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April 2015
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New building blocks: Is OTT the future of IPTV?
cover.indd 1 27/03/2015 16:15:34
[email protected] • www.amos-spacecom.com
Take Center Stage with the AMOS Satellites
Spacecom’s AMOS satellite constellation, consisting of AMOS-2 and AMOS-3 co-located at 4°W, AMOS-4 at 65°E and AMOS-5 at 17°E provides high-quality broadcast and communications services across Europe, Africa, Russia, Asia and the Middle East. With the upcoming launch of AMOS-6, Spacecom is expanding its coverage over Europe and Africa.The result: greater capacity, high-throughput Ka multibeam capabilities and affordable end-to-end satellite services. Spacecom. Expect More.
Untitled-3 1 23/03/2015 14:23:56
EditorGoran Nastic
Commercial directorJohn Woods
Design and productionMatt Mills (Manager)Jason TuckerMatleena Lilja-PellingKeem Chung
Regular contributorsAdrian Pennington, Philip Hunter, David Adams, Stephen Cousins, Anna Tobin
CirculationJoel Whitefoot AccountsMarilou Tait, Lynta Kamaray
Editorialtel +44(0)20 7562 [email protected]
Advertisingtel +44(0)20 7562 2421fax +44(0)20 7374 [email protected]
Subscriptionstel +44 (0) 20 1635 588 861 [email protected] Circulation manager: [email protected]
Subscription ratesPer year: Europe £88; UK £68; Rest of World £98. Cheques payable to Perspective Publishing Limited and addressed to the Circulation Department Printed by Buxton PressManaging DirectorJohn Woods
Publishing DirectorMark Evans
ISSN 1467-5935
Perspective Publishing3 London Wall BuildingsLondonEC2M 5PDwww.perspectivepublishing.com
Editor’s report:At an IHS conference late last year, Erik Huggers, argued that IPTV has no long term future. Huggers is not the first to make such a claims but his prediction seemed more prophetic coming from the man who led the iPlayer and orchestrated Intel’s OnCue OTT efforts (now part of Verizon). Huggers said that telcos should instead focus on boosting their broadband pipes in a world moving increasingly towards IP streaming and internet TV
delivery. IPTV networks are indeed more restricted by geographic boundaries but a new breed of more open systems is emerging that are much more flexible. They embrace software, cloud, virtualisation and multi-screen, taking IPTV into a new, less monolithic era that is more tightly coupled with OTT and thereby promising payTV at Web speeds. This will enable service providers and broadcasters to better compete with more nimble pure-OTT players. Our cover story, on page 20, looks at what the future has in store for IPTV 2.0. Will this be enough? Goran Nastic, editor
Contents
4 CSI Summit All the latest speakers you can see and hear at our event
06 News & analysisAll the latest industry and research news
12 Analyst cornerStrategy Analytics looks at screen mirroring dongles and the threat they pose for Smart TVs
14 T-VoDIs there still a future for transactional video-on-demand in a world where consumers increasingly embrace subscription-based VoD offers?
18 Smart home Selling and packaging smart home solutions is not easy but there are a number of options available to manufacturers and service providers
20 COVER STORY - IPTV/OTTEric Huggers has predicted the death of traditional IPTV and its replacement by OTT delivery. But IPTV 2.0 can fight back…
23 WiFiWireless and WiFi, both indoors and outdoors, are now the main priorities for cable operators
29 DTG columnThe first ultra HD plugfests in the UK show that UHD interoperability still has a long way to go
30 CSI AwardsFind out more about this year’s awards
32 DTH in RussiaSatellite TV is facing a new set of opportunities and challenges in the country
35 Cloud DRMsTo what extent are DRMs migrating to hosted or cloud environments and what is the impact of this move?
42 Technology corner: 4k testing A leading test vendor offers their perspective on the challenges in this space
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 03
2015
April 2015
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New building blocks: Is OTT the future of IPTV?
cover.indd 1 27/03/2015 16:15:34
For the latest updates follow us @CSISummit #CSISummit
Future of TV Business ModelsThursday 21 May 2015St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel
Key themes under the spotlight will include:• The future of movie release windows
• Emerging commercial opportunities for
content distribution
• Transactional video (TVoD) vs SVoD
• Impact of direct-to-consumer OTT services
• A la carte TV
• Online piracy
• Advertising evolution
• Cross-platform audience measurement & data
• How programmatic is changing the buying
landscape
• The multi-screen battleground
Summit 2015
“The linear TV programming model is ripe for replacement” - Reed Hasting, CEO, Net� ix
“Programmers going OTT are playing with � re” - Tom Rutledge, CEO, Charter
Media PartnersSponsor
CSI-Summitv2.indd 2 27/03/2015 15:24:58
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT! REGISTER BEFORE 10 APRIL 2015
Panel discussions on current and developing trends in the media chain
Contact Hammad Uddin, +44 (0)207 562 2422, [email protected]
REGISTER NOW www.csimagazine.com/summit
• Shifting business models - a new digital landscapeCan the current advertising and affi liates revenue survive in the digital age? How are windowing
strategies evolving in a multi-platform world? Can EST survive in an era of sVoD? Does the death of
Blinkbox mean T-VoD is dead? How will the studios handle this?
Panellists:
Paul Maidment, Director, Kite Media Consultancy
Philip Mordecai, Director, Curzon Home Cinema
New Panellist announced: Riccardo Donato, Head of VOD, BBC Worldwide
• Fighting online piracy - a winnable � ght?Are we further than ever in combating digital pirates? What impact are OTT devices having on the
problem? How has the movie industry evolved with advancements in technology? What options are
open to content owners and broadcasters in tackling sports and movie piracy?
Panellists:
Sheila Cassells, Executive Director, Audiovisual Anti-piracy Alliance
Tim Cooper, Operations Manager; Anti-Piracy, MarkMonitor
Sundeep Samra, Product Manager, Data Centre and CDN Services, EMEA, Level 3
New Panellist announced: Kieron Sharp, Director General, FACT
• TV’s multiscreen battlegroundWhat is the future relationship for consumers and industry between multiple television screens and
devices? How will use of diff erent devices aff ect television content?
Panellists:
David Mercer, VP, Principal Analyst, Strategy Analytics
Tony Henderson, Operating Systems Group, Microsoft PlayReady
New Panellist announced: David Cutts, Director, VuTV
CSI-Summitv2.indd 3 27/03/2015 15:25:03
news in brief
Free unveils 4k Android boxFrench telco Free has introduced
what it claims is the world’s first
4k-capable set-top box based on
Android TV. The box combines
TV, broadband and fixed-line in a
new effort to shake-up the
country’s telecoms market. The
new box will be offered as part of
its standard triple-play service.
Free is supplying the Freebox
mini 4k instead of the Freebox
Crystal to new customers in fibre
and copper unbundled areas. The
two-device system consists of a
Freebox mini 4k server and a
player. The Freebox Mini 4K
supports ADSL2+, VDSL2 and
FttH connectivity and its
Bluetooth-based remote control
can recognise voice commands.
Sky invests in OTT start-upSky has put a further $5m in
1Mainstream, an OTT company
that provides automation
technology for content delivery of
linear and on-demand video to a
range of connected devices. such
as Apple TV, Xbox, Android TV
and Samsung. It enables content
companies to launch OTT
services across platforms in only
a matter of weeks and with
almost no upfront costs. The
investment builds on the $2m
already invested by Sky in August
2013. Since its initial investment,
Sky has used the platform to
broaden distribution of its OTT
services such as Sky News and
Now TV to its digital audience.
New analyst firm on the block
A new analyst firm has lunched
founded by veteran Screen Digest
employees Guy Bisson, Richard
Broughton, Ben Colbeck, and
Dan Stevenson. Ampere Analysis,
will be a research firm “for the
Netflix generation” using new Big
Data analytics.
06 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
News
Multi-screen rights in the spotlightAs content becomes increasingly
fragmented and non-linear, Liberty
Global’s Mike Fries wants the way
rights deals are done changed. So
does Turner, but from a different
angle.
Liberty is spending some
EUR2.5 billion a year on content,
much of that increasingly on
non-linear digital rights. In the face
of this shift, Liberty and other
cable providers need access to
a new set of rights, including
out-of-home viewing rights
and VoD.
“Content owners need to provide
us with rights we need to keep
consumers happy,” said Liberty
Global CEO Mike Fries, talking at
Cable Congress via Skype.
“Content owners have to get with
it, that’s the bottom line.”
The Horizon Go, for example,
app is used by a huge proportion of
those who have it.
The old strategy of content or
channel operators to bundle
channels is running into challenges,
especially in the US and Latin
America, and is beginning to
happen in Europe, according to
Fries. “The traditional strategy of
channel owners is to say that if you
want this good channel you have to
take five not-so-good channels,” he
said. “It is getting harder to invest
expensive amounts in linear
channels that are seeing fewer
viewers. So it will be more difficult
for content providers to package
that as all-or-nothing. People watch
TV in different ways now. We need
new rights and content owners to
recognise that.”
Vodafone Europe CEO Philipp
Humm made a similar statement,
when he said that for true customer
convergence to happen, rights
holders have to abandon current
models of monetising distribution
channels individually (cable,
mobile, DVB etc) and move
towards monetising customers
instead. “Currently they are resisting
following customers who are on the
cloud, which is a mistake. My advice
to content owners is never stand in
the way of what customers want -
many industries have tried.”
During the first day’s morning
panel, Giorgio Stock, the president
for EMEA at Turner Broadcasting,
which owns channel brands such
as CNN and Cartoon Network,
agreed that content is not just
about linear TV consumption
anymore, but he also outlined his
case for these negotiations.
With cross-border consolidation
taking place in Europe through the
likes of Sky, Telefonica and Liberty,
Stock admitted that Turner can now
engage and discuss in different ways
with operators. However, he warned
that multi-screen monetisation
remains a challenge.
“The two things that keep me
awake at night are innovation and
monetisation. It’s about surprising
audiences and providing them with
things they enjoy and love and doing
that on these new platforms, whether
it’s OTT, second screen or others,”
said Stock. “But it’s clear business
models are changing and we need to
ensure we get our fair share of
whatever incremental revenue is
generated in that space so we can
keep on investing. And that’s a
struggle because either it’s not shared
or not being generated. Not everyone
shares adequately. So it’s clear the
usual commercial discussion has
to happen.”
Stock noted that viewers now
expect not just the same content
packaged onto multiple devices
but also created natively for
different platforms.
On the subject of multi-screen
data and analytics, he noted how
Google (a fellow panellist) shares
data with companies like Turner,
which allows them to better
understand audience measurement,
successful content and drive
business. This is in stark contrast to
Netflix who Stock singled out as
being notoriously difficult to get
information from.
He also added that the industry
will see more consolidation, as well
as more blurred lines between
content and distribution as owners
go OTT and direct-to-consumer
(D2C). “We will see much more
competition which is great for
consumers,” said Stock.
news-6.indd 1 30/03/2015 10:26:19
news in brief
SES calls for S2X plugfestsSatellite operator SES sees the
need for interoperability tests to
push DVB-S2X technology
forward but also foresees “good
times” ahead for the new
standard. Thomas Wrede, senior
systems engineer at SES Astra,
said there is a need to evaluate
2SX modulators that have
appeared on the market from the
likes of TeamCast, Newtec and
Work Microwave, and check if
the system on chip (SoC)
implementations pose any
interoperability issues. “I think
we need to organise an S2X
plugfest, that’s something we
need to do to really get the trust
that each and every modulator
out there works with each and
every chipset,” said Wrede,
speaking at the DVB World
conference in Copenhagen.
Already issues have come up
between equipment, according to
Wrede, which is why such
initiatives are necessary,
irrespective of whether they are
organised by operators,
manufacturers or the DVB.
“There is work to do. But nothing
to worry about, it will happen,”
said Wrede. One chip is
commercially available and two
or three others will come by the
end of 2015 or early 2016,
according to Wrede, giving people
a choice of silicon. S2X is also
relevant for DTH for ultra HD
services, but he again pointed to
a need to wait for silicon makers
to come up with SoC
technologies for UHD set-top
boxes. “We also need to sort out
different phases of UHD and get
it off the ground.” The other area
where Wrede sees a lot of
potential in years to come is in
HTS. “My view is that the good
time for S2X is just a few years
ahead of us.”
Akamai, the world’s largest CDN
provider is moving all its customers
onto HTTP/2 this summer and
highlighted a range of other solutions,
including IP multicast and MSE/
EME extensions, that will be used to
meet the exponential growth of
internet traffic.
Akamai has plans to employ tools
and technologies to ease network
congestion as internet traffic is
expected to reach a peak of 8.3Pbs in
2025 (the equivalent to 8.3Mps
streams to 1bn people at the same
time), which compares to 26.7Tbps
today, driven by rising usage of OTT
video across a greater variety of
connected devices.
HTTP/2 is one such
implementation. HTTP/2 is the
evolution of HTTP and marks the
most significant change in the
protocol since HTTP 1.1 was
introduced back in the late 1990s.
New improvements were released
recently, allowing for faster delivery
among other benefits.
From mid-Summer, around June,
Akamai plans to deploy HTTP/2
across its entire network, taking with
it more than 3,5000 customers. “It’s
a significant change and we will see
very rapid growth of HTTP/2 going
forward,” said Will Law, chief
architect, media cloud engineering at
Akamai Technologies, speaking at
the DVB World conference, in a
presentation entitled ‘Will video kill
the internet star?’.
There will be some architectural
changes but not in a fundamental
way, said Law. Rather, it will be a
number of enhancements that will
enable this transition, including
media extensions, IP multicast, P2P
and MPEG-DASH.
Law mentioned that Google’s
Chrome stands out from the rest
in terms of browser usage across
devices on Akamai’s network.
Interestingly, browsers such as
Chrome increasingly support the
new MSE/EME (media source
extensions and encrypted media
extensions) standard from W3C.
Already, around 50% of views are
from browsers that support MSE and
EME, thanks to the dominance of
Chrome and IE.
“I can deliver encrypted DRM
content over the flexibility of a Web
page and it’s the same player that will
render with any device,” said Law.
This is important because it
harmonises the delivery layer. “We
have a tremendous problem of
creating payers today in order to
reach the plethora of devices that
consumer content. But technology
like MSE and EME will remove a lot
of that friction. I’m excited about
these extensions. They are very
relevant to the future consumption
of content in a browser.”
IP multicast is another solution.
Although there is also no global
standard IP multicasting - every
network deploys it in a slightly
different way, making it hard for a
CDN to interface with all networks
- Akamai has “an aggressive
programme” to build a multicast
solution. “We will do the hard work
of integrating with different ISPs
and we will try to push as much
commonly viewed content through
IP multicast as we can.”
• Also at DVB World, Ericsson
said it is concerned that the high
dynamic range (HDR) ecosystem is
not fully understood and that
current trials don’t take the entire
chain into account, which is crucial
as the industry sees more benefits
in HDR than ultra HD Phase 1.
While Ericsson doesn’t favour
any particular proposal, the
company is worried that decisions
are at risk of being reached in
isolation to each other.
Ericsson’s research found that
the choice of single or dual layer
signals or the use non-constant
luma creates problems further up
the chain. Questions also haven’t
been answered properly on how to
do HDR in OB truck, or what
impact the use of wider colour
gamut or higher frame rates might
have on HDR. Ericsson is also due
to release findings that HDR will
have on the compression space at
NAB, which show cost implications
of certain actions and schemes.
Mark Horton suggested good
way around these issues to gain a
better understanding is to do real
programmes using different
parameters to that results can be
measured properly.
Akamai to deploy HTTP2 across network; HDR deployment considerations
News
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 7
News-7.indd 1 27/03/2015 12:47:53
news in brief
Apple moves ahead with online TV serviceApple is talking to content
owners s it firms up its plans for
a subscription streaming service.
The technology giant is in
advanced talks with programmers
such as ABC and CBS to offer
a slimmed-down bundle of TV
networks this fall. The service
would have about 25 channels
and would be available on
Apple devices such as the
Apple TV, said WSJ. Apple
has also been talking to Walt
Disney and 21st Century Fox
among other media companies.
The news follows a recent deal
with HBO to bring its on-demand
app to Apple TV next month.
Talk of an over the top Apple TV
service — which avoids traditional
cable or satellite distribution in
favour of streaming live video
over the internet for viewing via
iPhone, iPad or TV box — has
been around for years. Apple
is now seen as unlikely to add
another screen to its family of
devices, but an updated version
of its set-top box is thought to
be imminent.
Twitter buys video streaming firmSocial media platform has
purchased Periscope, a developer
of a live-video streaming app. The
social-media company paid
slightly less than $100 million, an
amount that would make
Periscope one of Twitter’s more
expensive purchases, according to
a report in the WSJ, citing
unnamed sources. The deal
closed about a month ago, the
report said. Periscope started
beta-testing the app among select
users some four months ago.
Members of Twitter’s executive
management team and board of
directors joined the private beta.
