Virtual reality Meet today's immersive storytellers - May/June 2017 - Digital TV Europe
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May/June 2017
Virtual reality
Meet today’s immersive storytellers
pOFC DTVE MayJun17.indd 1 19/05/2017 18:11
pXX iWedia DTVE MayJun17.indd 1 16/05/2017 16:27
Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
Contents May/June 2017
Virtual reality
Meet today’s immersive storytellers
10. Virtual revolution
The nascent virtual reality market is slowly coming of age, with a new crop of VR production
companies helping to define what immersive content looks like today. Andy McDonald finds
out more.
16
16. Head in the cloud
While cloud TV has long been synonymous with OTT, the use of cloud technology to deliver
mainstream pay TV services is growing rapidly. Stuart Thomson considers the significant
barriers that remain before all TV can come from the cloud.
24. Full speed ahead 24
Advances in DOCSIS technology can help cable squeeze more life out of HFC networks, but
how do the costs and benefits stack up for operators? Adrian Pennington reports.
28. ANGA COM 2017: the preview
The ANGA COM exhibition and conference takes place in Cologne from May 30-June 2. Digital
TV Europe takes a look at some of the technologies that will be on show. 28
Regulars
2 This month 4 News digest 30 Technology 34 People 36 Final analysis
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
1
p01 Contents DTVE MayJun17 copyv3am.indd 1 19/05/2017 18:58
This month > Editor’s note Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
Issue no 332
Published By:
Age of disruption
KNect365 TMT
Maple House
149 Tottenham Court Road
London W1T 7AD
This issue of Digital TV Europe takes a look at some innovations
in technology that could profoundly disrupt the current TV
business, from content creation via distribution to the point of delivery.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5000
First we look at a key development that could have a serious impact on
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7017 4953
the kind of content that is created and consumed over the next few years:
Website: www.digitaltveurope.net
virtual reality.
VR as an enabler of entertainment experiences is still in its infancy, but
Editor Stuart Thomson its obvious application in gaming may foreshadow the ‘gamification’ of
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5314 content more generally. In addition the development over the next few
Email: stuart.thomson@knect365.com years of augmented and mixed reality experiences could see a deeper shift
in the kind of entertainment experiences people seek out. In this issue of Digital TV Europe
we survey four of the companies that are leading the latest wave of innovation in audiovisual
Deputy Editor Andy McDonald entertainment.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5293 VR is an extreme example of the trend towards personalisation of content (though it also
Email: andrew.mcdonald@knect365.com has an emerging shared social dimension). That personalisation has been enabled by the
application of cloud technology to distribute video to end-users. Initially used to support the
emergence of OTT and multiscreen services, cloud technology is now being applied to the
Contributors
delivery of live and linear TV as well.
Kate Bulkley, Andy Fry, Adrian Pennington,
Also in this issue, we look at some of the choices facing service providers as they look to
Adam Thomas, Anna Tobin, Jesse Whittock
apply cloud technology to make the delivery of TV more efficient and scalable. In addition to
enabling operators to reduce capex in favour of opex by enabling the virtualisation of headend
Correspondents infrastructure, cloud technology is also opening up new end user applications such as cloud
France: Julien Alliot; Germany: Dieter DVR, targeted advertising, and rapid innovation in the user experience.
Brockmeyer; Italy: Branislav Pekic The large-scale adoption by operators of cloud-based IP video is, of course, only possible if
bandwidth is available to deliver it to end users. Ahead of ANGA COM, this issue of Digital TV
Europe will look at the ways cable operators are expanding the bandwidth available to them and
Sales Director Patricia Arescy extending the life of their coaxial plant further – by implementing DOCSIS 3.1 and, in the near
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 5320 future, Full Duplex DOCSIS – in order to deliver ultra-fast broadband services and compete
Email: patricia.arescy@knect365.com head on with fibre-to-the-home.
Finally in this issue, we also look at some of the technologies that will be showcased at ANGA
COM and look in detail at some of the top industry and technology news of the last month. l
Art Director Matthew Humberstone
Marketing Manager Marita Eleftheriadou
Printing Wyndeham Grange, West Sussex
To subscribe to this magazine or our
daily email newsletter please visit
digitaltveurope.net/registerhere
© 2017 Informa UK Ltd
All rights reserved
Stuart Thomson, Editor
Reproduction without permission is prohibited
stuart.thomson@knect365.com
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
2
p02 Ed Note DTVE MayJun17v4st.indd 2 19/05/2017 19:04
Q&A: Asaf Matatyaou, Harmonic
Asaf Matatyaou, vice-president of solutions and product management for the cable edge business at Harmonic, talks about the
virtualised headend.
What is the virtualised CCAP and how can it help the cable industry nine racks of equipment to support 80 service groups. In a centralised
achieve its business objectives? CableOS architecture, more than 250 service groups can be supported
A software-based, or virtualised, CCAP disaggregates the software from in just four racks – a 7x density difference.
the underlying hardware to provide operators with the advantages In addition to the space and power savings associated with moving
associated with IT economics. It eliminates the need to purchase RF components out of the headend and into the field, decoupling the
space-consuming and expensive hardware-based CMTS platforms, and CCAP core from the PHY shelf in a Remote PHY architecture leverages
breaks the cycle of needing to upgrade hardware every three years or the benefits of digital fibre, such as signal transport over much longer
so to accommodate capacity growth requirements. Equally important, distances and more wavelengths.
virtualisation provides greater operational elasticity and orchestration.
What are the main elements of a Remote PHY architecture and how
How close are cable operators to moving towards a virtualised can it benefit operators?
headend architecture and what challenges do they face in managing A Remote PHY architecture maintains the data and video cores in the
that migration? headend but moves the RF deep into the field, so it requires either a
It’s already happening. Our Harmonic virtualised CableOS solution is high-density centralised PHY shelf or high-capacity nodes with the ability
deployed and in trials at select cable operators globally, and is having a to handle high data throughput. The benefits are fast deployment of IP-
direct, positive impact on their ability to deliver high-speed data, video based data, video and voice services, sustainable capacity growth, and the
and voice services to their customers. ability to resolve space and power constraints in the headend and hub.
