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FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Making Money From Multiscreen
One of the best examples of how cable operators
are poised to grow revenue from delivering pay
TV content and advertising to tablets, gaming
consoles and other IP-connected devices may be
the BlackArrow Linear targeted advertising solution
that the video-on-demand vendor unveiled in May.
Time Warner Cable and other major MSOs now offer
apps on Apple’s iPad and other IP-connected devices
that can stream dozens of linear networks. Using
technology like the BlackArrow solution, Time Warner
Cable, Comcast and other BlackArrow customers could
soon deliver unique ads to viewers watching the same
program on different devices based on demographics.
Parents watching ABC’s “Modern Family” on an HDTV
in the living room would see a commercial for a minivan,
while their teenage son using an Xbox 360 to watch
the same program in his bedroom would see an ad
for the upcoming release of the Halo 5 video game.
BlackArrow is one of many tech vendors that are looking
to make a business from helping cable operators cash in
on multiscreen video programming and advertising. We
analyze some of the key trends in this eBook, including the
impact of cloud technology, HEVC (High Efficiency Video
Coding), second-screen applications and t-commerce.
Cable operators and networks are slowly building a
platform that could make multiscreen programming and
advertising a much bigger business. Comcast’s USA
Network made multiscreen programming the focus of
its upfront presentation for advertisers this year, where
it announced that it would deliver programming and
advertising on mobile devices that is synchronized with
original series like “Burn Notice” and “Graceland” that
subscribers are watching on TV. “We have eliminated
the walls between TVs and mobile devices to give
brands a unified and fluid fan interaction, organically
extending their presence everywhere the consumer
is,” USA EVP Alexandra Shapiro said at the upfront.
NBCUniversal and A&E Networks are also beginning
to cash in on t-commerce. A&E announced in June that
a pact with interactive TV technology vendor Delivery
Agent will allow subscribers to buy merchandise related
to programs on History and other networks with their
cable remotes and mobile devices. But it’s still not
clear how cable operators may be compensated for
letting subscribers buy products touted in programs like
“Pawn Stars” with a few clicks of a cable remote.
Years ago, network executives feared that mobile
devices would erode ratings. But as we detail in this
eBook, tablets and smartphones can actually drive
increased viewership.
by Steve Donohue
Editor /// Fiercecable
 platinum Sponsors:
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Q&A: Cox’s Steve
Necessary: It’s All
About Personalization
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Is HEVC Ready
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Second Screen Apps
Rising with the Tide
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HEVC’s Rise
to Stardom
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Efficient Operations
in a Multiscreen
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Multiscreen Ad
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FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Q&A: Cox’s Steve Necessary:
It’s All About Personalization
 According to Steve Necessary, vice president of video
product development at Cox Communications, what viewers
really want on all of their devices – from the TVs in their family
rooms to the phones in their pockets – is a personal experience,
which is a far cry from the traditional family time on the sofa.
Multiscreen services provide for individual preferences while
offering easy-to-use interfaces and consistent quality, no matter
where content is viewed or on what equipment. In an interview
with FierceCable contributing editor Debra Baker, Necessary
discusses the cloud, the network and the screen along with
how all three are being cultivated by Cox to help future-proof its
subscriber base while catering to user wants and needs.
FierceCable: Will the cloudbased multiscreen concept
really bring cord cutters and
cord shavers back to cable –
or to cable in the first place?
What does it offer that other
video services do not?
Steve Necessary: Cable still
offers the best overall video
experience, with more content
than any over-the-top (OTT)
provider. With TV Everywhere
capabilities increasing,
customers have more options
to consume more content on
more devices in an experience
designed just for them. There
is no doubt that consumer
expectations continue to
rise relative to secondary
screens and access to OTT
content, but it’s also important
to remember that all of us
like to watch content on the
best screen with the easiest
interface and have access
to the best, most personally
relevant content. In that
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july 2 013
context, cable’s value proposition
will only get better.
FC: It has taken some time for
multiscreen to take off. What will
the next big video thing look like?
How will the cloud drive other
services?
SN: We believe the big movement
right now is personalization. Viewers
want access on second screens
and more content, but what that
is really indicative of is a desire to
have a personal TV experience that
Viewers want access on
second screens and more
content, but what that
is really indicative of is a
desire to have a personal TV
experience that meets the
needs of the individual, not
an aggregated household
or community approach.
meets the needs of the individual,
not an aggregated household or
community approach. We have
done extensive research in this area
and have started to deliver product
enhancements to address the need.