08 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
News
Google calls for pan-European innovation The digital single market was
identified at the opening session as
an opportunity to help Europe take
advantage of its scale and set new
standards to better compete on a
global level. Panellists at Cable
Congress pointed to the demise of
Nokia as a warning of not keeping
up with changing times.
The panellists comprising
Google, Kabel Deutschland,
Turner, SES and Unitymedia
disagreed on how much of a
potential competitive threat Google
and its peers pose, but they all
agreed on the importance of a
single European digital market.
Innovation and the accelerating
cycle of innovation were repeatedly
mentioned as a top requirement
going forward because the way
content is created, distributed and
delivered is changing dramatically.
For this reason, they argued
Europe needs to keep up in order
not to fall further behind the times.
“One of the challenges for us in
Europe is it’s more fragmented.
The internet has reduced some
barriers to entry, the same is true
in content creation. We need to
make sure Europe is able to invest
to compete with the best in the
world,” said Matt Brittin, Google
Europe’s president of EMEA
business and operations.
Google Fibre is about trying to
encourage competition on the US
investment side, he explained.
“Market here is more fragmented
with players consolidating. What
we need to see the investment that
brings higher speeds for consumers
in Europe. As a European I worry
about a world where other have 4G
wireless connectivity and in Europe
we have less of that. It’s about an
element to ensure Europe can
compete with the world. One of the
things I’m worried about is to make
sure we have our heads right. The
opportunity for this industry to
innovate more is huge,” said Brittin.
For Google, net neutrality is
about ensuring innovation on the
internet can continue and that any
service can be found in the same
way as any alternatives. “The other
view of net neutrality is about the
investment case, which I also
understand,” he said.
Lutz Schuler from German cable
operator Unitymedia was happy to
hear Google recognise the need for
both sets of arguments and warned
that Europe should not fall further
behind.
“We tried with companies like
Nokia to build out portals to
consumers and we failed. We had
two winners in the end: Android and
iOS. You shouldn’t make the same
mistake twice. Mobile networks for
me are not smart pipes, just pipes,
and the big value creation sits with
the OS. I think as a cable operator
we have a great opportunity not to
make that mistake again.
“Nokia is dead. They were a
market leading company with 50% of
GDP in Finland. We failed in Europe
to come up with a standard. iOS and
Android did it better, but maybe now
in new converged ways there’s maybe
room for three or four,” said Schuler.
“We set the standard for many
years. We had Nokia and Ericsson
and were world leaders and it’s a
shame we lost that,” agreed Brittin.
“That is why discussions around
digital single market are important
because they give the opportunity to
create value across 500 million
consumers gives scale.”
On the point there isn’t enough
cross-border consolidation in Europe,
Kabel Deutshcland’s CEO Manuel
Cubero agreed that it’s about scale.
“Scale is more important than ever.
We think its mistake in the regulation
so far that consolidation at national
level has had problems, look at
Germany, and also between
countries. We are seeing changes and
regulation is more but has to evolve.
We need connectivity in regions that
aren’t densely populated, this is a
real problem. Super fast broadband
has to be fibre based or LTE based. I
look forward to much more
consolidation friendly regulation in
Europe,” said Cubero.
According to Google, 40% of the
world’s population are connected to
the internet today and this will grow
to 80% within five years, something
that will bring opportunity as well
as disruption. “We’re partners
not predators of this industry,”
added Brittin.
• Cable Europe, which represents
a large part of the region’s cable
industry interests, also called for a
“more level playing field” with new
OTT competitors in terms of
regulation and control. “Same
service, same rules,” said Manuel
Kohnstamm, SVP & Chief Policy
Officer, Liberty Global & President
of Cable Europe.
Image courtesy of Sarah2 / Shutterstock.com
news_8.indd 1 25/03/2015 16:49:00
news in brief
Euro cable worried on net neutralityCable Europe wants a “more
rational” approach in Europe to
this issue than the one introduced
in the US recently. Otherwise
innovation might suffer, it
warned.
Discussions on the open
internet have been a hot topic in
Brussels in the last few years and
even more so now with the high
profile decision reached by the
US FCC to reclassify Internet as
a utility reminiscent of 1930s
regulation. Cable Europe, which
represents the interest of a large
part of the industry across the
region, is a little spooked that
similar regulation might make its
way here due to its highly
political nature.
“Nobody in our industry is
against the open internet. We
want openness for everybody, but
we also want this issue done in a
way that innovation is still
possible,” said Matthias Kurth,
Cable Europe’s executive
chairman, at Cable Congress.
“We see new services coming
up like self driving cars and other
(IoT) things we can’t envisage yet,
and it’s obvious they need special
treatment otherwise they won’t
function. Also the internet was
always designed in a way that you
have different tracks for different
kinds of services,” said Kurth.
So Cable Europe is looking for
– and hopeful on - that Günther
Oettinger, the new European
Commissioner responsible for the
Digital Single Market, as well as
the council, might agree on a
“more rational deal” of just
having the principles embedded
in the regulation but not being
over prescriptive on the kind of
services, which it fears some
forces in the European
Parliament seems set on.
The new wave of converged services
will be customer driven and enabled
by the shift to cloud-based models, but
‘true convergence’ will also require a
change in attitude on content rights
and more ‘intelligent regulation’, says
the CEO of Vodafone Europe.
Vodafone is in the process of
transitioning itself from a mobile to a
converged player. The company has
140 million mobile, 12 million
broadband and ten million TV
subscribers in Europe, on the back of
recent acquisitions such as Kabel
Deutschland, Ono and Cable &
Wireless. It is in the middle of a
multi-billion Project Sprint network
investment and has plans to launch
TV and broadband services in the
UK among other markets.
Speaking at the Cable Congress in
Brussels as the opening keynote on
day 2, Philipp Humm, the self-styled
‘convergence guy’, argued that
convergence in Europe has so far not
been driven by customer needs but
rather by discounts and the ‘herd
effect’.
“The convergence story hasn’t
really started yet as it has mainly
been price driven,” said Humm. In
Spain and Portugal, bundles provide
35% discounts, which is why people
take them, he explained.
“The convergence future is one
we’re committed to at Vodafone. It’s
true we launched these services
defensively, but we are now in the
race as a strategic priority and we’re
in it for the long run because we
believe it’s the right choice for our
customers. True customer centricity
is driving our focus at Vodafone for
true future convergence,” he said.
According to Humm, true
convergence will happen when all
software and content moves to the
cloud. “Customers will learn they can
access personal content wherever
they are and on any device as content
and software move from CPEs to
cloud, as TVs become PCs and video
becomes more HD and interactive,
as TV processors become 4k and 8k,
and as 4G becomes ubiquitous.
Cloud-based content irreversibly
changes customer behaviour. Once
you’re on the cloud you’ll never
return to device storage.”
In the UK, 3G customers use less
than 1GB of data, 4G use 2GB,
while Netflix and Sky 4G customers
consumer between 3GB and 4GB on
average a month and this will rise as
services become more mature.
For true customer convergence to
happen, Humm argued that rights
holders have to abandon current
models of monetising distribution
channels individually (cable,
mobile, DVB etc) and move
towards monetising customers
instead. “Currently they are
resisting following customer who
are on the cloud, which is a
mistake. My advice to content
owners is never stand in the way of
what customers want - many
industries have tried.”
Somewhat more wishfully, he
also called for a change in the
rights process. “We need access to
premium content. We don’t want to
buy rights but distribute content.
Soccer clubs are only winners in
everyone buying exclusive rights.
Our industry will pay the bill and
be less profitable as a result.
“We need a Commission that
allows in-market consolidation and
facilitates cross-market
consolidation. We also need a
Commission that allows for
differentiation and monetisation of
services without discriminating
between offers. The US net
neutrality decision went in the
wrong direction but Europe looks
more promising.”
The journey going from a mobile
operator to a converged player is
not easy and will take time and
patience, Humm added, but it’s
worth it. “We will be converged in
all our markets. The beauty of true
convergence is that it’s super
sticky.”
• Vodafone UK will start
offering WiFi calling and voice-over-
LTE (VoLTE) this summer. WiFi
calling, which will automatically
become available without the need
to go through an app, is
particularly geared towards
subscribers living in poor coverage
areas or where getting an indoor
signal is difficult. The move is part
of the company’s commitment to
Europe set for true convergence, says Vodafone CEO
News
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 9
News-9.indd 1 27/03/2015 15:27:10
news in brief
Swisscom tests low-power IoTSwisscom is launching trials of a
low-power network specifically
aimed towards the Internet of
Things. The low-power network
connects M2M applications
for which SIM cards are not
required. The sensors are
connected with each other via
secondary frequencies in the
non-licensed ISM 800 band.
Swisscom will test LPN and
associated applications from
April, initially as part of a pilot
project in the regions of Zurich
and Geneva.
Amazon acquires IoT firmAmazon has acquired IoT
specialist 2lemetry for an
undisclosed sum. Founded in
2011, 2lemetry specialises in a
software-based approach with
an open enablement platform,
with customers in industries
including transport, oil and
gas, manufacturing, mining
and industrial machines. The
company said it will retain
the same name and branding
as before.
IoT/M2M potential in German speaking EuropeTelenor Connexion is increasing
its focus on the German-speaking
countries in Europe - Germany,
Austria and Switzerland – with
the opening of a new office in
Düsseldorf and adding several
additional IoT experts. The
increased demand for connected
machines and facilities is
reflected by the German federal
government’s Industry 4.0
initiative (the digitalisation of
the industry). Experts predict
that by 2020, M2M technology
will be a key competitive factor
for Germany, particularly in the
automotive industry.
10 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
IoT news
IBM claims IoT breakthrough IBM Research and Semtech have
announced a new technology, called
LoRaWAN, which is said to offer
significant advantages over cellular
and WiFi for providing M2M
communications.
The new technology, Long
Range wide-area networks, is based
on low-power, wide-area networks
(LPWANs) that promises to
overcome many of IoT’s hurdles,
such as limited battery life, short
communication distances, high
costs and a lack of standards.
Based on a new specification
and protocol for low-power, wide-
area networks that taps an
unlicensed wireless spectrum,
LoRaWAN can connect sensors
over long distances, while offering
optimal battery life and requiring
minimal infrastructure. This allows
it to deliver such benefits as
improved mobility, security,
bi-directionality, and localisation/
positioning, as well as lower costs,
according to the companies.
LoRaWAN sensors can
communicate over distances of more
than 100 km (62 miles) in
‘favourable environments’, 15 km (9
miles) in typical semi-rural
environments and more than 2 km
(1.2 miles) in dense urban
environments at data rates from 300
bit/s up to 100 kbit/s. This makes
them well suited for sending small
amounts of data, such as GPS
coordinates and climate readings,
where broadband can’t reach. Most
sensors can run for ten years or more
on a single AA battery, while security
features AES128 keys.
They have also formed the LoRa
Alliance, which aims to combine
hardware and software based on the
LoRaWAN standard for telecom
operators and network operators,
enabling them to offer IoT services
to both businesses and consumers.
“From sensors and machines
to monitors and wearables, soon
connecting billions of devices
together could be as seamless as
sending an SMS to your local
telecom provider,” the group said.
• Cable operators dismiss the
impact machine-to-machine (M2M)
comms will have on their network
planning and provisioning in
the short term, arguing its a
“higher flow” of traffic that will
be service dependent.
Panasonic promises M2M acquisitionsPanasonic has identified several
targets in the IoT space over the
next two years as it aims to become
an end-to-end provider of business
machine-to-machine solutions and
embed M2M within its products.
Panasonic is acquiring DHL
Digital Solutions, which builds on
the acquisition of a European
cloud-based video surveillance firm
18 months ago.
On the back the latest
acquisition, the company has also
formed a new European
organisation, called Panasonic
Business Software Solutions
Europe, focused on solutions to
bolster its efforts on this front.
“This will allow us to provide deep
expertise in software, hardware and
system integration,” said Laurent
Abadie, CEO of Panasonic Europe.
These moves form part of
Panasonic’s efforts to expand its
portfolio, through new growth areas
in the M2M and the B2B sectors.
Abadie said Panasonic is likely
to make further acquisitions that
will help fill gaps in its service
offering to become a one-stop shop
and single point of contact for
business M2M needs.
• Microsoft has confirmed a new
Azure IoT Suite and IoT-focused
version of its Windows 10 operating
system.
With the Azure IoT Suite, which
will be introduced in preview mode
later this year, Microsoft is looking
to help companies integrate and
manage all their connected offerings.
The new platform will give businesses
access to tools such as asset
management, remote monitoring,
and predictive maintenance. Feeding
into this is Azure Stream Analytics,
which serves up real-time data from
devices and will be made available
next month as a standalone service,
or bundled with Azure IoT.
news-10.indd 1 27/03/2015 16:18:39
news in brief
CI+ 2.0 USBs by 2016The new version of the CI+
module has a new USB form
factor and these could be released
into the market before the end of
this year. Until now, CI+ modules
have taken the guise of a
PCMCIA card. The next-
generation CI+ 2.0, the next step
up from CI+ 1.4, will be USB-
based because most TVs now
support them and equally because
it is in this way no longer a single
purpose interface on the TV.
Alexander Adolf of LGE and
chair of the DVB TM-CI Plus
module, said “New USB form
factor, the same great product,” at
DVB World. There is no official
timeline set as yet for the release
of CI+ 2.0 products but “later this
year” is possible, he said.
Despite the scars of DVB-H, Sony is
hopeful that things will be different
this time for getting DVB-T2 receivers
into mobile terminals.
Steve Beck, general manager of
systems engineering at Sony
Semiconductor said at the DVB
World conference that he was still
“in therapy” over the DVB-H
experience, but that he thinks things
will turn out different this time
round, not least because the DVB-T2
rollout has been global.
“We need to move on. T2 can
overcome barriers that affected
DVB-H and FLO,” said Beck. He
pointed to efficiencies for volume
production and how DVB-T2 offers
flexibility to match network design to
use case. Crucially, it’s the same
network architecture that and
distribution system that doesn’t
require new towers. DVB-T2 also
supports fixed and mobile services in
one standard, which lowers the
barriers to rollout.
Beck identified a strong demand
in Asia for TV on handhelds, partly
due to the greater penetration of
mobile phones there than TV. He
highlighted India, Indonesia and
Thailand as particularly promising
markets due to a variety of reasons
against a wider backdrop of the
worldwide trend for higher resolution
displays in portable devices.
Sony is engaged in trials in South
East Asian countries where it is
working with the OEM community
(there are understood to be four
manufacturers involved) to build
prototype devices.
Sony is trying to break the
chicken-and-egg handheld cycle by
producing and optimising silicon.
The company has implemented RF
on a digital process, which along
with lowered power consumption
that Sony has developed, makes it
much easier for handset makers to
implement this solution (pictured).
The analogue switch-off also
offers an opportunity in many
parts of the world, according to
Beck. He also argued that devices
are becoming more open and
commoditised (ie Android) so
that adding this kind of TV
functionality could be a way
of differentiation.
Sony to trial DVB-T2 to mobile in Asia
News
NEW
news_11.indd 1 30/03/2015 10:31:11
More than half a billion
connected TV devices are
now in use around the
world ranging from games
consoles and Blu-ray
players to digital media
streaming boxes and
dongles as well as of course Smart TVs. Growth in
ownership of these devices is being driven by a
number of factors including the rising popularity of
online video streaming services like Netflix and
Amazon, the availability of cheap and easy-to-use
media streaming boxes and dongles from well-
known brands and the current wave of TV
replacement which is driving up ownership of
Smart TVs. Growing usage and availability of such
gateways into the online video world is changing
the way that many people watch television today by
offering consumers more choice, flexibility and
control over how they view TV.
Consumers today commonly own more
than one type of connected TV device and so
often have a choice to make as to which device
to use to access the online content they want to
view. That decision is often driven by how easy
the device is to use, speed of access to the
content and how well the application has been
tailored to fit a large screen format. Smart
TVs and Blu-ray players often come up
short on these measures due to their clunky
interfaces and underpowered video processors.
Meanwhile, games consoles have seen high
levels of online connectivity although usage is
generally skewed towards gaming applications
and consoles are not always hooked up to the
main TV set in the home. This has left an
opportunity for a device that can provide quick
and easy access to the popular online video
applications and digital media streaming boxes
and even cheaper dongles have been doing a
good job of fulfilling that need.
The current trend for screen mirroring is
gaining momentum as technologies such as
Miracast and Chromecast become more
widespread, providing consumers with a means to
send content from a computer or mobile device to
the TV. Google has now sold more than ten
million Chromecast dongles worldwide since
launching back in mid-2013 while Miracast is
being integrated into a growing range of media
streaming devices such as Amazon’s Fire TV stick
and the Roku 3 and Roku Stick. Such devices
have gained popularity thanks to their ease of use,
adequate functionality and low cost. In many ways
streaming dongles provide a
very effective way of
bridging the mobile and TV
experience. Consumers get
the best of both worlds by
watching content on the
best screen in the home
while accessing and controlling it via familiar and
reliable interfaces on their mobile devices rather
than the unfamiliar and often slower user
interfaces found on Smart TVs.
