Samsung Electronics announces GAIA security for Smart TVs

Samsung Electronics announces GAIA, a Powerful Smart TV Security Solution for 2016 and Beyond

KOREA — Samsung Electronics announced GAIA, a powerful and comprehensive three-layer security solution for its entire 2016 line up of Tizen-based Smart TVs. The service will give consumers protection across all areas of the Smart TV ecosystem, including services, software and hardware security.

“Protecting consumers’ personal information is of the utmost importance to Samsung, both in terms of the company’s values and what’s needed for the continued growth and success of the IoT ecosystem,” said Hyun Suk Kim, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “GAIA is a security solution that will give Samsung customers security and peace of mind now and in the future.”

GAIA protects consumer’s personal data in three ways. Firstly it has Secure Zone, a virtual barrier that creates a secure space and protects the core service operations. A Secure Keypad/Number Pad – the virtual data input mechanism seen on a TV, is used to safeguard consumers’ personal information such as credit card and password.

Secondly, GAIA encrypts important data transmitted between the TV and IoT service servers. GAIA’s built-in anti-malware system detects and blocks any unauthorized programs that may be used for hacking from running or making changes to key part of the Smart TV’s OS.

Thirdly, Security level is also strengthened in terms of hardware. By dividing the Tizen OS into two parts including the main and the security space, data for each space is secured separately. Also, public key used for verifying personal information is included in the hardware chip.

Samsung views 2016 as the year the TV will become the center for Internet of Things (IoT) extensions in the home. As well as being equipped with GAIA, all 2016 Samsung SUHD TVs will be IoT hub technology enabled, allowing the TV itself to act as the controller for the entire home IoT service.

Orion Express goes multiscreen

The Russian DTH platform Orion Express has launched a multiscreen service named Telekarta Online.

Quoted by ComNews, the company’s DG Kirill Maknovskiy said that its aim is to maintain the platform’s subscriber base and maintain customer loyalty.

He added that Orion Express’ revenues this year are unchanged on those in 2014 and will amount to over R3.3 billion (€43.5 million), and it should end the year with 2.8 million subscribers.

Maknovskiy stressed that its subscriber growth is, at 8% this year, higher than the market as a whole.

Telekarta Online is available as a free download for Orion Express subscribers and allows over 50 TV channels, 20 of which are also found on the first and second DTT multiplexes, to be viewed simultaneously on up to three devices where there is an internet connection (3G, 4G or WiFi).

Although the service itself will be offered for free up until January 10, it will then cost R99 a month.

Cord cutting now a concern in Poland

Nearly a third of cable and DTH subscribers in Poland are thinking about cord cutting.

This, according to the findings of the latest report, Projekt Cyfrowizja ll, published by MEC, is almost double the percentage of DTT viewers looking to take out a cable or DTH subscription.

More male (30%) than female (26%) subscribers are considering cord cutting (27% of total respondents), with the most heavily represented age groups (37%) being 35-44, followed by 25-34 (32%).

Significantly, the greatest preference to cord cutting was shown by subscribers to nc+, with 35% have considered the option in the past year. This was followed by customers of Cyfrowy Polsat (23%), while in the cable sector cord cutting was considered the most by UPC Polska subscribers.

Cable customers cited their main reason for considering cord cuttings as being cost (60%), while among DTH customers it was even higher (74%).

Those who did cut the cord in the last year cited (over 50%) the attractive free DTT offer available and around half identified cost as the deciding factor in their switch to DTT.

Subscribers not thinking about cord cutting identify internet, cost and access to sports channels as the three main factors keeping them as paying customers.

Interestingly, among the 15% of DTT viewers considering upgrading to a paid offer, the most represented age groups are 15-24 and 25-34.

Romanian pay TV: the stats

Pay-TV services are now received by nine in 10 TV homes in Romania.

Data produced by the regulator ANCOM shows that as of the end of H1 this year there were a total of 6.8 million pay-TV subscribers in the country, giving a penetration rate of 91%. The pay-TV subscriber total was 4.5% higher than in the same period in 2014.

Cable (65%) accounted for the major of pay-TV homes, with 4.4 million subscriptions (+5.2% year-on-year). Meanwhile, DTH accounted for 34% (2.3 million subscribers, +3.1%) and IPTV 1% (70,000, +9.8%).

Most pay-TV subscribers (61%) were located in urban areas, with 81% of these opting for cable, 17% DTH and 2% IPTV.
In rural areas, on the other hand, 60% opted for DTH, 40% cable and an almost negligible 0.1% IPTV.

Digital take-up continued to grow, accounting for 4.2 million of the 6.8 million pay-TV subscribers, up 7% on a year earlier. DTH was the most popular form of digital reception (55%), followed by cable (43%) and IPTV (2%).

Of the 4.4 million cable homes, 1.8 million (+13% year-on-year) opted for digital TV services.

Kazakh headache for Russian stations

Russian broadcasters face a major threat in Kazakhstan, which following the conflict in Ukraine has become their most lucrative foreign market.

Kommersant reports that from the beginning of 2016 no foreign channels carrying advertising will be allowed to be retransmitted in the country. Given that all Russian channels have advertising, this will in effect mean a ban on these channels.

