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Come and visit us at IBC to find out why WOW is the word for Bridge Technologies at IBC 2013. Find us at stand 1.A30

12 Analyst cornerThe ‘content crunch’ is OTT’s main problem going forward. But how big a hurdle is it? Guy Bisson provides the answer based on his new research

14 COVER STORY - 4K/Ultra HD specialOur special focus on 4K starts with a top level view and asks if a mass-market exists for the technology. 4K will also require a new production paradigm and two experts share lessons from early field experiments on p18. GfK analyses its chances of success on p20

22 Carriage disputes in EuropeThe carriage wars between broadcasters and platform

operators in the US are escalating, but also making their way into European markets

25 Android securityAs premium video content proliferates across Android devices, there is a need for greater security. What role can TrustZone play here?

30 Tablet TVHow can service providers take a more integrated approach with second screen services?

35 Conference review: CSI home gateways summitThe day explored the role of the multimedia home gateway in a world moving towards the cloud

40 UK local TVA new wave of local TV services is about to go live across the UK. What impact are they likely to have?

50 IBC previewA look forward to the conference and show floor high-lights of IBC2013

EditorGoran Nastic

Commercial managerTiro Bestonso

Design and productionMatt Mills (Manager)Jason TuckerMatleena Lilja-PellingKeem Chung

Regular contributorsAdrian Pennington, Philip Hunter, David Adams, Stephen Cousins

CirculationJoel Whitefoot (Manager) AccountsMarilou Tait, Lynta Kamaray

Editorialtel +44(0)20 7562 2401fax +44(0)20 7374 2701goran.nastic@csimagazine.com

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Editor’s report:Over-the-top broadband delivery is one of a number of major changes sweeping the TV industry. One manifestation of this is exacerbating tensions between cable and satellite operators and channel owners over retransmission fees, now emerging across Europe (see our feature on p22). While Time Warner Cable and CBS are in the middle of a dispute resulting in a lengthy blackout for subscribers, Netflix seems to go from strength to

strength, receiving 14 Primetime Emmy nominations for its programmes, the first internet content pro-vider to be acknowledged in this way. OTT still faces content hurdles, but this won’t last forever and IHS has crunched the numbers on how many OTT subscribers would be needed to dismantle the market for UK premium movie rights on p12. Elsewhere, our Q&A is with Chello’s Jelmer Kleingeld, who talks VoD on p34. The technology spotlight falls under HbbTV and DASH on p44. Goran Nastic, editor

Contents

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cover.indd 1 20/08/2013 11:36:32

CSI Awards ceremony Friday 13 September

IBC, RAI, Amsterdam6pm-7.30pm, Room E102

CSI Awards shortlist 2013View now

www.csimagazine.com/awards

csi_awards2013ad_v2.indd 1 21/08/2013 16:57:32

news in brief

EBU tackles authentication

The EBU has set up an initiative

that aims to develop an

alternative to proprietary single

sign-on systems, and in the

process make it easier for

broadcasters to provide more

personalised user experiences.

The Cross-Platform

Authentication (CPA) project

group will develop an alternative

to systems such as Facebook and

Yahoo!. The group will develop a

variant of the widely implemented

open standard OAuth 2.0

protocol specifically targeted at

IP-connected media devices. “A

solution to this problem would

unlock the potential for a minor

revolution in the usually

anonymous world of

broadcasting,” the EBU said.

Liberty Global has outlined how

its move to the cloud has resulted

in accelerated time-to-market of

the Horizon TV platform in its

newest market.

Faycal Amrani, managing director

and chief architect, said during CSI’s

multimedia gateway summit that the

Horizon combined gateway and

multi-screen service platform will

move traditional headend functions

such as encoding, transcoding,

encryption and multiplexing to the

cloud within the next year or two

across a series of virtual data centres,

depending on rights issues. This will

create a more virtualised, “scattered

cloud” delivery infrastructure for its

12 European operating companies,

which will improve cost efficiency by

“quite a big number,” said Amrani.

Liberty is testing the technology to

virtualise these features and Amrani

called results so far “very promising.”

“Our goal is to harmonise the

services and solution across our

footprint with agility and we can’t do

it without the cloud. The move to the

cloud is clear,” he added, stressing

that cloud based architectures does

not mean the end of the gateway but

a shift in what is right to do in each.

Liberty has already created a

central back-office to help it

harmonise functions like OSS/BSS,

customer management support,

and applications like interactive

TV, nPVR, UI, search etc as the

cablenet rolls out its next-gen

Horizon brand across Europe. This

centralised location is called the

Pan European Central Head End

(PECHE), which powers Horizon

services in the four markets the

product is commercially available.

Amrani explained how the

launches in the first two markets of

the Netherlands and Switzerland

took 12 months at a time when

PECHE was not yet operational,

compared to just three months

using PECHE for Ireland and

Germany. “So when we talk about

elasticity, agility and service

velocity, we mean it, it’s real.”

Amrani said.

Liberty Global looks to virtualisation

News

CableLabs consolidates globallyR&D body CableLabs has expanded

its reach in Asia-Pacific and Latin

America and taken Cable Europe

Labs into its fold.

In the process, CableLabs has

added 14 new members in the

three regions to its rostra, taking

the total to 51 MSOs who together

serve over 120 million customers

worldwide. The cable industry has

long sought economies of scale to

position it better against the telcos

in particular, which this move

should help achieve.

“As the global market becomes

more competitive, it is critical that

technology standards become

aligned to support and accelerate

the continued innovation necessary

for the cable industry to meet the

future needs of consumers on an

international scale,” the group said,

adding that CableLabs global

alignment of technologies and

strategies will allow technology

suppliers to develop and bring to

market solutions that scale across

cable operators worldwide.

As part of the move, all Cable

Europe Labs activities will

transition to CableLabs, which is

taking over the development and

management of DOCSIS standards

in the region and throughout the

world, and thus becoming the sole

arbiter of the current DOCSIS 3.0

specs and the forthcoming

DOCSIS 3.1 specs.

Cable Labs gains nine new

members in the region (see table).

Other former Cable Europe Labs

members are also expected to join.

CableLabs will also see new

members join from Asia-Pac and

Latin America, including Japan,

Indonesia, China and Argentina.

news in brief

UK TV analytics partnership

formed

Kantar Media has teamed with

Twitter to develop a new suite of

tools to support planning and

analytics for the UK TV industry.

Bringing together social TV data

from Twitter with the audience

research expertise of Kantar, the

companies said the tools will

enable broadcasters to assess

programmes and series, plan

programme promotions more

effectively and assist media

buyers and sellers to integrate

social data more comprehensively

into the TV component of their

media mix. The first of these new

products will be available

commercially to UK broadcasters,

media agencies and the wider

industry in 2014.

News

Com Hem (Sweden)

Get (Norway)

Kabel Deutschland (Germany)

LIWEST (Austria)

Ono (Spain)

Tele Columbus (Germany)

YouSee (Denmark)

Ziggo (Netherlands)

ZON (Portugal)

J:COM (Japan)

PT Link Net (Indonesia)

Topway (Shenzhen, China)

WASU (Hangzhou, China)

Cablevisión (Argentina)

New CableLabs members

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news in brief

New Ukraine DTH platform

Lybid TV, a new Ukrainian pay-

TV platform, has started

commercial operations on the

Eutelsat 36B satellite having

signed a multi-year lease for two

transponders. Lybid TV is

broadcasting up to 50 digital

channels comprising national

Ukrainian channels, including the

premium sport channels Football,

Football +, Sport-1 and Sport-2,

in addition to European and

Russian brands. Until the end of

the year, the platform is available

for a three-year subscription of

$15 for homes equipped with

60cm antennas. The DTH service

is secured by Exset’s conditional

access technology, Exset CAS.

Netlfix local content

Netflix is looking to produce

lower-cost local programming

internationally for the first time,

starting with a comedy series

targeted at Brazil. The online

streaming provider has ordered

scripted comedy A Toca for its

Brazilian service and the

Portuguese-language series

commission represents the

company’s first major project

outside of the US and part of a

new strategy to commission lower

budget scripted programming for

international platforms.Netflix

has previously ordered one-off

stand up comedies for some of its

Latin American services, but this

is the first time it has ordered

local scripted content.

BT Sport signs 1m subs

Over one million homes have

subscribed to BT’s new sports

channels. BT began to accept

orders on May 10, meaning that

million customers for BT Sport

have been added in just three

months, as the telco looks to

break Sky’s market dominance.

08 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

News

EBU: frame rates improve 4K UX

Early 4K tests from the EBU show

that viewers appreciate higher frame

rates much more than increased

resolution.

The tests, designed to gauge the

impact of higher frame rates on the

viewing experience, are taking

place this week at IRT’s facilities in

Munich by the EBU’s Broadcast

Technology Futures (BTF) group,

which is made up of the heads of

the research labs of the BBC, IRT,

RAI and NHK.

Last February, a set of subjective

UHDTV resolution tests conducted

at the EBU revealed that higher

resolutions would not be enough to

create a clearly perceptible difference

compared to HDTV. Significant work

is now under way to investigate other

parameters required to generate a

more immersive experience with

UHDTV.

“In addition to resolution,

technical parameters that are likely

to be crucial include higher dynamic

range, extended colour space and, of

course, the frame rate,” said the

EBU, which wants to discover

whether observers appreciate higher

frame rates and what the upper limit

of frame rates should be (the current

UHDTV standard specified by the

ITU includes only 120 Hz as a

higher frame rate).

To this end, various frame rates up

to 240 Hz with different content

genres are being rated by observers,

using sequences in both

uncompressed form and compressed

with HEVC.

“Early results give a clear

indication that higher frame rates are

appreciated by the observers, to a

significantly greater extent than

increased resolution. This supports

the position that future UHDTV

systems should include higher frame

rates,” the EBU added.

Given the practical limitations for

screen sizes in many homes, it may

well be that higher temporal

resolution could have a more

significant effect than simply

increasing the spatial resolution. On

the other hand, it may be harder to

justify and explain the advantages to

consumers, who generally just want

bigger screens with more pixels.

The detailed results will be

examined in the BTF group and in

the EBU’s Beyond HD strategic

programme and more tests will

follow in the future.

UK UHD Forum Launched The UK UHD Forum has been

launched by the industry association

for digital television in the UK, The

Digital TV Group.

Chris Jones Chief Engineer,

Broadcast Strategy at BskyB and

Andy Quested, the BBC’s Head of

Technology for BBC HD and

UHDTV, Co-Chair the group that

will work hand-in-hand with FAME

and other European standard

organisations and ‘co-ordinate UK

requirements to build a knowledge

base for the future interoperability

of Ultra HD’

Broadcasters and the Digital

Production Partnership will also

work with the DTG to discover

whether or not there is a need for a

UK Ultra HD profile. DTG hope this

will build on the success of the HD

forum.

Although 4KTV displays are

already on sale in the UK, it is

believed that the displays of the

future will go much further, bringing

a sense of exceptional immersion and

depth through advances in colour,

frame rate and dynamic range, as

defined in the ITU’s

Recommendation for UHD. It is also

considered important to avoid

confusion that many customers

experience of ‘HD Ready’, and it is

therefore vital that the technology

step-change demanded by UHD is

understood prior to any introduction

of an ‘Ultra-HD Ready’ logo.

In launching the UK UHD-Forum,

the DTG is bringing together all

relevant stakeholders to work towards

the managed delivery of

interoperable Ultra-HD services,

networks and devices.”

• Spanish satellite operator

Hispasat, meanwhile, plans to launch

a new ultra HD channel, Hispasat

4K, which will be available to the

industry as a testing ground, similar

to initiatives from rivals Eutelsat and

SES.

Hispasat has already tested 4K

transmissions in Brazil, Spain and

several European countries and said

it is cutting deals with technology

partners to promote the technology

between producers and users.

Orange has tested UHD signals during the French Open tennis tournament

http://www.piksel.com

news in brief

KIT becomes Piksel

KIT digital is preparing to exit

bankruptcy and will re-launch at

IBC under a new name, Piksel.

KIT said the reorganisation plan

will be confirmed by the US

Bankruptcy Court for the

Southern District of New York

after the company filed for

voluntary bankruptcy protection

three months ago to cleanse itself

of “legacy issues”, including

financial, legal and regulatory

matters. KIT digital will officially

rebrand on August 29, focusing

on software applications,

partnerships, and professional

and managed services.

KT to deploy HTML5 service

Korean telco KT is planning to

launch an HTML5-based IPTV

multi-screen service. The service,

called Olleh TV Smart, will be

accessible from both set-top boxes

and connected devices such as

PCs, smartphones, and tablets.

With the shift to the HTML5

open interface, KT will introduce

an app that supplements live

streamed baseball games with

statistics about the players, and

they will be able to instantly

re-play key moments of the game.

KT will launch additional features

including HTML5-based

interactive education, cloud

games, ‘Cloud DVD’ and private

broadcasting services in coming

months. Alticast provides the

middleware for KT’s system.

Carrier ID survey

The Satellite Interference

Reduction Group (IRG) and

Newtec are undertaking an

industry survey to find out what

the industry thinks when it comes

to satellite interference and

Carrier ID. The survey is

available at surveymonkey.com/s/

StopInterference2013

10 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

News

Eutelsat to acquire Satmex Eutelsat has agreed to fully acquire

Satélites Mexicanos for $1.14

billion as it looks to become a major

satellite player in the Latin

American markets.

This acquisition, together with

the recently ordered Eutelsat 65

West A satellite, gives Eutelsat

significant entry across a region

that is experiencing high growth in

television, telecoms and digital

media.

“With Satmex’s strategic orbital

slots, state of the art fleet and

upcoming satellites, Eutelsat is

gaining a robust platform from

which to access the significant

opportunities in this region,” said

Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen.

Based in Mexico, Satmex

operates three satellites at 113.0°

West (Satmex 6), 114.9° West

(Satmex 5) and 116.8° West

(Satmex 8) that cover 90% of the

population of the Americas. The

company operates in C and Ku-bands

and was granted Ka-band rights in

2012. The operator is targeting an

increased contribution from video

through its positions at 113.0° West

and 116.8° West including through

the recently launched Satmex 8

satellite.

The launch of Satmex 8 in March

added 21 incremental 36 MHz-

equivalent transponders to its fleet,

of which 12 have already been

contracted. The company has

committed to acquire two electric

propulsion satellites (Satmex 7 and

9) that will become operational in

2015 and 2016 to more than double

its total in-orbit capacity.

Satmex has an estimated market

share of 11% in Latin America where

it enjoys a strong franchise in

corporate data networks and cellular

backhaul.

In 2012, Satmex’s FSS business

generated revenues of $111.8 million

and $89.1 million in adjusted

EBITDA, on top of a backlog of

$242 million. Satmex also owns and

operates Alterna TV, a provider of

Hispanic television programming to

the US market. The transaction is

expected to close by the end of 2013,

subject to government and regulatory

approvals and other customary

conditions.

AOL to acquire Adap.TV Internet giant AOL is taking a

bigger step into online video

advertising with the acquisition of

Adap.TV, in a deal worth around

$405 million.

California-based Adap.TV brings

the only complete global

programmatic video technology

stack for publishers and advertisers

across all screens, as well as a

unified yield management platform

for advertisers and publishers for

planning, targeting, adserving

and measurement.

Adap.TV allows brands to target

to a specific audience (so called

programmatic advertising) and AOL

expects the combination to create a

powerful cross-screen solution for

brands, agencies and publishers.

The combination will give AOL an

end-to-end solution and video stack

for publishers and advertisers – from

premium original production, to

content aggregation and syndication

platforms, video CMS technology,

and now a leading programmatic

video platform.

Last year, Adap.tv supported more

than 26,000 global ad campaigns,

which ran on approximately 9,500

websites and was used by many top

brand advertisers.

Adap.tv will operate independently

as part of AOL’s video organisation

and be included as part of the

overall solution offered by AOL

Networks to its publisher and

advertiser partners.

Start-up touts MPEG-2 gainsEuclid Discoveries is promising to

boost MPEG-2 compression by

10-30% thanks to EuclidVision

technology, a software module that

can be installed in legacy MPEG-2

set top boxes, which the company is

pitching at cable MSOs.

Test results, measured by BD rate

and visual comparisons, have shown

compression gains of between

10-30% for high motion, HD videos,

according to the company. When

EuclidVision determines that the

complexity of the video has exceeded

the conventional encoder’s

capabilities, it applies additional

modelling information to those

regions to generate better

predictions. An H.264 compliant

EuclidVision software module is

expected before the end of the year.

news in brief

ZigBee takes off in STBs

Almost a third of set-top boxes

shipped globally in 2018 will

integrate support for ZigBee

RF4CE technology, according to

ABI Research. A total of 30% of

STBs will feature ZigBee by that

date, up from just 3% in 2011.

ABI believes the technology is

also set to allow STBs to become

the centre piece of automated

homes. The standard currently

serves as a replacement for IR in

remote controls. Operators such

as Comcast, Pace, EchoStar and

Swisscom have already

incorporated it in their STBs.

