Emerging markets opt for Smart TVs at greater rate than mature markets

71% of connected flat panel TV owners in emerging markets report they are likely to purchase a smart TV in the next 12 months, compared to 37% in mature markets

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — According to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Usage Study, consumers in emerging markets are twice as likely as those in mature markets to purchase an internet-enabled smart TV in the coming 12 months. When asked about their planned TV purchases, 71% of consumers in Brazil, China, and other emerging markets reported they were likely to purchase a smart TV in the next 12 months, compared to just 37% of TV consumers in France, the UK, and other mature markets.

“Features that are key to future smart TV purchases include being able to search for online content, web browsing, and VOD services, as they allow consumers to access entertainment, news, and other online content such as shopping,” said Riddhi Patel, Research Director at NPD DisplaySearch. “Dual-play 3D games and cloud storage were least important to consumers.”

TV brands continue to promote smart TVs, with expanded application stores and video conferencing capabilities; however, consumers in emerging markets do not consider either of these features important for their future smart TV purchases.

For connected TV owners in emerging markets who are not likely to purchase a smart TV in the next 12 months, 25% mentioned that they owned other smart devices that could access the content they wanted. Consumers also cited the high cost as one of the reasons for not planning to purchase a smart TV in the next 12 months. Reasons also varied by country. In Russia, the most cited reason (35%) was the existing ownership of other smart devices. In Indonesia, smart TV pricing was the major purchasing hurdle. In both Turkey and Mexico, consumers did not see the need for a smart TV in connected flat panel TV households, since many of the households already owned one.

Figure 1: Likelihood of Purchasing a Smart TV in the Next 12 Months

Source: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Usage Study

The Quarterly Smart TV Usage Study is based on surveys of consumers in the mature markets of US, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and UK and the emerging markets of China (Urban), Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, and Turkey. For more detailed information on shifts in the connected TV market, contact Charles Camaroto at 1.888.436.7673 or 1.516.625.2452, e-mail contact@displaysearch.com, or contact your regional DisplaySearch office in China, Japan, Korea, or Taiwan.

Pay-TV expands in Lithuania

Lithuania had 407,600 homes receiving digital pay-TV services at the end of the second quarter, according to preliminary data published by the country’s Communications Regulatory Authority (RRT).

This represented 1% and 12% increases on three months and a year earlier.

Just under a third (125,400) of digital pay-TV homes received services via cable or MMDS, with the remainder opting for IPTV (109,300), DTT (72,000) and DTH (101,000).

Revenues in the sector amounted to LTL34.7 million (€10.1 million), or 0.3% lower than three months earlier.

The total value of the electronic communications market in Q2 amounted to LTL536.6 million, a 1% reduction on the previous quarter.

Conax appoints Binderlehner for German-speaking countries

Conax has appointed Andreas Binderlehner as its new director of area sales for the German-speaking countries.

Binderlehner will be responsible for development of business opportunities and expansion of sales of Conax Conditional Access and DRM solutions to Cable, Satellite, DTH and DTT Operators, ISPs and telcos in the so-called D-A-CH countries.

The German-speaking countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, represent a highly significant market for distribution of pay-TV and Over-the-Top content with a cumulative population of over 90 million inhabitants.

Erik Tordhol, EVP Sales, Conax, in a statement: “Andreas brings extensive industry experience to Conax’ global sales team – we are highly pleased to welcome him onboard to represent and drive business development in the
D-A-CH region.”

Binderlehner comes from senior positions at strategic players in the market. He joins Conax from Envivio, and previously worked for Verimatrix and SeaChange.

LG selects Gracenote to power Smart TV interface in Europe

TV Listings, Cover Art and Images, and Cast and Crew Data from Gracenote will drive LG’s ‘On Now’ service

EMERYVILLE, California — LG Electronics (LG) has selected Gracenote® to power the On Now service in its latest CINEMA 3D Smart TV lineup in Europe. Gracenote eyeQ™ will provide TV schedules and listings, movie and TV show descriptive metadata, as well as Cover Art and images to help viewers navigate and find what to watch across both broadcast and on-demand sources. LG’s On Now will be offered as a software update to all LG Smart TVs in UK and Spain this summer with other European countries slated for later in the year.

On Now provides a smarter and simplified TV interface where viewers can get a snapshot of TV shows and movies that are currently playing, as well as available shows and movies from on-demand sources. On Now taps into Gracenote’s TV listings to show local and national channel information as well as Gracenote’s descriptive metadata for movie and TV show recommendations based on related programs and viewing preferences.

“For Smart TVs to truly make an impact among consumers, the experience has to evolve to make it easy for viewers to find the shows they love and also discover new programs to watch,” said Stephen White, president, Gracenote. “LG is now ahead of the curve in terms of the Smart TV user experience, incorporating descriptive data and rich images to help simplify discovery.”

Gracenote also provides rich visual images to enhance the On Now graphical interface, displaying photos of cast and crew, including popular actresses, actors and filmmakers. In combination with TV and movie Cover Art from the Gracenote database, viewers will be able to quickly navigate which programs to watch using On Now, without having to read too much on-screen text or scroll through endless choices.

As the only global solution for Smart TV programming guides and interfaces, Gracenote eyeQ features TV listings for more than 30 countries, up to 21 days of listings coverage and metadata for more than a million movies and TV programs.

Germany launches HbbTV awareness campaign

The TV set’s Red Button is the central theme of a new, nationwide campaign in Germany to raise awareness of the HbbTV services.

In a combined effort, all German private and public broadcasters will launch the Auf ROT geht´s los! (It all starts with RED) campaign on September 5. The campaign will comprise TV spots, information leaflets and more to inform viewers of the possibilities of their smart TV sets.

The campaign will show how HbbTV offers on-demand programming, EPGs, extended information with programmes, high quality teletext pages, live streams, special events and more.

According to research by GfK Retail and Technology there are now five million HbbTV sets in the German homes and an installed base of a total of seven million is expected by year’s end.