TV vendors recognise the trend in screen
mirroring and Miracast is increasingly being built
into Smart TVs while Chromecast will be
integrated into the Android TV platform that is
set to be adopted by Sony, Sharp and TP Vision
for some of their Smart TV models this year.
That said, TV vendors still face the challenge of
getting consumers to use their own apps and
built-in services rather than launching such
services from a phone or tablet.
Bridging the broadcast and OTT worldsDongles are also set to play a role in helping
to bridge the gap between the broadcast and
OTT worlds, something that Smart TVs and other
connected TV devices have so far largely failed to
achieve. French software provider SoftAtHome
has developed a Universal ‘Cast’ dongle that
enables operators to offer a fully converged
multiscreen service that combines
live premium broadcast video with OTT content
and supports multiple casting technologies
including Google Cast and Apple Airplay.
Meanwhile, US chip vendor Qualcomm recently
unveiled a 4k streaming stick prototype, an
Android powered HDMI based device with
Snapdragon 800 processor and multiple
connectivity options including WiFi and 4G.
With its built-in LTE broadcast support,
Qualcomm’s technology could prove to be
invaluable to mobile operators looking to develop
next generation television services.
The year of the dongle?David Watkins looks at screen mirroring dongles and wonders if they are a threat to the Smart TV
David Watkins is director, Connected Home Devices, Digital Consumer Practice, at Strategy Analytics
Analyst corner
12 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
Image courtesy of Sarah2 / Shutterstock.com
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Untitled-3 1 11/02/2015 11:41:58
A multi-million pound TV and
billboard advertising
campaign and the backing
of the UK’s largest retailer
were not enough to prevent
the failure of the film and
TV streaming service
Blinkbox, which was sold in January, by Tesco to
TalkTalk, for an undisclosed sum.
The decision to offload the service was, in part,
a response to Tesco’s financial troubles, having
overstated its profits in the first half of 2014 by
£250m, but it was also the result of Blinkbox’s
dwindling customer base in the face of fierce
competition from services run by the likes of
Netflix, Amazon, and Apple’s iTunes.
As a transactional video on demand (TVoD)
service streaming movies and TV shows, Blinkbox
had thrown itself into direct competition with the
market leader iTunes, which accounts for over half
of the digital download market in the UK. But
while iTunes has a deeply entrenched user base -
with most iPhone or iPod owners in possession of
an iTunes account - Blinkbox’s strategy for
attracting customers was based on investment in a
handful of blockbuster releases and a less-than-
exciting link up with Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty
scheme. As such it did little to differentiate itself
and paid the price as a result.
Niche activityIn a broader sense, Blinkbox had failed to respond
to the dramatic shift in viewing habits in the UK
towards subscription-based digital video on
demand (SVoD), already
deployed successfully by
the likes of Netflix and
Amazon Prime (formerly
LoveFilm, purchased by
Amazon in 2011).
According to Ofcom’s
2014 Communications
Market Report, UK
revenue for online SVoD
rose dramatically to
£111.7m in 2013, from
£63.5m during the
previous 12 months, and the signs are this trend
will continue into the future.
“The UK OTT video market is now dominated
by SVoD, which accounts for 72% of all consumer
spend on OTT video services. That doesn’t leave a
lot of money for a firm like Blinkbox that only
wants to ‘play in the transactional end of the
pool’. While there are still pounds to be made in
this area, there is fierce competition and multiple
players in the market, including services backed
by multinational corporations like iTunes and
Google Play, which don’t focus purely on TVoD,”
says Michael Goodman, director of digital media
at Strategy Analytics.
TVoD remains a niche activity in the UK
compared to other forms of internet video
T-VoD
In the Blink of an eyeThe demise of Tesco’s video streaming service Blinkbox took many in the industry by surprise, so what went wrong with its business model and is there still a future for transactional video on demand in a rapidly changing marketplace? Stephen Cousins looks at the bigger picture
14 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
TVoD.indd 1 26/03/2015 12:51:19
consumption including catch-up TV, VoD and
SVoD. According to Ofcom, just 24% of
consumers have a download-to-own collection of
TV shows or films purchased through a storefront
like iTunes, while just one in ten people
download-to-rent (DTR) each month, the majority
of these being younger consumers.
Although usage of TVoD services remains low
among the general population, there has been a
recent rise in those who use them each month,
according to research by digital media research
organisation Decipher.
“iTunes unsurprisingly leads the pack
accounting for 5% of the UK online population,
tied with Google Play, which could well overtake
iTunes this year,” notes Matt Walters, senior
consultant at Decipher. “Amazon Instant Video is
only a percentage point behind, and is a service to
watch as it establishes itself following the
Lovefilm rebranding.”
A global perspectiveGetting a worldwide perspective on the TVoD
market is tricky as balance between TVoD, SVoD
and other forms of online video consumption
varies significantly. For example, in France
electronic sell through (EST) and download-to-
rent command a huge 54% of the market, mainly
because content rights windows prevent movies
from becoming available on SVoD until 36
months after theatrical release. In Germany,
where broadband penetration has only reached
around a third of the population, advertisement-
based VoD services dominate the market, with a
28% share. However, a massive rise in the number
of smart TVs sold in Germany and the arrival of
Netflix into the market mid-last year is likely to
shift the balance.
The US is similar to the UK and dominated by
the SVoD model: 42% of households have access
to at least one service; Netflix is used by 36% of
households, ahead of Amazon used by 13% and
Hulu by 6%. “In the US, consumers are adopting
SVOD because of its convenience and ease of use,
as a result EST and rental numbers are rapidly
declining,” says Goodman.
The American SVOD market is under close
scrutiny following the launch of HBO GO in
February, a subscription streaming service run
by the cable and satellite TV network HBO,
and similar subscription services are soon to
be introduced by networks including Showtime
and Epix.
“It will be very interesting to see how HBO GO
competes with Amazon Prime and Netflix
because they are very different animals,” points
out Goodman. “Existing SVoD services don’t do
blockbuster movies very well, for example
Amazon’s library has lots of TV shows, older
movies, and maybe a couple blockbusters each
month. However, HBO is all about screening
blockbusters, alongside a strong original line up of
TV shows like Game of Thrones, True Detective
etc. That will bring something new to the table
and indicates that the SVoD landscape is going to
become more competitive.”
TVoD 2.0?When Tesco bought its 80% stake in Blinkbox in
2011 the VoD landscape was very different and
SVoD had yet to gain a strong foothold in the
UK. However, as consumer taste shifted towards
the varied content and convenience of
subscription services, Blinkbox failed to adapt its
offering, perhaps because, as a retailer, Tesco was
used to selling products rather than building
subscribers.
“Blinkbox is a prime example of why TVoD is
very hard to make work on its own - it is just not a
sustainable business model,” argues Jonathan
Guthrie, CEO of subscriber management and
billing solutions provider PayWizard. “Today, it
can only work as a top-up to an existing and
relatively mature subscriber base. If you
incorporate TVoD too early, you risk slowing the
growth of the subscriber base, as viewers start to
think, ‘you’ve got to pay even more for the good
stuff’”.
A similar view is held by Michael Lantz, CEO
of TV applications provider Accedo: “A TVoD-
only service will be hard pressed to attract enough
T-VoD
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 15
“In France electronic sell through (EST) and download-to-rent command a huge 54% of the market, mainly because content rights windows prevent movies from becoming available on SVoD until 36 months after theatrical release.”
TVoD.indd 2 26/03/2015 12:51:20
users to create a good business case. The business
model relies on getting enough eyeballs to
promote content and new releases to consumers.
In order to do so, it is vital to have other content
or reasons for visiting the service.”
As such, many of the most successful TVoD
services are “service-within-a-service” offerings,
where consumers are exposed to purchasable
content via search mechanisms or UX
promotional areas.
One example in the cable space is the hybrid
cable/OTT platform X1, run by Comcast, which
was recently reported to have handled almost as
many TVOD transactions as iTunes.
“TVoD has great potential as an extension of a
cable service,” argues Iddo Shai, director of
product marketing at OTT video platform
provider Kaltura. “Pay per view has been
popular for many years, the idea being that you
already get all these live channels from a vendor.
It therefore makes sense to use the same service
to buy TVoD services occasionally.”
As such the business model perhaps comes
into its own as a tool designed to drive ARPU
from an existing mature subscriber base, offering
first run movies, popular TV series or major
sporting events. It is a model Sky has
implemented to impressive effect with its Sky
Store service, available to all Sky TV subscribers.
Bolting a TVoD element to an internet-based
SVoD service could also work in certain
circumstances, Shai adds: “SVoD services already
charge the customer a monthly fee, so they could,
in theory, offer TVoD at a discounted rate,
essentially up-selling to existing customers.
This could give them an edge over iTunes
and GooglePlay, which don’t offer a
monthly subscription.”
New functionalityServices that expand the functionality of TVoD
content and the ways it can be viewed might help
the business model gain traction. At present,
many EST services involve purchasing a piece of
content then storing and viewing it on a single
device, but forward thinking providers are making
EST purchases available on multiple platforms
both inside and outside the home.
A relatively recent example is the evolution of
BT’s Buy-to-Keep EST service available through
the BT TV App. Customers that have bought a
film through their YouView box can stream it on
another mobile device within the home
broadband network, as well as download it to
watch offline and outside the home. “BT claims
this can be used on up to four devices. This gives
TVoD a potentially new utility and scale and we
expect competitor services to follow suit,” thinks
Decipher’s Walters.
However, research has shown that people still
in most cases prefer to watch television on the big
screen and with an increasing choice of services
available integrated into (payTV) set-top boxes
and TVs themselves, such as Apple TV, Now TV,
Chromecast, as well as leading VoD and catch-up
players like Sky+ and iPlayer, the popularity of
viewing on mobile devices could decline in future.
“The living room has caught up with the trend
for OTT viewing, and with AppleTV, Chromecast,
gaming consoles, and all new TVs now running
apps, accessing SVoD and TVoD services on the
large screen is easy, so it’s natural to expect
people to go back to the largest screen in the
house that offers the optimal viewing experience,”
says Kaltura’s Shai. “This doesn’t pose a challenge
to SVoD and TVoD services, but it does carry
some risks for traditional cable and satellite
that need to compete with OTT TV on the
large screens.”
T-VoD
16 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
TVoD.indd 3 27/03/2015 16:41:41
The landscape is littered
with dozens of failures of
companies that were once
pioneers and leaders in their
industries that fell prey to
disruptors that were able to
reinvent the fundamentals of
their business model seemingly overnight. From
music companies, music retailers, movie rentals,
newspapers, magazines, bookstores, cell phone
manufacturers we’ve seen the leaders of these
industries become the digital dinosaurs of the
modern era.
Perhaps Bill Gates was right: “We always
overestimate the change that will occur in the next
two years and underestimate the change that will
occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled
into inaction.”
With this history behind us, it is surprising that
the cable and broadcast industry has not heeded a
call to action. With services such as Netflix,
Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Hulu, Amazon
Prime, Simple.TV, Fan TV, etc. you can see the
horizon is rapidly changing. According to
Lifehacker, 90% of the top 250 shows can be
already purchased via iTunes or Amazon. If you
look at the adoption statistics of just Apple TV, it
nearly doubled to ten million units last year which
clearly highlights that the trend is showing
movement away from traditional TV. Nielsen
reports that there are already five million “zero
TV” households and expects that number to
continue to rise as new generations of viewers
consume their content on computers and mobile
devices. According to Netflix CEO, Reed Hasting,
“the linear TV programming model is ripe for
replacement.”
But the same business models that have been
in place for the last 20+ years still remain. While
there have been strides to change the competitive
landscape with legislation such as the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, subsequent
FCC rulings have allowed mergers and ownership
of multiple media outlets in the same market by a
single company. The result is that today, most of
the US’ biggest broadcast and cable networks as
well as movie studios (basically all the major
content creators) are owned by just six
companies, Comcast, Disney, Viacom, CBS, News
Corp and Time Warner. These big “dinosaurs”,
while powerful behemoths of their age, are very
susceptible to fast moving innovative upstarts.
For example, over the past year, there have
been several Napster like disrupters that have
emerged. Aereo a NY based start-up was an
innovative technology that allowed users stream
and record live, broadcast television to their
internet-connected devices, through an antenna
physically located in one of their warehouses. It
was shutdown in June of 2014 after losing a legal
battle brought on by the networks.
Similarly, the introduction of other innovations
such as Popcorn Time which is a free open
source, multi-platform, BitTorrent client meant to
challenge SVoD services like Netflix, raised some
eyebrows before it too was taken down by its
original developers in March.
While these modern Napsters may have
disappeared for a while, much like Napster gave
birth to a new digital music distribution model,
the birth of these services are watershed moments
and could mark the beginning of the end of the
traditional cable and TV network business model.
It might be hard for cable
companies to compete with
low cost or free broadcast
alternatives.
And much like
Blockbuster consumers
were frustrated over
exorbitant late fees, cable
consumers have been
frustrated at paying for
overpriced bundles that
include tons of content
they don’t watch. While this hasn’t yet been
enough for most people to drop cable, it’s clear
the current business model is not sustainable. The
alternatives are already readily available, are more
cost effective and the content becoming more
specialised. Much the same way Netflix used the
power of a rich content library and no fee
structure to lure consumers from Blockbusters,
similar upstarts will eventually do that to the
cable operators and networks.
A cascading landscape of disruptionDisruption in this industry will occur in waves
creating a cascading landscape of disruption. The
revenue model through ads and affiliates is
antiquated and will not survive in the digital age.
But all may not be lost for cable companies.
They do have one enduring competitive advantage
in that they own the pipe to over 100 million
homes. So even as the current pay subscription
model unfolds, cable companies will still be able
to monetise that infrastructure. A lot is still
unknown as net neutrality rules unfold and
consumers establish what they are willing to pay
for these services in the new digital world.
Additionally expect to see some partnerships
emerge like the Comcast and Apple talks from
earlier in the year. Apple realises that to make
Apple TV as rich as cable it will have to link in
partners. The question for cable companies is how
long to wait. They have the power of the content
which they should leverage while they can.
But time is if the essence. Change is inevitable.
The question is whether it will be a steady bleed
for cable providers, or will they start
haemorrhaging customers even more quickly.
Eventually even the most loyal cable addicts may
start considering a zero TV existence.
Opinion
The next digital dinosaurs: The cable industry?The revenue model through ads and affi liates is antiquated and will not survive in the digital age. Cable must respond now to avoid the mistakes of the past, argues Frank Palermo
Frank Palermo is senior VP -Technical Solutions
Group for Virtusa
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 17
Opinion.indd 2 27/03/2015 15:29:42
Smart features are compelling to
consumers and have a growing
influence on their purchase
decisions, but adding
connectivity to a product
creates new and ongoing costs.
A key step in the business
strategy for smart home solutions is determining
how to create a return on the investment required
when adding this new functionality, including the
cloud service, the apps, and the third-party data
services that support them.
This can be a tricky proposition as consumers
—as a whole unfamiliar with services associated
with smart products — may not want to sign up
for recurring fees, at least not initially. Numerous
alternate monetisation opportunities exist for both
smart product manufacturers and service
providers to unlock value and enable participation
in new revenue streams that are not directly
funded by the consumer.
Value-added servicesSmart home service providers are using
aggregated data from many products in the home
to create different value-added services, while
manufacturers and data analytics companies are
developing product-specific applications that
leverage the data stream from a single smart
product. Consumers may not be willing to pay for
an individual value-added service. However,
bundling a group of new services together can
overcome consumer reluctance to pay.
Products must include a group of features that
together create value for the consumer. Most
products and smart home services do not have a
killer app — a single feature or service that can
drive revenue. Rather, a bundle of services is
required. Parks Associates research shows the
percentage of households willing to subscribe
to a fee-based service is higher than the
percentage of households that found any single
feature very appealing.
Price and volume expansionOne approach to offsetting the cost of supporting
connectivity services over the life of the product is
to recover that cost at the point of purchase.
Using this model, smart products have to
command a higher price point in order to
maintain margins. Unfortunately, many first-
generation smart products do not include value-
added services that provide price expansion.
Consumer interest in value-added services is
present — 42% of US broadband homes said they
were likely to purchase a smart thermostat
expressed a preference for a thermostat with
advanced value-added services priced at three
times the price of a basic smart thermostat with
remote monitoring and control only.
Value-added services not only have the ability
to command price premiums but can also shorten
product replacement cycles and encourage
upgrading. Of households
that indicated a preference
for an advanced
thermostat, 61% stated
that they would proactively
replace their existing,
functioning thermostat
with an advanced model.
Since many smart home
products have lifetimes of
over a decade,
understanding what
bundles drive proactive replacement is critical to
market growth.
Product sales and commissionsSelling accessories or complementary products
through an app is another monetisation scheme.
Sales can be fulfilled directly from the
manufacturer, which would capture a 30-40%
retail margin, or through the existing supply
chain, which would generate a commission on
the sale. Approximately two-thirds of US
broadband households likely to purchase a smart
home system are also likely to purchase
accessories from in-app product marketing.
Allowing this, manufacturers are removing the
friction associated with the transaction and
replacing it with a streamlined process at the click
of a button.