Android gains on 9” tablets

Over 34m tablets shipped in Q2

2013, a 43% YoY increase,

according to Canalys, which said

that tablets now account for 31%

of worldwide PC shipments.

Apple’s market share dropped to

43%. The chasing pack of

Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and

Acer each grew annually by over

200%, driven by increasing

demand for small-screen tablets

available for less than $150.

Canalys estimates that 68% of

tablets shipped in Q2 had a

screen size smaller than 9”.

Connected devices impact

secondary sets

The TV set in the living room

retains its importance, according

to Ofcom, which found that 91%

of all viewing is on the main TV

set, up from 88% in 2002. Live

TV accounted for 90% of all

viewing in 2012, with the average

viewer watching just over four

hours of TV a day - 15 minutes

more than in 2008. However,

there were 41% of households

with only one TV set in 2012

compared with 35% in 2002,

while only 52% of 5-15 year olds

had a TV in their bedroom.

News

1bn payTV homes by 2018 Global pay TV households will reach

the one billion mark by 2018, up from

772 million in 2012 and 814 million

in 2013, according to Digital TV

Research.

The Asia Pacific region will

contribute 59% of the global total by

that time. China will have the most

pay TV subs, at 313 million by end-

2018, followed by 158 million in

India and 107 million in the US.

These three countries will account

for 58% of global pay TV households

by 2018.

Pay TV penetration (analog and

digital combined) reached 53.6% of

TV households by end-2012, and will

rise to 55.7% by end-2013 and 63.1%

by 2018. Penetration at end-2018 will

range from 86% in North America to

29% in the Middle East and Africa.

Pay TV penetration will remain

highest in the Netherlands, at 99.5%

by end-2018.

Of the 667 million digital TV

homes to be added between 2012

and 2018, 240 million will come

from digital cable to take its total to

513 million. Primary FTA DTT

[homes taking DTT but not

subscribing to cable, DTH or IPTV]

will acquire an additional 225 million

– bringing its total to 363 million.

Pay DTT will add 7 million to total

16 million.

Pay IPTV will increase by 98

million to 167 million, with pay DTH

up 73 million to 251 million and

FTA DTH up 31 million to 143

million.

There were still 652 million

analogue TV households by end-

2012 but this total will fall by 104

million in 2013 alone, with only

127 million remaining by 2018

when analogue penetration will

stand at only 8.0% (77 million

analogue terrestrial homes and 49

million analogue cable).

Netflix not cannibalising linear TVNetflix households watch as much

traditional TV as homes that do not

take up the service, according to new

data from TiVo Research and

Analytics.

In a recent survey of nearly 10,000

subscribers, TiVo found there was no

significant difference in the amount

of traditional TV viewing between

Netflix and non-Netflix households.

Of the survey respondents 57%

stated that they subscribe to Netflix

and 18% had watched House of

Cards. Half also reported they

subscribe to Amazon Prime and

18% to Hulu Plus, while 8%

subscribe to all three over the top

services.

Netflix households also are

heavier viewers of other premium

dramas: households who reported

viewing House of Cards watched

85% more HBO than non-Netflix

households.

“Our data show that Netflix is

not currently a substitute for

traditional television, but offers a

way for TV lovers to watch more of

the kinds of programs they love,”

said TRA.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 11

Source: Netflix

China 312.9India 158.0USA 106.8Russia 32.3Brazil 30.5 Japan 27.0Germany 23.1Mexico 19.0 South Korea 16.9UK 16.3

Netherlands 100Denmark 97Belgium 96Hong Kong 96South Korea 95Sweden 92Norway 91Puerto Rico 91Singapore 89Estonia 87

Households (million) Penetration (%)

Top 10 pay TV cuntries at end - 2018

Acliché to start: content

is king. A truth for

seconds: good content is

very expensive. And now

a look to the future: as

television evolves

increasingly towards IP

and OTT delivery, the ‘content crunch’ represents

the biggest obstacle to change.

I’ve noted in past analysis some of the

technical cost issues around scaling large-volume

unicast OTT delivery of television content (see

CSI Jan-Feb issue), but the real road-block is

economic. It is the entrenched economics of the

content business, that of rights sales and channel

carriage agreements.

So just how big an obstacle is this? On the

technical side, we can model CDN costs and,

from an engineering perspective, address certain

scaling issues through a combination of unicast

and multicast technology and, in the near-term,

through hybrid broadcast/IP technologies. But the

content value chain is very different from the

technical one. It doesn’t evolve on a Moore’s Law-

like timeline. The economic model for movie and

entertainment content has remained essentially

the same since the inception of TV.

The UK market for movie and entertainment

content within the pay TV subscription window is

worth an estimated £650m in terms of annual

rights spend. When channel carriage income for

the main content owners is added, this jumps to

€1.3bn. That, represents about 22% of the total

value of the UK pay TV market and is the size of

the roadblock that will have to be dismantled

before there can be a sea-change in the way

content is delivered.

Content owners have long talked of direct-to-

consumer propositions, cutting out the

middleman represented by pay TV operators and

channels and taking home all of the subscription

spoils their content generates. For a long time this

has been little more than a fantasy, as believable

as the plot-lines of many a Hollywood blockbuster.

But OTT is a potential game-changer in that it

brings together the potential of an open network

while removing the onus on a single closed-

network hardware solution for delivery of

premium TV.

To date, content owners have taken little

more than baby steps towards this full

disintermediation. To offer their content

direct would mean an end to lucrative,

usually exclusive, deals with pay TV partners.

Taken to its logical conclusion, not only

would it mean an end to licensing

relationships with premium channel

customers, but it would also devalue the

entire linear TV channel proposition by

shifting all of the value traditionally placed

on this segment into the OTT delivery

platform.

There are other issues. What price

point could be charged? How do you value

output from a single content provider?

A price point of £5 for all of the output

of a major producer like Disney or Discovery

may sound reasonable, but add in a few more

content owners at this level

and the price soon exceeds

the monthly cost of a high-

end pay TV subscription

today.

Dismantling the content value chain

By modelling out realistic price-points based on

the monthly ARPU that a UK pay TV subscriber

can support it becomes clear that between 1.3m

and 4.3m direct OTT subscribers would be

needed to dismantle the market for UK premium

movie rights, although a realistic mid-point would

suggest it could be done with as few as 2.7m

customers. Counting income from studio-owned

UK channels and those of non-studio majors like

Discovery would mean rights owners would have

to find between 2.7m and 8.6m direct OTT

customers to make back the revenue they would

lose from existing relationships and channel

carriage agreements, this time with a mid-point

around 5.4m customers.

Some major players that are more heavily

entrenched in the UK market with both channels

and rights deals would need even more. Smaller

content owners too would also face an onerous

task. Although they have less money to make

back, the price they would be able to charge for a

single-source content offer would also be far less.

The one thing that emerges perhaps more

clearly than anything else from this exercise is

that the current aggregation model based around

branded channels and a strong branded platform

to aggregate and sell those channels is a highly

efficient one. But in the rapidly evolving

world that is OTT delivery, it is no longer

iron-clad.

OTT’s content crunchAs TV evolves increasingly towards IP, the content crunch, not technology, is OTT’s biggest obstacle

Guy Bisson is research director, television, at IHS Screen Digest. In this regular column, he gives CSI readers exclusive insight from the

company’s new channel strategies service

Analyst corner

12 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

UK: Relative importance of carriage income, major content providers (2012)

Car

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Source: IHS

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omes

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Par

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SP

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Cisco Videoscape Unity: Connecting Experiences Your Way

Your video experiences: personalized, synchronized, delivered to any screen.

Cisco Videoscape Unity empowers service providers in all markets. It makes sure they can create and connect new synchronized, personalized, and intuitive multiscreen experiences — at the speed of now.

To learn more about Cisco Videoscape Unity, visit cisco.com/go/videoscape

Untitled-4 1 21/08/2013 14:04:25

While

UltraHD is

expected to

dominate

discussion

at IBC2013

and other

industry forums, there are question marks being

set against the sanity of pushing beyond 2K so

quickly. After all, what’s wrong with HD anyway?

“It may have four times the resolution of high-

definition television, but is it four times better?”

asks Informitv consultant William Cooper, who is

chairing a session on the topic at IBC. “Is there

any evidence of consumer demand or willingness

to pay for further improvements in sound and

picture quality? Can people actually see or hear

the difference and is it really relevant to the

average viewer? Can broadcasters afford to go

beyond HD to 4K formats?” he continues.

His is far from the only voice sounding an

antidote to the prevailing UltraHD hyperbole.

While broadcasters including SES, Sky, Netflix,

Eutelsat, the BBC and NHK are pressing ahead

with test broadcasts in order to stimulate and

measure demand, with the aim of launching

commercially across 2014 and 2015, there is also

caution. Most broadcasters are wary of getting

bitten, as ESPN, Foxtel and others appear to have

done with their soon-to-be-defunct 3D channels,

by leaping wholesale into a format that has next

to no consumer base.

“The jury is still out,” admits Andrew Jordan,

SVP, International Operations & Technology, at

Comcast-owned NBCUniversal. “The question for

us is under what circumstances is it most

appropriate. Like any big shift in the industry we

have to understand its relevance. If everyone had

jumped in with both feet and bought 3D sets the

world would now look very different.”

A more natural

progression than 3D

While NBCU’s approach is

cautious, there are good

reasons to suggest that

Ultra-HD will not whither

on the vine as 3D appears

to have done. HD to Ultra-

HD would seem to

represent a more natural technology progression,

and an easier consumer proposition, than the

necessity of wearing glasses.

With elements of the 4K broadcast equipment

market already becoming commoditised,

momentum is building in support of the first

UltraHD broadcasts (defined as Level 1 by

the ITU with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 -

exactly 2x vertical and 2x horizontal compared to

1920x1080; as with HD, the aspect ratio is 16:9).

However, a number of key issues still have

questions hanging over them, a basic one being

that TV manufacturers need to persuade

consumers to upgrade to a higher resolution set

(Sony’s 55-inch 4K Bravia is £5,000; a Seiki

model costs around £1,000), at a time when the

benefits of HD are only just going mainstream.

“60% of the world’s market has yet to transition

from SD while others are prioritising multi-

platform distribution,” notes consultant Graham

Sharp. “4K to the home is being driven by set

manufacturers trying to boost their refresh cycle.”

West European sales peaked at 51m HD

sets in 2010 followed by a 4% decline in 2011

and 12% last year. Analysts Futuresource predicts

a similar slide in 2013. All this in a market where

three quarters of homes contain HD screens but

only half currently receive HD broadcasts.

“The single most important reason [for the

push to 4K] is that TV manufacturers are losing

money on TVs,” comments Jack Wetherill, senior

market analyst at Futuresource. “They need to

find a compelling reason for consumers to buy

new more expensive sets.”

Nonetheless, Ericsson’s 2012 ConsumerLab

TV report highlighted a willingness among

14 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

4K jigsaw aligns for the bigger pictureDiscussion about ultra-HDTV has advanced beyond whether it’s possible, toward practical considerations about how home viewers will actually receive the experience, but broadcasters are understandably cautious, reports Adrian Pennington

A demonstration of Cisco’s Project Fresco

consumers to pay for ‘extreme quality’ as part of

their overall TV and video service. “There are

some who suspect the industry is simply pushing

this technology just to sell more TVs but I think

that’s unfair,” suggests Carl Furgusson, Ericsson’s

head of business development, TV compression.

“The introduction of UltraHD and the consumer

benefits mirror the introduction of HD; there are

a number of people who are reluctant to embrace

the technology but equally, there are a similar

number who want it now.”

While there are those who believe 4K will

sideline 3D because it offers a more immediate

visual upgrade achieved without the need for

glasses, there are others who think higher

resolution panels are beneficial to 3DTV.

So autostereo displays could give 3DTV

renewed impetus.

“UltraHD screens will give a much higher

resolution for passive-glasses 3D viewing,

effectively doubling the number of vertical lines to

a full 1,000 lines per eye,“ says Chris Johns, chief

engineer, broadcast strategy, BSkyB. “The utopia

is glasses-free 3D. UltraHD can lend itself to that

because it’s increasing the number of fields of

view that 4K screens can display.”

Stakeholders in the format’s future are calling

for the industry to unite and ensure it gets out of

the starting blocks in a standardised not

piecemeal manner and before it hits public

consiousness.

“We must be patient and not rush to be first,

because if we get it wrong it may be the end of it,”

stresses Stephan Heimbecker, head of innovation

and standards, product and operations, Sky

Deutchland, which is thought to be preparing to

announce a UltraHD service at Berlin’s IFA.

“Let’s do it right.”

Not confusing the consumer is the UK’s

Digital TV Group’s concern. “We still have

enough time to do the strategic planning, to

learn all the lessons from HD such as avoiding

confusion with an UltraHD marque,” says the

industry body’s CEO, Richard Lindsay-Davies.

“We must be careful to manage the step change so

that the specifications are right, that the value is

right for the consumer, with the right timing and

appropriate communication.”

With the first UltraHD services odds-on to be

launched by payTV companies, Sky Deutschland,

BSkyB and Fox Sports among others are testing

production workflows to home delivery.

“With HD we went through a two-year test

period, with 3D it was 18 months,” explains

Johns. “We are still at that early phase so that

when we are able to deliver a beyond HD viewing

experience we can deliver a high quality one.”

Much of the testing surrounds what the

attributes of a next generation TV service might

actually be, with the feeling that resolution alone

is not sufficient to convince the market of the

need to upgrade.

“Something beyond HD might have no

interlace, more resolution, finer pixels... but what

else is there?” questions Johns. “It has to deliver a

new viewing experience. It has to be something

consumers want to have.”

Aside from a wide portfolio of content, (a

lesson learned from 3D channel’s padded

schedule), a key requirement is improved motion

portrayal and higher dynamic range. “Greater

colorimetry is a nice to have but will only

enhance the experience of certain sequences of

certain programmes (general views in travel

shows, for example),” says Johns.

“We also need to think about audio, perhaps

in terms of new object-based technology which

manipulates sound according to the environment

you are sitting in. In addition, and very

importantly, it needs to be cost effective from

cameras to compression.”

Live production challenges

Discussion among broadcasters is also focused on

the presentation of 4K on increasingly large home

screens, reckoned to be of the order of 60-inches

for UltraHD visual benefits to be experienced. At

the optimal viewing distance from the screen,

around 60 degrees of the viewer’s field of view

will be filled with the TV image. By comparison,

today’s viewing typically fills around 30 degrees of

the field of view.

“Does the production grammar have to

change?” asks Heimbecker. “At screen sizes above

55-inchs at an average 2.7 metres viewing

distance, then conventional close-ups would

appear larger than lifesize which could be

discomforting to people. Perhaps we need to use

head to hip shots for a less disturbing experience.”

The larger screen real estate could also be used

to split coverage of programming. A football

match, for example, could be covered in the lower

half of the screen from a single wide view of the

field of play, with other windows showing a

traditional director’s cut, viewer choice of angle,

another match or advertising.

In 4K tests broadcasters have made of fast-

paced action it is apparent that the Level 1 spec

needs to accommodate at least 50fps and ideally

60 even 120 frame rates to overcome motion blur,

a startling artefact replayed at four times HD

resolution.

“UltraHD TV needs a higher frame rate yet CE

manufacturers are producing 30hz-only sets when

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 15

4K special

“The jury is still out. The question for us is under what circumstances is it most appropriate.” NBCUniversal

A Samsung UHD demo from this year’s Anga show

the current standard goes up to 120fps,” says

BBC lead research engineer Richard Salmon who

is involved in standardisation initiatives through

SMPTE and DVB. This will change when HDMI

2.0 is released to support displays at 50/60p,

though this is not expected until next spring.

Live 4K production remains a challenge and is

at least 18 months away from readiness. Sony is

pushing hardest, testing an array of equipment

including its single 35mm sensor F5/F55 cameras

rather than traditional 2/3-inch broadcast optics,

at June’s Confederations Cup with a view to

convincing FIFA of greenlighting 4K capture

during next year’s World Cup. That decision also

rests on FIFA selling the rights, though at the

very least the final is thought likely to be captured

4K for posterity.

“Most 4K live production tests are outputting

four HD tiled feeds [QuadHD] for backhaul to a

studio or limited large screen experiences,” says

Ericsson’s Furgusson. “You are looking at

80-110Mb/s in Quad HD, equivalent to 20Mb/s

per HD panel at 422 10bit sampling. To do true

4K broadcast, rather than just playing with the

technology, we need 4K-capable mixers, real-time

edit suites, graphics and logo overlay and these

aren’t ready to go in 2013.”

4K content

UltraHD as an origination format for recorded

programming does have advantages, the chief

among them being to hold a master copy in

higher resolution as future proofing.

A Blu-Ray task force has been established to

revise the current spec to accommodate 4K, while

Netflix, Discovery 3Net and BSkyB (both with

3D / 4K documentaries) are among those

building a 4K library. Netflix’ original drama

House of Cards was acquired 5K on Red Epics

in readiness for when the OTT powerhouse

launches into 4K VoD (pre-canned and pre-

encoded movie and drama content), a plan that

chief product officer Neil Hunt hinted at earlier

this year.