The migration to a virtualised CCAP is not as difficult as it may seem.
In fact, a virtualised CCAP has familiar usability, configuration and What are the key elements of Harmonic’s own approach to
management similar to traditional integrated CCAPs. Additionally, enabling cable operators to move to a next-generation broadband
CableOS complies with industry Remote PHY standards to provide a architecture?
common method of connectivity from CableOS CMTS servers to PHY The CableOS solution is built from a suite of products that work together
shelves and Remote PHY devices, assuring full RF spectrum coverage to deliver data, video and voice services over existing cable infrastructure.
and extending network capacity. All CableOS components are standards-based and interoperable with
other compliant Remote PHY products. These include:
What are the respective advantages and disadvantages of centralised • CableOS Core software, which runs on Intel x86 servers and performs
and distributed architectures and what do operators need to think all CMTS functions, including control, management and data
about in making a choice? processing of IP traffic across the cable access network.
The tradeoffs and decision on whether to deploy a distributed or • NSG™ Pro, which can serve as either a PHY shelf in a centralised
centralised architecture depends on the amount of segmentation CableOS deployment or as the video core in a distributed deployment.
in the network. With a heavily segmented network, leveraging the • CableOS Ripple-1 Remote PHY Node, a hardened outdoor enclosure
deployed nodes is more effective with a centralised CCAP deployment. for networks tasked with delivering video, data and voice services
Alternatively, continued traditional HFC segmentation or a fibre deep over coax.
plan is more advantageous with a distributed CCAP deployment. • CableOS Pebble-1 Remote PHY Device, a module for the Ripple-1
Operators can realise space and power cost savings of up to 75% node that interfaces with the CableOS CMTS to support existing HFC
in a centralised CCAP deployment, and up to 90% in a distributed infrastructure and evolving fibre deep deployments with high-speed
deployment. For example, a hardware-based CCAP typically requires video and data traffic.
pXX Harmonic Q&A MayJun17.indd 1 17/05/2017 10:16
News > digest Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
News digest
> 4 Fries: Liberty ‘not interested’ in ITV > 5 EC calls for finalisation of Digital Single
Market > 6 Vodafone: buy exclusive content ‘if necessary’ > 8 Viaplay: set-tops not
necessary for SVOD > 9 Euskaltel acquires Zegona’s Telecable in e700 million deal
Fries: Liberty ‘not interested’ in ITV, quad-play remains unproven
By Stuart Thomson > from a strategic point of view. Fries: acqui- company’s Q1 performance,
Crozier’s departure from the sition doesn’t Fries said that “recent operation-
ITV’s valuation and the premi- UK’s leading commercial broad- make sense al and commercial challenges”
um that would be required to caster, combined with the Brex- at current had contributed to the poorer
buy it means that the commer- it-related decline in the value of valuation. than expected financials.
cial broadcaster is “not inter- sterling, has fuelled renewed “I’m not happy about it and
esting” as an acquisition target speculation that ITV could be neither is anyone else from Lib-
to Liberty Global, according to subject to a takeover attempt by erty on this call,” he said.
president and CEO Mike Fries. a larger media group. “We haven’t yet converged them Liberty Global added 253,000
Answering an analyst ques- Fries also said that combining to the point where we can start next-generation TV subscribers
tion on ITV, in which Liberty fixed and mobile assets and mar- showing you the benefits of in Q1, and said the UK and Ger-
Global holds a 9.9% stake, af- keting quad-play services has so quad-play,” he said, adding that many contributed to its best first
ter the cable giant reported less far failed to deliver significant the mobile business remained quarter video performance in
than stellar first quarter finan- synergies and the mobile busi- in “a transition phase” for Lib- the last 10 years.
cials, Fries said: “If ITV was trad- ness remains under pressure erty. This was in spite of an 18%
ing at a much lower multiple it globally. He said that he hadn’t While there is plenty of room year-on-year decline in Europe-
might be interesting, but with “yet seen what the real advantag- for ARPU growth in European an operating income at US$431
where it is trading today and es are from combining fixed and markets for the fixed business, million (e387 million), with
the premium that would be re- mobile” and added that Liberty Fries said the mobile business “challenging” mobile results in
quired, it is not interesting.” He had yet to see “real synergies” faced significant structural the UK and Belgium and “soft-
said that “there is no change” in realised from putting fixed and challenges globally. He said the er than planned” cable ARPU
Liberty’s position. Fries said that mobile businesses together in mobile business was highly from Virgin Media impacting
departing chief executive Adam Belgium and the Netherlands, competitive and could come un- on revenues in the region.
Crozier had been “a great CEO”, where it operates a joint venture der pressure quickly and unpre- Liberty said that its next-gen-
but that his departure had no with mobile giant Vodafone. dictably. eration TV subscriber base
impact on Liberty Global’s view Fries said that Liberty was Liberty Global’s financials reached 6.9 million in the first
of the company as a target. still “at the starting gate when it were hit by poor performance quarter, representing 39% of
Fries said that the company comes to quad-play” in markets in mobile in its largest markets its total video base in Europe –
was focused on opportunities including the Netherlands, Bel- in the first quarter, with mobile excluding DTH. This was split
that are “accretive…and not di- gium and the UK, where it has revenues across the group down across its Horizon TV, Hori-
lutive”, even if it occasionally recently started marketing mo- 5%, despite post-paid growth. zon-Lite, TiVo, EOS (V6) and
looked at opportunities purely bile services more aggressively. In a critical assessment of the Yelo TV platforms.