The convenience of in-app purchases can also
extend the potential for product commissions to
include complementary products. Nearly 20% of
US broadband households found smart appliances
Research corner
Monetisation opportunities for the Smart Home and IoTSelling and packaging smart home solutions to consumers can be tricky. Tom Kerber outlines the various options open to smart product manufacturers and service providers
18 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
SmartHome.indd 1 25/03/2015 17:26:06
that could order detergent, dryer sheets, or fabric
softener highly appealing.
Whole product solutionsValue-added services are most interesting when
products are extended beyond their traditional
boundaries. Currently, customers are not willing
to pay additional fees for services that replicate
traditional device functions. Adding sensors and
controls that expand the functionality of the
product provides new opportunities to sell value-
added services. Additionally, once devices are
able to communicate with each other, they
can act as a system or whole product solution,
using other devices as sensors and increasing
the applications, use cases, and potential for
recurring revenue.
App sales, upgradesOnce a product is connected and its data is
mined, innumerable features can be added. Whole
product solutions in the form of app mash-ups
provide a nearly endless array of possibilities.
Something as simple as a one-dollar app upgrade
fee can offset not only the cost of providing the
service but can also generate a return on the cost
of developing the feature.
AdvertisingWhen using a mobile phone, consumers spend
much more time in apps than on the web—as
much as five times more. Smart product owners
are also likely to purchase other smart products
and services, making ads on mobile apps even
more valuable.
While many smart product manufacturers and
service providers are hesitant to use advertising
because of concerns about jeopardising their trust
relationship with the customer, over 40% of likely
buyers of smart home systems show interest in a
variety of alternative monetisation schemes,
including advertising, if participation reduces or
eliminates a monthly service.
Lead generationProviding referrals to contractors or retailers
where recommended products or services can be
obtained simplifies and streamlines the customer
experience. Smart home manufacturers and
service providers are well positioned to be the
provider of information at the most critical time
in the buying process — when the consumer has
decided to take action. At that point, lead
generation is more likely to be perceived by the
user as a valuable customer service as opposed
to an intrusive marketing ploy.
From a contractor perspective, paying a modest
referral fee lowers overall customer acquisition
costs. For example, because the lifetime of a
furnace can be over ten years, HVAC dealers must
constantly seek new customers. However, if a
consumer receives an alert from a smart home
application that there is a problem with their
furnace, they can go through the app to find the
dealers they would like to contact. The dealers
pay a fee to have their name on the list, and the
smart home service provider gets paid either
directly for connecting the dealer and consumer
or through a third-party firm specialising in selling
lead generation.
Tech supportAs smart home device adoption increases, so will
the need for support services. While a majority of
issues with smart home devices are resolved using
self-service tools, 66% of smart device owners
would prefer to have the support of a technician
to resolve the issue.
However, at this time, it is not likely that
technical support will be a significant source of
additional recurring revenue for manufacturers or
service providers. Most smart home device
owners expect manufacturers to provide
complimentary support, including self-service
options and telephone support, online chat, and
remote access services. Among the minority of
smart device owners who are willing to pay for
technical support, most expect to pay less than
$10 per issue resolved.
However, bundling technical support with other
services as part of a premium offering is another
option. Individually, each service will not quickly
gain significant adoption as a recurring revenue
generator. But, when these services are bundled,
56% of smart device owners are willing to pay
$9.99 per month, and 43% are willing to pay up to
$39.99 per month.
Demand responseDemand response represents a significant revenue
opportunity for thermostats, appliances, lighting,
and other devices that consume a large portion of
the overall residential load. Nearly 50% of likely
smart home buyers would allow their service
provider to adjust their thermostat.
The value of demand response varies from
market to market, ranging from $50-$80 per home
per year. Today, the thermostat represents the
majority of the demand response capability in the
home. Traditional thermostat DR programs install
thermostats at a cost of $200-$300 per home. It is
impractical for third parties to utilise the utility
model because the incentives are out of sync with
costs. By using the installed base of smart
thermostats, aggregators can pay one-tenth as
much per thermostat to gain access to this base.
Customer loyaltyOne of the biggest long-term opportunities for
monetisation of smart products is product
replacement. Remote diagnostics enable the
manufacturer to know when a product is
experiencing problems or is nearing the end of its
life. Using this information, the manufacturer can
offer service at the time of need or offer a rebate
to purchase a new product, customizing a pitch to
each household’s unique need. Manufacturers,
therefore, are in the best position to sell new
products to the consumer—either directly to the
consumer or using existing distribution channels
for order fulfilment.
The rise of non-consumer funded optionsIn the future, alternative business models that
monetise connectivity indirectly will become more
prevalent. In the long run, non-consumer funded
options will win a significant market share. Smart
products and systems with no recurring revenue
fees appeal to a large segment of consumers.
Recurring revenue fees may be able to start
markets, but without strong value propositions,
most will yield to solutions with no fees.
Research corner
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 19
Tom Kerber is director, research, Home Controls &
Energy, Parks Associates
SmartHome.indd 2 25/03/2015 17:26:06
OTT is the future of
OPTV: true or false?
The answer used to be
clear cut. OTT was great
for providing anytime,
anywhere services, but
when it came to
delivering quality and quantity, IPTV would
always have the edge. Not so now. Although still
nowhere near IPTV levels of quality, OTT content
is improving all the time, as is quality of service
(QoS), and increasingly IPTV operators are
adopting OTT technology. So will there be a
time in the not so distant future when the two
technologies are indistinguishable?
It doesn’t make sense for telcos or other access
networks to build out private IPTV infrastructure
for linear broadcast content when the internet is
clearly demonstrating the capability to deliver it,
says Jason Thibeault, senior director of marketing
strategy at Limelight Networks,
But, he qualifies, “although OTT as a solution
for IP-based television can leverage cloud-based
resources, there is no clear-cut way to gauge QoS.
And, the internet does not have an infinite
amount of resources. When you consider the
amount of bandwidth that even an average IPTV
consumer uses and then shift that content to
the public internet, it’s clear that capacity will
eventually run out. There’s plenty of capacity
in the pipes, but
that’s not where
the bottleneck will
happen—it will
be at the switches,
routers, NICs, and
servers that enable
the internet.’
If you can’t beat them, join them
As audiences are not turned off by broadband
delivered content, despite a sometimes low QoS
and occasional crashing and buffering, IPTV
players will continue to open up to OTT. They’ve
realised they can’t beat them so they have to join
them somehow.
There are already a lot of commonalities
between the two delivery mechanisms, points out
Jean-Marc Racine, managing partner at
Farncombe. CPEs, for example, are connected to
an IP network, HTML is used to present the
content to the viewer, security is based on DRM
or cardless solutions, user information
preferences, search etc is performed in a remote
server and not on the CPE application itself. The
one major difference relates to how live TV is
distributed, namely IP multicast for IPTV and
HTTP streaming for OTT.
Consequently, the savvy IPTV providers are
looking for hybrid solutions that are based on
the best of what OTT and IPTV have to offer.
“OTT has its limitations still, particularly in terms
of scale, and I don’t think IPTV will die off
completely because of this,” says KA Srinivasan,
co-founder of cloud-based technology company,
Amagi. “When it comes to major events, such
as the NFL games, IPTV still has a big role to
play using its live-streaming multicast capability
to deliver to millions of viewers simultaneously.”
OTT systems will always have problems
delivering huge files to individual display devices
around a nation, foresees Simen Frostad,
chairman of Bridge Technologies. “As long as it is
IP-based you have the flexibility of implementing
various types of technologies. Let’s say a real-time
sports event or newscast, which you need to
produce in high quality, then traditional multicast
IPTV is the technology of choice. But, for VoD
and more individual content, maybe OTT is
better. You need the mix.”
Some improvements in QoS may ensure that
OTT may soon start to own the niche channel
IPTV/OTT
IPTV is dead. Long live IPTVTraditional multicast IPTV is blending with OTT delivery. These hybrid approaches together with other network advances and DevOps models will push IPTV 2.0 to a new future, discovers Anna Tobin
20 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
IPTV-OTT.indd 1 27/03/2015 16:34:49
market, claims Avi Vermus, CEO at PeerTV.
“The standout advantage OTT enjoys is its
flexibility in terms of delivery, using as it does
the public internet infrastructure with its huge
capacity potential to deliver content. As a result,
some of our OTT clients have seen an attractive
market in monetising the TV viewing habits of
expatriate communities around the world by using
the internet to reach an audience known to be
hungry for on-demand ethnic TV content. The
technology is adaptable and can make niche
markets viable.”
Evolving legacy systemsNot all of the complex monolithic legacy IPTV
systems, however, can be easily adapted to
support OTT services, and the investment
required for the upgrade could prove too much for
some of the world’s second and third tier telcos.
“Many first-generation IPTV platforms embarked
on the journey of a native-client approach, this
would require physical replacement of each
device with one that supports an HTML/HTML5
rendering engine,” highlights Frode Hernes,
vice president of product for TV and devices at
Opera Software.
Consequently, some heavily financed IPTV
providers have started from scratch, replacing
their entire legacy systems with flexible platforms
that support classic IPTV and OTT, as well as
various multi-screen capabilities by leveraging
standards like HTML5.
“The IPTV systems that already are on
HTML5 and integrating OTT are probably well
off, and others will have to move in that direction,
if they are to survive,” emphasises Hernes.
An HTML5 user interface is certainly key to
IPTV version 2 types of architectures and the
integration of common place OTT services that
enable YouTube, Netflix and Hulu are becoming
pretty much standard too. To this end, the You
View platform offered by BT and Talk Talk in the
UK has made a huge investment in new
technologies including HTML5 and Unicast
content delivery. As a result, Alex Green, director
TV at BT, says: “YouView can make updates in
days. We embrace OTT players on our YouView
platform – for example the Netflix app on
YouView can be updated as quickly as the Netflix
app on any other device.”
IPTV 2.0 architectures are being designed to be
future-proof, stresses Steve Plunkett, chief
technology officer at Red Bee Media. “Modern
IPTV systems are built using the same
architectural patterns as large scale web
platforms, more specifically - micro-services.
“Combined with different development and
support methodologies, such as DevOps, these
systems can evolve quickly to meet the changing
needs of today’s consumers. They are also
functionally different because they need to
support devices other than the set-top-box and
network access off the operator network.
“We will see IPTV platforms embrace the best
of what OTT platforms have pioneered – ABR
delivery over unmanaged networks, cloud-based
software deployments and rapid development
environments,” says Plunkett.
Software, as opposed to hardware is the key
word here. “Software-based solutions offer a
clear advantage over those that require specific
hardware because they can be deployed on
virtual machines and benefit from the features
provided by SDN and NFV architectures,”
explains Nivedita Nouvel, vice president of
marketing at Broadpeak. “But even in virtualised
environments, elasticity remains a challenge,
because it has a direct impact on the workflow
of the system, making it difficult to declare a
new streaming entity, de-allocate resources, etc.
The solutions that have been developed to
run in these environments will have a
strong advantage.”
Cloud technologies are pretty much
synonymous with the anytime anywhere
solutions that OTT provides. Those systems that
embrace cloud-based technology will have the
upper hand too. IPTV 2.0 gives operators the
opportunity to store content on the cloud, rather
than at the headend or the set-top-box. “IPTV
operators haven’t really started leveraging cloud-
based solutions yet,” says Francois Moreau de
Saint Martin, CEO of Viaccess-Orca. “But I
expect them to quickly move in that direction.”
Wanted: A change in thinkingNot only are IPTV providers meeting customer
demands by offering OTT alongside their
standard services, they will make their
shareholders happier as a result too, claims Iddo
Shai, director of product marketing at Kaltura.
“OTT gives telcos the option to offer business
plans. In the old IPTV model, services were
based on access, not so much on usage. With
OTT, there are better ways to track multiple
devices and households. Operators can offer a
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 21
IPTV/OTT
IPTV-OTT.indd 2 27/03/2015 16:34:58
web-only Netflix-like service and limit the number
of devices per household. It can then charge more
for additional devices. The same logic can be
applied to storage in cloud DVR deployments.”
IPTV is rapidly evolving into a multiscreen,
multi-device delivery technology working across a
range of managed and unmanaged networks, and
there is little to indicate that IPTV delivery itself
will soon become redundant. IP delivery has
many advantages over broadcast delivery due to
the two-way nature of the transport medium,
according to Red Bee’s Plunkett. “Arguably, IP
delivery of television is the long term future with
hybrid broadcast models being a long-term
transitional stage.”
But whether they modify legacy infrastructures
or build new ones to keep pace, operators
shouldn’t put current revenue streams at risk
to bet on unproven new services, warns Keith
Wymbs, chief marketing officer for Elemental.
“Services that are built on software-defined
video architectures can morph quickly and
take advantage of the best innovations of OTT
offerings while maintaining the control and
manageability present in more traditional
IPTV delivery mechanism. The question
facing operators isn’t ‘this or that?’. It is, ‘what
is best retained from the past while launching
services that meet consumer needs of the
present?’ Only software-defined video can address
this challenge.”
To survive in this cut throat market, IPTV
players will also need to change their entire belief
systems points out, Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo.
“IPTV operators have traditionally wanted
complete control of their services. If they’re
prepared to relinquish some of the control over
the infrastructure and service offering they will be
able to gradually close the gap and move faster.
“IPTV solutions need to embrace fundamental
elements of OTT solutions. While they can still
deliver video in closed-networks, rather than OTT,
it is vital to embrace cloud infrastructure
strategies to be able to quickly scale up and down
and roll out new features and functions. They will
also need to ensure multiscreen compliance to
deliver consumer-friendly services, rather than
STB focused services only.”
Ian Trow, senior director of emerging
technology and strategy at Harmonic, thinks the
industry will increasingly will see a marked
difference between the ‘big fish and the little fish’
in the industry and unfortunately the minnows
are the ones who are most likely to have to
withdraw from the content space. He foresees the
big Tier 1 telcos being prepared to make the
investment in headend equipment that will allow
them to do everything from full live screening to
VoD. “This is because they have the content to
back it up,” he says, “but when you step out of
the realm of tier one where they are prepared to
broker that risk there is more hesitancy in the
market. It’s chicken and egg.”
There is no doubt that those IPTV providers
keen to remain in the content business will need
to invest in some form of OTT provision. What is
key, however, is that the user is unaware of how
their content is delivered. They just want it to
arrive anywhere, anytime with good QoS. “In the
last year what was traditionally considered OTT
has become more like IPTV and vice-versa,”
states Charles Dawes, senior director product
marketing at Rovi.
“Do we define, for example, Magine or
TVPlayer from Simplestream as an IPTV or OTT
service? Both provide linear TV over an IP
connection, but they don’t manage that
connection. Similarly, Netflix is now accessible
via multiple STBs and NowTV from Sky can be
accessed through any broadband connection and
on multiple devices from a consumer’s managed
box to an Apple TV or smart TV to your phone.”
The future is about delivering quality content
to the viewer wherever they are and to whatever
screen they are watching on. This can be achieved
most successfully with a seamless mix of IPTV
and OTT technology. The solutions are out there,
it’s down to the operators to decide on the ideal
mix of software, hardware and cloud technologies
necessary for their business to survive and thrive
in the age of the roving multi-screen.
IPTV/OTT
22 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
“The IPTV systems that already are on HTML5 and integrating OTT are probably well off, and others will have to move in that direction, if they are to survive.”
IPTV-OTT.indd 3 27/03/2015 16:35:01
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Cable WiFi
Arris.indd 1 27/03/2015 17:01:59
Wireless and
especially WiFi has
become high
priority for cable
operators both
inside the home
and outdoors,
number two only to the latest DOCSIS 3.1 project
to deliver gigabit broadband services.
This was acknowledged at the latest meeting of
the industry’s standards and technology body
CableLabs, at which operators identified the two
as being inextricably linked, given that consumers
now see WiFi as an integral part of their
broadband service, or the new ‘last mile’.
Already WiFi is the predominant medium for
accessing the Internet from portable connected
devices such as laptops and tablets, which means
that this has become the principle determinant of
broadband performance. So one issue for
operators is that they are now held responsible by
their customers for issues affecting performance
or availability via a wireless network over which
until now they have usually had little or no direct
control for configuration or troubleshooting. With
DOCSIS 3.1 set for deployment from 2016
onwards delivering even higher speeds, the
pressure on WiFi is only going to increase.
The outdoor dimension is almost equally
pressing, for WiFi has also emerged as the
medium for extending the reach of broadband
services and enabling TV Everywhere for existing
subscribers. Consumers now expect Internet
access from public places via WiFi almost as
much as they do at home. Recent consumer
research by UK digital terrestrial infrastructure
company Arqiva found that 53% of people now
deem it critical or highly important to have
Internet access outside the home or office. Over
30% of people connect to Wi-Fi at least most
times when they are in a pub or airport and 49%
when staying overnight in a hotel.
