March 2017 - Digital TV Europe
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March 2017 pOFC DTVE Mar17.indd 1 22/02/2017 12:09
Where News Inspires Change pXX TRT DTVE Mar17.indd 1 16/02/2017 15:01
Digital TV Europe
March 2017
Contents
22. The rise of the skinny bundle
The US is experiencing an influx of slimmed-down, OTT-delivered cable offerings. But how is
this trend affecting the pay TV industry and does this latest development translate over to the
European market? Andy Fry reports.
16. Mike Fries: introducing the GIGAWorld
Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries explains his vision for the rapidly approaching ‘GIGAWorld’ and
explains why it will change your life.
18. Altice Labs: age of opportunity
16
Altice Labs’ general manager, Alcino Lavrador, discusses IP delivery, the advent of 5G and
unpicks some of the biggest technical challenges facing the TV industry today.
30. Interview: Harald Rösch, Melita
Ahead of next month’s Cable Congress, Harald Rösch, CEO of Malta’s Melita, talks to Stuart
Thomson about improving a brand’s reputation and growth through diversification and bundling.
32. The future of Ultra HD
We are on the cusp of pictures that are brighter, crisper and more impressive than they have ever
been before. Andy McDonald looks at the latest moves towards advanced Ultra HD. 32
36. TV Connect 2017: the preview
Ahead of this year’s TV Connect, DTVE spoke to two of the London event’s speakers about
business opportunities and digital developments.
42. ANGA COM 2017: the preview
Peter Charissé, managing director of ANGA COM, talks to Digital TV Europe about the 42
exhibition’s move to a new location and this year’s highlights.
Regulars
2 This month 4 News digest 38 Technology 43 People 44 Final analysis
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
1
p01 Contents DTVE Mar17v2am.indd 1 24/02/2017 11:09
This month > Editor’s note Digital TV Europe
March 2017
Issue no 330
Published By:
Making a connection
KNect365 TMT
Maple House
Connectivity
149 Tottenham Court Road
is a topic that is never far
London W1T 7AD
from the TV industry. From
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5000
the evolution of mobile screens and services through to the uptake,
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7017 4953
Website: www.digitaltveurope.net advancement and now near-ubiquity of internet-delivered video, the
world of television is as diffuse and varied as it has ever been.
In an exclusive opinion piece ahead of his keynote speech at Cable
Editor Stuart Thomson
Congress in Brussels, Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries shares his vision of
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5314
Email: stuart.thomson@knect365.com the approaching ‘GIGAWorld’, and describes how operators like Liberty
can help meet the demands of an ‘always-on’ society.
Grappling with changes in both technology and viewing habits has seen the industry do
Deputy Editor Andy McDonald
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5293
its fair share of soul searching in recent years and this issue of Digital TV Europe will look at
Email: andrew.mcdonald@knect365.com some of the latest developments in over-the-top channel delivery and Ultra HD technology
innovation.
The ‘skinny bundle’ seems to be the latest craze sweeping the US market. As Hulu prepares
Contributing Editor
Stewart Clarke to roll out its slimmed-down OTT TV offering – following in the footsteps of PlayStation Vue,
DirecTV Now and Sling TV – and as YouTube waits in the wings, we look at how pay TV-lite
services are shaking up the industry. We also look at how the evloution of these flexible services
Contributors
translates to the European pay TV market.
Kate Bulkley, Andy Fry, Adrian Pennington,
Adam Thomas, Anna Tobin, Jesse Whittock Elswhere in this edition we take a deep-dive into the latest advancements in Ultra High-
Definition technology. With all eyes on the 2020 Japanese Olympics we talk to some of the
leading standards bodies and technology organistions about how work is progressing and look
Correspondents
forward to the day when High Dynamic Range, Higher Frame Rates and next-generation audio
France: Julien Alliot; Germany: Dieter
Brockmeyer; Italy: Branislav Pekic will be living-room staples.
With conference season well and truly underway, we speak to Hopster CEO Nick Walters
and BBC Studios’ digital development head Will Saunders ahead of their appearances at TV
Sales Director Patricia Arescy
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5320
Connect in March.
Email: patricia.arescy@knect365.com We also talk to two cable TV industry executives who will be joining Mike Fries at Cable
Congress this year. Melita’s Harold Rösch gives us an insight into the competitive challenges of
the operator’s small home market of Malta, while Altice Labs’ Alcino Lavrador takes a broader
Art Director Matthew Humberstone
view and discusses some of the technological challenges facing the TV industry in 2017.
Finally, ANGA COM managing director Peter Charissé explains what new things to expect
Printing Wyndeham Grange, West Sussex
from the leading German industry event in May. We’ll see you on the show floor. l
To subscribe to this magazine or our Stuart Thomson will be back next month.
daily email newsletter please visit
digitaltveurope.net/registerhere
© 2017 Informa UK Ltd
All rights reserved
Andy McDonald, Deputy Editor
Reproduction without permission is prohibited
andrew.mcdonald@knect365.com
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
2
p02 Ed Note DTVE Mar17v4am.indd 2 24/02/2017 11:10
pXX CSG Ascendon Mar17.indd 1 20/02/2017 09:51
News > digest Digital TV Europe
March 2017
News digest
> 4 EU reaches agreement on content portability > 5 Liberty Global grows advanced
TV base > 6 Apple originals to launch ‘in next few months’ > 8 Vodafone Germany
launches advanced TV service > 10 Sky moves beyond the dish with OTT TV plans
EU reaches agreement on content portability across borders
By Stuart Thomson > viders”. The rules will make any The impact of the changes
provision in existing contracts on pay TV and OTT TV service
The European Parliament, the that limits cross-border portabil- providers, broadcasters and pro-
European Commission and ity unenforceable, reducing the ducers is subject to debate, with
member states have reached scope for legal conflict. The EU the Association of Commercial
an agreement on implement- is not obliging service provid- Television in Europe warning
ing new rules to enable content ers to ensure quality of delivery that portability rules could un-
portability, allowing EU citizens across borders, which would in- dermine the financing of con-
to view services they subscribe Council and the Parliament. cur additional costs. tent by limiting the ability to sell
to no matter where they are in Once adopted, the rules will be Service providers will howev- on a territory-specific basis.