The following German broadcaster are now offering HbbTV services: Das Erste and all TV and radio stations that are part of ARD, Channel 21 (shopping), HSE24 (shopping), Kabel eins, n-tv, ProSieben, RTL Television, RTL II, RTL Nitro, SAT.1, sixx, Sonnenklar.TV, Super RTL, Vox, QVC (shopping), ZDF and all partners of ARD and ZDF.

70% of households in Vietnam to have pay TV by 2020

Nearly 70% of all households in Vietnam will have pay TV, as the prime minister of the country, Nguyen Tan Dung has approved planning on radio and television wave transmission and broadcasting up till 2020.

The plans which were approved recently aim to increase the reach of pay TV as well as develop the market already existing in place. Currently the country offers pay TV through cable television, DTT, digital satellite television and IPTV. The plans also stipulate that by 2015, there will be 80 TV channels out of which 50 will be pay for view channels.

As of now the state wants to have at least 40% of the population opting for pay TV by 2015 and then increase that reach to 70% by 2020. The population is being encouraged to leave behind terrestrial TV services because channels will be broadcast on a different plan from 2020.

India´s Zee Network to enter terrestrial TV space

India´s Zee Network will be launching Anmol, a free-to-air channel in the terrestrial space. This would be the first time a network other than public broadcaster, Doordarshan, will foray into this space and is expected to reach at least eight million terrestrial TV homes in India.

The new channel would try and reach out small towns and rural areas in the country and will feature 39 hours of repackaged programming in a week. In the second phase of its broadcast, the network announced that it will start featuring original programming as well. The channel will be launched on mobile phones from September 1.

With Zee Anmol, the number of channels under Zee Network now rises to 34. Even existing content when it is re-aired on Anmol will be re-packaged to suit small town sensibilities, according to the network.

EzyFlix.tv OTT video service launches in Australia

Entertainment lovers across the nation can now instantly stream and download the hottest international releases and watch them on any device, anytime, anywhere, following the launch of a cutting edge new online service, EzyFlix.tv.

Launched by Australian online retailer, Access Digital Entertainment (ADE), the transactional video-on-demand and download-to-own service is the first of its kind in the country, allowing users to view their purchased content on any connected device, including smartphones, tablets, PCs and Smart TVs, either on or offline.

CEO of ADE, Craig White, said EzyFlix.tv will help remove many of the barriers that exist for people wanting the best offerings in showbiz.

“Australians are hungry for new release movies and US TV shows and tired of feeling like they’re behind the rest of the world. EzyFlix.tv provides affordable, convenient and timely access to top international video content, express from the US, without any subscription fees, contracts or the need for a set top box.

“It also allows people to build their own digital movie and TV library in the cloud and has been designed specifically to meet the needs of the ‘connected consumer’ who wants to be able to access their chosen content via multiple devices at any time,” said Mr White.

A former sales director for 20th Century Fox Australia, Mr White said EzyFlix.tv has struck content deals with all major Hollywood studios and distributors including 20th Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Roadshow Films, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros.

“We are also the first provider to retail UltraViolet (UV), a cloud-based digital rights system which offers people a digital ‘locker’ and gives them the ability to share purchased UV content with up to five friends for free,” he said.

From today, Australians will be able to view a library of 2000 titles including popular movies like The Avengers, Django Unchained, This is 40 and A Good Day to Die Hard, with plans to grow the offering five-fold.

Addressing consumer research that shows one in three local digital entertainment purchases are for TV programs, the service will also offer ‘season passes’ to shows including alerts to each episode’s availability immediately after its broadcast.

Bite-size options will also allow users to ‘snack’ on TV episodes. For example, customers can own an episode of a hit show like Breaking Bad, Revenge, Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Supernatural for just $2.99.

Mr White said EzyFlix.tv will revolutionise digital entertainment in Australia, improving access and offering better value to both small and big screen fans from all walks of life.

“Capitalising on the opportunities presented by technologies such as high speed internet, WiFi, mobile broadband and play back devices, we offer top titles to both purchase and stream and we give people the freedom to choose how and where they play their videos, according to their lifestyle, needs and wants,” he said.

Mixed picture for Cyfrowy Polsat

Poland’s Cyfrowy Polsat ended the second quarter with 3,545,582 pay-TV subscribers, a total little changed on the same period last year.

Of these, almost 80% used HD set-top boxes and around 16% opted for Multiroom.

The company noted strong growth in the take-up of its internet services, the subscriber total at the end of Q2 being, at 187,628, almost double the 99,069 a year earlier.

Similar growth was seen in Multiroom (5782,748 v 287,717), while its mobile telephony take-up fell (136,324 v 142,171).

Cyfrowy Polsat had a churn rate of 8.8% in the second quarter, while Family Package ARPU was PLN48.3 -€11.4 (+5.2% year-on-year) and Mini Package ARPU PLN12.8.

In other areas of the business, Cyfrowy Polsat’s online service Ipla averaged over 3.8 million users each month in the first half of this year, with over 2.5 million using the Ipla app and website and around 1.3 million apps for mobile devices, smart TVs, STBs and game consoles.

Ipla has been profitable since September 2012 and has a growing number of VOD transactions.

Cyfrowy Polsat’s Q2 revenues amounted to PLN740 million, up 3% on a year earlier. However, EBITDA was down by 5% to PLN257 million and net profit by 19% to PLN81 million.

IPTV and OTT to drive European pay-TV growth

IPTV and OTT video services to account for most pay-TV growth in Western Europe between 2013 and 2018, according to Analysys Mason.

The real impact of OTT video services will be felt on secondary TV sets, where such services will drive a decline in traditional multi-room services.

In Analysys Mason’s latest pay-TV forecasts, the research company expects that the number of households taking pay-TV services in Western Europe will increase by 9.2 million to 113.3 million, which amounts to 8.9% growth between 2013 and 2018.