Further, from the beginning of 2017 foreign TV companies will have to open offices in Kazakhstan. A 20% limit on foreign ownership of such companies operating in Kazakhstan will also come into effect.

The impact of these new rules will be felt by not only Russian broadcasters but also other foreign TV companies, including Discovery, Fox and Viacom, operating in the country.

Potential losses for Russian media companies could amount to between R700 million -R900 million (€9.24 million – €11.87 million).

MIB issues 3rd updated list of DAS III areas

Ministry of information and broadcasting released the 3rd updated list regarding the areas which will be affected by the digital switch over in DAS Phase III in India.

Based on comments/data received from the State/UT Governments, the lists of the following 3 States/UTs have been updated – Goa, Meghalaya and Sikkim.

The previous two lists were released in October and November catering for the urban areas of 16 states and 8 states respectively.

The digitization of cable television in India started with Phase I which concerned 6 metros and Phase II which included 40 big cities. The deadline for Phase III is fast approaching on December 31 this year and the urban regions will be affected by the switch over. By December 2016, the digital switch over process should be completed with Phase IV the last hurdle to be tackled next year.

MIB revealed that DAS Phase III is set to cover 38.79 million television households across 630 districts and 7,709 urban areas. The digitisation of analogue cable TV homes in the third phase will span 29 states and five union territories, including Delhi and Chandigarh, which were covered in Phases I and II of DAS along with other metro and semi-metro cities.

Phase III of DAS will cover all other urban areas (municipal corporations/municipalities) except cities/towns/areas that were covered in Phases I and Phase II. The cut-off date for Phase III is 31 December 2015.

More than 24 million set-top boxes (STBs) have been seeded by Multi-system operators (MSOs) and direct-to-home (DTH) players in DAS Phase I and II.

Phase III residents still to buy STBs with digitisation deadline on December 31

Phase III residents still to buy STBs with digitisation deadline fast approaching

With the analogue connections coming off on December 31 for Phase III consumers, many Indians has yet to buy their Set-Top-Box (STB) to make the switch over for the digital connection.

It is believed nearly 50% of people in urban localities do not appear to have purchased the STBs so far. December 31, which has been fixed as deadline for digitisation of cable television, is fast approaching.

Service providers across India are finding it difficult to convince customers to make the switch over from analogue to digital and in the process buy STBs. The analogue cable connections are expected to be terminated at midnight on December 31.

The prime example of Hassan, Kannada, has been evoked in the Hindu where out of the 102000 people estimated to buy STBS in phase III, approximately 40,000 have purchased them.

“As December 31 is the deadline, customers should approach the service providers and get set-top boxes installed, well in advance. Otherwise, it will be difficult to provide the equipment to all of them, if they come at the last minute,” said K.P.S. Pramod, manager of Amogh Broadband Services Pvt. Ltd.

“Consumers of urban areas who are still receiving cable TV services without STB are advised to avail and install STBs before cut-off date in order to receive uninterrupted TV services,” TRAI added in a recent statement.

“Digitisation helps subscribers in many ways. They get high quality services, besides the option of choosing packages. All these days, they were getting a cluster of channels and paying a fixed rate. From now on, they should choose a package that suits their requirement and pay accordingly,” said H.N. Jnanesh Babu, manager of DEN Networks.

Set-top boxes are available with all cable network providers and the prices vary in the range of Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 1,600.

Pay TV and FTA TV will survive SVOD boom in Australia

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 

Ovum says SVOD boom won’t wipe out Pay TV or Free-To-Air TV

Australian subscriptions to streaming video on demand (SVOD) services – like Netflix, Presto and Stan – will grow by a factor of 17 between the end of 2014 and the end of 2019, according to new forecasts by Ovum.

“SVOD services have been growing rapidly in Australia since the entry of Netflix in May this year”, said David Kennedy, Research Director at Ovum. “This has sparked strong competition from the Australian incumbents – the free-to-air and pay TV industries – that is driving takeup.”

Ovum forecasts show that SVOD subscriptions will rise from only 270,000 in December 2014 to hit 4.707 million by the end of 2019.

However, Ovum does not expect cannibalisation of the existing pay TV or free-to-air subscriptions, though there will be pressure on profitability as competition for content pushes up the cost of licensing.

“SVOD, pay TV and free-to-air are distinct consumer propositions that meet different needs. We expect SVOD to grow fast, but we also expect pay TV to maintain its dominance of sport and for free-to-air to remain popular because, well, it’s free,” Kennedy concludes. “Consumers will mix and match these different services”.

Television households and subscriptions in Australia, Ovum forecast

Source: Ovum. All figures are end of calendar year. All Foxtel on T-Box and Telstra TV, and some Fetch TV subscriptions, are included in SVOD. “FTA households are households where FTA remains the main source of TV content.

TPV adopts Allegro DVT DVB HEVC System compliance streams

Thursday, December 10th, 2015 

Allegro DVT Announces the Adoption of Its HEVC System Compliance Streams by TPV

GRENOBLE, France — Allegro DVT, the leader in audio/video compliance streams, announces that TPV, a worldwide leading manufacturer of monitors and LCD TVs, has adopted Allegro DVT’s DVB HEVC System compliance streams for the validation of a new range of HEVC-enabled LCD TV models.