the Union. applicable in all Member States er be obliged to make content However, public broadcasters’
The deal is the first covering by the beginning of 2018. The available across the same devic- organisation the EBU said that
the modernisation of EU copy- regulation grants providers and es and under the same rules as current legal uncertainty and
right rules proposed in the EU’s right holders a nine-month peri- in the their home countries. the variation in copyright rules
Digital Single Market strategy. od to prepare for the application EU Commissioner Tibor between member states meant
Under the new rules, online of the new rules. Navracsics, in charge of educa- that broadcasters were pre-
content service providers will The agreement on content tion, culture, youth and sport, vented from making their pro-
verify their subscribers’ country portability comes at the same said: “Digital technologies grammes available online. The
of residence by using means time as the end of mobile roam- provide new opportunities to EBU has said it does not believe
such as payment details, the ex- ing charges within the EU. Mo- enjoy cultural content on the that all geo-blocking of content
istence of an internet contract or bile operators will no longer be go, and people are eager to use will be prevented.
by checking the IP address. able to levy roaming charges them. [The] agreement opens Tony Gunnarsson, senior an-
All providers that offer paid from June 15 this year, meaning new doors to citizens while at alyst at Ovum, said he did not
online content services will have that mobile users will be able to the same time protecting crea- believe the changes would have
to follow the rules. Providers access content using their exist- tors and those investing in the a huge impact on OTT service
of free services, including the ing mobile data allowances no production of cultural or sport providers. “For the big guys
online services of public TV or matter where they are in the EU. content. This balanced solution like Netflix and Amazon, which
radio broadcasters, will have dis- The EU authorities have been is an encouraging sign for our dominate SVOD in Europe, this
cretion in deciding whether to at pains to emphasise the limit- efforts to build a Digital Single is unlikely to have any impact
enable portability or not. ed impact of the content regula- Market that offers new oppor- as the two services are already
The agreed text must now be tion on “the business models of tunities for both creators and available across the region,” he
formally confirmed by the EU rights holders and service pro- consumers.” said.
deeper cooperation both inside reach 8.5 million customers across operations had 507,000 TV cus-
France and outside France. Richard said Europe. In France, Orange had tomers at the end of the year, up
Orange was paying close attention 6.609 million TV customers, down from 366,000.
IPTV > Orange on Canal+ to the rights for Ligue 1 football, an from 6.423 million a year earlier.
Orange does not want to acquire area where there is scope for coop- In Spain, take-up of TV services PROG > NBC for Euronews
Canal+, according to CEO Stéphane eration with Canal+ in the face of increased sharply, with 507,000 NBC News is to acquire a 25%
Richard. Interviewed by BFM TV, the rise of rival SFR as a premium customers at the end of the year, stake in Euronews, and the Europe-
Richard said that to his knowledge, sports provider. Richard spoke to up 1.7 times year-on-year. Orange an news channel is to be renamed
Canal+ was not for sale, and there BFM TV after year-end results that Luxembourg had 40,000 TV Eurnonews NBC following the
were no talks in progress. However, saw Orange’s TV customer base customers, up from 4,000 a year transaction. NBC News chief Andy
he said the pair were discussing increase by 6.9% year-on-year to earlier. Orange’s central European Lack revealed the move in an inter-
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
4
p04-05,08,10,14 DTVE News Digest Mar17v3am.indd 4 23/02/2017 19:34
Digital TV Europe News > digest
March 2017
nal memo to NBC staff in which he
announced that Noah Oppenheim, Germany Kuwait Events
the executive in charge of the
flagship Today programme, would PROG > Boost for Pro7Sat.1 OTT > Iflix JV with Zain Satellite 2017
take over from Deborah Turness as Revenues from producing in the South-East Asian SVOD provider Date: 6-9 March
the US news network’s president. US and production company Iflix is launching a version its ser- Venue: Walter E. Washington
Turness, a former ITV executive, acquisitions have driven significant vice in the Middle East and North Convention Center, Washington,
was named president of NBC News growth in ProSiebenSat.1’s interna- Africa in a joint-venture partnership DC, USA
International, a new division that tional business. The media group’s with Kuwait-based mobile telecom W: 2017.satshow.com
will liaise between the US news content production and global sales operator Zain. Iflix Arabia will be
division and Eurnonews, and could division posted a 38% year-on-year headquartered in Dubai and will Cable Congress 2017
also serve as the springboard for increase in 2016 revenues of €362 offers services wherever Zain is Date: 8-9 March
further international expansion by million. EBIDTA increased 87%, to present in the region, including Venue: The Square, Brussels,
NBC News. Lack told staff that NBC €47 million. ProSiebenSat.1 has Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Leba- Belgium
would invest in European journal- reorganised its business to focus non, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, with W: www.knect365.com/ca-
ism and strengthen the depth and more on digital and non-advertising the potential to further extend into ble-congress/
pace of Euronews’ reporting. Ac- revenue streams. Digital sales in- additional regional markets. The
cording to press reports, NBC will creased 19% to €442 million. Core service is scheduled to launch in TV Connect 2017
spend US$30 million (e28 million) German broadcasting revenues the second quarter of this year, tar- Date: 28-30 March
for its stake in Euronews. The move were up 3% at €2.2 billion. The geting Zain’s mobile user base. Iflix Venue: ExCel, London, UK
will make NBC the second largest company reported an overall year- Arabia will be led as CEO by John- W: https://tmt.knect365.com/
shareholder in Euronews after on-year increase of 17% in annual Paul McKerlie, who has served as tv-connect/
Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, revenues if €3.8 billion. EBITDA Zain’s consumer marketing director
who holds a 53% stake. was up 10% at €1 billion. since last May. MIPTV
Date: 3-6 April
Venue: Palais des Festivals,
Liberty Global grows advanced TV base Cannes, France
W: www.cabsat.com
By Andy McDonald Fries: countries around the world.
