IPTV focus > Connected TV
Digital TV Europe
April 2010
Blinkx provides the search functionality for Miniweb’s over-the-top platform.
TV experience. Filtering according to quality parameters can of course also be extended to deliver some sort of filtering according to the profile or viewing habits of the user. For Pellegrini, operators are likely to take a fairly cautious approach to over-the-top. One possible strategy is to use the capabili- ty of a gateway device to deliver advanced interactive services such as e-healthcare and home security – an approach that Pirelli, for example, as a gateway as well as a set-top sup- plier, is well-placed to support. With sources of content proliferating, there remains a place for some kind of operator role to being all the different pieces together. Existing pay-TV operators are well-placed to fill this role, offering over-the-top as an added- value service. In the case of satellite DTH play- ers, the over-the-top delivery of VOD can com- plement services (including push-VOD servic- es) delivered over the satellite connection. Even in the case of ‘open’ platforms, such as
Canvas or other broadcaster supported plat- forms (such as HbbTV), there will be a need for a ‘walled garden’ of sorts in order to deliv- er an experience that viewers will feel comfort- able with and are able to navigate. “If connect- ed TV is being discussed with Canvas and HbbTV as examples, then we see such servic- es being open platforms to allow the delivery of entertainment services over broadband – in which case all the aspects of an IPTV or cable service, walled-garden or otherwise, must be put in place,” says Ian Walker, director of sales and marketing EMEA at set-top provider EchoStar Europe. “That means a state-of-the- art GUI coupled with a user-friendly experi- ence with emphasis being placed on the abili- ty to easily access mupltiple services as well as simple microbilling for pay-TV elements.” An aggregator role will be key to enabling individual content providers to turn a profit, argues Walker. “The main challenge remains that of making services commercially viable,” he says. “That does not mean that every indi- vidual service provided must be a stand-alone profit centre but that the whole mix of free and pay services, of linear broadcast and on- demand services, of push and pull VOD, of OTT TV and walled-garden services, and of applications and peripheral services must add up to an attractive bundle for which total rev- enue generated exceeds total costs incurred.”
Trade-off
A number of questions remain. What kinds of devices will be required to support the delivery of over-the-top services? How open should the platforms be to content and applications from the open internet? And how precisely do the platform requirements have to be set down? For ADB’s Bristow, the age of “ship and for- get” products is coming to a close. Device manufacturers must build in the capacity to upgrade to accommodate new functionality and services. For Telekom Austria, ADB has added DivX capability to its boxes, enabling the operator to allow DivX-encoded content to be displayed on the TV screen. However, the openness of the platform to multiple video formats, while desirable, adds to the cost of the end devices. “The more formats you put inside, the more it costs,” says Bristow. It is unlikely, for example, that set-top manufactur- ers will embrace HTML5 video.
A number of other recent technologies could have a practical benefits. The use of adaptive streaming, pioneered by Apple and Microsoft, could enable services to be deliv- ered reliably over bandwidth-constrained net- works, for example. However, ANT’s Morris argues that there is no point in increasing the cost of equipment by adding new features immediately, especially where there is no clear standard. “It’s a case of crossing bridges when you come to them,” he says. “Adaptive stream- ing is an obvious case. It’s something that will be needed in 18 months time but for now there is no clear technology that is winning the war, so there is no clear choice.”
Similarly, trying to create a platform that is open to all forms of content might be attrac- tive at one level, but it could also expose the platform to malicious software attacks and other hazards commonly braved by internet users but less tolerable to the same people when they settle back on the sofa as TV view- ers. Any ‘opening out’ to third-party applica- tion providers is likely to be viewed with cau- tion by whoever is held responsible for the connected platform – whether it’s the Canvas consortium or the TV manufacturer. “Being able to put apps or widgets over someone else’s programme is something that broad- casters get very nervous about,” he adds. For this and other reasons, it remains clear that the age of the service provider, with a walled garden of some sort (albeit in a some- what wider-ranging form – a walled wildlife reserve, perhaps) is far from over. But there is an equally strong argument that today’s serv- ice providers really have little choice but to embrace the over-the-top world. “It is definitely a threat to them. At the moment, connected TV – at least in Europe – does not have premium content. But as in the US, services like Hulu and Netflix will arrive – or Canvas,” says AirTies’ Haas. For Pirelli’s Pellegrini, service providers have the advantage of an existing population of vertically integrated set-top boxes (and pos- sibly home gateways) that can enable them to keep some control of future developments. “Broadcasters and telcos can overcome their initial reluctance and fear of cannibalisation and instead counter the risk of being over- whelmed by over-the-top content via devices that are outside their control,” he says. ●
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