In December 2012, we launched
the first personal recommendation
in the United States; already, 56
percent of users say it has made
them aware of content they hadn’t
known about, 32 percent say they
enjoy watching TV more and 75
percent strongly agree that it is
easy to find recommended shows/
movies. Whether we deliver content
to second screens via the cloud or
to the living-room TV, customers will
demand a personalized experience
that connects them to the things
they care about.
network we have been building
and expanding for many years. To
that, we added a Content Delivery
Network (CDN) infrastructure to
support the IP carriage of linear
channels, first delivered to our Cox
TV Connect application in November
2011. Along the way, we have
also supported authentication of
programmers’ apps (e.g., HBOGo
and WatchESPN) with integration
into our Identity Management
System and associated provisioning
system. We are now expanding
to offer Video On Demand (VOD)
content that leverages the same
CDN but using a next-generation
VOD back office environment that
handles IP-delivered VOD content.
Longer-term expansion of IP video
delivery will be facilitated by the
advent of next-generation Cable
Modem Termination System (CMTS)
products (using the Converged
Cable Access Platform [CCAP]
standard), thus making broader IP
distribution more cost-effective.
this summer, but we’ll continue to
explore new ways to help customers
discover and connect to the things
they care about.
FC: It’s only been a few weeks,
but how is the flareWatch launch
in California going? Any surprises
to report? With mobility being
the key factor, how have security/
authentication been addressed?
SN:Cox is testing a video service
with a unique user interface as part
of a small trial in our Orange County
(Calif.) market. Not a lot to say
beyond that right now; results and
customer feedback will determine if
we proceed with future plans. We
are clearly focused right now on
the personalized video experience,
and the related tablet app and sixtuner/2 Terabyte whole-home DVR/
IP gateway that will launch later
FC: One of the reasons many
MSOs have not turned to the
cloud is difficulty with programmer
negotiations, mostly due to security
issues/digital rights. How has Cox
overcome this roadblock?
SN:Cox has been offering
authenticated content via a Web
portal for a couple of years – what
we call Cox TV Online – where
more than 2 million video assets are
viewed per month by customers.
The entire cable ecosystem
understands that customers want
and value anywhere/anytime/any
device access to the content they
pay for, and we are working closely
with programmers to continue to
FC: What did Cox need to have in
place before it went to the cloud,
i.e., infrastructure (and its related
costs) and the bandwidth to support
an all-IP system?
SN:First, of course, is the DOCSIS
July 2 013
4
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Sponsored Content
Is HEVC Ready for Prime Time?
CONCLUSIONS
• HEVC for OTT content
delivery is just around the
corner
By Sophie Percheron, Product Marke ting Manager, ATEME
• MPEG-4 decoding
• De-interlacing and downscaling
the 1080i25 source to 720p50
• Pre-processing (de-noising &
motion blurring)
• HEVC encoding at two different
bitrates, one for Over the Top
(OTT) @ 3.5 Mbps and one for
traditional TV viewing @ 4 Mbps
Click on the image above to enlarge
Live End-to-End Delivery Chain
Demonstration Tells All
expand viewing options. This is an
iterative process, of course, and
issues are knocked off one at a time.
Security tends not to be an issue, so
long as an industry-recognized DRM
solution is used; in our case, we use
Cisco’s VideoGuard system.
FC: As a second part to that
question, what is Cox doing to
prevent customers from sharing
their cloud-based accounts with
others, thus impacting revenues?
SN:Our research indicates that
while customers are consuming
more content time-shifted and on
secondary screens, the TV in the
home is still central to the total
viewing experience for most. We
attract and retain our customers due
to the total video experience we
provide that includes the ability to
consume content in-home, online
and on second screens. In some
cases, the content is available only
within the home and, thus, we
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july 2 013
associated access with the address
of the cable modem. It’s also
important to note that we limit the
number of simultaneous log-ins to
prevent any abuse.
FC: How has advertising on
portable devices like smartphones
and tablets been received by
subscribers? Do they tune out or
are they taking the opportunity to
purchase products and services
related either to the programming
they’re watching or what friends
have recommended?
SN:We simply pass through
the network ad feeds on our TV
Everywhere platforms. I think
viewers understand there is a
cost to content, and advertising
helps offset some of that cost.
More than anything, I think they
are most interested in getting the
content when and where it is most
convenient for them and delivered in
a reliable format.
Our research indicates
that while customers are
consuming more content
time-shifted and on secondary
screens, the TV in the home
is still central to the total
viewing experience for most
FC: Do you think the cloud
eventually will eliminate the need for
gateways?
SN:Set-top boxes and gateways
still have years and years of life
left. They provide multiple useful
functions, like switching and DVR,
very efficiently. Our company and
our industry have spent billions in
developing a very cost-effective
means of delivering huge amounts
of video content digitally. Those
efficiencies will serve us well for
many years to come. l
Visitors to the French Tennis Open
in June witnessed a world premiere
presentation of a live end-to-end
delivery chain for High Definition
HEVC/H.265. This trial, orchestrated
by the 4EVER Consortium
(www.4ever-project.com) that
includes Orange and ATEME, used
the new codec to encode, stream
over the Orange fiber network,
broadcast over the air using DVBT2, decode and display, the live
competition on PC, TV and tablet.