Allegro DVT developed a unique technology to generate multi-codec audio/video/system compliance streams. The technology provides two levels of verification: quick visual check complemented with an in-depth analysis using accurate measuring tools. TPV used Allegro DVT’s DVB HEVC System streams to specifically carry out logo oriented pre-certification tests on its new TV models against the latest DVB standard specifying H.265/HEVC codec.

The test suite also includes other advanced features which allowed TPV to achieve extensive coverage of dynamic picture resolution changes, Active Format Descriptor (AFD) changes and Audio/Video synchronization.

Pierre Marty, CEO of Allegro DVT, commented “We are proud to count TPV among the adopters of our compliance stream technology. With the advent of HEVC, an efficient yet very complex codec, CE vendors need robust test tools to validate all the corner cases of the standard. Allegro DVT has developed a comprehensive test suite for this purpose leveraging our 12 year-experience in audio/video compliance streams.”

Cable TV in India to be digital from January 1, 2016

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 

Cable TV Services in Urban Areas will be digital from 1st January 2016

The cable TV is one of the most popular medium of mass entertainment & education. The country has more than 100 million cable TV subscribers. The digitization of cable TV services is under way in a phased manner in 4 phases.

The road map for digitalisation of Cable TV services is as under:

Phase	Areas	Sunset date for analog Cable TV
Phase –I	Four Metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai	31.10.2012
Phase –II	Cities with a population more than one million (38 cities)	31.03.2013
Phase –III	All Other Urban areas (Municipal Corporation/ Municipalities) except cities /towns/areas specified for corresponding Phase-I and Phase-II.	31.12.2015
Phase –IV	Rest of India	31.12.2016

The consumers of 4 metros & 38 cities who were covered under phase-I & II of digitalization are getting the benefits of Digital Cable TV services. As Mentioned above, the cut off date in respect of phase-III, which covers remaining urban areas, is 31st December 2015, after which no analog signal transmission or re-transmission of TV channels is permitted by the Law. The list of urban areas, covered under phase-III of digitalisation, is available on the website of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

The digital cable TV services (DAS) have distinct advantages over analog cable TV services as it can carry large number of TV channels with better picture quality and sound for all the channels. The consumer can choose channels of their choice and accordingly budget their expanses. For availing the Digital Cable TV Services, a consumer is required to install a set top box at his/her premises. The STBs can be availed on rental/hire-purchase/outright purchase basis. The consumer has an option to choose any scheme out of many offered by the service provider.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been taking steps for creating awareness amongst consumers and stakeholders by holding workshops and Consumer outreach programmes, about the implementation of DAS. TRAI held a meeting with major stakeholders of the broadcasting and cable TV sector on 1st December 2015 to take the stock of the situation at the ground regarding implementation of DAS in phase III areas. TRAI noted that, progress of seeding STBs in DAS Phase-III notified areas is satisfactory and good numbers of customers are getting the benefits of Digitalisation. The Broadcasters, DTH operators and MSOs were asked to carryout exhaustive consumer awareness programmes about digitisation of cable TV services so that remaining urban areas customers are able to install STBs before cut off date i.e. 31st December 2015.. Broadcasters of TV channels have been asked to send advance intimation, by 7th December 2015, to the cable operators about non availability of TV channels for retransmission in analogue mode to the consumers from 1st January 2016.

Consumers of urban areas who are still receiving cable TV services without STB are advised to avail and install STBs before cut off date in order to receive uninterrupted TV services.

Videocon on course to meet DAS III deadline

by Soondaressen Nagapa-Chetty | December 10, 2015

One of India’s fastest growing DTH service, Videocon d2h is fully geared up for DAS–III, the deadline for which is 31st Dec 2015. The company believes the Phase III of the digital switchover consists of around 50 Million TV Household.

The situation at the moment points towards a possible influx of demand for more Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) running to the end of December. However, Videocon d2h is ready for this situation should there be a huge demand for STBs for the Digitisation phase–III. The cut-off date for analogue connection for DAS Phase III, which covers urban areas, is 31 December 2015.

Mr. Anil Khera, CEO, Videocon d2h said: “Consumers who are on analogue cable mode can subscribe to a Videocon d2h Digital Set Top Box to access uninterrupted services before Digitization is implemented.  Videocon d2h has ample STBs to cater to demand of the digitisation towns. Consumers can subscribe to Videocon d2h to avoid a black out of the analogue cable services and enjoy the wide range of channels and services provided.”

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released a statement on December 8 expressing its satisfaction at the progress of the seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) in Phase III areas. TRAI has also advised consumers of urban areas who are still receiving cable TV services without STBs to avail and install STBs before the cut-off date in order to receive uninterrupted TV/services.  It has reaffirmed its commitment to meet the deadline in its latest press release.  TRAI has been taking steps to create awareness among consumers and stakeholders by holding workshops on the implementation of DAS and consumer outreach programmes.