expansion of The company also completed Cabsat
Liberty Global added 313,000 4K set-top the rollout of its Horizon TV Date: 21-23 April
next-generation TV customers deployment offering across its European Venue: Dubai World Trade
in Q4 and said it plans to ex- and DOCSIS operations during the quarter, Center, Dubai, UAE
pand the deployment of its new 3.1 planned. with the launch of Horizon TV W: www.miptv.com
4K cloud-based set-top box. in Austria and Horizon-Lite in
Announcing its fourth quar- Romania. NAB Show
ter and full-year 2016 results, Liberty-owned Virgin Media Fries said that in late 2017 Date: 22-27 April
Liberty said that overall it add- launched its new 4K-enabled Liberty Global will start field Venue: LVCC, Las Vegas, Ne-
ed 1.2 million subscribers last V6 set-top box in the UK in the trials of DOCSIS 3.1 technolo- vada, USA
year to its next-gen TV services fourth quarter as part of its new gy, which will provide “gigabit W: www.nabshow.com
– which include Horizon and ‘home entertainment experi- speeds” to its customers.
Horizon-Lite in mainland Eu- ence’. The company already claims Internet of Things World
rope, TiVo in the UK and Yelo in Looking ahead, Fries said that to have delivered more than Date: 16-18 May
Belgium the company plans to continue 1.4 million new gigabit-ready Venue: Santa Clara Convention
The company ended the year to enrich its bundled offerings homes in 2016, including near- Center, California, USA
with 6.7 million next-genera- with “compelling 4G mobile of- ly half a million at Virgin Media W: www.knect365.com/iot-
tion subscribers in Europe, rep- fers” and new content and func- alone, as part of its network ex- world/
resenting 38% of its total video tionality – “including the launch pansion efforts.
base excluding DTH. of Netflix across our footprint”. Overall, in Europe, Liberty ANGA COM
“We will also expand the de- Liberty started to make Netf- Global said last year it added Date: 30 May - 1 June
ployment of exciting new prod- lix available on its set-top boxes 946,000 new revenue gener- Venue: Köln Messe, Cologne,
ucts like our 4K cloud-based – starting in the Netherlands ating units (RGUs) – covering Germany
set-top and our WiFi Connect in December – after agreeing basic and enhanced video sub- W: www.angacom.de
Box,” said Liberty Global CEO a multi-year partnership with scribers, DTH, internet or te-
Mike Fries. the SVOD giant that covers 30 lephony subscribers.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
5
p04-05,08,10,14 DTVE News Digest Mar17v3am.indd 5 23/02/2017 19:34
Get ready for the ultimate
entertainment experience..
At TiVo, we’re always innovating to deliver
the ultimate entertainment experience. From
every room of the house to anywhere in the
world, we’re revolutionising how people find
media in this chaotic and fragmented land-
scape by deepening consumer engagement
with movies, TV shows, music and more.
Our technologies are customisable, compatible
across systems and platforms, and available as
end-to-end solutions and flexible APIs.
/ Fully integrated content discovery experiences
/ Advanced search and recommendations solutions,
including natural-language voice search
/ Immersive entertainment metadata
/ Insightful, data-driven audience analytics
Visit tivo.com or follow us on
Twitter @tivoforbusiness
© 2017 TiVo Corporation. All rights reserved. TiVo and the TiVo logo are registered
trademarks of TiVo Corporation and its subsidiaries worldwide.
p06 TiVo Mar17.indd 1 21/02/2017 10:53
Q&A: Charles Dawes,
senior director international marketing, TiVo
Charles Dawes, senior director international marketing at TiVo, talks about his company’s recent research into changing patterns of
media consumption and the evolution of the TV experience.
You recently did some research into changing media consumption watch becomes a must-have feature.
patterns? What are the key lessons? We’ve recently launched the latest generation of the Emmy Award
As in previous years, TiVo has undertaken its annual study into how pay- winning TiVo User Experience, which brings these features, and many
TV and over-the-top (OTT) subscribers are consuming their favourite other updates, to the market. Another feature we’ve already launched
entertainment content. This year we saw some key themes developing. on our US consumer platform, including on our BOLT+, which was an
Firstly, we saw that content consumption remains as high as ever, honoree in the 2017 CES Innovation Awards, is QuickMode. QuickMode
with the average consumer spending four hours per day watching or enables viewers to binge watch at 30% faster than real time with
streaming content. Here in Europe, the UK and France were slightly pitch-corrected audio – another example of TiVo innovation making
higher than the average, with Germany being slightly lower. We also saw entertainment consumption simple, easy and fun.
that consumers still spend an average of 19 minutes per day looking for
content. How important is voice to search and discovery and how quickly, and
One of the most significant new trends we saw, however, is something to what extent, do you think voice control will gain traction among
we’re calling ‘Show Dumping’. This is when a consumer who has invested consumers?
a considerable amount of time and effort into watching a show they love As we saw at CES in January, voice-based interaction with Artificial
stops watching because it became too difficult or expensive to continue. Intelligence-based virtual assistants is starting to become an everyday
This could be for a variety of reasons, including the content being too occurrence. In the content discovery realm, voice search really opens the
hard to find because it’s moved or that it’s behind a paywall they don’t consumer up to the wealth of content that is available to them.
have access to. Over 37% of our respondents had experienced ‘Show With TiVo’s Natural Language Understanding capabilities, the
Dumping’. consumer doesn’t need to ‘search for search’, and they can simply say
what they are looking for and the system will understand them. From
To what extent does thinking around the evolution of TiVo’s user something as simple as the name of a programme or actor, to a more
experience match the findings of your research? complicated free-form question like ‘What’s the film where Tom Hanks
One of the areas that we’re seeing a real step-change in how we think talks to a volleyball?’.
about the consumer experience is how we look at recommending The power of TiVo’s voice search solution is our incredible
content to the consumer. We’ve found that pure recommendations understanding of entertainment, and the details behind each and
aren’t satisfying the consumer across all the use cases. Instead we need every TV programme, series, film, song, actor, director and many more
to focus on predicting what the customer would actually want to see in attributes, means we understand entertainment in human terms, and
many scenarios. Our predictions are driven by time, day and previous not simply as unconnected entries in a database.