The two weeks trial reached
thousands of viewers and featured
the following content delivery
stages:
1. T
he tournament was produced
in 1080i25 by France Télévisions,
and delivered to the HEVC headend as a high bitrate, high quality
MPEG-4 4:2:2 10-bit contribution
feed over IP using ATEME’s Kyrion
line of contribution encoders
2. T
he HEVC video head-end,
centered on ATEME’s TITAN
platform, applied the following
software processes in real time:
• Content stream encapsulation
in both classic MPEG-2
transport stream and MPEGDASH for OTT
3.Broadcasting on unmanaged (open
internet) and managed networks
(both Orange fiber IPTV network
and on-air digital terrestrial
network)
4. The technology involved in the
receiving, decoding and playback
of the broadcast on various TVs,
PCs and tablets included:
• Using software players such as
GPAC (open source) - running
on PC as the decoding device
to feed TV sets
• ATEME’s DR8400 (the
industry first HEVC capable
Integrated Receiver Decoder)
to feed an SDI monitor
• Multiple HEVC capable
smartphones and tablets,
running either Android or
Windows based player
software from Orange, Sony
Mobile and VisualOn.
• Benefits of using HEVC for
OTT demonstrated with the
4EVER trial include:
o Improved quality at today’s
bitrate, for example showing
sports content at the full frame
rate of 50 or 60 frames per
second, using no more bitrate
than what is needed for 25 or
30 FPS today in MPEG-4
o True HD experience on the go
o Reduced bandwidth by up to
50 percent
o Dramatically reduced cost of
Content Delivery Networks
• Benefits for classic TV delivery
include:
o Half the bandwidth of today’s
HD broadcasts
o Room for new services such
as Ultra HDTV
• For TV over DSL networks, HEVC
dramatically increases the reach of
HD services, boosting the viewing
experience and satisfaction of
most users who are limited to SD
quality today
• For more information or to
accelerate your HEVC agenda
please visit www.ateme.com l
July 2 013
6
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Second Screen Apps
Rising with the Tide
By Cr aig Kuhl
Second screen apps create
opportunities to engage and
grow the audience. But some
wonder if they can hold the
viewer’s attention.
 Engaging the TV viewer
using second screen apps
is the new mantra of video
content providers and
their expanding universe
of supporting technology,
software and advertising
communities.
And for good reason. Nearly
half of U.S. smartphone and
tablet owners—46 and 43
percent respectively—use their
devices as second screens
daily while watching TV, with
76 percent of tablet owners
ranking Web searches among
the top second screen activities
for deeper engagement,
according to a recent Nielsen
study.
An ABI Research report
added that the mobile apps
market will value at $27 billion
this year.
Those impressive figures,
combined with the increased
use of mobile and
second screen
apps are elevating
the second screen
app market to new
heights, albeit with
it’s fair share of
challenges.
“There’s innovation and value
being created. Now, there’s usage
and advertisers are noticing that path
for second screen apps, enabling
technologies are re-creating the TV
experience with second screens
becoming an enhancer, not a
competitor, and apps allow new
inventory for ads. With metadata
and fingerprinting you also get huge
profiles when first and second
screens are synched up. There are
lots of second screen apps creating
opportunities to engage, so it’s a real
eco-system and a rising tide,” said
Rick Ducey, managing director for the
research firm, BIA/Kelsey.
Rising with the second screen apps
tide are players such as Viggle, a free
mobile app that operates as a second
screen for TV loyalty.
“We want to connect brand
emotion of TV to retail. You check
in to Viggle and earn loyalty points.
Devices are smarter so we built a
free app to download as a verification
point. And as a ratings play, we want
to show that we have a meaningful
impact on ratings, and can prove it,”
explained Greg Consiglio, president
and COO of Viggle.
“All advertisers value data and trending information.
Second screen apps can indicate ratings through checkin activity—from demographics to aggregate number
of impressions—and how engaged people are.”
Sean Besser, EVP of business development at GetGlue.
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july 2 013
And the proof is in the
measurement, insisted Sean Besser,
EVP of business development for
GetGlue, a company that drives
entertainment activity to social
platforms.
“All advertisers value data and
trending information. Second
screen apps can indicate ratings
through check-in activity—from
demographics to aggregate number
of impressions—and how engaged
people are,” Besser said.
Yet Besser and others have no
illusions about the challenges of
advancing the second screen apps
model.
“Yes, there’s a ton of challenges,
particularly in the cable space. There
are legacy set-top boxes several
years old and TVs without Internet
capability. The technology in the
living room many times just can’t
keep up. So how do we help solve
their social functionality problems
like territories? We’re pushing out
upgrades that will enhance our app,”
he noted.