League or D1B, meaning that has exclusive internet rights to the BBC, NBCUniversal and Scripps
Belgium Proximus customers will be able to matches, and holds the rights to among others. The South African
watch Jupiler pro League matches the live broadcast of the country’s telco operates a Cyprus network
IPTV > Proximus football along with exclusive coverage of Super Cup for the next three years. and its new TV service in the coun-
Proximus has struck a deal with the Proximus League and Cham- try. The TV line-up includes BBC
the country’s Pro League to secure pions League. The deal follows Earth and BBC Entertainment from
broadcasting rights to Jupiler Pro agreements between the League Cyprus BBC Worldwide; E! Entertainment
League D1A football for the three and rival service providers Telenet from NBCUniversal; and Sundance
seasons to 2020. The new deal and Voo, which will also air the IPTV > MTN launches and CFBS Reality from AMC’s inter-
complements Proximus’s grip on Jupiler League games on a non-ex- MTN has launched a TV service national channels arm. There are
second-tier football – the Proximus clusive basis. Telenet additionally in Cyprus with channels from the kids channels from Disney as well
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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p04-06,08-09 DTVE News Digest MayJun17v5st.indd 4 19/05/2017 19:06
Digital TV Europe News > digest
May/June 2017
as the pre-school JimJam service. in the second half of this year. In of last year. The domestic decline
The unscripted line-up includes His- a call with investors, Vivendi’s was partially offset by international Events
tory Channel and DNI’s Discovery CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine said growth. The African subscriber
Channel and Discovery ID. There that the transformation strategy base grew by 649,000 in the year ANGA COM
are news channels from Sky, the for Canal+ was “starting to bear to March, leaving the group as a Date: 30 May - 1 June
BBC, Al Jazeera, France 24 and Eu- fruit”, with the number of new whole with a base of 14.7 million, up Venue: Köln Messe, Cologne,
ronews. The international channels pay TV subscriptions offsetting 3.2 million year-on-year, including Germany
packages starts at €29. The basic the number of cancellations. De the 2.9 million Free and Orange W: www.angacom.de
MTN TV pack is €9.90. UK-based Puyfontaine said that Vivendi now customers gained as part of the
consultancy 3Vision helped MTN had a “sustainable business model new distribution agreements with Mediatech 360
with source and secure the interna- for Canal+” that allows subscribers the service providers that allow Date: 7 - 8 June
tional channels. to pay “the right price” for what them to supply the Canal+ service Venue: Millennium Mayfair,
they want. Subscriber numbers in as part of their own bundled offer- London, UK
France remained flat overall, and ings. International revenues grew W: www.nbmevents.uk/
France the pay TV outfit lost 401,000 in by 8%. Overall Canal+ revenues mediatech360summit
the course of last year, leaving it for the quarter were €1.278 billion,
SAT > Canal+ turnaround 5.145 million customers in France, down 3.8%. Production outfit New Europe Market
Canal+ subscriber additions despite what the company de- StudioCanal’s revenues tumbled by Date: 12 - 15 June
outnumbered cancellations for the scribed as a significant improve- 10.1% to €95 million for the quar- Venue: Dubrovnik Palace Hotel,
first time in many quarters in the ment in its performance following ter, due to lower video sales. Canal+ Dubrovnik, Croatia
three months to March, and the the launch of the new offerings. Do- Group operational income was €51 W: neweumarket.com
pay TV outfit’s parent company mestic pay TV revenues were down million, down from €164 million,
Vivendi said it expected a reversal 7.8% in the three months to March while EBITA was €57 million, down TechXLR8
of the downward trend in EBITA compared with the first quarter from €169 million. Date: 13 - 15 June
Venue: ExCeL, London, UK
W: tmt.knect365.com/techxlr8
EC calls for finalisation of Digital Single Market
VR & AR World
By Andy McDonald > Ansip: EC has to make sure that non-personal Date: 13 - 15 June
lived up to its data can flow freely to assist con- Venue: ExCeL, London, UK
The European Commission has promise. nected cars and eHealth servic- W: tmt.knect365.com/
urged the European Parliament es. We need high-performance vr-ar-world
and member states to finalise computing along with a digitally
key legislation and complete its skilled workforce to make the Futuresource New Content
Digital Single Market strategy most out of the data economy. Horizons
by 2018. In its mid-term review All these areas are essential for Date: 15 June
of the 2015 Digital Single Mar- a Digital Single Market. Now, Europe’s digital future.” Venue: Ham Yard Hotel, London,
ket plan, the EC said that “good the European Parliament and The EU has already reached UK
progress has been made” over- member states need to adopt important agreements to end W: futuresource-consulting.com/
all, and that it has delivered 16 these proposals as soon as pos- mobile roaming charges on Futuresource-Event-New-
key measures – which adds up sible, for new jobs, business June 15, 2017 for all travellers in Content-Horizons-2017
to 35 proposals and policy initia- and innovation to take off across the EU; to release the 700MHz
tives in total. Europe,” said VP for the Digital band for the development of 5G IBC 2017
However, it outlined three Single Market, Andrus Ansip. and new online services; and to Date: 14 - 19 September
main areas where further EU “Two years on, we propose allow portability of content by as Venue: Rai, Amsterdam, The
action is needed: to develop the to update our strategy to reflect early as 2018, so that Europeans Netherlands
European Data Economy to its new challenges and technolo- can travel with the films, music, W: www.ibc.org
full potential; to protect Europe gies. We need cyber-secure in- video games or e-books they
by tackling cybersecurity chal- frastructure across all parts of have subscribed to at home. Digital TV Central & Eastern
lenges; and to promote online the EU so that everyone – every- The EC claims that a “fully Europe
platforms as responsible players where – can enjoy high-speed functional Digital Single Mar- Date: 11 - 12 October
of a fair internet ecosystem. connectivity safely. ket” could contribute €415 bil- Venue: Kempinski Hotel, Buda-
“The commission has lived “We have already agreed on lion per year to the EU’s econ- pest, Hungary
up to its promise and presented strong EU rules for personal omy and create hundreds of W: tmt.knect365.com/digi-
all main initiatives for building data protection; we now need thousands of new jobs. tal-tv-cee/
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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p04-06,08-09 DTVE News Digest MayJun17v5st.indd 5 19/05/2017 19:06
News > digest Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
CAB > SFR wins League paying off, with its subscription of the launch, France Télévisions
Global Wrap Altice-owned SFR has secured the video-on-demand service doubling has shortened the time taken to
rights to Champions League and its audience by 50%. SFR is con- make catch-up content available to