interactions, as well as an innate understanding of the consumer’s
entertainment preferences. How is the integration of the former Rovi and TiVo progressing and
In our research, we saw that those consumers who rated their what still needs to be done?
recommendation system greater than seven out of 10 actually It’s going really well. Our aim was to bring together two leading companies
consumed over one-third more content. A clear indicator that a best- in the media and entertainment space to combine the best-of-breed
in-class recommendation engine is a requirement for an advanced solutions from both companies. From leading-class metadata that spans
entertainment discovery experience. the entertainment spectrum of video, music and sports, to Seamless
Discovery that powers recommendations in eight of the top 10 US MSOs,
What are the main developments can we expect around content to our Emmy Award winning User Experiences, we’re now servicing over
discovery over the coming year? 500 operators globally, and our technologies are licensed to 170 million
We can expect to continue seeing the drive towards the ultimate homes. We’re continuing to evolve as we look to help our customers
entertainment discovery experience where content catalogues aren’t understand their consumers with advanced analytics solutions, and head
separate silos and the ability to predict what the consumer wants to towards providing the ‘Ultimate Entertainment Experience’.
pXX TiVo Q&A Mar17v2st.indd 1 15/02/2017 17:42
News > digest Digital TV Europe
March 2017
content will be available on-de- concerts opera and ballet perfor-
Global Wrap Spain mand. Movistar eSports will also mances and other events in 4K
feature profiles of leading gamers with Dolby Digital sound, Funbox
TV and video delivery will be- PROG > eSports investment and additional content based on UHD from SPI International, Insight
come a “core capability” of 5G Telefónica’s Movistar+ pay TV the Movistar Riders team and TV from TERN and SlowChannel,
wireless services, allowing mo- service has launched its previously Game House created by Movistar a channel oproviding images of
bile providers to offer TV-equiv- announced eSports service follow- as part of its broader investment nature in UHD. The service will also
alent services, according to ing the deal it signed earlier this in eSports. Telefónica agreed an include access to Netflix content
new research. The Strategy year with Modern Times Group- exclusive deal with ESL in January in 4K. The new Vodafone TV
Analytics report claims that backed ESL. Movistar eSports will to provide content for its pay TV service will be based on the latest
5G-delivered offerings could cover live gaming events along service. version of the TiVo platform and
eat into the US$500 billion with other content. A weekly will include 120 TV channels, the
(e475 billion) global TV and magazine show, The Gaming CAB > Vodafone 4K launch Videoclub on-demand offering and
video market currently served House, will also be broadcast on Vodafone Spain has unveiled a access to HBO España and Netflix.
by cable, satellite, IPTV and the Movistar Deportes 1 channel new version of its TV service that According to Vodafone, over
terrestrial broadcast service at 23:30 on Wednesdays. The includes the country’s first 4K TV 20,000 titles and episodes will be
providers. More than 30 million service will air 10 specials covering offering. Vodafone will be offering available to view via a personal-
VR headsets shipped last year, ESLOne and IEM gaming events, a range of services in 4K, including ised recommendation and search
with Google Cardboard taking the first of which will be broadcast five channels, 4K coverage of La engine. The service will include a
a “commanding share” of from Katowice in Poland. Two of Liga football and Netflix content. new interface that Vodafone said is
shipments and installed base, these specials will be tied in with The channels offering will comprise more visual and intuitive and sup-
according to Strategy Analyt- the Movistar Series tournament factual channel Odisea 4K, special ports simultaneous cloud-based
ics. The research firm’s ‘VR created by the pay TV operator. events channel Festival 4K, which recordings that can be accessed
Headset Platform Market Share In addition to the live channel, will provide coverage of festivals, from multiple set-tops in the home.
Year End 2016’ report said that
Google’s low-price Cardboard
option took 69% of shipment Apple originals to launch in ‘next few months’
volume market share last year.
HBO has passed more than two By Andy McDonald > Cue: video as like that that we have, so we
million domestic subscribers for can be a very hope to continue doing more –
its over-the-top service HBO Apple’s first originals – Carpool important and we’ll see.”
Now, parent company Time Karaoke and Planet of the Apps – part of Apple Cue said that Apple has a “real
Warner revealed. Time Warner will launch on Apple Music in Music. opportunity in the TV space”
CEO Jeff Bewkes announced the “next few months”, accord- but is interested in doing pro-
the figure during the compa- ing to Apple’s SVP of internet grammes that aren’t being done
ny’s fourth quarter earnings software and services, Eddy by anyone else. He played down
call, saying he was pleased with Cue. Planet of the Apps, Cue said that the notion of Apple buying a
HBO’s US over-the-top growth. Speaking at the Code Media the shows will be exclusive to large producer and distributer
Twitter attracted 31 million conference in California, Cue Apple Music, won’t appear on of content – such as a Netflix or
unique viewers to live premium showed a clip of Planet of the traditional television and will be a Time Warner – or signing up
video in the first quarter of Apps and revealed details of the available across Apple TV, Mac to make a big budget drama se-
operations, with 600 hours Ben Silverman-produced show, and iOS devices. ries like Game of Thrones.
