Broadcasting the 2012 Olympic Games - CSI Magazine
Broadcasting the 2012 Olympic Games - CSI Magazine
Broadcasting the 2012 Olympic Games - CSI Magazine
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London <strong>2012</strong><br />
Ad insertion<br />
HbbTV<br />
IP&TV World<br />
Forum review<br />
www.csimagazine.com<br />
Connected<br />
TV<br />
may/june <strong>2012</strong><br />
<strong>Broadcasting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
<strong>Olympic</strong> <strong>Games</strong>
Contents<br />
21 Opinion<br />
Red Bee Media’s Andy Bryant argues that content discovery<br />
needs art not just algorithms<br />
05 News<br />
All <strong>the</strong> latest industry news and analysis<br />
12 Analyst corner<br />
IHS Screen Digest’s Guy Bisson notes <strong>the</strong>re is still<br />
much room for channel brands to expand <strong>the</strong>ir HD<br />
offers across Europe<br />
14 HbbTV<br />
An analysis of <strong>the</strong> latest rollouts and developments of<br />
<strong>the</strong> hybrid broadcast broadband standard<br />
18 COVER STORY - <strong>2012</strong> <strong>Olympic</strong>s special<br />
What can we expect from <strong>the</strong> first ‘Digital <strong>Olympic</strong>s’<br />
on <strong>the</strong> multi-screen, online and interactive fronts?<br />
Editor’s report:<br />
22 Executive interview<br />
<strong>CSI</strong> speaks to Verizon’s Brian Whitton about <strong>the</strong> customer<br />
experience and support challenge <strong>the</strong> operator<br />
faces with connected TVs<br />
24 Advertising and ad insertion<br />
Cable sees targeted advertising as a way of multiscreen<br />
monetisation, with tablets being <strong>the</strong> sweet spot<br />
26 Business intelligence<br />
The value of data has exploded for broadcasters in <strong>the</strong><br />
multi-channel environment. What needs to be done?<br />
28 Show review<br />
Over-<strong>the</strong>-top strategies and o<strong>the</strong>r key takeaways from<br />
this year’s IP&TV World Forum<br />
35 Energy efficiency<br />
An inside look at HGI’s energy saving work<br />
“If content is keen <strong>the</strong>n metadata is queen.” This is how one executive neatly summed up<br />
content discovery, which is an issue facing <strong>the</strong> entire industry. As users are increasingly faced<br />
with <strong>the</strong> ‘paradox of choice’ - whereby <strong>the</strong> proliferation of content across channels, devices<br />
and platforms is actually leading to frustration and lower customer satisfaction - it can be<br />
argued that <strong>the</strong> content discovery experience is flawed. This is a fascinating field, where<br />
EPGs, search and recommendation and now second devices have a large role to play. An interesting argument<br />
on how we can bring some artistic creativity to <strong>the</strong> science can be found on p21. In different ways,<br />
data is crucial to broadcasters too. Channel 4 recognises this fact by calling data <strong>the</strong> new oil. The fear is<br />
that if broadcasters don’t get to grips with it <strong>the</strong>n a company like Google will come in and eat <strong>the</strong>ir lunch.<br />
An expert view on how <strong>the</strong>y can capture and analyse this data effectively is offered on p26. Goran Nastic<br />
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News<br />
First 3D over DTT to launch in Italy<br />
news in brief<br />
HighTV is launching <strong>the</strong> world’s first<br />
3D channel over a terrestrial network<br />
later this year in Italy.<br />
Italy was chosen as <strong>the</strong> first<br />
country for <strong>the</strong> DTT 3D channel<br />
because of its high penetration of 3D<br />
enabled TV sets. According to<br />
HighTV CEO Erik Klein some 1.5<br />
million such units have been sold<br />
<strong>the</strong>re and expects this to grow to 2.5<br />
million as a result of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Olympic</strong>s<br />
and European football<br />
championships.<br />
Overall, Klein estimates that<br />
around 8% of TV sets globally<br />
currently have 3D capability while<br />
over 60% of sets over 40 inches are<br />
3D enabled. He labels 3D as being as<br />
significant a development as <strong>the</strong><br />
introduction of colour television.<br />
“3D brings depth which is a whole<br />
different perception that feels you<br />
can engage with characters on a<br />
different level,” Klein said at<br />
Telenor’s press event in Oslo.<br />
He admits though that <strong>the</strong>re is a<br />
need to understand who is watching<br />
3D channels at home and that <strong>the</strong><br />
broadcaster is engaged in analysing<br />
viewership habits.<br />
The company will launch <strong>the</strong><br />
Italian channel over <strong>the</strong> country’s<br />
DVB-T2 network with a local partner<br />
in <strong>the</strong> next two to three months, also<br />
making it one of <strong>the</strong> first localised<br />
3D channels.<br />
Established in 2006 (around <strong>the</strong><br />
time that Avatar was in post<br />
production), HighTV has a library<br />
of 400-500 hours of 3D content,<br />
spanning genres such as sport,<br />
cooking, fitness, reality and travel.<br />
The channel is broadcast via<br />
seven satellites in 37 countries,<br />
with Telenor, UPC and Dish in <strong>the</strong><br />
US being <strong>the</strong> biggest platforms to<br />
carry it. Ano<strong>the</strong>r 11 deals have<br />
been signed at MIP TV, with<br />
services to start in Korea, China<br />
and Canada.<br />
HighTV is also looking towards<br />
holographic TV and has two<br />
production teams that have created<br />
around ten hours of content. The<br />
problem, according to Klein, is that<br />
holographic requires a 360 degree<br />
production to see <strong>the</strong> front and<br />
back, which means shooting from<br />
six different angles.<br />
German DTH fully digital<br />
Satellite TV is purely digital in<br />
Germany following switch-off of<br />
analogue television and radio<br />
signals. Satellite operator Astra<br />
first broadcast analogue TV<br />
channels in <strong>the</strong> late 1980s and<br />
<strong>the</strong> capacity on 19.2° East will<br />
now be used for new digital TV<br />
channels and HDTV services. A<br />
large proportion of cable<br />
meanwhile remains on analogue<br />
(only 38% of subscribers were<br />
digital as of April 2011) with<br />
cable operators in no rush to<br />
digitise <strong>the</strong>ir networks. Many are<br />
resisting <strong>the</strong> DSO in order to gain<br />
an advantage by providing access<br />
to analogue secondary and<br />
tertiary TV screens in <strong>the</strong> home.<br />
There is no set date for cable to<br />
go 100% digital.
News<br />
news in brief<br />
Elisa launches Euro OTT service<br />
New Twitter record set<br />
The Champions League match<br />
between Chelsea and Barcelona<br />
has overtaken Superbowl to<br />
become <strong>the</strong> most tweeted<br />
sporting event. The semi-final<br />
second-leg at <strong>the</strong> Nou Camp<br />
peaked at 13,684 messages per<br />
second, which beat <strong>the</strong> previous<br />
record of 12,233 tps set during<br />
February’s Super Bowl between<br />
<strong>the</strong> NFL’s New York Giants and<br />
New England Patriots. According<br />
to Twitter, <strong>the</strong> all time record<br />
belongs to a broadcast of <strong>the</strong> film<br />
Castle in <strong>the</strong> Sky in Japan, which<br />
saw a peak of 25,088 tweets per<br />
second, showing <strong>the</strong> popularity of<br />
TV programmes on <strong>the</strong> social<br />
media site.<br />
Finland’s Elisa has become <strong>the</strong><br />
latest service provider to embrace<br />
over-<strong>the</strong>-top by launching a TV<br />
Everywhere service targeting<br />
extreme sports enthusiasts<br />
across Europe.<br />
The EpicTV offer, which<br />
launches this month across 15<br />
European countries, will provide<br />
live and on-demand content,<br />
ranging from three-minute clips<br />
to films, focused on extreme<br />
sports such as surfing,<br />
snowboarding, base jumping,<br />
mountain biking and climbing.<br />
It is available as a subscription<br />
only service priced at EUR6.90<br />
a month.<br />
EpicTV will launch initially on<br />
PCs, iPads and Samsung connected<br />
TVs, with Android iOS platforms<br />
and o<strong>the</strong>r smart TV brands to follow<br />
in July. Microsoft PlayReady and<br />
Widevine DRMs are providing <strong>the</strong><br />
multi-platform security for <strong>the</strong><br />
initiative. Users can register a<br />
number of devices to view <strong>the</strong><br />
content on each account with<br />
au<strong>the</strong>ntication performed via<br />
Facebook or credit card.<br />
The service is powered by Tvinci’s<br />
back-end OTT platform, which<br />
handles functions such as DRM and<br />
content management, EPG<br />
customisation, social, payments,<br />
analytics and o<strong>the</strong>r services.<br />
According to Adina Eckstein, VP of<br />
product delivery at Tvinci, <strong>the</strong><br />
company has won three OTT<br />
contracts since IBC with <strong>the</strong> latest, a<br />
European satellite operator, to be<br />
announced soon.<br />
Having operated a managed IPTV<br />
network since 2006, this is Elisa’s<br />
first foray into <strong>the</strong> OTT arena,<br />
which service providers are<br />
increasingly using to widen <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
geographic reach to new and niche<br />
audiences. The company estimates<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is a European market of over<br />
ten million affluent extreme sports<br />
fans it is targeting, delivered via<br />
commercial third party CDNs across<br />
European territories.<br />
Netflix looks to new Euro market<br />
Online video streaming service<br />
Netflix has moved to a Q1 loss as<br />
a result of greater costs related to<br />
its international expansion but it<br />
hasn’t stopped <strong>the</strong> company from<br />
looking to launch in one more<br />
European country before <strong>the</strong> end<br />
of <strong>the</strong> year. It is thought that of<br />
<strong>the</strong> three million new subscribers<br />
Netflix gained through its<br />
international launch around two<br />
million are estimated to have<br />
come from <strong>the</strong> UK and Ireland<br />
due to <strong>the</strong> poor performance in<br />
Latin America. Although Netflix<br />
still expects it will take two years<br />
to reach sustained profits as it<br />
builds up its network in Europe,<br />
<strong>the</strong> company said it will target an<br />
additional European market<br />
before end-<strong>2012</strong> (with speculation<br />
mounting around Germany).<br />
New products certified by Cable Europe<br />
The Cable Europe Labs Certification<br />
Board has certified Euro-<br />
DO<strong>CSI</strong>S products from Motorola,<br />
Cisco, Samsung and Technicolor<br />
under its latest certification wave.<br />
Products that successfully passed<br />
testing by <strong>the</strong> independent test<br />
lab Excentis used by <strong>the</strong> industry<br />
group, and which are ready<br />
for deployment in European markets<br />
are:<br />
• Samsung SMT-G7440 –<br />
EuroDO<strong>CSI</strong>S 3.0 Cable Modem in<br />
a Set Top Box<br />
• Cisco EPC2325R2 –<br />
EuroDO<strong>CSI</strong>S 2.0 Cable Modem<br />
• Samsung SMT-C5120 –<br />
EuroDO<strong>CSI</strong>S 2.0 Cable Modem in a<br />
Set Top Box<br />
• Technicolor TC7200 –<br />
EuroDO<strong>CSI</strong>S 3.0 + EuroPacketCable<br />
1.5 EMTA<br />
Moreover, a CMTS from Motorola<br />
- BSR64000 has been granted a ‘verified<br />
for base feature set’ label following<br />
<strong>the</strong> release of testing results from<br />
Certification Wave 46. It is <strong>the</strong> first<br />
ED3.0 CMTS to get a European<br />
label. Under this approach, vendors<br />
can submit for ‘base’ feature set plus<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r feature sets, such as IPv6,<br />
upstream and dynamic channel bonding<br />
and multicast, among o<strong>the</strong>rs.<br />
Also during Q1, a cable modem<br />
from AVM, a Samsung set-top box<br />
and an EMTA from Ubee Interactive<br />
have been certified.<br />
Cable Europe Labs said this is<br />
contributing towards achieving <strong>the</strong><br />
broadband goals laid down in <strong>the</strong><br />
Digital Agenda for Europe, with<br />
fur<strong>the</strong>r EuroDO<strong>CSI</strong>S solutions<br />
expected.<br />
EUR15bn spent on Euro TV content<br />
<strong>CSI</strong> multi-screen<br />
Make sure you visit us at<br />
csimagazine.com to see our new<br />
look and interactive digital<br />
edition, including easy to use<br />
tablet experience, with up to <strong>the</strong><br />
minute news and analysis.<br />
European commercial broadcasters<br />
spend more than EUR15 billion a<br />
year on television content, according<br />
to new research.<br />
The study, commissioned from<br />
<strong>the</strong> E-media Institute by <strong>the</strong><br />
Association of Commercial<br />
Television in Europe (ACT), found<br />
<strong>the</strong> aggregate spend in 15 countries<br />
on programming was equivalent to<br />
EUR41 million.<br />
France invested about EUR5.4bn<br />
on content and <strong>the</strong> UK EUR6.3bn,<br />
where BSkyB alone paid out<br />
EUR2.3 billion. Overall, around 40%<br />
of broadcasters’ revenues are<br />
reinvested in next season’s schedule.<br />
The study also found <strong>the</strong> number<br />
of non-linear services, such as VoD<br />
platforms and catch-up TV, more<br />
than doubled from 146 at <strong>the</strong> end<br />
of 2008 to 314 in 2011 although<br />
no figures were given on spend in<br />
<strong>the</strong>se areas.<br />
06 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
ITV to bring Shazam enabled ads<br />
Your vision...<br />
A deal between Shazam and ITV will see <strong>the</strong><br />
broadcaster become <strong>the</strong> exclusive distributor for<br />
Shazam functionality in <strong>the</strong> UK broadcast<br />
advertising space as part of its drive towards closer<br />
second screen integration.<br />
Under <strong>the</strong> deal, ITV Commercial will be <strong>the</strong><br />
exclusive UK sales force offering<br />
advertisers <strong>the</strong> chance to have<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir traditional 30 second TV<br />
spots Shazam-enabled with <strong>the</strong><br />
media discovery company’s<br />
audio-recognition technology<br />
for <strong>the</strong> first time as <strong>the</strong>y look<br />
to enhance <strong>the</strong>ir campaigns<br />
and connect directly with<br />
audiences.<br />
The ten million-plus<br />
viewers in <strong>the</strong> country who<br />
have Shazam installed on<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir smartphones, will be<br />
able to use <strong>the</strong> app to<br />
interact with <strong>the</strong> ads to<br />
enter competitions, get<br />
additional information about a brand or product,<br />
view additional content or download free music.<br />
Shazam already has a similar deal in place in <strong>the</strong><br />
US, with shows and events such as American Idol,<br />
<strong>the</strong> Grammys and <strong>the</strong> Super Bowl, where more<br />
than half of <strong>the</strong> advertisers in chose to enable<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir ads.<br />
“Shazam’s audio-recognition<br />
technology is at <strong>the</strong> forefront of<br />
<strong>the</strong> second screen movement<br />
which is transforming <strong>the</strong> way<br />
consumers interact with content<br />
including advertising,” said Simon<br />
Daglish, group commercial sales<br />
director at ITV.<br />
Although not ad related,<br />
Channel 4 recently became <strong>the</strong> first<br />
terrestrial broadcaster in <strong>the</strong> UK to<br />
launch a mobile application that<br />
reacts to watermarked audio triggers<br />
within a broadcast to unlock exclusive<br />
content as <strong>the</strong> second screen wave hits<br />
<strong>the</strong> industry.<br />
SES opens door for satellite<br />
multi-screen<br />
Satellite operator SES has led <strong>the</strong> way in creating a<br />
new IP-based satellite reception technology that<br />
demodulates and converts satellite signals to IP for<br />
in-home distribution.<br />
A demo of <strong>the</strong> SAT-IP involved multi-switches<br />
showing <strong>the</strong> distribution of satellite programmes<br />
over various IP-based infrastructures<br />
(CAT5 E<strong>the</strong>rnet, Power Line, Plastic Optical<br />
Fibre and WiFi). Programme streams are<br />
forwarded over <strong>the</strong> data network transparently,<br />
without transcoding, using standard<br />
network protocols.<br />
In a SAT-IP environment, all IP-enabled devices<br />
will be able to receive satellite programming,<br />
enabling a true multi-screen experience.<br />
“With SAT-IP, large varieties of satellite offers<br />
including <strong>the</strong> most important line-up of HD<br />
channels will be accessible for consumers on<br />
IP-enabled devices in highest and original satellite<br />
picture quality and without using internet<br />
connectivity,” said Thomas Wrede, VP of<br />
reception systems at SES.<br />
SES is positioning <strong>the</strong> communications<br />
protocol as a new and open standard for<br />
manufacturers for satellite in-home distribution.<br />
Current prototypes already allow for <strong>the</strong> reception<br />
of up to eight programmes on eight different<br />
screen devices at home.<br />
The first SAT-IP based products are scheduled<br />
to be available later this year.<br />
• Sky Germany has won exclusive multi-screen<br />
payTV rights for all live Bundesliga football<br />
matches under a four year deal.<br />
The award from <strong>the</strong> German Football League<br />
(DFL) covers <strong>the</strong> rights for all platforms,<br />
including those currently held across satellite,<br />
cable and web, and adds IPTV and mobile. It<br />
covers <strong>the</strong> upcoming 2013/14 season through to<br />
2016/17.<br />
On average Sky, which has over three million<br />
subscribers, will pay a license fee of EUR485.7<br />
million per season for <strong>the</strong> 612 live matches<br />
per season.<br />
Modern Times Group, meanwhile, has acquired<br />
multi-screen rights for Champions League football<br />
in <strong>the</strong> Czech Republic for <strong>the</strong> next three years.