Mr. Saurabh Dhoot, Executive Chairman, Videocon d2h said, “We welcome the digitisation mandate by Government wholeheartedly and will continue to support this initiative. The latest communication by Government in reaffirming its commitment is encouraging. This will ensure world class services to end consumer and create a level playing field between DTH and Cable.”

Videocon d2h is one of India’s fastest growing DTH service provider which offers over 525 channels and services. Videocon d2h also offers 41 “HD” channels and services. It launched India’s first 4K Ultra HD DTH channel.  Videocon d2h offers India’s first 1000 GB High Definition Digital Video Recorder and is the first DTH service provider to offer Radio Frequency Remote Control (available with High Definition Digital Set Top Box with unlimited recording).

One-third of US households will have 4K TVs in 2019

Thursday, December 10th, 2015 

One-Third of US Households Will Have 4K TVs in 2019, IHS Says

• The United States leads Western Europe, followed by China, while Japanese household penetration will be comparatively low

TOKYO, Japan — Ultra-high definition (UHD) 4K LCD panels have recently experienced steep price declines, allowing 4K TV set prices to fall significantly and increasing consumer adoption and household penetration. By the end of 2017, most 50-inch-and-larger TVs worldwide will feature 4K resolution, according to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), the leading global source of critical information and insight. With its comparatively strong economy and consumer penchant for large-screen TVs, 4K TV household penetration in the United States will reach 34 percent in 2019.

According to the latest information from the IHS TV Sets Intelligence Service, 4K TV household penetration in the European Union is expected to reach 25 percent in 2019. Growing availability of UHD content from Internet and pay-TV providers will support this trend. Switzerland is expected to reach 32 percent penetration in 2019, followed closely by the United Kingdom at 31 percent.

While Japan is a developed premium TV market, only 14 percent of all households are expected to have a 4K TV in 2019, because most households already have relatively new TVs. Domestic TV demand swelled to more than twice its normal level between 2009 and 2011, when the Japanese government ran an eco-points subsidy program for energy-efficient products and there was a nationwide analog TV switch-off.

“With the Japanese consumer preference for smaller TV screens, it will be more difficult for 4K TV to expand its household penetration in the country, even though UHD broadcasts are set to begin in 2018, in the run up to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020,” said Hisakazu Torii, senior director of consumer device research for IHS Technology.

Unlike Japan consumer adoption of 4K TVs in China is expected to be relatively high, with household penetration reaching 24 percent in 2019. In other emerging countries, where many households either have smaller LCD TVs or CRT TVs, 4K penetration will be lower: 11 percent in Russia, 8 percent in Brazil and 2 percent in India.

The IHS TV Sets Intelligence Service includes shipment and revenue data, average prices, average screen sizes and shipment area across 80 countries. All metrics in the database are further split by manufacturer, display type and resolution.

KPN grows subscriber market share in the Netherlands

Friday, December 11th, 2015 

KPN grows market share to 28% of Dutch TV subscriptions in Q3 2015

HOUTEN, The Netherlands — KPN continues to grow its share of the Dutch TV market, at the expense of cable operator Ziggo. KPN added 0.4 percentage points in the third quarter to take 28 percent of subscribers, while Ziggo lost 0.5 percent points for a share of 52.8 percent, according to Telecompaper’s latest quarterly report on the Dutch Television Market.

“Ziggo is struggling to halt the steady decline in cable’s market share,” said Telecompaper analyst and report author Kamiel Albrecht. “Its new Ziggo Sport channel, launched exclusively for Ziggo TV subscribers, is expected to help slow its loss of customers and could provide a boost to growth in digital TV subscribers.”

KPN has taken advantage of Ziggo’s difficulties since the cable operator merged with UPC early in 2015. The main challenger on the TV market ended the quarter with 2.199 million subscribers, including 1.795 million over IPTV. On the digital TV market, KPN won 0.5 percentage points in the quarter to reach 31 percent of subscribers.

Despite losing customers, Ziggo is still market leader with 4.14 million TV subscribers at the end of September 2015. Its digital TV subscriber base fell for a third consecutive quarter to 3.336 million, good for 48 percent of the digital TV market.

In total, the Dutch TV market lost 9,000 subscriptions during the quarter to end September 2015 at 7.84 million, of which more than 88 percent were using digital TV services. Digital TV connections grew by 0.4 percent during the quarter, while analogue-only subscribers fell by 4.2 percent compared to June. Telecompaper estimates that the TV services market* generated EUR 449 million in revenues in the third quarter of 2015, stable compared with the second quarter.

In the five years to 2019, the total TV market is expected to show an average annual decrease of 0.5 percent in the number of TV subscriptions. Almost all households already have a TV connection and fewer are taking subscriptions for second TVs, in favour of watching video on tablets, computers and other devices. At the same time so-called ‘cord-cutters’ and ‘cord-nevers’ are abandoning traditional TV subscriptions altogether in favour of online video services.

* The reported retail revenues are based on revenues from mass market consumer and SOHO subscriptions. The total includes revenues from basic TV subscriptions (digital/analogue), pay-TV services and video-on-demand services and excludes revenues from installation fees and set-top box sales.

Due to continuous improvements in our calculations, the numbers in this press release cannot directly be compared with numbers from earlier press releases sent out by Telecompaper on previous studies of the Dutch television market.