Cable operators can tap into this trend to
make their services more attractive to existing
customers or ‘stickier’, while also creating new
revenue opportunities, according to Keith Day,
Cisco’s marketing director for Mobility. “Lighting
up malls, transportation corridors, stadiums,
downtown areas with WiFi allows cable operators
to stay in touch with their customers while they
are on the go,” says Day. “Adding new
personalised location-based services on the
WiFi network in these environments is the new
revenue opportunity.”
A key point is that while smartphones may be
used for snacking content on the move, larger
devices, primarily tablets and laptops, tend to be
preferred for consuming slightly longer form video
when people are sitting down in places like
airports and coffee shops – and these devices are
usually still WiFi-only. “Therefore WiFi was the
obvious choice of technology for us to bring
connectivity outside the home,” says Stijn
Eulaerts, product manager, Wifree, of Belgian
cable operator Telenet. “It is cost effective, has
more supported devices and is very efficient in
offering connectivity in high density
environments. We therefore deploy our hotspots
in locations where customers have nomadic data
usage. That means locations where customers sit
down or at least spend a few minutes to browse
the internet, check social media or consume
entertainment.”
Eulaerts
emphasises that
WiFi was not a
substitute for
cellular, but a
complement to offer
higher capacities in
locations where
people congregate and spend some time. These
are shopping centres, city centres, bars,
restaurants and so on. In one Belgian city though,
Mechelen, Telenet has gone further by providing
full WiFi coverage in the commercial district, as
part of a five-year €500 million project called ‘De
Grote Netwerf in your street’.
Publicly available hotspots also give cable
operators the opportunity to exploit their high
capacity DOCSIS based infrastructures to offload
data from hard pressed cellular backhaul
networks. But to exploit this opportunity both
parties must ensure that offload works to the
benefit of users as well as the respective operators
and this means managing the offload process
intelligently. Vendors such as Birdstep, based in
Stockholm, Sweden, have emerged as specialists
in managing the data offload process and more
recently combining WiFi and cellular
infrastructures to create heterogeneous networks
(HetNets) offering the best of both for users while
optimising costs for operators.
HetNets and WiFi/cellular convergenceThe first step in combining WiFi with cellular lies
in enabling ‘zero-touch’ user authentication, so
that no interaction with the client device is
required, also with totally transparent and
seamless switching between WiFi and cellular.
“We also ensure that every device has continuous
real-time knowledge of cellular and WiFi network
quality and uses this knowledge for intelligent
network selection,” says Birdstep CEO Lonnie
Schilling. “Furthermore our Device Policy servers
enable the cable operator to create very granular
policies specifying how the user device will
operate, using models combining location, time,
network load, QoS, or application based rules.
The cable operator can then define how
aggressively or conservatively cellular or WiFi is
to be used.”
This, says Schilling, gives cable operators the
chance to partner or lease wholesale cellular
capacity from an MNO and provide their cable
The new wireless frontierWiFi is now a top priority for cable operators, both indoors and outdoors, discovers Philip Hunter
24 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
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customers with a cellular service, with absolute
control of the HetNet. “It enables them to
maximise the customer experience while also
saving on cellular wholesale costs.”
HetNets will become more important for
cable operators as their mobile reach expands
because they will enable them to serve locations
beyond the reach of WiFi but within range of
cellular networks. Therefore some cable operators
are also considering partnerships with MNOs
(Mobile Network Operators) to provide near
total coverage through HetNets. But for most
operators this is some way off, in the distant
haze of future 5G mobile services that finally
standardise close integration between the licensed
spectrum of cellular services and unlicensed
spectrum of Wi-Fi.
But the move towards some form of HetNet
operation makes immediate sense for quad-play
cable operators that already have their own
cellular service. In the case of Virgin Media in
the UK, now part of the Liberty Global group,
the mobile service is virtual, running over EE’s
network, but this is incidental to most customers
who just want the best connection wherever they
are. “As the UK’s first quad-play provider,
we consider WiFi from various perspectives,
helping our cable customers stay online on the
go, and ensuring our mobile customers get the
best connection wherever they are,” says Virgin
Media’s head of corporate relations,
Gareth Mead.
“These different considerations are converging
as we and the country move more towards quad-
play as standard. We already have services that
run over Wi-Fi for no extra cost, such as Virgin
TV Anywhere, the most comprehensive mobile
TV service in the country, and SmartCall, which
means Virgin home phone inclusive minutes can
be used on smartphones,” he says.
As Mead notes, there is increasing overlap
between outdoor and indoor Wi-Fi as the two
come together in the development of large scale
hot spot infrastructures providing extensive
coverage, especially in urban areas. The most
obvious overlap is through use of Homespot
sharing, whereby a subscriber’s WiFi network is
securely partitioned such that perhaps other
customers of the operator are allowed free access.
This can also help improve coverage within a
home by recruiting a neighbour’s WiFi network to
provide redundancy.
“Using the customer’s WiFi gateway as an
additional Hotspot or Homespot is something
that is gaining momentum and offers a friendly
housing estate service with scope to connect
longer and deeper into the garden, providing
potential backup in the case of failure of your own
device,” agrees Charles Cheevers, CTO at ARRIS.
On a wider note, making the continuity of the
mobile/wireless handoff seamless – ie, going back
and forth from an LTE network to a WiFi
network – is still something that needs to be
perfected and implemented in the handset, but
there is much work taking place within Cable
Labs and other bodies in this area.
WiFi roamingWhen it comes to nationwide outdoor coverage,
many cable operators are restricted by their
geographical footprint, which often prevents them
matching the overall coverage of former
incumbent telco competitors with more extensive
networks. This is particularly the case in the US
where there are several major cable operators and
even more minor ones partitioned by geography,
so that even the largest, Comcast, only covers a
fairly small proportion of public places where
people might want access.
The obvious solution was for the operators to
club together and allow all subscribers access to
all WiFi hotspots and this is what happened when
the cable companies created a federated solution
where they enable access using the Cable WiFi
SSID (Service Set Identifier – the public name of
a wireless network) tied to each subscription.
“This allows, for example, a Comcast customer
who is in a Time Warner Cable area on business
or visiting to use the Cable-WiFi SSID and their
Comcast login credentials to access WiFi for
free,” says Cheevers. This has now been extended
to large parts of Europe as well through a deal
between Comcast and Liberty Global, allowing
travelers in both regions to access WiFi Hotspots
using their home log-in credentials.
Meanwhile, the cable industry is finding
ingenious ways of filling in such networks to
provide denser coverage, so that subscribers are
more likely to be able to access the Internet
wherever they are, at least while in more urban
areas. ARRIS, for example, has defined what it
calls an ‘in between’ device – a DOCSIS and
WiFi Hardened Outdoor unit that fits between the
HomespotWiFi and carrier level outdoor WiFi
gateways.
“This device can typically co-locate with the
tap locations in the coax network and cut-in as a
dedicated Access Point and backhaul any WiFi
traffic directly into the DOCSIS infrastructure,”
says Cheevers. “This device increases the WiFi air
coverage for an MSO, which can then offer a
longer WiFi connected experience.”
Tap locations are in the downstream coaxial
part of cable HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coax) networks
where amplifiers are located to compensate for
attenuation by boosting the RF signals.
So there are a great many use case and
opportunities for cable MSOs to make a wireless
play both inside and outside the home. And now
is the time for them to engage in these.
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 25
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VAP3400 - Wireless AC Video Bridge
Arris.indd 3 30/03/2015 10:48:52
The Cable Congress
conference is usually a good
barometer of what is
important in the executive
and engineering echelons of
cable MSOs in Europe so it
was encouraging to hear
much discussion being devoted to wireless and
mobility over the last two years.
The shift in emphasis of rhetoric by the service
provider community comes amid a wider
converging landscape taking place. As noted in
the earlier feature, there is increasing overlap
between outdoor and indoor WiFi as the two
come together in the development of large scale
hotspot infrastructures providing extensive
coverage. The most obvious overlap is through use
of Homespot (hotspots built into the cable
modem that can be used for roaming sharing). A
subscriber’s WiFi network is securely partitioned
such that other customers of the operator are
allowed free access. This can also help improve
coverage within a home by recruiting a
neighbour’s WiFi network to provide redundancy.
Telenet, Ziggo and Liberty are among the
European MSOs deploying millions of
HomeSpots.
WiFi offers significant opportunities for
offloading growing cellular traffic. In the, US
60-70% of data is offloaded onto WiFi networks,
while in Europe the vast majority of TV and video
usage also takes place over WiFi. VoWiFi is also
an emerging trend, partly driven by its ability to
overcome spotty mobile indoor coverage. For
these reason, it is general accepted that cable
MSOs without some form of wireless play by the
2020s will be doomed to extinction.
In the case of this feature, the focus is on
delivering high quality video over WiFi
connections in order to satisfy growing consumer
demand as more and more video is watched in
multiple rooms not just on other TV sets but
increasingly a range of connected IP devices.
WiFi is changing the connectivity paradigm
~in the home to make it a truly connected one.
Europe has pockets of coax/MoCA and other
alternative fixed line deployments such as
Powerline Communications but wireless has
emerged as the real enabler of the connected
home. Behind the technology, it’s about giving
the consumers what they want.
Of course, many challenges exist in home
environments, something that has stopped many
operators from so far fully taking the plunge.
Delivering IPTV television over WiFi in the home
is more difficult than OTT streaming video,
according to ARRIS. IPTV uses much higher bit
rates for the video than is typically used for OTT.
While OTT services use adaptive bit rate
streaming IPTV uses constant bitrate streams.
They also use different protocols which
compounds matters.
Home wireless services are delivered over two
frequency ranges: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The latter
is a cleaner spectrum but doesn’t propagate as
well in the home, so wireless access points (Aps)
that leverage both typically deliver much better
throughput than those that cannot.
For ARRIS service provider customers, WiFi is
the biggest
operational topic
by far, ARRIS
executives have
told CSI.
Operators can be
broadly divided
into two camps:
those who swear
by it and those
who are yet to
take the plunge
because they have to be convinced of the
reliability of delivering video in this way.
The most pressing need for most operators lies
in ensuring that WiFi can deliver the full range of
broadband and pay TV services within the home.
This is a major challenge, for although on paper
the latest IEEE 802.11ac WiFi standard supports
bit rates plenty high enough for super broadband
and premium HD services, in practice a number
of factors, including building construction and
congestion, can cause intermittent performance
and dead zones with no signal at all. Indeed,
service providers commonly complain that
anywhere up to 70% of call centre costs are
associated with solving WiFi problems in the
home, commonly buffering, choppy online video,
slow and upload/download speeds and lost signal
connections to the router, modem, gateway, set-
top box or similar device.
Video prioritisationOne way of guaranteeing video QoS is through
service prioritisation techniques. Standards are
now emerging to put mechanisms in place
whereby video can take priority over other
services.
The simplest approach to bandwidth
reservation is to allocate high priority data, like
video, to a separate frequency band than the rest
of the Internet traffic. Some APs reserve the 5
GHz band for video and push the rest of the
Internet traffic onto the more populated 2.4 GHz.
APs also support WiFi multimedia (WMM), a
standard that defines how to tag time sensitive
traffic like video and ensure that it is prioritised
over other data types. “WMM works well in
wireless networks where there is enough airtime
available to transmit all the requested data from
the clients. Unfortunately, it does not work well
when there are too many clients requesting too
much data,” says Anthony Zuyderhoff, VP CPE
Overcoming the challenges of in-home WiFiCSI and ARRIS examine video over WiFi inside home environments, putting QoS under the spotlight
26 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
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The problem with WMM is that it is not fair to
all clients: in marginal situations video can block
all other data access, according to Zuyderhoff.
“WMM only knows about media. It is unable to
apply any QoS management to the rest of the data
traffic,” he notes.
While it can solve some of the issues with QoS
protected clients, others without QoS cannot
access the wireless network anymore. Multicast
streams can take the entire bandwidth of a
wireless system when a wireless STB client is
further away from the AP or in high attenuation
environment.
Zuyderhoff, however, points out that ‘smart
QoS systems’ allow an operator to classify
many different types of Internet traffic and
assign priorities to each. This allows the
wireless AP to more equitably manage the
airtime between clients.
Smart QoS systems can detect when airtime is
oversubscribed and maintain stability by
discarding packets. A smart QoS system
guarantees clients equitably receive airtime and
that packets are discarded fairly. To do this, the
system must be able to sort all the packets into
multiple queues, ordered by the type of Internet
application, before they go into the WMM queue.
MeshingSome vendors have developed mesh technology to
make WiFi more robust against interference and
signal degradation by creating multiple paths,
replacing the traditional star shaped wireless
structure.
Some operators are experimenting with how to
use mesh technologies to make WiFi into a
broadcast grade medium. Swisscom, for instance,
uses mesh for delivery of high quality IPTV by
adding an additional mesh node. These are
usually larger homes and have a second or third
TV. The additional mesh node not only solves the
range problem of a single TV case, but also
increases the WiFi capacity to include a second
TV. The more TVs that are added, the more
robust and higher capacity the mesh network
becomes. Swisscom has now shown it is possible
for operators to guarantee QoS for premium video
over WiFi.
What remains to be seen is whether this will be
possible in the DOCSIS 3.1 era as fixed
broadband speeds continue to increase and QoS
becomes even more demanding. “It’s too early
and while some operators have looked at it, it
remains only relevant when you have lots of APs,”
says ARRIS CTO of Customer Premises
Equipment, Charles Cheevers.
“Even when we have lots of APs we favour a
microController role for the GW over meshing as
in typical residential environment there will rarely
be more than one hop to a GW,” Cheevers
continues. “Meshing is not really as relevant as
SON in a residential environment.”
According to Cheevers, 802.11s (an 802.11
amendment for mesh networking) is also
immature and needs lots of augmentation to make
it work properly.
MU-MIMOMulti-User MIMO is another technique available
in IEEE 802.11ac which can improve the
bandwidth. MU-MIMO allows an AP to transmit
up to four clients at the same time. Special
beamforming reduce the inter-client interference.
The AP has more airtime left for other wireless
clients and the bandwidth in a MU-MIMO group
can be doubled or tippled.
Zuyderhoff notes that MU-MIMO works in
short or medium range to the AP only. The AP
changes automatically to normal MIMO when the
attenuation increases. All clients in a MU-MIMO
group must support this feature but MU-MIMO
and non MU-MIMO clients can co-exist in a
wireless network.
The future: IoT, 4k and beyondGoing forward, more connected devices (today’s
average in Western Europe is seven and counting)
and new 4k/ultra HD services will put even more
strain on in-home wireless networks. People are
also talking about 8x8 radios (and even higher)
which may well be needed for multi-room UHD.
The Internet of Things promises a future world
of ubiquitous computing, with WiFi thermostats,
self-driving cars, and connected kitchen
appliances increasingly permeating every aspect
of consumer living. Increasing levels of M2M
communications will clearly have an impact.
Clearly these devices will increase the demands
on in-home coverage and WIFI, as well as
interference and coverage in certain areas of the
home. Operators need to prepare for this influx of
devices whether they actively participate/lead in
the IOT revolution or whether they’re primarily
3rd party devices. “Either way – home networking
issues will increase which could lead to increased
calls to the operator call center and lower
customer satisfaction,” warns Zuyderhoff.
Given all of these devices in theory “pass-thru”
the operator gateway it creates an opportunity for
better management, troubleshooting and control
of these devices. ARRIS is doing some early work
on creating a control point mechanism which
could interpret these various protocols and have
the control point reside within the home gateway
or virtualised via the cloud. The company also has
the ServAssure suite of WiFi solutions that act as
a toolkit to give operators better visibility into the
home network.
The key point is that WiFi already acts as the
dominant technology for distributing TV, video
and other traffic throughout the home. This will
only continue as its performance capabilities grow
and more operators become more comfortable in
deploying wireless-based services.
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 27
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Arris.indd 5 27/03/2015 17:07:34
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WE ARE ARRISMeet Anthony Zuyderhoff, VP CPE Solutions out of our European team. He’s been focused on helping service providers deliver video and data within the home for over a decade. He specializes in wireless solutions that provide ubiquitous coverage and predictable service to smartphones, smart televisions, and every device in between. Anthony applies his expertise to help you delight subscribers with video experiences that are untethered and seamless.
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ARRIS_CSI_19MAR15.indd 1 3/19/15 12:10 PM
Untitled-5 1 19/03/2015 17:18:14
Ultra HD sales are on the up
while the price-per-inch is
falling, and 4k screens
account for more than five per
cent of the market (figures
from GfK). On top of that, in
2014 the average screen size
selling in British shops jumped from 33.3 inches to
36.3in, breaking the 20-year pattern of one-inch/
year growth in screen size established since 1994.
Netflix and Amazon Prime are both streaming
4k video to subscribers, while Hollywood studios
and global consumer electronics brands have
followed the example of the DTG UK UHD
Forum in the UK by creating a UHD Alliance to
coordinate their activities.
But 2015 has also heard bleats of concern over
the next generation of broadcast entertainment,
both from within the industry, and outside it from
an increasingly well-informed public.
Prompted by our members - that’s broadcasters
like Sky and manufacturers like Panasonic - the
DTG UK UHD Forum began a programme of
‘plugfests’ in late 2014 to find out how well the
ultra HD market is shaping up.