News<br />
news in brief<br />
Hotel installs Android IPTV<br />
A hotel in Croatia has become<br />
<strong>the</strong> first in <strong>the</strong> world to install an<br />
interactive IPTV system with<br />
Android IP set-top boxes. Hotel<br />
Dubrovnik in <strong>the</strong> capital city of<br />
Zagreb deployed an IPTV system<br />
from Russian company NetUP,<br />
which allows guests to access TV<br />
and VoD content using Androidbased<br />
IP set-top boxes from<br />
Vestel. The solution also consists<br />
of Cisco network management<br />
equipment and third-party<br />
streamers for distributing TV<br />
signal into DVB-C and IP. A<br />
variety of Android apps and guest<br />
services are supported by <strong>the</strong><br />
system.<br />
Sky buys Acetrax<br />
BSkyB has acquired Zurich-based<br />
online video service Acetrax as<br />
<strong>the</strong> satellite broadcaster looks to<br />
penetrate smart TVs and o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
connected devices. Acetrax is a<br />
pan-European premium VoD<br />
operator in seven countries: <strong>the</strong><br />
UK, Ireland, France, Italy,<br />
Germany, Austria and<br />
Switzerland. It has formed<br />
partnerships with most of <strong>the</strong><br />
major connected TV<br />
manufacturers such as Samsung,<br />
LG and Panasonic, and has<br />
predicted that it will reach 60<br />
million embedded Acetrax apps<br />
across Europe by 2015.<br />
EchoStar to close US cable<br />
business<br />
EchoStar Technologies is ceasing<br />
<strong>the</strong> sale of set-top boxes to US<br />
cable operators, choosing instead<br />
to focus on international cable,<br />
satellite and telecoms markets.<br />
The cost-competitive nature of<br />
<strong>the</strong> US cable market was said to<br />
offer “insufficient revenue return<br />
opportunities”. Similar rumours<br />
continue around Cisco’s and<br />
Motorola’s STB operations.<br />
Canal Digital to launch follow-me TV<br />
Nordic payTV operator Canal<br />
Digital is launching one of <strong>the</strong> first<br />
“follow me TV” services in Europe,<br />
which will enable subscribers to<br />
start watching video content in<br />
one room and resume in ano<strong>the</strong>r<br />
after pausing.<br />
The move is part of <strong>the</strong> company’s<br />
strategy to increase customer<br />
satisfaction and loyalty and reduce<br />
churn, according to Patrik<br />
Hofbauer, CEO of Telenor<br />
Broadcast whose group umbrella<br />
Canal Digital falls under. Canal<br />
has close to one million subscribers<br />
in <strong>the</strong> Nordics, a market of<br />
around ten million households that<br />
is close to saturation.<br />
The multi-room HD DVR set-top<br />
box is being supplied by Advanced<br />
Digital broadcast (ADB) and <strong>the</strong> service<br />
will role out across <strong>the</strong> Nordics<br />
in <strong>the</strong> coming months.<br />
The Canal Digital to Go TV anywhere<br />
service recently launched,<br />
which makes a range of content<br />
available on multiple devices,<br />
although <strong>the</strong> channel line-up remains<br />
limited due to rights issues with content<br />
owners.<br />
Hofbauer added that <strong>the</strong> company<br />
sees social TV and companion devices<br />
as o<strong>the</strong>r services that will drive loyalty.<br />
At this stage, this involves support<br />
for subscribers recommending<br />
content to friends via Facebook, while<br />
20,000 customers are using <strong>the</strong><br />
iPhone as a remote control, for<br />
example.<br />
Hofbauer estimates that half of<br />
customers are online as <strong>the</strong> same<br />
time as <strong>the</strong>y are watching TV so tapping<br />
into this proportion that is<br />
multi tasking is a big opportunity<br />
going forward. “It is something we<br />
need to understand and develop our<br />
business for,” he said, speaking at<br />
Telenor’s international press day.<br />
DO<strong>CSI</strong>S 3 drives CMTS port growth<br />
Every region worldwide saw CMTS<br />
port growth in 2011, as cable operators<br />
worldwide continue <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
DO<strong>CSI</strong>S 3.0 transformations,<br />
according to Infonetics Research<br />
Global CMTS port shipments hit<br />
record levels in 4Q11 and are up<br />
48% for <strong>the</strong> full year. However,<br />
CMTS revenue is not keeping pace<br />
with port shipments because revenue<br />
per downstream continues to drop<br />
(down 31% in 2011), as more highdensity<br />
downstream-only cards are<br />
introduced and as <strong>the</strong> market continues<br />
to shift towards license-based<br />
upgrades in regions outside North<br />
America.<br />
Combined CMTS and edge QAM<br />
revenue grew 5% in Q4, ending <strong>the</strong><br />
year on a high note, up 17% from <strong>the</strong><br />
year-ago quarter. For <strong>the</strong> full year,<br />
CMTS and edge QAM manufacturer<br />
revenue grew 6% to $1.7 billion.<br />
Cisco is <strong>the</strong> only of <strong>the</strong> top four<br />
CMTS vendors that gained CMTS revenue<br />
market share last year, growing<br />
from 51% to 59% of <strong>the</strong> global market.<br />
French group tackles UHD TV<br />
French research consortium 4EVER<br />
has established a three-year project<br />
to advance <strong>the</strong> technologies<br />
supporting <strong>the</strong> production and<br />
delivery of Ultra High Definition<br />
Television, in <strong>the</strong> process taking in<br />
such things as HEVC compression<br />
and increased colour depth.<br />
The research programme was<br />
launched with <strong>the</strong> aim of<br />
reducing <strong>the</strong> bandwidth<br />
required for <strong>the</strong> delivery of<br />
ultra-HDTV using High<br />
Efficiency Video Coding<br />
(HEVC), also known as<br />
H.265, <strong>the</strong> next-generation<br />
compression standard<br />
developed jointly by ISO/<br />
MPEG and ITU-T/ VCEG.<br />
Currently a draft, it is expected to<br />
be submitted for final standardisation<br />
approval in January 2013 as<br />
MPEG-H Part 2.<br />
Initially a large part of <strong>the</strong><br />
research effort will be invested in <strong>the</strong><br />
evaluation of <strong>the</strong><br />
television experience enhancement<br />
that can be offered from not just<br />
higher resolutions, but also higher<br />
frame rates, increased colour depth,<br />
surround sound, and more.<br />
4EVER members include Orange<br />
Labs, Ateme, France Télévisions,<br />
GlobeCast, TeamCast, Technicolor<br />
and Doremi, as well as <strong>the</strong><br />
Télécom ParisTech and INSA-<br />
IETR University labs.<br />
The consortium expects to<br />
demonstrate a first complete ultra<br />
HD production and transmission<br />
chain within one year, and several<br />
field trials are planned throughout<br />
<strong>the</strong> 4EVER project for sports events,<br />
music concerts and o<strong>the</strong>r live shows.<br />
08 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Smart TVs need USP - survey<br />
Your way<br />
A new UK survey has confirmed that most people<br />
buy a smart TV with no specific intent to actually<br />
connect <strong>the</strong> device to <strong>the</strong> internet.<br />
Only one third (37%) of British consumers<br />
planning to buy a smart TV said that connecting it<br />
was a factor in buying one, with <strong>the</strong> most<br />
common reason being to have a more up-to-date<br />
TV, according to YouGov.<br />
Moreover, only half (53%) of smart TV owners<br />
correctly identified a smart TV as a TV that<br />
directly connects to <strong>the</strong> internet without <strong>the</strong> need<br />
of ano<strong>the</strong>r device, while a quarter of owners have<br />
never used it to connect to <strong>the</strong> internet.<br />
Again, quality is by far <strong>the</strong> most important<br />
criteria: among people who already a smart TV<br />
picture quality is cited by 96% of owners as <strong>the</strong><br />
most important feature, followed by <strong>the</strong> size of <strong>the</strong><br />
screen (93%) and sound quality (89%).<br />
“The ‘smart’ part of a Smart TV is not yet <strong>the</strong><br />
main reason people are buying <strong>the</strong>m; it’s more<br />
about future-proofing <strong>the</strong>ir TV set in <strong>the</strong> same way<br />
that lots of people bought HD TVs even before<br />
HD channels were available. We see <strong>the</strong> profile<br />
(in terms of tech adoption) as very similar<br />
between iPad and Smart TV owners at <strong>the</strong><br />
moment,” said Dan Brilot, YouGov’s media<br />
consulting director.<br />
To this end, manufacturers need to understand<br />
what <strong>the</strong> universal selling point (USP) of a smart<br />
TV is, he added.<br />
Sony leads <strong>the</strong> way in terms of devices sold,<br />
followed by Samsung (33%) <strong>the</strong>n Panasonic<br />
(16%). However, almost two-thirds (62%) of<br />
people planning to purchase one in <strong>the</strong> next 12<br />
months are considering Samsung. Some 26% say<br />
<strong>the</strong>y plan to buy an Apple TV, even though <strong>the</strong><br />
manufacturer has not yet launched one.<br />
In terms of usage, over a third of smart TV<br />
owners say <strong>the</strong>y now spend more time watching<br />
TV through on-demand services, such as BBC’s<br />
iPlayer, than <strong>the</strong>y do watching traditional linear<br />
TV. This behaviour is even more pronounced<br />
amongst 18-24 year olds with a Smart TV, 53% of<br />
whom say <strong>the</strong> majority of TV <strong>the</strong>y watch is<br />
on-demand – as well as smart TV owners with preschool<br />
children (51%).<br />
Delivered by NDS<br />
Cablecom in new channel spree<br />
UPC’s Swiss subsidiary UPC Cablecom is launching channel 3+, all included in its basic Mini package.<br />
26 new digital TV channels, including six in HD, in The remaining new HD channels in Germanspeaking<br />
Switzerland are <strong>the</strong> public service broad-<br />
what is <strong>the</strong> largest activation project in <strong>the</strong> company’s<br />
history.<br />
casters 3Sat HD, KiKa HD, WDR HD, NDR HD,<br />
The channels will be added starting 5 June with BR HD, SWR HD all included in <strong>the</strong> Mini package<br />
22 existing channels to be broadcast in HD. In along with ZDFneo HD and RTL Nitro in <strong>the</strong><br />
German-speaking Switzerland, two new digital Classic package. The Comfort package will now<br />
channels, RTL Nitro and Glitz HD, will be added also include <strong>the</strong> niche channel 13th STREET<br />
while 12 existing channels will be available in HD Universal in HD and <strong>the</strong> new channel for women,<br />
quality in <strong>the</strong> future.<br />
Glitz, also in HD.<br />
As previously announced, cablecom will be offering<br />
<strong>the</strong> three German private channels SAT.1, digital and UPC will look to tap into this by adding<br />
More than half of households in Switzerland are<br />
ProSieben and kabel eins in HD quality for <strong>the</strong> first fur<strong>the</strong>r HD channels in its line up, which has until<br />
time in Switzerland, as well as Swiss entertainment now consisted of between 11 and 25 channels.<br />
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News<br />
Cisco/NDS reflects multi-screen focus<br />
news in brief<br />
Cisco’s $5 billion purchase of NDS<br />
underscores <strong>the</strong> industry’s shift in<br />
focus away from set-top box hardware<br />
towards software and services that can<br />
help play a part in <strong>the</strong> transition to<br />
payTV multi-screen, according to IHS<br />
Screen Digest. As <strong>the</strong> opportunity<br />
crystallises fur<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> analysts forecast<br />
that <strong>the</strong> number of multi-screen<br />
devices active on global pay-TV networks<br />
will rise to 303.7 million units<br />
in 2015, from 29.5 million in 2010.<br />
This contrasts with a relatively flat<br />
performance of <strong>the</strong> STB market,<br />
where <strong>the</strong> installed base of set-top<br />
boxes will grow at a rate of only 9%<br />
during <strong>the</strong> same period, compared to<br />
a 59% CAGR of active multi-screen<br />
devices.<br />
The multi-screen device category<br />
comprises a range of products,<br />
including smartphones, media<br />
tablets, portable media devices, video<br />
game consoles, personal computers<br />
and internet connected TVs.<br />
“Over <strong>the</strong> long term, multi-screen<br />
device access increasingly will<br />
become <strong>the</strong> core metric that<br />
determines <strong>the</strong> scale of operators’<br />
coverage,” said Tom Morrod, senior<br />
principal analyst of TV Technology<br />
for IHS. “To cash in on this trend,<br />
operators need DRM technology and<br />
a compelling user interface (UI) that<br />
can be ported across multiple<br />
devices.”<br />
400,000<br />
300,000<br />
200,000<br />
100,000<br />
0<br />
Source: IHS Screen Digest April <strong>2012</strong><br />
Worldwide Forecast of Multiscreen<br />
Devices Active on Pay-TV<br />
Networks (thousands of Units)<br />
On <strong>the</strong> Cisco/NDS acquisition,<br />
Morrod notes that Cisco has<br />
pushed hard to establish its multiscreen<br />
solution, Videoscape, and<br />
NDS provides key components to<br />
support this. Security that can tie<br />
toge<strong>the</strong>r broadcast and broadband<br />
content streams is vital to<br />
maintaining value. In general, he<br />
adds that as Google look set to sell<br />
off Motorola’s set-top box business,<br />
<strong>the</strong> industry may be on <strong>the</strong> cusp of<br />
a significant shake-up of pay-TV<br />
technology vendors.<br />
2009 2010 2011 <strong>2012</strong> 2013 2014 2015<br />
VoD = 1% of Euro TV revenue<br />
A new study has found that videoon-demand<br />
only represents 1% of<br />
total television revenues in<br />
Europe despite recent growth.<br />
There are estimated to be 435<br />
individual catch-up and VoD<br />
services available across 30<br />
regional markets (<strong>the</strong> E30) but<br />
<strong>the</strong>y are usually ad funded or<br />
available through public funding.<br />
The report, led by consultancy<br />
Attentional on behalf of <strong>the</strong><br />
European Commission, looked at<br />
<strong>the</strong> implementation of <strong>the</strong><br />
Commission’s Audiovisual Media<br />
Services directive. Overall TV<br />
sector revenues have been flat at<br />
EUR77 since a similar study in<br />
2008 while Europe’s five largest<br />
TV markets still generate 70% of<br />
all revenue.<br />
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Analyst corner<br />
Not old news yet<br />
With 144 new HD channel feeds last year, <strong>the</strong>re is still much<br />
room for brand expansion in Europe<br />
HDTV is old news, right?<br />
Been around forever. The<br />
channel business is all<br />
about 3D and multi-screen<br />
delivery now. True, it’s easy<br />
to think like that, given <strong>the</strong><br />
near universal uptake of<br />
HDTV sets in UK homes, <strong>the</strong> advertising<br />
campaigns from major operators around <strong>the</strong>ir HD<br />
tiers and <strong>the</strong> launch of HD on digital terrestrial as<br />
<strong>the</strong> UK approaches analogue switch-off. But an<br />
analysis of <strong>the</strong> channel portfolios of major<br />
international groups suggests <strong>the</strong> reality is a little<br />
different.<br />
Let’s take a little step back in time. Just like <strong>the</strong><br />
early days of payTV itself, <strong>the</strong> drivers for HD<br />
channel launches centred on two key genres:<br />
sports and movies. The reasons were not just<br />
about consumer demand. Not only did both <strong>the</strong>se<br />
forms of content benefit most obviously from an<br />
HD feed, but <strong>the</strong>re was already a significant stock<br />
pile of HD-ready content by <strong>the</strong> time international<br />
pay operators launched <strong>the</strong>ir HD offers.<br />
The first HD channel launches <strong>the</strong>n were<br />
focused almost exclusively on <strong>the</strong>se two genres.<br />
The next wave of launches focused on two o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
key payTV driving genres, this time, those that<br />
drive basic payTV: documentary and<br />
entertainment. Again, both were fuelled by decent<br />
levels of content access and a clear business case<br />
for launch.<br />
But what has happened since <strong>the</strong>n? Certainly,<br />
new HD channels have continued to launch:<br />
during 2011, 144 new HD channel feeds appeared<br />
across Europe. But an analysis of genres shows<br />
that groups are staying firmly within <strong>the</strong>ir comfort<br />
zones, with a continued focus on just <strong>the</strong> four key<br />
genres.<br />
Next phase: genre diversification<br />
Launching an HD channel has always been<br />
something of a balancing act. The increased<br />
HD channels by genre:<br />
Major international channel owners<br />
Children’s 3<br />
Cultural 2<br />
Documentary 19<br />
Entertainment 30<br />
Lifestyle 2<br />
Movie 43<br />
Music 2<br />
News 5<br />
Sport 30<br />
HD channels by genre:<br />
major channel groups<br />
Childrens - 2%<br />
Cultural - 2%<br />
Documentary - 14%<br />
Entertainment - 22%<br />
Lifestyle - 1%<br />
Movie - 32%<br />
Music - 1%<br />
News - 4%<br />
Sport - 22%<br />
transmission, programming<br />
and play-out costs coupled<br />
with a reluctance among<br />
platforms to increase affiliate<br />
fees and <strong>the</strong> limited opportunity for advertising<br />
uplift means <strong>the</strong>re has to be a strong business<br />
case for pushing forward with a new HD feed.<br />
None<strong>the</strong>less, channel providers and platform<br />
operators seem to be missing a trick with <strong>the</strong> lack<br />
of genre diversification that is evident across<br />
Europe. Even among <strong>the</strong> new HD channel<br />
launches of <strong>the</strong> major owners in 2011, it is a<br />
struggle to find an HD channel that falls outside<br />
<strong>the</strong>se four genre areas. There are creeping signs of<br />
change, with a handful of kids, news and lifestyle<br />
channels that previously would not have got a<br />
look in on <strong>the</strong> HD launch plan.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> SD channel market, genre diversification<br />
is something that occurs well into a group’s<br />
lifecycle. Channel owners tend to rely on one or<br />
two key genres for a good number of years before<br />
growth targets demand diversification to target<br />
new audiences and demographics. We are less<br />
than a decade into <strong>the</strong> world of HD in Europe, so<br />
it is perhaps not surprising that <strong>the</strong> major owners<br />
have yet to enter this phase of diversification.<br />
Outside of <strong>the</strong> major channel owners, a few<br />
niche areas are becoming well served: a large<br />
number of adult HD channels have launched<br />
over <strong>the</strong> last two years, for example. For <strong>the</strong><br />
major groups, <strong>the</strong> next areas of focus seem likely<br />
to be lifestyle, kids and cultural channels. Old<br />
news or not, whatever route is next taken, one<br />
thing is certain: <strong>the</strong>re is plenty of growth, and<br />
opportunity, left in <strong>the</strong> HD channel market<br />
for those adventurous enough to take an HD leap<br />
of faith.<br />
Guy Bisson is research<br />
director, television, at IHS<br />
Screen Digest. In this regular<br />
column, he gives <strong>CSI</strong> readers<br />
exclusive insight from <strong>the</strong><br />
company’s new channel strategies service<br />
12 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
HbbTV<br />
The evolution of broadcast<br />
Already reaching maturity in Germany, HbbTV is not only<br />
set for rollout across Europe but also in o<strong>the</strong>r parts of <strong>the</strong><br />
world, says Adrian Pennington<br />
Despite some criticism from<br />
certain quarters, HbbTV<br />
has been accepted by<br />
Europe’s national<br />
broadcasters as a de-facto<br />
standard with interest<br />
spreading to commercial<br />
operators and to o<strong>the</strong>r parts of <strong>the</strong> globe on <strong>the</strong><br />
back of new DRM and adaptive streaming<br />
capabilities.<br />
With estimates of 60 million HbbTV compliant<br />
TV sets in Western Europe by 2014, HbbTV<br />
appears to have settled as a ‘must have’ industry<br />
standard. Almost every European country has<br />
endorsed and/or adopted <strong>the</strong> standard, and <strong>the</strong><br />
remaining countries are trialling HbbTV or have<br />
near-term plans to deploy it.<br />
First demonstrated in 2009, impetus to hybrid<br />
TV was given by 20 members of <strong>the</strong> EBU last<br />
December who agreed to a European-wide rollout<br />
during <strong>2012</strong>. These included TVR (Romania),<br />
RTE (Ireland); RAI (Italy); RTVE (Spain); TRT<br />
(Turkey); YLE (Finland); MTV Magyar Radio<br />
(Hungary); ORF (Austria); RTBF (Belgium);<br />
NRK (Norway) and TVP and TVN in Poland<br />
(see table, on next page).<br />
“HbbTV is a standard (as a technology<br />
solution), which is favoured by broadcasters, as<br />
<strong>the</strong>y do not lose control over <strong>the</strong> content and<br />
environment,” says Shirlene Chandrapal, VP of<br />
connected TV at Smartclip. “We see HbbTV as<br />
one part of <strong>the</strong> connected TV world, which can<br />
be described as <strong>the</strong> broadcaster-driven<br />
counterpart to <strong>the</strong> smart TV approaches by<br />
CE-manufacturers.”<br />
The most mature market is Germany, which<br />
now has a wide range of HbbTV services and<br />
receivers in support of programming at ARD,<br />
ZDF and Bavaria’s Bayerische Rundfunk.<br />
German sports channel Sport1 is to use Teveo’s<br />
HbbTV platform for distribution of its signal to<br />
areas where <strong>the</strong> channel is not carried by <strong>the</strong> local<br />
or regional operator and Eutelsat’s German<br />
subsidiary, KabelKiosk, has launched a hybrid<br />
service for cable homes. Services available<br />
through ‘KabelKiosk choice’ include VOD and<br />
catch-up TV, while network operators can<br />
customise pages with regional news, RSS feeds,<br />