Telecompaper’s ‘Dutch TV Market 2015 Q3’ report provides detailed figures for Q3 2015 and five-year forecasts for subscriptions, revenues, and provider and technology market shares. Price for 10 users is EUR 595.00. Single-user price for the report is EUR 395.00.

OTT TV will be a big hit with consumers this Christmas

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 

‘OTT is for Christmas, but Not Always for Life’, Says New Paywizard Research

• Over 50% of consumers will go OTT this Christmas
• 27% are new Christmas OTT subscribers
• Almost half of OTT subscribers plan to cancel within 6 months

LONDON — Over-the-top (OTT) TV will be a big hit for consumers this Christmas, with 52% of viewers around the world planning to use an online TV service during the festive season. This is according to a new Research Now study, commissioned by Paywizard, the expert in subscriber management for pay-TV. But, although a hit at Christmas, operators like Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix will lose many of their festive gains, with 45% of subscribers planning to cancel their subscriptions immediately or within six months.

The study, carried out in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Singapore, the UK and US, found that around 25% of consumers already use an OTT service, and a further 27% are planning to go OTT this Christmas, taking advantage of free trials and special “Black Friday” offers. However, perceived poor value-for-money and a lack of sustainable content choices mean that 15% of OTT subscribers plan to cancel their services in January, with a further 30% churning in the next six months.

“While OTT is disrupting the entertainment market, it’s pretty clear there is much to do to keep customers subscribed for a sustained period of time,” said Bhavesh Vaghela, Chief Marketing Officer at Paywizard. “This global survey shows that key demographic groups like the over 55s are not being catered for, while the core 24-35 working adults are running out of relevant content that is of interest to them. If OTT providers are to succeed in a highly competitive environment, it’s essential they provide a more personalised service based on a full understanding of the customer behaviours and viewing habits.”

Some of the key global findings from the research show:

Over 50% of consumers will go OTT this Christmas

• Millennials and younger viewers prefer OTT: Not only do 25-34 year olds form the biggest group of existing OTT subscribers, but 40% say they plan to sign up to OTT prior to Christmas
• Mobile devices prove most popular for OTT Christmas TV: Laptops, tablets and smartphones account for two thirds (66%) of OTT viewing
• The traditional TV still stands strong: When it comes to Christmas viewing generally, 80% of people plan to use the traditional TV set.

27% are new Christmas OTT subscribers

• Rich content is a major draw for new Christmas OTT subscribers: 65% of planned subscribers say they choose a service because ‘there is a lot of stuff I want to watch!’ or to watch a specific show/series
• Viewers demand more options: 69% of people planning to sign up and 41% of current OTT subscribers would consider signing up to more than one OTT service prior to Christmas.

Almost half of OTT subscribers plan to cancel within 6 months

• OTT is for Christmas, but not for life: 33% of existing subscribers, and 56% of people planning to sign up to OTT, will cancel their subscription immediately or within 6 months of Christmas
• Lower cost and more relevant content could persuade quitters to stay: 54% could be persuaded to stay due to rich content, while another third said better value for money would make them keep their OTT service.

More: Report download

Digi Slovakia goes mobile

Digi Slovakia has launched a mobile TV service named Digi Go.

Quoting the company, Parabola reports that it allows its customers to watch the channels Digi Sport 1, 2, 3 and 4 in real time via any available internet connection.

It can be viewed in any two devices simultaneously and includes a 14-day EPG, access to live streaming, including the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and pause and rewind.

Digi Go will be made available to non-Digi Slovakia customers in February 2016.

It will cost €4 a month and sold in three, six and 12-month packages.

UK pay-TV complaints increase

The number of complaints made about pay-TV operators increased in the third quarter, according to new Ofcom data.

BT and TalkTalk remain the operators with the most pay-TV complaints; 25 and 14 per 100,000 customers. At the foot of the list the fewest complaints were received by Virgin Media and Sky at 5 and 2 per 100,000 respectively.

BT became the most complained about pay-TV provider after the volume of complaints volume increased significantly to 25 per 100,000 customers, compared to 11 per 100,000 in Q2 2015.

The main reasons for BT complaints were fault, service and provision issues (31%); complaints handling (25%); and issues relating to billing, pricing and charges (22%).

The complaint volume for TalkTalk (14 per 100,000 customers) remained in line with the previous quarter.

The only provider to generate fewer complaints than the industry average was Sky (2 per 100,000 customers), which remained the best-performing pay TV provider.

Claudio Pollack, Director of Ofcom’s Content and Consumer Group, said: “We expect providers to make customer service and complaints handling top priorities, so it’s disappointing to see a rise in the number of complaints. Consumers have a right to expect good service and will rightfully complain when that standard isn’t met.”

However, broadband and fixed line telephone saw the most notable increases in total complaint volumes.

14% of US homes plan to buy streaming media player

14% of US broadband households plan to buy a streaming media player by midyear 2016 and that, as of the third quarter of 2015, 31% of US broadband households currently own a streaming media player, up from 27% at the beginning of the year.

