Operator interview 2/6 - Hugo Suidman, Marketing Manager for KPN TV

"You have to be creative on every part"

In the second instalment in a series of video interviews conducted with high-profile operators at the recent IPTV World Forum in London, we spoke to Hugo Suidman, Marketing Manager for the television offering of Dutch telco KPN.  Mr. Suidman discusses the challenges of competing in the local cable market and names some of the features that can help evolve an IPTV service into a "sophisticated and personalised" offering.

To view the video please click here

"It's not all about building bigger, better, faster network pumps"

Video interview with Edgeware's Jim Wilkinson, SVP of Sales, and Göran Appelquist, VP of Business Development

Edgeware is a Stockholm-based supplier of server systems to the on-demand TV industry.  Jim Wilkinson is the company's Senior Vice President of Sales and has operated in the TV on-demand business for the past 12 years, and been involved in many significant projects throughout the industry.

To view the video please click here

Video roundtable - Next generation cable

ipTV News Studio (part of ipTV News) and IPTV World Forum hosted a video debate discussion entitled "Next generation cable" during the IPTV World Forum 2008, held in London last March.  The discussion engaged with threats the cable industry is facing from IPTV and satellite, and over-the-top video to some extent, and the opportunities presented by increased triple-play penetration and improved economics for non-HFC expansion.

To view the video please click here

"We're moving away from an environment where TV is only for the television"

Video interview with David Keeley, CTO of Motorola's Home & Networks Mobility division for EMEA.

In this video interview, conducted at the recent IPTV World Forum in London, Mr. Keeley discusses how telcos can differentiate themselves in the TV business, and how the flexibility to move and control personal media between devices will be key in the future, as well as considering the technical challenges for the network that this brings.

To watch the video please click here

HOT BIRD will help Orange extend its television service via satellite to rural France

Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD (13 degrees East) and ATLANTIC BIRD 3 (5 degrees West) satellites will provide the direct-to-home coverage for the satellite TV offer planned by Orange (France Telecom). Orange - one of the world’s leading IPTV providers using xDSL and more recently, fibre - wants to extend its television offer to areas where the wired network does not have enough bandwidth, including rural communities.

Niche VOD and targeted ads could help monetise on-demand

VOD’s time may be approaching, according to ABI Research analyst Paulhwa Lee, who has highlighted the potential of movie content targeting niche communities, combined with targeted advertising and free VOD to deliver the eyeballs needed to generate advertising revenues. ABI Research also takes heart from the way the viewing population is growing more accustomed to acquiring media content online.

CANALSAT boosts ADSL programme line-up and reach with Harmonic encoders

CANALSAT, the leading digital Pay TV operator in France with more than 10.5 million subscriptions, has boosted its ADSL video service with the help of MPEG-4 AVC based encoders from Harmonic Inc. The company will use the DiviCom Electra 7000 high-definition and Electra 5400 standard-definition encoders to expand HD and SD programming, and also extend the reach of services over ADSL.

Lyse: build a great IPTV service and the money will come...easy as that

Anders Brandt, International Business Development Manager for Norwegian FTTH provider Lyse, has been telling IPTV News Studio that making money from an IPTV based multi-play service is easy, providing you deliver a “top-notch, no fault, high-quality service like we do, and deliver it beautifully.” He said that if these criteria are met, operators should dare to ask for good money - and it will come.

Video debates focus on multi-screen delivery, Internet/TV blending and QoE

IPTV World Forum 2008 hosted three video discussions, two of which are now available to watch. The first panel - ‘Television without borders’ - looks at technologies and business strategies for multi-screen video delivery and the possibility of 'blended' Internet/television services. The second covers Quality of Experience and is called 'Video Quality or Bust' and begins with the thought that if content is king, is quality queen?

Harmonic adds decoding and mobile encoding to DiviCom Electra

Harmonic Inc. has added decoding capabilities to its DiviCom Electra and Ion encoders with the DiviCom FLEX universal video and audio decoding module. The DiviCom FLEX solution supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC streams in both HD and SD formats, and supports re-use of incoming stream information. Platform operators can now decode and re-encode in the same chassis, saving space and money. Up to four channels of decode/encode can be supported in one rack unit.

Envivio adds HD and 3GPP streaming to three-screen encoder platform

Envivio Inc. has added support for HD encoding, plus 3GPP and 3GPP2 mobile streaming profiles for unicast mobile TV, to its 4Caster C4 convergence encoding system. The company claims the product is the "world’s first to provide video compression for all three screens of consumer video – TVs, PCs and mobile devices – on a single platform." The C4 platform will take multiple channels of content and encode them simultaneously to deliver multiple mobile TV profiles, multiple Internet TV profiles, or SD and HD IPTV profiles.

Germany’s PrimaCom wants hybrid cable/IP set-top boxes

German cable operator PrimaCom wants to introduce hybrid IP/DVB-C set-top boxes to its cable network customers. The company will use Motorola/Kreatel set-top boxes running on Linux with the aim of “accelerating the successful penetration of IPTV in this distribution medium.” PrimaCom operates an 862MHz broadband cable network, serves around one million subscribers and offers over 170 TV and radio programmes, plus high-speed Internet and telephony.