clips, or marketing campaigns.<br />
France Télévisions is backing <strong>the</strong> HbbTV<br />
variant TNT 2.0, GlobeCast and France 24 are<br />
launching an exploratory HbbTV service with<br />
Orange and SES; while TF1 will launch its digital<br />
brand MyTF1 on HbbTV this autumn.<br />
Danish national broadcaster DR is into a yearlong<br />
pilot HbbTV-based TV anytime service<br />
partnered with Nordija. The new service, Dr Nu,<br />
“We see HbbTV as<br />
one part of <strong>the</strong><br />
connected TV world,<br />
which can be<br />
described as <strong>the</strong><br />
broadcaster-driven<br />
counterpart to <strong>the</strong><br />
smart TV approaches<br />
by CE-manufacturers.”<br />
is available via <strong>the</strong> dr.dk website and is based on<br />
Nordija’s fokusOn middleware.<br />
Dutch broadcasters (SBS, NPO and RTL) are<br />
aligning in a choice of HbbTV as <strong>the</strong>ir standard<br />
for hybrid connectivity. NPO is conducting<br />
HbbTV trials on its Canal Digital satellite DTH<br />
platform and Ziggo cable networks. These trials<br />
will begin with Sony Bravia CTV sets with built-in<br />
satellite tuners as well as HbbTV support,<br />
although o<strong>the</strong>r leading CE manufacturers - Philips<br />
and Samsung - plan to join <strong>the</strong><br />
burgeoning Dutch hybrid<br />
market with HbbTV sets by<br />
year end.<br />
Spain’s public broadcaster<br />
RTVE, Mediaset Spain and<br />
telco Telefónica, have entered into a three-way<br />
alliance to trial an HbbTV service, with Mediaset<br />
España making video content available from its<br />
internet TV portals and Telefónica adding its web<br />
TV service, Terra TV, into <strong>the</strong> mix.<br />
In Eastern Europe, Czech TV has teamed with<br />
Slovak digital TV hardware producer ANTIK<br />
Technology to test an HbbTV service with 40,000<br />
subscribers, while Polish broadcaster TVN started<br />
HbbTV tests in March <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
The UK situation is more complex but FTA<br />
satellite service Freesat has revealed that <strong>the</strong><br />
second generation ‘G2’ spec for its receivers will<br />
use HbbTV to take advantage of digital TV<br />
chipsets being developed for that standard.<br />
YouView, meanwhile, will launch with a<br />
proprietary Flash-based implementation.<br />
“Although MHEG-5 is now effectively a legacy<br />
technology, <strong>the</strong> DTG-promoted CTV platform has<br />
not announced deployment, no receiver<br />
conformance regime and it seems inevitable that<br />
this platform will morph into an HbbTV profile,”<br />
says Keith Potter, CEO, Digital TV Labs, a<br />
member of <strong>the</strong> HbbTV Steering Group as well as<br />
vice chair of its Testing Group.<br />
Major events this summer - <strong>the</strong> <strong>Olympic</strong>s and<br />
<strong>the</strong> UEFA European football championship - will<br />
likely boost <strong>the</strong> purchase of HbbTV-ready TV sets.<br />
The EBU is offering three white-label HbbTV<br />
applications for <strong>the</strong> <strong>Olympic</strong>s free of charge to<br />
members, who can customise <strong>the</strong>m to offer a<br />
range of interactive services. Spain’s RTVE is one<br />
participant in <strong>the</strong> scheme.<br />
Aligning with o<strong>the</strong>r standards<br />
It is interesting to observe <strong>the</strong> increase in <strong>the</strong><br />
number of operators - paid and free - reviewing<br />
HbbTV as an evolution of <strong>the</strong>ir current platforms.<br />
Growth is being partly driven by <strong>the</strong> desire to<br />
standardise on <strong>the</strong> delivery of content and <strong>the</strong><br />
tools that can be used to manage <strong>the</strong>m.<br />
“A neutral platform allows <strong>the</strong>se operators to<br />
increase <strong>the</strong> range of set-top box vendors that can<br />
supply <strong>the</strong>m and allows <strong>the</strong>m to bring much of<br />
14 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
HbbTV<br />
Broadcasters committed to HbbTV<br />
TVR<br />
RTE<br />
RAI<br />
RTVE<br />
TRT<br />
YLE<br />
MTV Magyar Radio<br />
ORF<br />
RTBF<br />
NRK<br />
Nordig<br />
TF1, France 5<br />
SBS<br />
TVN, TVP<br />
Romania<br />
Ireland<br />
Italy<br />
Spain<br />
Turkey<br />
Finland<br />
Hungary<br />
Austria<br />
Belgium<br />
Norway<br />
Scandinavia<br />
France<br />
The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands<br />
Poland<br />
<strong>the</strong> specification of <strong>the</strong> product back in-house,”<br />
observes Bob Hannent, chief technologist at<br />
Humax, which has committed to utilising HbbTV<br />
and OIPF-based (Open IPTV Forum)<br />
technologies in a number of projects.<br />
“This is an important step, given <strong>the</strong><br />
competitive pressures facing commercial broadcasters<br />
today,” says Steve Morris, systems architect<br />
at ANT Software. “They wouldn’t do this if<br />
<strong>the</strong>y didn’t think it made commercial sense. It is<br />
yet ano<strong>the</strong>r big sign of <strong>the</strong> commitment that is<br />
being made to HbbTV as a cross-border solution<br />
for interactive services coming from <strong>the</strong> EBU.”<br />
It is also <strong>the</strong> first successful standard to enable<br />
a horizontal market for OTT services and<br />
interactive applications. “O<strong>the</strong>r than with MHP,<br />
richness of content was until now only possible<br />
through proprietary standards, but <strong>the</strong> evolution<br />
of web technologies has provided a significant<br />
platform to build bold and flexible content<br />
services,” notes Hannent.<br />
There are discussions intended to more closely<br />
align HTML5 and OIPF so that content creation<br />
for one platform can be re-used on ano<strong>the</strong>r. The<br />
Nordic specs for Scandinavia include HbbTV for<br />
iTV services, which Morris expects to be an area<br />
of significant future deployments.<br />
Version 1.5 of <strong>the</strong> HbbTV spec, which is<br />
partly a browser-based technology, adds support<br />
for HTTP adaptive streaming based on <strong>the</strong><br />
MPEG DASH standard (which TNT 2.0 is<br />
<strong>the</strong> first platform to deploy) for an improved But HbbTV has to evolve and make sure it<br />
viewing experience.<br />
doesn’t lag behind, warns Ye Wang, director of<br />
This will not only improve <strong>the</strong> quality of product management, DTV, at software firm<br />
<strong>the</strong> content, but will also allow content providers Access. “We must look to HTML-5. Everything in<br />
to protect <strong>the</strong>ir content with DRM technologies, 1.1 and 1.5 is not relevant to HTML-5 based on<br />
notes Peter Hutchins, product marketing<br />
feedback I have heard but it is a key element we<br />
at Espial.<br />
must incorporate.”<br />
It also adds support for improved access to<br />
EPG data from <strong>the</strong> broadcast, enabling<br />
The DRM challenge<br />
broadcasters to produce full seven-day EPGs and There remain fur<strong>the</strong>r challenges, some common<br />
manufacturers to build EPGs using HTML for to any system built on a public standard.<br />
deployment across a range of receivers.<br />
“Harmonising different approaches and different<br />
Above and below: HbbTV-based hybrid services in France and Germany<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 15
HbbTV<br />
“HbbTV is <strong>the</strong> first<br />
successful standard<br />
to enable a horizontal<br />
market for OTT services<br />
and interactive<br />
applications.”<br />
speeds of adoption by different countries<br />
is tricky but we can be confident that we<br />
will find a way,” says Wang.<br />
Although v1.5 offers an interoperable approach<br />
to DRM, this is practically, and politically,<br />
difficult to standardise on, “requiring at least two<br />
vendors to be selected – that is if any at all can be<br />
agreed upon at all,” notes Humax’s Hannent,<br />
“The UK’s DTG in <strong>the</strong> UK has standardised<br />
on an OIPF/HbbTV variant, but has currently<br />
been unable to make <strong>the</strong> leap towards fixing a<br />
content protection mechanism,” says Hannent.<br />
The French appear to have agreed on Microsoft<br />
PlayReady and Marlin, and <strong>the</strong> Germans are<br />
letting <strong>the</strong> market decide on a de-facto from<br />
content providers.”<br />
Support of multiple DRM with a common<br />
encryption will allow service providers to provide<br />
secure streaming to HbbTV 1.5 sets, and is a<br />
major step in making CTVs useful devices for pay-<br />
TV services and VoD.<br />
However, warns Jean-Marc Racine, managing<br />
partner, Farncombe, retail devices are not pay-TV<br />
devices, and <strong>the</strong> control and maintenance of <strong>the</strong><br />
security of <strong>the</strong> device will be a challenge. “The<br />
industry has to take it into account and integrate<br />
it in its operating mode. This is not yet <strong>the</strong> case,<br />
and HbbTV and <strong>the</strong> device manufacturers<br />
integrating it with DRMs or Ultraviolet are facing<br />
similar challenges that will need to be addressed,”<br />
he says.<br />
Potter at Digital TV Labs agrees: “Unlike a<br />
closed, vertical operator environment where<br />
application interoperability is guaranteed by<br />
intensive testing of a one or two proprietary STB<br />
implementations, HbbTV applications will be<br />
running on hundreds of<br />
different digital TV devices<br />
that are uncontrolled by<br />
<strong>the</strong> operator or content<br />
provider.<br />
“In <strong>the</strong> UK this problem<br />
was partially solved by a<br />
good industry test suite via<br />
<strong>the</strong> DTG and a strict<br />
conformance regime tied to<br />
<strong>the</strong> Freeview Logo, yet<br />
writing MHEG<br />
applications still required<br />
lots of interoperability<br />
testing,” says Potter.<br />
Conformance test issues<br />
HbbTV is planning an ‘honesty box’ conformance<br />
system, where manufacturers self-certify <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
compliance to <strong>the</strong> standard. “Many operators<br />
completely underestimate <strong>the</strong> interoperability<br />
problems <strong>the</strong>y will encounter unless <strong>the</strong>y<br />
implement some type of manufacturer<br />
conformance enforcement, through a logo, white<br />
list or controlled certificate-based au<strong>the</strong>ntication<br />
system,” advises Potter.<br />
As HbbTV services begin to take off and<br />
become increasingly more sophisticated, <strong>the</strong> need<br />
to closely monitor <strong>the</strong> performance of <strong>the</strong><br />
network in order to improve customer services<br />
and reduce churn will become more important.<br />
“Consumers may not be able to take full<br />
advantage of <strong>the</strong> service due to compatibility<br />
issues with <strong>the</strong>ir existing hardware and software,<br />
requiring <strong>the</strong>m to upgrade <strong>the</strong>ir current set up,”<br />
says Jean Schmitt a Director at JDSU. “HbbTV<br />
does, after all, require an HD terminal device and<br />
broadband connectivity, which may involve<br />
additional costs.”<br />
Getting <strong>the</strong> TV or set-top box connected to <strong>the</strong><br />
internet is ano<strong>the</strong>r challenge. Until wireless<br />
networking and o<strong>the</strong>r alternatives to E<strong>the</strong>rnet<br />
such as powerline networking becomes <strong>the</strong> norm<br />
in smart TVs and set-top boxes, connection rates<br />
will remain low.<br />
“The industry can’t expect users to run<br />
E<strong>the</strong>rnet cables around <strong>the</strong>ir homes just to<br />
connect <strong>the</strong>ir TV,” says Morris.<br />
Work must also be done to build applications<br />
and portals for connected TV which are simple<br />
to use for <strong>the</strong> consumer. New features like<br />
<strong>the</strong> Red Button which allows <strong>the</strong> start of an<br />
OTT application directly out of a linear<br />
streamed TV broadcast channel, combined with<br />
DRM and streaming protocols, will enable<br />
premium content services and support<br />
multi-device usage.<br />
“HbbTV can potentially offer <strong>the</strong> best of both<br />
worlds through both ‘red button’ applications and<br />
through manufacturer portals,” says Morris.<br />
“Application developers and manufacturers will<br />
need to focus on <strong>the</strong> quality of <strong>the</strong>ir apps, ra<strong>the</strong>r<br />
than <strong>the</strong> quantity – offering a huge number of<br />
apps in a TV portal can confuse <strong>the</strong> user ra<strong>the</strong>r<br />
than helping <strong>the</strong>m.”<br />
According to Smartclips’ Chandrapal, one<br />
<strong>the</strong>ory is that populating TV screens with<br />
suppliers’ apps will put customers off because it<br />
complicates <strong>the</strong> viewing process. “However, we<br />
see through fast growing traffic numbers that<br />
consumers are attracted by apps, extending <strong>the</strong><br />
consumption of linear broadcast through<br />
interactive music channels, casual games, catch-up<br />
TV offerings or VoD stores.”<br />
New features going forward<br />
Long term, Farncombe’s Racine expects<br />
connected TVs and OTT services to capture a<br />
significant part of <strong>the</strong> viewing habits of European<br />
consumers. “Connected devices are a fantastic<br />
opportunity for established player to diversify<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir services and attract new audience, it is also a<br />
threat as it opens <strong>the</strong> door to competitors, and<br />
certainly creating a clear strategy on how to<br />
address <strong>the</strong>m is more important than ever.”<br />
Future features and standardisation of HbbTV<br />
includes <strong>the</strong> development of open APIs that go<br />
beyond next HbbTV releases, cloud assisted<br />
services, and even face recognition and gesture<br />
control, reports Schmitt.<br />
“With strong existing alternatives including<br />
IPTV, cable and YouTube (still <strong>the</strong> leading<br />
provider of online video), broadcasters need to<br />
determine what extra value employing <strong>the</strong><br />
additional interactivity that HbbTV services<br />
provide will add for consumers and, indeed,<br />
whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>re’s currently sufficient market<br />
demand to make it economically viable to invest<br />
in,” argues Schmitt.<br />
The technology may also go global. HbbTV has<br />
also caught interest in <strong>the</strong> US, Japan, Australia,<br />
China (which is conducting trials) and Malaysia,<br />
where <strong>the</strong> imminent terrestrial DVB-T2 roll-out<br />
has specified HbbTV.<br />
16 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
<strong>Olympic</strong>s special<br />
London <strong>2012</strong><br />
Going for gold<br />
Touted as <strong>the</strong> first Digital <strong>Olympic</strong>s, Adrian Pennington<br />
reports on <strong>the</strong> multi-screen, online streaming and interactive<br />
initiatives due to take place during <strong>the</strong> <strong>2012</strong> <strong>Games</strong><br />
Records always tumble<br />
around an <strong>Olympic</strong> <strong>Games</strong><br />
and <strong>the</strong> broadcast of it is<br />
no exception. Host<br />
Broadcaster <strong>Olympic</strong><br />
<strong>Broadcasting</strong> Services<br />
(OBS) has a mandate to<br />
deliver more and more coverage at <strong>the</strong> best possible<br />
quality and to be seen to pioneer new technology<br />
to do so. This year, of course, is touted as <strong>the</strong><br />
‘Digital <strong>Olympic</strong>s’, which more specifically<br />
signifies that <strong>2012</strong> will see a tipping point in <strong>the</strong><br />
balance of viewing between linear TV and online<br />
interactive services.<br />
The dominant viewing media of course remains<br />
TV with a total global TV audience expected of<br />
five billion, but in mature markets streaming<br />
media will play a major role in keeping audiences<br />
up to date with almost every aspect of every sport<br />
- live.<br />
“The London <strong>Olympic</strong>s are expected to fuel<br />
broadcasters and service providers worldwide to<br />
add significant live multi-screen and time-shifted<br />
viewing capacity,” says ABI Research senior<br />
analyst Sam Rosen. “Broadcasters are preparing<br />
IP video for laptops, tablets and smartphones to<br />
support viewing of live events while at work, as<br />
well as augmenting <strong>the</strong>ir VoD capabilities to<br />
provide audiences with control of which sports to<br />
watch at home. Many will experiment with new<br />
video distribution to customers including through<br />
Facebook, HTML5 websites optimised for<br />
multiple screens, dedicated iPad or Android apps,<br />
and apps for connected TV products.”<br />
Leading <strong>the</strong> charge is host broadcaster <strong>the</strong><br />
BBC, which will have up to 24 simultaneous live<br />
streams running across its digital platforms. At<br />
Beijing, it had eight. It wants to make its 2,500<br />
hours of coverage (more than double that of any<br />
previous <strong>Games</strong>) available across desktop<br />
browser, mobile, connected TV and tablets.<br />
Online this includes ‘dynamic semantic<br />
publishing’ - a page for all 302 medal events, a<br />
page for all 240 countries and a page for every<br />
athlete (up to 12,000 of<br />
<strong>the</strong>m).<br />
The 24 HD streams will be<br />
available via BBC Sport’s<br />
website, <strong>the</strong> BBC Red Button<br />
service and corresponding<br />
EPG channels and also for cable and satellite<br />
providers. These services are being built by <strong>the</strong><br />
platform operators <strong>the</strong>mselves in line with BBC<br />
product, technical and user experience (UX)<br />
designs.<br />
“While it is significantly more complex to<br />
design and deliver standard services for connected<br />
TV, we are working hard to make sure our<br />
audiences have as much choice and access as<br />
possible on all platforms, alongside our core<br />
digital offer on <strong>the</strong> BBC Sport website,” says Phil<br />
Fearnley, general manager of news and knowledge<br />
at BBC Future Media. “Over time <strong>the</strong> lines will<br />
blur between IP and broadcast channels, and<br />
between platform boundaries.”<br />
“As <strong>the</strong> digital rights holder for <strong>the</strong> games, <strong>the</strong><br />
BBC has a responsibility to exploit <strong>the</strong> games and<br />
our rights across all screens,” he adds. “The<br />
London <strong>Olympic</strong>s will provide <strong>the</strong> perfect<br />
backdrop for an explosion in take-up of digital<br />
services and in <strong>the</strong> process see digital<br />
18 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
<strong>Olympic</strong>s special<br />
consumption go mainstream.”<br />
The multimedia galleries in BBC Sports’ brand<br />
new production facility in Salford can handle 18<br />
streams and up to ten red button outputs<br />
simultaneously.”<br />
“The big future change is <strong>the</strong> move from red<br />
button to IPTV, which <strong>2012</strong> will definitely boost<br />
with multiple launches on IP platforms - but<br />
fundamentally IP is ano<strong>the</strong>r output,” says BBC<br />
Sport’s technical executive, Charlie Cope. “What<br />
matters is our ability to deliver in HD from here<br />
(MediaCity) which we could not do from TV<br />
Centre.”<br />
OBS<br />
OBS will produce 600 more hours than for<br />
Beijing, totalling 5,600, all in HD and stored on<br />
EVS XStoreSAN media servers. The material will<br />
be available throughout <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong>; in Beijing,<br />
material had to be deleted every three days. Audio<br />
will be produced in 5.1 with all channels<br />
embedded in <strong>the</strong> HD stream.<br />
A Broadcast Data Feed will contain a<br />
comprehensive set of competitor information,<br />
logging data, transmission information and event<br />
results and scores to help broadcasters trigger<br />
graphics, prepare schedules, and distribute<br />
information to websites or o<strong>the</strong>r applications.<br />
The broadcast compound which houses <strong>the</strong><br />
Technical Operations Centre (TOC) serves as <strong>the</strong><br />
transmission hub of <strong>the</strong> venue. All TV and radio<br />
signals (multilateral and unilateral) will pass<br />
through <strong>the</strong> International Broadcast Centre<br />
facilities under <strong>the</strong> direction of OBS.<br />
Signals related to <strong>the</strong> multilateral transmission<br />
and <strong>the</strong> unilateral coverage are transported from<br />
<strong>the</strong> TOC to <strong>the</strong> IBC via a contribution network of<br />
fibre optic, radio frequency (RF), microwave and<br />
satellite transmission facilities. The circuits of <strong>the</strong><br />
contribution network are received at <strong>the</strong><br />
Contribution Centre in <strong>the</strong> IBC and controlled,<br />
processed and distributed by <strong>the</strong> Distribution<br />
Centre.<br />
Here <strong>the</strong> signals are synchronised and<br />
processed to provide both SD-SDI and HD-SDI<br />
video signals. Audio signals will be delayed as<br />
required to match <strong>the</strong> video and embed <strong>the</strong> audio<br />
into <strong>the</strong> SDI stream for rights holders requesting<br />
digital distribution.<br />
For new media operations OBS will provide<br />
international signals from all of <strong>the</strong> venues in<br />
different compressions (16-20 Mbps, 6-10 Mbps,<br />
1.5- 2.5 Mbps, 2500-500 Kbps).<br />
“One of <strong>the</strong> big changes is <strong>the</strong> introduction of<br />
tablet devices into <strong>the</strong> market, almost all sales of<br />
which have occurred since Vancouver,” notes<br />
Mark Hyland, QuickPlay’s general manager,<br />
EMEA. He expects <strong>the</strong> penetration of tablets,<br />
plus <strong>the</strong> critical availability of higher resolution<br />
content, to result in new records being set for <strong>the</strong><br />
volume of consumption on portable devices.<br />
CTV<br />
QuickPlay is a technology partner of Canada’s<br />