“Streaming media players will be a popular gift this holiday season, especially with more competitive pricing in the market and the expansion of new OTT services” said Barbara Kraus, director of research, Parks Associates.

“With the popularity of the category, it has now divided into two tiers – basic and premium models. Consumers who want basic content streaming will gravitate to streaming media sticks such as the Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV due to their lower costs, which also make them good gift options. Cube-shaped players, like the Roku 4, Nvidia Shieled, and the latest generation of the Apple TV, are premium players, with more features, such as 4K streaming and more internal storage, but still with a much lower price tag than a new smart TV or connected gaming console.”

“In 2016, streaming media players will differentiate their models and brands through additional features, such as content options or new technologies like 4K,” Kraus said.

“Ultimately consumers want a simple, uninterrupted experience in accessing OTT content, so that will be the minimum expectation for any device, regardless of the cost.”

Previous research from Parks Associates shows that two-thirds of U.S. broadband households connect at least one device to the Internet. Among these households, a Microsoft Xbox is the most commonly used CE device for streaming at more than 14%, followed closely by Sony PlayStation at just less than 14%. Roku is third at 10%, surpassing brands such as the Nintendo Wii, Samsung, and Google in consumer usage when accessing online video content.

Russia’s RTR enters Indian market

Russia’s VGTRK (RTR) has entered into a partnership with Prasar Bharati, India’s largest public service broadcaster.

ComNews reports that it will initially see the two parties share TV programmes and documentaries.

In due course, they will also start to jointly produce animated content and two Russian channels will be distributed on Indian TV.

RTR is the leading state broadcaster in Russia while Prasar Bharati, which was created by bringing together Doorarshan and All-India Radio, already has an output that includes 23 TV stations, reaching a weekly audience of over 500 million.

Russia eyes must-carry for OTT

Russia’s Ministry of Communications is discussing the possibility of obliging OTT services to carry national channels currently distributed on the first and second DTT multiplexes.

According to RNS and AKTR, the ministry has been consulting with ISPs and TV channels on the matter.

Quoting Alexei Volin, the deputy minister of communications, they add that OTT services can currently distribute must-carry TV channels, but only if they are licensed pay-TV operators.

They should also have agreements with subscribers, and the order and content of the TV channels must be changed, too – not only for streaming broadcasts, but also for time shifting.

Significantly, Volin stressed that the discussions only related to streaming and not online movie services.

Although the regulator essentially believes that must-carry should applies to all media, broadcasters believe there are risks in distributing their services in the OTT environment.

The purpose of the discussions is to develop a consensus and then formalise it in the regulatory framework.

Unitymedia to start analogue switch-off in Germany in 2016

Germany’s second-largest cable operator Unitymedia will terminate analogue cable television in the first city in the second half of 2016.

“Through the trial, we want to gain important insights with regard to the full digitalisation of the cable network,” Christian Hindennach, senior vice president consumer at Unitymedia, said in Cologne. The town for the first analogue switch-off still has to be determined.

As the first German cable operator, Unitymedia announced to gradually terminate analogue TV distribution in May 2015. The Liberty Global subsidiary commenced reducing the analogue TV lineup in July 2015 to make room for new digital channels, HD services and faster internet access.

Unitymedia which serves German federal states North-Rhine Westphalia, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg wants to continue this practice in 2016 – in collaboration with the media authorities, TV broadcasters, the commercial broadcasters’ industry association VPRT and the housing industry.

Through a large-scale communication campaign, Unitymedia wants to inform its customers and market partners about the extended digital offering, the continued reduction of analogue channels and the further digitalisation steps.

The share of digital TV households among Unitymedia customers currently amounts to 82%, according to the company.

Swiss sister company UPC Cablecom completed analogue switch-off in July 2015. In Austria, UPC Austria – like Unitymedia – currently cuts down the analogue TV offering while expanding its digital TV and HD lineup.

DD Freedish to acquire ByDesign India’s CAS system

Indian national broadcaster Doordarshan is in talks to acquire ByDesign India’s conditional access system (CAS) so as to increase the numbers of channels offered on DD Freedish from 64 to 112 by the end of march 2016.

Deputy Director General (DDG) of DD, C.K Jain, announced recently about the move from mpeg2 Set-Top-Box (STB) to mpeg4 STB.

“We are also migrating our technology from mpeg2 to mpeg4 but ensuring that the existing subscribers continue to receive the signal. In fact, to ensure that the customers who have mpeg2 Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) continue to receive the channels, we are migrating in phases,” said Jain.

It is believed the first phase of migration to mpeg4 might begin in early January next year.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) approved late last year a proposal by ByDesign India to develop an Indian CAS. The company is said to have received a financial support of US$ 2.9 million from DeitY to develop the new system in association with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

The ByDesign model is totally indigenous and built for DVB-C setup. This CAS solution will enable broadcasters to control access to their services by viewers, and thereby enabling them to extend their business models to subscription based schemes.

This will mean that the Freedish will become encrypted but will remain FTA. In addition to helping increase the number of channels on the platform, this will enable Freedish to gauge the exact number of households relying on Freedish as encrypted set top boxes (STBs) will only be available with authorised dealers.