Comcast, for example, recently
added an app allowing subscribers
to use their device as a virtual TV
remote control for Windows Phone
customers.
But most experts agree that for
second screen apps, it’s all about
increasing audience loyalty, ratings
and deeper engagements.
“The biggest opportunities for
second screen apps are around
growing viewership and leveraging
audience loyalty. Both translate to
ratings and engaging friends by
adding a social interaction element.
And there’s the definite potential
for ad growth, with a large majority
of younger viewers using second
screens while watching TV,” said
Jonathan Weitz, partner at IBB
Consulting.
The advertising component to
second screen apps, he added,
could be the wild card.
“Creative, grabbing multi-screen
“There’s a richness of data and an increasing goal of bringing
together data that operators might gleen from consumers.”
Phil Knightbridge, CTO and Fellow for IBB.
ad campaigns to support recall and
engagement are enabling operators
and programmers to leverage and
go beyond the 30-second spot. With
second screen apps, there’s more
information you can tag, brand and
offer loyalty awards, like Viggle.
There’s also a vast amount of
data generated by second screen
app usage.”
And vast is the operative word
when it comes to data, added Phil
Knightbridge, CTO and Fellow
for IBB.
“There’s a richness of data and an
increasing goal of bringing together
data that operators might glean
from consumers. So the collection
and analysis of data is a key.
Second screens are becoming more
meaningful, but tying them together
with TVs is a challenge.”
Challenge indeed. Some are very
wary about the second screen apps’
ability to hold a viewer’s attention.
“Every second screen company
will say I’m wrong, but after people
download a second screen app, 99
percent of them never use it again.
They don’t want to sit and stare at
a second screen while watching
TV. There’s a tremendous barrier to
entry in getting multi-taskers into
apps. Most of the industry hasn’t
addressed the behavior of multitaskers,” said Mike Kokernak, CEO
of Across Platforms, a TV consulting
and software development firm.
Maybe so, but most can agree on
one thing: second screen apps are
creating a bundle of opportunities.
Concluded Ducey: “There’s
money going to mobile apps
and advertising, and new deals
around enabling technologies and
re-creating the TV experience.
Most people are using second
screen apps, so there is significant
behavior there.” l
July 2 013
8
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
HEVC’s Rise
to Stardom
By Cr aig Kuhl
HEVC promises to be a gamechanger because it offers four
times the resolution with half
the bit-rate.
 High Efficiency Video Codec
(HEVC) promises to deliver
UltraHD content using half
the compression rate, which
allows service providers
and their supporting vendor
community to deliver content
more efficiently.
By leveraging current
infrastructure, HEVC can
enable the cable industry to
deliver video over wireless
networks, tablets and
smartphones. “It was time
to create a new standard and
it was HEVC,” said Arianne
“We looked at 4K as an emerging video
format. It’s pushing the envelope and
with standards emerging around it, some
workforce components are needed.”
Mark Francisco, Fellow at Comcast
Hinds, senior architect for standard
strategy at CableLabs, which
recently demonstrated HEVC’s role
in UltraHD at the Cable Show in
Washington, D.C.
It was also time to throttle up
the UltraHD (4K or four times the
resolution of current HD) video
format, not only to gain valuable
efficiencies, but as a competitive
tool.
Comcast is one of a growing
number of service providers pushing
HEVC as not only valuable, but
crucial to its business.
“We looked at 4K as an emerging
video format. It’s pushing the
envelope and with standards
emerging around it, some workforce
components are needed,” said
Mark Francisco, Fellow at Comcast.
“It’s early, but encoders and
compressors are coming to market
and it will take a year to really get
into the scalable hardware. So now
it’s all about capacity to handle more
programming, more efficient means
of carrying video and anything to
squeeze the bit rates down,” he
added.
Network capacity is king
And bit rates count. By halving the
bit rate and significantly increasing
compression efficiency via HEVC,
the long-standing issue of network
capacity is being addressed,
Francisco noted. “Compression
efficiency is the top level purpose
of HEVC, with video quality the key
benefit. It can increase the quality
without overstepping the network’s
capacity, especially with higher
Wi-Fi use. Overall, it makes for a
better, seamless experience for
customers.”
It’s also raising the competitive
stakes, prompting many industry
experts to count HEVC as a musthave addition to a service provider’s
operational and business strategies.