Better standards and format conversion are

also beneficial from 4K source material: Deriving

1080i at 25Hz or 29.97Hz can be done with high

quality, starting with a UltraHD Level 1 master.

720P or 50 / 59.94hz (2x frame rate of HD) can

likewise be derived from higher quality source.

HD content can also be extracted by electronic

pan/zooms either in near-live replay (as has been

used live on air by CBS Sports during its 2013

Superbowl coverage) or to reframe in post. The

former has potential to reduce operator cost in

the field by needing fewer camera-ops.

Increased storage and editing power

requirements plus lack of a business model for

delivery in 4K are however causing film and TV

producers to hesitate and post produce at 2K.

“Artistically, 4K can enhance the storytelling

(by providing a higher sample of dynamic range

and detail before post and VFX) but producers

have to weigh how much 4K is going to add value

to their production today by giving the movie

another life in 5-10 years,” says Axel Ericson,

founder of facility Digital Arts which houses New

York’s first 4K lab.

Lack of content is an impediment to operator

UltraHD launches. Sony is trying to seed the

market with its own 4K Media Player. Essentially

a server bundled with a dozen 4K features [Sony

Pictures-produced The Amazing Spiderman, Total

Recall (2012) and catalogue titles scanned from

35mm such as Taxi Driver] as well as some

additional TV and short-form video. Fresh

content will become available via Sony’s Video

Unlimited 4K content service [US only], slated to

debut in the autumn and costing $7.99 per rental

title or $29.99 download to own.

Supplementing – not replacing - HD

This is a short-term measure ahead of 4K to home

services for which HEVC will be fundamental to

ensuring deployment on a large scale, cost-

effectively. “Finding the extra bandwidth required

to dedicate the transmission path to the home is a

daunting prospect as UltraHD will supplement,

not replace, HD for many years,” says Fergusson.

16 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

“We must be patient and not rush to be first. Let’s do it right.” Sky Deutschland

Over Satellite Over Telco Satellite, Cable, Terrestrial, Telco

IPTV

MPG - 4 AVC 2160p30 10 - 30 Mbps

2160p60 80 - 105Mbps 200 - 320 Mbps 12 - 39 Mbps

HEVC 2160p30 7 - 21 Mbps

(Liner 1st Generation) 2160p60 8 - 27 Mbps

HEVC 2160p30 5 - 15 Mbps

(Linear 2nd Generation) 2160p60 56 - 73 Mbps 200-320 Mbps 6 - 20 Mbps

Equivalent to today’s HDTV

at... 1080i30 / 720p60 20 Mbps MPEG - 4 Hi422 8bit 80 Mbps MPEG - 4 Hi422 10 bit 5-12 Mbps MPEG - 4

120 Mbps JPEG - 200 9-16 Mbps MPEG - 2

Contribution / Backhaul Distribution / DTH Delivery

Datarates for the 4K UHDTV through the end to end chain

Source: Ericsson

With a framerates at least 50Hz (100,120,

150fps may be necessary) the baseband data

rate is therefore at least 8x conventional HD, or

approximately 12Gbps. By comparison, current

MPEG4 AVC HD delivery to the home by

satellite is in the order of 5-12Mbs (at the higher

end of that range in Europe).

HEVC of course has the capability to achieve

a 50% bitrate reduction over MPEG-4 AVC but

requires 10x the processing power to fully exploit

the toolset. The first generation of ‘live products’

in 2015/2016 will likely only provide a 20-25%

gain, reckons Furgusson. “It will take the second

generation HEVC UltraHD realtime encoders to

achieve 6-20Mbps bitrates cost effectively.”

That’s not the only hurdle. Enabling new

decoding devices integrated into TVs, STBs, and

consoles are also required and not available

until NAB 2014 at the earliest. “We won’t see

HM 10 60p reference chipsets with the full HEVC

toolset [from manufacturers like STMicro and

Broadcom] integrated into a device before the end

of 2014,” says Furgusson. “My prediction is for

World Cup Brazil we will see 4K big screen public

show events but not 4K to the home in any

significant way.”

A mass-market for UHD?

All the major TV brands will have 4K TVs on

retail by Christmas with Futuresource predicting

that 8,000 of them will ship in Europe this year –

but that’s out of 38m total set sales. By 2020 half

of 50+inch sets sold will be 4K-ready, but that’s a

long time to wait for a viable commercial

business. “4K is here to stay and a natural

progression from HD,” concludes Wetherill. “4K

is a premium technology for years to come.”

Imagining what we may all be watching in our

homes by 2021, Andy Quested, BBC technology

chief for HD and 3D predicts: “My TV is agile. It

can do 300fps and will switch framerates

automatically depending on content. It has at

least 4000 lines, has extended dynamic range and

it’s a 21.9 aspect ratio. It displays stereo 3D

without glasses and it includes object-orientated

audio rendering sound according to the space

around me.”

Where will TV manufacturers go then?

Whole wall screens or holographic devices,

naturally. According to Cisco, within the next five

years advances in display technology will make

science fiction reality, with screens that are

unobtrusive, frameless, ambient and UltraHD. Its

OLED-based project Fresco is on show at IBC’s

Future Zone. Developments such as these will

help overcome the mass-market questions arising

around UHD.

As HBO’s retiring CTO Bob Zitter noted

earlier this year, even in the US only about

25-30% of homes have space for a TV large

enough for viewers to discern the difference

between regular HD and 4K. He said that

broadcasters would not have an incentive to

migrate from HD to 4K if less than a third of the

market could be addressed with the technology.

He did, however, point out that ultra HD could

take off if new technologies such as wall-panel

TV or OLED-based flexible wallpaper

screens emerged.

This is also Sony’s argument when it comes to

questions about mass market economics of 4K.

Andrew Kydd, programme manager of future

business innovation at Sony Europe, argued that

sets are generally getting bigger in the home as

prices come down, so people are generally

acquiring larger screens.

This mass-market potential will remain an open

question but in the

The two ends of the broadcast

chain - cameras and TV sets -

have started supporting 4K/

ultra HD. But UHDTV

support has not yet been

announced for many other

devices, such as switchers,

encoders, and set-top boxes. Moreover, the post-

production workflow requires adaptation to higher

bit rates, processing, and storage capacities.

Therefore, the first challenge in deploying UHDTV

is in baseband: How do we acquire, transport, and

display uncompressed video?

Assuming a 4:2:2 10-bit pixel format, about 12

Gbits/sec are needed to transport uncompressed

UHDTV video and audio. Currently, there is no

established standard to handle that much data

between professional equipment or between set-

top boxes and TV sets. Therefore, the limited

number of available UHDTV devices work around

this bottleneck by aggregating multiple available

links like 3G Serial Digital Interface (3G-SDI) or

HDMI in proprietary ways. At IBC2012, some

providers promoted different technologies, such

as dual-link 3G over Bayonet Neill–Concelman

(BNC) connector, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort.

In parallel, standardisation bodies are actively

involved in the specification of new transport

interfaces with higher capacities. Thus, the HDMI

forum is working on a new specification for

release at the end of 2013.

Although many UHDTV devices, such as TV

sets, video projectors, and professional monitors,

and cameras were made available in 2012, and

despite the ITU recommendation, no established

standard accurately defines what UHD means in

the context of broadcast TV. There is still great

uncertainty about various parts of the broadcast

chain, including video compression and delivery.

Video compression of this new format is yet to be

demonstrated on current

broadcast delivery

infrastructures, and little is

known about the required

bandwidth that could be

envisioned for live

applications.

Beyond technology:

UHDTV aesthetic skills

UHD is synonymous of a new shape, leaving HD

screen size (42” on average) to welcome a new

reference size: 84”. This must affect the way of

filming. Three topics, relative to filming skills, are

particularly explored.

First, a UHD natural close-up is able to bring

the definition of a 50X magnification microscope.

It could offer a different, slightly more intimate

meaning, where every detail of the character face

would be seen. Figure 1 shows how sharply a

UHDTV 50p screenshot enhances the impression

of realness. A standard close-up in HD can be

frightening in UHD.

Second, a UHDTV background is difficult to

ignore, even if the focus choice helps one’s eyes

concentrate on the foreground. The numerous

details multiply the constraints. With such a large

screen, combined with a reduction of the viewer’s

distance, UHDTV calls for large shots that allow

the eyes to circulate. If a cinema crew knows

unfocused backgrounds help concentrate the

viewers’ attention on the actors, in television this

constitutes a difficult task as TV lenses facilitate a

large field of depth as shown on Figure 2, on the

next page. Dealing with distracting background

items that may show up under these

circumstances can prove problematic.

Third, large camera movements are prohibited.

Enlarged UHDTV picture size and definition

bring a large amount of information to viewers’

eyes and brain. Camera movement naturally

accelerates this information stream. Comparing

HD and UHDTV, considering a necessary 45°

panning movement in HD, a larger shot is

preferred in UHDTV limited to a 10° panning

movement to keep the dynamic impression

UHDTV capture: early experiencesAteme’s Jérôme Vieron and Matthieu Parmentier of France Télévisions dissect the technology challenges associated with 4K and outline some of the early experiments undertaken in this space to evaluate future workflows, specifically work on adapting filming methods and materials

18 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Figure 1: Close-ups have to be rethought in UHD

without overloading the information stream.

These three examples are the beginning of a

new way of shooting for UHDTV.

During post-production, apart from the

workflow adaptation to higher bit rates,

processing, and storage capacities, UHDTV

definition of up to 60 frames/sec considerably

enlarges the editing field.

A higher resolution involves a new rhythm - a

new way of telling stories. It is obvious that there

is much to see in a UHDTV picture. At this time,

and until audiences become accustomed to giant

TVs and such, an immersive viewing angle,

UHDTV stories should remain smoother. The

first consequence is that to digest all the meaning

of a shot, the edit should be slower. A single shot

that lasts five seconds in HD could last about ten

or 15 sec in UHDTV. But this does not mean that

all movies will run twice as long. Rather, if the

filmmakers need three different axis or shot

values in HD, they should restrain themselves to

only one of those values in UHDTV.

In addition, less work will apply to editing, and

more work will apply while shooting. The camera

position, focal, and field depth shape a large part

of every shot meaning. With more information in

the picture, fewer shots, and fewer edit cuts, the

future UHDTV content should probably look like

today’s Super 35 productions.

UHDTV field capture

To study both UHD signals and the HEVC

potentials for delivering UHDTV signals, field

captures were and will be performed as part of

the 4EVER consortium. Figure 3 provides

thumbnails of the UHDTV content considered in

the current study.

Since 2008, Orange Labs and France

Télévisions have been involved in many projects

to map out the future of TV. In 2011, Orange

Labs began its study of UHD signals at the

French Tennis Open, produced by France

Télévisions. In 2012,

ATEME and six other

partners, setup the 4EVER

project, covering the entire

production and delivery

chain. This three-year

collaborative research and

development project aims

at exploring, developing,

and promoting an

enhanced, quality TV

experience.

From this first UHDTV

capture at the French

Tennis Open, where a Red

Epic camera was used by

Orange Labs (Fig. 3 (a), the

consortium conducted several other shooting

sessions. In spring 2012, France Télévisions

started a specific study of the overall UHDTV

workflow, with the production of a short

programme Le Chien Couché à Ses Pieds, directed

by Christel Delahaye and shot in the conditions

of a regular TV project (Fig. 3 (b) and (c)) with a

Red Epic camera. During the summer of 2012,

Orange Labs and 4EVER partners used the Sony

F65 camera for a specific shooting of stress

contents at the Brest 2012 historical sailing event

(Fig. 3 (d)). This was done after a deep study of

this camera’s potential during a shooting session

in Paris (Fig. 3 (e)). Finally, the JVC GY-HMQ10

camcorder was used in Nantes (Fig. 3 (f)) and

Brest (Fig. 3 (i)) to explore its spatial and

temporal definition skills.

In addition, UHDTV scanned film sequences

provided by SVT, namely, Crowdrun and Ducks

(Fig. 3 (g) and (h), respectively) were added to

the UHDTV content test set.

Conclusion

Enhancing the sense of realness, the viewing

comfort and creating an immersive experience,

such is the quest of any incumbent broadcaster

like France Télévisions looking to embrace the

future of television. In this context, UHDTV and

in particular 4KTV is considered as the next

natural step after HD and 3D.

After introducing why broadcasting a 4K signal

would bring television in a new dimension,

multiplying the amount of information and

emotions, we outlined a 4K format that would fit

realistic expectations for the broadcast television

industry. The challenges to implement this format

are far from negligible.

As an early attempt to figure this future, we

have encountered the 4K reality in television

world, dealing with different camera concepts

for capture, slightly huge files and bitrates,

thinking to new skills to film and edit these

contents. These first experiences lead us to a

completely new dimension, with the promises

of enhanced information and emotions. These

efforts have to be followed by a complete study

of the overall production chain to bring 4K

to the audience.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 19

This is an excerpt from a paper written by Jérôme Vieron, advanced research manager at ATEME, and Matthieu Parmentier, project manager of R&D at public broadcaster France Télévisions

Studio 4K content

Filmmakers have been shooting movies on

35mm film, for more than 80 years. Despite

the physical misalignment between 35mm film

and video structure, its effective resolution is

considered at least equivalent to 4K (DCI).

Hence, films are increasingly scanned, post-

produced, and archived at 4K resolution. In

addition, new masters related to restoration

work or commercial distributionare often

created at this resolution. Digital filmmaking

has also moved to shooting at 4K, and even

some Hollywood filmmakers are moving

beyond 4K and high frame rate. Thus, there is

already sufficient 4K content for studios to

release in UHDTV format.Figure 2: Distracting background items can show up shooting in 4K

Figure 3: Thumbnails of UHDTV content used in the study

At the Consumer

Electronics Show

(CES) 2013, major

TV manufacturers

announced their

intentions for the future

of the industry through

a series of product roadmaps detailing the growth

of 4K technology. This growth is aligned with a

trend of increasing screen sizes – that is, with 50”

screens being the minimum size. With only 50

such TVs sold in the UK this year, we’re evidently

still in the early stages of this process. However,

despite a number of undetermined factors, there

are a few ways of assessing the likelihood of

success for this new-screen technology.

1. The comparison against 3D and Smart TV.

GfK’s global study into TV usage in 2012 showed

that fewer than 50% of TV owners were utilising

Smart TV and 3D. A combination of the effort

required to engage with these TVs and a wider

media focus on augmenting the viewing

experience via the second screen (rather than

dominating the living room as in years gone by)

are likely reasons. 4K TV is the next upgrade

from HD, a continuation in the improvement of

picture quality and screen size, rather than a

disruptive element in current behaviour patterns

and thus bears little comparison with 3D or

Smart TV in terms of likely uptake and usage –

in fact, the main benefit of 4K (and HD) is the

experience rather than how it’s used.

2. The willingness of broadcasters and content

providers to support it. If we accept that the

difference in viewing experience between HD/4K

and 3D is significant enough that comparisons

between the two are somewhat invalid, any notion

that recent high-profile withdrawals from the 3D

market by ESPN and the BBC are likely to impact

on future investment on 4K are far from like-for-

like. Regardless, broadcasters are progressing

with test broadcasts in order to stimulate and

measure demand, with the aim of launching

commercially across 2014 and 2015. On top

of this, it is also likely that Xbox ONE and

PlayStation 4 will both support 4K broadcasting,

particularly taking into account Microsoft’s desire

to dominate the living room. This level of support,

in tandem with the ability of 4K to upscale HD

broadcasts, appears comparable to the way in

which HD grew organically, gradually pervading

the viewing experience rather than rapidly

intruding upon it in the manner of 3D, and

as a result easier for broadcasters to adopt a

patient strategy.

3. The current market trajectory. In the year to

May 2013 the proportion of 40”+ TVs sold moved

to 60% (up 9%-points from December 2011).

Despite a slower

replacement cycle (pan-

European TV value sales

fell by €7 billion between 2010 and 2011), this is

a likely indication that the next round of TV

buying will show a similar level of upgrading to

that seen between 2007 and 2010 when flat

screen and HD purchasing really came to the fore.

Whilst high value 4K sets may still remain niche -

Deloitte estimates that around half of sets this

year will retail at $10,000 - the likelihood is that

we will quickly see a combination of Chinese

manufacturers entering the market at a sub-$3,000

price point and gradual reductions from the

bigger players. Whilst markets are currently

experiencing a slump in overall TV sales, the fact

that 4K offers genuine improvement in both

picture quality and screen size, aligned with

consumer-sensitive pricing, means that

manufacturers are ably positioning themselves to

maximise the value of the next significant round

of upgrading.

So what does this mean?

The TV market is well set for the introduction 4K

technology, with the average screen size on the

rise and a clear message from consumers that

non-invasive innovation will drive sales (rather

than disruption in the form of 3D, Smart TV,

etc). However, the extent to which this technology

is strong enough to re-ignite the market is far

more complex.

It is more likely that, rather than an explosion

of interest and sales, the growth of 4K will be as

gradual as flat screens (six years between launch

in 1996 and first sign of volumes sales in 2002)

and HD, with market forces determining that

consumers move over to the technology, rather

than any rush or demand in the same way we

might see for the launch of a new games console

or smartphone.