of live content from partners which will see app developers “We think that video can be “We’re not taking the tradi-
streamed across about 400 pitch for financial backing and a very important part of Apple tional route. This [Planet of the
events. The social network said then promotion through the Music. It’s one of the differen- Apps] is a show that’s unlike an-
that 52% of the 600 hours of App Store. tiating factors that we can add,” ything that we see out there that
live premium video aired in the The series will be available said Cue, when asked about the we are able to add value to,” said
quarter was sports content, “in most countries in the world” reasons for the move. “We’re Cue. Planet of the Apps will see
while 38% was news and poli- as part of Apple’s 18-month old just starting out and we’re excit- contestants pitch for investment
tics and 10% was categorised subscription music offering, as ed. We think these shows bring from what Apple described as
as entertainment. Twitter said will Carpool Karaoke – Apple’s something to customers that “four of the world’s most cultur-
that 33% of unique viewers previously announced Late haven’t been seen before, so ally influential entrepreneurs”
came from outside the US, Late Show with James Corden there’s something unique, spe- – Will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Gary
while approximately 50% of spin-off. Appearing on-stage cial that we’re bringing to the Vaynerchuk and Gwyneth Pal-
viewers were under 25. alongside Silverman to discuss table. I think there are more ide- trow.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
8
p04-05,08,10,14 DTVE News Digest Mar17v3am.indd 8 23/02/2017 19:34pXX Arris Mar17.indd 1 20/02/2017 12:56
News > digest Digital TV Europe
March 2017
IPTV > Telefónica numbers customers in Spain at the end of to compete with the standalone
Telefónica’s overall TV base was the year, up from 2.6 million a year Sweden streaming services such as Amazon
stable year-on-year, at 8.3 million earlier. The quarterly ARPU of and Netflix, and doc-focused SVOD
including 4.3 million satellite cus- Fusión stood at €81.6, 12% higher IPTV > Curio launch platforms including CuriosityStream.
tomers, giving the company a pay year-on-year, driven by the portfolio Factual SVOD service Curio will Also like its sister service, the first
TV penetration of 48% where it renewal and price hikes, and by launch in Sweden and Norway next launches are in the Nordics. The
offers the service. Pay TV subscrib- changes in the mix of customers. month after the ITV-backed service Curio programming line-up will be
ers in Spain numbered 3.657 million, However, the total number of pay secured deals with pay TV operators divided across different factual
down from 3.711 million in the third TV subscribers in Spain continued to in the region. In Sweden, Curio will categories: civilisation, nature and
quarter and from 3.671 million at decline slightly in the fourth quarter, be on the Com Hem platform, the the environment, science and tech,
the end of 2015. In Spain, Movistar with 54,000 losses compared with largest in the country, and in Nor- and current affairs and social issues.
Fusión’s consumer base reached 44,000 down in the third quarter. way, on Get, the second largest na- Mark Bradford and Hugh Williams
4.3 million customers, up 5% In Brazil, pay TV numbers dropped tionally. Curio comes from the same are behind Cirkus and the new docs
year-on-year, with some 80% of TV year-on-year from 1.788 million to team as Cirkus, which is the best-of- service, which, editorially, is posi-
customers being Fusión converged 1.713 million. Pay TV numbers were British SVOD service that is backed tioned as an alternative to the likes
customers, up 10 percentage points down in Venezuela, up in Chile, and by UK broadcaster ITV. Like Cirkus of Discovery and Nat Geo, which
year-on-year. In total, there were up strongly on 2015 in Colombia but it is designed to sit within pay TV have moved away from pure factual
2.943 million Movistar Fusión TV down quarter-on-quarter. operators’ platforms and allow them content and into entertainment.
Vodafone Germany launches new advanced TV service
By Stuart Thomson > Ametsreiter: mobile operator had 14.7 mil- paper. The paper cited Voda-
GigaTV will lion fixed broadband customers fone CEO Vittorio Colao as say-
Vodafone Germany has include uni- with 417,000 added over the ing that the service was ready
launched a new advanced TV versal search quarter, including 339,000 in to launch within weeks if the
platform, GigaTV. and other Europe, of which 76% were on- company felt it was necessary
The platform, which will in- advanced net customers. but said that Vodafone now had
tegrate linear TV, on-demand features. In Germany, Vodafone had other priorities.
video and apps from stream- 7.8 million TV customers at the On a conference call with an-
ing services as well as mul- simultaneously. end of December. Fixed-net- alysts following the group’s re-
tiscreen access to content via HD services will cost an addi- work revenue grew by 4.8% in sults, Colao said UK broadband
smartphones and tablets, is tional €9.99, with a premium the third quarter and the com- adds had been “OK” but broad-
available over the former Kabel package available for €19.99. pany had 110,000 broadband band was a product it mostly
Deutschland cable network. Ahead of the launch Voda- customers, including 77,000 wanted to push to its existing
The service offers access to fone Germany CEO Hannes cable customers. mobile companies.
55 on-demand portals as well as Ametsreiter told Bild magazine In Spain, TV customers Consumer broadband num-
a video library of 5,000 movie that Vodafone plans to intro- numbered 1.3 million at the bers in the UK are increasing
titles, access to music service duce new features including the end of the quarter. The group’s but remain modest at 129,000,
Deezer, the Maxdome SVOD ability to control the service via integrated fixed, mobile and TV up 32,000 in the quarter.
service and Sky’s pay TV ser- Amazon’s Alexa personal assis- offering, Vodafone One, had 2.1 Vodafone’s UK business was,
vices. tant. He also said that GigaTV million customers at the end of along with India, where it fac-
The GigaTV box includes a 1 would feature universal search the period, up from 1.1 million es strong price competition, a
TB hard drive that can play Ul- functionality. a year previously. Fixed broad- black spot in the company’s Q3
tra HD TV content. News of the TV rollout came band net additions numbered numbers. UK sales dropped by
GigaTV with a set-top box is as Vodafone posted its Q3 num- 93,000. over 3% as a result of competi-
available exclusively on cable for bers globally. In a quarter where Intense competition in India tion in the enterprise market
€14.99 a month, but an app-on- its earnings were hit by mobile and pressure in the UK market and the loss of key contracts.
ly variant, providing TV streams price competition in India and contributed to an overall 3.9% Colao said that Vodafone re-
to multiscreen devices, will also a tough UK market, Vodafone in the group’s revenue in the mains Europe’s fastest growing
be available for e9.99. Google grew its global TV customer quarter to €13.7 billion. fixed broadband provider. Voda-
Cast and Apple Airplay func- base by 100,000 in the course Separately, Vodafone has put fone added 1.5 million fixed cus-
tionality is not yet available. of the three months to Decem- its plans to launch a TV service tomers globally last year. Fixed
Both variants will allow users ber to reach 9.7 million cus- in the UK on hold, according to now represents 22% of group
to receive up to three streams tomers. Overall, the fixed and a report in The Telegraph news- revenue.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
10
p04-05,08,10,14 DTVE News Digest Mar17v3am.indd 10 23/02/2017 19:3418 MILLION
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Telenor Satellite is at the cutting edge
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as one of Europe’s “hotspot” locations.
