion (e1.44 billion), up AT&T has previously tapped viewers will get the high-quality software will be incorporated in 33% from US$1.22 billion a year Quickplay to provide the platform online video viewing experience new Vestel TVs, to provide cus- earlier. However, Arris also said for its U-verse TV Everywhere they desire,” said John Stankey, tomers with Ultra HD content and it made a US$202.6 million net offering and the company’s tech- CEO, AT&T Entertainment Group. interactive services based on the loss for the quarter, compared nology is being used to support Wayne Purboo, CEO, Quickplay HbbTV 2.0 specification. to US$19.1 million in profit a year new streaming services from said: “We’ve spent more than a According to the pair, viewers earlier. Arris closed its acquisi- AT&T-owned DirecTV – DirecTV decade developing an advanced will have harmonised access to tion of set-top box rival Pace on Now, DirecTV Mobile and DirecTV technology and service platform linear and on-demand content, January 4 and said that US$40 Preview – that will be launched lat- that can deliver premium video as well as interactive red button million of its net loss was due to er this year. The telco said it would content to any device and over applications such as in-context- integration and other deal costs, retain Quickplay’s more than 350 any network. Our solution is high- based advertising, personal- and US$30 was due to revaluing employees and contractors. ly automated and scalable. With isation, voting, games, social Pace’s inventory from “historical The pair expect to close the AT&T, we’ll have the resources networking, and other multimedia cost to fair market value as re- deal in mid-2016, subject to regu- we need to further scale, grow apps. Since 2012, Opera TV SDK quired in purchase accounting”. latory approval. the business, and continuously and Opera’s HbbTV technology Restructuring costs of US$51 “Our strategy is to deliver video enhance that platform. Our team have been deployed in Vestel million and a US$55 million tax content however, whenever and is proud of what we’ve built so far manufactured smart TVs and withholding were also contribu- wherever. Quickplay’s multitenant and excited to join the AT&T fami- set-top boxes, but this is the first tors to the net loss, according to IP distribution infrastructure, com- ly. This will help us power the next time the pair have collaborated to the firm. bined with AT&T’s leading scale in generation of video services.” deliver HbbTV 2.0-based devices.

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p34-37 DTVE Tech JunJul16v4st.indd 37 26/05/2016 18:26 People > Places Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