What 4K can do is provide more forceful

reasons to upgrade at a time when the

replacement cycle has stagnated and a coherent

platform around which manufacturers can

market the continuing move to larger form-factor

sets.

4K TV–The next 3D or HD?GfK’s Phil McCann analyses ultra HD’s chances of success

20 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Jan 05 - Dec 05 Jan 06 - Dec 06 Jan 07 - Dec 07 Jan 08 - Dec 08 Jan 09 - Dec 09 Jan 10 - Dec 10 Jan 11 - Dec 11 Jan 12 - Dec 12 Jan 13 - Dec 13

The 7 Billion Euro Drop

8.18

8.18

24.18

24.18

27.60

27.60

31.19

31.19

30.53

30.53

31.8032.20

32.20

22.43

36.1

29.1

11.2

- 1.2- 2.2

- 11.5- 12.4

- 17.6

22.43

SALES BIL. EUR +/- %PYSALES BIL. EUR +/- %PY

- 4.028.96

28.96

31.80

Phil McCann is research manager at GfK

E-mail: amos-info@amos-spacecom.com • Website: www.amos-spacecom.com

Take Center Stage with the AMOS Satellites

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Spacecom, operator of the AMOS-2 and AMOS-3 satellites co-located at 4°W and AMOS-5 locatedat 17°E, provides high-quality satcom services in Europe, the Middle East, the U.S. East Coast and Africa.

The launch of AMOS-4 in 2013 to a new orbital location at 65°E, with coverage over Russia andSoutheast Asia, and the launch of AMOS-6 at 4°W in 2015 with coverage over Europe and theMiddle East, will further enhance Spacecom’s position as a multi-regional satellite operator.

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Untitled-1 1 20/08/2013 09:25:55

The seismic changes in

distribution and content

models sweeping through

broadcasting and pay TV are

spilling over into disputes

about carriage fees. In some

cases arrangements that have

been stable for years stoking little controversy

have become contentious, occasionally leading

to channels being dropped from leading pay

TV platforms.

For example, Belgian incumbent telco

Belgacom decided in February 2013 to cease

carrying the channels of German broadcasters

ARD and ZDF over its IPTV service, saying that

they had been demanding too much money for

the rights to retransmit their content. Instead

Belgacom negotiated deals with other German

broadcasters to satisfy that niche in its market.

“We have added RTL, ProSieben and Sat1 to our

offer in order to continue to offer the most

watched German channels to our customers,” says

Belgacom’s VP content acquisition and

sponsoring, Stéphanie Rockmann.

While declining to reveal commercial details,

Rockmann confirmed that Belgacom was

currently negotiating with other broadcasters that

supply the more than 200 channels it distributes,

highlighting that these had to be kept confidential

to avoid misunderstandings. It is a highly sensitive

area, largely because there are no agreed models

or formulae for assessing the

relationship between the values of

content to a pay TV operator on the

one hand, and the value of the

distribution to the content owner on the

other. For this reason money can

change hands in either direction, with

sometimes the operator paying as

Belgacom had been doing to ARD and

ZDF and in other cases the broadcaster

or rights owner paying the distributor.

“The issue of who pays and how

much varies a lot country-by-country,” says Peter

Litman, media consultant specialising in content

distribution rights. “The leverage on either side

varies dramatically depending on the particulars

in place in the country in question, especially the

regulatory scheme in place and the level of the

competition in the distribution market.”

Naturally the balance of power also shifts over

time, both within countries and for individual

players in the market, be they content owners,

Shifting balance of powerThe structural changes afflicting TV are causing major tremors along its distribution faultlines, resulting in carriage fee disputes that have spilt from the US into Europe. Philip Hunter reports

22 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

broadcasters or pay TV operators. In some cases

this can lead to a reverse where one party that

originally received money ends up paying the

other. The most significant case of that is the US

market as a whole, where leading network

operators providing TV shows now receive

carriage fees from cable operators.

“In the US, originally the cable programme

services paid the cable operators for carriage,”

says Litman. “That was the model from the US

broadcast business in which the networks paid

stations for carrying their programmes and

national advertisements.”

But, as Litman points out, this was founded on

the business assumption that support from

advertisers would be sufficient to fund attractive

programming. This turned out not to be the case.

“What resulted was that viewership of cable

channels was modest and advertiser support for

them was even more modest and so the then-

nascent cable channels did not appear to have a

path to profitability. Instead of letting the cable

channels close up shop, the cable operators

agreed to pay licence fees, on a per-subscriber-

basis, to the channels they thought were worthy.”

This subscriber based carriage fee model

proved relatively durable with mostly only minor

skirmishes until 2012, when a rash of disputes

broke out. One of the biggest was between media

giant Viacom and the world’s largest satellite TV

provider DirecTV. This dispute affected around

20 million of DirecTV’s satellite TV subscribers,

with Viacom networks including Comedy Central,

MTV, Nickelodeon, and Spike all going off-air.

This dispute was resolved in July 2012, but its

ramifications rumble on and the case is widely

regarded as a turning point in the relationship

between operators and rights holders. It was

deemed to be the first significant case where the

distributor won the public relations war.

Previously subscribers tended to blame their

operator in the event programmes they want to

watch were not available, with the result that

blackouts tended to cause some churn away to

rival services.

European carriage wars

The Viacom/DirecTV case may have had an

impact in Germany where a number of carriage

disputes were smoldering, and where like the US

cable operators have been paying broadcasters for

rights. As it happened though while the dispute

between DirecTV and Viacom was ongoing, RTL

struck a landmark deal with Kabel Deutschland,

the country’s largest cable operator, over HD

content. Under this arrangement reached in June

2012, RTL receives a share of the additional fees

cable operator Kabel Deutschland collects from

customers for the HD version of the commercial

channels, offsetting some of the carriage fees.

Kabel Deutschland said that replicated an existing

arrangement it had with commercial broadcaster

proSiebensat.1.

This was a case perhaps of a broadcaster

flexing its muscles, but in the wake of the

DirecTV/Viacom case, Belgacom seems to have

taken a tougher line in its stance against RTL.

Generally, though, tensions seem to be simmering

down in Germany, partly because the amounts

involved in carriage fees there are relatively small.

But in a few cases elsewhere long standing

arrangements that appeared stable because they

were underwritten by the regulator, have been

called onto question. One somewhat unique

example concerns the BBC’s transmission over

BSkyB’s DTH platform in the UK, which has

been governed by Ofcom regulation. Under the

deal, the BBC along with the other public services

broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 paid

Sky a diminishing amount of money designed to

compensate the operator for the costs incurred

transmitting the content.

Currently the BBC pays £5 million a year as its

lion’s share of the £9.5 million total paid by the

four. Two years ago the BBC paid £10 million, so

it has been halved and will continue to decline as

Sky recoups its historical investment in

infrastructure. Yet under pressure to cut costs the

corporation has come to the belief that money is

flowing the wrong way and has threatened to

impose carriage fees in return.

Both sides have a case. Sky argues that the

BBC benefits greatly from the investment it has

made in its platform and that in effect it is

providing a utility service that should be paid for,

like electricity. “Public service broadcasters

(PSBs) benefit from the billions of pounds we’ve

invested in our TV platform, and the technical

services we provide them,” argues Rob Webster,

director of Sky’s Commercial Group. “Thanks to

Sky’s investment, they reach 40% of their

audiences via our platform and use our

technology to customise channels and services for

the benefit of their viewers.”

Webster emphasises that Sky’s situation is

different from cable operator Virgin Media’s in

that its platform is open and subject to regulation

on that basis, such that it still delivers BBC

channels to households with satellite dishes even

if their subscription to the pay TV programming

such as sports content has lapsed. “This is about

cost recovery,” says Webster. “As an open and

regulated platform, we can’t recoup these costs

through our customers’ subscriptions as the

public service channels are not part of Sky’s pay

TV package. This is different from cable TV,

which is a closed platform, which effectively

means that the PSBs are then retailed to

customers.”

The BBC declined to comment now while the

dispute is ongoing but its case is that while Sky

has indeed incurred costs retransmitting its

content no account has been taken of the value of

its content in making the platform more attractive

and “stickier”. The BBC believes the arrangement

should be more like others such as that between

RTL and Kabel Deutschland, where both costs

and content value are taken into account.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 23

“This subscriber based carriage fee model proved relatively durable with mostly only minor skirmishes until 2012, when a rash of disputes broke out.”

“In the wake of the DirecTV/Viacom case, Belgacom seems to have taken a tougher line in its stance against RTL.”

The BBC’s dispute with Sky also had a

political dimension looming much larger than

in other disputes, partly because of recent events

surrounding Sky’s part-owner News Corp. Sky

and the BBC are also competitors as providers of

programming and holders of rights and this has

coloured the recent dispute. Then the government

weighed in, with Ed Vaizey, the culture minister,

earlier this year calling on BSkyB to scrap

charging public service broadcasters and hinting

at possible regulatory action in the absence of a

deal between the parties.

Litman’s view is that Sky will end up worse if

the dispute escalates to the extent that the BBC

pulled its channels from the Sky platform. “In the

US the only channels that pay for distribution are

those with very low appeal programming, notably

home shopping,” Litman notes. “If the BBC

refused to pay Sky, I don’t think there is another

programme provider with similarly attractive

content that would like the opportunity to pay

Sky for carriage similar to its expiring BBC

deal. The fact that the other distributors do not

pay to carry the BBC’s channels strongly suggests

that a no-fee arrangement would be better for Sky

than not carrying the BBC channels on a long-

term basis.”

Litman did admit though that Sky was in an

unusually strong position with around two thirds

of UK pay TV subscribers. “That certainly

strengthens Sky’s hand at the negotiating table,”

Litman agrees. “To the extent that Sky customers

have no similar pay TV substitute, that is they

are not in a place where cable service is available

or attractive, then Sky’s hand is strengthened

enormously. Still, I have a hard time seeing how

Sky’s leverage would force the BBC to pay for

its carriage.”

It is questionable though whether the BBC

would go so far as to pull content from Sky,

because that would compromise its position as

the country’s leading public service broadcaster

reliant on the licence fee for most of its income.

Although Sky subscribers could access BBC

content over the air they would have to invest in a

Freeview receiver on top of their dish. It could be

that the corporation would end up getting blamed

by Sky customers unhappy at having to pay a

licence fee and still not able access the content

over their first choice platform. Against this

background there looks like being a certain

amount of bluff calling on both sides.

The future of free-to-air TV

The other big elephant in the room is online

distribution and this is also having an impact on

the carriage issue and continued survival of FTA

(free-to-air) services. While FTA over digital

terrestrial is growing in some countries such as

the UK, where it is restricting further overall

growth in pay TV, in some markets it is under

threat not just from mobile operators angling to

take over the spectrum but also from online

distribution.

Germany is again in the spotlight here, with

RTL also at the head of this controversy after

announcing its attention to withdraw from DTT

transmission in Germany. This partly reflects

Germany’s historically low DTT penetration with

only around 6% of homes receiving TV this way,

but also the growing belief there that by the time

long term DTT licences currently being

negotiated come into force the internet will have

taken over for video distribution. This sentiment

is stronger in Germany than in most leading TV

markets, with MABB, the local media authority

of the country’s federal states of Berlin and

Brandenburg, first stating the previously

unthinkable in January 2013 - that the internet

would become the most suitable TV distribution

platform for the country and endorsing RTL’s

decision to exit from DTT.

MABB also argued that while another major

public broadcaster ARD had earlier committed

to second generation DVB-T2, it was already

streaming its full 24-hour channels via the internet

at sufficient quality for large TV screens, at least

for those subscribers with adequately fast

broadband connections.

Consumers, of course, do not care how

their content comes but they should be more

concerned over the possibility that FTA

distribution as they know it may cease to exist.

Current friction over carriage rights may just be

symptoms of the longer term structural changes

across the broadcast spectrum.

24 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Android security

Focus sponsored by:

ww

w.c

sim

agaz

ine.

com

When

looking at

smartphone

and tablet

devices,

recent

market data

suggests that Android-based products have rapidly

achieved a significant lead in sheer numbers - as

much as a 53% market share, which is significantly

more than Apple. With more than 1.5 million

Android-based devices activated every day, the

prominent role of these devices as second screen

video clients is growing rapidly. Amongst the issues

to be addressed is that the security of services to

these devices and the associated applications has

become of paramount concern to content owners.

The Android application landscape has been

rightly criticized as one that is riven with

fragmented versions and inconsistent

implementations. While recent versions of

Android do offer some baseline security for video

services, the premium device implementations

desperately need to be augmented with the latest

security techniques to provide the robust revenue

security for video services that content owners

today demand.

Many revenue security techniques try to isolate

the security regime from Android’s inherent

weaknesses, including its open environment,

proneness to jailbreaking, and varying

manufacturing standards. If security-related

services are isolated, they can run and perform

independent of whether the operating system

(OS) has been jailbroken as they are running

outside of the OS.

For example, on ARM-based mobile devices,

ARM’s TrustZone technology provides a

mechanism to utilise chipset security features with

a Trusted OS software layer to run trusted

services, such as digital rights management

(DRM), outside of the main operating system.

This combination of hardware and software

security technologies is referred to as a Trusted

Execution Environment (TEE), which is

standardized within GlobalPlatform, an

organization specializing in chip security and

secure application deployment technologies.

While such an approach has been well received,

in the past there have been many obstacles

surrounding its widespread adoption.

In addition to being perceived as very

fragmented, TrustZone also previously required

that secured applications be preloaded when the

phone or device was being built. This obviously

presented many challenges as chip vendors and

device manufacturers are not inclined to preload

third-party software.

Expanding access to TrustZone

Recently, however, standardization efforts within

GlobalPlatform related to TrustZone and TEEs

have made several improvements that will likely

increase its integration into Android-based phones

and devices and reduce fragmentation. In fact,

there is currently an initiative to implement

TrustZone across multiple chipsets and multiple

devices.

There are two sets of interfaces that need to be

standardised for TrustZone to become a universal

environment, making the choice of a chipset and

a device completely transparent, at least from a

security point of view. The first one that needs to

be standardised is the connection between an

application running in the regular untrusted

spaces, and the Trusted Application executing in

the trusted space. This allows an implementation

of applications that use the TrustZone’s trusted

services to be portable across different

implementations of TrustZone.

The second interface is between the Trusted

Application and the cryptographic services

provided by the SoC’s TEE implementation.

When this is achieved, developers of trusted

services can implement a Trusted Application

once and let it run on any compliant chipset. A

TEE must include both of these in order to

eliminate fragmentation between different

TrustZone implementations. These two sets of

interfaces are referred to as TEE Client APIs and

TEE Internal APIs within GlobalPlatform and the

Towards a more secure AndroidPetr Peterka, CTO of Verimatrix, explores TrustZone’s role in securing Android-based devices amid growing premium video usage

26 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

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specifications have already been published for

implementers.

Another recent enhancement includes making

Trusted Applications downloadable, which allows

consumers to download them only if and when

they actually need it. The main benefit is in

eliminating the need for device makers to decide

what applications to preload during

manufacturing. Such a decision is becoming

impractical considering the millions of

applications that may take advantage of

TrustZone. This goes beyond streaming premium

content because security and privacy is important

also for banking, e-commerce, healthcare and

many other application types.

Trustonic, the joint venture between ARM,

Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient is the leading

provider of not just the TEE software but also end

to end trust management to allow Trusted

Application deployment in this new downloadable

model. While it may take some time for the

solution to achieve critical mass, its

‘downloadability’ and portability certainly make it

an effective solution.

Barriers to success

Despite the positive progress discussed above,

widescale adoption of TrustZone and TEEs is not

without challenges. The Trust Model, which

includes provisioning of chips with unique

identifiers and cryptographic keys, mechanisms

for signing and provisioning Trusted Applications

originating from many different sources, and

authentication of service providers, quickly

becomes very complex. With so many parties

involved in the trust chain, it may be easy for the

TrustZone ecosystem to become very expensive.

Previously, security assets were loaded directly

into service providers’ set-top boxes (STBs).

These are single purpose devices typically

leased to the subscriber. Now, the retail model

prevails, and devices that are pre-provisioned with

a single key cannot be assigned to a specific

service provider. GlobalPlatform’s current TEE

standardization efforts attempt to solve this issue

by supporting a hierarchy of Trusted Service

Managers (TSM). Each device may have multiple

instances of security containers managed by a

number of TSMs provisioning Trusted

Applications for download, and there are costs

associated with taking this sort of approach.

Having several different parties involved in

securing TrustZone applications may hinder it

from developing the competitive pricing structure

it needs to become widely adopted. If the

ecosystem is not set up with a reasonable pricing

model, the whole initiative could collapse.

Consider for example, the cost of a security key

versus the cost of an application. Previously, in

the leased model, there was only one or a small

number of keys, and they were located in the STB.

The cost of such device keys and certificates was

in the range of several pennies (eg, for DTCP

certificates). In the retail model, a large scale of

possible adoption of TrustZone and hundreds of

millions of Trusted Applications may allow a

business model where the price of application-

related keys will decrease while still covering the

cost associated with running TSM services.