Take-up of over-the-top (OTT) video services will grow much more strongly than traditional pay-TV services, but cord-cutting will not be extreme – OTT video to the TV set will account for just 5.6 million primary pay-TV services by 2018. The real impact of OTT will be felt on secondary TV sets – traditional operators could broaden their reach with their own OTT services to these sets. A shift towards IPTV and OTT and away from cable explains stable top-level Western European pay-TV household numbers.

The number of Western European households taking up traditional pay-TV services – delivered via analogue or digital cable (including multichannel multipoint distribution services (MMDS), also known as wireless cable), IPTV, pay-digital terrestrial TV (DTT) or satellite – will increase by 4.1 million to 107.7 million, representing 3.9% growth between 2013 and 2018.

These overall modest gains for traditional pay-TV services belie substantial variations between the performance of individual platforms – the gains for some platforms will be nearly offset by losses for others during the forecast period.

Analysys Mason expects that the number of cable households will decrease by 6.2% to 43.6 million between 2013 and 2018, representing a net loss of 2.9 million, as some analogue cable subscribers defect to digital platforms other than cable, including free-to-air (FTA) DTT services.

The number of pay-DTT households is expected to decline by 7.7% to 4.9 million, a net reduction of 0.4 million as pay-DTT loses its momentum in major markets such as France, Germany and the UK.

The number of satellite pay-TV households will increase by 3.7% to 31.6 million, amounting to a net gain of 1.1 million as growth in some markets, notably Germany, offsets decreases in others, such as Italy and Spain.

The number of IPTV households will increase by 29.0% to 27.6 million, an increase of 6.2 million. Analysys Mason expects strong growth for IPTV in many countries, mostly because of aggressive bundling strategies by telcos, which are offering basic pay-TV services at little or no incremental cost within multi-play propositions in order to gain market share.

Low-end IPTV services, such as Swisscom TV light, which was launched by the Swiss incumbent in November 2012 as a free add-on for its DSL subscribers, enable consumers to benefit from the latest features of digital TV services, such as access to on-demand content, without incurring the upfront cost of equipment, which can easily amount to EUR200 or more. Operators may want to offer their own OTT video propositions in order to tap into new growth opportunities

The real impact of OTT video services will be felt on secondary TV sets, where such services will drive a decline in traditional multi-room services. Analysys Mason still believes that cord-cutting will not be significant in Western Europe. The number of Western European households taking up OTT video services as a primary form of pay-TV will increase by 5.2 million during the period, from 0.4 million in 2013 to 5.6 million by the end of 2018.

OTT video services extend the overall market for pay-TV services by appealing to consumers who would not consider taking up traditional pay-TV services, perhaps because of the cost or level of commitment involved. In particular, the emergence of OTT video services gives consumers direct access to premium and/or niche content without the requirement to commit to other subscriptions (either for basic pay-TV or a bundle of services) as a prerequisite, bringing consumers more freedom and flexibility.

‘Pure-play’ OTT video providers such as Netflix need not be the only ones benefiting from this new growth opportunity. Pay-TV operators with niche and/or premium content can broaden their reach by targeting non-subscribers with their own OTT video services, ensuring that they are pitched and priced in a way that will attract consumers who have continued to be FTA viewers, while minimising the risk of cannibalising their traditional subscriber base. In July 2013, leading UK satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB launched its NOW TV Box at an ‘impulse buy’ price of GBP9.99 (EUR11.71) in order to drive the take-up of its OTT video service, which offers pay-per-day access to its premium sports channel line-up, as well as subscription-based access to its premium movie content.

Laos to introduce digital broadcasting

By 2015, Laos, a country with a fledgling and small TV industry hopes to have full digital as well as radio broadcasting as it was decided recently at the 12th Asean Digital Broadcasting Meeting. While the country switched to digital TV in 2007 for some major towns in the country, there are still major gaps prevalent.

Phosy Keomanyvong, the Lao National Radio deputy director general has announced that the government is still in process of finding funds to finance the roll-out for digital broadcasting. Once the funds are in place, the state plans on setting up a system installation.  Currently the Lao National Television (LNTV) runs only two channels which broadcast mostly documentaries, news, economic news and sports content.

LNTV in a bid to increase its reach across Laos has also recently signed an MoU with China´s Yunnan Radio and Television (YRT) to develop content and technology and enable 24 hour broadcasting.

95% digital TV coverage in 4 years for Thailand

As the digital TV auction heats up in Thailand, the four year network roll-out plans of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), reveals that by the fourth year, the country will have 95% digital TV coverage.

The plans state that digital network providers must increase their coverage to 50% of the country’s 22 million households in the first year and then increase it to 80% in the second year, 90% in the third year and come up to 95% by the fourth.  Currently NBTC is auctioning 24 license for commercial digital terrestrial TV, with the auction itself likely to take place at the end of this year.

NBTC has also announced that bidders who have qualified can directly deal with individual network providers before the auction begins and the qualifiers will be told about the rates 30 days prior to the auction. The state-run networks are most likely to announce their pricing plans for network leasing fees by mid-September.

Nagra CAS to be deployed in Indian cable operator GTPL´s STBs

Nagra, the digital TV division of the Kudelski Group, has entered into an agreement with Indian cable operator, Gujarat Telelink Pvt. Ltd (GTPL) wherein GTPL will be deploying 700,000 digital STBs with Nagra CAS.

The announcement came in the heels of the Kudelski Group´s half yearly results where it has noted interest in increasing its footprint in the Asian markets. Nagra offers secure CAS, middleware, multiscreen and digital media technologies for cable, DTH, terrestrial and OTT operators. The agreement with GTPL only stipulates an initial deployment of the units with more to follow in time.

The Indian chapter of Nagra was started over seven years ago and as of late 2012, the digital TV division had reached nearly 20 million Indian households.  Few of the company´s existing clients include DTH giants Dish TV and Reliance; national MSO’s like InCableNet (IMCL) and MSO’s/LCO’s in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.

NBTC gives green signal for 54 digital capable TV sets

Thailand´s National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission has approved 54 television models that come along with digital receivers that are built into their systems. Four brands, Sony, LG, Panasonic and Samsung have been given the permits so far.