Bell Media (and its subsidiary CTV) which with<br />
Rogers Media formed a consortium to win <strong>the</strong><br />
rights to London <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
“We are building on what we achieved at<br />
Vancouver, which in itself was built on learning<br />
from NBC’s digital delivery of <strong>the</strong> 2008 <strong>Games</strong>,”<br />
says Mark Silver, senior digital director. “For<br />
Vancouver we ingested, edited and encoded clips<br />
into a MAM in a traditional broadcast manner.<br />
For London <strong>the</strong> intention is to create <strong>the</strong> same<br />
content but not rely on broadcast systems for<br />
anything o<strong>the</strong>r than creating <strong>the</strong> live TV product.<br />
We will produce rough cuts from <strong>the</strong> digitally<br />
The London<br />
<strong>Olympic</strong>s will see<br />
digital consumption<br />
go mainstream Over<br />
time <strong>the</strong> lines will<br />
blur between IP and<br />
broadcast channels,<br />
and between platform<br />
boundaries.” – BBC<br />
encoded stream for 100% of our on-demand video<br />
content and make those clips available across<br />
devices without touching <strong>the</strong> broadcast<br />
environment.”<br />
“We need to produce digital-like TV, which<br />
means ensuring that <strong>the</strong> TV pictures have a digital<br />
story running in parallel to it,” says Silver. “We<br />
are trying to keep users engaged in content<br />
regardless of <strong>the</strong> platform it is viewed on so that<br />
<strong>the</strong> two media complement each o<strong>the</strong>r.”<br />
The consortium is also keen to make<br />
complementary and contextual use of social<br />
media so that whe<strong>the</strong>r audiences are watching on<br />
TV, PC or mobile a story is told in a way that<br />
compels <strong>the</strong>m to use o<strong>the</strong>r digital media – TV, PC<br />
or mobile – to find out more.<br />
“One of <strong>the</strong> areas were we continue to struggle<br />
is scalability,” he adds. “While OBS provides a<br />
great deal to rights holders, <strong>the</strong> onus is still on us<br />
for video streaming, for example, so picking a<br />
partner which allows you to scale without<br />
significant capital expenditure is important.”<br />
Remote production by fibre<br />
High profile live event productions require <strong>the</strong><br />
ability for uncompressed video links during <strong>the</strong><br />
production lifecycle. Net Insight says it has<br />
received orders from several media service<br />
providers to deliver its Nimbra multi-service core<br />
switching (MSR) platform to handle video<br />
transport between major broadcasters and <strong>the</strong><br />
TV/media centre.<br />
As a specific example, <strong>the</strong> Nimbra MSR<br />
platform will be used by Swedish telco<br />
TeliaSonera International Carrier to deliver<br />
remote production of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong> for clients over<br />
its fibre-based media network. TeliaSonera is<br />
providing broadcasters from Scandinavia, Japan,<br />
Korea and Brazil access to eight TV studios<br />
located at <strong>the</strong> edge of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Olympic</strong> site to create<br />
content for <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>Olympic</strong> coverage.<br />
From <strong>the</strong> studio facilities, broadcasters will be<br />
able to take live studio feeds, routed over<br />
TeliaSonera’s network, across borders to a<br />
centralised location within <strong>the</strong> broadcaster’s<br />
headquarters.<br />
“This saves money and time in terms of not<br />
having to send an OB truck and OB production<br />
team out on-site,” says <strong>the</strong> telco’s UK MD Dan<br />
Pope. “Studio personnel can access content<br />
anywhere, on an as-needed basis, enabling <strong>the</strong><br />
studio crew to remotely control, produce and edit<br />
media content seamlessly over a virtual studio<br />
network.”<br />
The solution is able to provide a real-time, low<br />
latency network technology that enables<br />
centralised production and remote workflows with<br />
<strong>the</strong> same quality as if <strong>the</strong>y were on site.<br />
“People have done this on metro area fibre, but<br />
this will be <strong>the</strong> largest distance anyone has done<br />
long haul. When you look at this concept in detail<br />
we are providing an exact replica of what would<br />
normally be done in an OB truck. Graphics and<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r parts of <strong>the</strong> process have typically been<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 19
<strong>Olympic</strong>s special<br />
added remotely but <strong>the</strong> difference here is that<br />
literally every single function in a truck can and<br />
has been moved to wherever you want it. You can<br />
only do so on a fibre-based network and<br />
compressing using JPEG-2000 (not MPEG4).<br />
Even though a 4-camera production does use up a<br />
bit more bandwidth, JPEG-2000 is incredibly<br />
suitable for this sort of application because of its<br />
low latency and minimal delays.”<br />
The latency between London and Stockholm<br />
over fibre, argues Hope is “<strong>the</strong> odd millisecond.<br />
London to New York around 70ms and fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
afield 300-350ms. By contrast, satellite would<br />
be longer.”<br />
NBC’s multi-screen delivery<br />
NBC will deliver its most extensive <strong>Olympic</strong>s<br />
coverage to viewers this Summer, with all events<br />
streamed in real time on at least one NBC<br />
platform (broadcast, cable, or digital). Live<br />
streams will be available across NBC’s mobile<br />
platforms, offering 360-degree coverage. Helping<br />
<strong>the</strong> broadcaster achieve this are a clutch of<br />
Harmonic storage and transcoding products.<br />
Harmonic is providing Omneon MediaGrid<br />
shared storage systems and ProMedia Carbon<br />
enterprise transcoding software to NBC<br />
<strong>Olympic</strong>s, a division of <strong>the</strong> NBC Sports Group,<br />
during its coverage of <strong>the</strong> <strong>2012</strong> London <strong>Olympic</strong>s.<br />
The media storage and transcoding systems will<br />
enable NBC <strong>Olympic</strong>s to quickly create content<br />
for NBC<strong>Olympic</strong>s.com, mobile devices, and IPTV<br />
and VOD services.<br />
To ensure a fast turnaround for on-demand<br />
content, NBC <strong>Olympic</strong>s will use a ProMedia<br />
Carbon transcoding farm to generate <strong>the</strong> highquality<br />
multiformat video delivered on-demand to<br />
TVs, PCs, and mobile devices.<br />
MediaGrid storage systems will operate with<br />
Avid edit and media management platforms to<br />
facilitate a file-based highlights production<br />
workflow in which multiple editors can instantly<br />
access content.<br />
Incoming HD content from various venues will<br />
be recorded on Sony XDcam XDS-PD1000<br />
systems and transferred along with a low-res proxy<br />
to a 288-TB MediaGrid at <strong>the</strong> International<br />
Broadcast Centre. Simultaneously, those fullresolution<br />
recordings will be replicated and<br />
transferred by Harmonic’s ProCast IP<br />
acceleration solution over a 10G circuit to a 432-<br />
TB MediaGrid system at NBC’s ‘30 Rock’ facility<br />
in New York City. In both London and New York,<br />
ProMedia Carbon will perform transcoding of<br />
content on <strong>the</strong> MediaGrid systems.<br />
Avid’s Interplay media asset management<br />
system provides access to proxy versions of newly<br />
captured content for shotlist creation, as well as<br />
extensive live logs and stats, scoring, and timing<br />
information embedded as metadata. The resulting<br />
shotlists will be sent out to distribution outlets or<br />
delivered to edit rooms when needed for<br />
broadcast.<br />
In addition to <strong>the</strong> MediaGrid and ProMedia<br />
Carbon systems at <strong>the</strong> IBC and 30 Rock, NBC<br />
<strong>Olympic</strong>s will use 72-TB MediaGrid systems along<br />
with ProMedia Carbon transcoders at <strong>the</strong> three<br />
largest venues – track and field, gymnastics, and<br />
swimming — integrated with EVS XT servers to<br />
offload content over a 1-Gbps connection,<br />
enabling <strong>the</strong> broadcaster to keep event footage<br />
readily available over <strong>the</strong> course of <strong>the</strong><br />
competition.<br />
Ericsson is also providing a range of products<br />
to NBC <strong>Olympic</strong>s including MPEG-4 AVC<br />
encoders, receivers, multiplexers and satellite<br />
modulators as well as a team of support engineers<br />
in both London and New York.<br />
TV is king though<br />
Even though <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong> is a multi-device event,<br />
<strong>the</strong> TV broadcast platform is <strong>the</strong> most important<br />
one for <strong>the</strong> broadcasters, points out Simon<br />
Farnsworth, head of contribution services at<br />
GlobeCast. “This time, you are going to see more<br />
data feeds being delivered, such as live scoring<br />
and results. These data feeds allow broadcasters<br />
to do more with that information back at <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
base - perhaps with enhanced graphics or<br />
interactive platforms for connected devices such<br />
as an iPad app that can show video alongside<br />
scores and o<strong>the</strong>r information,” he says.<br />
Recent research of 2,000 people undertaken by<br />
UK DTT platform Freeview reinforces this idea,<br />
indicating that what consumers want most are<br />
technologies that enhance current television<br />
viewing behaviour and give <strong>the</strong> viewer a more<br />
personalised experience. Catch-up, TV anytime<br />
and an enhanced EPG came top of <strong>the</strong> wish list.<br />
3D viewing and mobile TV, meanwhile, are<br />
considered less appealing but still “nice to have”.<br />
“In <strong>the</strong> melee of <strong>the</strong> television world, it’s often<br />
easy to get caught up in industry hype on <strong>the</strong><br />
latest fad. We must make sure that technology<br />
isn’t running ahead of consumers in terms of<br />
what <strong>the</strong>y actually want,” warns Freeview MD Ilse<br />
Howling.<br />
Once all is said and done, it will be interesting<br />
to see what proportion of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong> is viewed<br />
across each device type, platform, live and<br />
on-demand, once <strong>the</strong>se figures are released after<br />
<strong>the</strong> event. Only <strong>the</strong>n can claims of a first truly<br />
Digital <strong>Olympic</strong>s be judged.<br />
3D <strong>Olympic</strong>s<br />
While it has polarised opinion, 3D<br />
technology should enhance <strong>the</strong> overall<br />
experience and lends itself well to certain<br />
<strong>Olympic</strong> sports.<br />
To this end, <strong>the</strong> BBC has said it will<br />
broadcast some events in 3D during this<br />
year’s London <strong>Olympic</strong> <strong>Games</strong> as part of its<br />
trials of <strong>the</strong> technology. The trial coverage<br />
will be broadcast via <strong>the</strong> BBC’s HD channel<br />
and will include <strong>the</strong> Opening Ceremony, <strong>the</strong><br />
Closing Ceremony and The Men’s 100m<br />
final, as well as a highlights package at <strong>the</strong><br />
end of each day.<br />
Eurosport will broadcast more than 100<br />
hours of 3D programming over <strong>the</strong> course of<br />
<strong>the</strong> event, with payTV broadcasters Sky and<br />
Virgin gaining from <strong>the</strong> content.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> US, Panasonic and NBC will<br />
partner to make <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong> available in 3D<br />
to all US distributors who carry <strong>Olympic</strong><br />
coverage on cable, satellite and telco, <strong>the</strong><br />
first time that <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong> will be distributed<br />
in <strong>the</strong> US in 3D. The 3D broadcasts, which<br />
will be produced by OBS and shown on nextday<br />
delay, will span multiple competitions<br />
throughout <strong>the</strong> <strong>Games</strong>, including <strong>the</strong><br />
opening and closing ceremonies, gymnastics,<br />
diving and swimming.<br />
20 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Opinion<br />
It’s in <strong>the</strong> blend<br />
Content discovery needs art not just algorithms,<br />
argues Andy Bryant<br />
Is it just me or does working in TV <strong>the</strong>se<br />
days require mastery of an ever-increasing<br />
barrage of new technical concepts?<br />
Content discovery is emerging as one of<br />
<strong>the</strong> major <strong>the</strong>mes in our industry and<br />
within a couple of minutes of exploring it<br />
on Google my screen was swamped with<br />
terms like flexible API, TV-centric app,<br />
recommender system tools, collaborative filtering<br />
and search algorithms.<br />
I turned to good old Wikipedia for clarity: “As<br />
operators compete to be <strong>the</strong> gateway to home<br />
entertainment, personalised television is a key<br />
service differentiator”. That sums it up nicely,<br />
along with <strong>the</strong> neat observation from C21’s<br />
Jonathan Webdale after <strong>the</strong> recent CES show in<br />
Vegas that “if <strong>the</strong>re was one thing that stood out…<br />
it was <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> internet and television are<br />
becoming one”.<br />
As <strong>the</strong> content discovery gold rush intensifies<br />
(and, to declare an interest, Red Bee Media has<br />
just launched its own set of services in this space<br />
under <strong>the</strong> RedDiscover banner), I believe <strong>the</strong> key<br />
question is this: to what extent will <strong>the</strong> consumer<br />
experience be shaped by an artful blend of<br />
innovative technologists and brilliant designers?<br />
In a session recently with media researchers<br />
Decipher, <strong>the</strong>ir MD Nigel Walley made <strong>the</strong> point<br />
that a few years ago UK broadcasters and<br />
platforms tended to abdicate responsibility for<br />
innovation in this area to “future media” or VoD<br />
teams, with <strong>the</strong> “artists” responsible for creativity<br />
and brands getting a bit detached. As we rapidly<br />
reach <strong>the</strong> point at which all producers,<br />
broadcasters, platforms and device manufacturers<br />
need <strong>the</strong>ir own strategies and solutions to help<br />
viewers search, get recommendations and find<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir content, <strong>the</strong> balance needs to be redressed.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> words of Google’s executive chairman, Eric<br />
Schmidt, in Edinburgh, we “need to bring art and<br />
science back toge<strong>the</strong>r”.<br />
I believe that <strong>the</strong> winners in content discovery<br />
will not just be those with <strong>the</strong> whizziest<br />
algorithms but those who recognise <strong>the</strong><br />
importance of what Jane Cunningham and<br />
Phillippa Roberts call ‘The Aes<strong>the</strong>tic Code’. Their<br />
book Inside Her Pretty Little Head explores <strong>the</strong><br />
differences between men and women when it<br />
comes to decision making. Writing about female<br />
motivation and what it means for marketing<br />
(which is, perhaps, a helpful antidote to <strong>the</strong><br />
traditionally male-dominated world of<br />
technology), <strong>the</strong>y say: “The aes<strong>the</strong>tics of<br />
something have a profound appeal that goes way<br />
beyond <strong>the</strong> systematic and <strong>the</strong> conscious”.<br />
Services that inspire<br />
The market is in its infancy but, for inspiration,<br />
iPad users can already turn to Fanhattan<br />
(fanhattan.com), a “digital entertainment<br />
discovery service”. Its elegant user experience<br />
(UX) design helps you delve deeper and deeper<br />
into multiple layers of content in a really fluid and<br />
intuitive way. Even <strong>the</strong> most casual browsing can<br />
take you seamlessly from episode details of a<br />
show to a simple array of viewing options,<br />
Metacritic reviews, social media feeds, cast bios<br />
and o<strong>the</strong>r relevant material, without ever making<br />
you feel lost. It is a wonderfully immersive<br />
experience that makes it easy to discover new<br />
content and new contexts. Ano<strong>the</strong>r inspiring iPad<br />
app is yap.TV, which enables you to log in via<br />
Facebook and interact with your friends and<br />
fellow fans via a visually rich EPG.<br />
At Red Bee Media we’re seeing an increasing<br />
number of advertisers learning from media brands<br />
and creating <strong>the</strong>ir own content portals with<br />
innovative UX design. A good example is<br />
Mercedes-Benz.tv, which successfully employs a<br />
“timeline” interactive pattern that allows users to<br />
browse though a surprisingly large library of video<br />
content via fluid scrolling or navigation buttons<br />
(eg, Style, Motorsport or TV ads) to jump to key<br />
points/areas within <strong>the</strong> timeline. Users also have<br />
<strong>the</strong> ability to re-organise <strong>the</strong> content along <strong>the</strong><br />
timeline or filter it for greater personal relevance.<br />
Staying with <strong>the</strong> iPad, we can also draw<br />
inspiration from <strong>the</strong> ways in which magazine apps<br />
like Wired, GQ and Flipboard have been<br />
executed, allowing something that feels quite<br />
familiar to be extended with additional interactive<br />
functionality, through personalised filtering of<br />
content or mixing more functional elements (such<br />
as an EPG) with editorial content. iPad<br />
magazines also offer <strong>the</strong> ability to zoom out and<br />
get an overview of <strong>the</strong> whole magazine, <strong>the</strong>n jump<br />
back in at a different level. This shows evidence of<br />
designers thinking hard about human interaction<br />
and behaviour patterns ra<strong>the</strong>r than adding<br />
increasingly complex functionality simply because<br />
technology enables it.<br />
Returning to Wikipedia’s description of<br />
Content Discovery, <strong>the</strong> “key service differentiator”<br />
will not just be <strong>the</strong> technically ingenious<br />
personalisation underpinning <strong>the</strong> new gateways to<br />
entertainment but <strong>the</strong> brand understanding,<br />
creativity and design artistry applied to <strong>the</strong> user<br />
experience.<br />
Andy Bryant is director of creative at Red<br />
Bee Media<br />
www.csimagazine.com January-February <strong>2012</strong> 21
Executive interview<br />
Supporting multiple screens<br />
Verizon’s executive director of access technologies, Brian<br />
Whitton, tells Goran Nastic of <strong>the</strong> customer experience and<br />
support challenge <strong>the</strong> operator faces with connected TVs<br />
GN: Tell me a little<br />
about your multiscreen<br />
strategy.<br />
BW: Our platform<br />
for payTV is FiOS.<br />
Over that we offer<br />
managed broadcast<br />
linear and live TV,<br />
as well as managed<br />
VoD. We also offer<br />
an app called FlexView which allows you to get<br />
on-demand OTT content delivered to multiple<br />
screens, TV, PC, tablets and smartphones. It also<br />
enables users to start watching video on one<br />
device and continue on ano<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
As a starting point, 26 of our linear TV<br />
programmes are also delivered over our CDN so<br />
subscribers can watch on devices like <strong>the</strong> Xbox, as<br />
a connected app (Ed: Verizon uses Velocix CDN<br />
equipment). The 26 channels were launched in<br />
December 2011, and <strong>the</strong> number will grow.<br />
This multi-screen approach aims to ensure that<br />
FiOS subs don’t churn but also acts as a potential<br />
opportunity to be a sales lead for penetrating<br />
additional subscribers and market share.<br />
GN: What do you see as <strong>the</strong> main<br />
challenge or barrier to Verizon’s –<br />
and o<strong>the</strong>r operators’ – presence on<br />
connected TVs?<br />
BW: It’s about managing <strong>the</strong> experience to <strong>the</strong><br />
end-user. So now if <strong>the</strong> set-top box were to go<br />
away physically and be replaced by some software<br />
that’s in TV, now we have to make sure that <strong>the</strong><br />
same level of rigor is carried forward on certifying<br />
and testing and qualifying that software in <strong>the</strong> TV<br />
so that it behaves in functionality like a set-top.<br />
Because if it doesn’t, if <strong>the</strong> customer is having<br />
issues, say bugs, <strong>the</strong> TV resets, or <strong>the</strong>re is a loss of<br />
video quality, who are <strong>the</strong>y going to call? They<br />
will call <strong>the</strong> operator, someone like Verizon; we’ll<br />
get that phone call. The effect of that is to drive<br />
cost back into our business. So just because I see<br />
a nice slide that says <strong>the</strong> STB is going away, it<br />
may not necessarily be a case of seeing savings.<br />
You really have to be guarded. Verizon is a<br />
large company, with thousands of technicians; we<br />
have to train <strong>the</strong>m to support, maintain and<br />
debug STBs, but at least we only have five or six<br />
models to worry about. If all of a sudden all that<br />
software goes into a TV, <strong>the</strong> technicians have to<br />
be trained to support all those TVs - that’s hundreds<br />
– so obviously our operating expenses could<br />
increase if we have to become experts from a customer<br />
care perspective on all <strong>the</strong>se TVs.<br />
GN: So you think service providers will<br />
invariably bear <strong>the</strong> brunt of such support<br />
issues, ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> CE makers?<br />
BW: That could be an outcome and if that were<br />
to be <strong>the</strong> case it would undermine <strong>the</strong> rate of<br />
adoption in displacement of set-tops for software<br />
–based clients in TVs. So for this emerging<br />
model, for market opportunity to really take off, it<br />