The volume is obviously quite different now as

there are millions of tablets and smartphones, all

of which are downloading multiple applications.

Finding the right business model and the right

ratio between the key costs and the application

costs - and making the ecosystem affordable - will

go a long way in helping TrustZone become

successful.

GlobalPlatform’s standardization efforts also

attempts to solve the business model problem by

being agnostic and ensuring that the

specifications and the architecture for TEE

accessibility and application deployment are

available on a royalty free basis. While this does

not guarantee success it could be the best

approach to allow a fair business model to be

established in different industries in the rapidly

growing mobile ecosystem.

Taking a complete approach to revenue

security

Our sense, however, is that TrustZone is in fact

going in the right direction by offering a real-time,

downloadable solution that is portable across

many different devices and chipsets.

When used as part of a layered security regime,

TrustZone can help ensure that Android-based

devices are effectively secured, enhancing revenue

security for the operator, and ensuring that

subscribers have access to the content they want,

when they want it.

When combined with a highly reliable

multimedia streaming player, a robust DRM

system that has been properly architected to

combine hardware-based device cryptographic

identity, solid authentication and key management

protocol implemented as a Trusted Application,

and a secure video path with output protection

enabled by TrustZone, the resulting content

streaming service will be able to protect and

deliver the best content Hollywood has to offer to

millions of Android-based devices. These devices

are not limited to smartphones and tablets and

will include HDMI dongles, multimedia and

multi-source STBs, connected TVs, etc.

TrustZone technology is still a moving target

and it will take some time before it is fully

supported by a majority of devices. In the

meantime, additional techniques such as software

obfuscation, application integrity, anti-debugging

and anti-tampering, whitebox cryptography and

other software-based techniques are used to bridge

the current gap.

Such an ecosystem that combines advanced

security technology, rich content offering and a

scalable business model will benefit content

owners, service operators and most importantly

consumers seeking premium content.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 27

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base.indd 1 20/08/2013 09:49:17

Appointments

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 29

Ins and outsWelcome to the latest in a new series that will track executive changes taking place in the industry

Harris Broadcast has appointed Charlie Vogt as CEO. The 25-year IT and communications veteran joins Harris following nine years as president and CEO of VoIP specialist GenBand where he oversaw six acquisitions, as well as CEO of an IP switching company. Harris believes he is the right man to be in

charge as the broadcasting industry is embarking on a significant transformation from digital to IP. Vogt replaces Harris Morris, who

parted ways with the company after only six months in the job.

Charlie Vogt, Harris Broadcast

Middle East satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications has named Masood M. Sharif Mahmood as its new CEO. Mahmood has been promoted to the role having previously held the post of deputy CEO since June 2012. He previously worked within Mubadala for several years, as well as roles in

investment management and business development. Tareq Abdel Raheem Al Hosani will join the Board of Directors and will continue

to play a role in the organisation’s strategic direction, which includes the rollout of the YahClick satellite broadband

Masood Sharif Mahmood, YahSat

Delia Bushell has become the chief commercial officer at Italian payTV operator Sky Italia. Bushell was before that the service provider’s chief strategy & commercial initiatives officer since 2012 and previously she spent 12 years at BSkyB in the UK and Ireland, where she covered various positions. Under her new

mandate, she will lead the Marketing & Sales department. She started her career in BSkyB in 1999 as member of Sky Ventures and then

became head of Business Development.

Delia Bushell, Sky Italia

Gustavo Lopez has joined under the newly created position of vice president of global distribution and business development for Latin America to support Sundance Channel’s expansion across the region ahead of its upcoming launch. The news follows the agreement with DIRECTV Latin America to launch

Sundance Channel in September across Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Based in Miami, Lopez will

oversee the distribution of Sundance Channel throughout Latin America. Prior to joining, he was VP and regional counsel for

Gustavo Lopez, AMC/Sundance Channel Global

Fredrik Tumegård has been appointed as the new CEO of Net Insight, succeeding Fredrik Trägårdh who left the media transport company after seven years as CEO. Tumegård holds the position as VP Northern Europe at NEC and will assume the role at Net Insight at the latest on October 1 2013. He has a broad

experience from the telecoms industry and has worked in various executive positions at TeliaSonera International Carrier and Huawei

Technologies. Anders Persson, executive VP, maintains the position as CEO until Fredrik Tumegård assumes his new

Fredrik Tumegård, Net Insight

nangu.TV, a platform provider for IPTV and OTT services, has appointed Jakub Kabourek as CEO. Prior to joining nangu, Kabourek was CEO and a board member of Visual Unity. He has also held the positions of CEO and board member at KIT Digital Czech and Visual Connection. He has a track record in

the telecoms and broadcast media technology markets combining his knowledge of telco, IT, media and software development. This

announcement follows nangu’s recent expansion, which has seen the company invest in key sales and product management

Jakub Kabourek, nangu.TV

Gavin Patterson will succeed Ian Livingston as chief executive of BT Group. Patterson has served as chief executive of BT Retail and as a BT Board member since 2008, having joined the company as a senior executive four years prior to that. Livingston has agreed to take up a role in government as Minister of

State for Trade and Investment. He will continue as chief executive of BT until he steps down from his post and from BT’s Board in

September.

Gavin Patterson, BT

Markus Fritz joined Eutelsat in June as director of commercial development and marketing, reporting to Jean-Francois Leprince-Ringuet, the group’s chief commercial officer. In this role, Markus is responsible for further developing Eutelsat’s commercial strategy internationally and developing strategic marketing

partnerships with customers to strengthen Eutelsat’s competitive advantage globally. Markus comes to Eutelsat with over 20 years of

international experience in the satellite, ICT and consumer electronics industries, including over ten years at SES Astra.

Markus Fritz, Eutelsat

Despite the preference for

lean-back experiences

there is growing evidence

of an appetite for second

screen or companion

device interaction. In the

UK, 70% of people

regularly use a mobile device while watching TV,

with 41% doing so every day, according to

Ofcom’s most recent study of UK broadcast

media audiences.

More than half (54%) said they used the

internet at the same time as watching TV. In the

US, figures from Nielsen show that 46% of

smartphone owners and 43% of tablet owners use

their devices as second screens while watching TV

every day.

But how can a broadcaster, or a pay TV

provider without their own network, turn

that to their advantage? After all, there are

many other industry players, from telcos to

app developers, smart TV and other technology

providers all chasing a slice of second

screen revenue.

“It’s important to understand the relationship

between the two screens,” says Albert Lai, CTO,

media and broadcast solutions at Brightcove.

“Dual-screen apps redefine second screen: the

handheld device orchestrates the entire lean-back

video experience, using the television to render

video programming, but allowing social,

advertising interaction, discovery and engagement

on the handheld device.

“The best experiences will be those in which

each device plays an equally important role,

serving different but interrelated purposes.

Apple’s AirPlay protocol and the Miracast

standard have opened the door to these kinds of

experiences.” It is believed

these types of technologies

could enable new kinds of

viewer interactivity and

engagement, including

additional content, gaming,

social network activity,

marketing and T-commerce.

But anyone seeking some degree of control or

influence over those interactions needs to ensure

the viewer is looking at their platform. One

obvious answer is to tie these technologies into

the EPG. Digital entertainment specialist Rovi is

helping operators and broadcasters build second

screen services to complement their existing

services. Its technology is being used to power a

new iPad application, TotalGuide xD, launched in

July by Canadian operator Eastlink. This

combines navigation with access to Eastlink’s

remote DVR service, allowing viewers to

personalise TV guides and schedule recordings

from iPads, wherever they are.

There is some debate as to whether a service

operator is in a better or worse position than a

non-operator broadcaster to take advantage of

second screen capabilities. Many operators are at

an early stage of second screen experimentation,

says Simon Leadlay, product manager at Pace.

“They’re not taking an integrated or synchronised

approach: the strategy has just been ‘we’ve got to

get something into the hands of the consumer,”

he says.

He is more excited about forthcoming

developments: “We’re talking to operators about

an approach that allows control over the TV,

search and discovery on the second screen then

playback on the main screen, or moving content

from the main screen to the second screen. We

see operators as the primary aggregators of all

entertainment in the home. If that operator is also

a pay TV operator they can access DVR

recordings too. Broadcasters’ companion apps

have been very content-focused. But those services

only allow access to that broadcaster’s content, so

will be weaker than a service offering an umbrella

view over all the broadcasters.”

Tablet TV

30 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Taking companion apps to the next level

Are service providers is in a better position to take advantage of second screen capabilities and how can they take a more integrated approach, ask David Adams

2nd screen: the first step

Bypassing the ‘app graveyard’

Technology companies of various kinds are also

keen to work in this space. Capablue is working

with set top box manufacturers to develop

integrated second screen solutions. Alan Wolk,

global lead analyst at KIT Digital, reports that

smart TV manufacturers would like to sidestep

the set-top box and get viewers to interact with the

TV directly from the second screen. Technology

giants like Apple and Microsoft are hovering in

the background.

And then there are the third party app

providers, like Zeebox. “Broadcasters know

people are already engaging around their shows

through Twitter, Facebook and services like

Zeebox,” says Anthony Rose, Zeebox co-founder

and CTO. “They know they need to create

exciting second screen formats. The advantage

they have is high levels of control over the

content. The problem is that the show is only on

for one hour a week. And what happens when the

season ends?” He refers to the ‘app graveyard’ in

the US: the huge number of out of date apps for

US TV shows.

Many US broadcasters have concluded that

building apps for every show is not a sustainable

approach, says Rose. He would argue you can’t

even apply the model to TV channels, because

there are so many. His answer, naturally, is

Zeebox. “There are hundreds of people who work

for TV channels using our tools to enhance their

shows with games, sharing functions, voting and

playing; and social models they can brand,

customise and monetise – all zero technical

development,” he says. Zeebox is also developing

synchronised second screen advertising, marketing

and T-commerce propositions that could be used

by broadcasters.

Many broadcasters are already working with

the second screen. Some ventures have persuaded

impressive numbers of viewers to interact, as in

the case of the gameshow ‘Weet Ik Veel’ in the

Netherlands. Service providers like Rovi have

developed propositions for second screen

advertising. “We work with advertisers and media

buyers, then we build creative for different

platforms; and then we have the analytics on the

back end to show what people did within the

advertising experience,” says Charles Dawes,

global strategic account director at Rovi.

He is intrigued by emerging business models:

“Many catch-up TV services can now be accessed

through multiple devices using business models

funded by advertising, but some broadcasters are

saying ‘if you subscribe you can watch the content

without advertising’.”

Yet it would be a mistake to base a whole

strategy on black and white commercial factors,

says Claire McHugh, CEO of the Irish TV app

provider Axonista. “This is actually about how we

tell stories across these devices,” she says. “You

have to create additional fun stuff to get the

viewer to watch the ads, because people don’t like

being monetised or engaged, but they do like to

be entertained.”

If a broadcaster can do that they can take

advantage of technologies like KIT Digital’s

Ad Locker, which consumers can use to store

away adverts they have seen in which they

were interested, to interact with the additional

content at a later stage, maybe even going on to

make a purchase.

One common goal across many second screen

propositions is to increase personalisation. “We

want to provide a personalised TV experience to

each member of a household using their personal

devices,” says Ido Wiesenberg, vice-president for

business development and co-founder of Tvinci.

“Then they can use that smaller device to

communicate to the big screen: ‘This is me; I

want you to show me content relevant to me’.”

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 31

Tablet TV

“Many US broadcasters have concluded that building apps for every show is not a sustainable approach.”

“This is actually about how we tell stories across these devices, because people don’t like being monetised or engaged, but they do like to be entertained.”

KDDI’s UI on an iPad

Effective personalised TV

But while attempts to develop a truly effective

personalised recommendation engine for

TV continue, no-one’s quite managed it yet.

And debate continues as to how best to tie

personalisation and other interactive elements

of these services into social networks.

At present, while there certainly seems to be a

lot happening in this space – it will, for example,

be fascinating to monitor the progress of Channel

4’s new 4Now second screen app in the UK –

many propositions are still finding it hard to gain

critical mass. Many broadcasters, operators and

content creators remain reluctant to commit large

scale resources. Content rights issues also remain

a source of strife in many markets.

Some operators and broadcasters will also need

to overcome technology barriers. Much will rest

on the management and exploitation of metadata.

“The richer the metadata the better the

experience,” says Dawes, flying the flag for Rovi

technology that can link video, music, and games

metadata. “If you start with a movie, that will

have a soundtrack, so you can discover the

musical content separately and people can link to

iTunes,” he explains.

Many operators will also need to improve their

infrastructures, says Duncan Potter, CMO at

SeaWell Networks. “What a lot of operators have

done when OTT services came along is rushed

out a parallel infrastructure to their walled garden

that gives them no extra benefit because it is

based on cacheing, so you lose the individual,

personal experience,” he says.

Networking providers like SeaWell can help

operators to add a new layer of intelligence across

the delivery infrastructure already built, focusing

on session control and management. “Then you

can start thinking about personalised ad

insertion,” says Potter. “And if I can insert

alternative content I can start to rethink the

concept of a channel.”

When and where someone is viewing content

and the device they’re using are also important

factors to consider, says Rovi’s Dawes. For

example, in households with children “unless you

live in Silicon Valley” a tablet is still more likely to

be a shared, not a personal device.

What will be the long-term effects of a growth

in second screen services? “On multiple devices,

with personal TV, I believe our children will have

a totally different way to consume TV,” says

Tvinci’s Wiesenberg. “It will all be about watching

what I want, when I want.”

The next steps

So what steps should broadcasters and pay TV

operators be taking to develop second screen

services that will deliver the best results in this

new world?

“First, clearly define who the second screen

app is going to serve,” says Steve Plunkett, CTO

at Red Bee Media. “It will most likely be a

composite of different needs so the challenge

is to make sure they can be accommodated in a

compelling consumer proposition.” Only then, he

says should you try to pick the best technologies

for the task in hand, basing the choice on the

viewing patterns a service provider wants to

support or promote, the devices they want to

include [and] the demographic they want to

reach.

“There will be competition between

broadcasters and operators,” Tom Cape, CEO of

Capablue. “I think you can look at second screen

on three levels: apps for the programme brand,

the broadcast or the operator. There’s a place for

all three. It will be a bit of a bunfight, but

ultimately the customer will decide.”

Axonista’s McHugh anticipates more

broadcasters hiring people specifically to create

content for the second screen, but she also warns

against getting too carried away too soon. “The

average end user is still probably my auntie, say,

who probably doesn’t have a smartphone,” she

points out. “It may sometimes feel like things

are moving very fast, but they’re actually moving

very slowly.

“But broadcasters are in a sweet spot, because

they know how to create compelling content and

they can influence the people they sell their

content to. I would say to the broadcaster:

concentrate on the content. There are very good

technical developers out there, so you don’t have

to build all of this yourself. They will let you

concentrate on doing what you do well.”

Tablet TV

32 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

58

45

5055

44

30

64

56

7569

73

80

68 72 71 71

19

1510

2320

12

24 24

Digital device penetration by country (% of adults owning/using)

Smartphone

UK FRA GER ITA USA JPN ESP AUS

Laptop/Netbook computer Tablet computer

IHS Electronics & Media / Events

The Future of Digital Media Distribution 201326 September 2013 | Kings Place, London

Confirmed SpeakersIan Blaine, CEO, thePlatform and Senior Vice President, Converged Products, Comcast

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Amelia Gammon, CCO, Saffron Digital

Michael Hirsh, Executive Chairman, DHXMedia

Ben Keen, Chief Analyst and Senior Director, IHS

Andrew Moore, General Manager, SpotXChange

Helge Hoibraaten, CEO, Vimond

Niels Rosenquist, CEO, Janys Analytics

Dan’l Hewitt, General Manager, VICE Europe

Sorosh Tavakoli, Founder & CEO, Videoplaza

Oleg Tumanov, CEO, IVI

Paul Benunn, CCO, Somethin Else

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What is on the agenda:

• The role of original content in driving online video

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For sponsorship opportunities contact: Bob Perez at bob.perez@ihs.com

media business school

logotipo mbs 1 color

base.indd 1 20/08/2013 09:58:55

GN: Tell us a little about

Chello DMC for those

that might not be familiar

with the company.

JK: Chello DMC has

been in the business for

more than ten years. It

started off as a couple of

linear playout channels

and now we run more

than 100 on the linear

side, a full DTH

platform that serves 20 million clients and we’re

doing all the VoD operations for our largest

client, LGI, as well as eight other clients. What

started as a purely broadcast driven company has

now become what I like to call the ‘DHL of

media’ – we promise that wherever you want your

files delivered and in what language, version and

format, we will guarantee this delivery.

GN: How did this process come about?

JK: We have facilities in Amsterdam, Budapest,

Barcelona, Miami and Buenos Aires. The route

strength is that we are on the mainland which has

a couple of advantages, primarily that we are very

used to the multi-lingual approach. As an

example, we have a feed that has more than 20

languages added to it. All that multi-territory

expertise is what we grew up with. Only when we

know we can deliver end-to-end do we ramp up.