The global number of pay TV Europa League football, dealing tinuing to lose customers, 111,000 30 minutes, down from about four
subscribers will rise by 134 mil- a blow to pay TV leader Canal+ down on the same period last year. hours with Pluzz. Users must also
lion between 2016-22 driven by and BeIN Sports, which currently register to use the service, allow-
gains in Asia Pacific, according share rights to the competition. OTT > France.tv launches ing them to receive personal rec-
to Digital TV Research. The SFR has secured all rights to France Télévisions has launched a ommendations and helping France
research claims that the total both tournaments for the 2018-21 new online video portal combin- Télévisions build up a useful
number of pay TV subscribers seasons, reportedly for close to ing all live, catch-up and paid for database of viewers. France.tv will
will climb from 959 million in €350 million a year, a considerable online video content and replacing be extended in September to in-
2016 to 1.09 billion in 2022, af- increase on the previous deals. the former Pluzz catch-up and clude content from other thematic
ter passing the one billion mark SFR’s first quarter adjusted EBIT- video-on-demand services. The portals – Culturebox, youth-orient-
in 2018. The Asia Pacific region DA fell by 5.1% to €820 million launch of the new site, france.tv, ed Ludo and Zouzous, francetve-
is tipped to add 92 million with a reduced margin, down 1.8 is the first major step towards the duction and francetvsport. France
subscribers between 2016 and points to 30.3%, in large part as launch of a wider SVOD offering Télévisions director-general
2022. SNL Kagan’s First Quar- a consequence of its investment in later this year designed to Delphine Ernotte-Cunci recently
ter US Multichannel Subscriber in content and in costs associated provide an alternative to Netflix in confirmed that the planned SVOD
report said that US pay TV with voluntary redundancies. France. France.tv offers about 500 service would launch in Septem-
subscriber numbers declined by The operator reported revenues programmes daily, combining sev- ber. She told financial daily Les
802,000 in Q1, a traditionally of €2.705 billion, up 0.6%, with en-day catch-up content from the Echos in March that the pubcaster
strong three-month period consumer revenue growing only public broadcaster’s six terrestrial had agreements in principle with
for the industry. The research marginally to €1.77 billion. SFR TV channels with pay VOD and production companies based on
estimated that total traditional said that its content strategy was exclusive internet content. As part revenue-share arrangements.
multichannel subscriptions fell
to 97 million in the quarter to
the end of March. US over- Vodafone: buy exclusive content ‘if necessary’
the-top TV service Pluto TV
has launched a free video on By Stuart Thomson > He said this could be
demand offering consisting launched “in marginal mar-
of thousands of movies and Vodafone will invest in exclusive kets” at lower cost because it
TV shows. The VOD collection content “if we need to” despite was a shared platform across
includes content from Lions- having a preference for non-ex- the group
gate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer clusive deals, and plans to ex- Despite being weighed down
and Warner Bros and will be pand its presence and the reach by the write-down of its Indian
available alongside the 100-plus of its TV services in “marginal business and problems in the
streamed TV channels that markets”, according to Nick get it, we will, as we have done UK, Vodafone has posted solid
Pluto TV already offers. PCCW Read, the company’s CFO and in a couple of markets”. year-end numbers.
Media has launched its Viu OTT executive director. He said that Vodafone was It was boosted by the success
TV service in Thailand, marking Speaking to analysts after “very happy” with its cloud- of its convergent offerings, and
its 15th market launch to date. the company announced its based TV platform, which is has raised its guidance for un-
Asian content with Thai subti- year-end results, Read said that currently available in a number derlying profit growth.
tles – including current dramas TV was important to Vodafone of markets. Vodafone had 9.8 million TV
and variety shows from Korea “because it makes converged In Spain and Germany the customers at the end its finan-
and Japan – will be delivered offerings more appealing” and operator has large legacy cable cial year, rising to 13.8 million if
via the Viu mobile app and helped reduce churn. networks that use alternative TV its Dutch JV with Liberty Global,
website after their local tele- Read said that premium con- systems. In Germany it recently VodafoneZiggo, is included.
cast. Netflix has commissioned tent was “important to our offer” launched the advanced GigaTV Vodafone now has 14.7 mil-
its first original series out of but that the company preferred service for cable users. lion fixed broadband customers,
Australia, placing it head-to- non-exclusive deals where pos- Read said the cloud-based or 17.9 million including Voda-
head with SVOD rival Stan. Pro- sible because “we don’t believe Vodafone TV platform was the foneZiggo, with 1.5 million new
duction will start next year in that exclusivity creates a lot of company’s “most modern” TV broadband customers added in
Queensland on Tidelands, mark- value for telcos in the long run”. service, offering cloud-based the year. Of these, 7.7 million
ing Netflix’s move into original However, he said, “If we need functionality and multiscreen take a high-speed service over
programming in Australia. to bid for exclusivity in order to availability of content. fibre or cable.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
6
p04-06,08-09 DTVE News Digest MayJun17v5st.indd 6 19/05/2017 19:06
Q&A: Matthias Greve, ABOX42
ABOX42’s CEO Matthias Greve talks about the role service providers can play in enabling the smart home
How significant is the smart home market likely to be and what types What are the basic technology requirements for operators looking to
of industry players are looking for a share of the market? enter the smart home market? What kind of investment is required
According to a latest market research from Strategy Analytics, the of operators and consumers respectively?
global Smart Home market will reach US$130 billion revenue by 2020. For a fully functional platform the operators need a home gateway,
It is divided between US$68 billion in retail and US$62 in the operator certified sensors, the big data cloud for data processing and storage,
market. The retail market will be mainly served by big tech companies as well as mobile apps (for Android and iOS). Additionally the operator
like Apple, Samsung, Google, Amazon, Philips etc. and many smaller needs a team to integrate, operate and enhance the system in the
device manufacturers, trying to get market share. The huge opportunity future. To have a competitive solution the investment easily can go
for operators is in the other half of the market – this US$62 billion can be into the millions for development and annual operation and extension
addressed by services operators in their local markets. We call this the of the services. He can either do it on his own or look for a platform/
‘Operator Smart Home’ market in contrast to Retail Smart Home. complete solution.