“The impact of HEVC is a tide
raising all boats. Cable realized it
needed to adopt UltraHD and the
4X bit rate it required. HEVC cuts
continued on page 15
9
july 2 013
Efficient Operations in a
Multiscreen World
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your standard day-to-day
Consolidated systems will enable
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For any consolidated platform to
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be standards based (SCTE/IAB) to
To efficiently manage
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Click on the image above to enlarge
reconciliation, billing and analytics,
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multiple mediums; traffic
In the world of media, scheduled
decision-making associated with
or manage multiple platform
linear spots are at the foundational
dynamic ad decisioning for live and
ad placements; reconcile and
core of most media companies’
time-shifted viewing across IP- or
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QAM-delivered content on multiple
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shift their viewing habits to
device types. Proprietary systems
Currently, the media space’s rapid
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growth of distribution channels is
on alternative devices such as
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the flexibility required to costmyriad systems to meet new
media companies are presented with term objectives of launching new
effectively consolidate operations
opportunities to increase revenue
and unlock the synergistic value of
services. This short-term explosion
and consumer satisfaction through
multiscreen advertising.
of systems enables new services,
the ability to offer new content
Measurement is an additional
but is not a cost-effective or
and advertising options. Along
cornerstone in unlocking the value
sustainable model.
with opportunity comes pressure
of multiscreen advertising. A
Consolidation of “advertising
from advertisers who want take
consolidated system must be able
operations” will enable media
advantage of the new technologies
to capture and consolidate data
companies to cost-effectively
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manage multiple-platform
management and placement within
delivery. The absence of a “common
ad sales while unlocking the
both traditional linear broadcasts and synergies between traditional and
currency” across traditional and
myriad additional multimedia delivery nontraditional advertising types.
new media makes the ability to slice
modes.
and dice metrics to develop metrics
Synergies will span the universe
New forms of delivery are resulting from “road-blocked spots”
for individual advertisers a critical
in increasingly divergent revenue
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across multiple devices to single
models; alternate sources of revenue or multiscreen companion ads.
are uncovering themselves through
Targeted advertising will enable
interactive, targeted and addressable greater precision in ad placement
advertising. You want to seize the
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advertising without disrupting
Consolidated systems will
July 2 013
10
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Multiscreen Ad Market Holds
Potential, but Can it Make Money?
By Cr aig Kuhl
Cable companies say
multiscreen is a key part
of their strategy, but
synchronizing ads for second
screens is a tricky proposition.
 The mass appeal of
mobile devices and the
multiple screens they bring
to consumers is driving the
advertising and T-commerce
markets into unexplored
territory.
Content and service
providers, along with just
about everyone in the video
delivery ecosystem, are
paying close attention to the
advertising and commerce
upsides in the expanding
multiscreen phenomena.
And why not. Nearly
one-third of U.S. telco TV
households are expected to
access multiscreen or TV
Everywhere services by yearend 2013, with more than
39 million tablets shipped
worldwide in 1Q 2013 and $72
billion spent on tablet devices,
according to ABI Research.
For the multiscreen ad and
commerce space, it’s now
about deeper engagement and
monetization.
“For programs that have
amassed a second screen
audience, there’s a core
demographic that advertisers
are very interested in
because there’s a deeper
engagement. Now, the onus is
11 july 2 013
on programmers to prove they can
bring the same audience to multiple
screens like the first screen. The
challenge is monetizing the content
and advertising,” said Sam Rosen,
practice director for ABI
Research.
Re-evaluating the
ad model
Challenges aside, and there
are many, the emerging role
of advertising and T-commerce
in the multiscreen universe is
prompting companies such as Cox
continued on page 17
“The challenge is figuring out how to
use the technologies and capabilities
and then scaling the business. That’s
the phase we’re in now, packaging all
of this information and monetizing it.”
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july 2 013
12
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Cloud-Based Multiscreen: Ready
For Financial Prime Time?
By Debr a Baker
Cloud technology is being
used cautiously by top tier
cable operators. Although
it offers cost savings, there
are security and digital rights
management concerns.
 “It has become increasingly
clear that the only way
to deliver TV services
everywhere is to move the
video to the cloud,” said
nScreenMedia founder and
chief analyst Colin Dixon.
“Operators have been working
hard to get VOD assets and,
more recently, linear channels
online and available through
their TV Everywhere clients.”
But how do MSOs get there
and when will they reap the
financial benefits of such a
strategy?
Despite the ubiquity of
the term “cloud” in the
communications industry,
cloud-based technology
still is relatively new and is
being used cautiously, even
by top-tier cable operators
that just now are beginning
to roll out new multiscreen
subscriber services. However,
Alcatel Lucent estimates
the total potential market for
multiscreen video services
during the next five years
could reach nearly $90 billion.
Certainly, vendors are
offering all flavors of cloud to
facilitate MSO expansion into
new territory. So far, there
13 july 2 013
has been no “eureka moment,” but
it will come as more subscribers
segue to cloud programming and
storage, and as MSOs discover
cloud services are cheaper to
provide.
snacking, sharing and discovery),
operators will see their revenue
bases grow and their operating
costs drop.