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telenorsat.com/broadcast
p11 Telenor Mar17.indd 1 21/02/2017 12:16p12 Mobibase Mar17.indd 1 21/02/2017 10:45
Q&A: Vincent Roger,
CEO, Mobibase
Mobibase CEO Vincent Roger talks about the market for OTT TV services for ethnic groups and the flexibility of the white-label model.
What would you identify as the top three factors that will have the What types of services and content are migrant and expatriate users
biggest impact on the TV business globally over the next few years? looking for primarily and what do content providers need to do to
Moving from broadcast to IPTV is one key factor. The future TV maximise the opportunity?
experience is multi-platform. Today people watch videos across all The first thing is to be able to play globally. You may want to take
their connected devices. Their favourite channels, viewing behaviour channels to Latin America or from Latin America to Spain. You may
and subscriptions, all need to be portable – in the cloud, on a mobile be able to adapt linear streams to different markets according to the
device, or on a tablet. rights you hold or the languages you support, or instead of bringing
The second thing is what we could call application-based TV. Linear linear channels, you could bring video-on-demand with content which
TV has to be delivered through apps. The producers themselves are will focus on international and local perspective of any kind of users’
already developing their own apps for different stores. These could interests such as sports, lifestyle, kids or education.
be mega-stores like iOS and Google, but there are also pay TV services Content providers have been slow to embrace all this, but often
with their own stores. their content is already available through piracy. It can be extremely
The third factor is content. The OTT revolution means that producers challenging to develop flexible, legitimate services. But that is what
can be distributors. You can market your own content, and this means we have been doing by helping rights-holders distribute their content
you now see a very strong push on ethnic and niche content. For internationally. For example, we worked with a channel provider in Spain
example, there are many people from Africa in France that would like to to help them build international content revenues, and they have been
watch content from their original country through African TV channels. very flexible in getting the right content cleared for the right countries.
Community is becoming a very strong word in TV industry. In the You also need a workable business model. We believe revenue share
US, there are eight million French-speaking people and there is no will be the main model for ethnic and niche OTT services.
dedicated service for this community. The relevant content should be
available for this target audience. To what extent are OTT TV service providers looking to white label
Mobibase is a 15 year-old content company. Now, more than solutions – including both the technical platform and content
ever, we are focusing on linear and on-demand content for specific aggregation – and what advantages does this bring for them?
communities. We can address various communities around the world It is not difficult to stream or encode a channel, but it is difficult to
via operators that require rights-cleared packages. For example, a achieve 100% perfect video quality. We have developed a global white-
major telecommunications provider asked us to develop a Hispanic label offering, from which we can launch high-quality services in a few
package, and we cleared the rights and distributed that to them. We weeks or even days, if needed. The key is to have cutting-edge streaming
also supply top European operators with TV apps, and for most of our technology and to be able to launch OTT solutions fast. In the past, we
clients we provide multiscreen applications. needed almost a year to get something launched but now companies
want to launch their OTT apps in only a few weeks.
How significant is the market for OTT services targeted at migrant
and expatriate groups globally and how fast do you expect it to How has Mobibase adapted its business to address the changing
grow? needs of the market?
I believe this is the key driver in the TV market growth today. All around With people migrating and looking for ethnic content from their
the world the demand for pay TV services is becoming satiated. All original country, Mobibase integrated in its content offer ethnic TV and
of the key players have over 500 channels. It is difficult for operators VOD packages for diaspora communities from all around the world –
to find avenues for growth. The only way to build value and get the packages such as Hispanic, Arabic, African, English, Turkish, Italian,
customer to pay more is to reach out and serve their basic needs. French, Caribbean and more.
This could mean building offerings dedicated to watch local Also, with the boom in OTT and apps stores, we adapted our business
telenovelas from Latin America, to learn English or French languages by shifting to a multi-device approach. Mobibase is now working on
in China, to get news on niche or extreme sports, to offer travel several projects with major operators and OTT providers from Europe,
documentaries on specific subjects, or even to receive luxury offers Latin America and Middle East in order to deliver a full experience
for yachts, properties, cars and wine. This is how OTT services could approach: content licensing and integration paired with multiscreen
generate new revenues. apps on web, Android, iOS and more.
p13 Mobibase Q&A Mar17.indd 1 21/02/2017 10:40News > digest Digital TV Europe
March 2017
Together with existing funding the ing that this is a “realistic, possibly
UAE UK channel will have an initial budget optimistic” view, with consumer
of £30 million. spending likely to “become more
IPTV > MBC+ Ooredoo PROG > BBC Scotland muted as inflation rises and the
UAE-based MBC Group and The BBC is to invest £19 million PROG > ITV’s Brexit blues reality of Brexit sets in”.
Qatar-based telco Ooredoo have (e22 million) in creating a new TV The outlook for ITV has deteri-
launched the new MBC+ Ooredoo channel for Scotland and will up its orated as advertisers pull back PROG > Rights partnership
Channel for Ooredoo TV sub- spending on Scottish programming on spending amid anxiety about Various UK rights associations
scribers. MBC+ Ooredoo will air by about £20 million a year as part Brexit, according to analysts at have partnered with search
a selection of MBC’s best Arabic of a new programme of invest- Berenberg. The analysts said that engines Google and Bing in a
content and is available to Ooredoo ment in the UK’s devolved nations. spot advertising net revenue for government-backed attempt to
customers on channel 180. The Following a review of programming ITV looks set to fall by 8% in Q1, crack down on internet piracy. The
new launch is part of a multi-year and services, the BBC has said it down from an earlier prognosis of UK initiative will see sites dedicated
memorandum of understanding will recognise the need to spend a 3-4% decline. “Despite bullish to copyright-infringing content
signed between Ooredoo and more of the licence fee raised in headlines about how the UK is demoted in internet search results,
MBC Group last year, which gave Scotland and Scottish content and faring after the Brexit decision, while sites offering legal content
Ooredoo exclusive rights to some services. The new channel, BBC it seems advertisers, particularly will be easily accessible. The new
of MBC’s HD channels in Qatar. The Scotland, will air from 19:00 each retail and food, are pulling back voluntary code of practise was
channel’s launch event was held on day and will include an hour-long spend in anticipation of tightened agreed between the two leading
Sunday in The Museum of Islamic news programme at 21:00 on consumer budgets and margin search engines and music body the
Art in Doha and was attended by weekdays, edited and presented squeeze related to inflation on cost BPI, the Motion Picture Association,
Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Al from Scotland. The pubcaster of goods sold,” said Berenberg. The and the Alliance for Intellectual
Sayed, MBC Group CEO Sam Bar- said it would create about 80 new analysts maintained their negative Property, which represents a range
nett and a host of MBC talent. journalist posts to staff the service. 5% forecast for the full year, argu- of rights holders.