So we take growth and the pace of growth

seriously because it is quality partners that we are

serving. Clients like Fox and Disney trust us with

complex matters like multi-platform.

GN: In terms of digital media delivery, this has

been talked about for years but things still seem to

be moving pretty slowly...

JK: The complexity we see is a vast amount of

data you need to transfer. Going back to the DHL

package analogy, we have a large and growing

amount of data going out of our building every

day. Why we do that well is because we’ve been

digital for a decade now. The reason why 80% of

media transfers are still taking place by tape is

something that we from our side don’t really

understand because there are so many more cost

effective ways to do that. I do think however that

VoD and connected devices are triggering

companies to rethink to rethink and speed up on

digitalisation. The industry is facing an interesting

time in this sense: if you’re not digitised you’ll

probably miss out on VoD.

GN: But even with VoD, broadcasters and cable

complain about standardisation, fragmentation and

other issues. Can you help with this?

JK: In our Amsterdam office there are 30

nationalities with many languages spoken so that

complexity of specification has always been there

for us. We serve 45 languages from our facility

and we don’t care about different specs and

languages. I don’t think the specification race will

end – yes, we might have less of them – but I

think the industry is still learning so much

technically and we just live with that. We do

understand our studio clients get fed up with that,

which is why we say ‘let us take that care of that

part’. Serving UPC, the biggest cable operator in

Europe, we have learned how we can use our

ability to version different items. We see ourselves

as the hub in between content delivery.

GN: Studies show that 90%+ of viewing is still

linear and that this won’t drop below 80% for the

foreseeable future. Are some companies wrong to

focus too much on VoD?

JK: It will always be a case of one and another.

We multiply the value of that content. Whichever

way consumers use that media we can deliver,

whether it’s on-demand or over-the-top, or SD or

HD. We are able to provision the media for

multiple platforms and this generally increases the

reach of eyeballs. We let our clients do the maths

as to whether they think that’s the right way to go.

GN: Are there any technologies coming up to make

yours and everyone else’s lives easier?

JK: There are many and it’s mainly called the

internet. We can give remote access to a client to

control content. There is also more tracking and

tracing type of software. Technology helps us in a

big way; it helps make it more transparent. Cloud

is a vivid theme in the industry but eventually you

have to have your media picked up and delivered

somewhere. Regardless of whether your control

over that media is in the cloud, your media has to

move from one side to another, and that’s where

the internet helps.

GN: Where do you see yourselves in 12 months?

JK: We’d like to have a bigger VoD business and

we think we can deliver that. We have some

interesting developments lined up for IBC this

year. With our clients we don’t see a massive shift

to go OTTm but cutting it down to its essence, it’s

just another stream for us and we don’t care what

device it’s delivered to. It’s another way you can

multiply the value of your content. It’s a question

to individual content owners in individual

countries as to whether they want to launch that

type of service.

GN: Finally, how do your clients see 4K TV?

JK: Like with OTT, we want to be able to offer it

as just another flavour of a version of that same

content. But it’s up to our clients whether they

can make a business out of it but we haven’t heard

a huge thrill from content providers so far and

they haven’t spoken to us about it. Technology

wise it’s brilliant but everyone in the industry is

trying to find a way to monetise it now.

Q&AQ&A

34 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Ch

ello

’s J

elm

er K

lein

gel

d

From its traditional broadcast roots, Chello DMC has evolved into a self-proclaimed digital courier focused on VoD and multi-platform, as VP Jelmer Kleingeld tells CSI editor Goran Nastic

The DHL of media

TechnologyConference2013

Multimedia Home Gateways conference review

Platinum Sponsor Media PartnersGold Sponsors Research Partners

More and more

operators are

embracing the

concept of

multimedia home

gateways (MHG)

to take greater

control of the digital connected home. At the same

time, a growing number of service providers are

also embracing various elements of the cloud in an

effort to speed service deployment while reducing

associated costs. So how do the two fit together?

And how do operators choose between nPVR and

local storage, remote UI or resident EPG, and

broadband or broadcast?

Against this backdrop, CSI held its second

event dedicated to multimedia home gateways,

which took place at the British Film Institute

(BFI) on London’s Southbank. The one-day

conference was chaired by Paul Robinson of

Creative Media Partners, and sponsored by

Cisco, Nagra, ADB and Access.

Tom Morrod gave some background on IHS

Screen Digest’s gateway research. The

proliferation of IP devices that consume video has

resulted in TV becoming much more complex and

fragmented. These barriers and options provide a

good context to what gateways are and why they

make sense, according to Morrod.

At its crudest description, gateways serve as an

entry and exit point of the home network. All

data inward or outward must first pass through

and communicate with the gateway. They can

handle unicast and broadcast traffic (or OTT

and managed distribution) distribution,

transcoding, CA-DRM termination and other

advanced functions.

This approach allows operators to maintain an

established business case, ie bundled content

controlled by an aggregator. It also allows control

without having to manage every single device in

the home or be under the mercy of consumer

electronics cycles. “You just have to have some

general purpose mechanism like HTML5 that

allow you to bridge that gap to the screen without

having to fully rely on rendering and other

technical elements inside CE devices which can

be very varied. With the gateway, we can allow for

consumer behaviours which we know are already

happening but we can’t allow through pure

unmanaged means,” said Morrod.

It’s early days but Screen Digest estimates there

are 13 operators globally that have deployed

MHGs inside the home. These include Comcast,

DirecTV, EchoStar in the US, Norway’s Get,

French-based Numericable and pan-European

cablenet UPC, all of who deploy a maximum of

one MHG per home that then serves thin-clients

and other connected devices. MHGs are also

holding up the STB market in Europe and North

America and account for the majority of revenues,

Morrod added. Moreover, they have huge

opportunities to provide high margins due to their

ARPU generating potential that comes with the

extra services they enable.

Cisco looks to the cloud

Yves Padrines, VP and general manager, Service

Provider Video Group at Cisco, talked mainly

about the cloud and how this ultimately ties in

with MHGs. Managing this explosion of devices

will clearly lead to cloud-based platforms, he

argued, which will also open new business

models.

“The question is how much do we put server

side and how much functionality do we reside in

the MHG versus the cloud,” he asked.

36 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

A gateway to the cloudWhat role gateways have in a world moving towards the cloud was a key theme assessed during CSI’s home gateways conference

Gold SponsorsPlatinum Sponsor

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 37

DLNA is a good technology and Cisco uses

half a dozen or so DLNA stacks, but it won’t be

enough for a multi-screen experience. “It has to be

managed in a more centralised way and this needs

to be orchestrated by a superior, overarching

entity which we believe will reside in the cloud,”

said Padrines. This will also allow for more

flexible silos and much more rapid service

deployment across these silos for quicker time-to-

market, he said.

PayTV operators upgrading platforms once or

twice a year is no longer good enough in light of

the greater competition they face from OTT and

new market entrants, according to Padrines.

Cisco believes in all forms of cloud, be it

public, private, hybrid or an emerging community

model, and there is room for each version,

depending on migration scenarios. “It’s a

fascinating journey to a whole new set of

technologies,” said Padrines.

The cloud is a way of removing device-side

complexity and, in Padrine’s words, how Cisco

can “move lines of software back from the clients

and into the cloud.” To this end, Cisco has

experimented with reducing the middleware

complexity of the STB or gateway and Padrines

mentioned that the positive results had taken an

originally sceptical team by surprise. The promise

of the cloud also includes new areas of Big Data

and analytics but there is a real need to educate

the industry better as to the advantages and

disadvantages of the cloud, he argued.

“It’s important to remove the fluffy messages

around the cloud and really get into the

technology to understand why it’s efficient. Not

everything works better, there are caveats and

many ways to get it completely wrong,” said

Padrines.

There are three things that can go badly wrong,

according to Padrines, namely security/privacy,

performance and scalability. The elastic property

of the cloud, on the other hand, ties in well with

TV’s peaky nature which Cisco is working

towards and preparing as a future solution.

So what about the gateway? As a termination

point for CA the MHG is essential, and it can

be looked as the most advanced edge of the

cloud in the home where things like caching and

storage can be managed, not just PVR, in addition

to services related to home automation, which

Cisco believes will converge around the same

device and which can be seen as a mini-IP

headend inside the home.

Liberty’s PECHE

Liberty Global continued the cloud/gateway

theme, with a keynote given by Faycal Amrani,

managing director and chief architect of Liberty,

now the world’s largest cable company following

its recent acquisition of Virgin Media.

Amrani noted that the operator’s well-

publicised Horizon TV combined gateway and

multi-screen service platform will move traditional

headend functions such as encoding, transcoding,

encryption and multiplexing to the cloud within

the next year or two across a series of virtual data

centres, despite much resistance from headend

vendors and broadcasters. This will create a more

virtualised, “scattered cloud” delivery

infrastructure for its 12 European operating

companies, which will improve cost efficiency by

“quite a big number,” stressed Amrani, who like

other operators wants to see CPE costs go down.

“So far it seems very promising. From an

operational proof-of-concept to reality, we are

probably talking about 18-24 months for this

to happen,” said Amrani, who added that

Liberty was testing the technology to virtualise

these features.

“It is not so much the location that is

important; it is more about whether you own

that infrastructure or not. The aim is to perform

the video processing in the

best and most cost efficient

way. Our goal is to

harmonise the services and

solution across our

footprint with agility and

we can’t do it without the cloud. The move to the

cloud is clear,” he added. To this end, in the cloud

versus STB debate, Amrani and Liberty see room

for both in a hybrid model, where each opens a

new set of services and opportunities.

Liberty has already created a central back-

office to help it harmonise functions like OSS/

BSS, customer management support, and

applications like interactive TV, nPVR, UI, search

and recommendation as the cablenet rolls out its

next-generation Horizon brand across Europe.

This centralised location is called the Pan

European Central Head End (PECHE), which

powers Horizon services in the currently four

available markets.

Demonstrating the accelerated deployment

time enabled by PECHE, Amrani noted that the

launches in the first two markets of the

Netherlands and Switzerland took 12 months

when PECHE was not yet operational. The next

two markets by comparison, Ireland and

Germany, took only three months. “So when we

talk about elasticity, agility and service velocity,

we mean it, it’s real,” Amrani said. “Cloud based

architectures does not mean the end of the

gateway. It means a shift in what is right to do in

the cloud versus the gateway,” he added.

Gateways vs Cloud

In the first panel of the day, ADB, Pace,

Simplestream, Samsung and Vodafone weighed in

with their thoughts on the topical cloud vs STB

debate, looking at cost implications, transcoding

and other issues.

“For us, 95% is about the software and how we

make this manageable on a daily basis and get

things to work together. To make things simple

and ‘just work’ takes an awful lot of lines of

code,” said Paul Bristow, VP of strategy at ADB.

Pace chief technical engineer Darren Fawcett

noted that ultimately broadcasters are very

mindful of the user experience, making MHGs as

a de facto standard of providing services around

the home by the company’s customer base, who

are all moving down this route. “As you extend

coverage into devices you don’t control you need

to repurpose the content. The ability to extend

The Pace DMC7000

Gold SponsorsPlatinum Sponsor

to new devices you don’t control, a good reliable

way to do that is to transcode the content at the

edge of network, through a device such as a

managed gateway.”

Bristow agreed, pointing out that multi-room

and multi-screen deployments cannot rely solely

on the cloud, especially in households with four

or more screens. “Many people can get an 8Mpbs

payTV service but that slows down at peak time

when people watch TV. OK there’s ABRS but if

you’re paying for a service that deteriorates at

peak time quality diminishes you won’t be a

happy customer. So you need to take a step back.

We live in a real world where you have to deal

with realities and not many have 100Mbps fibre

to the home,” he said.

Guilhem Poussot, head of connected devices at

Vodafone, echoed these sentiments, noting that

while the operator was looking to migrate services

to the cloud it has to do this carefully because of

these practical considerations. “The cloud is very

attractive for all of us, but we have to serve

customers and make sure they receive service

quality they pay for. In Europe there’s still huge

variety of access technologies and that’s difficult

to manage. We need to be careful of migrating

everything to the cloud, which is fantastic, but

also finding the right economic balance.”

Poussot gave storage as an example, where

storing content in the cloud is cheaper than giving

the right hardware to all customers, but at the

same time this has to be balanced against the cost

of upgrading networks.

In reply to the ROI question, Vassilis Seferidis,

director of European business development at

Samsung, which was the first Horizon box

supplier, described MHGs as a platform for

delivering a plethora of new revenue generating

services. “The cost and timeframe for Horizon is

much longer than simple zappers, but you

anticipate new service, some of which that you

might not even foresee, to recover that

investment,” he said.

Like Ziggo and a growing number of other

operators, Vodafone is also reviewing cloud UIs,

which it sees as a very attractive way of reducing

fragmentation of smart TVs and other connected

devices in the home. HTML5 plays a big role

here, but as Bristow noted a browser cannot

replace what a gateway or even simple STB can

do in terms of UX control, which is why there is a

good future for both STBs and MHGs.

The key message from the panel was that cloud

and MHGs are almost complimentary and not a

case of either-or. “It’s only at the beginning but

the more cloud you have the more gateways you

have,” concluded Poussot.

Companion devices and apps

The next panel looked at the hot topic of

companion devices and what role, if any, gateways

can play here.

“You have a brand, an advertiser who wants to

interact with the channel, and then you have the

channel and the operator. All of those will play a

part in how they make the value chain work. The

business model will change but it’s a massive

market and commercial opportunity and I don’t

think people truly understand that yet,” said Tony

Henderson, TV and entertainment lead for the

UK at Microsoft, adding that cooperation is

necessary as no one company is best positioned

to dominate alone.

Shazam does on average 10m recognitions

every day and a lot of users are tagging TV which

the company uses to give an enhanced 2nd screen

experience around programmes with add-on

information. Shazam doesn’t try to be an EPG or

a way to control the STB but primarily sees itself

as an engagement tool via the 2nd screen. It

ingests audio from some 150 channels so users

know they will get data back if they do a call to

action on the TV, according to Iain Dendle,

director of business development for Europe

at Shazam.

So how do operators and broadcasters add

value in this space and prevent viewers being

cannibalised by competing devices? Search and

discovery is one way, according to the panellists,

as well as delivery, recording, storage and

reminders. The point is that there needs to be

enough value to add through that app around

what’s going on with the show, perhaps some

commerce elements, social communications,

voting and participation. Broadcasters can prevent

users from finding information via IMDB through

more holistic business models. As ever, 2nd

screens activities are an opportunity and a threat

depending on how media companies react.

Technology focus

Liberty, Home Gateway Initiative (HGI), Intel,

Nagra and Screen Digest analysed the various

flavours of MHG and the many technology

decisions that have to be made.

Industry association HGI has set out common

requirements for MHGs in various areas, one of

them being software modularity to allow

applications to be installed on gateways, as well as

test programmes for manufacturers. The body is

now working on smart home architectures for

MHGs, looking at different wireless interfaces

and an API abstraction layer for instance,

according to Duncan Bees, chief technology and

chief business officer at HGI.

On the media side, the HGI is looking at the

role of the MHG as it evolves, as an enabler for

multi-screen, content bridging, PVR, time shifting

and other functions. The gateway is still a fluid

work in development.

Liberty also eventually sees gateways – whether

headed or headless (ie with or without HDMI

interface) - as an enabler for the smart home.

Amrani favours an MHG that acts as an IP

headend in the home, providing services such as

multimedia, broadband, as well as utility services

like metering, security and health.

In terms of transcoding and how much

transcoding functionality might be needed in the

hardware (compared to the cloud), there isn’t a

one-size-fits-all answer, according to Intel’s

38 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

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www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 39

Richard Crossley, with the individual operator’s

strategy and cost consideration among the many

factors that will influence the final decision.

“When we talk to customers about next-gen

silicon we take these into account,” he said.

As Nandini Iyer, senior product manager at

Nagra, explained, the industry is familiar with the

concept of gateways, whether residential, Docsis

or broadband. What changes with MHGs is they

go beyond service delivery and become service

assurance platforms managing the complexity out

there, she argued. “The MHG makes sure that all

of this works together in a way that users don’t

need to be tech geeks to figure out. It’s positioned

between the managed and unmanaged network of

the chaotic home where the operator owns some

of the pieces but not all of them.”

So, in Iyer’s eyes, this is a good opportunity to

make SA, content discovery and conjunction of

services meaningful for the end user. Morrod

agreed: “We can define the MHG as whatever we

want to but what’s more important is at what

point is that definition meaningful in terms of

new business models or technology capabilities.”

“The gateway is a gateway to new business,”

said Amrani, where the MHG becomes the last

mile intelligence in the home

The panel also tackled challenges around CA

termination, DRM bridging and home

networking. Even with 802.11n and MIMO there

are limitations, with Amrani pointing out that

40-50% of Liberty’s call centre calls are related to

WiFi.

Towards a smarter home

Home networking and the smart home were

the main topics under the microscope in

the afternoon.

“We all know the home network will be a

hybrid one,” said John Egan, president of the

Home Grid Forum, seeing a future where wireless

and a variety of wireline technologies co-exist.