In the best engineering tradition, we took UHD
screens already in the market, combined them
with a variety of content sources including
prototype set-top boxes from silicon vendors, and
tried to find out where they succeeded and failed.
Our first plugfest focused on HDMI to find out
just how the devices fared at connecting up
(interoperability) and showing 4k in a variety of
formats. The good news is that they all showed
some 4k content.
The bad news is that many displays could only
show 4k at 25Hz or 30Hz, less than 10% could
show all the 4k modes tested, and there was poor
support for 10-bit colour or 50/60Hz progressive
scan modes.
Plugfest 2 took on HEVC, the codec family
chosen for the majority of UHD services but
which is also seen as a way for standard and
HD services to save bandwidth as terrestrial
TV increasingly cedes wireless capacity to
mobile users.
The HEVC test signals were encoded in main
and main 10-profiles at a variety of resolutions,
frame rates, bit-depths and colour space, into a
number of retail and prototype TVs, as USB files,
satellite streams, DTT streams and MPEG-DASH
streams.
The 2015 models all supported HEVC at up to
50/60Hz, but the 2014 models fared less well:
60% did not support HEVC at all, and only 30%
supported HEVC at 50/60Hz - the frame rates
expected to be used for broadcast services.
Additionally, there were scaling issues, motion
judder, poor contrast, flat colours and lip sync
issues, while support for the HEVC Main 10
profile was not universal.
UHD will not go ahead without copy
protection between the source and the sink (or
through the switches and other devices en route),
so the next plugfest will look at end-to-end
support for HDCP 2.2.
These results aren’t too surprising - similar
problems arose in the early days of HD - but
today’s consumers are highly informed and
wary of product benefits being over-sold, at
the same time as they’re eager to adopt the
latest technology.
Five dimensions of UHDWhen cultivated wisely, these early adopters
are powerful brand advocates, but consumer
electronics brands and retailers must tread
carefully because they can be fierce and vocal
opponents if they feel their enthusiasm has
been abused.
The danger is clear and present: in March
the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority
censured the retailer DSG for a UHD TV
promotion which claimed “because they’re 4k
Ultra HD, you can watch your favourite
Christmas movies in greater detail”.
The advertising watchdogs were not convinced,
and told the retailer “not to imply that there was
an improvement in the quality of a product unless
they held supporting evidence, and to ensure that
their advertising clearly communicated the
standard of quality that would be achieved”.
UHD still has a long way to go, and the DTG,
Sky, the BBC, DVB and other groups are agreed
that it’s not just about resolution, but a host of
other benefits including higher frame rates, higher
dynamic range, wider colour gamut and object-
oriented three-dimensional sound. Each of these
is remarkable on its own, and together they will
be revolutionary.
Only the question of resolution has been
defined and the screens of 2015 cannot deliver all
five dimensions of UHD, and the spectre of
format wars hovers over at least two of them, yet
all of them must come together in harmony to
deliver the leap forward which is being promised.
The risk is that it’s not the customers who will
fall flat on their faces if they are disappointed, but
the brands who will find their reputations bruised,
and their bottom lines hurt by increased product
returns or call centre costs.
The good news is that the DTG UK UHD
Forum is enabling CE brands and digital
entertainment platforms to test drive their
products in confidence through the plugfest
programme for DTG Members. Through local
and international collaboration we can deliver a
programme of UHD standards beyond simple 4k
which are deliverable in a manner which users
can not only accept, but embrace.
The first ultra HD plugfests in the UK show the technology still has a long way to go
Industry column
George Robertson is the principal IP engineer at the DTG. There is more on this at www.dtg.org.uk and if you’re interested in getting
involved, please contact George Robertson [email protected]
UHD interoperability
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 29
DTGColumn.indd 3 25/03/2015 17:17:20
Awards 2015page thirty www.csimagazine.com
CSI magazine • Awards
The CSI Awards 2015 – Call for entriesEnter our NEW Categories!Deadline for entries: 13 May 2015
Established in 2003 the awards are among the most prestigious and competitive technology awards in the industry, designed to recognise and reward innovation and excellence in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, broadband/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors.
This year, we are introducing three brand NEW CATEGORIES: Cloud/virtualisation innovation; smart home service or platform; and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The awards are open to any company or organisation supplying relevant products, software or services and embrace the entire ecosystem, from production and playout through to transmission and in-home distribution and end-user devices. The winners will be announced on 11 September 2015 in Amsterdam.
For the latest news and updates about the CSI Awards follow us @CSIAwards #CSIAwards
2015
1. Best digital video processing technology
2. Best cable or fibre contribution/distribution/transmission solution
3. Best satellite contribution/distribution/transmission solution
4. Best customer premise technology
5. Best monitoring or network management solution
6. Best content protection technology
7. Best content-on-demand solution
8. Best interactive TV technology or application
9. Best IPTV technology or service
10. Best mobile TV technology or service
11. Best Web TV technology or service
12. Best Ultra HD TV Technology or project
13. Best TV Everywhere/multi-screen video
14. Best Social TV technology, service or application
15. Best Contribution to TV Accessibility
16. Best HbbTV technology or service
17. Best data & analytics innovation
18. Best Cloud/virtualisation innovation - NEW
19. Best Smart home product, technology or service - NEW
20. Best IoT product, technology or application - NEW
The CSI Awards Categories
AWARDS CEREMONY11 September 2015
Amsterdam
Awards2015.indd 2 26/03/2015 11:15:02
page thirty one www.cable-satellite.comAwards 2015CSI magazine • Awards
2015
For awards or entry enquiries:Hayley Kempen, Head of Events+44 (0)207 562 2414 [email protected]
For sponsorship enquiries:John Woods, Managing Director+44 (0)207 562 2421 [email protected]
For marketing enquiries:Sarah Whittington, Marketing Manager+44 (0)207 562 [email protected]
ENTER NOW: www.csimagazine.com/awards
The 2015 Judging Panel Includes• Dr. Roger Blakeway, President, SCTE (Society for Broadband Professionals)• William Cooper, Founder and Chief Executive, Interactive Media and Convergent Communications Consultancy, informitv• Andrew Glasspool, Founder, Managing Partner, Farncombe• Jeff Heynen, Principal Analyst, Broadband Access and Pay TV, Infonetics Research• Philip Hunter, Independent Writing and Editing Professional• Dr. Klaus Illgner-Fehns, Managing Director, IRT• John Ive, BA, C.Eng MIET, Director of Business Development & Technology, IABM• Terry Marsh, Strategy in Digital Media• David Mercer, VP, Principal Analyst, Strategy Analytics• Peter White, CEO, Rethink Technology Research
Best Contribution to TV Accessibility Judges• Professor Jonathan Freeman, Managing Director, i2 Media Research • Guido Gybels, ICT Expert• Steve Tyler, Head of Solutions, Strategy and Planning, RNIB
The CSI Awards 2015 will be taking place on Friday 11 September 2015 at IBC in Amsterdam. Join us at the 13th annual CSI Awards to see this year’s winners exclusively announced. The Awards ceremony will include drinks and canapés and will as always be a wonderful evening.
AWARDS CEREMONY11 September 2015Amsterdam
Awards2015.indd 3 26/03/2015 11:15:09
You could say that Russia really
ought to be a pioneer in
satellite TV. After all, one of
the great triumphs the nation
will always be able to cherish
is the launch of the first
artificial satellite, Sputnik 1,
in October 1957; an act which, if it achieved
nothing else, really upset the Americans. A decade
later, in 1967, Russia launched its first national
satellite TV system, Orbita. At least some Russians
have been able to access satellite TV services ever
since. And satellite is in many ways a perfect
platform for this country, with a large population
spread across great distances and sometimes
challenging physical geography.
Even so, there is still plenty of room for growth
in this market. Today, the 300 DTH channels
available across the country are watched by
around 40 million viewers in about 13 million
homes, a figure set to reach 17 million households
within the next 12 months. These figures reflect a
significant recent uplift, with the number of
homes equipped to receive DTH signals thought
to have increased by 25 per cent between 2011
and 2013.
Meet the playersRussian DTH operators include Tricolor TV, now
one of the largest DTH operators in the world,
with around 15 million subscribers. Among its
rivals, Orion Express has around 2.5 million
subscribers, who access its services via three
satellites: Intelsat 15, Horizons 2 and Express
AM5. NTV, which has less than one million
subscribers, grew rapidly in 2014, in part through
a low cost subscription strategy, offering basic
digital packages for the equivalent of less than $1
per month.
The major Russian telecommunications
provider MTS is also
entering the market,
focusing on remote parts
of the country. Its new
DTH service is expected
to offer 160 channels,
including 30 in HD, for a
subscription of around
R1,200 per year (less than
EUR17). MTS already has around 2.7 million
cable and IPTV subscribers. In December, it
announced it would provide a service for
subscribers to the now defunct Raduga TV
satellite service, at least until March 2015.
This followed Raduga’s closure after an
investigation by the Ministry of the Interior into
alleged breaches of licensing regulations: a
reminder that the Russian regulatory environment
can be complex and unpredictable. In October
2014, the government passed an amendment
to media law limiting foreign ownership of
media companies in Russia to 20 per cent,
down from 50 per cent. Although this did not
directly affect the companies listed above, it
is having a significant impact on, for example,
the broadcaster CTC, which is owned by a US
company and which in turn owns TV channels
that are available on a range of cable and satellite
platforms across Russia.
In November, the US broadcaster CNN cited
“recent changes in Russian media legislation”
as the driver behind its decision to pull out of
cable and satellite distribution deals in Russia,
although CNN’s owner, Turner Broadcasting
(part of Time Warner), said it hoped to re-enter
the market in future, something that was
confirmed this February.
And all pay TV broadcasters are affected by
another law passed in 2014, which prohibits
advertising on pay TV channels in Russia – unless
75 per cent of the channel’s content has been
created in Russia. But foreign content, like US
DTH in Russia
Eastern pioneersRussia has a rich history of satellite fi rsts, and a topography made for the platform, says David Adams, but where will future growth come from?
32 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
“Our strategic development plan is based on consistent transition to HD and UHD.” - Tricolor TV
SatelliteTVinRussia.indd 1 25/03/2015 17:59:50
movies, is at least as popular in Russia as in many
other markets.
The other factor likely to inhibit the progress
of the DTH market in Russia is the broader
economic climate.
As Boudimir Serditykh, director of sales,
Russia and CIS and head of the Moscow office
for Harmonic, explains, operators’ revenue usually
arrives in Rubles, which declined in value by over
50 per cent during the course of 2014, while most
operators’ expenses need to be met in foreign
currency. “Over the last six months revenue has
decreased dramatically and that is a problem for
all DTH providers, who are now being forced to
revise future plans and cut budgets,” he says.
Cisco’s senior sales for Russia, Alexander
Andrianov, agrees: “The recent rouble devaluation
complicates business for Pay TV operators in
Russia and neighbouring CIS countries. It causes
changes in operators’ business strategy: now
extensive growth is not in the high agenda for
them, rather they concentrate on efficiency,
introduction of high value services like
Multiscreen, Ultra HD, etc.”
For example Tricolor-TV is now proposing new
subscriptions with cheaper tarifs, Raduga-TV
subscribers are moving to MTS, who is trying to
win customers with rich content as opposed to
low prices, and rumours are flying around that
NTV+ is going to be purchased by Rostelecom,
according to Andrianov.
Nonetheless, Jean-Phillippe Gilet, vice-
president, EMEA, at Intelsat, is bullish about the
prospects for the market. “If you look at the
current ARPU of most customers in Russia, it is
pretty low,” he concedes. “With the current
economic situation in Russia it’s unlikely that
customers will be willing to pay a lot more. So the
short term strategy is to provide as much content
as possible in the most cost-effective way,
increasing the number of subscriptions and your
profitability. The Russian market is a bit more
competitive than other markets: you have a lot of
offerings at very good prices.”
It is expected that DTH market growth will be
around 12% at least until 2018.
Natalia Romanova, Moscow-based business
development director at Irdeto, believes ARPUs
can’t really fall much further, particularly with
other sources of free to air content to compete
with – not to mention illegal sources of content.
“If satellite operators want subscribers to pay
more for subscription packages, they will have to
add to their propositions,” she says, “with good
quality HD content, multi-screen services, on
demand and so on. But this is not going to
happen overnight. The market has to mature
[before] subscribers [will] pay more for high
quality services.”
4k and OTTElizaveta Kapralova, chief communications
officer at Tricolor TV, is keen to highlight
the operator’s launch of a 4k pilot in October.
“Our strategic development plan is based on
consistent transition to HD and UHD,” she says.
“UHDTV will develop concurrently with satellite
infrastructure. Tricolor TV 4k operations are
already based on HEVC/H.265 and multiplexers,
which allows a significant transponder capacity
saving.”
Harmonic’s Serditykh outlines the key factors
that he believes will lead to continued adoption of
UHD/4k. “First there is the great influence of
consumer video equipment manufacturers,” he
says. “Take Samsung. Their TV sets already
possess all of the necessary characteristics to
DTH in Russia
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 33
SatelliteTVinRussia.indd 2 25/03/2015 18:00:05
support all kinds of formats.
“Second, OTT offerings are more like a
complementary service. Right now, monetisation
of OTT services is low in Russia. Multiscreen and
OTT demand different content delivery
possibilities, a different audience and other
partners’ involvement. Much effort and
expenditure is required, yet [does not] result in
an increase of subscribers and revenue. But in
the future the market is expected to become
more segmented, making a pure OTT offering
to a younger audience viable and monetisable.
So the adoption of UHD/4k is the most natural
path of development.”
However, substantial practical obstacles
remain, says Sergey Plotnikov, director for
multimedia services at the Russian Satellite
Communications Company (RSCC). “The major
issue is posed by insufficient traffic-carrying
capacity of communications channels to meet the
challenges of 4k content,” he says. “HEVC coding
is an effective way to address optimisation of
network channel use, but the development of 4K
on pay TV has been hampered by a lack of
receiver equipment with a chipset capable of
decrypting HEVC. Despite vigorous support for
the 4K standard from the TV and video
equipment producers, no mass-scale demand has
been in evidence.
“Of course, there is also an impediment to do
with a great number of HD TV sets already sold.
The manufacturing end of the industry will have
to get the message across to the users as to why
HD is not enough and why one should go out
and buy UHDTV.” He sees a similar story of
a lack of demand in the market, rather than
technical shortcomings, behind the relatively
slow development of multiscreen services for
satellite operators.
“The business of Russsian providers is built on
staged promotion of new services,” asserts
Tricolor’s Kapralova. “Aggressive promotion of
HDTV was the growth driver from mid-2012,
while in 2014 multiscreen services took the lead.”
She points to Tricolor’s subsequent increases in
ARPU, from R629 to R998 over the same period.
Nor does she believe the advertising ban has
had any significant negative impact: “This act
does not make much difference for operators – in
fact it gives them an opportunity to revise existing
contracts and get rid of low rated and cost-
ineffective channels.”
Gilet is sanguine about the regulatory
environment. “We are not seeing any negative
impact on our customers [from the advertising
ban],” he says. “There are probably more
regulatory impacts in Russia than in other
countries, but we don’t see them as major
obstacles to growth.”
The fight against piracyBut security and piracy issues may represent more
significant problems, suggests Rory O’Connor,
vice-president for managed services at Irdeto.
Irdeto research published in January showed that
a large majority of Russian consumers (70 per
cent) watch pirated video content at least once
per week. The main reasons for doing so cited by
respondents were that legal content is too
expensive (according to 39 per cent of those who
view illegal content) and that they did not want to
wait for official releases (33 per cent). When the
results are compared against Irdeto research
conducted in other markets they suggest pirated
content is more pervasive in Russia than in the
US, UK, Australia or India. Younger age groups
seemed particularly willing to seek illegal content.
One key reason may be high internet
penetration, suggests O’Connor. “Around 50 per
cent of all adults in Russia own a smartphone and
there is 87 per cent internet penetration, which
makes it a market where piracy is easy,” he says.
“I also think piracy is driven quite a lot by the
fact that traditionally it was a DTH market and
today it’s turning into an OTT market, very
rapidly. We work very closely with the DTH
operators, but also with people looking to extend
their reach into OTT. What’s important when
you’re looking at legitimately acquiring content is
that you have a good DRM capability. At the
moment you have to have DRM that works on
PCs – still the biggest way people consume video
online in Russia – and also on Android devices,
which are very popular in Russia.”
Piracy for DTH operators until recently was
not a big problem, according to Cisco’s
Andrianov, as the DTH subscription costs were
not big enough to stimulate intensive piracy.
“However, due to increasing subscription tariffs
it will, definitely, generate a problem for them,”
he says.
Sports broadcasts are a particular focus in
the fight against piracy (especially with the
World Cup due to be held there in 2018), with
Irdeto working alongside rights holders to identify
pirate devices, illegal IPTV STBs and illegal
streams. The aim is to ensure that those who try
to watch a sporting contest illegally won’t get to
see the end of the game: “It’s better to pay and
see how the match ended,” as O’Connor puts it.