Sky moves beyond the dish with OTT TV plans
By Andy McDonald The news came as Sky an- Darroch: In the UK, Sky increased re-
nounced its results for the six Italian and turns on its box investment by
Sky has unveiled plans to launch months ending December 31. German making the Sky Q box stand-
Sky TV over broadband in the For the period Sky said it added launches will ard for all UK customers, with
UK and other European mar- 500,000 new customers across follow that in around 25% of new customers
kets, marking the first time it all its markets – the UK and the UK. currently choosing to pay for ad-
will offer its full television offer- Ireland, Germany and Austria ditional Sky Q functionality.
ing without the need for a satel- and Italy. This took its total retail “Our plans to roll out Sky Q
lite dish. customer figure to 22.3 million mance,” said Sky CEO Jeremy to our other markets are also
Sky said its Sky Q service will – 12.65 million in the UK and Darroch. on track,” said Sky, which intro-
be available over IP, via a set-top Ireland, 4.86 million in Germa- IHS Technology senior prin- duced the service in the UK and
box, from next year, opening ny and Austria and 4.81 million cipal analyst Ted Hall warned Ireland last February.
up the service to “millions of in Italy. that Sky’s impressive results Sky also plans to offer inter-
homes” in the UK that are cur- Revenue was up 6% on a included some “notable cave- net-delivered versions of its TV
rently unable to install a dish. constant currency basis to £6.41 ats”, pointing out that Premier service in its other European
The move marks Sky’s latest billion (e6.1 billion) but operat- League costs in the UK lowered markets. Speaking on the com-
move into over-the-top delivery, ing profit was down due to “sig- operating profits by 9% across pany’s earnings call, Darroch
following the launch of Now TV nificantly higher programming the group and by 18% in the UK said that, over time, it aimed to
in 2012 – a flexible service that costs” – particularly relating to and Ireland. reach and address an estimated
was targeted at customers that top-flight English football. “Keeping content costs down six million customers across its
would not otherwise pay for a “Our first half operating prof- is a priority for Sky, highlight- European footprint that do not
Sky subscription. it of £679 million is down £65 ed by its carriage-fee dispute have a satellite dish.
Sky UK’s chief executive Ste- million on the prior year despite with long-time channel partner Darroch said that Italy and
phen van Rooyen said: “This absorbing an additional £314 Discovery, which could see key Germany launches will closely
year is about giving our custom- million of Premier League costs, factual channels and Eurosport follow Sky’s planned 2018 debut
ers even more quality, choice highlighting the strength of our disappear from Sky TV and Now for the satellite-free service in
and value.” underlying financial perfor- TV on 1 February.” the UK.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
14
p04-05,08,10,14 DTVE News Digest Mar17v3am.indd 14 23/02/2017 19:34Q&A: Tor Helge Kristiansen, Conax
Tor Helge Kristiansen, EVP principal architect, Conax, talks about revenue protection, the rise of OTT TV and providing content security
as a service
How can content security solutions help deliver positive revenue content in and out of the home.
benefits to TV operators as well as protecting their content? When using platform DRMs, the operator has little to no control of the
Comprehensive content protection security is still the most important security level of each device being used and platform DRM options differ
element in ensuring healthy revenue streams for pay TV operators. in terms of the business features offered making it harder for operators to
The ability to collect payment from consumers accessing services and set up consistent service across a multitude of devices. Since the number
eliminating non-paying consumers’ access to content or service is vital. To of attack points in these complex ecosystems is increasing, it is very
satisfy the growing demands of content and device-savvy consumers, the important to invest in a security solution that ensures holistic protection
availability of good platform DRM clients limits the necessary investment of the both the content and the service.
on the device side; however it is increasingly important to invest in
strong, scalable security back-end solutions to cope with the complexity What specific content security requirements to service providers in
of addressing multiple devices with multiple DRM options. There are emerging markets such as India and Latin America have and what
an increasing number of secure and flexible solutions available from types of solution are best suited to their needs?
experienced security providers such as Conax that enable operators of There are different kinds of threats to content and piracy in different
varying levels of resources to start a secure and more advanced services regions. The biggest security challenge for pay TV service providers in
operation and simultaneously satisfy the growing demands of your emerging markets is the sharing of cards and content keys. In regions that
content and device-savvy consumers. are predominantly satellite there will be higher security exposure than
other networks. It is also interconnected, making it more likely that if a
How can developments in content security such as the use of cloud- hacker breaches one region then they will also get access to the rest of
based technology help service providers deliver their business goals? the continent.
What impact is the use of the cloud having on content security in general? At Conax we emphasise the importance of working with a strong
Today’s operators need to embrace a competitive business model that security partner that can help operators secure the entire value chain by
provides flexible consumer services, while securing valuable content the use of separation technology, security evaluations, security audits,
revenue base. Cloud-based technologies and services are aimed at anti-piracy services and security guidance for device vendors. Operators
providing operators with a sustainable growth model through low CAPEX should be aware of the various attacks on STBs and aim at building very
and outsourced operations, while at the same time providing the ultimate strong security architecture by researching and utilising new security
flexibility in trying out new service offerings and business models. Thus, mechanisms and securing all available devices.
cloud or serviced-based offerings (SaaS) are becoming increasingly
interesting for pay TV operations for a variety of platform functions as To what extent are TV service providers looking to service-based
they offer reduce cost base and competence, making it easier to stay offerings from content security providers and what impact does this
competitive in a highly competitive marketplace. have on their business and on Conax?
