BT is promoting what it calls New Media 2 (NM2), which permits viewers to change the story line. The idea is that producers will shoot multiple story lines, which the viewers can select and make the viewing experience more personal. The NM2 website provides more information on ShapeShifting.
BT has conducted a number of NM2 trials with broadcasters but has no firm plans to commercialise NM2 as part of BT’s own IPTV BT Vision. It is considering various ways to monetize the service, including pay-per-view, subscription and advertising-funded models.
The first ShapeShifted TV program was aired in Finland in December 2006. Viewers were able to affect the drama between two unlikely lovers by sending SMS text messages. Viewers saw their SMS text messages on the screen and heard the characters respond to their texts. Accidental Lovers was run four times in total, showing twelve different evolutions of the love affair – each of them different, so if viewers did not get what the wished for the first time, they could try again. News, drama, and documentary pilots using the same technology have also been tested.
This is an interesting form of interactivity that can enhance the IPTV experience. Clearly a two-way IPTV network can provide a higher level of interactivity than using SMS. It should even be possible to use it in conjunction with an on demand program to provide a purely personal rather than shared experience.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Motorola's E-CWDM Extends Cable's HFC
A number of tools have emerged to help the cable companies extend the life of their Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) networks in the face of strong new competition from FTTH and FTTN networks. The basic problem the cable companies have is to support more HD broadcast services at the same time as they are expanding both their SD and HD narrowcast services. (A narrowcast service is one such as video on demand that delivers content to a single viewer.)
A cable HFC network uses fiber to connect a hub office to an optical node that typically connects to about 500 homes today. One of the ways that a cable company can do this is to reduce the homes served by an optical node. They can do this by stacking up optical nodes. They can use four optical nodes, for instance, connected by four fibers and supporting 125 subscribers each. Motorola offers a modular approach so that the four fibers can be connected to a single box which then splits the bandwidth to four separate groups of 125 homes each.
Motorola's new E-CWDM system uses coarse wave division multiplexing that uses five wave lengths to carry the equivalent of five separate fibers to the optical node. If all five wavelengths are used, then each wavelength can then serve a separate group of 100 homes.
The advantage of ths approach is that it conserves fibers. Often the cable company does not have four or five pairs of fibers running to each optical node. Even if the fibers are there, the cable company may prefer to reserve them for business services, for example.
The E-CWDM optical node is about twice as expensive as an optical node that can connect to an equivalent number of fibers. However, this is much less expensive than running new fiber, so it is an economical approach in many cases.
E-CWDM will be useful to cable companies as a way to extend the life of their HFC network. They have other tools that they can use as well such as expending the spectrum used, switched digital, IPTV, and cable PON.
As useful as these tools will be, however, they will not eliminate the need for cable companies to move to a FTTH architecture in the future in order to match strengthening telco competition.
A cable HFC network uses fiber to connect a hub office to an optical node that typically connects to about 500 homes today. One of the ways that a cable company can do this is to reduce the homes served by an optical node. They can do this by stacking up optical nodes. They can use four optical nodes, for instance, connected by four fibers and supporting 125 subscribers each. Motorola offers a modular approach so that the four fibers can be connected to a single box which then splits the bandwidth to four separate groups of 125 homes each.
Motorola's new E-CWDM system uses coarse wave division multiplexing that uses five wave lengths to carry the equivalent of five separate fibers to the optical node. If all five wavelengths are used, then each wavelength can then serve a separate group of 100 homes.
The advantage of ths approach is that it conserves fibers. Often the cable company does not have four or five pairs of fibers running to each optical node. Even if the fibers are there, the cable company may prefer to reserve them for business services, for example.
The E-CWDM optical node is about twice as expensive as an optical node that can connect to an equivalent number of fibers. However, this is much less expensive than running new fiber, so it is an economical approach in many cases.
E-CWDM will be useful to cable companies as a way to extend the life of their HFC network. They have other tools that they can use as well such as expending the spectrum used, switched digital, IPTV, and cable PON.