With our ABOX42 dotIO Operator Smart Home platform we offer
What role can service providers or operators play in enabling the the operator a complete solution, with sensors, gateways, the cloud
smart home for their subscribers and what opportunity is there for services and mobile apps as the end-user interface to interact with the
them in this market? service. More important, we also provide a set of ready-made business
Service providers can offer new Operator Smart Home Services as a models that are focusing on clearly defined use cases. Over time we
subscription to their existing customer base e.g. broadband subscribers will add more products serving additional use cases to the service, so
or even mobile subscribers, since the service is not bound to a dedicated the operator can create additional subscription services for its user
internet connection. In differentiation to Retail Smart Home, the service base.
provider can subsidise the hardware (or sell it at a low margin) and offer
a subscription service. This is a well-known model in internet or mobile, How big a concern is security and privacy in building the smart home
where modems, routers and mobile phone are part of the subscription and why should subscribers trust operators to ensure that their
service. For the end user, the advantage is that the cost of hardware is smart home systems are safe?
paid with the subscription and he has a support contact for his complete Security and Privacy are the key elements to the Operator Smart Home
installation and service management. For the operator, the good thing solution. The good thing is that the subscribers already trust operators
is that the focus is on subscription revenues and not on hardware sales, with their internet and telephony. The operator needs to focus on
like the retail market. a system that provides advanced end-to-end security with secure
On the business side these services will increase the ARPU [revenue], gateway and sensor hardware, encrypted communication and secure
drive new customers and reduces churn within the existing subscriber cloud processing. Additionally, the solution needs to have a clear view
base through bundled packages. This is especially important nowadays, on data privacy so the customers do not feel that somebody can enter
since the margins in internet, telephony and TV are shrinking and the privacy of the home.
everybody is looking for a fourth major revenue stream.
What kinds of smart home applications make sense to consumers
What are the challenges facing operators looking to enter the smart and what are they likely to be willing to pay for?
home market and what do they need to think about before taking the With our ABOX42 dotIO Operator Smart Home solution we focus on
plunge? very simple use cases, which are easy to market and attractive to a
The operators should take a careful look at the business model and broad audience. A simple to use monitoring service like our ‘Home
the lifetime value of the customer. Typical retail products come OK’ solution allows the user to check their home at any point in time.
with expensive hardware, are complex to support in operation and On pricing, for example the operator can offer US$10 per month
installation. Additionally the services and products need to have a clear subscription for the complete service which includes the gateway and
benefit, which is appealing to most of the customers and not only the around 10 sensors. A comparable retail price for the hardware alone
5% of ‘techies’ within the customer base of the provider. would be up to US$700.
pXX ABox42 Q&A MayJun17.indd 1 19/05/2017 10:24
News > digest Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
ing integrated offerings. Broadband squarely on “the turbulence” of €649.3 million, down from €682
Germany numbers grew by 67,000 in the caused by French media giant million. Mediaset Spain saw its reve-
quarter. In Europe outside Germany, Vivendi reneging on its deal with nues rise by €9.7 million to €240.4
IPTV > Telekom edges up Telekom’s IPTV, satellite and cable the Italian broadcaster. Mediaset’s million. Mediaset said it expects
Deutsche Telekom had 2.955 million TV base amounted to 4.1 million, up success in clawing its way back advertising sales to remain positive
pay TV customers in Germany at 1.3%. Internationally, the biggest to profit is due to its campaign for the rest of this year. It also plans
the end of the first quarter, up 2.6% growth in TV was in Slovakia and of cost-cutting. Operating costs to put an aggressive share repur-
year-on-year, giving substance Hungary. International TV revenue were down to €537.7 million from chase programme before its annual
to its claim to be the only IPTV grew by 7.3% to €123 million. €549.8 million last year, giving the shareholders’ meeting, giving di-
service that was growing in the company a positive EBIT of €76.6 rectors the power to buy up to a
country. The Entertain TV service million and net profit of €15.9 maximum of 10% of the company’s
gained 76,000 subscribers in the Italy million, compared with a net loss of share capital. Mediaset currently
quarter, described by the operator €18.2 million for the same period owns 3.795% of its capital. The
as “substantially stronger” than in PROG > Mediaset bounce last year. Revenues for the quarter broadcaster’s biggest shareholder
preceding quarters. Telekom attrib- Mediaset has bounced back into were €889.3 million, down €22.7 Fininvest currently holds 39.8% of
uted growth in broadband lines and the black in the first quarter million on the same period last year, the company’s voting rights, while
TV in the domestic market to its following its €294.5 million loss last driven lower by the performance of Vivendi currently holds 29.9% of
new strategy of focusing on market- year, which the company blamed Mediaset Italy, which posted sales the voting rights.
Viaplay chief: presence on set-tops ‘not necessary’ for SVOD
By Stuart Thomson > Karlén: TV Europe whether MTG’s in- Key to the company’s success
Viaplay will creasing focus on digital con- in matching Netflix has been its
Modern Times Group (MT- only be on tent such as eSports and the move into originals a year ago,
G)-owned OTT subscription devices that sale of free-to-air and pay TV as- offering shows with local rele-
video-on-demand service support key sets outside the Nordic markets vance such as Hassel, Swedish
Viaplay does not need to be features. means that Viaplay would ulti- Dicks and Veni Vidi Vici.
available on set-top boxes to mately become the company’s “There are so many great sto-
succeed, and will continue to only pay TV offering, he said ries coming from the Nordics,”
be a complement to MTG’s ly for each and every set-top box that MTG remained committed said Karlén. “This means we
mainstream pay TV service in the market. to traditional mainstream pay now have a mixed content port-
rather than a replacement for Karlén said that Viaplay is TV for the foreseeable future. folio of local stuff together with
it, according to Jonas Karlén, available on TV screens through Karlén said that the company acquired titles.”