Indeed, the G.hn standard that the Forum has

helped promote features an abstraction layer for

all wireline methods and there plans to include it

for wireless too (much as exists in the emerging

IEEE1905.1 standard). G.hn serves improves the

experience of the user and also reduces the

complexity of the gateway, Egan argued.

Telefonica and BT are among G.hn board

members, and Egan expects a lot of public

announcements coming over the next few months

with regards to operator trials and deployments.

“Ultra HD will eat up existing home networks

and people will need to be ready for change.

All roads lead to Rome when it comes to the

gateway,” said Egan.

Edmund Barrett, product manager at gas and

electricity supplier RWE, which rolled out its

smart home product in the German market

almost three years ago, at a time when it faced

challenges around introducing people to the mart

home concept. “We wanted something to control

heating and identified a gap in the market both in

terms of price and what kind of functionality

we’re looking for,” he said.

RWE supplies customers with a central unit

that connects to the router via an Ethernet link

which then connects wirelessly to switches,

sensors, heating controls and fire alarms around

the house using a proprietary wireless protocol.

The company can perform OTA updates to all

the devices to increase their lifespan. Customers

decide how they bundle and create profiles.

It’s about convenience and the company’s

system can support additional functionality such

as smart metering in the future that allows

customers to take action around setting budgets

or device control beyond mere observation.

Linking these to the smart grid is also a future

plan, as is making the system appropriate for

other countries.

Beyond energy, Barrett explained how RWE

is looking to expand to new verticals in safety

and security, and assisted living. RWE is also

looking at strategic partnerships to develop

software SDKs and device kits so in the future

it’s not reliant on its own work but to companies

who have that expertise to enrich the smart

home environment.

In the final panel, Cees Links, founder and

CEO, GreenPeak, a supplier of ZigBee-based

sensor control networks, pointed out that in the

US only California and Texas have a reasonable

penetration of smart metres. Other countries have

started to develop their own flavour of ZigBee or

communications variants in 2.4Gh or 900Mhz

bands. Links hopes momentum will pick up but

claims that for security and privacy reasons the

technology has become very complex. Another

reason is that energy companies have been slow to

drive it because they want consumer to use as

much energy as possible but this is now changing,

he argued.

Smart meters are only available in new builds

in Germany. “We need to address the wider

market but people don’t necessarily want to pay

extra for a smart meter/intelligent socket, which is

a hurdle” said Barrett.

It was agreed that proprietary solutions that

don’t meet all the needs is also hindering the

success of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the

energy management subset of that. Too many

protocols are limiting volumes and therefore

prices. No one solution will likely win out but

more interoperability is needed to extend

availability and unify the overall offering in some

ways. The good news is various drivers, including

government, regulatory and environmental, are

emerging that are creating user demand for the

smart home market to finally kick off.

Panellists also agreed the gateway would be

the right place to also put information about the

aspects of the smart home, reducing the number

of interfaces and simplifying the user experience.

So a number of hurdles to be overcome before

this becomes mass market, something CSI will

pick up on again next year. We would like to

thank all our sponsors and media partners that

made this event possible and look forward to

seeing all attendees in 2014.

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Over the next two years

a host of local TV

services will go live

across the UK, starting

with a launch in Grimsby

this November. At the

end of March, 19

licences were awarded by regulator Ofcom for

companies to operate local television in the UK

using digital terrestrial television (DTT)

frequencies. Winning bidders, which comprise

independent entities and those run by more familiar

broadcast and publishing firms, were granted

L-DTPS licences for a 12 year period, with a

stipulation for producing original content.

Local stations will have access to shared

infrastructure and a £25 million grant courtesy

of a funding agreement with the BBC. They will

also have the luxury of a prominent position on

the Freeview EPG, as high up as channel 8 on the

country’s DTT free-to-air (FTA) platform that is

currently in 11 homes as the main-set television

and of almost 20 including secondary sets.

But UK local TV has seen a chequered past,

with stations such as Channel One and Channel

M operating in London and Manchester

respectively folding due to the inability to find a

sustainable business model. So what’s different

this time, and can the new batch of licensees

expect a similar fate?

According to Ed Hall, chief executive at

Comux, the company in charge of running the

network that connects all the transmitter sites, the

digital switcher (DSO) that was completed last

year offers a fresh and a favourable set of

conditions ripe for these services to flourish.

“Local TV has been tried in individual towns and

cities in poor analogue frequencies when it was

difficult to retune television. It was always

challenging to make a sixth work.”

With the onset of digital, the national

awareness and value to advertisers is very

different, Hall argues. He believes that the

advertising and sponsorship opportunities,

on top of the funding support, lower the costs and

create the right mix for success.

“Media is being bought in more complex

ways, the more you can identify and measure

targeted audiences the better. It’s always been a

challenge for television but this should help and

we are delivering the urban audiences that have

significant value and interest for advertisers,”

says Hall.

Hall pointed out during the recent launch of

the local TV ‘manifesto’ that local licensees have

control of their channels from content creation to

transmission as well as full access to the

technology needed to manage the chain, thereby

pooling resources. This is particularly important

to help the smallest licensees who might not be

able to run their operations otherwise, he added.

Local TV

40 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

UK local TV gets another shotAs a new wave of local TV services is about to go live across the UK, Goran Nastic assesses what the future holds in this space

“It’s a community-owned business if you like.”

Some like Your TV (see table, above) will share

overheads and resources by being part of a larger

network. All licensees, moreover, can share

content, for example, through a common

presenter or graphics package, as the content is

delivered centrally from Birmingham, according

to Hall.

As IHS Screen Digest put it in a research

note, “Regional channels have a few advantages

over national, as they can tailor content and

advertising to a select audience and pay less

than the average in transmission costs per

capita reached. New stations will also be able

to exploit some opportunities like time sensitive

local advertising.”

But the analysts also warned that the system

has its drawbacks; primarily that targeted local

channels – even those with a high proportionate

local audience share – come with limited ad

revenues and impressions.

While local TV will compete for ad revenues

with local radio and newspapers (the existing

media affiliations should help here), Hall also

sees the upcoming targeted advertising service

from Sky acting as a booster for local TV, proving

there is a demand from advertisers for local TV

advertising, rather than providing a competitive

challenge.

For its part, Sky sees the AdSmart initiative

creating an opportunity for the broadcaster and

its advertisers to use TV in a truly regional way.

“What we are eventually looking to do is to take it

to the point where it might be hyper local,” said

Jamie West, director of AdSmart & Commercial

Development at Sky Media, which is looking to

rollout the first addressable advertising projects

by the end of the summer.

From local to OTT

Local TV has 9Mbs of capacity in all locations

and an additional capacity equivalent to two SD

or one HD channels available in ten million

Freeview homes under so-called City-based

streams. Meanwhile, a further 23 locations will be

up for grabs over the next year and Ofcom expects

to begin the licensing process for phase two

locations in the autumn.

But potentially the most interesting part

here is the connected TV option, which Comux is

actively exploring. Hall pointed out that the

company is looking at how it can make all local

TV services available via the Red Button or online

streaming irrespective of location. So London-

based people may want to watch local content

where they are from, for example.

Over the past few years, a host of over-the-top

services have sprung across the world providing

niche content and targeting expat communities

across the world, and Comux, together with the

UK’s local TV operators, wants to tap into this

trend, which in itself opens up a new set of

advertising opportunities.

This is also where Virgin Media’s Ian

Mecklenburgh, the cable operator’s director of

consumer platforms, sees the most promising

potential for local TV. “We can deliver local TV

but it will vary massively in its production quality.

So one of the issues we have is that a lot of those

guys somehow feel they deserve this high EPG

slot,” Mecklenburgh said at a recent BBC R&D

breakfast event.

Virgin, on the other hand, believes that app-

based IP delivery is a much better option where

their content is available nationally. “It’s much

more network economically efficient for us,” he

said, adding that Sky has the same issue (the

DTH operator has offered channel 117on its EPG

for local TV).

“Most people understand the economics

of a national IP-based platform and what that

could do, whereas a lot of these guys are very

driven around a local franchise. But a lot of

people will be interested in what’s happening

who don’t live there probably. So this is an

opportunity to say, here’s a platform that can

give you national distribution.”

Discussions between the cablenet and local TV

channels are ongoing with agreements reached

with only a handful of these stations, according

to Mecklenburgh.

The issue mirrors the wider debate seen across

the industry, namely is TV about an era that is

based on EPGs and spectrum scarcity or is it an

internet view of the world? While the long-term

future for DTT spectrum and FTA broadcasting

looking increasingly murky, it seems that local TV

will be coming to an app near you sooner rather

than later.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 41

Local TV

TABLE: Local TV licence awards

Location Winning operator Households (000s)

London London Live 3,200

Birmingham City TV 1,200

Manchester YourTV Manchester 1,200

Leeds Made in Leeds 1,100

Newcastle Made in Tyne and Wear 1,000

Liverpool Bay TV Liverpool 880

Glasgow GTV 750

Edinburgh ETV 610

Cardiff Made in Cardiff 500

Southampton That’s Solent 460

Bristol Made in Bristol 380

Preston YouTV Blackpool & Preston 350

Nottingham Notts TV 313

Grimsby Lincolnshire Living 270

Belfast NVTV 260

Sheffield Sheffield Local Television 193

Norwich Mustard TV 155

Brighton & Hove Latest TV 151

Oxford That’s Oxford 108

Swansea No bids 116

Plymouth No bids 94

Source: Ofcom

The demands on the broadcast

spectrum have never been

greater, and with the

economic value of spectrum

use increasing to over £50bn

in the UK this year, the

stakes have never been higher.

The latest 4G mobile signals now use the 800

MHz space cleared by digital switchover, and the

planned launch of five new BBC HD services in

the 600MHz band early next year, the delicate

power-play between broadcasters and mobile

operators for airwaves is on.

With WRC-15 on the horizon, the expectation

is for yet more clearance. At WRC-12 it was

indicated that the 700MHz band, now reserved

for broadcast, could be allocated for co-primary

use of mobile and broadcasting as soon as 2018.

Spectrum is a finite resource and while the

well-resourced mobile network operators are

looking for access to ever more capacity, in

response to the exponential demand for mobile

video, we also need to recognise that digital

terrestrial television (DTT) is here to stay.

Let’s not forget that around 40 million people

in the UK watch DTT, primarily Freeview,

whether on main TV sets or supporting devices,

and nine out of ten of the top watched shows are

delivered by aerial. There’s no question that DTT

performs a vital public service, giving almost

universal access to affordable news and

information and underpinning the creative

industries in the UK.

And it’s evolving. Now digital switchover in the

UK has been completed, Ofcom has awarded

extra spectrum in the 600 MHz band to the BBC

for five new HD channels by early 2014, with

potentially a further five more regional HD

services being planned. Add to that the chain of

19 new local TV channels set to broadcast on

Freeview channel 8 and you start to see a

platform in demand.

The debate around spectrum use to support

future mobile growth is well underway at national,

European and international levels, with regulators,

manufacturers, broadcasters and producers all

exploring how mobile and DTT can coexist.

One key question is how much capacity will

mobile data need? The problem is that it appears

to be growing faster than most experts have

predicted. According to Cisco, global mobile data

traffic grew 70% reaching 885 petabytes per

month at the end of 2012, up from 520 petabytes

per month at the end of 2011. That growth is

nearly 12 times the size of the entire global

Internet in 2000.

And most interesting to broadcasters is that

mobile video traffic accounted for over 50% of

this total by end-2012, with no indication that this

is slowing down. Cisco forecasts that mobile video

will grow at a CAGR of 75% between 2012 and

2017, the highest growth rate of any mobile

application category that it forecasts.

The pressure from mobile video is only set to

grow and there will simply never be enough

capacity on the broadcast spectrum to

accommodate this growth.

The need for co-existence

The DTG believes that the time has come to bring

the spectrum power struggle to an end, with both

sides acknowledging that DTT and mobile data

networks are here to stay. It is time for

broadcasters and mobile operators to start to

work together in an eco- rather and ego- system

for the benefit of both sides.

The spectrum requirements to support

terrestrial television have to be balanced with the

mobile operators drive to innovate and meet

consumer need, and this will only be achieved

with true collaboration.

The relationship between television and the

internet has been compared to that of a love-

affair, starting with mutual

infatuation, each seeing the future in

each other’s eyes. This swiftly ran

into difficulties with each side unsure

of how to live together, but in the end, TV and the

internet have flourished into a proper partnership.

The same applies to mobile and broadcast.

This true collaboration is working in the UK

already. The DTG is leading discussions with the

mobile industry through its filter testing for 4G

coexistence with DTT in 800 MHz band, through

our support of the Wireless Test & Innovation

Centre (WIC). The WIC is at the forefront of

innovation and testing of coexistence between

DTT, short range devices and white space devices.

Another example is DTG’s relationship with

the 5G Innovation Centre, which is at the

forefront of research currently underway to ensure

the UK is central to the development of the next

gen of mobile network standards. The timing is

critical, laying the foundations of an essential

partnership for the future.

Without this true collaboration beginning now,

at both a national and European level, the risk of

misallocating spectrum are great and irreversible.

Only by entering a proper partnership, with each

side working together with a real understanding

the needs of the other, will we succeed.

Richard Lindsay-Davies, DTG Director General,

will be chairing an IBC conference panel on this

subject, titled ‘Money from Thin Air? The Future of

Broadcast Spectrum’, Sept 15, 10am, The Forum.

It’s time for eco, not ego, systems when it comes to spectrum access

Guest column

42 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Simon Gauntlett is technology director at the DTG, the industry association for DTV in the UK. This is the latest in a line of regular guest columns to

provide CSI readers with updates on the DTG’s initiatives and activities.

A delicate power play

Untitled-9 1 20/08/2013 14:36:02

The rate of change and

development in the area of

broadband video shows no

signs of slowing. With this

change comes all of the

accompanying growing pains,

such as new devices,

platforms, and formats, which only serve to

frustrate any attempts at standardisation.

However, from the midst of the ruckus has

arisen MPEG-DASH.

While the debate rages on about whether and

how DASH represents a solution, the European

Broadcasting Union has embraced it for its hybrid

internet TV (HbbTV) platform.

DASH provides many benefits over the current

crop of protocols in use or being proposed for

ABR or multiscreen delivery. Following are the

key elements proposed (for a complete list see the

DASH Industry Forum website):

• Independent, stable international standard.

• Common encryption – one-time encryption

and packaging of content allowing

simultaneous use of multiple DRM

technologies.

• Templated manifests – Compact manifest for

fast start-up, as well as avoiding manifest

download with every segment.

• Industry convergence for streaming delivery.

While some of these are clearly more important

or more achievable in the short term, the key

challenge is widespread adoption. Here is a

shortlist of what has to happen:

1. First and foremost, there must be broad

player support across the majority of likely

end devices. This was accelerated by the

participation of all the

major players such as

Microsoft, Adobe,

Apple and Qualcomm

in the development of the standard. In addition,

the standard itself was developed to represent

a superset of the existing deployed formats. This

obviously has to be balanced with the fact that

Apple alone has been reticent to provide further

deployment commitments.

2. There must be significant education of DASH’s

benefits to accelerate the re-examination of

existing investment in proprietary solutions. To

this end, the DASH Industry Forum was founded

out of the original DASH Promoters Group. This

group of over 70 members has been very active in

providing DASH-AVC/264, as well as the

associated test cases, test vectors, conformance

software and reference client software.

3. There must be further adoption or mandating

of MPEG-DASH by additional standards-setting

bodies and organisations to require the

deployment of DASH. As mentioned above,

DASH adoption as an integral part of the HbbTV

1.5 hybrid Internet TV platform is a fundamental

step in this direction, and therefore worthy of

further study.

MPEG-DASH meets HbbTV

MPEG DASH is a highly logical choice for

HbbTV 1.5. It provides an independent stable

standard that has had participation of all major

vendors and has an active Industry Forum

continuing to drive it. DASH provides a solid and

standards-based answer to a significant challenge.

To understand DASH’s role here, we must first

understand HbbTV.

The challenge of implementing HbbTV

broadband services

The broadcast element of HbbTV is very well

understood and extensively deployed. However,

the key difficulty lies in extending the broadband

service portion to a hybrid broadband / broadcast

device, such as a STB or connected TV

(“terminal”). Multiple protocols, security issues,

and the ability to take advantage of unicast’s

personalized nature with capabilities such as

targeted ad insertion, make the goal of HbbTV

both appealing and problematic.