will be important for TV/CE manufactures to<br />
understand and adopt <strong>the</strong> approach of hardening<br />
and making resilient <strong>the</strong>ir TV and <strong>the</strong> functionality<br />
that represents <strong>the</strong> set-top so that we have same<br />
level of reliability and our customers get <strong>the</strong> same<br />
experience. If that doesn’t happen <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> cost<br />
structure becomes in doubt, <strong>the</strong> customer experience<br />
becomes questionable and that would potentially<br />
thwart <strong>the</strong> growth of <strong>the</strong> market.<br />
GN: IMS has forecast that 80% of CTVs<br />
will have integrated WiFi by 2016. Do you<br />
think this will get people to connect <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
sets more or is <strong>the</strong>re a wider issue here?<br />
BW: It could stimulate usage, but I also think<br />
it’s a potential risk. When our customers are purchasing<br />
payTV quality <strong>the</strong>y expect high quality<br />
and a seamless experience. WiFi is an unlicensed<br />
frequency and this is where technologies like<br />
MoCA help out. You could <strong>the</strong>n use coax to deliver<br />
<strong>the</strong> OTT service without <strong>the</strong> fear of service<br />
impairment, I don’t know of any CTVs that have<br />
integrated MoCA but know that those discussions<br />
are ongoing between <strong>the</strong> CTV and chip makers.<br />
GN: PayTV cord cutting:<br />
are you a believer?<br />
BW: No I’m not. I think<br />
cord cutting got a considerable<br />
amount of notoriety or<br />
visibility in <strong>the</strong> press. It was<br />
distorted because of <strong>the</strong><br />
marketplace conditions, <strong>the</strong> economy was in a<br />
poor situation. Cord cutters, especially those at<br />
university, are easy to spot as potential adopters<br />
of only OTT viewing. However, <strong>the</strong>y are using<br />
tablets, PCs, laptops and such personalised<br />
devices, but as <strong>the</strong>y graduate and start families,<br />
<strong>the</strong> idea of <strong>the</strong>m sitting in <strong>the</strong>ir living room<br />
continuing <strong>the</strong> same lifestyle is unlikely. I think<br />
ultimately we will see today’s so-called cord<br />
cutters are just tomorrow’s MSO/MVPD<br />
consumer, so I don’t see this as an issue.<br />
GN: Do you potentially see payTV<br />
providers going more towards a la carte<br />
offerings, ei<strong>the</strong>r to counter <strong>the</strong> potential<br />
OTT threat or for o<strong>the</strong>r reasons?<br />
BW: A lot of what’s happening with OTT is<br />
stimulated not so much by technology adoption;<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r its catalyst is tied back to <strong>the</strong> cost of <strong>the</strong><br />
bundled payTV services. And as that cost<br />
continues to get more expensive, growing<br />
considerably faster than inflation, I think <strong>the</strong><br />
conditions could be <strong>the</strong>re for a la carte to<br />
emerge as a possible outcome. This is my own<br />
personal view although our CEO did recently<br />
make references to <strong>the</strong> potential of such a la<br />
carte offerings.<br />
22 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
<strong>2012</strong><br />
AWARDS<br />
10th ANNIVERSARY<br />
The winners will be announced at<br />
IBC, on Friday 7 September <strong>2012</strong><br />
Enter now<br />
Deadline for Entries: May 28 <strong>2012</strong><br />
www.csimagazine.com/awards<br />
For awards enquiries contact:<br />
emilia.alvarez@csimagazine.com<br />
+44 (0)207 562 2439
Advertising<br />
Who needs ad insertion?<br />
Cable companies are looking to targeted advertising for<br />
multi-screen monetisation, with tablets being <strong>the</strong> sweet<br />
spot, discovers Philip Hunter<br />
Targeting and personalisation<br />
are going to be critical for<br />
success in <strong>the</strong> multi-screen<br />
era where content is<br />
increasingly both time and<br />
place shifted. So far <strong>the</strong><br />
emphasis for multi-screen,<br />
and to an extent catch-up TV as well, has been on<br />
combating churn and holding up ARPU, and<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore halting revenue decline ra<strong>the</strong>r than<br />
opening new sources of it. But as <strong>the</strong> volume of<br />
viewing on alternative screens grows, so will<br />
opportunities for new revenues that operators<br />
cannot afford to miss.<br />
Targeting will be crucial for all <strong>the</strong> new revenue<br />
opportunities, both for upselling content and<br />
delivering adverts that are much more relevant for<br />
<strong>the</strong> viewer. Both require <strong>the</strong> same infrastructure<br />
even if <strong>the</strong> business rules are slightly different,<br />
capable of selecting adverts or promotions<br />
according both to <strong>the</strong> context of <strong>the</strong> surrounding<br />
content and <strong>the</strong> identity of <strong>the</strong> viewer. This<br />
applies equally whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> operator is promoting<br />
its own services, or inserting an advert for a<br />
third party.<br />
There are several challenges to overcome on<br />
<strong>the</strong> way. These are not principally technical since<br />
most of <strong>the</strong> underlying standards and mechanisms<br />
are now more or less complete, but relate to <strong>the</strong><br />
business model and <strong>the</strong> rate of growth in viewing<br />
on alternative platforms.<br />
“This is not so much a technological hurdle as<br />
a business hurdle,” agrees Jeff Brooks, VP of<br />
business development at Arris, whose Skyvision<br />
Ad Manager platform is being enhanced to<br />
support advanced advertising. “The main hurdle<br />
exists in aggregating <strong>the</strong> fragmented nature of this<br />
type of delivery, so that those purchasing <strong>the</strong><br />
advertisements experience <strong>the</strong> same measure of<br />
simplicity, reach, and monetisation as today’s<br />
linear insertions”.<br />
But <strong>2012</strong> could be <strong>the</strong> year multi-screen<br />
advertising comes of age as operators approach<br />
<strong>the</strong> required critical mass of viewers. “An operator<br />
needs to have a sufficient volume of viewers for a<br />
multi-screen service before it gets interesting from<br />
an advertising perspective,” says Gidi Gilboa,<br />
senior product marketing manager for advertising<br />
solutions at NDS (which was incidentally recently<br />
acquired by Cisco primarily for its content<br />
security and multi-screen software capabilities,<br />
including its dynamic addressable advertising<br />
platform). “We’ve now started to see this happen<br />
in some deployments. In this respect, advertising<br />
will become more important<br />
in multi-screen environments<br />
going forward as eyeballs shift<br />
to this new type of viewing.”<br />
Operators need to be prepared for this even if<br />
<strong>the</strong>y are not inserting adverts yet, in order to<br />
avoid losing out on revenue when <strong>the</strong> time comes,<br />
and ensure <strong>the</strong>y do not fall behind competitors in<br />
<strong>the</strong> emerging market for targeted ads. This means<br />
having <strong>the</strong> platform in place, with critical<br />
mechanisms being measurement of ad<br />
engagement, insertion, addressability, and<br />
campaign management. Measurement will be<br />
needed whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> aim is to present specific ads<br />
for single screen viewing with one-to-one targeting,<br />
or just to replicate <strong>the</strong> ads of <strong>the</strong> main broadcast<br />
stream, exploiting multiple screens as alternative<br />
points of access. Ei<strong>the</strong>r way, measurement is<br />
needed to provide <strong>the</strong> evidence of engagement<br />
that will bring in revenues.<br />
Insertion and addressability need to support<br />
different levels of targeting down to households<br />
and devices as well as <strong>the</strong> less fine grained<br />
demographic groups used at present. This goes<br />
hand in hand with campaign management to<br />
exploit addressability, with <strong>the</strong> aim of exploiting<br />
<strong>the</strong> unique advantages of each platform.<br />
“Operators leveraging <strong>the</strong>se technologies will<br />
be best placed to seize <strong>the</strong> benefits of advertising<br />
on multiple screens,” argues Gilboa. But this<br />
raises an important question that will determine<br />
success in multi-screen monetisation, which is<br />
finding <strong>the</strong> right formula for targeting across <strong>the</strong><br />
different screen types and sizes. “The larger <strong>the</strong><br />
screen, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> longer viewers spend consuming<br />
video, so we tend to talk about “snacking” on<br />
mobile, “browsing” on tablets, and “watching” on<br />
TV,” notes Boris Felts, vice president of product<br />
marketing at video encoding specialist Envivio.<br />
“On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, <strong>the</strong> smaller <strong>the</strong> screen <strong>the</strong><br />
more interaction you see.”<br />
The tablet may prove to be <strong>the</strong> sweet spot for<br />
targeted advertising <strong>the</strong>refore, with enough<br />
viewing to present brands and advertisers with an<br />
enticing target audience, but also with ample<br />
scope for targeting and interactivity. “The tablet<br />
sits at an interesting crossover point between<br />
24 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Advertising<br />
Consumer willingness to share personal information<br />
Q. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with <strong>the</strong> following statements<br />
Among Total Consumers Summary of Agree<br />
Strongly/Somewhat<br />
I would be willing to provide more personal<br />
information online if that meant I could receive<br />
advertising more targeted to my needs and interests<br />
I am comfortable with having my web browsing<br />
activity tracked so that I could receive advertising<br />
more targeted to my needs and interests<br />
Source: Deloitte Media Democracy Survey, 2010<br />
US<br />
%<br />
“video consumption” and “interaction” and<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore it should be <strong>the</strong> prime candidate for<br />
one-to-one targeted ads,” says Felts.<br />
“It’s also important to remember that most<br />
applications on tablets use a log-in or o<strong>the</strong>r form<br />
of user au<strong>the</strong>ntication, so from this perspective<br />
<strong>the</strong>re are no real issues in audience targeting. The<br />
operator will know who has logged on to a<br />
particular app and be able to target accordingly,”<br />
he adds.<br />
One-to-one vs traditional targeting<br />
Technically <strong>the</strong>n one-to-one advert targeting to<br />
smart phones, tablets and PCs is, or soon will be,<br />
possible for most operators, but this comes back<br />
to <strong>the</strong> business model, and <strong>the</strong> question of<br />
whe<strong>the</strong>r it is desirable or likely to bring in extra<br />
revenues for <strong>the</strong> operator. In <strong>the</strong> immediate future<br />
one-to-one targeting is unlikely, according to<br />
Aseem Bakshi, general manager of advertising at<br />
SeaChange, whose Adrenalin platform brings<br />
toge<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> back office components needed to<br />
deliver targeted advertising insertion for linear,<br />
catch up, VoD and multi-screen services. This is<br />
because SeaChange believes local ad replacement<br />
is <strong>the</strong> most promising application for multiple<br />
screens in <strong>the</strong> short term, complementing<br />
traditional regional advertising on linear channels.<br />
“Local ads delivered to multiple devices<br />
constitute a financial opportunity for many<br />
operators and OTT distributors,” says Bakshi.<br />
“Although <strong>the</strong>re are solid reasons for<br />
re-transmitting linear TV to multi-screen devices,<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is greater potential for replacing local ads in<br />
linear streams in <strong>the</strong> same manner that <strong>the</strong>y are<br />
inserted by <strong>the</strong> content distributors on a regional<br />
basis for traditional TV.” This of course does not<br />
require one-to-one targeting, but does exploit <strong>the</strong><br />
geographical location features available with IP<br />
delivery over <strong>the</strong> Internet or mobile networks.<br />
NDS has been musing over <strong>the</strong> same question.<br />
“Our NDS Dynamic can do one-to-one targeting<br />
today, especially on personal devices that are<br />
Canada<br />
%<br />
Germany<br />
%<br />
France<br />
%<br />
Japan<br />
%<br />
26 23 14 23 26 4<br />
21 21 24 22 27 5<br />
UK<br />
%<br />
registered, activated and authorised through our<br />
system,” notes Gilboa. “The question is more<br />
about <strong>the</strong> ad sales models on <strong>the</strong>se platforms and<br />
whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>se will be “internet like” models with<br />
<strong>the</strong> one-to-one targeting approach, or closer to TV<br />
that tends to be more regional, or based on<br />
targeting wider demographic audiences. There<br />
is no doubt multi-screen will open new<br />
opportunities in this respect and that we’ll see<br />
some one-to-one approaches where it makes sense<br />
from a business perspective.”<br />
Some of <strong>the</strong> leading cable operators are well<br />
placed in that <strong>the</strong>y have already deployed some<br />
targeting with ad replacement within VoD and<br />
catch-up services, such as SeaChange’s customers<br />
Virgin Media in <strong>the</strong> UK and Rogers Cable in<br />
Canada. “Both operators are using <strong>the</strong>ir growing<br />
VoD tier for ad or promo insertions pre-roll, postroll<br />
and mid-roll,” says Bakshi.<br />
Regulatory questions are still widely to be<br />
addresses worldwide, particularly related to<br />
addressable one-on-one advertising, with common<br />
consensus that this will take time. Sky’s AdSmart<br />
technology technology, which is set to roll out in<br />
2013, will only see occasional ad spots devoted to<br />
addressable ads and without a healthy premium<br />
at first.<br />
According to Nick Adams, head of digital<br />
development at MindShare UK, perhaps some 8%<br />
of TV advertising revenue will come from some<br />
form of targeting by 2016. He believes that<br />
addressable ads will likely to appeal initially to<br />
direct marketing organisations ra<strong>the</strong>r than mass<br />
market brands.<br />
Not a question of standards<br />
The standards though to facilitate advert targeting<br />
and insertion around catch up and multi-screen<br />
are now fairly mature, with <strong>the</strong> two main<br />
contenders being <strong>the</strong> Society of Cable<br />
Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) 130, and<br />
<strong>the</strong> Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Video Ad<br />
Serving Template (VAST). These are sometimes<br />
regarded as being alternatives, and it is true cable<br />
operators in particular will have to support both,<br />
but <strong>the</strong>re are some important differences. Both<br />
are based on XMP protocols for encoding, but<br />
SCTE 130 was designed for addressable<br />
advertising across all platforms focusing mostly<br />
on VoD and linear ad insertion, while VAST is<br />
pitched squarely at online advertising. VAST<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore includes guidance for handling <strong>the</strong><br />
leading video players including Microsoft<br />
Silverlight and Adobe Flash.<br />
A crucial difference is that VAST does not<br />
decide when to show <strong>the</strong> ads, which is up to <strong>the</strong><br />
player in <strong>the</strong> online world. SCTE 130 on <strong>the</strong><br />
o<strong>the</strong>r hand decides when to play ads whe<strong>the</strong>r with<br />
VoD or linear content, although of course for<br />
VoD <strong>the</strong> user determines when <strong>the</strong> content as a<br />
whole is viewed.<br />
A key point, as Envivio’s Felts notes, is that<br />
SCTE 130 is widely used for <strong>the</strong> back end<br />
infrastructure within linear services, but when <strong>the</strong><br />
adverts are transferred to an online platform,<br />
streaming and web standards are also involved.<br />
Operators <strong>the</strong>refore need to understand both.<br />
“Transposing <strong>the</strong> traditional linear ad<br />
architecture requires a good understanding of<br />
SCTE130, but also of all <strong>the</strong> adaptive bit rate<br />
technologies, as well as all <strong>the</strong> web-based<br />
advertising models,” says Felts. But above it<br />
requires understanding of how users will respond<br />
to and interact with ads on <strong>the</strong> different<br />
platforms, which will determine how <strong>the</strong>y are<br />
constructed and presented.<br />
The C3 window<br />
The ability to insert mid-roll ads is<br />
constrained by <strong>the</strong> so called C3 catch-up<br />
window. This is <strong>the</strong> three day period after<br />
<strong>the</strong> scheduled showing during which an<br />
operator is contractually obliged to show <strong>the</strong><br />
original ad sold with <strong>the</strong> programme. The<br />
idea is that because most catch-up viewing<br />
occurs within this three day window, it is<br />
treated as part of <strong>the</strong> overall package. It<br />
enables <strong>the</strong> operator to monetise <strong>the</strong> main<br />
catch up viewing in effect by counting it as<br />
part of <strong>the</strong> total viewing figure, but it does<br />
mean that scope for ad replacement around<br />
catch up is confined to pre- and post-roll,<br />
until <strong>the</strong> C3 window has expired. Advertising<br />
deals need to evolve to take account of <strong>the</strong><br />
fact that some catch up viewing occurs on<br />
alternative screens such as tablets,<br />
presenting greater opportunities for targeting<br />
and interactivity.<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 25
Business intelligence<br />
Turning data into<br />
information<br />
Suranjan Som explores and<br />
analyses <strong>the</strong> value of data –<br />
described by Channel 4 as <strong>the</strong><br />
new oil - in today’s multi-channel<br />
broadcasting environment<br />
The broadcasting industry is<br />
undergoing something of a<br />
revolution. After a number of<br />
false starts IPTV is finally<br />
taking off and <strong>the</strong> industry is<br />
readying itself for a new<br />
world in which <strong>the</strong> consumer<br />
is in control. They get to decide not only what <strong>the</strong>y<br />
watch, but when <strong>the</strong>y watch it, on what device and<br />
how <strong>the</strong>y interact with <strong>the</strong> content.<br />
This concept of personalisation and<br />
interactivity is creating an explosion in<br />
applications around TV. Downloadable apps<br />
enable you to interact with o<strong>the</strong>r fans online in<br />
real time, sharing your likes, dislikes and<br />
commentary. They provide a portal through which<br />
broadcasters and <strong>the</strong>ir partners can deliver a<br />
multitude of additional services – from interviews<br />
with <strong>the</strong> stars through to games and competitions,<br />
forums and even opportunities to purchase<br />
merchandise. The upshot of all of this is that<br />
suddenly broadcasters and content providers have<br />
an overwhelming amount of data at <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
fingertips. And data means information. But<br />
first you have to figure out how to turn one into<br />
<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
Taking a step back<br />
Before we start talking about data let’s take it<br />
back a little bit. We tend to think of TV through<br />
<strong>the</strong> internet as something very new but in actual<br />
fact <strong>the</strong> IPTV landscape has been around for a<br />
considerable time in <strong>the</strong> UK. Four to five years<br />
ago we had companies like Home Choice who<br />
even <strong>the</strong>n were built around <strong>the</strong> concept of<br />
accessing TV content through <strong>the</strong> internet. They<br />
failed for two main reasons: Firstly <strong>the</strong>re was <strong>the</strong><br />
issue of bandwidth. Connections were too small<br />
and often unreliable and<br />
speeds were too slow. The<br />
second reason is that <strong>the</strong><br />
video compression technology<br />
at <strong>the</strong> time was simply not<br />
efficient enough. With today’s<br />
technology you can transmit<br />
high quality videos over a low<br />
bandwidth with good results; this is something<br />
you couldn’t even imagine five years ago.<br />
The ability to deliver content over <strong>the</strong> internet<br />
also has a significant impact on <strong>the</strong> cost of being<br />
a player in <strong>the</strong> broadcasting industry. Traditional<br />
means of content delivery are expensive and when<br />
we say traditional that includes digital – that is to<br />
“Business intelligence<br />
was not a priority for<br />
broadcasters but as<br />
<strong>the</strong> industry moves to<br />
online and multiplatform<br />
this has now<br />
changed and it is<br />
fundamental to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
survival.”<br />
say cable and satellite broadcasting. The reduction<br />
in costs of internet delivery brings along with it<br />
<strong>the</strong> opportunity to reach a global audience and<br />
means we are already seeing new IPTV players<br />
come in to <strong>the</strong> market.<br />
Google has already invested significantly in<br />
Google TV platform technology. Version one<br />
failed as it was priced out of consumer reach and<br />
<strong>the</strong> interface was considered by many to be too<br />
geeky. Version two is much more attractive and<br />
looks like it’s going to change <strong>the</strong> game. Apple is<br />
also eyeing <strong>the</strong> same space. The Apple TV<br />