As the proposed models come with their own antennas and therefore can receive digital terrestrial signals on their own thus negating the need for STBs to convert signals. LG has 15 of its models approved with Panasonic, Samsung and Sony getting approvals for 13 models each.

As the government has been hard at work to get people to move from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasting, when these units hit the market, people will be given discount coupons to purchase these television sets. The units will be available in the market once NBTC gives the companies permits to import as well as distribute them.

Bangladesh´s Jamuna TV gets airwaves

It´s good news for Bangladesh based TV channel, Jamuna TV as it has been allocated airwaves by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on the recommendation of the country’s Ministry of Information.

Sunil Kanti Bose, chairman of BTRC announced that the television channel whose test transmissions were shut down on November 2009 will be allowed to air content once again, according to a report in Bangladesh based paper, Sangbad Sangstha. Jamuna TV had filed a petition on November 2009 with the courts to overturn the decision but at that time the higher court had upheld the government’s order.

More recently on May 2013, BTRC has further halted the transmissions of private satellite TV channel Diganta TV and Islamic TV. At the time the government had given no explanation as to why the transmissions were halted.

UK viewers stay with traditional TV set

In the UK 98.5% of all TV viewing is on a traditional TV set and just 1.5% is on other screens such as tablets, according to Thinkbox research.

Total average daily TV viewing in the UK during January-June 2013 was 4 hours, 1 minute a day per person. This comprised: three hours, 58 minutes a day of linear TV on a TV set. This is three minutes a day less than the same period last year (source: Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board [BARB]). One reason for the slight drop is the improving economy.

Three minutes, 30 seconds a day via devices such as tablets, smartphones and laptops (or just over three half-hour TV shows a month). This is mostly on-demand but some live streams (source: figures supplied by UK broadcasters to Thinkbox).

In total, viewing on non-TV set devices via established services such as ITV Player, Sky Go, 4OD and BBC iPlayer, and new services like Dave On-demand, accounted for 1.5% of overall TV viewing during the first half of 2013. This is a slight increase on the full year figure for 2012, when it accounted for 1.2%.

The average viewer watched 3 hours, 58 minutes a day of linear TV on a TV set during January-June, compared to 4 hours, 1 minute during the same period in 2012, according to BARB. 12 minutes more linear TV a day during the first half of the year than ten years ago.

89% of linear TV was watched live compared to 89.9% in 2012.

BARB’s measurement system captures the amount of linear TV that is recorded on digital TV recorders (DTRs) – such as Sky+, Freeview+ and Virgin Media’s TiVo – and watched within seven days of the original broadcast. It also captures any on-demand TV watched on a TV set in this period, although this is still a very small figure and BARB does not currently publish it separately.

In the estimated 58% of households that own DTRs, 83.8 % of linear TV was watched live compared to 84.4% in Jan-Jun 2012. 81% of all time shifted viewing is watched within two days of recording. 47% of time shifted viewing is seen within 24 hours of it being recorded

BARB’s figures suggest that the growth in the amount of TV that is recorded and played back is slowing down. Ofcom also stated this in its recent Communications Market Report 2013.

Once all households have the ability to digitally record TV programmes, Thinkbox expects the average level of recorded and playback TV viewing to settle at around 15-20% of total linear viewing, as it has in those households that do currently own DTRs. However on-demand TV will increase as a proportion of the time-shifted total.

BARB’s figures do not yet include TV viewed on devices other than TV sets, however figures supplied by the UK TV broadcaster show that this viewing accounted for an average of 3 minutes, 30 seconds of viewing a day per viewer.

With the spread of internet-connected TV sets, Thinkbox expects that some on-demand viewing, which currently takes place off the TV set, will move to the TV set, as that is the screen people prefer to watch TV on.

Lindsey Clay, Thinkbox’s managing director: “We know that people watch live TV and on demand TV for different reasons. They co-exist and together are helping TV to grow as a medium. People’s ongoing enthusiasm for it TV, and their growing enthusiasm for embracing new ways to watch it, is great news for advertisers, who don’t always get the recognition they deserve for contributing to TV’s health and expansion.”

Starman enhances offer

Estonia’s leading cable operator Starman has upgraded its time-shift and catch-up offer.

As a result, digital TV subscribers using “KordusTV” are now able to access use the service for all programmes broadcast over eight days on around 80 channels, rather than the previous nine channels.

The service is available free of charge to all STARbox owners.

Separately, Starman subscribers now have the option of recording content from up to 100 channels contained in the operator’s digital TV packages.

Although they are initially given 25GB of disk space for this purpose, they can increase the capacity to 1TB.

EKT inks Telefónica deal

Telefónica Czech Republic has chosen Eagle Kingdom Technologies (EKT) to supply its new interactive STB solution.

Employing an Entropic ARM Cortex A-9 secure integrated circuit (IC) solution, it will allow the telco’s subscribers to experience true HD graphical user interface capabilities, together with the latest features in IPTV interactivity.

EKT, which is based in Shenzen, China and has an advanced software development group in Germany, the UK and Greece plus sales and marketing offices around the world, is, along with Entropic, also working with nangu.TV to deliver the advanced STB to Telefónica Czech Republic.

STBs and dongles continue to grow

The smart set-top box and dongle market is expected to pass 18 million units in 2013; higher than originally forecasted due to the arrival of Google’s Chromecast device.

Overall the market is expected to grow with a 10.8% CAGR (2013 to 2018) with less saturated and developing (from connected and OTT perspective) markets such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America helping drive this growth, according to ABI Research.

“Despite stiff competition from a range of connected CE devices, the smart set-top box and dongle market offers an equally compelling user experience often at significantly lower price points,” said senior analyst Michael Inouye, “Google’s Chromecast device in particular sets a new low price bar for the connected CE market and as more applications are added to its library its value to price ratio will continue to grow.”