Technology corner

44 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

The future of multi-screenDelivering on the promise of MPEG-DASH and HbbTV. By Duncan Potter

Diagram 1: HbbTV Showing Hybrid Delivery Model

HbbTV delivery model

HbbTV supports two distinct content delivery

channels:

1. Traditional OTA DVB Broadcast (multicast)

a. Linear Broadcast Content, Application Data

and Signalling

2. IP delivery based on HTTP (unicast)

a. Linear HTTP Content, Non-linear HTTP

Content, and Application Data. In an HbbTV

network this would be based on MPEG

DASH* (ISO/IEC 23009-1) and ISO BMFF

Common Encryption (ISO/IEC 23001-7)

HbbTV deployment challenges

For organisations looking to implement HbbTV

1.5 there are a series of requirements that provide

significant challenges:

• Extending linear broadcast content delivery to

the HbbTV terminal via Broadband

• Implementing on-demand (VoD, Catch-up,

Rewind, etc.) on the HbbTV Terminal

• Providing secure per-content or per-session

encryption and DRM

• Providing content personalisation and fully

managed Quality of Experience at session

initiation or dynamically at any time during

the session

• Per-session targeted ad or alternate content

insertion

• Full support for the HbbTV 1.5 specification

In addition to these requirements, there are

additional capabilities that are also needed to

provide a compelling and differentiated service:

• Providing live, on-demand, rewind and catch-up

services to any Second Screen

• Delivery support to any connected device:

game console, tablet, smart-phone, etc. whether

or not it supports a direct MPEG DASH player

capability

An example: Issues of targeted ad/

alternate content insertion

Of the requirements mentioned above, few if any

bring as much incremental revenue opportunity,

or as many challenges (and cause as much

controversy) as targeted ad insertion.

Few organisations can ignore the huge scope

for additional services that being able to deliver

targeted ads and alternate content brings.

Looking further than parity with today’s existing

ad model, the possibility of alternate content

insertion on a fully customized per session basis

brings a tantalising view of the future of live

television, where channels based on an archaic

frequency derived model become obsolete and

video content becomes truly individualized.

However, as with all exciting visions, there

are a few ‘minor details’ to be understood and

dealt with.

Manifest manipulation alone doesn’t

always work

One major example of this is the range of issues

associated with manifest manipulation.

The manifest is primarily a “playlist” that

provides the player with the list of upcoming

assets that are available for download. It is an

XML file. This has led to many assumptions

being made that inserting ad or alternate content

would be a matter of simply “manipulating” or

writing the entry into the manifest file at the

appropriate place to tell the player to play

additional or targeted content with no need for

any change the actual video fragments.

To make the situation more complicated, this

model actually can be made to work with Apple

HLS and most IOS devices. Unfortunately, as

with all seemingly simple answers, it doesn’t work

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 45

Technology corner

Graph 1: Showing Cost Comparison for Edge Repackaging and Edge Ad Insertion vs Head End Packaging Only Option with No Ad Insertion

for anything outside that community of devices –

even HLS on Android devices does not support

“discontinuity” to allow this type of

manipulation. This means that the player must

support “discontinuous” video fragments with

different timing and encoding characteristics.

Unfortunately ISO BMFF based protocols

such as MPEG DASH AVC.264 do not

support discontinuity.

Both alternative models of client side insertion

and “pre-writing” of manifests (the creation

of custom manifests written at the time of

encoding or head-end packaging) have massive

limitations in terms of scalability, security, and

quality control.

A true solution is provided when the manifest

is manipulated in real time, and in line with

actual fragment delivery to ensure that the time

stamps and critical container information are

manipulated in line with the custom manifest for

that client.

HbbTV broadband deployment for

operators

Once the deployment requirements (of which

there are clearly many more than the main

requirements listed above) are understood, it

becomes clear that today’s cache based CDN

models require many more services closer to the

edge of the network to be able to meet both the

delivery as well as the cost requirements.

In effect this demands a new intelligent video

delivery control layer to be implemented within

the network that provides services to the Back

Office Support Systems, Ad Insertion Systems,

and Policy Servers, while implementing a full

session management approach to ensure QoE,

effective operational monitoring and management

and further session management at the edge of

the network.

Increasingly, a range of video delivery services

is becoming available at the edge of the network.

- Dynamic repackaging of ABR formats (e.g.

HLS, Smooth Streaming, HDS and MPEG

DASH)

- Support for full session management

- Quality of Experience management

- Policy Enforcement

- In-network targeted ad and alternate

content insertion.

As it becomes possible to deploy these advanced

services at the edge of the network, the inevitable

questions of cost and supportability become

paramount.

Reducing cost while adding new services

and revenue opportunities

In a recent case study, a leading cable operator in

North America implemented an open source

based CDN shared the details of their

implementation. Their experience demonstrated

the potential to build a highly compelling business

case for distribution of some of this traditionally

“head end” or data center based services. In their

model, by implementing format repackaging, the

hardware and centralised packager cost savings

alone reduced CAPEX by a stunning 44%.

The reduction in OPEX resulting from far

higher network backhaul, cache optimisation and

the all important individual session management

and analysis for the operations staff is NOT

calculated within these savings. Nor is the fact

that when one calculates the ability to provide

targeted ad insertion, the cost is still LESS than

the cost of the original packager and server

hardware needed to support the open source

based cache network.

Looking forward to new models of

network deployment

This does not mean adopting an entirely

decentralised model, but closer examination of

future looking models such as Software Defined

Networking (SDN) show a similar approach

whereby centralised intelligence leverages highly

distributed agents providing critical underlying

services for optimized application delivery.

Summary

There are many challenges in bringing MPEG

DASH and HbbTV together while continuing to

exploit revenue opportunities and further

optimize costly distribution infrastructure.

However, by rethinking a few key assumptions

around protocol and manifest manipulation, a

picture begins to emerge of a highly optimized,

distributed infrastructure that enjoys lowered

distribution costs without sacrificing quality.

In fact, a fully session based management

system for ABR promises a significant increase

in functionality for service providers, by giving

them control over each individual stream as

it is delivered.

Providers who adopt these new methods

and incorporate them with MPEG-DASH and

HbbTV will reap the profits inherent in quality

control, per-session analytics, and truly targeted

advertising.

Duncan Potter is CMO at SeaWell Networks

46 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

Technology corner

Diagram 2: HbbTV Delivery Network Showing Session Delivery Controller Deployment (labelled SeaWell Spectrum)

Pay TV operators around

the world are expanding

their services to additional

devices. There are clear

reasons for this: mobile

video views grew 300%

in 2012, accounting for

10.4% of video starts compared with 3% in 2011.

According to Adobe, tablets were a key driver of

this growth.

In the past, proximity has traditionally been

seen as the key to maintaining a high quality

experience for video viewers. That was the idea

behind CDNs: store Internet content as close as

possible to the end-user and eliminate upstream

congestion issues. The advantages of local caching

continue to hold true, but the complexities

associated with multiscreen content delivery

allow for benefits from using a somewhat more

centralised approach as well.

The attention being given to cloud computing

in the enterprise world is near deafening at the

moment, but it’s also having an impact on pay TV

operators. Managing and manipulating video in

the cloud not only simplifies some requirements,

but could even influence the model for

multiscreen monetisation.

Monetising multi-screen

For operators that find it difficult to charge a flat

fee for multiscreen video, it may be worthwhile

exploring specific use cases that would drive

willingness to pay. In-home viewing is a difficult

scenario to monetise given that customers have

access to the content in their homes via a paid

service already. That leaves only two scenarios:

via devices connected to a cellular network when

the consumer is outdoors; or “placeshifting,” using

a Wi-Fi or fixed-line connection to view content

when outside the home (for example, on a

business trip to another city).

The first use case lends itself to mobile

consumption, and this is growing rapidly. But

the mobile phone is poorly suited to TV video

streams and so requires the video to be resized

and delivered at a lower bit-rate. Mobile

networks are also more bandwidth constrained

than fixed-line and so the consumer experience

can often be affected. Operators therefore need

to invest in a substantial video adaptation and

manipulation eco-system to deliver a paid service

to mobile devices.

That brings us to the placeshifting scenario.

According to our recently conducted survey of

US online consumers, 62.4% were “very” to

“somewhat” interested in viewing shows from their

pay TV service or DVR via a web-connected PC

anywhere in the world, and interest had remained

largely consistent when compared with the

previous year.

For business travellers in particular, stuck

in a hotel room after a full day’s work, viewing

unfamiliar programming in a foreign language

is not an attractive option. Convincing these

relatively high-income professionals to pay a small

transaction fee or subscription premium to access

their favourite and familiar TV shows via a laptop

or tablet should be a viable proposition.

The set-top vs the cloud

There are two main approaches to offering

placeshifting.

Launched in 2005, the Slingbox is an in-home

set-top box that connects to the DVR/set-top to

access TV content and can “sling” it to a web-

connected PC anywhere in the world. At its

launch, placeshifting was an extremely

controversial issue within the TV industry,

with broadcasters arguing it was illegal since

it subverted local market exclusivity deals.

However, device-based placeshifting continues

to exist. Sling Media is now a part of US satellite

company EchoStar, and several other pay TV

providers have since licensed the technology.

Various models of Slingboxes are also available at

electronics retailers in 20 countries.

Though widely available, the device-based

approach has its constraints. It requires users to

remotely access the in-home set-top box rather

than an optimised media server, has no built-in

redundancy, relies on a relatively

narrow upstream path and is

constrained by the box’s transcoding

and other content optimisation and

multiscreen delivery capabilities. All of these

video preparation and delivery requirements can

now be effectively managed via a cloud-based

service. In addition, moving this capability into

the network and integrating it into a broader

content delivery architecture could greatly improve

service reliability and the subscriber experience,

both for fixed-line and mobile delivery.

Cloud-based video delivery also fits into a

broader set of initiatives from operators to leverage

the cloud. They are looking for ways to speed up

activation of new services and cloud based

services can often be upgraded and adapted more

quickly, since the platform is housed on servers in

comparatively central locations and is independent

of the end-user’s device. Often it allows operators

to use standards-based technologies which can

further simplify development and deployment.

Lastly, some DVR technology vendors have an

extensive suite of patents for device-based time-

shifting, but these don’t extend to the cloud. As a

result, some operators are reportedly exploring

cloud-based time-shifting as a way to develop new

capabilities without stepping into patent disputes.

While proximity to the end-user is still an

important advantage for video delivery, cloud

technologies can help operators deliver a high-

quality multiscreen service. In particular, they

could help with key monetisation initiatives such

as mobile video and placeshifting.

The specific business case will, of course, vary

by operator and will depend on access to content,

scale, existing infrastructure, local subscriber

behaviour etc. But a growing number of operators

worldwide are now looking to shift traditional

head-end functions for multiscreen delivery to

the cloud.

www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 47

Migrating to the cloudCan cloud-based solutions help operators drive multiscreen revenue, asks Aditya Kishore

Aditya Kishore is principal analyst at Diametric Analysis, a consultancy focused on analysing the disruptive impact of Internet distribution on the

video and telecom sectors. He can be reached at ak@diametricanalysis.com

To advertise contact Tiro Bestonso +44 (0)20 7562 2427 tiro.bestonso@csimagazine.com

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48 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 49

48 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com www.csimagazine.com September-October 2013 49

To advertise contact Tiro Bestonso +44 (0)20 7562 2427 tiro.bestonso@csimagazine.com

Business DirecTory

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The 14 exhibition halls will

officially open their doors

to the public on Friday 13

September, although by then

the conference will already

be in full swing.

Conference keynotes at

IBC 2013, still Europe’s largest broadcast show,

come from the old and the new of the media

world, and will include senior execs from ZDF,

TDF, Channel 4, Tata Sky, Multichoice, Twitter

and Shazam, as well as retailers such as Amazon

and Tesco (who are now OTT providers too).

The conference programme kicks off early

Thursday morning, with a session focused on

sports broadcasting, set against the backdrop of

major events in 2014 such as The FIFA World

Cup in Brazil, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and

the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. While

sport drives many innovations in broadcast, its

popularity comes at a price, and it is a large

contributor to escalating programme costs borne

by networks and operators – it will be interesting

to see to what extent rising tensions, reflected in

retransmission disputes for instance between

different parties, are tackled in these sessions.

The 2nd screen, of course, is a theme that will

run over the six days of the show, tapping into

viewers demand to make their TV consumption a

more sociable and interactive experience. Among

the subjects explored is the question of how

broadcasters can use this attention and

technology to help their shows and channels.

Understanding the value of Big Data and the

future of broadcast spectrum are interesting

debates and both feature multiple sessions with an

impressive group of panellists.

The idea of Big Data is not new but only a

handful of traditional broadcasters have begun to

seriously take up the challenge and use them in

new monetisation or operational strategies. Two

back-to-back sessions on Friday afternoon will

explore the pitfalls and opportunities on offer,

with input from Oracle, Amazon, BSkyB, BBC,

Tesco and Channel 4.

Meanwhile, as wireless technology begins to

encroach on terrestrial turf, the very future of

FTA television is thrown in doubt, an issue that

will be tackled by broadcasters and mobile

operators alike in the shape of Telefonica Europe,

Globo TV, ITV, Arqiva and Ericsson.

Other topical subjects under the spotlight

include ultra HD (including a session sponsored

by Sky Deutschland), Cloud and IP in broadcast,

adaptive streaming, smart user interfaces, and the

battle for the viewer experience as TV fights the

plethora of connected device for eyeballs and user

attention. In what should be a lively debate, the

last topic will see speakers from UPC, Microsoft,

YouView and Samsung debate the place and role

of TV in the future living room.

Around the halls

Elsewhere, that always fascinating Future Zone

offers a glimpse into what technologies we might

expect coming our way over the next few years,

usually in the form of prototypes from R&D labs

around the world. This year, the chosen few

involve next-generation HbbTV with contextual

recommendations, Cisco’s Project Fresco (see

page 14 for more information on this and ultra

HD), augmented broadcasting from ETRI and

High Dynamic Range (HDR) video among

others. BBC R&D will also reveal some of the

team’s latest work here, while a German

university will propose a Tower Overlay network

for LTE-Advanced, which it is positioning as more

efficient concept than eMBMS.

UHD comes with a lot of unanswered

questions about value, content and mass market

potential but this hasn’t stopped much excitement

being generated by the industry, with content

owners exercising the most restraint in this area.

Cost is another big issue.

As a number of service providers dip their toes

in 4K by testing the waters, SkyD is leading a

demo of an end-to-end live on-air broadcast chain

in tandem with Sony, 3net, SES and Pace.

The companies will show a trailer comprising

Ultra HD content, mixing sports, movies and

documentaries, aired live over satellite by SES in

a sponsored session free to all delegates. The

content will be encoded in HEVC by Harmonic

and will be received by a prototype UHD receiver

presented by Pace. The results will be displayed

on several Sony 4K displays of different sizes.

No doubt we can expect a number of other 4K,

HEVC and associated demos across the exhibition

floors this September.

Goran Nastic previews what looks set to be another action packed IBC show

50 September-October 2013 www.csimagazine.com

The old and the new in Amsterdam

IBC ConferenceStimulating debate and sharpening strategy, the IBC Conference attracts the industry’s most influential and authoritative speakers to discuss the future of electronic media and entertainment.

The conference is designed to: • stimulate discussion to challenge

and exchange ideas• enable you to network with the top

minds in the industry• allow you to formulate strategies to

implement in your business

IBC2013 Keynote Speakers include:• Peggy Johnson, Executive

Vice President, QualcommTechnologies, Inc. and President,Global Market Development,Qualcomm

• Tony Wang, General Manager,Twitter

• Rajesh Kamat, CEO, CA Media

For more information please visit: www.ibc.org/conference

IBC ExhibitionEach year, 50,000+ attendees from over 160 countries come to IBC. They are able to browse fourteen themed halls housing the latest innovations from more than 1,400 leading brands. In addition there is a wealth of free to attend feature areas including: IBC Connected World a special area of IBC which encapsulatesthe very latest developments in mobile TV,3G and 4G services

IBC Production Insightcentred around a professional standardstudio set, attendees have a host of thelatest technology to get their hands on

IBC Workflow Solutionsdedicated to file-based technologies andprovides attendees with the opportunity totrack the creation management journey

For more information please visit: www.ibc.org/exhibition

IBC Big Screenproviding the perfect platformfor manufacturer demonstrationsand ground breaking screenings

Future Zonea tantalising glimpse into the futureof tomorrow’s electronic media

IBC Awardscelebrating the personalities and theorganisations best demonstratingcreativity, innovation andcollaboration in our industry

RAI AmsterdamConference 12-17 September : Exhibition 13-17 September

Register now at

www.ibc.org/register

IBC Third Floor 10 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1BR UKt. +44 (0) 20 7832 4100 f. +44 (0) 20 7832 4130 e. info@ibc.org

www.ibc.org

Untitled-1 1 20/08/2013 10:34:23

Reaching the right audience comes down to a simple equation. Intelsat has

always been forward thinking when it comes to media. When we launched IntelsatOneSM,

we built the satellite industry’s largest IP/MPLS fi ber network to create fl exible, hybrid

content delivery options for our customers. And now, we’re introducing Intelsat EpicNG,

our next generation satellite platform, which combines high-throughput spot beams, for

content regionalization and targeting, with wide beams, for total continent coverage.

That’s intelligent design. Good for your operations and your bottom line.

Meet with Intelsat during IBC 2013 at Stand 1.C71.

Learn how Intelsat can help you reach more viewers.

Visit www.intelsat.com/Forward-Thinking for details.

Designed for 2030. Launching in 2015.

6849-CSI_Media.indd 1 8/20/2013 12:51:35 PM