Tackling piracy is also a priority for Tricolor,
says Kapralova. “We take all steps to prevent
our signal relay for illegal purposes,” she says.
“Recently we initiated criminal proceedings
against a cable TV operator suspected of
illegal relaying of Tricolor TV signals, with
proceedings also including civil claims from
content providers.”
Still, despite piracy, an unpredictable regulatory
environment and economic instability, this
remains a vibrant, growing market, says Gilet.
“In 2014, with all that happened, the DTH
market still grew by six per cent and penetration
is predicted to reach 87 per cent in 2018,” he
points out. “The way we look at the Russian
market is, this is going to remain a key market for
satellite distribution. As in any other market you
may have a few bumps in the road, but ultimately
things are going to stabilise and this is going to
remain a very important market for us.”
DTH in Russia
34 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
Image courtesy of Tricolor TV
“The 300 DTH channels available across the country are watched by around 40 million viewers in about 13 million homes.”
SatelliteTVinRussia.indd 3 25/03/2015 18:00:06
Focus sponsored by:
ww
w.c
sim
agaz
ine.
com
Cloud-based DRMs
verimatrix.indd 1 26/03/2015 17:23:09
As the video delivery service
industry as a whole becomes
more software-based, the
implementation of cloud-
centric security management
would seem a logical
progression. However, the
issue is complex and requires some unpicking.
In some ways, the term cloud is a misnomer.
Effectively, DRM delivered as a service from a
scalable platform allows content owners and
providers to shift away from the need to build,
maintain and ultimately upgrade the DRM
platforms that are essential for the majority of
service provision.
“In the past, providers would build their own
DRM platforms which would effectively become a
software platform needing maintenance and
upgrades in line with changes to the underpinning
technologies and business evolution,” explains
Giorgio Tornielli, VP product engineering, Piksel.
“The cloud model shifts to a case of integration
and customisation with the ongoing platform
development and expansion taken care of by the
service provider. This approach benefits from
economies of scale, specialisation and the ability
to provide more ancillary features that would be
prohibitively expensive to develop for a single
in-house installation.”
Several consumer DRM products (PlayReady,
Adobe or Widevine for instance) are already
offered as a cloud service. Cloud DRM is also an
emerging trend for implementing operator DRM
products, and, in particular for smaller operators,
suggests Nagra’s senior product marketing
director, Christopher Schouten, as cloud services
are an efficient way to optimise their own
operations while getting a robust level of service.
Looking further, Schouten sees large operators
“starting to run their own cloud infrastructure,
implementing a generic IT infrastructure server
virtualization approach that brings cost benefits
as well as added elasticity.” Such an approach, he
informs, “usually relies on a combination of a
private cloud environment with some highly
scalable online services put on a public cloud or
using third party cloud services, for functions
such as multi-DRM management.”
Just as functionality like middleware and user
interface are moving to the cloud from the client,
so security functionality is also ready to make that
transition, according to Leonid Sandler, CTO
DRM, Cisco. “This is a trend in the beginning
stages with growth potential,” he says.
There is a broad reason why migration of DRM
in hosted or cloud environments for pay-TV
operators is occurring: namely, there are core
benefits shared with other cloud technologies. As
discussed, it is part of a wholesale shift of the
video prep and delivery infrastructure towards
pure software subsystems, fundamentally
dependent on IP connectivity, which can then be
implemented in physical data centres or in cloud
CPU resources.
In this case, according to Steve Christian, SVP
Marketing, Verimatrix, “DRM technology and
business logic does not change.” Some vendors
have taken generic implementations of DRM
technologies (Verimatrix is one) and are offering
a SaaS model of key management based on cloud
resources. This, says Christian, “tends to shift the
business model for DRM costs rather than the
underlying technology.”
Cloud-based
DRM is an effort to
address subscriber
interest in viewing
online content that
is encrypted in
various DRM
formats and is made
available through
multiple online
video providers. This results in operators needing
to support different content packaging and
content protection formats like MPEG-DASH
and Common Encryption Scheme (CENC).
As more device functionality is moving to
the cloud (user interfaces, DVR storage,
preference management etc) vendors see a
greater share of the core rights management
logic moving upstream.
“Traditional pay-TV operators have been
limited to supporting a single DRM vendor
given the operational complexity in rolling out
multi-DRM library support into their device
footprint,” says Sachin Sathaye, VP, product
strategy and marketing, ActiveVideo. “The
compliance rules associated with supporting
DRM vendors further inhibit expanding the
DRM solutions to existing devices that lack
sophisticated cryptographic features.”
Moreover, according to Cisco’s Sandler, the
main advantage of adopting cloud DRM is the
moving of license keys and many security
functions from the client device to the server.
This allows easier management, updates, and
support for multiple DRMs, formats, protocols
and evolving business models. Content owners
will continue to encrypt and package the same
way, however, with licenses and metadata
information passed to the cloud DRM server for
authentication. They will also be able to offer an
extensible service, across regions with availability
of servers closer to the end customers.
Security and business drawbacksDeploying DRM in the cloud in a manner that is
secure and in agreement with the DRM vendors’
studio compliance rules, is not a trivial task, and
cloud security is still not seen as robust as data
centre security. Key security functionality such as
DRM requires a robust, trusted and scalable
provider that has a history of studio approvals and
uncompromised security delivery.
“It is very important that DRM infrastructure
Cloudy with a chance of DRMsAdrian Pennington looks at the migration of DRM in hosted or cloud environments, and weighs up the pros and cons of this approach
36 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
Sponsored feature
verimatrix.indd 2 26/03/2015 17:23:11
deployed in the cloud is done so in a manner that
ensures studio compliance,” stresses Steve
Plunkett, CTO, Red Bee Media. “The storage of
key material is subject to particular restrictions
that must be met to ensure compliance. It also
makes more sense to use cloud based DRM when
media processing workloads in general are moving
into the cloud. Doing so in isolation, while
general media processing remains on-premise, can
slow down the media transit path and increase
workflow execution times.”
The failure to provide a seamless user
experience when wanting to transfer viewing mid-
stream of Netflix’ House of Cards from an iPad to
a Samsung smartTV, at best risks alienating the
subscriber to another service, at worse pushes
them toward pirate sites.
“The real business challenge for operators who
wish to target the broadest number of devices is
to eliminate service distribution and consumption
silos that serve only to frustrate consumers and
may nudge them towards alternative sources,” says
Christian. “One aspect of this is the need to
enable support for multiple native DRM systems
on the devices and browsers in use, and to provide
the user with a transparent consumption
experience.”
The purpose of security goes far beyond the
defensive aspects of addressing piracy and theft of
service, says Christian, “to that of ultimately
enhancing the subscriber’s quality of experience
(QoE) while also underpinning the operator’s
bottom line.”
Partly for this reason we’ve not yet seen the
wholesale movement of DRM into virtualised
environments. “The cloud aspect of DRM is not a
process that aggregates large amounts of sensitive
customer information, billing or account
accessibility,” explains Piksel’s Tornielli. “In
essence, it is a streamlining of a well-understood
process that has typically resided in-house and
can now be consumed as an externalised service
due to the maturity of connectivity and virtualised
computing technologies.”
André Roy, head of security practice,
Farncombe warns that not all cloud-based DRMs
are optimised to handle content preparation. “We
audit CA systems and can say that there are few
cloud-based DRM systems that meet studio
content handling requirements for handling
unencrypted content. Primarily, having studio
quality mezzanine files unencrypted in the cloud
would not meet MPAA (Motion Picture
Association of America) requirements. All
encryption would need handling in a physical
facility rather than in the cloud.”
Verimatrix suggest that full DRM systems
(generally consisting of digital rights to manage,
encryption, license management, and a DRM-
enabled client) can be deployed in the cloud “very
easily as a part of an overall video delivery
system” but it doesn’t see this as the gold
standard right now for pay-TV. “Physical data
centre deployment and virtual machine
deployments are still quite popular, although
interest in cloud implementations is growing,”
reports Christian.
Another potential drawback is flexibility. In
certain cases, cloud based services will only
support a limited set of DRM technologies. “If a
particular feature is not available then it is not
always possible to just build it yourself and add it
to the mix,” reports Tornielli. “The cloud can be
defined as a shared multi-tenant environment so
the timescale of upgrades, features and fixes are
dependent on the diligence of the provider.”
Piksel suggests cloud DRM solutions are a
relatively small percentage of deployments
(probably less than 1%) “although growing faster
than on-premise implementations.”
“Service providers may reduce costs by
outsourcing, but also lose considerable control
of a key functionality like content security
authentication and policy enforcement,” warns
Cisco’s Sandler. He adds that cloud security is
still not as robust as data centre security, which
requires cloud components and deployments to
be designed to minimise the associated risks.
Only a partial shift of the DRM infrastructure
to the cloud is expected from Telekom Innovation
Laboratories, the research wing of Deutsche
Telekom. “This shift implies the adaptation of the
current DRM infrastructure towards more
centrally hosted key servers and therefore an
overall reduction in the number of key server
APIs for the service operator,” says Dr Oliver
Friedrich. “It also implies the adaptation of
content servers hosting files encrypted by means
of common encryption scheme, which could also
simplify the DRM encryption infrastructure.
“Moreover, support for interoperability is
currently not being offered by most market-
leading DRM providers.” Therefore, he says, a
real move into the cloud is not taking place. The
primary DRM innovation for Friedrich, is driven
by the browser and multi-device scenarios and
technologies, such as MPEG DASH with CENC
and HTML5 EME. The most important factor is
the de-coupling of the content from the DRM
system itself.
For an organisation with no existing investment
such as a new OTT, SVoD or TVoD entrant, it’s
hard not to make the case for cloud-based DRM
from day one.
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 37
Sponsored feature
verimatrix.indd 3 27/03/2015 17:13:44
Internet delivered video services present
content providers and operators with
promising new revenue opportunities,
however these can come with increasing
complexity and significant costs in the
short-term. These services can also create
new security challenges related to service
delivery, in particular as the range of consumer
electronics and mobile devices become dominant
for accessing media content.
The over-the-top (OTT) video landscape is
muddied by an overall trend towards apps rather
than browsers for accessing content, simply
because tablets and smartphones have clearly
been established as the second screen of choice
for long-form and TV viewing. Operators have
embraced the app model for their branded
services because apps put them fully in the
driving seat of content access, discovery and also
security. Even as HTML5 matures, the browser
interface shows signs of becoming a battlefield of
competing technology interests that will
complicate rather than simplify service profiles.
As consumers demand support of more devices
to access their preferred OTT services, complexity
seems likely to increase further, with operators
required to support multiple streaming formats
and DRM schemes native to browsers and device
families. The situation is predicted to get worse
over the next two to three years.
The rise of the appIn the early years of Internet video, the browser
was the natural place to enable video and audio
service interfaces. This, despite the fact that
HTML standards were inadequate to provide
the necessary support and the landscape became
a minefield of competing proprietary formats
and associated plug-in mechanisms. But the
computer was never a very friendly environment
for consumption of long-form video — physical
form factor and battery life alone made the PC a
less than comfortable marriage with such services.
Now, two parallel trends threaten to further
marginalise the browser for video access,
despite the momentum gained by HTML5
on the desktop.
Firstly, video consumption away from the main
TV has swung strongly towards mobile devices,
particularly tablets, but also larger smartphones,
which are becoming ever more popular in
developed markets.
This trend towards viewing on portable wireless
devices is likely to continue in all leading markets
over the next few years as PC sales further
stagnate and personal devices proliferate.
Secondly, the browser has never gained great
traction as the center of service delivery on
tablets and smartphones and could soon be on
the verge of extinction on these mobile devices as
apps become totally dominant.
The rapid evolution of toolsets for building
secure apps continues to enhance the way
consumers interact with apps on mobile devices,
making them more and more attractive as the
consumer-facing endpoint of video services.
These trends together, the swing towards
mobile devices and the ascendancy of the app on
those platforms, means de facto that it will be
increasingly through apps that most multi-screen
video is consumed.
The growing challenge of multiple DRMsOf course, the desktop browser still has a
historical influence on thinking in this space —
and the computer may be the only broadband
connected device in some households. This has
driven a
standards effort
over the past few
years to make the
browser
environment itself
more capable of supporting the new video
formats, which has also driven OTT service
quality and ubiquity. Unfortunately, the way this
has balkanised the landscape seems likely to
complicate rather than simplify the picture for
service operators.
In practice, operators will have to support
both browser and app interface environments
over the next few years during this period of
fundamental transition towards the Internet and
IP delivery for video — whether over mobile or
fixed access networks.
Yet consumers will continue to refine their
criteria for what constitutes a premium quality of
experience. They will want transparent access to
all service content and many cross device features,
such as favorites and preferences, without
intrusive username/password roadblocks. In the
face of such demands, operators themselves will
want to focus on innovative solutions and demand
from their technology partners more operational
simplicity — including a single point of integration
for subscription management and service security.
The landscape for providers of OTT video
services can appear increasingly complex and
hard to fathom. There may be just one Internet
but a proliferation of the associated video delivery
technologies and techniques. The breakthrough
on video quality for Internet delivered services
came with use of adaptive bitrate streaming
(ABRS) in order to ensure optimum and
reasonably consistent quality of experience (QoE)
over a network of varying bandwidth subject to
intermittent delays.
But several alternative ABRS mechanisms
evolved, again aligned with major Internet players.
Adobe came out with HDS (HTTP Dynamic
Streaming), Apple with HLS (HTTP Live
Streaming) and Microsoft with Smooth
Streaming. All do the same job but handle the
video chunks differently, so are incompatible. And
as it happens are all associated with different
security technologies to protect the revenue
streams associated with the premium services
they enable.
MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming
over HTTP) evolved as an attempt to provide a
Simplifying OTT revenue securityBy Steve Christian, senior vice president, Verimatrix
“A notable development in the support for DASH is the definition of the Media Source Extensions API in the browser environment.”
38 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
Sponsored feature
verimatrix.indd 4 26/03/2015 17:23:13
unifying streaming protocol for ABRS video
services. Now supported by the DASH Industry
Forum, DASH is tending to act a focal point of
convergence for streaming, with both Adobe and
Microsoft supporting it over their own historically
proprietary approaches. A notable development in
the support for DASH is the definition of the
Media Source Extensions API in the browser
environment. Netflix has been a major driving
force behind this effort and is starting to support
DASH for streaming delivery on some platforms.
Apple’s promotion of HLS, the de-facto
industry standard on the web, continues although
many aspects of HLS have commonality with
DASH. Nevertheless OTT operators will continue
having to support HLS as a separate ABRS
system for the immediate future in order to satisfy
cross device delivery demands by consumers.
While some order may seem to be shaping up
over streaming formats there is no sign of any
convergence among DRMs, with complexity
actually growing as new devices emerge with their
own native DRM support. One can see the
service delivery market as a whole actually
becoming more, rather than less, fragmented.
We’re seeing desktop browser vendors act to
eliminate choices in protocol and security for
video services in favor of their own proprietary
technology choices.
Google is being particularly aggressive in
this respect by advancing their own technology
agenda across Android devices, Chrome browser
instances and even the YouTube services that
compete with other operators’ offerings. This
is complicating the task of reaching all target
platforms for OTT content delivery, at a time
when rate of deployment is accelerating. This
has also put budgets under pressure as operators
face a choice between stepping up investment
in OTT infrastructures or allowing competitors
to come in and usurp their revenues, as well as
their customers, through compelling online
content offers.
What operators needWith the idea of just one DRM long abandoned,
operators are now seeking a single rights
management system to simplify OTT service
deployment and insulate them against changes in
underlying content security technology. The quest
is for a common way of expressing rights in a
standard format that can then be translated for
implementation of actual consumption constraints
against whatever DRM is running on the end
user’s device.
The ability to serve any target device and
deliver over any network, fixed or mobile, is
becoming essential. An OTT ecosystem
incorporating robust revenue protection security
should therefore work across multiple delivery
networks, operating system platforms, and client
device security implementations.
The differences between each type of client
implementation must be transparent to operators
and the harmonisation mechanisms incorporated
into their head-end architectures. The expression
of business rules required by content licenses and
consumer business propositions must be
consistently applied, and correctly interpreted in
the technical manner in which rights are actually
enforced on the end device.
OTT security must be demonstrably strong in
order to convince premium rights holders that
their assets can safely be delivered over the open
Internet to unmanaged devices. It must therefore
include the advanced protection technologies
found in managed IPTV and DVB pay-TV
systems, but with additional features specific to
the OTT domain. These include optimisation for
adaptive service delivery, full asset entitlement
checks before decryption keys are delivered to
clients, and support for flexible business models
enabling recycling of licenses.
Strong revenue security is essential for
premium OTT services, but it must not stand in
the way of a good user experience (UX). It has
always been a challenge for security to be
implemented in a manner that is consistent with
the consumer’s understanding of the rights and
restrictions that they have been
promised when they signed up for the
service. But there are a number of extra
challenges for multi-device OTT
services — most critically, a consistency
of behavior between devices. If a
consumer bumps up against arbitrary,
implementation dependent restrictions
on rights across devices, the overall
effective is corrosive to the UX and to
the overall service value proposition.