Because cloud-service
implementation could include
upfront infrastructure costs, an
increased need for IP bandwidth
for content streaming, DOCSIS
3.0 compliance and the right
subscriber-authentication program,
it makes sense that only the top
cable and IPTV providers, including
“The market is still developing with many of the early growing
pains, like authentication, finally starting to take a back
seat to the content.”
Michael Inouye, ABI Research Senior Analyst
Agility Test
With cablecos seeing their
programming costs rising anywhere
from 6 percent to 7 percent per
year along with the ongoing and
expensive upkeep/upgrades of
set-top boxes (STBs), it only makes
sense to go cloud moving forward.
Provision of cloud-based
multiscreen services is less
expensive and more agile than
STB-based offerings. For example,
it could take six months and highly
trained technicians to upgrade
today’s STBs, but it might take only
15 minutes to change up softwarebased cloud services. Everything
can be rendered in the cloud and
delivered to cheaper boxes in the
home, to a Roku box, to a connected
TV or to personal wireless devices.
As cable customers morph from
being couch potatoes to being
mobile users of smartphones
and tablets (and as many “never
were” subs use these devices for
Comcast, Cablevision and Charter
Communications, have announced
cloud-based multiscreen services.
Are MSOs making money with
cloud-based multiscreen right now
or are the building blocks just being
put into place? While not being able
to break out cloud-specific billings,
Sachin Sathaye, vice president,
strategy & product marketing at
ActiveVideo Networks (which
has been working closely with
Cablevision and Charter on their
cloud-based multiscreen offerings),
notes revenues for pay TV are on
the rise. However, viewers are
switching around where they are
spending their money, and they
aren’t focused as much on traditional
cable services as they have been
in the past. To make sure they are
getting a piece of that new billing/
viewing mix, Sathaye said. “MSOs
are trying to create new experiences
continued on page 18
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14
FierceCable
FierceCable.com
Sponsored Content
continued from page 9
that bit rate down by half using
existing equipment. It really mutes
any competitive disadvantage and
makes UltraHD a game-changing
technology,” said Joe Del Rio,
associate product line director for
Broadcom, a player in the HEVC/
UltraHD TV market.
The game may be changing
thanks to UltraHD and its enabler
HEVC, but there’s an ecosystem
that must evolve first. And that
ecosystem must include a gaggle of
devices and industries.
“Bit rate reduction is the key
reason for HEVC and will allow the
same HD quality with half the bit
rate. But it comes into play when 4K
TV gets deployed and can deploy at
higher resolution. It will be awhile
until that happens. In the meantime
we’ll have to wait for devices to
support HEVC, like Qualcomm’s
Snapdragon, and for Apple, Sony
and others to embrace HEVC,” said
Daniel Howard, CTO and SVP of
engineers for the Society of Cable
Telecommunication Engineers
(SCTE).
HEVC’s advertising potential
Embracing the advertising potential
of HEVC is also gaining momentum.
And no wonder. Nielsen recently
reported that 20 percent of tablet
owners use their mobile devices
to shop for goods and services
advertised on TV, which “provides
advertisers another opportunity to
connect with consumers.”
And with an increasingly fickle
consumer whose expectation of
anytime, anywhere high quality
video is prompting a more engaging
form of advertising, HEVC seems to
match up well.
“Compression is the key, but
15 july 2 013
TV Everywhere’s Next
Wave: Cloud TV
“Compression is the key, but HEVC can also
load ads faster and crank up the quality. We
want ads to look crisp, so they are a great
place to look for new compression rates.”
Eric Grab, vice president of technology for Rovi.
HEVC can also load ads faster and
crank up the quality. We want ads to
look crisp, so they are a great place
to look for new compression rates,”
said Eric Grab, vice president of
technology for Rovi, a player in the
HEVC space.
Mobile devices, Grab added,
also warrant a look. “We’re looking
at HEVC very holistically, with
multiple business models. There
are some use cases you just can’t
do without HEVC, particularly with
mobile devices and 4K. With better
compression, there are a lot of side
effects to HEVC.”
And some notable challenges,
he admitted. “Making things
interoperable across all platforms
and making HEVC work in real time
or better are big challenges, along
with an explosion of assets on the
back end that need to be handled.
But a quantum leap in compression
like HEVC doesn’t happen very
often. It’s very impressive.”
Impressive enough to prompt
a version two. Concluded Hinds
of CableLabs: “Now, there are
extensions being added for
deeper color resolution, scaleable
coding and 3D coding. Not a
next generation HEVC, but some
add-ons.” l
Whether it’s sports, movies,
episodes of TV shows, or obscure
foreign films, someone somewhere
wants to watch it. Until now, the
costs of acquisition, storage and
distribution have required service
providers to make choices. As a
result, on-demand content libraries
have traditionally been filled with
mainstream content designed to
appeal to the greatest number of
subscribers. But this is changing…
enter the era of personalized TV.