On the move

TV Casey Bloys is to fill Michael Pritchard held a number of senior new CEO. Petit was previously Microsoft executive Francisco Lombardo’s shoes at HBO after positions at BBC Worldwide chief operating officer at TDF Arteche in his place. Ojeda’s the president of programming including director of Children’s Group-owned Arkena. At Hubee departure has been accompanied announced his exit after a and head of strategy he will work closely with Frédéric by significant changes in the 33-year stint at the premium Pie, chairman and founder of make-up of the company’s board, programmer. Bloy was given Vodafone’s group chief the company, to strengthen with independent directors a wider role at HBO earlier commercial operations and its business development and Richard Alden and Bridget this year, adding drama to his strategy officerPaolo Bertoluzzo operational activities globally. Cosgrave also departing. Alden comedy brief, in the wake of is leaving the group to take up the and Cosgrave will be replaced Michael Ellenberg’s departure. post of CEO of ICBPI, a financial Middle East pay by Elisabetta Castiglioni and He has now been upped again. and payment services company TV operator Miguel Angel Lujua. Arteche Lombardo, meanwhile, will have a in Italy. Bertoluzzo joined the OSN has named was previously head of consumer producer deal with HBO after his company in 1999 as strategy and Emad Morcos channels at Microsoft Iberia handover to Bloys is complete. business development director to the new and also served as director of and was appointed to his current position of entertainment and devices for A+E Networks position in 2013. Vodafone chief content central and southern Europe. has named a said his successor would be officer. Morcos was previously Castiglioni, who replaces new general announced in due course. senior vice-president, media Cosgrave, has worked in senior manager for partners and digital at OSN. He roles for MCI Worldcom and Africa. Serge Nedjar has been appointed has been part of the group’s Siemens, and as a consultant to Yusuf Nabee chief of Canal+ news channel senior management team since companies including Telekom will take up iTele. The new iTele chief is close 2007 and was responsible for the Austria, the BBC, ITV, New York the newly-created role on June to Vincent Bolloré, the president launch of digital platforms OSN Times, Rai, BSkyB, and Cox. Ángel 1, charged with securing new of Canal+ owner Vivendi. Prior to Play and Go. Lujua, who replaces Alden, has distribution for A+E’s regional taking the new role, Nedjar has served, among other roles, as channels portfolio and creating been running the Direct Matin Manuel Alduy, the head of president of Basque Country new commercial opportunities. newspaper and regional division Canal OTT at French pay employers organiation Confebask Nabee joins from ReelAfrican, an of Bolloré Média. Previously TV broadcaster Canal+ has and as a director of Spanish aggregator that makes African he launched the Direct 8 DTT left his post. Alduy’s sphere employers organisation CEOE. content available around the channel and has worked at of responsibility at Canal+ world, where he was CEO. various publishing groups. At iTele encompassed SVoD service Swedish cable he replaces Cécilia Ragueneau, Canalplay and mobile TV app- operator Com Romanian public broadcaster who has left the channel. based service MyCanal. Alduy Hem has named TVR has named Irina Radu as its joined Canal+ as director of Thomas Helbo new director-general. Radu was Mariam strategy and development for as its new chief acting director-general between Zamaray has thematic channels in 2001, technology September 2015 and April 2016 left channel and became head of movie officer. Helbo and has served as director of operator Tern acquisitions in 2005 and head of was previously CTO of Danish programmes at the broadcaster (Television cinema for Canal+ in 2008 before operator Stofa and serves as since 2013. Entertainment taking over as chief of Canal OTT chairman of the Danish Consumer Reality in 2014. His most recent new Electronics Association. Com UK broadcaster Channel 4 has Network) by mutual consent. responsibility was as chief of Hem’s previous technology chief, named Gill Pritchard as director Zamaray has been at UHD mobile offering Studio+ alongside Henri Caddeo, was in December of audience technologies and channel operator Tern for 18 producer Gilles Gallud. named as the new CTO of Bonnier insight. Keith Underwood, months and will be replaced, on Broadcasting, the restructured Channel 4 head of strategy, will an interim basis, by Rian Bester, Fernando Ojeda, the CEO of umbrella company for TV4 now take overall responsibility company COO. Spanish Basque Country cable Group, pay TV unit C More and for strategy and Glyn Isherwood, operator Euskaltel, which also newspaper Nyhetsbolaget. l Channel 4 director of finance, will Interactive TV technology owns Galician operator R, has take on corporate development provider Hubee has named resigned, and the company’s Please email contributions to: Prior to joining Channel 4 Jean Sebastien Petit as its board has appointed former [email protected]

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p38 People DTVE JunJul16v3st.indd 42 26/05/2016 18:20 Smart Home A4 Advert_Layout 1 13/04/2016 16:33 Page 1

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pOBC Smart Home DTVE AprMay16.indd 1 13/04/2016 17:38 Final analysis > Kate Bulkley Digital TV Europe June/July 2016

“The live streaming era is certainly upon us, led by Facebook and YouTube but including many others like Twitter and its streaming app Periscope which hosted 200 million live broadcasts in April 2016 alone.”