In time, as the installed base of devices with new technologies such as MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) grow we will start to see more dongle form factors in the smart set-top box market; although the puck will remain highly relevant. The price of these devices will also allow lower tier TV manufacturers to separate the connected TV component, keeping prices lower and enabling customers the option to upgrade the connected platform as desired without replacing the TV or purchasing costly and proprietary upgrade modules.

Practice director Sam Rosen added, “If Sony secures the rights to distribute live cable channels from Viacom, partnerships such as this allude to a content future quite different from the one many are accustomed to today. Content holders are already forging more direct relationships to viewers and this would be a natural step forward, but the Pay TV operators are likewise evolving and adapting to this changing market environment. The amalgamation of Pay TV and OTT will become increasingly important, suggesting Google TV’s vision might have come too early but might grow into this role as a bridge or new entrants like Microsoft’s Xbox One might fully realize this unified vision.”

These findings are part of the First Screen Video Devices Research Service.

Moscow fibre net gains subscribers

Russia’s MTS saw the number of subscribers to its Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) grow by 2.5 times in the first six months of this year.

As of this June, a total of 500,000 homes in the capital, Moscow, were able to access the internet at up to 200 Mbps and receive a range of services including pay-TV and 40% were opting to do so, with the figure expected to rise to 50% by the end of the year.

Construction of the GPON should be completed by 2015, with the total cost of the network put at around $2 billion (€1.5 billion).

India´s MSO Manthan to install 3.6 million STBs by 2014

One of the biggest MSOs in eastern India, Manthan will be installing 3.6 million STBs by 2014 in Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Jharkhand and Meghalaya and has already installed .7 million STBs in Kolkata so far, a city which has been struggling to complete its digitisation process.

The MSO which functions from Kolkata will be investing over USD 69 million by 2014 in order to expand further in the region. Manthan Broadband Services, director Sudip Ghosh said, “We will soon be signing USD 18 million contract for the management work for 10 years. We will also invest to build best infrastructure which includes network, encryption, SMS and call centre.”

The announcement comes at the heels of news that most LCOs and MSOs in Kolkata will not be able to meet the August 23rd deadline set by TRAI to submit the customer application forms (CAFs), with only 35% collected so far. The government of West Bengal has requested for an extension in the deadline in Kolkata. The city is also behind in its digitisation process with only 20% digitisation completed by the month of July.

Pay-TV boost for Rostelecom

Russia’s Rostelecom ended the second quarter with 6.9 million pay-TV subscribers, an increase of 11% on the same period last year.

Of these, 1.7 million, or 69% more than a year earlier, opted for IPTV services.

Rostelecom also saw strong growth in its broadband subscriber total, up 11% over the same period to 9.6 million. The company’s total revenues in the second quarter amounted to R77,030 million (€1.740.4 million), an increase of 1% year-on-year.

However, its OIBDA was down by 6% year-on-year to R28,830 million and net income by 3% to R7,275 million.

Rostelecom’s president Sergey Kalugin noted: “In terms of our operational results, we are growing our subscriber base in some of the industry’s key growth segments – broadband and pay-TV. There is a great deal of work to do in improving financial results of the Company, but we are pleased with the early progress we are making.

“The Company’s reorganisation is almost completed, and in terms of our infrastructure, 3G networks have now been launched in 21 regions. We have also enhanced our management team, which is now made up of like-minded, highly successful professionals with vast experience in telecoms, finance and marketing.

“A number of key areas have been identified where improvements should be made if Rostelecom is to maximise its efficiency. We are finalising the details of our strategy, which will be submitted to the Board, and it will focus on accelerating the upgrade of our network infrastructure, improving customer experience and developing products that will distinguish Rostelecom from competition and deliver sustainable growth – Rostelecom now certainly has the ingredients in place to deliver this.”

Doordarshan to offer HD channels

FTA public broadcaster, Doordarshan will now be offering HD television channels as well for their terrestrial service.  While HD channels are available in India through DTH platforms, this would be the first time they will be aired through terrestrial network.

The DTH service, which comes under public broadcaster, Prasar Bharthi will also be adding 10 private channels to its free-to-air bouquet. According to a report in Indian newspaper, Deccan Chronicle, Doordarshan has already begun its installation work. M Anandan, deputy director (engineering) Doordarshan said, “With an aim to keep in pace with current technological trends, Prasar Bharathi has asked Doordarshan to broadcast two of our channels on the high definition platform, for which we have started installation of HD equipment in our transmitter in Chennai.”

The HD broadcast which is said to start once the installation gets over in around 3 months will first be offered to the metro cities in the country – Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi and then move onto other parts of the country. Anandan also announced that at least 10 to 12 private channels will be offered under HD.

Harmonic goes for advanced broadcast and multiscreen

IBC 2013: Stand 1.B20. Harmonic has announced plans for demos of the next generation Ultra HD digital video format, HEVC compression and branded channel playout.

“At IBC2013 Harmonic will showcase its ‘glass-to-glass’ integrated broadcast and multiscreen solutions, which deliver dramatically superior video quality across formats from SD to emerging Ultra HD,” said Peter Alexander, senior vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer at Harmonic. “The product demonstrations at the booth will highlight the operational efficiencies, cost savings, and amazing video quality that operators can achieve by leveraging an integrated solution from Harmonic”.

In a demonstration of its HEVC-ready Promedia family of multiscreen solutions, Harmonic will showcase new Ultra HD reference footage, which will be made available to customers testing interoperability with HEVC clients.

There will also be a demo of what Harmonic is describing as the industry’s first true CCAP-compliant platform
NSG Pro can converge high-density universal edgeQAM capabilities with future, integrated CMTS functionality. Featuring built-in DVB encryption. It supports a variety of video and data services, such as cloud DVR, IP video, video on demand (VOD), and M-CMTS and is seen as a platform for European operators making the transition to an all-IP infrastructure.

Indian government might provide 40% reservation for domestic STB manufacturers

India´s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is currently considering introducing a 40% reservation for local STB manufacturers in a bid to promote domestic sales. The ministry has tabled the statement in the country´s Lok Sabha based on recommendations of a parliamentary committee.

