Cisco commits to set-top business

Technology giant Cisco has outlined its commitment to its set-top box business, though said it would separate it out from its service provider operations to give a clearer indication of its performance.

In a conference with investors and financial analysts yesterday, Cisco president of development and sales, Robert Lloyd, said “we’re not getting out of set-top boxes,” claiming that customers moving from set-top to cloud-based delivery models are reliant on Cisco.

“We’re doubling down on the transition from a CPE [consumer premises equipment] to a cloud based delivery model,” he said.

However, Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers said that the company did plan to separate out its set-top and video business from its “regular service provider business” so that “when you compare [us] to our peers, you’re able to see what is our [comparative] growth.”

This came as Cisco admitted that its service provider division, which accounts for 31% of Cisco’s business had gone from positive growth of 7% to minus 13% growth – half of which was attributable to declines in set-tops.

Earlier this week Reuters reported that Chambers was facing growing pressure from investors ahead of its financial analysts conference to exit its set-top business due to declining revenue and poor profit margins.

In the meeting yesterday, Cisco cut its three-to five-year targets, with revenue growth now expected to be 3% to 6%, down from a previous 5% to 7%. Earnings growth was also adjusted down to 5% to 7% from 7% to 9%.

Tata Sky Selects Cisco's Videoscape Video Everywhere Solution to Deliver Multiscreen Experiences

NEW DELHI, India – October 31, 2013 – Cisco today announced that Tata Sky, one of the leading innovators in the Direct-to-home (DTH) space in the country has deployed the Cisco’s Videoscape Video Everywhere solution, a thin-client user interface application that enables new multiscreen experiences beyond the set-top box. Tata Sky is the first platform in Asia to deploy this solution. Rolled out first on iOS and soon to be on Android platforms, this live streaming service can be enjoyed on many mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets such as iPads.   

The Videoscape Video Everywhere solution is a part of Cisco Videoscape Unity, a platform that delivers and monetises a new generation of compelling, differentiated video experiences, which are personalized, synchronized, and social. It offers best-in-class content management and exceptional user interface capabilities to enable consistent and synchronized experiences across all subscribers’ devices, including TVs, tablets, PCs, mobile devices and games consoles. It also provides industry-leading multiplatform security technology to provide the critical end-to-end content protection required to monetize premium content and services. With the advanced search and other content discovery features, subscribers will be able to enjoy unprecedented flexibility to find their favourite content and new content of interest quickly and easily. 

Sue Taylor, Vice President Sales, Cisco Service Provider Video Software Solutions in Asia Pacific: “Video services have never been more popular or valuable. Video has moved beyond TV and to differentiate their offerings, video service providers have to take multiscreen experiences to the next level – delivering video in a more exciting, and engaging way. We are excited to work with Tata Sky on this journey of providing next-generation experience to its subscribers.  With this solution, they may be able to watch live, on-demand, and catch-up video content on any iOS and Android device, anytime, anywhere. Furthermore, Tata Sky will be able to improve subscribers’ loyalty, speed time to market of new services and service enhancements as well as assure high quality even over unmanaged networks and devices.”

Vikram Mehra, Chief Commercial Officer, Tata Sky: “We always strive to provide unparalleled services and superior experience to our consumers. Our subscribers’ will be able to take the video experience with them on the move; thereby transforming their handheld device into a fully-functional TV screen with an interface which is clean, simple and easy to navigate. Cisco’s global experience and technology leadership will help us to unleash a new generation of video experiences for our viewers and at the same time strengthen our competitive edge.”

About Tata Sky

Launched in 2006, Tata Sky is a JV between the TATA Group and STAR. The company has invested in state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, partnered with global leaders to provide superior technology and set-up high-end 24x7 call centers across the country manned by multi-lingual customer service associates.

The Tata Sky brand has achieved significant milestones, industry accolades and is rated as the No 1 DTH brand by the ET Brand Equity 2012 most trusted brand survey. Recently Tata Sky+ HD has been rated as the 'Product of the Year', 2013 in the DTH category. The company has a presence in over 19,000 towns with a subscriber base of over 11.5 million connections, as on April 2013.

For more information on Tata Sky, visit www.tatasky.com

GVT TV deploys Cisco conditional access for DTH in Brazil

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced that GVT TV has adopted the Cisco® Videoscape VideoGuard® Smart Card to protect its video content transmitted via satellite in Brazil. This is a highly secure encryption system protected against Cardsharing or Control Word Sharing (a fault in the DVB – Digital Video Broadcasting system), which stops the broadcaster’s signal from being transmitted illegally.

Cisco’s VideoGuard solution is part of Videoscape Unity, Cisco’s platform for delivering and monetizing a new generation of compelling, differentiated video experiences. It helps protect content and allows GVT to reduce the bandwidth employed to transmit encryption over a multi-channel, high-definition platform, which reduces operating costs. GVT can use the Cisco solution to broadcast nationwide. GVT currently serves 146 cities in Brazil and has been gradually expanding coverage as it widens its network in the cities it now operates in and moves into new cities around the country.

“Part of the NDS acquisition, the VideoGuard offering for GVT reinforces Cisco’s investment in a globally recognized technology”, said Rodrigo Dienstmann, leader at Cisco Brazil.