Viaplay’s CEO. devices such as Chromecast. He would increasingly focus on dis- The Viaplay originals have of-
Speaking at the Connected said “a transformation is hap- tributing pay TV through open ten been more successful than
TV World Summit in London, pening” in the way consumers fibre networks in the Nordic the most popular US acquired
Karlén said Viaplay, which is use video, and that maintaining markets, which he said made a content, he said, citing the pop-
now present on over 90% of all a high-quality user experience compelling service as part of a ularity of The Great Escape, Black
connected devices in the Nordic is more important than, for ex- bundle with high-speed broad- Widows, Black Lake and Swedish
market, had no need for a pres- ample, being available on every band. Dicks.
ence on pay TV set-top boxes. device. However, he said that satel- Viaplay launched as an
“We don’t want to be on de- However, he said that the de- lite-delivered pay TV would also SVOD service in 2011, replac-
vices that can’t use our key fea- velopment of Android set-tops continue to play a significant ing Viasat On Demand. Offline
tures, so we are not present on could provide an opening as role in reaching consumers in viewing was launched in 2012,
any set-top boxes in the Nordics. Android offered a standard way rural areas. and over 95% of content is now
They are not good enough for a of providing services that could Karlén told Connected TV downloadable.
good user experience. Develop- support all the features that World Summit attendees that In 2016, the service launched
ing apps [for each box] was not Viaplay offers. Viaplay and Netflix are now far the first Viaplay original, and
worth the price and very few Karlén admitted that he per- ahead of all other Nordic SVOD a month ago Viaplay become
customers in the Nordic mar- sonally did “not have a tradition- services in terms of ratings one of the first sluch services to
kets are asking for it,” he said. al package” any longer, relying on iOS and Android devices. broadcast sports content in 4K
He said it is “too cumber- on OTT TV services including Viaplay has quadrupled sub- UHD. “We are seeing how we
some” to develop native apps Viaplay for his TV viewing. scribers and increased revenue can take that even further on,”
and then upgrade them regular- However, asked by Digital fivefold since 2013, he said. said Karlén.
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p04-06,08-09 DTVE News Digest MayJun17v5st.indd 8 19/05/2017 19:06Digital TV Europe News > digest
May/June 2017
year-on-year. On the downside, the and the new BT Sport Virtual
Poland Spain Spanish operation’s supplier costs Reality App, allowing viewers to
increased by 3.6% in the quarter, in choose between a 360°-produced
OTT > Showmax launch IPTV > Telefónica dips part driven by increased TV content programme with commentary
Naspers-owned video-on-demand Telefónica’s global pay TV base costs. Elsewhere, in Brazil, Telefóni- and graphics, or select their own
service Showmax has partnered dipped slightly during the first ca saw its pay TV base slide by 7% camera viewpoint. The final will
with Polish mobile operator Play. three months of this year, dropping to 1.7 million despite growth in IPTV also be available in 4K UHD on
All new and existing Play contract 1.7% to 8.2 million. The company’s subscribers. In Spanish-speaking YouTube on BT TV in 4K UHD with
customers will get free access DTH satellite base dropped by 8% America, the pay TV base rose 3% Dolby Atmos. BT has committed to
to Showmax, which launched its to 4.2 million. In Spain, pay TV to 2.9 million. Overall, Telefónica make the Champions League and
internet TV offering in Poland in numbers declined by 3% thanks to posted first quarter revenues of Europa League finals available for
February. The agreement will make a decline in the satellite base offset €13.1 billion, up 5%, and operating free on YouTube, the BT website,
Showmax available to some eight to some extent by growth in IPTV. income before depreciation and BT Sport channels and the app. BT
million Play customers and is part The company said that its Movistar amortisation of €1 billion, up 4.8%. added 11,000 TV customers to its
of Showmax’s plan to accelerate Fusión converged base grew by 4% TV base in the first three months
the rollout of the service in Poland. and now represents 84% of the of this year, taking its overall TV
Showmax offers a localised offering broadband base and 77% of the UK base to 1.7 million in a quarter that
in Poland that includes Polish company’s mobile contract base, was generally disappointing for
short films and series. The firm with Movistar Fusión’s penetra- IPTV > BT 360° football the UK telco. BT also said that its
has offices in Warsaw and former tion of pay TV rising significantly. BT is to provide coverage of the new YouView user interface was
Google executive Maciej Sojka Telefónica España’s pay TV base Champions League football final in now in 1.3 million homes. Consumer
leads its local operations. Showmax overall at the end of the period was 360° video for the first time. The revenue for the quarter was £1.195
first launched in August 2015 in 3.616 million, of which 2.97 million telco will make 360° coverage of billion (e1.393 billion). However,
South Africa. were Fusión customers, up 7.3% the match available on YouTube consumer EBITDA was down 18%.
Euskaltel acquires Zegona’s Telecable in e700 million deal
By Stuart Thomson a price of €9.50. The balance Erauzkin: consolidation in the north of the
of the transaction is comprised intends to State. Euskaltel, and R and Tele-
Spanish regional operator Eu- on debt. Overall, the deal values maintain cable, are leaders in our markets
skaltel has struck a deal with Telecable at about 10.5 times the separate and the addition of the three
UK-based Zegona Communi- 2016 EBITDA before synergies companies’ great north operators makes as
cations to acquire Telecable in are taken into account. values. leaders in the State”.
a deal that values the Asturias The pair have estimated that Eamonn O’Hare, Zegona’s
operator at €686 million. the deal will realise €245 mil- chairman and CEO, said:
The move paves the way to lion in synergies, mostly from Telecable will give the company “When we acquired Telecable in
create a single operator across operational expenses. Currently, a market of six million people, 2015, we identified the potential
the Basque Country, Asturias Telecable uses mobile capacity an increase of 20% on Euskaltel for substantial value creation
and Galicia regions of northern from Telefónica while Euskaltel and R’s previously addressable through the combination of the
Spain. is supplied by Orange. market, and a combined sub- three independent Northern
Euskaltel will take 100% For Zegona the deal repre- scriber base of about 800,000. Spanish cablecos. This transac-
control of Telecable for €686 sents a premium of 41% on its The operators had consolidated tion turns that vision into reality
million including an estimated share price and gives a return of revenues of €701 million and and provides the opportunity for
€245 million in debt in a deal 42% to shareholders on their in- EBITDA of 346 million, with significant value gain through
that will see Zegona become a itial investment in the company. free cash-flow of €224 million. delivering the high level of syn-
15% shareholder in the Basque Zegona will have one seat on Euskaltel Group chairman ergies available and from the
operator, with one seat on the the board. The combined opera- Alberto García Erauzkin said increased strength of the com-
board. Euskaltel may make an tor will also create a new strategy that the group’s “intention is to bined business. Being the lead-
additional payment of €15 mil- committee comprising one rep- maintain each of the companies’ ing regional operator in Spain,
lion dependent on the future resentative each from Zegona, values, such as the trademarks Euskaltel is very sensitive to the
performance of Telecable. Kutxabank and Corporación and the people’s talent, as they local needs in Asturias and we
Zegona will receive €186 mil- Financiera Alba, the company’s are the key of their success”. know will provide great support
lion in cash along with €255 mil- main shareholders. The com- Erauzkin said that “this trans- to the Telecable business and
lion worth of Eusklatel shares at bination of Euskaltel, R and action completes the full cable team. fix-sell’ strategy.”