Broadcasters’ social lives

a few years now, there has been a chance? Or is live, so to speak, dead? than putting the video on their own websites For big question mark over whether The answer is no. First, there is still a where they can sell advertising. SVoD services like Netflix are good or bad big appetite for linear and live TV, especial- The drive to live is because Facebook news for pay TV. But it seems that just as pay ly around live sports and big entertainment knows that people watch live streams three TV operators are adjusting to life with SVoD, shows and breaking news. Until now live TV times longer than on-demand ones. The there’s something else that could disrupt TV: has been seen as the one thing that TV still changes to the news feed mean that users are live streaming on social media websites. has as a differentiator. But here’s the thing: more likely to land on a Facebook video while So, are there parallels to be drawn? And if so, TV no longer holds the live monopoly. it is still live and the comments that they leave what can be learned? Netflix doesn’t offer live content – at least will also be live, and their shares with friends Clearly SVoD services are compelling. not yet – but social media platforms are em- will be live, too, driving tune-in by others in They are racking up subscribers. According bracing live video in a big way. And just as TV their network. Live video stimulates 10 times to Ampere Analysis, SVoD net additions now incumbents risk losing access to their audi- more comments than recorded video. outstrip pay TV subscriptions in the EU. And ences in an on-demand app-based TV world, For TV folks, posting live video on these so- about a third of people in the major European those same incumbents risk losing the live cial media platforms offers opportunities to countries think they won’t ‘use’ broadcast TV battle to social media platforms. reach a different, typically younger, audience. in five years’ time. That’s pretty sobering. The live streaming era is certainly upon us, Sky Sports has used Facebook Live to post be- Not only do European SVoD homes rank led by Facebook and YouTube but including spoke content in the run up to big events, for linear channels lower in terms of apprecia- many others like Twitter and its streaming example recently going live on Facebook with tion, but SVoD homes also watch linear TV app Periscope, which hosted 200 million live heavyweight boxers Anthony Joshua and less and the level of linear viewing falls even broadcasts in April 2016 alone. Charles Martin before their fight on Sky pay more with younger viewers. These younger YouTube has done live for a while now, per view. “It’s a different way for our audienc- people are building their own “next-genera- ‘broadcasting’ everything from Felix es to interact with superstar talent,” says Dave tion” TV bundles, typically with a Netflix or Baumgartner’s live jump from space for Gibbs, digital director at Sky News and Sky Amazon Prime subscription at the centre, Red Bull in 2012 to live coverage of the 2012 Sports. “It also allows us to extend our cover- perhaps adding Spotify for music and a catch- Olympics in a whopping 65 countries where age and showcase our big events in ways that up broadcast TV app like BBC iPlayer on top. the local TV broadcaster did not own all the are authentic for that audience.” Interestingly, when you add up the cost of rights. More recently YouTube has begun That all sounds good, but as with SVoD creating a next-gen bundle of apps, it totals up live streaming 360° video, including a series services, the traditional TV players have to to a pretty large monthly fee, so cost doesn’t on refugees made by Sky News in the UK. make sure they don’t give away all their live seem to be the issue. My feeling is that for YouTube also live-streamed the finals of the ammunition to the social media platforms. these younger viewers in particular, the killer Europa and Champions League for BT Sport. Offering an expensive football match live on app is about access to what they want in the In recent months Facebook has also been YouTube may be a good marketing and pro- way they want. making moves. In March it announced a ‘vis- motion tool but making a habit of it devalues So given this trend to build your own ibility boost’ to any live videos on its platform, the paid-for product and that raises a strategic ‘next-generation’ bundle and binge on on-de- basically telling content owners that their vid- business model question that goes beyond mand viewing, how important is it that live eos would be kept at the top by the Facebook winning over hard-to-attract audiences. l TV is also showing up on platforms like Face- algorithm and therefore featured on users’ book and YouTube? First of all, in the era news feeds. Indeed, Facebook offered to cov- Kate Bulkley is a broadcaster and writer of growing demand for SVoD services and er the costs for some news outlets of ‘broad- specialising in media and telecommunica- on-demand content, does live TV still have a casting’ live video on the platform rather tions. [email protected]

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p40 Final Analysis DTVE JunJul16v4am.indd 32 26/05/2016 18:01 CONTENT INNOVATION AWARDS 2016 STILL TIME CONTENT INNOVATION TO ENTER! AWARDS 2016 16th October 2016 Carlton Hotel, Grand Salon, Cannes CONTENT Celebrating innovation in content, distribution and delivery INNOVATION AWARDS 2016 Brought to you by DTVE and TBI, the Content Innovation Awards will celebrate innovation in content, distribution and delivery and the wide-ranging achievements of the companies and individuals who bring video content to the world.

Awards evening

The Content Innovation Awards ceremony will take place during a gala dinner at the Carlton Hotel Grand Salon in Cannes on 16th October.

Make headlines and reward your team

Enter here: contentinnovationawards.com

Submission deadline: 24 June

New 2016 Categories

Pay TV Initiative of the Year Channel of the Year The Multiscreen TV Award

Social TV Innovation of the Year Virtual Reality Initiative of the Year Industry Innovator of the Year

OTT TV Initiative of the year Power Behind the Screen Award The Millennials Award

Best New Channel Launch Advanced TV Innovation of the Year UHD Initiative of the Year

Second Screen Experience Best Series Launch of the Year Content Discovery Technology Award Technology Award

Breakout International Drama Best Content Distributor Most Innovative Digital Project

Patricia Arescy Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 5320 Email: [email protected] Digital TV Europe, KNect 365, Maple House, 149 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AD www.contentinnovationawards.com

CIAwards 2016 Call for Entries A4.indd 1 25/05/2016 11:13 pOBC SPI DTVE JunJul16.indd 1 24/05/2016 16:42