Harmonic to buy Thomson Video Networks

Stitched Panorama

Thomson Video Networks has received a binding offer from Harmonic to acquire 100% of Thomson Video Networks.

Thomson is backed by the private equity partner Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.

The proposed transaction is consistent with Thomson Video Networks’ strategy to accelerate its development by giving the company greater global scale and resources needed to drive more value and continuous innovation to the benefit of its customers.

Consequently, in reply to this offer, Harmonic has been granted exclusivity by Thomson Video Networks’ shareholders while Harmonic secures adequate financing for the proposed transaction.

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2016, subject to French works council consultation process and the acceptance of Harmonic’s acquisition offer by the shareholders of Thomson Video Networks, as well as receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

“The combination would create a clear market leader in video delivery capitalizing on both companies’ solid foundations with their “premium video experience” approach and their respective geographical, R&D and customer services strengths,” the company said.

DD Freedish to acquire ByDesign’s CAS technology for MPEG4 expansion

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NEW DELHI: Doordarshan’s free-to-air (FTA) direct to home (DTH) service Freedish is planning to acquire Bangalore based ByDesign India’s conditional access system (CAS) so as to increase its channel offerings to 112 from the current 64 by the end of March 2016.
 
In conversation with Indiantelevision.com, DD Director General C Lalrosanga said that the DTH player will switch over to MPEG 4 from the current MPEG 2 in two phases. “The first phase may begin by early next month,” he informed.
 
Late last year, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) approved a proposal by ByDesign India to develop an Indian conditional access system. ByDesign was to receive a support amount of Rs 19.79 crore from DeitY to develop the new system in association with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
 
The ByDesign model is totally indigenous and built for DVB-C setup. This CAS solution will enable broadcasters to control access to their services by viewers, and thereby enabling them to extend their business models to subscription based schemes.
 
This will mean that the Freedish will become encrypted but will remain FTA. In addition to helping increase the number of channels on the platform, this will enable Freedish to gauge the exact number of households relying on Freedish as encrypted set top boxes (STBs) will only be available with authorised dealers.
 
Lalrosanga said that collection of rural data by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India had shown that the claims made by Doordarshan about its reach were not erroneous. He said the BARC ratings had shown that both DD and Freedish had a tremendous reach in semi-urban and rural areas all over the country.
 
Lalrosanga went on to add that many homes were gradually switching over to Freedish as they could then get their entire entertainment for a one-time fee of purchasing a dish, which cost as low as Rs 700 to Rs 1200.
 
Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had said earlier this year that Freedish’s aim was to reach 112 channels within a year or so.
 
At present, there is no vacant slot on Freedish since all channels that were on the platform and whose licences had expired have come back through the 24 e-auctions conducted over the past year.
 
Interestingly, the two new entrants on the platform – Aaj Tak and Big Magic – are pay channels, which are being run as FTA on Freedish. DD sources said that the reference interconnect agreement signed by these two channels no longer carries any non-discriminatory clause as it refers to Freedish.
 
Lalrosanga also added that DD was working towards bringing regional language films to the prime time slots over the weekend. Additionally, the pubcaster was actively thinking on the lines of a dedicated channel for children and young people. 

Vietnam's VTVcab to use Envivio software for Cloud DVR services

hursday, December 3rd, 2015 

Envivio Enables TV Anytime on Any Screen for Largest Pay-TV Provider in Vietnam

• VTVcab to Use Envivio Software to Deliver Cloud DVR Services

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Envivio, a leading all-software video processing, delivery and monetization solutions company, now a part of Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) will equip Vietnam’s largest multiple system operator with the Envivio Muse™ Live and on Demand video compression software and the Halo™ network media processor and packager.

The roll-out of Cloud DVR services will enable Vietnam Cable Television Corporation — VTVcab’s subscribers to record, pause, start over and catch up with their favorite content on the fly on any screen. The cloud architecture combines all the latest processing enhancements, from efficient software-defined storage with erasure coding, the use of the latest compression standards, to packaging and even transcoding on the fly. This creates storage reductions at each step, totaling 10 to 30x storage savings throughout the process compared to existing solutions.

Envivio’s Muse video compression software with ‘Up!’ compression mode perfects the video quality of the MPEG-2 H.264 and HEVC standards. This robust software solution also saves critical network bandwidth; prepares operators for Ultra HD TV delivery and future proofs MSOs’ investments in a single management facility for all multi-screen video operations.

VTVcab serves more than two million customers throughout the nation of Vietnam. The operator delivers more than 150 channels to customers. Video on demand will be enabled wherever consumers choose to watch content, including home televisions, tablets, PCs and Smartphones. The software enables streaming in HTTP Live Streaming and Smooth Streaming formats.

Envivio’s software is fully integrated with NAGRA’s anyCAST content protection, OpenTV 5 HTML5 connectware and MediaLive multiscreen solutions to secure and deliver VTVcab network with advanced services including video-on-demand and personal video recorder features available across all screens.

“We listened to our customers, who indicated they want more online viewing options. With this new technology, we can deliver on that demand securely, with a seamless viewing experience,” said Nam Bui Huy, CTO, VTVcab.