offering originally had TV on demand only.<br />
Recently, with an update to apple iOS, <strong>the</strong>y can<br />
now stream NBA basketball games live, so <strong>the</strong><br />
shift we are seeing in IPTV is not just around<br />
internet-type content, but also live TV.<br />
Lower cost to market entry means that we will<br />
continue to see a sharp rise in <strong>the</strong> number of<br />
broadcasters out <strong>the</strong>re. At <strong>the</strong> moment,<br />
broadcasting stations are expensive and is<br />
<strong>the</strong>refore only an offering for <strong>the</strong> rich. However, if<br />
<strong>the</strong> cost barrier goes down <strong>the</strong>re will be more<br />
broadcasters across <strong>the</strong> world. This will <strong>the</strong>n<br />
create ‘TV Beyond Borders’. For example, if you<br />
are from China you would be able to watch one of<br />
your regular TV shows whilst sitting in <strong>the</strong> UK.<br />
This is because it is not restricted by traditional<br />
broadcasting structures; all you need is an internet<br />
connection and you can watch from wherever you<br />
are. This is both an opportunity and a problem<br />
for broadcasters. The reach any programme can<br />
now have is phenomenal but how do you know<br />
who is watching what and when?<br />
Interestingly broadcasters like Sky and Virgin<br />
are ahead of <strong>the</strong> game in this regard. Although<br />
<strong>the</strong>re was significant resistance from both<br />
operators when <strong>the</strong> YouView platform was<br />
released because of fears it would eat into <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
dominance in <strong>the</strong> cable and satellite market, <strong>the</strong>y<br />
were in fact already well set up to deliver IPTV via<br />
<strong>the</strong> set top boxes that already had this built in to<br />
<strong>the</strong>m. These same boxes are also able to capture<br />
and feedback data about what and when<br />
customers are viewing. This same capability can<br />
be used to capture and feedback data about <strong>the</strong><br />
content <strong>the</strong>y are viewing via <strong>the</strong>ir broadband<br />
connection. It also opens up <strong>the</strong> possibility of Sky<br />
using <strong>the</strong> lower cost IP route to deliver niche<br />
content ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> traditional and much<br />
more expensive satellite route.<br />
So it seems that Sky and Virgin may have <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
noses in front when it comes to IPTV but that,<br />
one would suspect, is all set to change - largely<br />
due to <strong>the</strong> issue of data. The key thing is that this<br />
switch will generate huge amounts of data, huge<br />
amounts of viewing analyses and customer<br />
insights. It will be down to <strong>the</strong> companies who<br />
can leverage this information before o<strong>the</strong>rs who<br />
will succeed in <strong>the</strong> space. Some of <strong>the</strong> newer<br />
competitors in this space are better placed to do<br />
this than o<strong>the</strong>rs. Companies like Google have<br />
built an empire on understanding data and this<br />
puts <strong>the</strong>m well ahead of <strong>the</strong>ir competitors when it<br />
26 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Business intelligence<br />
comes to making sense out of <strong>the</strong> huge volumes<br />
of information to <strong>the</strong>m. In five years time it is<br />
likely to be Google, alongside o<strong>the</strong>r big players in<br />
<strong>the</strong> technology space (like Apple), that will have<br />
<strong>the</strong> biggest power base in <strong>the</strong> industry.<br />
Making sense of Big Data<br />
Being able to capture, combine and analyse<br />
information is potentially <strong>the</strong> most critical aspect<br />
in ensuring <strong>the</strong> survival of <strong>the</strong> traditional<br />
broadcasters. Companies across many industries<br />
have been trying to get a better handle on <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
information for years – it’s what <strong>the</strong> information<br />
management and business intelligence (BI)<br />
industries have been built on. For broadcasters<br />
however, it was not a priority. Traditionally <strong>the</strong><br />
BARB data gave <strong>the</strong>m what <strong>the</strong>y needed to know<br />
about what people were watching. As <strong>the</strong> industry<br />
has moved online however, <strong>the</strong> channels, devices<br />
and volumes of data have multiplied. This has<br />
brought BI to <strong>the</strong> fore for this industry.<br />
Let’s take a look at what is driving <strong>the</strong> surge in<br />
data. Take, for example, <strong>the</strong> concept of ‘social<br />
TV’. One person sits down to watch <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
favourite programme and <strong>the</strong>y have also<br />
downloaded a social TV application direct to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
TV. Using this <strong>the</strong>y connect through <strong>the</strong>ir social<br />
networks to o<strong>the</strong>r people also watching <strong>the</strong><br />
programme and paste a link through Facebook<br />
and Twitter. Through that link five more people<br />
view <strong>the</strong> programme, <strong>the</strong>y also ‘like’ it and post it<br />
on <strong>the</strong>ir timelines. The programme has now gone<br />
viral across <strong>the</strong> social network. This is where <strong>the</strong><br />
concept of ‘Big Data’ comes into play. Huge<br />
volumes of information are available to those that<br />
can harness it – not just about what people are<br />
watching but who <strong>the</strong>y are, how <strong>the</strong>y<br />
communicate and what <strong>the</strong>y like to share. This is<br />
invaluable to <strong>the</strong> advertising on which all<br />
commercial broadcasters depend.<br />
The link between data and advertising is<br />
crucial. In <strong>the</strong> UK around two years ago online<br />
advertising overtook TV advertising. Its growth<br />
suggests that in ano<strong>the</strong>r two years or so online<br />
advertising will probably overtake print<br />
advertising as well. What broadcasters have to be<br />
able to offer is insight that will enable advertisers<br />
to reach <strong>the</strong> right people, at <strong>the</strong> right time and on<br />
<strong>the</strong> right platform. What <strong>the</strong>y do with <strong>the</strong><br />
information, to some extent, is difficult to predict.<br />
There is still considerable debate on <strong>the</strong> merits of<br />
targeted advertising and how far it is possible to<br />
take it. It may still in many cases be more cost<br />
effective to take an advertising message out to a<br />
wider audience. What <strong>the</strong> data does do, however,<br />
is enable advertisers to make informed decisions<br />
about <strong>the</strong>ir strategy around this.<br />
The Big Data message is not just one that has<br />
to be heeded by <strong>the</strong> broadcasters <strong>the</strong>mselves. The<br />
type of content we are talking about (video<br />
content) is big. This <strong>the</strong>refore results in an<br />
infrastructure challenge. Unless network providers<br />
like AOL ensure <strong>the</strong>ir infrastructures can cope<br />
with this we may see a re-emergence of <strong>the</strong><br />
problems of five years ago – namely bandwidth<br />
and reliability. This presents <strong>the</strong>m with a bit of a<br />
headache and it seems likely that network<br />
providers may seek to charge <strong>the</strong> broadcasters –<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> consumer - for IPTV traffic.<br />
Despite <strong>the</strong>se changes we don’t expect <strong>the</strong><br />
traditional linear schedule to go away anytime<br />
soon. The fact is that if you are going to interact<br />
with o<strong>the</strong>r people around content you need to be<br />
viewing that content at <strong>the</strong> same time. This will<br />
have an impact in <strong>the</strong> future of how people will<br />
continue watching TV. It is similar to having an<br />
MP3 player or listening to <strong>the</strong> radio. The<br />
majority of people still prefer listening to <strong>the</strong><br />
radio, even with all <strong>the</strong> adverts, as most people<br />
enjoy <strong>the</strong> social element this offers, likewise it can<br />
be said that people enjoy being given a schedule<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r than make <strong>the</strong> decisions <strong>the</strong>mselves.<br />
The situation is complex but it is clear that<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is a huge amount of insight into customer<br />
behaviour now available and anyone in this<br />
industry has to stay on top of that information in<br />
order to be competitive. Not all of this data is<br />
available to broadcasters now, though <strong>the</strong> industry<br />
is already taking significant steps down that path.<br />
What is critical for any company serious about<br />
this market is investment in an infrastructure that<br />
can capture and analyse this data effectively, as<br />
well as being scalable enough that, as more<br />
information becomes available, adding it to <strong>the</strong><br />
‘data pot’ is easy.<br />
For broadcasters, true business intelligence is<br />
now fundamental to <strong>the</strong>ir survival.<br />
Suranjan Som is information management<br />
strategist at IMGroup, a company that<br />
provides strategies and services for<br />
information management for industries<br />
including media and broadcast.<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 27
Show review<br />
IP times are a changing<br />
The IP&TV World Forum is rebranding as TV Connect to<br />
reflect a shifting industry landscape. As over-<strong>the</strong>-top and<br />
multi-screen become real-world developments, <strong>the</strong>re was a<br />
practical feel in <strong>the</strong> air as to what this really means for all<br />
players involved. Goran Nastic reports<br />
This year’s IP&TV World<br />
Forum saw a 10% increase in<br />
attendee numbers to 7,163<br />
visitors, <strong>the</strong> highest in <strong>the</strong><br />
show’s eight year history.<br />
Growth in exhibitors has also<br />
resulted in new space created<br />
in <strong>the</strong> adjacent hall of London’s Olympia, where<br />
conferences were held to make room for new<br />
exhibitors on both floors of <strong>the</strong> original hall.<br />
Organisers Informa decided to rebrand <strong>the</strong><br />
event as TV Connect for 2013, with thoughts of<br />
<strong>the</strong> converging TV market in mind, which <strong>the</strong>y<br />
believe should push <strong>the</strong> show towards fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
growth. Broadening of scope was also reflected in<br />
<strong>the</strong> keynotes, which ranged from NBC and Sony<br />
Network Entertainment to MTV and Twitter,<br />
complimenting more traditional vendors and<br />
service providers like Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson<br />
and Huawei.<br />
IPTV always meant many things to many<br />
people, and was most commonly associated with<br />
closed managed networks, typically telco-based, of<br />
TV delivery. The future now – while still IP<br />
centric – is widely perceived to be one of over <strong>the</strong><br />
top and multi-screen delivery, one where<br />
technologies such as adaptive-bit rate streaming,<br />
HTML5 and CDNs rule.<br />
Coming not long after Cisco announced its<br />
$5bn mega acquisition of NDS, its largest in<br />
years, <strong>the</strong> news nicely set <strong>the</strong> tone for <strong>the</strong> event to<br />
follow in that multi-screen and over-<strong>the</strong>-top indeed<br />
acted as <strong>the</strong> overarching <strong>the</strong>mes. Verimatrix CEO<br />
Tom Munro made <strong>the</strong> point that multi-screen was<br />
finally moving away from PowerPoint<br />
presentations to real-world deployments.<br />
As was <strong>the</strong> case during <strong>the</strong> Cable Congress on<br />
<strong>the</strong> cable side, <strong>the</strong>re was a sense among <strong>the</strong> telco<br />
community that <strong>the</strong> migration of IP video to<br />
cloud-based infrastructures is better suited for<br />
multi-screen services, and that such broadcasting<br />
in <strong>the</strong> cloud plays to <strong>the</strong>ir strengths as IP service<br />
providers.<br />
As TDG analyst Colin Dixon recently put it:<br />
“It underscores an inevitable fact that all payTV<br />
operators must face: <strong>the</strong>ir future is tied to<br />
broadband delivery and <strong>the</strong> internet. The extent to<br />
which <strong>the</strong>y incorporate IP will determine in many<br />
ways <strong>the</strong> extent to which <strong>the</strong>y survive in a multiscreen<br />
or quantum universe.”<br />
For operators <strong>the</strong> issue is no longer if <strong>the</strong>y will<br />
“We are learning<br />
along <strong>the</strong> way and it<br />
requires new skill sets<br />
for cable operators. It<br />
will be very much<br />
about Web technologies<br />
in <strong>the</strong> future.”<br />
Com Hem CTO<br />
Martin Kull<br />
launch on broadband, but how long <strong>the</strong>y can<br />
afford to wait before <strong>the</strong>y do, Dixon argued.<br />
Why payTV providers should go OTT is a<br />
question that cropped up often during <strong>the</strong> show.<br />
Answers that came in reply ranged from “it’s<br />
cheaper to reach a wider (global) audience that<br />
way” and “user interfaces are better looking” to<br />
“it’s necessary to fight <strong>the</strong> threat from purely<br />
online players.”<br />
This was posited by Peter White, principal<br />
analyst at Rethink Research,<br />
during a Verimatrix breakfast<br />
briefing on <strong>the</strong> first morning<br />
of <strong>the</strong> show, who bluntly made<br />
<strong>the</strong> point that “‘if your content<br />
is not on a tablet, you’re<br />
dead”. OTT has been painful<br />
“like pulling teeth, and doing<br />
it very slowly”, he noted,<br />
because it involves a change in viewer and<br />
industry habits, but most operators now recognise<br />
<strong>the</strong>y have no choice but to embrace it to strive<br />
and survive.<br />
Is this purely a defensive move? “Just to cut<br />
churn is not reason enough to embark on multiplatform.<br />
There is not enough imagination going<br />
round,” he noted.<br />
In reality, it’s probably a mix of motivations<br />
forcing service providers into this realm,<br />
depending on <strong>the</strong> specific market environment.<br />
Speaking on <strong>the</strong> same panel, CTO of Swedish<br />
cable operator Martin Kull hinted that multiscreen<br />
moves were both defensive and offensive.<br />
“We need to be on our toes and launch services to<br />
attract and keep customers. We need to add value<br />
and grow our subscriber base, and we think OTT<br />
and multi-screen can do this. It’s a good business<br />
model for expanding footprint into new<br />
households that aren’t penetrated as yet.”<br />
To do this, Kull said <strong>the</strong> cableco needs to have<br />
TV and VoD in open networks, and any<br />
broadband connection. “We don’t want TV<br />
delivery silos, we want an integrated and unified<br />
platform for doing that”, which is something that<br />
Com Hem is developing toge<strong>the</strong>r with Verimatrix<br />
and Ericsson.<br />
Parks Associates analyst Brett Sappington,<br />
incidentally, predicts that <strong>2012</strong> will see significant<br />
amount of such integration, with operators trying<br />
to put disparate technologies into one unified<br />
offering. Much like Com Hem, French telco<br />
Orange is migrating its entire IPTV subscriber<br />
base to a new service that incorporates over-<strong>the</strong>top<br />
content and native multi-screen, based on a<br />
joint Viaccess and Orca platform. Taking in<br />
millions of customers, it represents <strong>the</strong> single<br />
largest migration of its kind.<br />
In terms of content rights, Kull alluded to <strong>the</strong><br />
need for flexible CA that can handle different<br />
rights depending on where <strong>the</strong> customer is, such<br />
28 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Show review<br />
as on-net, off-net, in <strong>the</strong> home, outside <strong>the</strong> home<br />
etc), and different device types. Sales provisioning<br />
and support for all <strong>the</strong>se services and networks<br />
should not be underestimated ei<strong>the</strong>r, he warned.<br />
“We are learning along <strong>the</strong> way and it requires<br />
new skill sets for cable operators. It will be<br />
very much about Web technologies in <strong>the</strong> future,”<br />
he said<br />
Some broadcasters, content owners and<br />
operators have started taking a VoD service to<br />
smart TVs, with Turner, MTV, Telstra, FastWeb<br />
and Viasat among those to have deployed on <strong>the</strong><br />
platform. Viasat has in a sense started competing<br />
with itself with a pure-OTT offering that goes<br />
against its payTV service (Sky will do <strong>the</strong> same in<br />
<strong>the</strong> UK with its upcoming Now TV OTT service).<br />
Operators need to work with content owners to<br />
enable <strong>the</strong>se new business models, which have to<br />
change to keep up with <strong>the</strong> times. Steve Oetegenn<br />
of Verimatrix noted how streaming services may<br />
need higher ra<strong>the</strong>r that less security. Many studios<br />
won’t allow HD movies online, for example, due<br />
to security concerns. He thinks that once <strong>the</strong><br />
business models change, <strong>the</strong>n consumer behaviour<br />
will shift to online forms of distribution legally<br />
too, reducing piracy. For now, security and<br />
ensuring consistent high-quality performance<br />
remain challenges, but <strong>the</strong>y are being overcome.<br />
Countries where piracy is highest are also<br />
those that lack advanced consumer services and<br />
broadband, lacking offerings like Netflix and<br />
Hulu, as Irdeto’s Christopher Schouten pointed<br />
out. “If you offer a reasonably priced, attractive<br />
and legitimate service <strong>the</strong>y will probably use that<br />
over piracy,” he argued.<br />
All in all, <strong>the</strong> war to win payTV hearts and<br />
minds will go on in Europe, with Rethink<br />
forecasting that in a market of 200 million payTV<br />
homes across <strong>the</strong> region, OTT will reach 87<br />
million, mainly through tablets, which is identified<br />
as <strong>the</strong> key land-grab battleground.<br />
While OTT can help gain some share, <strong>the</strong><br />
reality is that <strong>the</strong>re aren’t many low hanging fruits<br />
any more in terms of new subscribers, and <strong>the</strong><br />
name of <strong>the</strong> game is more about retaining<br />
customers, especially <strong>the</strong> higher value ones that<br />
are expensive to lose. This is why most operators<br />
(and content owners such as HBO through HBO<br />
Go) see multi-screen as an essential future of <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
portfolio despite not knowing how to monetise<br />
this offering yet.<br />
Monetisation is an issue that crept up again<br />
and again as it is clear <strong>the</strong>re are no de facto<br />
“We have to<br />
elevate consumers<br />
from<br />
<strong>the</strong> ‘freemium’<br />
model we have<br />
created as an<br />
industry while<br />
<strong>the</strong>re is still<br />
time.”<br />
answers as yet. There is some anecdotal evidence<br />
of consumer willingness to pay. Irdeto’s own<br />
Media 3.0 survey shows that in Spain and Italy<br />
consumers are willing to pay EUR5 a month for<br />
multi screen. “We have to elevate consumers from<br />
<strong>the</strong> ‘freemium’ model we have created as an<br />
industry while <strong>the</strong>re is still time.”<br />
ITV, <strong>the</strong> UK’s main commercial broadcaster is<br />
working with Irdeto in trialling different payment<br />
options, effectively trying to find out if consumers<br />
are willing to pay for content over and above its<br />
existing catch up content (incidentally, 20% of<br />
ITV Player on-demand viewing now takes place<br />
on mobile devices).<br />
There are also arguments in favour of targeted/<br />
addressable advertising, but for now though,<br />
churn reduction is <strong>the</strong> main business driver<br />
behind deploying OTT/multi-screen services.<br />
Multi-screen allows service providers to keep<br />
<strong>the</strong> higher end customers, stopping <strong>the</strong> erosion of<br />
business value altoge<strong>the</strong>r. If revenues don’t go up,<br />
at least <strong>the</strong>y are not going down, noted Ericsson’s<br />
Simon Frost. “Content is still king but<br />
convenience is queen.”<br />
Fragmentation is ano<strong>the</strong>r challenge. “Most<br />
platforms use modern Web technologies but<br />
doesn’t mean you can take <strong>the</strong> same app and use<br />
it to work on any device. Technology<br />
fragmentation is bigger than we thought, and I<br />
don’t believe in standardisation any time soon. I<br />
believe everyone has to deal with this problem<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r than hoping something comes out in <strong>the</strong><br />
future,” said Michael Lantz, CEO of Accedo,<br />
whose company has extensive experience in <strong>the</strong><br />
connected TV space.<br />
Common standards such as HTML5 and<br />
DASH to ease broadcaster and operators’ plight,<br />
but most service providers are “terrified” when<br />
<strong>the</strong>y realise <strong>the</strong> scope of <strong>the</strong> challenge when<br />
transitioning to multiple platforms, admitted<br />
Alcatel-Lucent’s Jim Guillet.<br />
For a start, OTT, social TV and <strong>the</strong> second<br />
screen are a whole new world away from <strong>the</strong><br />
structured set-top box model.<br />
On <strong>the</strong> network side, implementation needs to<br />
be evolutionary. Start by taking <strong>the</strong> back office<br />
and content management into <strong>the</strong> cloud. Keep<br />
popular content at <strong>the</strong> edge, closer to <strong>the</strong> home,<br />