The statement comes at the heels of several DTH providers such as the Dish TV have publicly stated that they would be opting to source STBs from domestic vendors as the depreciating value of the rupee would make it cheaper. Domestic vendors struggled during Phase I and Phase II of digitisation as they were able to capture only 5% of the market.

In the meantime, the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has also announced recently that it will be manufacturing at least 20 million STBs to keep with the demand. The country will need a further 77 million STBs in order to successfully complete digitisation.

Dutch digital TV penetration reaches 85%

The number of digital TV connections in the Netherlands grew by 1.0% during the second quarter of this year to 6.543 million on June 30.

Almost 85% of all Dutch TV households now have a digital connection, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly Dutch Television Market report.

This includes 3.68 million cable subscribers that also have an analogue TV connection. Telecompaper estimates the retail revenues for the consumer TV market totaled EUR 393 million in the second quarter, little changed compared to the first three months of the year.

Cable still accounted for over half (56.2%) of digital TV subscribers, despite losing market share due to the growing adoption of IPTV services over DSL and FTTH networks. DSL was the second most common way to receive TV, followed by satellite and terrestrial, which are both losing market share.

Ziggo was the largest TV provider at the end of the second quarter, both in the total TV market and the digital TV market. KPN, UPC and CanalDigitaal followed in the rankings.

For 2013, Telecompaper expects a growth of 7.2% in digital TV connections to around 6.83 million driven by growth of IPTV via DSL and FTTH.

Cable will also see digital TV growth but less than before. The whole TV market (including analogue-only connections) is expected to grow by 0.5% during this year.

Copies of the full report can be bought from the Broadband TV News webshop.

MTS loses pay-TV subs

Russia’s MTS ended the second quarter with 2,806,000 subscribers to its pay-TV services – a 2.7% reduction on the same period last year.

At the same time, its broadband internet customer total was, at 2,317,000, barely changed on the 2,314,000 it posted for Q2 2012.

In a presentation accompanying the company’s latest set of results, MTS says: “(The) number of broadband and pay-TV subscribers (was) impacted by reconciliation of acquired companies’ subscriber definitions with those of MTS as well as completion of the statutory merger of Comstar-Regions.”

MTS had consolidated revenues of R97 billion (€2.2 billion) in Q2, a 5% increase year-on-year, while its consolidated net income amounted to R29 billion.

Digitürk sale moves closer

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey (TMSF) is understood to be close to initiating a tender for the sale of Digitürk.

According to local and agency reports, the TMSF and Çukurova Holding are in fact looking at several options, including a direct sale or a tender.

The TMSF took control of Digitürk and several other assets belonging to the financially troubled Çukurova Holding back in May.

Since then, it has sold two TV interests – Show TV and Sky 360 TV – to Ciner and a consortium composed of the Turkish companies Kolin, Limak and Cengiz, in the former instance for TRY402 million (€153 million).

Digitürk has already attracted interest from a number of companies including Türk Telekom and D-smart.

Ziggo reports 150,000 Cloud TV users

Dutch cable operator Ziggo has said that approximately 150,000 receivers have registered for its Cloud TV service.

This accounts for approximately one-third of Ziggo VOD activity. The 150K total represent a three-month increase of 150% for Active Video’s “browser in the cloud”.

CloudTV’s “write once, deploy everywhere approach” moves the HTML5 browser to the cloud and streams the fully-formed UI to such devices as existing and new QAM and IP STBs, CI+ modules, HDMI sticks and SmartTVs. ACG Research has shown how CloudTV can accelerate the rollout of consistent, branded UIs on any STB or connected device at TCO savings of up to 83%.

Using CloudTV, Ziggo this year became the first cable operator in the world to provide interactive services without built-in hardware. CloudTV also is being used by Charter Communications to support its cloud-based UI strategy and by Net2TV, an online video provider, to power its Portico TV service on connected devices.

“Moving the browser to the cloud eliminates the need to write UIs for every make and model of CE device,” said Ronald Brockman, CTO of ActiveVideo. “The resulting user experiences are less costly to develop, faster to develop and have far greater reach than more limited UIs that rely on device-based browsers and metadata in the cloud.”

At IBC, ActiveVideo (Stand 3.B13) will be showing how CloudTV software platform decouples the user interface from device resources, enabling deployment of consistent, branded experience and applications – with or without a set-top box — on every device.

NEOTION introduces Plustelka CI Plus 1.3 CAM in Slovakia

NEOTION introduces Plustelka CI Plus 1.3 CAM in Slovakia, partner is Strong
 

Altech UEC implements $5 million manufacturing upgrade

Altech UEC SA (Pty) Ltd, the largest developer and manufacturer of set-top boxes in Africa, has further expanded its capabilities with a R50million [US$4.8 million] investment in state of the art equipment to meet the continuing demand for terrestrial set-top boxes, satellite decoders and smart TVs.

Part of the expansion includes the installation of the Panasonic Surface Mount Technology (SMT) solution, an electronics assembly manufacturing solution that ensures high quality and on-time delivery and cements Altech’s ability to service the African and international markets as a superior and cost effective solution provider for the electronic manufacturing process.

The Panasonic Next Production Modular (NPM) pick-and-place installation is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Its advanced process intelligence systems allows for zero board transfer time, smart feeder monitoring and a 400, 000 component placement per hour capability.

In addition to the electronics assembly equipment, the company has installed a state-of-the-art plastic injection moulding machine with robotic-controlled extraction for the plastic casings of the set-top boxes.

The machine is an environmentally sustainable investment due to its low power consumption compared to its hydraulic counterparts. Because of its servo controlled systems, it allows for hyper accurate repeatability and reliability.

According to Rajesh Ramkawal, Manufacturing Executive at Altech UEC, the upgrade investment has created an additional 120 specialised and sustainable jobs at the manufacturing facility in Durban.

“This investment is one example of our commitment to creating employment as part of the digital migration process and government’s overall job creation targets,” he said.