The cloud is providing a positive impact on content security, enabling Service-based offerings are becoming increasingly interesting for pay
operators to outsource security competence, reduce hardware and TV operations for a variety of platform technologies. Off-site services
provide rapid launch of new features and upgrades. for technologies outside an operators’ key competence enable reduced
operational complexity, hardware and cost base necessary to stay
What impact is the extension of TV operators’ services towards OTT competitive in the broadcast and OTT arenas.
services and multiscreen app-based delivery having on their content For Conax, this transition is a key part of our strategy. In 2016, we
security requirements? deployed the Contego-as-a-Service (CaaS) cloud-based service platform,
As open consumer devices are increasingly vertically integrated into positioning Conax to tap additional growth in the global market while
vendor ecosystems, they also come with pre-embedded platform DRMs continuing our focus on providing out-of-the box, lean, flexible and
such as Widevine, PlayReady and FairPlay Streaming. Deeply integrated scalable solutions. Our aim is offering a highly secure service – hosted,
into the devices with decent security levels, they provide operators with monitored and maintained by Conax – that supports DVB, IPTV and OTT
a good means for securely delivering OTT content to these devices. It content delivery, all major DRM technologies, and premium 4K and UHD
does however force operators into using multiple DRM systems in their content. We are providing pay TV operators with a sustainable growth
back-end systems, creating significant complexity in the overall security model through low CAPEX, reduced complexity and fast-time-to-market
management of the system when ensuring customers are able to view for launching new features.
p15 Conax Q&A DTVE Mar17.indd 1 22/02/2017 15:45Opinion > Mike Fries Digital TV Europe
March 2017
Introducing
the GIGAWorld
Liberty Global CEO
Mike Fries explains
his vision for the
rapidly approaching
‘GIGAWorld’ and
why it will change
your life.
Imagine a world where your
running shoes
report back to you on how many miles you’ve
Across Europe, we already have more
than 50 million GIGAReady homes capable
of being upgraded to gigabit speeds with
greater demand. The creativity demonstrated
in the development of these technologies
and services is awe-inspiring – from smart
clocked. A world where a home buyer can minimal cost – and we’re investing billions to home appliances to virtual and augmented
view properties through a virtual reality extend our networks to millions more homes reality, massive data analytics and artificial
headset without having to set foot inside. A over the coming years. intelligence.
world where hologram teachers get beamed We’re doing this because we’ve already And it’s a market that’s going to get a lot
into your living room to teach you or your seen that the world is moving beyond simply bigger, quickly. According to Ovum, the
children from the comfort of your own home. connecting people – to one where connectivity value of the global smart home market alone
This is what we call the GIGAWorld – is always on. Computers, smartphones, is expected to rise from US$12.6 billion
where these applications and innovations tablets and wearables have become a critical (e12 billion) to US$76 billion between
are supported by networks like the ones we and irreplaceable component of life, work and 2015 and 2020. We’re well prepared for this
operate throughout Europe that are capable of play. skyrocketing demand, thanks to our role as
delivering gigabit per second speeds to every But without the superfast speeds provided investors and innovators in our state-of-the-art
household and business. And it’s closer than by fibre-rich networks such as ours, they can networks across Europe, Latin America and
you think. According to a research project only do so much – like having the latest state- the Caribbean, empowering tens of millions
we’ve commissioned from Arthur D Little, of-the-art smartphone, but only being able to of people through superfast broadband and
more than seven in ten telco industry experts use it in airplane mode. innovative TV products.
d in believe that these next-generation applications The proliferation of next-generation But speed is not enough. Customer
aw. will be commonplace in just five years. devices and applications is set to fuel even experience and technical performance are
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
16
p16-17 Mike Fries Mar17v4st.indd 16 23/02/2017 19:03Digital TV Europe Opinion > Mike Fries
March 2017
critical, which is why quality of service is the home. One of our innovations automatically to develop disruptive technologies.
other key component of our GIGAWorld connects customer devices to the best channel Collaboration improves customer
vision. and bandwidth for optimal performance and experience. Integrated programmes,
We know that people want powerful a seamless experience. Another uses publicly platforms and processes manage complexity
experiences that are effortless to access. In the available property data to help troubleshoot behind the scenes. So, customers can just sit
UK, for instance, we’ve seen how 800,000 of architecture-related issues to connectivity. back and enjoy the show.
our video customers who access the Netflix
app built into our Virgin Media box watch
more television, churn less and are happier “We’ve already seen that the world is moving beyond
subscribers.
So what does this tell us we need to do? It’s
simply connecting people to one where connectivity is
straightforward: keep it simple and seamless. always on.”
To improve customer experience, we offer
the right content, at the right time, in the right
format and at the right price point. We do We’re even harnessing the power of big As a pioneer of the digital age, Liberty
this by partnering with creators, investing in data to predict and fix problems before they Global has become indispensable to millions
content companies and producing our own arise. And that’s because if you want to set the of customers. We’re proud to support the
content. We also make full use of our scale pace in a GIGAWorld, collaboration is key. smartphones and social media that connect
and bundle services. Collaboration adds agility. We have small, them, the entertainment that inspires them
To improve technical performance, we’re interactive teams that work with vendors to and the apps that help them manage everyday
thinking outside the box – quite literally bring leading products and services to market. life. l
– to solve connectivity problems that are The result: some incremental improvements
traditionally beyond our scope of broadband. now take four to six weeks to develop, not 12- Mike Fries is due to close day one of Cable
WiFi, for instance, is a common pain point. 18 months. Congress with a keynote interview hosted by
So, we are developing technologies that make Collaboration fuels innovation. We work CNBC anchor Carolin Roth. He is scheduled
WiFi work better, inside and outside the with start-ups, venture partners and academia to speak there at 17:25 on March 8, 2017.
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p16-17 Mike Fries Mar17v4st.indd 17 23/02/2017 19:03You can also read