Zon TV Cabo and Telenet lead next-generation cable project

Development of a ‘Next Generation HFC broadband architecture’ is on the agenda for the ‘ReDesign project’, which has just been launched by two of Europe’s major cable operators with the support of equipment vendors and research organisations. The ReDesign consortium says it wants to develop new technologies that extend the life expectancy of today’s HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coax) cable networks.

Orange and UDcast trial Wi-Fi on high-speed trains

Wi-Fi on trains is good news for consumers but could mean more competition for mobile TV providers if it makes Internet TV a viable alternative to mobile services. In a trial of hybrid satellite and Wi-Fi on the French railways, Orange Business Services is the official project contractor and service integrator for train operator SNCF, and UDcast has provided its UDgateway satellite-delivered Internet access solution, which is installed in the Wi-Fi equipment and servers.

IPTV News introduces job search capability

IPTV News, our sister publication at www.iptv-news.com , will soon provide a job search capability for television/multimedia industry professionals. The publication has teamed with Digital Industry Jobs to provide a search facility for careers spanning a range of sectors including IPTV, mobile TV, digital TV, digital telecoms, VoIP, digital broadcast and broadband. The new portal will provide access to hundreds of job vacancies.

Download your copy of IPTV News

The latest edition of IPTV News addresses one of the most important subjects in the broadband TV sector today - Quality of Experience - with a special supplement called 'Maximising IPTV Video Quality'. This issue also contains an update on the IPTV markets in Italy and the UK, plus an assessment of set-top box and content protection technology trends. Download your copy by clicking this link.

Operator interview 1/6 - Anders Brandt, International Business Development Manager for Lyse

As the first instalment in a series of video interviews conducted with high-profile operators at the recent IPTV World Forum in London, we speak to Anders Brandt, International Business Development Manager for Norwegian fibre to the home operator Lyse.

To view the video please click here

Video roundtable - Television without borders

April 7, 2008 - ipTV News Studio (part of ipTV News) and IPTV World Forum hosted a video debate discussion during the IPTV World Forum 2008, held in London last March.  The discussion centred upon the very real convergence-focused opportunities for television companies, including the services that can be launched, the business models that could support them and the technologies that will make them possible.

To view the video please click here  (note: Flash video player required)

Virgin Media outlines new thinking required once 50Mbps is deployed

Virgin Media has achieved 50Mbps downstream broadband speeds during its DOCSIS 3.0 trial in Kent and has ran into some interesting side-effects of the enhanced service. Kevin Baughan, Director of Technical Strategy at the UK cable operator told the Connected Home conference at this year's IPTV World Forum that most 802.11 WiFi routers in triallist homes could not handle the speeds, not just in wireless mode but even using the wired Ethernet connection. PCs were often configured in such a way that they could not cope with 50Mbps connections either - and had to be reset.

BSkyB highlights multi-screen and on-demand credentials

“Technology is not an end in itself - it is a slave to the experience.” That was the key message from BSkyB at this year’s IPTV World Forum, where the company was speaking about its multi-screen strategy and the importance of online video via its Sky Anytime service. The philosophy was outlined by Griffin Parry, Director of On-Demand at the UK satellite operator, who added: “We believe in a hybrid distribution model.”

IPTV World Series Awards winners unveiled

Results of the IPTV World Series Awards 2008 were announced during the IPTV World Forum conference/exhibition in London last week. The awards recognise technology innovation and take into account the relevance of products to the IPTV market. The winners were:

Harnessing the Internet to improve broadcast TV services

Amidst the headline themes for last week's IPTV World Forum 2008 there was an interesting undercurrent surrounding the convergence of Internet sourced video and applications and classic Pay TV walled garden environments.

IPTV World Forum 2008: technologies to help consumers find content

We already have hundreds of channels of digital TV and the private network long-tail is growing. The integration of online video services into the Pay TV walled garden environment could increase content choice further but there is a danger that consumers will be overwhelmed by the volumes of content and avoid on-demand libraries altogether, or at least keep using their current favourites - in which case a great opportunity to enhance their experience has been lost.

Thomson committed to joined-up services across multiple networks

Thomson highlighted its unified approach to content management and delivery across multiple platforms at IPTV World Forum 2008, outlining plans to converge its SmartVision service delivery platform for IPTV with the SmartVision platform for mobile TV. The result will be a common management and distribution solution for linear video over 3G cellular networks, VOD over 3G, DVB-H broadcast TV (mobile), and both linear and on-demand video over DSL.

Peter Barrett on user-generated content: you cannot recreate a Botticelli

There is ample evidence that user-generated content will be integrated into the Pay TV environment as a way to earn subscriber loyalty (especially among younger viewers) but Peter Barrett, CTO and General Manager of Engineering at Microsoft TV earns the 'Quote of the Show' award from IPTV World Forum for his dismissal of UGC as a revenue earner. "Baby photos [transferred from the PC to television screen] are important but user-generated content is not going to be a huge driver of business," he told delegates at the London show. "It's a bit like standing in front of a Botticelli [painting] and saying, 'Won't it be great when everyone has access to paint'."

Record attendance for IPTV World Forum 2008

Last week’s IPTV World Forum 2008 attracted over 5,500 attendees, a new record for the show, which is also expanding in scope to include next-generation cable (especially IPTV over cable) and next-generation satellite. There were more than 150 exhibitors covering everything from WiFi chips and remote controls to pre-integrated voice/VOD/television solutions. You can read about some of the most interesting conference sessions and technologies from this year’s event elsewhere in this newsletter.