“We remain committed to the development and training of our employees, having sent a team of support staff to foreign OEM facilities in order to train on the new equipment. This has brought much needed technical acumen and expertise back into the local marketplace,” he added.

“This investment provides us with the capability to manufacture six million set-top boxes per annum and ensures that Altech UEC is well placed to meet current and future demand for set-top boxes and smart TVs,” he concluded.

LinkNet signs deal with Amdoc

Indonesia´s largest cable operator, LinkNet, has inked a multi-year licensing deal as well as services extension for Amdoc CES Multi-Play Smart Pack. The deal allows them to stream line the order-taking process as well as pricing and promotions business policies. 

LinkNet, which comes under First Media brand, is one of the top providers of broadband as well as pay TV services in the country and Amdocs provides customer management solutions. Desmond Poon, CTO of LinkNet said, “The agreement builds on our existing partnership with Amdocs, supporting the rapid growth in our customer base and at the same time allowing us to further extend our product offerings. In particular, Amdocs provides added flexibility to roll out new service offerings, customer promotions and delivery platforms.”

The Smart Pack 8.5 upgrade will allow LinkNet access to the latest in pre-integrated customer care and billing solutions in order to support their growth in the pay TV market. Amdocs also has a similar deal in place with SIM TV based in Brazil.

TrueVisions wins TPL rights for USD 56.1 million

Thailand´s pay TV operator, TrueVisions has won the rights to broadcast the Toyota Thai Premier League for three consecutive seasons starting from 2014, in a deal worth USD 56.1 million.  TrueVisions won the rights over its rivals – CTH and GMM Grammy.

While the pay TV operator had lost out to CTH for the rights to broadcast the English Premier League for 2013-2015, it currently offers Spain’s La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Italy’s Calcio Serie A. TrueVisions, which already had the rights to broadcast TPL between 2011-2013, paid nearly 10 times the amount it had paid in 2011 for the rights.

The bidding war only lasted one round with three more football competitions and TrueVisions also ended up getting the rights to Yamaha League One, the Thaicom FA Cup and the Toyota League Cup. The bidding which was initially slated to take place in March was postponed as the Football Association of Thailand currently has no president.

NTV-Plus opts for CI+CAM

The Russian DTH platform NTV-Plus has begun to sell CI+ conditional access modules to its subscribers.

Produced by SMiT (HK) Ltd, the modules are designed for viewing encrypted channels distributed by the platform and can be bought as part of the prepaid ‘Start’ package or for R1,200 (€27.2).

NTV-Plus is the longest established DTH platform in both Russia and CEE as a whole, having made its debut in 1996.

It currently has around 650,000 subscribers.

Tata Sky to replace 6 million STBs in India

India´s DTH player, Tata Sky will be investing over USD 161 million to upgrade the technology in its current variation of STB and therefore will also replace the six million STBs installed. The upgrade will ensure that the STBs are installed with MPEG 4 compression technology enabling it to beam more channels from the same bandwidth.

Since 2010 Tata Sky has been installing STBs with MPEG 4 compression but there are currently 6 million units that were installed earlier that needed the upgrade. The company has announced that the boxes will be replaced in a span of one year. It is also planning on beaming 100 more standard definition SD channels. Harit Nagpal, Managing Director, Tata Sky said, “We are planning to include a spate of Tamil and Malayalam channels, besides various other language channels. This would enable us to plug the demand-supply gap in Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets in a big way.”

The integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) device for STBs offered by Broadcom Corporation, a company specialising in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, has been selected to enable Tata Sky´s first MPEG-4 SD STB. Tata Sky is a joint venture between India´s Tata Group and British Sky Broadcasting Group plc and it beams 200 HD channels as well as standard definition channels currently. India has 52.5 million DTH subscribers as on December 2012 of which Tata Sky holds 9.98 million subscribers.

Thailand´s NBTC postpones digital TV auction

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunication commission (NBTC), the broadcasting regulator in Thailand has announced that the digital TV auction which was earlier slated to take place in October might be pushed to the end of the year.
Col Natee Sukonrat, head of the broadcasting committee confirmed that the auction could be delayed to either December or January in order to give more time for potential bidders to prepare for the auction. The information memorandum (IM) will be released by NBTC on August 27th and applications will be open for potential bidders between September 10th and 12th. The regulator would then take 45 days to announce those who qualified for the auction.
Due to the delay, the broadcasting of digital TV in Thailand would be pushed back to either February or March of 2014 rather than the earlier projected date of December 5th. Sukonrat said, “The three-month digital TV auction time frame aims to ensure a smooth process and provide opportunities to a wide range of participants.”
The auction itself will be held within a time frame of 30 days either in December or January. The auction is being held for 30 DTT channels out of which 24 will be for commercial purposes and 6 would be for public service.

Malaysian beta OTT service, Klfive

KLfive, a Malaysian based OTT service has launched in beta form before its full launch slated to take place in November. The service is expecting to have at least 100,000 subscribers in the first year after its full launch and is currently testing its subscriber base and service.

The service can be connected through TV, tablets, mobile phones, STBs and PCs and has over 1,500 hours of content. Izham Abdullah, KLfive, CEO, said that subscribers can choose from the content available on an à la carte basis. He said, “KLfive is designed to transform the traditional television ecosystem and create a fresh competitive environment for the Pay TV platforms. Users have absolute control and an option of payment methods.”

Klfive will offer content from studios like Freemantle, NBC Universal, CBS and will feature content from the US. It also allows subscribers to watch newly released movies. The subscription for the service begins with a monthly package priced at USD 4.56.

TV CAMs for Pay-TV would reach Brazil in 2014

The Swiss company SmarDTV, that belongs to the Kudelski Group, is in negotiations with two big Pay-TV operators of Latin America that would agree to launch in 2014 in Brazil the model of Pay-TV through Conditional Access Modules (CAMs) in TVs, replacing STBs. For that, SmarDTV is negotiating with two different TV manufacturers with which it is already working in Europe and would have given a green light to the project to take advantage of the sales during the Soccer World Cup.