As useful as these tools will be, however, they will not eliminate the need for cable companies to move to a FTTH architecture in the future in order to match strengthening telco competition.
KPN Battling for the Home
Nokia Siemens forwarded a presentation to me that KPN made at the Broadband World Forum in Berlin last week. It expects that in 2010 70 percent of the homes in The Netherlands will have one access lines.
KPN's challenge is to make that a KPN line rather than a cable line. Its challenge is that cable has 95 percent coverage with 85 percent market share. KPN's own IPTV has 50 percent coverage today with only 1 percent market share.
Satellite and digital terrestrial are minor factors today. Satellite has 100 percent coverage and 10 percent market share in The Netherlands, while digital terrestrial has 65 percent coverage and 4 percent market share.
KPN introduced its Mine IPTV service in May 2006 as a premium brand. It found that people are reluctant to switch and do not understand what IPTV offers them. They also do not recognize KPN as a TV provider. It also found that IPTV is a difficult service to offer and that the entire company has to focus on it to make it successful.
KPN offers two pages. It offers a basic package for 6.95 euros per months that it positions for people that are not interested in sophisticated features but includes digital terrestrial. It offers a free trial with this basic service.
KPN also offers a premium interactive service for 9.95 euros per month. This service includes a set-top box with a hard disk and up to three digital terrestrial receivers. This service offers:
KPN's strategy is to expand the coverage of its IPTV service, provide attractive bundles, focus their sales force on the offering, and continue to develop the service to keep it competitive.
KPN is in a tough market with strong cable competition. This presentation shows that it is addressing its challenges and understands the strategic importance of IPTV.
KPN's challenge is to make that a KPN line rather than a cable line. Its challenge is that cable has 95 percent coverage with 85 percent market share. KPN's own IPTV has 50 percent coverage today with only 1 percent market share.
Satellite and digital terrestrial are minor factors today. Satellite has 100 percent coverage and 10 percent market share in The Netherlands, while digital terrestrial has 65 percent coverage and 4 percent market share.
KPN introduced its Mine IPTV service in May 2006 as a premium brand. It found that people are reluctant to switch and do not understand what IPTV offers them. They also do not recognize KPN as a TV provider. It also found that IPTV is a difficult service to offer and that the entire company has to focus on it to make it successful.
KPN offers two pages. It offers a basic package for 6.95 euros per months that it positions for people that are not interested in sophisticated features but includes digital terrestrial. It offers a free trial with this basic service.
KPN also offers a premium interactive service for 9.95 euros per month. This service includes a set-top box with a hard disk and up to three digital terrestrial receivers. This service offers:
- 50 broadcast TV channels
- 80 broadcast radio channels
- Catchup TV for 4 channels
- EPG that shows one week ahead
- Home recording up to 100 hours
- The ability to pause live TV
KPN's strategy is to expand the coverage of its IPTV service, provide attractive bundles, focus their sales force on the offering, and continue to develop the service to keep it competitive.
KPN is in a tough market with strong cable competition. This presentation shows that it is addressing its challenges and understands the strategic importance of IPTV.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Telenor to Offer FTTH and IPTV in 2008
Telenor, the incumbent carrier in Norway, stated that it will roll out IPTV service in 2008. There are rumors that Telenor will use Thomson's middleware software, but there is no confirmation at this time.
Telenor has also has been mandated to provide broadband access to 100 percent of the 2 million homes in the country. It plans to use a combination GPON, VDSL, ADSL, and WiMAX to reach all households. It plans to rollout GPON in the cities to counter strong competition from competitive FTTH providers. It plans to install Alcatel-Lucent VDSL capable DSLAMs in areas where fiber is not appropriate. It had been using Nokia DSLAMs, but apparently is dissatisfied with their performance. It is using Airspan for its WiMAX deployment, which has already begun.