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p04-06,08-09 DTVE News Digest MayJun17v5st.indd 9 19/05/2017 19:06Technology focus > Virtual Reality Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
Virtual revolution
The nascent virtual reality market is slowly
coming of age, with a new crop of VR
production companies helping to define
what immersive content looks like today.
Andy McDonald finds out more.
While it is still early days for
virtual reality, a flurry of
recent activity hints at how far this space still
2017, while CCS Insight claims that the total
VR device market – both smartphone VR and
dedicated VR – will be worth US$1.5 billion in
players to find out how the content they are
making is helping to define the VR industry
today.
has to grow. In the past month alone, Google 2017, rising to US$9.1 billion by 2021.
announced it first standalone Daydream VR On the content side of things, some of the
headsets, VR technology company Improbable more established players in this still young Rewind
raised US$502 million (E450 million) in space, like St Albans-based Rewind, are
a Series B funding round led by SoftBank, involved in all aspects of VR – from interative While many VR companies operating today
and Facebook unveiled a new VR app for games-engine driven work, to mixed reality, are rooted in 360° video, UK-based Rewind
communicating with friends, called Facebook and 360° video. However, there is also an takes a more holistic view of the virtual reality
Spaces. emerging trend of talent passing from the market. Rewind founder and CEO Sol Rogers
Market predictions for the space have traditional TV world over to VR. The people describes a space that ranges from desktop
also been bullish. IDC predicts that total VR behind production outfits Parable VR, VR City browser-based 360° video, delivered through
headset device shipments will grow almost and Mandt VR are all examples of TV experts YouTube and Facebook, at one end of the scale,
tenfold from 10.1 million units in 2016 to 99.4 turning their hands to immersive content. For to game-engine driven, fully interactive and
million units in 2021. Greenlight Insights the most part, their focus so far has been on fully immersive VR delivered through high-
believes that total virtual reality revenues will narrative-led 360° video. end devices like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift
reach US$7.2 billion globally by the end of Digital TV Europe spoke to some of these at the other.
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p10-12,14 VR DTVE MayJun17v4st.indd 10 19/05/2017 17:58Digital TV Europe Technology focus > Virtual Reality
May/June 2017
as a 360° video version that lives on Facebook. is fundamentally going to change everything,”
Rewind created a mulit-platform VR
experience for recent film Ghost in the Shell. Describing the work, Rogers says: “It’s not the says Rogers.
film, it’s not a trailer, it’s something which “Sadly, it takes a little bit of expensive
gives you a glimpse into the universe and it’s hardware – headsets and PCs – to get us there,
stand-alone.” so that route is a lot slower than we expected.
“The first thing that we do with a client is But it is the one that will win in the long-run.”
we try to work out what they want first and
foremost,” says Rogers. “What type of content
you want to create and really try and work out Mandt VR
what the measure of success is.”
A recent project for Jaguar saw Rewind TV industry veteran Neil Mandt remembers
produce a social VR experience at last year’s a point roughly three years ago when he felt
LA Auto Show for the launch of its all- there was “a real problem going on in the
electric I-PACE concept car. “They wanted industry”, a sense that the “can-do attitude” of
it to be a launch event to communicate to the television sector was starting to disappear.
250 journalists this amazing product in an It was this instinct that led Mandt to flip his
amazing way,” said Rogers, explaining the entire TV production company to focus on VR
choice of high-end, real-time, interactive VR. – a medium that, at the time was still only “on
“The value came from doing it that way.” the distant horizon”.
While only a relatively small number of “If you’d asked me a decade ago where my
people saw the Jaguar VR experience, the career would go, I would have said, ‘TV: that’s
journalists who wrote about it gave the project what they’re going to put on my tombstone’,”
a wider reach. “If they [Jaguar] produced a says Mandt. However, what he perceived as a
360° video, they could have got a lot of users, shift in the industry – where deals were getting
a lot of people seeing it on Facebook and harder to close and more work and edits were
YouTube. But it actually wouldn’t have been being demanded for commissioned projects –
much different from producing just a highly gave him pause for thought.
polished 2D film,” says Rogers. “At the time, I didn’t know that this whole
Thinking about the development of the VR problem was because of the cord-cutting.
industry to date, he claims that companies Nobody knew it. It was like being in a
have already had to take a change of tack. recession, but you don’t know until you’re six
“Brands and agencies were enjoying their free months into it,” says Mandt. Looking to the
PR push that they got about being the world’s early-stage VR market, where the content was
first VR something – ‘insert brand’, ‘insert “not just bad, it was almost unwatchable,”
product’. That all went away last summer. he decided to be among the first clutch of
Now it’s more about quality of returns.” companies to compete in this space.
While the number of eyeballs watching a Mandt’s roots in TV stretch back to his
video is still important, Rogers says that the university days, when winning a College
“We’re one of the few companies globally transformative effect of experiencing high- Emmy at 19 landed him a job as an NBC
that fit the full umbrella of content,” says end VR communicates a message in more reporter aged 20. His career after that point
Rogers. “When we start working with clients powerful way than by watching something included producing the OJ Simpson criminal
and brands, we are not selling them [on on TV or via YouTube. “For me 360° video is trial for ABC News, producing the Sydney
the idea that], ‘we’ve got a box full of these something as a necessary transition, because Olympics for NBC and creating what he
things, so they’re going to be the answer for it’s fantastic for mobile,” says Rogers. “There estimates to be around 3,000 episodes
everything’. We’re going ‘well what are you are 1.9 billion smartphones in the world, all of television though his 2001-established
trying to get out of this?’” of them can access 360 video and you don’t production company, Mandt Bros.