he says. ALU, for its part ,has a range of<br />
partnerships, including <strong>the</strong> likes of Microsoft,<br />
Apple and <strong>the</strong>Platform, to help with <strong>the</strong><br />
migration, and purchased Velocix in <strong>the</strong> CDN<br />
space which it sees as central in managing<br />
opportunities in IP video.<br />
Of <strong>the</strong> company’s 60+ IPTV installs, Guillet<br />
claims that every one wants to - and will - go<br />
down <strong>the</strong> multi-screen route.<br />
Motorola, incidentally, will continue to<br />
enhance and expand its Medios multi-screen<br />
portfolio with multiple CDNs as a key part of that<br />
offering, highlighting this type of network’s<br />
importance as more video is streamed over<br />
broadband pipes.<br />
The technology, which wasn’t <strong>the</strong>re a couple of<br />
years ago, is here now. Business models haven’t<br />
caught up yet. They probably will, but this will be<br />
<strong>the</strong> really hard part.<br />
Of <strong>the</strong> new companies that made an<br />
appearance at <strong>the</strong> show were Comigo, an<br />
Israeli start-up founded by <strong>the</strong> co-inventor of<br />
<strong>the</strong> USB stick, Dov Moran. The company<br />
promises a “unique UX across devices”<br />
mixed in with personalisation and social<br />
TV capability such as Facebook integration<br />
and <strong>the</strong> ability of friends to promote content<br />
virally. It is hoping to tackle <strong>the</strong> market<br />
which is in a “state of chaos” as everyone<br />
fights for a slice of <strong>the</strong> pie. The main targets<br />
are hybrid IPTV/OTT operators in<br />
Europe, for which it offers a solution that<br />
combines software for mobile devices like<br />
smartphones and tablets, a set-top box, and<br />
a server application. The set-top box smart<br />
TV solution will be integrated into <strong>the</strong><br />
Android OS.<br />
30 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Connected TV<br />
Almost everything<br />
on <strong>the</strong> box<br />
Shirlene Chandrapal discusses what effect connected<br />
TVs will have on how advertisers can communicate with<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir audiences<br />
In <strong>the</strong> past few years we have seen TVs<br />
becoming more like PC monitors. PC<br />
monitors becoming more like TVs is a<br />
process well underway. On one hand TVs<br />
have been designed with increasingly<br />
complex graphical user interfaces, while<br />
on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r PC monitors have seen <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
size and resolution improve to make <strong>the</strong>m more<br />
suitable for watching video content.<br />
The two devices are converging. If early indications<br />
are anything to go by, it seems that <strong>2012</strong> will<br />
be <strong>the</strong> year in which this convergence is taken to a<br />
new level, and <strong>the</strong> connected TV becomes a mainstream<br />
reality. We’re already seeing users spending,<br />
on average, ten times more time watching<br />
content on connected TVs than <strong>the</strong>y do on PCs,<br />
so it is little surprise that Strategy Analytics has<br />
forecast that 1.6 billion connected TVs will be<br />
installed worldwide by 2014.<br />
As TVs become increasingly connected to <strong>the</strong><br />
internet, to smartphone and tablets, and to games<br />
consoles among o<strong>the</strong>r devices - <strong>the</strong> medium will<br />
become more interactive. This interactivity will<br />
bring a completely new element to <strong>the</strong> way in<br />
which we consume content, one which will need<br />
to be considered closely by everyone in <strong>the</strong> content<br />
chain, from TV show producers, right<br />
through to advertisers.<br />
A new TV ecosystem<br />
There are three ways in which <strong>the</strong> TV ecosystem<br />
is changing; through content, <strong>the</strong> connection of<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r devices to TV and how we physically react<br />
to <strong>the</strong>se devices. These changes will not only have<br />
a profound impact on <strong>the</strong> way television and<br />
internet content is consumed, but <strong>the</strong>y will have<br />
an equally important impact on <strong>the</strong> world of<br />
advertising, offering brands a revolutionary new<br />
way to introduce consumers to <strong>the</strong>ir products<br />
and identity.<br />
“The way we physically<br />
interact with<br />
CTVs will change to<br />
help enable this application<br />
convergence,<br />
including gesture<br />
recognition technologies<br />
and voice<br />
recognition UIs.”<br />
off <strong>the</strong> television programme<br />
<strong>the</strong>y are watching. The way<br />
viewers find programmes will<br />
also change fundamentally,<br />
with <strong>the</strong> preferences you set<br />
and your friends’ recommendations<br />
from social networks replacing <strong>the</strong><br />
programme guide.<br />
Secondly, existing devices will be co-opted<br />
into <strong>the</strong> connected TV ecosystem to provide<br />
consumers with <strong>the</strong> method of interactivity<br />
that best suits <strong>the</strong>m. As surfing <strong>the</strong> internet on<br />
your TV becomes possible, <strong>the</strong> smartphone or <strong>the</strong><br />
tablet will become an extension of <strong>the</strong> television.<br />
With connected TV, viewers will vote, access rich<br />
content, blog, tweet and access a plethora of<br />
applications all via <strong>the</strong>ir TV sets, but through <strong>the</strong><br />
devices that <strong>the</strong>y feel comfortable with.<br />
Lastly, <strong>the</strong> way we physically interact with<br />
<strong>the</strong>se devices will change to help enable this<br />
application convergence. Samsung has developed<br />
gesture recognition technologies for connected<br />
TVs meaning that <strong>the</strong> days of remote controls will<br />
soon be long gone. Viewers will control <strong>the</strong>ir TVs<br />
purely by use of hand gestures, in <strong>the</strong> same way<br />
Microsoft Kinect has changed <strong>the</strong> way players<br />
interact with Xbox 360 games. The rumoured<br />
Apple TV, meanwhile, might well run on voice<br />
recognition, based on <strong>the</strong> Siri software currently<br />
used for <strong>the</strong> iPhone 4S.<br />
These improved user interfaces will mean that<br />
<strong>the</strong> connected TV will live up to its promise of<br />
being a true multi-application platform. Users will<br />
be able to intuitively and seamlessly use<br />
simultaneous applications on <strong>the</strong> devices in a way<br />
that has not been possible before.<br />
Firstly, <strong>the</strong> new TV experience will mean<br />
that broadcast content, video content, internet<br />
content and personal content is all seamlessly<br />
blended toge<strong>the</strong>r, and this means that <strong>the</strong> TV<br />
ecosystem will need to become more integrated,<br />
collaborative and interactive than ever before.<br />
It will soon be common for television viewers<br />
to be able to post blogs, send tweets or update<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir Facebook profiles without <strong>the</strong> need to turn<br />
A game changer for brands<br />
Advertising on CTV is a completely new advertising<br />
environment. It offers brands an opportunity<br />
to reverse <strong>the</strong> decline seen in traditional television<br />
advertising. Forrester Research, <strong>the</strong> analyst house,<br />
has predicted that online advertising spend will<br />
overtake that of TV by 2016 and provides <strong>the</strong><br />
chance to create a multichannel brand presence,<br />
enabling marketers to deliver advertising opportunities<br />
which are both targeted and effective.<br />
32 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Connected TV<br />
Broadcasters will be able to track viewer<br />
reaction to content in real-time and learn more<br />
about audience behaviour from social networking<br />
interaction. The result is that brands will have to<br />
work harder to target <strong>the</strong>ir demographic and keep<br />
audiences engaged; after all, while we may watch<br />
<strong>the</strong> same TV shows, we may not see <strong>the</strong> same<br />
advertisements. Viewers will also become<br />
increasingly distracted from traditional linear<br />
television because of <strong>the</strong> almost-endless range of<br />
media offered by connected TVs and<br />
recommendations from o<strong>the</strong>r viewers will be<br />
more and more important to <strong>the</strong>m.<br />
The real game-changer for brands<br />
however, will be <strong>the</strong> use of online video<br />
advertising formats. Feedback from<br />
smartclip’s customers suggests that <strong>the</strong><br />
uptake of online video ads is encouraging,<br />
with similar usage patterns to traditional<br />
TV and general internet use.<br />
Online video holds <strong>the</strong> potential for a<br />
more direct and genuine customer relationship<br />
through <strong>the</strong> integration of social<br />
media. With engaging content and CTV’s<br />
bigger screen, brand awareness<br />
will increase.<br />
With interactive<br />
content you know that<br />
people are actively watching <strong>the</strong> TV so awareness<br />
and involvement is increased compared to<br />
traditional TV. This brings with it many benefits<br />
to advertisers, content producers and brands<br />
alike, but also creates numerous challenges<br />
which can only be addressed if organisations can<br />
deliver a clear and consistent message across<br />
multiple platforms.<br />
In addition to this, competition will become<br />
fierce as brands compete with more video on <strong>the</strong><br />
internet. Ads will need to be engaging and worth<br />
watching so brands will become more creative.<br />
Techniques such as gamification – where<br />
game elements are included in marketing<br />
campaigns to make <strong>the</strong>m ‘stickier’ –<br />
and incentives will generate ROI,<br />
with ideas such as pop-up shops and<br />
competitions gaining popularity.<br />
The added value of interactive<br />
video ads will be adopted by<br />
consumers, as <strong>the</strong> use of HTML5<br />
creates an easy-to-use interface for<br />
video content which is easier to<br />
engage with than on linear TV. By<br />
delivering ad content<br />
that is truly social,<br />
fun or informative<br />
to consume and<br />
engagingly presented, brands will be able to more<br />
effectively win over new customers. The<br />
connected TV provides just <strong>the</strong> toolkit for brands<br />
to achieve this.<br />
We have a vision of <strong>the</strong> Connected TV as<br />
sitting at <strong>the</strong> centre of a unified communications<br />
and entertainment hub. From voice and gesture<br />
command technology, personalised content<br />
discovery to tailored advertising experiences<br />
based on preferences, TV is becoming<br />
increasingly interactive.<br />
Manufacturers are beginning to think about<br />
how TV interacts with o<strong>the</strong>r devices, for example<br />
using a tablet or mobile as a remote control. It<br />
will provide <strong>the</strong> common factor that unites social<br />
media with broadcast technology, and mobile<br />
devices with <strong>the</strong> fixed-line environment. The<br />
profound effect this will have on <strong>the</strong> way people<br />
consume and interact with content is only just<br />
becoming clear.<br />
The next few years will no doubt provide a<br />
range of fur<strong>the</strong>r innovations that will build on <strong>the</strong><br />
connected TV concept and lead to a completely<br />
new viewing experience for <strong>the</strong> future.<br />
Shirlene Chandrapal is vice president of<br />
connected TV at smartclip<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 33
Guest column<br />
A question of spectrum<br />
With <strong>the</strong> analogue shutdown in <strong>the</strong> UK almost complete, <strong>the</strong><br />
DTG is now turning its attention to <strong>the</strong> upcoming issue of<br />
LTE spectrum and TV white spaces<br />
With <strong>the</strong> final<br />
digital<br />
switchover<br />
(DSO) to<br />
complete in<br />
under six<br />
months<br />
time, much of <strong>the</strong> digital television industry’s<br />
focus is now on <strong>the</strong> future uses of radio spectrum<br />
(<strong>the</strong> invisible electromagnetic waves that carry<br />
voice, video and data transmissions through <strong>the</strong><br />
air) released by turning off <strong>the</strong> analogue signal.<br />
Radio spectrum is used to connect wireless<br />
devices such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets,<br />
game consoles and, increasingly, enable <strong>the</strong>m to<br />
communicate with each o<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
As a result of significant growth in demand<br />
for wireless applications and services over <strong>the</strong> last<br />
few years, most of <strong>the</strong> spectrum in <strong>the</strong> UK is now<br />
in use. Therefore it is important that <strong>the</strong> industry<br />
ensures <strong>the</strong> available spectrum is used as<br />
efficiently as possible.<br />
The Digital TV Group (DTG) is currently<br />
working with industry to explore two major uses<br />
of <strong>the</strong> spectrum: Long Term Evolution (LTE) –<br />
<strong>the</strong> fourth generation mobile telephony data<br />
network referred to and known by some as 4G,<br />
and TV whites spaces – wireless<br />
networks built<br />
to use TV frequencies that can be used to improve<br />
broadband performance. The latter will see <strong>the</strong><br />
introduction of white space or ‘smart’ devices<br />
such as in-home appliances and energy monitors<br />
or enable rural broadband delivery by choosing<br />
unused frequencies available in <strong>the</strong> area to<br />
maximise efficient use of <strong>the</strong> spectrum.<br />
Impact on D-Book – and beyond<br />
The DTG’s RF working group is currently looking<br />
at co-existence with DTT and is investigating <strong>the</strong><br />
current sensitivity and selectivity requirements in<br />
<strong>the</strong> D-Book RF chapter to determine whe<strong>the</strong>r<br />
improvements in receiver performance can be<br />
made to optimise <strong>the</strong> coexistence of TV. This may<br />
result in a modified D-Book chapter and<br />
subsequent changes in <strong>the</strong> conformance regime if<br />
deemed necessary.<br />
We have also joined <strong>the</strong> Cambridge TV White<br />
Spaces Consortium, which has just completed a<br />
trial to assess <strong>the</strong> potential of TV white spaces to<br />
deliver cost-efficient broadband access to rural<br />
communities and offload wireless data demand in<br />
cities. The DTG has provided <strong>the</strong> consortium<br />
with advice and information about industry<br />
coordination, interoperability and coexistence<br />
with DTT. The trial found that TV white spaces<br />
can be successfully utilised to help satisfy <strong>the</strong><br />
demand for wireless connectivity. The consortium<br />
members are now recommending that Ofcom<br />
complete its development<br />
of <strong>the</strong> enabling<br />
regulatory framework<br />
in a manner that<br />
protects licensees from<br />
harmful interference<br />
and encourages<br />
innovation and<br />
deployment.<br />
It is imperative that<br />
any future mobile<br />
network does not<br />
interfere with current<br />
broadcast equipment.<br />
With this in mind, <strong>the</strong> DTG’s test<br />
house: DTG Testing recently<br />
conducted tests on its receiver<br />
collection to ascertain how<br />
consumer receiver equipment<br />
will respond to LTE. The<br />
results will be used to inform public bodies<br />
responsible for spectrum allocation of any impact<br />
on terrestrial television broadcasts, alert<br />
manufacturers to potential issues with <strong>the</strong> RF<br />
tuner elements of <strong>the</strong>ir products - giving <strong>the</strong>m<br />
opportunity to design and implement appropriate<br />
protection, and specify target protection values in<br />
future revisions of <strong>the</strong> D-Book.<br />
2013 will see <strong>the</strong> reorganisation to complete<br />
<strong>the</strong> clearance of <strong>the</strong> 800 MHz band for LTE. A<br />
recent World Radiocommunication Conference<br />
(WRC) proposed assigning in <strong>the</strong> 700MHz band<br />
for co-primary mobile use. If <strong>the</strong> conference in<br />
2015 agrees that harmonisation for mobile use,<br />
this would mean a significant European re-plan or<br />
frequency allocations and has <strong>the</strong>refore had an<br />
impact on Ofcom’s 600MHz auction plans and<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir Future UHF consultation.<br />
With <strong>the</strong> introduction of new spectrum uses,<br />
<strong>the</strong> requirements for interoperability to protect<br />
and serve <strong>the</strong> consumer are just as important as<br />
ever. As technology inevitably develops fur<strong>the</strong>r,<br />
<strong>the</strong> DTG will continue to bring <strong>the</strong> relevant<br />
organisations toge<strong>the</strong>r to enable <strong>the</strong> seamless<br />
delivery of digital technology to consumers across<br />
<strong>the</strong> UK.<br />
Simon Gauntlett is technology<br />
director at <strong>the</strong> DTG, <strong>the</strong> industry<br />
association for DTV in <strong>the</strong> UK.<br />
This is <strong>the</strong> latest in a line of<br />
regular guest columns to<br />
provide <strong>CSI</strong> readers with updates on <strong>the</strong><br />
DTG’s initiatives and activities.<br />
34 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Energy efficiency<br />
Green thinking<br />
Dr. Lindsay Frost and Oliver Lamparter from <strong>the</strong> Home<br />
Gateway Initiative discuss energy-saving steps for<br />
broadband services<br />
In today’s broadband reality, people expect<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir devices and services to become<br />
connected in a blink of <strong>the</strong> eye, a push of<br />
<strong>the</strong> button, or a click of <strong>the</strong> mouse. We<br />
don’t want to wait, yet in order to provide<br />
instant service connections, our<br />
broadband devices must always be<br />
working in <strong>the</strong> background. And that background<br />
work – powering on <strong>the</strong> integrated circuits,<br />
interfaces and displays, monitoring data traffic,<br />
preparing for user input – consumes expensive<br />
electricity.<br />
Tackling <strong>the</strong> challenge of delivering responsive<br />
services while avoiding wasted power is a major<br />
topic within <strong>the</strong> work of <strong>the</strong> HGI (Home Gateway<br />
Initiative), a global consortium of service<br />
providers and manufacturers who are connecting<br />
homes (determining <strong>the</strong> ways that broadband data<br />
is delivered to homes) and enabling services<br />
(ensuring that <strong>the</strong> broadband services meet <strong>the</strong><br />
real requirements of people in <strong>the</strong>ir homes).<br />
HGI’s energy efficiency work has been<br />
structured in three phases. The first two deal with<br />
making <strong>the</strong> broadband equipment deployed in<br />
customers’ home more efficient. The third phase<br />
goes fur<strong>the</strong>r, to enable users to proactively<br />
manage <strong>the</strong>ir whole-home energy consumption. In<br />
this article, we explain how all this comes toge<strong>the</strong>r<br />
Function idle-state on-state<br />
and why <strong>the</strong> service providers are committed to<br />
energy efficiency in <strong>the</strong> home environment.<br />
Motivation<br />
Let’s start by looking at <strong>the</strong> reasons why<br />
broadband service providers and device<br />
manufacturers care about saving energy, both<br />
within <strong>the</strong>ir networks and in particular, in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
customers’ homes. After all, <strong>the</strong> consumers pay<br />
<strong>the</strong> energy costs in <strong>the</strong>ir own homes, so why<br />
should this be of concern to broadband providers?<br />
Firstly, telecom network providers are often<br />
near <strong>the</strong> top of <strong>the</strong> list of single companies<br />
consuming <strong>the</strong> most electricity and <strong>the</strong>refore<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir “good citizen” behaviour is closely<br />
monitored by governments and regulators.<br />
Voluntary codes of conduct and mandatory<br />
regulations are strong constraints on <strong>the</strong>ir own<br />
networks as well as in regard to <strong>the</strong> equipment<br />
<strong>the</strong>y deploy to customers’ homes. HGI has helped<br />
its member companies to provide helpful input as<br />
<strong>the</strong>se regulations have evolved.<br />
In <strong>the</strong>ir own networks, service providers are<br />
saving energy and costs by upgrading equipment.<br />
But service providers’ networks typically generate<br />
less than 2% of <strong>the</strong> national CO2 footprint,<br />
whereas homes produce about 15% (although<br />
only a piece of that is for infotainment).<br />
2011/<strong>2012</strong> 2013/2014 2011/<strong>2012</strong> 2013/2014<br />
central functions + ADSL 2.6 2.4 3.8 3.4<br />
WAN interface<br />
4 Fast E<strong>the</strong>rnet ports 4x0.3 = 1.2 4x0.2 = 0.8 4x0.4 = 1.6 4x0.4 = 1.6<br />
single radio IEEE 802.11b/g 0.7 0.7 2 1.5<br />
Wi-Fi interface<br />
(23 dBm EIRP)<br />
USB ports 2x0.25 = 0.5 2x0.1 = 0.2 2x0.25 = 0.5 2x0.1 = 0.2<br />
Total equipment 5.0W 4.1W 7.9W 6.7W<br />
Figure 1: European Broadband Code-of-Conduct v4 (ADSL, 4 port, Wi-Fi b/g example)<br />
Steps that are taken to<br />
assist consumers to reduce<br />
energy consumption in both<br />
broadband, and in o<strong>the</strong>r areas,<br />
may <strong>the</strong>refore have higher<br />
paybacks overall. Service<br />
providers are also turning home energy efficiency<br />
into a competitive differentiator, by helping <strong>the</strong><br />
consumer to save power. Consumers have a<br />
choice between broadband providers and<br />