“Online viewership is increasing exponentially around the world and we are pleased VTVcab recognized that our all-software feature set will provide new and desirable expanded video viewing features for their valued customer base,” said Julien Signés, CEO of Envivio.
VTVcab will launch the new video features later this year.

Econet planning pay TV service for Africa

In a Facebook post, Strive Masiyiwa, Executive Chairman & Founder of the Econet Group has announced the launch of Kwesé TV, a pay TV service that will offer sports and entertainment programming to African markets.

In the post, Mr. Masiyiwa said: “Our satellite communications business, Liquid Sat, has already built a platform which allows us to deliver what is known as Direct TV to the home (DTH), in all the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our fibre optic company, Liquid Fibre, is the largest builder of terrestrial fibre in Africa. And, of course, Econet is one of the most experienced mobile network operators on the continent. These are just a few of the assets we’ll deploy in a unique way, never done before in Africa.”

Tata Sky to launch free OTT service

Tata Sky is looking to make Tata Sky Everywhere completely free. Mukut Deepak , Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Tata Sky, reveals that free is the magical word and the drive behind an increase in terms subscribers. In the following interview given to NexTV India, Deepak exposes Tata Sky’s plan to increase their share of the market.

• Q. How is Tata Sky faring in the Indian market?
• A. We break the Indian market in 3 different type of terrains. One is the six metros which are the first phase of digitisation known as DAS I. The second is the 40 metros and the last one is the 400 towns which are just coming on board. Our strategy for each of these three groups are very different.

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• Q. So let’s start by Das III
• A. It is about revving up your sales, distribution and service infrastructure. You need to get your fundamentals right to make sure you reach out to as many prospective subscribers as possible and give them a compelling reason to move to you from a terrestrial or cable platform.

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• Q. What are the strategies for DAS II?
• A. On the second bucket which is about the 40 towns, it is about enhancing user experience and linked revenues. It is about giving them more and more High Definition (HD) content and more avenues to spend on content like Video On Demand (VOD).

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• Q. And finally DAS I?
• A. For the third bucket which is the top six cities where you have the best infrastructure. And not only in terms of DTH built in terms of broadband where citizens are globally aware and globally wired-in, the play is very different for us. Here it is about becoming content, platform and monetisation model agnostic.
  In fact, what this means is that on the content side, how do we go beyond broadcast content and bring best of web or bring a bunch of exclusive stuff specially generated by Tata Sky under one of our services.
  On distribution it boils down to making available as in time-shifted, device shifted and device agnostic. So how are you present not just across of broadcast but in terms of OTT and online consumption platforms. And how do you enable seamless shifting of consumption across devices and across platforms. That’s the second paradigm.
  The third paradigm becomes on the monetisation side. We have classically only looked at subscriptions but how do we go beyond that to potentially something that has advertisement as a source of revenue as well. Hence, if you do all of that, we are potentially looking at a very different form of content consumption. More of sachet driven consumptions, more of personalised plans and multiple plans in each household. So a very different monetisation paradigm. That’s how we are breaking it up. Three different part of the country and three different strategies for them.

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• Q. Is Tata Sky planning to launch an Over-The-Top (OTT) service?
• A.Incidentally we already have an OTT service which is only open to our box or DTH subscribers. It is called Tata Sky Everywhere. It has got a few million downloads but so far you have to pay an additional amount for subscribing and using it, so we only have a few hundred thousand active users. Now we are planning to bundle it along with our core detailed subscribing. Free is the magical word here. We believe we will have a lot more active subscribers on that platform.

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• Q. What will the app be in terms of content?
• A. There is a concerted effort to get a lot more non-broadcast content and OTT exclusive content sitting on that app which will make it even more compelling. The third factor, as you have seen in other developed markets, we would look to open to someone who has not necessarily bought a Tata Sky DTH connection but who just wants to consume a lot of broadcast and non-broadcast content through the OTT route.

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• Q. In relation to subscriptions, is there an increase?
• A.We have been growing our number of subscribers at a very steady pace. We have been the market leader in terms of adding new subscribers both growth and active subscribers. We do not see a slow-down on that. There are three or four drivers that make us believe that it will accelerate further.
  First, there are around 80 million cable or analogue households that will come into play in the next few years as the digitisation mandate is completely rolled out. That is a new set of subscribers that will be available.
  Even in existing DAS 1 which consists of the top 45 towns, you see multiple subscriptions in the same households. So that’s a further bump up in the figures.

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• Q. In that sense, the digital process in India will only help to increase the numbers?
• A. More importantly, we see a certain acceptance for Tata Sky propositions which is slightly higher than our competitors, so we getting shares year on year. Natural subscription momentum is out there. As far as digital goes, I think the big point we are making is that it is an ad-owned and not a substitution.
  First of all, our TV consumption is like 60% in a market such as the USA and you have seen digital adding another half of what TV consumption represents in the country. So we are practically looking at a doubling of video consumption hours in India. So we do not see a bump down and it gives us access to additional video consumption hours.
  But the question is that do we have a robust video consumption platform outside of our DTH. If we have that the potentially the number of videos watched hours on our platform would be even higher. So it is not subscribers anymore but it is in fact video hours viewed on your platform and there is even additional room for growth out there.