A look at some of Rewind’s recent projects have to have a headset to view it.” However, he His Mandt Bros. credits include ESPN
gives you an indication of the scope its work. claims that this is a “pale comparison” to a full series Jim Rome is Burning, Syfy Channel
It recently produced a cross-platform VR VR headset experience. series Destination Truth, and Food Network
experience for Hollywood movie Ghost in the “The real-time stuff on the Rift, the Vive, series The Shed. Along the way he has also
Shell in partnership with Oculus, Paramount, the Playstation VR – game-engine driven, produced a handful of films – including the
Dreamworks and US-based VR studio Here where you have control, where you are part 2014 Walt Disney Pictures feature Million
Be Dragons. Made in just seven weeks, the of the world and have interactivity – that’s Dollar Arm, and most recently a Burt Reynolds
experience was available on Rift as a “super new and that’s a lot slower for the uptake. But movie called Dog Years, which played at this
interactive”, high-end VR experience; as a once you’ve tried it, you understand that it’s a year’s Tribeca Film festival.
semi-interactive experience for Gear VR; and different medium, a different art form, which Leaving TV behind and setting up Mandt
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p10-12,14 VR DTVE MayJun17v4st.indd 11 19/05/2017 17:58Technology focus > Virtual Reality Digital TV Europe
May/June 2017
VR was no small undertaking. Mandt the camera the Medusa because it literally has engagement in order to sustain audience
invested in new cameras, new computers and cables coming out of it all over it.” interest. There was some of that coming
new editing systems for the post-facility at his Looking ahead, Mandt believes that the VR through, but not much. That’s why we
existing studios in Hollywood. He also had industry is two to five years away from going decided to do it at that point. We felt like this
to learn a new production language for 360° mainstream. In two years he predicts VR will was the beginning of a genuine new phase –
content – covering camera placement, sound be a “cool thing” that people will be aware of, of a new medium and it was an opportunity
design and editing techniques. but only those in the know will really use. In to get in early and we felt excited enough to be
“There’s storytelling that exists within 2D five years, he predicts it will be the equivalent willing to abandon our previous careers and
media, whether it’s on a mobile phone or a of where we are today with the smartphone. transfer our skills across.”
computer, where I can tell your brain, without “I don’t see anything slowing it down at this Between January and the summer of 2016
even sound, exactly what’s happening,” says point.” Wise and Minter-Green worked out a business
plan and began seeking investment, holding
talks with a range of companies and individuals
“If you’d asked me a decade ago where between October and January 2017. Wise says
that ultimately they believed “we’d be in a
my career would go, I would have said: ‘TV: stronger position with organisations who also
that’s what they’ll put on my tombstone’.” create and commission content, and have an
understanding of content”.
Parable’s first work was Ocean: Mystery
Neil Mandt, Mandt VR Corals, a 360° tour of the corals of Palau in
the Western Pacific that was made for The
Mandt. “That storytelling is impossible to tell Economist with brand support from Swiss
in VR because you can’t cut like that. You can’t Parable VR watch company Blancpain.
push in and zoom. So there is whole new The company has also recently worked on
storytelling that needs to happen.” Launched in March this year, London-based a brand-funded project, shot in Bermuda,
After doing a handful of videos, Mandt Parable VR was born out of the combined focused on the America’s Cup yacht race.
and his partner Gordon Whitener last year television and commercial experience of its This produced three immersive ‘mini
raised US$10 million with plans to up their founders, and has attracted solid industry documentaries’, which Minter-Green says
production rate. “We brought in producers backing. The company was set up by point to “all the things that make this medium
who were from traditional television and Nicholas Minter-Green, the former president really exciting, because it allows privileged
started training them and making shows. We of Economist Films, and David Wise, the access, geographic transformation, some
did a show with [comedian] Tom Green, we former director of programmes at The Garden speed and sensation.”
did some travel shows and some sports shows Productions – the company behind shows Next up is a broadcaster-funded piece,
– a variety of different things. That then led us like 24 Hours in A&E. Channel 4 invested in which Wise describes as “pure computer-
to contract work for some big brands like the the business through its Independent Growth generated VR”. Talks are also ongoing with
Pittsburgh Steelers and Disney,” says Mandt. Fund. The Economist also backed the firm, as broadcasters and established on-screen talent.
He soon realised that to make money in this did TV industry veteran and Studio Lambert “Every single broadcaster I would want to
space, the key would be to replicate the old TV CEO, Stephen Lambert. be working with are either thinking about, or
model by making “volume VR” – something Speaking to Digital TV Europe at Parable’s are already, commissioning VR,” says Wise.
that could be achieved through 360° video. shared office space in London’s Kings Cross, “It will come down to how audiences engage
“Everyone has a smartphone in their pocket. Wise explains that the decision to form the – do viewers come to it in significant numbers
There’s two billion of them in the world. So business came about last January after a
we said ‘alright, what 360° video can we make Minter-Green, while still at The Economist,
that we can make inexpensively that works went on a trip to the West Coast of the US
within the limitations of both VR and 360°’?” and the main talking point among all the tech
What followed was a deal with US companies there was VR – despite a limited
podcasting company PodcastOne, which pool of compelling VR content.
will soon see the launch of a PodcastOne “We weren’t the first to spot it, but we felt,
VR platform that will house 1,000 pieces of when we looked what was out there, there
content. Mandt claims this will represent “the was a lot of good content but it was lacking
most serialised VR 360° content anywhere”. narrative,” says Wise of their thinking at
To achieve this, his team built a custom camera the time. “Our belief, in the worlds that we
rig at the PodcastOne studios that they could came from, was that you need narrative and
access remotely and developed live stitching
capabilities for the content. “Necessity is the Parable’s first work was a 360-degree tour of
mother of invention,” says Mandt. “We call the corals of Palau in the Western Pacific.
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