Consumer unfriendly security
implementations are of course of the
things that have given DRMs a bad
name in early services. Things that
appear to be logical and transparent to
those who implement the service may
be frustrating and incomprehensible to the user
community. This is one issue with security that
has been bolted on late in the development stage
rather than being incorporated with the user
interface during specification.
Outsourcing the management of multiple DRMsOperators want to focus on their core business
objectives of acquiring strong content, delivering
a top quality user experience and developing
revenue through both subscriptions and
advertising. Outsourcing the management of
multiple DRMs on an OTT service to a “black
box provider” will avoid diverting attention from
these core activities. Working with a security
specialist will also ensure future-proofing by
staying ahead of emerging security and other
relevant technologies. Verimatrix offers this black
box service through our MultiRights™ branded
solution as part of our VCAS security platform,
which arbitrates rights management across device
types and DRM formats.
As OTT continues to proliferate over the next
few years, two key trends are that the app-centric
model will become more predominant and that
streaming will converge around MPEG-DASH but
with multiple DRMs tethered to each platform.
This brings a big challenge for operators in
uniting multiple networks, platforms and DRMs
within a single harmonized rights management
system. With Verimatrix MultiRights, operators
can outsource these problems and provide their
users with a common experience that is
transparent to the network or device platform,
without any arbitrary restrictions.
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 39
Sponsored feature
verimatrix.indd 5 26/03/2015 17:23:15
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
SECURING THE CONNECTED FUTURE
Passing through an airport
nowadays is not so different
from a shopping centre.
People, whether sitting at
cafés, standing in queues
or just passing by, look similar
– they’re glued to their phones.
The consumer pattern is clear: Free WiFi
maintains a happy status quo, paid WiFi is
annoying, and no WiFi is unacceptable because
it’s 2015.
A look at IFEC trends suggests the consumer
pattern never falters, even when they are at
35,000 feet. For this, there is only one acceptable
solution: Low-cost, if not free, in-flight WiFi.
Addressing this problem is not without its
challenges. Airlines face considerable costs to
implement the needed technology. They have to
question if this is a feasible solution capable of
yielding a return on investment. While some
might be tempted to put this problem to the
bottom of the pile, they will only be distancing
themselves from their slice of a lucrative pie. In
2013, IFEC services generated around $440
million in revenues from airline passengers. More
than three billion people travel on airplanes
yearly. This translates into an average of 8.2
million people daily. Experts predict that this will
double by 2032, taking the potential business
from internet browsers sky high.
Overcoming turbulenceIt is unlikely that consumers will suddenly
lose interest in the internet, yet, take up of the
technology has been relatively slow so far. This
has led many to question whether in-flight
broadband will really take off or if this is just the
fleeting effects of the latest buzz trend. According
to Euroconsult’s 2013 figures, only 59 airlines are
providing IFEC services through satellite or air-to-
ground networks. On a regional scale, the
percentage of equipped aircraft is relatively small,
with even IFEC leaders Asia-Pacific having only
40% of its commercial craft connected.
Figures will change though. The number of
planes with broadband connectivity is expected
to more than double over the next five years.
Furthermore, airlines are continually ordering
new aircraft and IFEC will become cheaper if
WiFi capabilities are included at the time of
building the planes, rather than having to rework
existing fleets. Therefore, following suite and
accepting that there is demand for IFEC affords
greater access to the huge potential that exists.
While demand is crucial, it does not
necessarily make obstacles easier. Thankfully,
though, with the right technology, the challenges
can be overcome and service providers and
airlines alike can reap the benefits of this new
market. Airlines that want to offer a reliable, high-
quality in-flight broadband
experience need to
consider two factors.
Demand for always-on
connectivity rises in
parallel with increasing
bandwidth demand. This
means it is essential that
low-cost capacity is
available in the geographic regions where the
majority of flight hours occur. The service must
also be unaffected for the whole of the flight,
making a large footprint necessary. Airlines
already equipped with IFEC services have found
that satellite is ideal. It is not only capable of
keeping up with demand but, through greater
pricing flexibility, satellite also enables airlines to
offer a basic connection for free and to charge
more for heavier bandwidth usage.
IFC in practice As the first Asian satellite operator to launch
IFEC services using KU-band, Thaicom offers
its service through Thailand’s domestic carrier
Nok Air. Capable of delivering 3G-like speeds,
the in-flight WiFi allows passengers to connect
for basic activities, like emails and social media.
It also opens up the possibility for live-streaming
of entertainment and other services including
tracking and nose-to-tail aircraft connectivity.
In this case, IFEC is implemented as a value
added service. Nok Air’s ‘free Wi-Fi model’
represents an innovative IFEC value proposition
which serves as a prerequisite for additional value-
added services in the future. The airline, for
example, is considering forming a partnership
with one of the department store brands in
Thailand. Here, Nok Air passengers would be able
to order goods through its system at special prices
and have those products delivered to their house
or hotel within an hour after they land.
Partnerships with taxis, hotels and travel package
providers are also being explored.
With passengers’ expectations for always-on
connectivity sky high, there is a need for IFEC
services that are reliable, fast and, at least,
partly free. Just as cafés and restaurants have
had to evolve into internet cafes to retain
customers, airlines that don’t offer in-flight
connectivity will find themselves lagging behind
those that do.
Case study
IFEC set for Cloud 9With consumer demand unrelenting, In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) is on its way to new heights, writes Nile Suwansiri of Thaicom
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 41
Nile Suwansiri is chief marketing officer at Thaicom
Thaicom.indd 2 25/03/2015 17:23:27
The implementation of 4k and
the UHDTV1 4k profile as
defined by SMPTE ST 2036-
1 could be regarded as an
evolutionary process, given
that the majority of today’s
implementations are deployed
using multi-link 3G SDI. However, it must be
considered that the emergence of high frame rate
(HFR) 4k/UHD as well as high dynamic range
(HDR) will at least double data rates, demanding
completely new video infrastructure. Many consider
that given this, the adoption of IP infrastructure
will be the logical approach for accommodating
HFR 4K/UHD production workflows, rather than
extending the life of SDI with higher data rate
implementations such as multi-link 12G.
All-IP live production workflows are regarded
by many as a revolutionary change that will
demand entirely new skillsets and infrastructure.
Such a revolution can also enable fundamental
changes to the production workflow that will in
turn support new business models and services. It
is clear that these changes will impact all aspects
of the broadcast chain including content
production, broadcasting, content providers, video
service providers and equipment (including test
and measurement) manufacturers.
As stated previously, today’s 4k/
UHDTV1 can be accommodated in
live production environments with
existing 3G infrastructures by using a
dual or quad link arrangement
(depending on frame rate). However, to deliver
4k/UHD to viewers at acceptable bitrates, ideally
requires the adoption of a more efficient codec
than H.264/AVC. This is leading to the adoption
of the High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC)
otherwise known as H.265 which can offer up to
50% bitrate savings versus H.264 for equivalent
video quality.
When it comes to testing and monitoring 4k/
UHD infrastructure the first challenge for test
equipment vendors is to support the new
standards, ideally with existing tools where
possible. Although the availability of 4k sensors
and display panels has accelerated the drive
towards 4k/UHD implementation, 4k has been
around, at least in demonstration form, for
almost ten years. Indeed when developing the
WFM & WVR8000 series waveform monitors
the internal architecture was implemented to
handle 4k data rates, which allowed us to
deliver 4k/UHD support as an existing product
upgrade, rather than requiring a completely
new product.
Likewise encoder, transcoder and decoder
developers as well as operators need analysis
tools to enable development and evaluation of
new products to support HEVC/H.265. The
architectures of both our H.264/AVC codec
analyser and our picture quality analyser were
both designed from the outset to handle future
codec and format upgrades as they became
standardised. This enabled Tektronix to
implement both HEVC/H.265 and 4K support
as existing product upgrades, rather than as
new dedicated analyser products.
Test challenges with 4k/UHD workflowsWhen deploying 4k/UHD, let us first consider
production, post production and broadcast
engineering. In these applications, the main
test challenges with 4k/UHD workflows today
are twofold: the wide variety of formats that
need to be supported; and how the timing
relationships are maintained between the
multiple SDI links.
Technology corner
The challenges of 4k and UHDTV1 Paul Robinson, CTO of the Tektronix Video Product Line, gives a test vendor’s perspective
42 March 2015 www.csimagazine.com
TechnologyCorner.indd 1 25/03/2015 17:50:08
Technology corner
www.csimagazine.com April 2015 43
For 3840x2160 or 4096x2160 resolutions at
frame rates from 24 to 30Hz these can be carried
as Quad link HD or Dual link 3G. However these
low frame rates can produce noticeable temporal
artefacts. Therefore there is a need to produce
content in 48Hz, 50Hz and 60Hz, which require
quad-link 3G SDI arrangements. It is anticipated
that in the future, 100Hz and 120Hz frames rates
will be adopted which will require support for 24
Gbps data rates, thus making the use of existing
infrastructure non-viable.
At such high data rates, the new infrastructure
would need to be implemented as dual link 12G
SDI or 40G IP. It is therefore quite possible that
with the adoption of high frame rate 4k and
UHD, we will see the eventual replacement of
uncompressed baseband with light compression
techniques that would allow the use of readily
available 10G IP infrastructure.
This however is in the future and at this time
the need is to keep the four SDI signals time
aligned. This is critical as each SDI signal flows
along a different routing path. Care has to be
taken to ensure the timing at each input to a
device is within limits and the user has to
understand what synchronisation can be
accommodated by the device internally to null
out timing errors.
In addition to validating correct timing it
is important to check the Video Payload ID
information to validate that the format is correct
and that all links are correctly connected to the
device. If present, byte 4 shows the multi-link
information for the links and allows the user to
verify if the links are in the correct order.
4k and UHD also support an extended
colour gamut with the use of ITU-R BT. 2020.
This extends the colour gamut by around 30%
when compared to the BT. 709 HD colour space.
It is possible to use the data bits in the SMPTE
352 payload ID to automatically detect the
colour space or indeed to force the colour
space between BT. 709 and BT. 2020. This
will slightly change the waveform monitor’s
vector and lightning displays and also the
conversion between YPbPr and RGB on the
waveform display.
HEVC encoder testingIf we now look at the distribution of 4k/UHD
to the viewer, HEVC encoding delivers similar
visual quality as AVC/H.264 whilst using
about half the bandwidth. This codec has
been designed to particularly focus on two key
issues: increased coding efficiency; and increased
use of parallel processing architectures for
encoding and decoding.
During the video encoder design phase,
designers need video elementary stream analysis
tools, which assist in making decisions for
choosing and optimising encoder algorithms.
Also, when evaluating video encoders and
comparing different encoders, operators need to
prove that given the same quality of video, each
encoder is producing a compliant bit-stream and
that there are no buffer violations that can
negatively impact the decoding process.
Top: MTS4EAV7 HEVC Analyser – HEVC Motion Vector DisplayBottom: WFM8300 Waveform Monitor – 4k/UHD Quad Link Timing Display
TechnologyCorner.indd 2 25/03/2015 17:50:10
Elementary stream analysers verify the
compliance of the encoded 4k/UHD video and
also provide statistics relating to the coding
efficiency. This helps encoder manufactures as
well as operators wishing to evaluate HEVC
encoders validate different designs.
The analyser tests every frame of video against
the compliance requirements defined in the
standard (HEVC/H.265 in this case). Any non-
compliance is listed in an alert log, the objective
being to play every frame without encountering
any alerts. If the encoded file is not 100%
compatible with the decoder standard, it cannot
be guaranteed to playout correctly on every
compliant decoder. In addition to compliance
checking, elementary stream analysers offer many
additional display and analysis features to display
each of the many choices that were made by the
encoder. These are useful in evaluating the coding
efficiency and effectiveness (bitrate allocation,
quantisation etc) of different encoder
implementations.
When evaluating encoders, it is also necessary
to evaluate the visual differences between the
original (reference) video and the decoded
HEVC video.
The most basic method is to simply play the
reference and decoded 4k/UHD video on two
monitors and ask human viewers to rate any
visible differences. This method is highly
subjective as each viewer will use their own
personal preferences to determine video quality.
Occasionally, human viewers may say that two
video clips are slightly different, when in fact they
are identical. Also, human viewers can perceive
that two clips look identical when in fact they are
slightly different.
Accurate human viewer assessment requires a
rigidly controlled viewing room with a large
population of viewers sampled in order to gain
valid statistical results. Because of the high cost of
such a test, it is not generally preferred over the
use of mathematical picture quality analysis
models to determine image quality. The most
common models used today are Peak Signal-to-
Noise Ratio (PSNR), Differential Mean Opinion
Score (DMOS), and Picture Quality Rating
(PQR). Both DMOS and PQR are implemented
using a human vision model.
Timing relationships in multi-link SDIIn summary, to support today’s 4k deployments,
the major challenge for test equipment vendors is
to ensure that designs are capable of handling the
higher data rates and use modular architectures to
allow the addition of the necessary new formats
to support 4k and UHDTV1.
For test equipment users, in production
applications, it is necessary to ensure that timing
relationships in multi-link SDI applications are
within tolerance. When evaluating 4k/UHD
encoders, it is necessary to ensure that the
encoder is generating encoded content that is
both guaranteed to be decodable and delivers the
high image quality that is demanded by viewers of
4k and UHDTV1 content.
Looking forward, there is also the drive to take
advantage of broadly available IP infrastructure
for baseband video distribution. When
considering the use of such equipment, it must be
taken into account that all network elements will
need to be capable of handling constant high
bitrate data with minimal latency and jitter,
bringing new testing requirements that must be
usable by video engineers with limited experience
of IP networking.
We are at the beginning of a long term
transition to ever increasing video resolutions at
increased frame rates, with high dynamic range
and enhanced colour spaces. This will drive ever
increasing data rates, which in turn will accelerate
the trend to IT-based production infrastructure.
Test equipment manufacturers in that
environment will need to address the challenges
of the live production environment, as well as the
challenges associated with the distribution of
video over IP networks.
44 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
“Many consider that given the emergence of HFR and HDR, the adoption of IP infrastructure will be the logical approach for accommodating HFR 4k/UHD production workflows.”
PQA600B Picture Quality Analyser – HEVC DMOS Analysis Results
Technology corner
TechnologyCorner.indd 3 25/03/2015 17:50:25
• Your window to the world of digital TV and media • Targeting top-levelindustry decision-makers • Independent news, insight and analysis
• International coverage • Market trends
Your window to the world of cable, satellite, IPTV/OTT, mobile TV
and home networking technologies
For advertising opportunities please contact John Woods:Tel: 020 7562 2421 or email: [email protected]
www.csimagazine.com
and home networking technologies
April 2015
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and home networking technologies
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march/april 2014
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september/october 2014
cover.indd 1 20/08/2014 11:23:08
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jan/feb 2013
Comcast RDK: Cable goes open source
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CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
LTE
Bro
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CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
LTE
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CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
UK
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l TV
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
UK
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CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
CSI magazine is available as a digital-edition across all tablet and smart-phone devices
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theworks.indd 1 27/03/2015 16:30:43
Events diary 2015
Date Name Location Website
24-26 February BVE London bvexpo.com
2-5 March Mobile World Congress Barcelona mobileworldcongress.com
3 March CASBAA OTT Summit Singapore casbaa.com
10-12 March CabSat Dubai cabsat.com
11-13 March Cable Congress Brussels cablecongress.com
16-19 March Satellite 2015 Washington DC satshow.com
22 March India Satellite Industry Forum New Delhi casbaa.com
23-25 March DVB World Copenhagen dvbworld.org
26-28 March CCBN Beijing ccbn.tv/en
11-16 April NAB Las Vegas nabshow.com
13-16 April MIPTV Cannes miptv.com
28-30 April TV Connect London tvconnectevent.com
5-7 May INTX Chicago intx15.ncta.com
7 May Future Digital Media Distribution London ihs.com
21 May CSI Summit London csimagazine.com/summit
2-5 June Broadcast Asia Singapore broadcast-asia.com
9-11 June ANGA Com Cologne angacom.de/en
23-24 June Digital Home World Summit London digitalhomeworldsummit.com
24-25 June Connected TV Summit London connectedtvsummit.com
27-28 August CTAM Europe Amsterdam ctameurope.com
10-15 September IBC Amsterdam ibc.org
6-7 October CDN World Summit London cdnworldsummit.com
13-16 October Cable-Tec Expo New Orleans expo.scte.org
26-28 October CASBAA Convention Hong Kong casbaa.com
10-11 November Connections Europe Amsterdam connectionseurope.com
16-19 November OTT TV World Summit London ottworldsummit.com
2-3 December Future TV Advertising London futuretvads.com
46 April 2015 www.csimagazine.com
38 May-June 2014 www.csimagazine.com www.csimagazine.com April 2015 47
To advertise contact John Woods +44 (0)20 7562 2421 [email protected]
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7258-CSI_Media.indd 1 2/4/2015 10:30:41 AM