Telenor is one of the last Western European incumbents to commit to IPTV. Its fiber based competitors have been delivering IPTV service for several years already so Telenor has a lot of catching up to do.
Telenor has also has been mandated to provide broadband access to 100 percent of the 2 million homes in the country. It plans to use a combination GPON, VDSL, ADSL, and WiMAX to reach all households. It plans to rollout GPON in the cities to counter strong competition from competitive FTTH providers. It plans to install Alcatel-Lucent VDSL capable DSLAMs in areas where fiber is not appropriate. It had been using Nokia DSLAMs, but apparently is dissatisfied with their performance. It is using Airspan for its WiMAX deployment, which has already begun.
Telenor is one of the last Western European incumbents to commit to IPTV. Its fiber based competitors have been delivering IPTV service for several years already so Telenor has a lot of catching up to do.
AVS Creating Lockout in China
Products from UTStarcom, ZTE, Huawei and Alcatel Shanghai Bell have been checked and accepted following tests carried out in Dalian in October 2007. The tests are targeting the application of products using home-developed AVS video compression technology on China Netcom's pilot AVS-IPTV system, which has operated steadily for more than six months.
Overseas equipment providers did not join in the tests, because they mainly support foreign standards, such as MEPG4 and H.264.
Apparently China Netcom will only adopt the AVS video compression standard in its IPTV deployment if the tests in Dalian are successful, aimed at avoiding high patent fees from using foreign standards. If equipment providers do not adopt AVS, they will lose the opportunity in China's market.
Currently China Telecom has not standardized on AVS and is using MPEG-4. Using AVS will be a requirement for the headends, the set-top boxes, and the video on demand systems in particular. If AVS takes hold in China, other companies will adopt it in order to gain access to this very large IPTV market.
Overseas equipment providers did not join in the tests, because they mainly support foreign standards, such as MEPG4 and H.264.
Apparently China Netcom will only adopt the AVS video compression standard in its IPTV deployment if the tests in Dalian are successful, aimed at avoiding high patent fees from using foreign standards. If equipment providers do not adopt AVS, they will lose the opportunity in China's market.
Currently China Telecom has not standardized on AVS and is using MPEG-4. Using AVS will be a requirement for the headends, the set-top boxes, and the video on demand systems in particular. If AVS takes hold in China, other companies will adopt it in order to gain access to this very large IPTV market.
ATIS DRM Webinar
The U.S. standards group will host a webinar on Digital Rights Management. It will examine issues surrounding deploying DRM technology and how to measure its impact on QoE end-to-end. As defined by ATIS' IPTV DRM Interoperability Requirements.
The webinar presentation will include:
The webinar presentation will include:
- IPTV, DRM and QoE requirements from a network solutions provider perspective
- Developing standards for DRM - ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF)
Moderator:
- John F. Bernhards, Vice President, Marketing & Public Relations, ATIS
Speakers include:
- Dr. Stefan Winkler, Principal Technologist at Symmetricom's QoE Assurance Division
- Bob Kulakowski, Chief Technology Officer at Verimatrix, Inc.
Thursday, October 18, 20071:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT/10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. PDT
Register at: http://qoe.symmetricom.com/atis2
DRM is a key issue for IPTV systems and the standards orientation in this webinar should make it worthwhile.
Belgacom to deploy Alcatel-Lucent VDSL
Belgacom will deploy 14 thousand VDSL nodes using Alcatel systems. It will use Alcatel-Lucent VDSL systems to support HD services starting in 2008. Belgacom had 190 thousand IPTV subscribers at the end of June 2007.
This shows that HD is about to become an important factor in Europe and will cause service providers to upgrade their networks, often to VDSL. The shorter loop lengths in Europe make VDSL a better approach than it is in the U.S.
This shows that HD is about to become an important factor in Europe and will cause service providers to upgrade their networks, often to VDSL. The shorter loop lengths in Europe make VDSL a better approach than it is in the U.S.
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