The CAM model is difficult to implement in latin America given that it is necessary to convince television manufacturers to add this module to devices, which would make the cost slightly higher. Nevertheless, this system would benefit operators that could strongly reduced the CAPEX because they would eliminate the investment in STBs and could connect the digital service directly to TV through CAM.

SmarDTV has peeked the interest of some TV manufactures about the convenience of taking advent of the massive interest there will be in Brazil in 2014 to acquire new HD TVs for the Soccer World Cup of 2014. They will only have to manufacture in that country the same models that are already being marketed in Europe, where there already are 250 million installed equipment.

In turn, SmarDTV also has a good relationship with operators in Latin America because its a “sister” company to Nagra (both belong to the Kudelski Group). The negotiations are moving forward with big cable operator and a Latin American DTH operator. In Brazil Nagra has as clients the MSO Net (América Móvil) and Telefónica, although there is no concrete information of these being the ones that will drive forward TVs with CAM in the first stage.

In the European model, retailers sell different televisions prepared to receive the service from different Pay-TV operators, generally with promotions related to subscriptions.

The two Brazilian operators are choosing different TV manufacturers each, and will implement different models: one that will promotor TV with CAM with a special offer in electronics stores and retailers, and the other plans to purchase TVs and offer them as part of the package to new subscribers, as it is done with STBs and with cell phone in the wireless market.

There are three big CAM providers in the world: SmarDTV (Switzerland), Neotion (France) and SMiT (China), the three members of the Forum CI Plus which is responsible of standardizing CAMs. The new generation of CAMs CI+ allow access to premium Pay-TV content through broadcast and even broadband IP.

Young people prefer OTT over legacy pay-TV

Young people living at home with their parents are, once they move out on their own, more likely to subscribe to an online pay-TV service such as Netflix or Hulu Plus than a legacy pay-TV service such as cable or satellite.

This data is drawn from The Diffusion Group (TDG)’s latest multi-client primary research project, Late Millennials: A Study in Media Behavior.

“Much has been said about younger adults and the choices they may make about their home TV services once they leave their parents’ home,” notes Michael Greeson, president and principal analyst for TDG. “Yet little research has been offered up to support the various hypotheses.”

TDG’s new research, says Greeson, makes it clear that tomorrow’s head-of-household is less favorably disposed than their predecessors toward legacy services and more favorably disposed toward OTT TV services.

Greeson admits these dispositions could change over time if OTT TV services are unable to acquire the content these consumers will want as they marry, have children, and move up the career ladder. “In the end, it will still be less about the conduit and more about the content and value the service provides.”

TDG surveyed a random sample of more than 2,000 Late Millennials (in this case, adult broadband users between the ages of 18 and 24), half of which were living at home with their parents. 49% of the latter group said they were highly inclined to sign up for an online subscription video service once they move out on their own, compared to only 31% that were highly inclined to sign up for a traditional pay-TV service when they set up their own household (a difference of 58%).

“While this data can be spun to rationalize a number of arguments, the simplest insight may be the most profound,” notes Greeson. “The very fact that young consumers perceive online video services as somehow more desirable or necessary than incumbent pay-TV services says volumes about the future of video.”

Boxer Denmark keeps Teracom in the chase

Operating profit at Teracom improved in the second quarter, thanks to an improvement in earnings at Boxer Denmark.

EBITDA of SEK 233 million (€27 million) in the second quarter compares to SEK 199 million in 2012.

Despite Boxer Denmark’s results for the quarter still being negative, losing 20,000 subs to 348,000, the Swedish-owned transmission company says a customer base has been built and the brand established.

Boxer Sweden is not so healthy and intense competition has seen a decline in the customer base, from 612,000 subscribers in Q2 2012 to today’s 589,000.

An increased effort has been placed on customer service with so far positive results.

Serbian ASO moves closer

Serbia now expects to complete the transition to digital broadcaster by mid-2014, or almost one year earlier than previously planned.

Speaking in a statement to RTV Pink and quoted by Balkans.com, Rasim Ljajic, the country’s deputy PM and minister of foreign and internal trade and telecommunications, said that a meeting held today (August 16) established the dynamics of digitisation.

This now envisaged that 60% of Serbia would be served by digital signals by October 1 and a further 20% by the end of the year.

Ljajic spoke of the many benefits that digitisation would bring to the population.

The most obvious one was a greater choice of programming in a market where over half (53%) of households still had access to only 2-3 channels.

Satellite STB shipments continue to rise in 2013

Worldwide digital cable set-top box unit shipments increased by 10% in 2012 and are expected to continue to increase modestly in 2013 with revenues of nearly $20 million.

US research firm MRG continues to watch and analyse the shift from analogue and SD to digital and HD respectively. These shifts are driving the deployment of the digital set-top box, particularly in countries like China and India, the first and second largest cable TV markets in the world.

According to MRG, satellite STBs continue to show strength as new providers continue to launch in regions such as Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East/Africa. Worldwide unit shipments reached nearly 109 million in 2012, up from about 100 million in 2011.

In 2013, MRG is projecting that satellite set-top box unit shipments will continue to rise slightly and long-term demand for satellite set-top boxes is expected to remain strong. While demand for IP STBs continued solidly in 2012, MRG expects unit shipments to flatten out and even marginally decrease as the IPTV market matures in 2013 and 2014.

Additionally, as part of being focused on the largest opportunities for STBs, MRG has also taken a deep dive into the pay-TV market in India to find a swirling maze of economic, political, legal and social factors that are critical to business models and financial success. In spite of many roadblocks, this market is set to see substantial growth in several segments, notably STBs and OTT services. The pay-TV market in India is expected to reach 167 million subscribers in 2017, up from 140 million in 2012, showing a 3.6% CAGR during this period.

DTH, alone, is expected to cross 100 million subscribers by 2017. Following digitization, by 2016 DTH will surpass cable TV penetration, which comprised 67% of the pay-TV market in 2012. The opportunity for STB imports into this country will exceed 100 million in 2017 while more than 60 million will be produced locally.