Cloud storage and distribution
offers service providers a single
managed remote infrastructure that
makes it much more economical
– and technologically feasible – to
build and maintain massive libraries
of content and metadata – all of
it formatted and encoded for any
device. Today, it’s no longer just
about delivering content – instead,
it’s about providing the content any
subscriber might want, and making it
accessible to them on their terms.
What Do
You Want to
Watch?
Cloud distribution
makes a nearinfinite catalog of
content possible,
allowing truly
personalized
viewing.
Suddenly,
recommendation
engines can
hone in on the
exact content
that uniquely fits
the subscriber;
and subscribers
themselves can
find the content
that fits their
viewing needs –
and consume it on
any device, when
they want it.
The capabilities of these new
viewing platforms – connected
devices – give operators new
opportunities to position and market
all of this content. Social media
interactions, recommendation
engines and robust search
capabilities add value to the
subscriber experience
In this exciting new environment,
Cloud TV delivers increased
monetization opportunities.
Whether it’s reducing subscriber
churn by better satisfying
consumers’ appetites for the
content they want, or more content
translating to additional transactions,
subscriptions or advertising, Cloud
TV holds great opportunity.
a managed Cloud TV service
bundled with its ViewNow library of
thousands of movies. The content
is available in multiple formats – SD,
HD, MBR, ABR, MPEG2, MPEG4 –
making it accessible to consumers,
through their service provider, on
any device.
Over the coming months, more
and more content will be added to
this library, in an increasing number
of formats and specifications,
ultimately creating a near-infinite
content catalog that will drive
personalization of the TV experience
– “my content, on my device.”
Changing the Economics of
Delivering TV Everywhere
There are a host of approaches to
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Everywhere a reality for service
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Through a managed Cloud TV
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providing a path to monetizing
content on any screen, and
hastening the advent of the truly
personalized TV experience for
subscribers. For more information,
visit Vubiquity.com. l
So What’s Next?
High-quality sourced content is
increasingly available “in the cloud.”
Today, Vubiquity, the largest global
provider of multiplatform video
services, offers AnyVU Streaming,
July 2 013
16
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continued from page 11
Communications to re-evaluate their
multiscreen ad models.
“It’s a key part of our strategy and
we are expanding more content to
second screens and personalizing
the video experience. It brings a
completely unique and qualitative
profile, especially among younger
viewers, and video consumption on
tablets is 100 percent measurable.
Now, we can just target ads for
second screens,” said Mike Zeigler,
VP of business development and
operations for Cox.
Synchronizing those ads with TV
commercials is a tricky proposition,
Zeigler admitted. Yet he believes the
effort is worth it.
“ We need to synchronize our
program feeds to second screens
and figure out the metrics of the
second screen business, and there
is an unresolved issue with tablets
being separate from TV viewing. But
ad buys in general are only growing
at the rate of inflation, so we see it
as a growth opportunity.”
Cox, Zeigler noted, is not
currently targeting ads with
multiscreen,“We’re looking at it
down the road. Overall, multiple
screens offer an accountable ad
model with unique demographics
and profiles.”
The data retrieval piece from
multiscreen usage could be the wild
card in the evolving multiscreen
space. “We can get granular data
from every demographic and can
layer in technologies to provide
household demographics. There
are now opportunities to mine that
data and target ads where they work
best,” said Bill Feininger, general
manager of the massive data
division at FourthWall Media.
What works best for advertisers
17 july 2 013
“There’s lots of hype around online and multiscreen video
advertising. Just because it’s easy to put video on multiple
screens doesn’t mean much.”
Dan Rayburn, principal analyst for Frost & Sullivan.
in the multiscreen space is
consolidating audiences. “It’s
about when and where viewers are
watching, so advertisers can reach
certain audiences and measure.
It’s also about normalizing all of
the audience data. The challenge
is figuring out how to use the
technologies and capabilities and
then scaling the business. That’s the
phase we’re in now, packaging all of
this information and monetizing it,”
said Chris Hock, SVP of marketing
for the advanced advertising
company, BlackArrow.
Maybe so, but some believe it’s
only a phase, and any semblance of
a viable multiscreen business model
is way down the road.
Reality or hype?
“It’s been talked about for eight
years, with one-fifth of the ad
projection being met. There’s lots of
hype around online and multiscreen
video advertising. Just because
it’s easy to put video on multiple
screens doesn’t mean much,” said
Dan Rayburn, principal analyst for
Frost & Sullivan.
Nor do ads mean much if they
don’t resonate with viewers. Added
Rayburn: “Advertisers don’t want to
pay for non-targeted ads or pay for
ads that don’t even get checked on.
The whole metric system of video
advertising is messed up, with not a
lot or progress being made.”
Nonetheless, new players such as
TV Wallet and others are pressing
ahead into the multiscreen ad and
T-commerce markets.