acting proactively is in <strong>the</strong> service providers’<br />
best interests.<br />
And not only consumers benefit by energy<br />
efficient design aimed at <strong>the</strong> connected home. A<br />
regular trickle of background (“keep alive”) traffic<br />
associated with <strong>the</strong> home network passes between<br />
<strong>the</strong> Home Gateway (HG) and <strong>the</strong> service provider<br />
routers and access network equipment, resulting<br />
in energy costs in <strong>the</strong> provider networks too. The<br />
amount of background traffic will potentially<br />
increase as new cloud-based services (software<br />
and media-storage all in <strong>the</strong> internet) are rolledout.<br />
So <strong>the</strong> thoughtful design of home services<br />
can help reduce costs for both consumers and<br />
service providers.<br />
Phase 1<br />
In Phase 1, <strong>the</strong> HGI has worked to reduce <strong>the</strong><br />
power consumed by <strong>the</strong> home gateway. The HG is<br />
<strong>the</strong> box that provides in-home broadband service.<br />
It connects your home network devices and gadgets<br />
to <strong>the</strong> fibre, DSL, cable, or wireless network.<br />
The HG is an always-on device and reducing its<br />
power consumption is an important step.<br />
HGI started collaborating with government<br />
agencies in Europe in 2008 on an improved Code<br />
of Conduct (CoC) for good energy behaviour in<br />
broadband equipment in <strong>the</strong> home. Early versions<br />
of <strong>the</strong> CoC covered only a fraction of <strong>the</strong> HG<br />
market. Between 2008 and 2010, HGI helped<br />
introduce new approaches for <strong>the</strong> CoC (versions<br />
3 and 4). These brought in realistic, modular<br />
power targets which clarified power limits applied<br />
to each HG feature while in idle mode<br />
(“standby”) and while active. The total HG power<br />
limit is <strong>the</strong> sum of <strong>the</strong> modular values, depending<br />
on which feature is needed in that particular HG.<br />
Because <strong>the</strong> new approach assigns power budgets<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 35
Energy efficiency<br />
Figure 2: Home network devices considered in HGI analysis of use cases<br />
Gaming console<br />
Television<br />
PC<br />
POTS phone<br />
HOME GATEWAY<br />
WAN<br />
Smartphone<br />
Internet<br />
DECT Phone<br />
Tablet<br />
Laptop<br />
to a range of features (e.g. PowerLine and wireless<br />
interfaces, E<strong>the</strong>rnet, etc), <strong>the</strong> viability of <strong>the</strong> CoC<br />
was greatly increased.<br />
The CoC is strongly supported by HGI : 85%<br />
of HGI founding members, and a majority of HGI<br />
operators have committed to abide by it.<br />
Figure 1 shows <strong>the</strong> CoC targets for <strong>the</strong> example<br />
of an ADSL HGW with four Fast E<strong>the</strong>rnet ports,<br />
a single 802.11b/g Wi-Fi radio interface and two<br />
USB ports. The limits were set at about 8 Watts<br />
while on, and 5 Watts in idle mode, reducing by<br />
about 20% in both cases for next year’s products.<br />
HGI went a big step fur<strong>the</strong>r, by designing<br />
voluntary tests of HGW features, including <strong>the</strong><br />
CoC energy limits. In <strong>the</strong> latet results from <strong>the</strong><br />
3rd annual test event in November 2011 80% of<br />
<strong>the</strong> tested HGs passed <strong>the</strong> energy tests.<br />
In parallel to <strong>the</strong> work on <strong>the</strong> CoC, HGI<br />
was active in promoting best practice energy<br />
design of modules in <strong>the</strong> HGW, for xDSL,<br />
WLAN, E<strong>the</strong>rnet, and even <strong>the</strong> attached AC-DC<br />
converter power-supplies. which are ubiquitous for<br />
all home equipment.<br />
The AC-DC converter power supplies previously<br />
wasted nearly <strong>the</strong> same energy as was passed<br />
through to <strong>the</strong> devices, but in <strong>the</strong> mid-2000s<br />
manufacturers began to change over to more<br />
efficient switching circuits. These are about 90%<br />
efficient at “full load” but can be inefficient at low<br />
load (ie, whenever <strong>the</strong> actual home equipment is<br />
in idle mode). In early 2010, HGI created strong<br />
requirements on converter power supplies, which<br />
were <strong>the</strong>n adapted and published by ETSI.<br />
Six months later, HGI published an extensive<br />
vision on how to conserve energy in <strong>the</strong> HG<br />
and attached devices, including practical use cases<br />
and maximum allowed delays to full activity<br />
(typically 1-3 seconds). To summarise, HGI’s<br />
Phase 1 work has encouraged energy savings in<br />
<strong>the</strong> HG and <strong>the</strong> power supplies through setting<br />
practical and modular power targets,<br />
recommendations on best practice, and industry<br />
test events to measure compliance.<br />
Phase 2<br />
Phase 1 dealt with HG power consumption, but<br />
what about <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r network-connected devices<br />
such as <strong>the</strong> Set Top Box, PVR, VoIP, media<br />
storage, and <strong>the</strong> like? Figure 2 shows <strong>the</strong> variety<br />
of devices in many homes. Based on <strong>the</strong> bestpractise<br />
methods in <strong>the</strong> HG, a power efficient<br />
approach would allow those devices to remain in<br />
low power idle mode except when <strong>the</strong>y must<br />
perform service. HGI’s Phase 2 approach will<br />
maximise <strong>the</strong> time that home networked devices<br />
can remain in idle mode.<br />
HGI’s approach assumes that those devices<br />
may know when to “go to sleep” (usually after a<br />
period without active service demand) but may<br />
not always know when to wake up. For example, a<br />
36 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Energy efficiency<br />
Figure 3: HGI’s 3-stage approach to saving energy in HGs and in <strong>the</strong> home<br />
user may wish to trigger a recording or playback HGI is defining just such a service in Phase 3<br />
action on a PVR from outside <strong>the</strong> room or while of its work, and taking steps to enable its<br />
away. HGI is analysing how <strong>the</strong> HG can be used deployment. Like <strong>the</strong> Phase 2 service, <strong>the</strong> Phase 3<br />
to “trigger” such devices to switch on when service takes advantage of <strong>the</strong> HG as a control<br />
needed. This takes advantage of <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> and connection hub within <strong>the</strong> home, as well as<br />
HG will normally remain active enough to detect <strong>the</strong> capability of <strong>the</strong> HG to provide application<br />
signalling and service triggers, even when<br />
software. Phase 3 may also take advantage of <strong>the</strong><br />
connected devices do not.<br />
deployment within <strong>the</strong> home of smart meters.<br />
One part of that solution is so-called Wakeon-LAN,<br />
which allows devices connected to Some of <strong>the</strong> service capabilities needed are:<br />
<strong>the</strong> E<strong>the</strong>rnet, but in idle mode, to detect<br />
• Visualisation of actual energy and power data,<br />
special “wake up” data packets, <strong>the</strong>n rapidly<br />
as well as recent history;<br />
switch on to handle <strong>the</strong> full voice or video stream. • Adjusting household demand to fit Smart<br />
It is so far mainly implemented on enterprise<br />
Grid conditions (Time of Day pricing,<br />
equipment and some notebooks. HGI wants to Demand response);<br />
extend <strong>the</strong> Wake-on-LAN idea to devices in • Sensing <strong>the</strong> status of equipment, such as<br />
home networks.<br />
energy currently used;<br />
Fortunately, consumer networked devices • Setting equipment states (or example,<br />
have a market life-cycle of just a few years, so<br />
scheduling energy-intensive tasks to off-peak<br />
technical changes can have a rapid impact on pricing times);<br />
total energy consumption.<br />
• Providing feedback and alarms on different<br />
events to <strong>the</strong> user;<br />
Phase 3<br />
• Home Domain overload management<br />
A substantial improvement for total savings in which assist <strong>the</strong> user to avoid overload<br />
energy and costs in <strong>the</strong> home is just beginning: a conditions; and<br />
whole-home energy management service that • Optimisation of energy cost based<br />
enables consumers to schedule, monitor, and<br />
on tariffs.<br />
control <strong>the</strong> energy used. Managing <strong>the</strong> services<br />
which account for about 80% of home electricity Energy providers are providing some<br />
usage, like lighting, heating, cooling, and major systems already that focus on <strong>the</strong> use of smart<br />
appliances, offers potential for savings. Once meter data to provide <strong>the</strong> customer increased<br />
consumers have awareness of energy costs and awareness of power consumed. In some cases, <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> tools to manage energy use, savings can smart meter interfaces to a display or to home<br />
quickly follow.<br />
automation systems using a wireless (eg, Zigbee,<br />
WiFi, DECT), powerline (HomePlug, G.hn), or<br />
o<strong>the</strong>r interface.<br />
HGI is putting its focus on a more integrated<br />
system that uses <strong>the</strong> HG (or a separate Energy<br />
Gateway that is connected to <strong>the</strong> HG) as a<br />
central hub to communicate with HAN (Home<br />
Area Network) connected devices, such as smart<br />
appliances, heating systems and o<strong>the</strong>rs referred<br />
to above. The HEM application, served from <strong>the</strong><br />
HG, provides an easy path to integration with<br />
internet-based energy data (for example, relating<br />
to time of day pricing information) as well as<br />
storage and analysis of historic data. The<br />
HG-based HEM application may also be easily<br />
updated by using <strong>the</strong> OSGi infrastructure of<br />
<strong>the</strong> HG.<br />
The biggest payoff likely occurs when <strong>the</strong> HG<br />
based solution is also integrated with <strong>the</strong> smart<br />
meter. This requires some agreed interface<br />
between <strong>the</strong> smart meter and HG – such as <strong>the</strong><br />
smart meter interfaces discussed above. In <strong>the</strong>se<br />
scenarios, time of day pricing, demand-response,<br />
current energy consumption, and o<strong>the</strong>r data may<br />
be passed directly between smart meter and HG.<br />
While <strong>the</strong>re are many organisations developing<br />
specifications for home automation, in fact <strong>the</strong><br />
over-abundance of standards is slowing down <strong>the</strong><br />
market. HGI is honing <strong>the</strong> requirements and best<br />
practices to create practical recommendations to<br />
facilitate <strong>the</strong> deployment by <strong>the</strong> broadband<br />
service providers of a home energy management<br />
service. HGI has and will continue to liaise and<br />
co-developed this work with our partners in ETSI<br />
M2M, Broadband Forum, DECT Forum, OSGi,<br />
and elsewhere.<br />
One reason to focus on <strong>the</strong> HG is <strong>the</strong> efforts<br />
made in recent years by HGI and OSGi to create<br />
a flexible and reliable, secure and robust,<br />
modular software system for <strong>the</strong> HG. This system<br />
allows secure, automatic software updates and<br />
management of 3rd party services. The system<br />
allows new services to be downloaded “on <strong>the</strong><br />
fly”, allowing new energy tariff information or<br />
new controlling software to be installed without<br />
users needing to be aware of complexity.<br />
HGI is working with OSGi closely, and also<br />
following latest developments in BBF and ETSI<br />
M2M, to reach agreement on a single set of<br />
application interfaces towards <strong>the</strong> confusing<br />
variety of home automation networks. If<br />
successful, this will allow developers everywhere<br />
to target a common platform which interoperates<br />
with most systems on <strong>the</strong> market.<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 37
Business<br />
Directory<br />
To advertise contact Tiro Bestonso<br />
+44 (0)20 7562 2427<br />
tiro.bestonso@csimagazine.com<br />
Corneliusstr. 22, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland<br />
Tel: +49-17-1998-3676<br />
Email: support@atxnetworks.com<br />
Web: www.atxnetworks.com<br />
ATX is a global company that designs and manufactures a broad range of quality cable products<br />
from <strong>the</strong> headend to <strong>the</strong> home. Our products enable CATV operators to configure <strong>the</strong>ir network<br />
to offer new and enhanced digital services such as video on demand (VOD), HDTV, high-speed<br />
data (Internet), and digital telephony (VoIP). Our products include modular, high-density<br />
headend signal management (splitting/ combing) equipment for RF, L-Band and optical, optical<br />
transmitters and receivers, RF filters, headend and MDU amplifiers, audio/video deletion/<br />
insertion, wireless solutions, fiber nodes/upgrades, monitor/control solutions, pads/EQs, VoIP<br />
switches, connectors, drop amplifiers and test signal generators.<br />
Address: 27 Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead,<br />
Hertfordshire HP2 7DE, UK<br />
Phone: +44 (0)14 42 43 13 00 Fax: +44 (0) 14 42 43 13 01<br />
Website: www.vislink.com Email: sales@vislink.com<br />
VISLINK plc is a global business, strategically focussed on providing secure communication<br />
technologies to customers in our chosen markets.<br />
We have three international business units organised to serve our customers in Broadcast,<br />
Surveillance, and <strong>the</strong> related Services markets. Our world renowned brands of ADVENT, GIGA-<br />
WAVE, LINK, MRC and PMR lead <strong>the</strong> way with award winning products including IP gateways,<br />
microwave radio, satellite transmission and wireless cameras.<br />
With offices in <strong>the</strong> UK, USA, Dubai, South Africa and Singapore, and dedicated sales and engineering<br />
teams, VISLINK has <strong>the</strong> experience and expertise to deliver <strong>the</strong> most comprehensive<br />
solutions for today’s challenges.<br />
Taurus Avenue 105, 2132 LS Hoofddorp<br />
The Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands<br />
Tel: +31 23 556 22 22 Fax: +31 23 556 22 40<br />
Email: info@irdeto.com Web: www.irdeto.com<br />
Irdeto empowers companies to protect and monetize <strong>the</strong>ir digital assets and maximize return<br />
on content with innovative and reliable software technologies end-to-end solution and services.<br />
The company’s products include conditional access, digital rights management, business support<br />
systems, set-top box software solutions and, through its Cloakware subsidiary, software and<br />
datacenter security. More than 400 customers worldwide trust Irdeto to secure delivery of <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
valuable content across digital broadcast, IP, Mobile, enterprise and government networks.<br />
Irdeto solutions currently enable simple to advanced business models on more than one billion<br />
devices and applications.<br />
For more information, please visit www.irdeto.com.<br />
NDS Group Ltd, One London Road, Staines, Middlesex TW18 4EX<br />
Tel +44 (0)178 484 8500 Fax +44 (0)178 484 8600<br />
Web: www.nds.com Email: info@nds.com<br />
NDS Group Ltd. creates <strong>the</strong> technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to<br />
securely deliver digital content to TV STBs, DVRs, PCs, mobiles and o<strong>the</strong>r multimedia devices.<br />
Over 90 of <strong>the</strong> world’s leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir business. NDS’ VideoGuard® market leading security solutions offer complete protection<br />
for TV platform operators. MediaHighway® set-top box software enables a wide range of<br />
services including hybrid solutions combing broadcast, cable, IPTV and OTT content. NDS<br />
is also a leader in DVR technology and UIs/EPGs that incorporate interactive television<br />
applications.<br />
For fur<strong>the</strong>r information visit www.nds.com.<br />
ADB designs, manufactures and deploys solutions to distribute pay-TV and multimedia services<br />
to <strong>the</strong> connected home, for all types of networks, providing an amazing user experience.<br />
Advanced Digital Broadcast S.A.<br />
Avenue de Tournay 7, CH-1292 Chambesy, Geneva, Switzerland<br />
Tel: +41 22 799 0799 Fax: +41 22 799 0790<br />
Web: www.adbglobal.com<br />
ADB believes in a future where multi-media content will come from multiple sources and seamlessly<br />
move between multiple screens and devices, at <strong>the</strong> user’s preference. The Company has<br />
delivered over 30 million consumer premise devices to a global customer base. ADB’s innovations<br />
and software expertise have been recognized by numerous industry awards.<br />
38 May-June <strong>2012</strong> www.csimagazine.com
Business<br />
Directory<br />
To advertise contact Tiro Bestonso<br />
+44 (0)20 7562 2427<br />
tiro.bestonso@csimagazine.com<br />
3400 International Drive, NW, Washington D.C. 20008 USA<br />
Tel: +1 202 944 6800 Fax: +1 202 944 7898<br />
Web: www.intelsat.com<br />
Intelsat is <strong>the</strong> leading provider of fixed satellite services worldwide. Intelsat supplies video, data<br />
and voice connectivity for leading media and communications companies, Internet Service<br />
Providers and government organizations. Intelsat’s valuable regional video neighborhoods<br />
deliver more television channels than any o<strong>the</strong>r system. Intelsat’s terrestrial network of eight<br />
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fleet of more than 50 satellites, covering 99% of <strong>the</strong> world’s population. Intelsat utilizes a<br />
fully integrated satellite operations model, enabling global delivery from a single platform. With<br />
Intelsat, communications with your customers are closer, by far.<br />
Bridge Technologies designs, develops, and manufactures advanced analysis, measurement, and<br />
monitoring solutions for <strong>the</strong> digital media, broadcast and telecommunications industries.<br />
Sandakerveien 24c, Building D5<br />
NO-0473 Oslo<br />
Tel: +47 22 38 51 00 Office Switchboard<br />
Tel: +47 22 38 51 01 Office Fax<br />
Web: www.bridgetech.tv<br />
The award-winning VideoBRIDGE series provides an advanced platform for converging TV<br />
services employing stream-based IP packets and all o<strong>the</strong>r Digital TV interfaces within DVB and<br />
ATSC for Cable, Terrestrial and Satellite. Compatible with all major industrial standards such as<br />
MPEG-2, h.264/AVC, HTTP based streaming and ETSI TR 101 290, <strong>the</strong> VideoBRIDGE series<br />
offers a complete end-to-end system for <strong>the</strong> continuous quality assurance of media services.<br />
Humax Electronics Co., Ltd, The Mille Building (8th Floor),<br />
1000 Great West Road, Brentford, London TW8 9HH<br />
Web: www.humaxdigital.com<br />
The Humax range of award-winning digital TV set-top boxes and recorders for Freeview and<br />
Freesat has a product to suit any TV viewer. Feature rich and technologically advanced, yet<br />
intuitive and easy to use, <strong>the</strong> Humax range offers <strong>the</strong> ultimate way to enjoy multi-channel,<br />
subscription-free digital TV, from high definition (HD) and on-demand content, to recording<br />
features and multi-media services.<br />
6825 Flanders Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA<br />
Tel: +1-858-677-7800 Fax: +1-858-677-7804<br />
Web: www.verimatrix.com<br />
Verimatrix specializes in securing and enhancing revenue for multi-screen digital TV services<br />
for more than 500 operators around <strong>the</strong> globe. The award-winning and independently audited<br />
Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) and ViewRight® solutions offer an innovative<br />
approach for cable, satellite, terrestrial and IPTV operators to cost-effectively extend <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
networks and enable new business models. As <strong>the</strong> recognized leader in software-based security<br />
solutions for premier service providers, Verimatrix has pioneered <strong>the</strong> 3-Dimensional Security<br />
approach that offers flexible layers of protection techniques to address evolving business needs<br />
and revenue threats. Maintaining close relationships with major studios, broadcasters, industry<br />
organizations, and its unmatched partner ecosystem enables Verimatrix to provide a unique<br />
perspective on digital TV business issues beyond content security as operators seek to deliver<br />
compelling new services. www.verimatrix.com<br />
EchoStar Europe is dedicated to enabling digital entertainment providers to optimise revenues<br />
by delivering added-value connected device solutions, services and applications. Through a<br />
comprehensive product range, including STBs, DVRs, home networking and TV anywhere<br />
technology, our solutions enable <strong>the</strong> provision of state-of-<strong>the</strong>-art and cost effective entertainment<br />
services.<br />
Beckside Design Centre, Millennium Business Park, Station Road,<br />
Steeton, Keighley BD20 6QW, United Kingdom<br />
Tel: +44 1535 659000 Fax: +44 1535 659100<br />
Web: www.echostar.com<br />
Headquartered in <strong>the</strong> UK, EchoStar Europe comprises a number of business units and is affiliated<br />
with EchoStar Technologies, a subsidiary of <strong>the</strong> publicly traded EchoStar Corporation<br />
(NASDAQ: SATS).<br />
www.csimagazine.com May-June <strong>2012</strong> 39
Real World Security<br />
Solutions for Your<br />
DVB Network<br />
erimatrix<br />
To secure revenue on your evolving pay-TV network, you<br />
need innovation that takes you beyond traditional DVB<br />
conditional access.<br />
Verimatrix VCAS for DVB represents a new breed of<br />
solution that uniquely supports set-top boxes, cardless clients<br />
and innovative hybrid devices as part of a comprehensive multinetwork,<br />
multi-screen revenue security architecture.<br />
www.verimatrix.com/DVB<br />
See us at ANGA Cable <strong>2012</strong><br />
Cologne, Germany • Booth #L19<br />
Beyond Content Protection to Revenue Security