Telefonica is launching this month a set top less version of its Movistar TV service on smart TVs. The service is enabled by a jointly written app integrated in the Samsung smart TV, giving customers the same experience as all users of Telefonica’s IPTV service but without needing a box. The service is available to anyone with a Samsung smart TV set, a Movistar TV subscription and a sufficiently fast broadband connection. This sounds like a sequel to TeliaSonera’s deployment of IPTV on Samsung smart TVs first unveiled well over two years in September 2012. That led to one of the first significant ‘operator as an app’ deployments when the TeliaSonera Samsung combination was launched in Estonia late 2012, followed in 2013 in Sweden and Finland, where TeliaSonera is the dominant Telco.
One common factor is that both services are secured by Verimatrix VCAS for Internet TV. This is not surprising since it has been dictated by Samsung, which chose Verimatrix as its partner for smart TV apps, whether deployed in conjunction with an operator or off its own bat. The point is that any apps developed for Samsung’s smart TVs can plug into Verimatrix ViewRight client security, having been integrated into the platform.
Apps are gaining ground against browsers for multiscreen services, whether these are standalone or TV Everywhere extensions to traditional IPTV or, as in TeliaSonera’s case, just a set top less option for an existing IPTV service. For TeliaSonera, the Smart TV app determines automatically whether the customer is one of its existing broadband customers via the IP address when a new Samsung TV is first plugged in. If the address is recognized, the IPTV app is launched and the user prompted to sign in, after which the app just sits transparently in the background.
The alternative approach that has been piloted by Deutsche Telekom is to deploy a common UI within a HTML5 browser in the cloud from which the whole service is rendered. This makes it easier to deliver a consistent experience and avoids having to cater for multiple apps on different devices. This may lead to a struggle between operators and CE device makers over which one controls certain client features of the service such as the landing page. Many operators would naturally like full control as Deutsche Telekom has been pushing for, but Telefonica is happy taking an alternative approach through partnership with CE makers. There is also the possibility of partnering with one of the major CAS vendors, such as Verimatrix itself, to act as arbitrator between the different client apps and DRMs, in order to deliver a consistent experience that way.
The smart TV makers are also trying to establish their own OTT services, typically via a different business model whereby they put users in direct contact with content owners, cutting out the pay TV service in the middle. Samsung has just this month done that in Brazil where it has launched a VoD service that segregates participating content providers into three categories: free, SVOD (subscription VOD) and PPV (Pay Per View). “The content’s owner decides the model, if they are going to charge a subscription, whether to offer it for free or charge for each content”, said Marcelo Mattar, Video and Sports Manager of Samsung’s Content for Latin America area.
Such models lack the multiscreen dimension, which Telefonica is plugging with Movistar TV. Just before the Samsung set top box less announcement, Movistar TV itself announced a joint initiative for the provision of TV OTT on Windows Phone OS devices. This features Microsoft’s Cortana voice recognition service, which Telefonica claims to be the first to integrate into a worldwide commercial video service, allowing Windows Phone users to search for content through the natural speech interface.
This Windows Phone service will be available first in Spain and then in Latin American countries where Telefonica operates pay TV, later this year.