“There’s a growing list of
advertisers. And viewers can
complete transactions from multiple
screens. The big question is how
quickly can TVs be connected. We
need scale for multiscreen devices
as well. It’s a very complicated
ecosystem with OTT capability,
legacy set-top boxes and how to use
more intelligent data. The industry
can’t get in its own way,” said Mike
Fitzsimmons, CEO of TV Wallet, a
player in the T-commerce market.
Scale is definitely a problem,
said Jeff Sherwin, CEO of This
Technology, a provider of dynamic
ad insertion technology.
“We can’t gloss over scale. A
single device targeting ads on a
per second basis on a huge scale
like the Super Bowl is a huge issue
and there must be solutions in
the multiscreen video distribution
market for advertising to take
shape. The technology is getting
good and not an impediment. Once
the dynamic ad insertion market
operates with scale, technology will
move the ads.”
And there are more hurdles to
be cleared, such as monetizing
the second screen ad market,
formatting ads for different devices
and determining who owns what
content.
“There are 10-15 pain points and
the video supply chain is in turmoil,
so it will take a lot of different tools.
But there are lots of opportunities,”
Rosen said. l
for their consumers. They are
creating OTT content with content
providers to compete with other
offerings into the home, and this only
works in the cloud and as software
as a service [SaaS].”
But cloud innovation also is being
picked up by second- and thirdtier cablecos intent on offering
what their customers want and
on being able to stay competitive
with their larger brethren. Joe
Jensen, who holds the dual titles
of executive vice president/Cable &
Telecommunications at Ohio-based
Block Communications Inc. and
CTO at Buckeye CableSystem, said
his group just now is testing cloud
services with Azuki Systems, with
plans to expand and migrate to more
cloud offerings in the future.
While admitting to being “a little
behind” when it comes to cloud
experimentation, Jensen said
Buckeye took the initial plunge to
“gain experience” with a cloud
provider while designing the
roadmap to spectrum reclamation
and more IP-centric technology.
“We’re hoping to be in a position
to have something in production by
next summer,” he added.
by NTT Europe found that more than
80 percent of CIOs polled believe
their own ICT architecture is the
greatest hurdle to cloud adoption.
In addition, nearly 60 percent think
the complexity of their existing
IT investment is holding up their
implementation. Although most
respondents believe the cloud is
the future, their biggest fear is that
a cloud migration might not be
successful on their current systems.
The upfront costs MSOs can
expect as they make the decision
to move from hardware-based to
software-based video services
may be lower than operators think.
ActiveVideo’s Sathaye said most
operators already have projects
in their environments based on
general-purpose hardware from HP,
Dell or other like servers; they then
need to add an OSS such as Linux.
Because ActiveVideo is a managed
service, “You don’t need any special
hardware requirements for us,”
he said. “You can add us to your
existing headends. Our CloudTV
software can run on their hardware
platforms.” MSOs also can run their
own HTML5 interfaces in the cloud,
making them much more akin to
Netflix or Hulu when it comes to
user experience on any device.
Upfront preparation
Curing Insecurities
continued from page 13
Cost savings aside, there are some
key factors holding MSOs back from
moving more confidently into cloud
services. A recent survey conducted
According to Buckeye’s Jensen,
there is some concern about
common downloadable security.
“We need to find the user interface
“We’re hoping to be in a position to have something in
production by next summer.”
Joe Jensen, executive vice president/Cable & Telecommunications
at Ohio-based Block Communications Inc, and CTO at Buckeye
CableSystem
and experience we feel will be
amenable with our plans and will
be of interest with our customers.
Can we define an IP environment
from the headend to our devices to
address our long-term strategy?”
Addressing the latter, Jensen
noted Buckeye will be replicating
some aspects of its already
established security measures
along with a new digital rights
management (DRM) system for
content security. “We also have
to make sure we can move from a
set-top box to a retail IP box play like
Rovi and tablet apps. Several DRM
solutions fit that mold,” he said. “We
don’t want to have a DRM solution
that relies on online connection only.
We want to make sure people can
access our content on the plane.”
Jensen said that his biggest
concern/challenge is getting
programmers to allow Buckeye to
move to the cloud. “We need some
modicum of agreement that this is
indeed the way to go,” he explained.
“Their concern is making sure their
products are secure and valuable.
The bundle is going to be a challenge
because we are pricing our services
out of the realm of most of our
customers.”
ABI Research Senior Analyst
Michael Inouye said programmers
will loosen up moving forward.
“The market is still developing with
many of the early growing pains,
like authentication, finally starting
to take a back seat to the content.
In many respects, the technology is
in place to increasingly offer widerreaching TV Everywhere services.
Securing the rights to broader
content distribution is the primary
remaining hurdle but, once
standard metrics are developed,
the content floodgates are
expected to open wider.” l
July 2 013
18