German regional operator M-net has announced this week that its newly launched IPTV platform, M-net TVplus, is based on the IPTV solution from Swiss internet TV provider and B2B technology vendor Zattoo, as well as choosing a set top OS from German cloud TV specialist ABox42.
Faultline has repeatedly mentioned Zattoo over the past several months, as the company seems to announce a new deal every few weeks, mainly bagging new content deals to bulk up its offering. While Zattoo’s own live and VoD offerings are available in Germany, the service isn’t a direct competitor of M-net TVplus, but rather acts as a complementary service.
The TVplus platform, hosted and managed by Zattoo from the head end to the apps, allows customers to watch live content simultaneously on up to three different devices via a connector – with access to more than 100 live channels. M-net says it chose Zattoo because it can run the platform under its own brand without investing in expensive and complex technologies. M-net says demand from customers since last months’ launch has exceeded its expectations.
ABox42 provides its M20 smart set top platform – a unified Linux distribution for set tops, so that set top manufacturers don’t have to maintain their own operating system. Last year, ABox42 premiered its latest generation set top platform for IPTV, OTT and hybrid supporting HEVC and UHD, based on Broadcom technology. It hasn’t been stated if this particular set top platform supports HEVC and UHD so we presume it supports neither, at least at present.
ABox42, Zenterio and similar French firm SoftAtHome are companies trying to bring as much capability to bear for operators so that they can mandate their software environment, instead of selecting a single proprietary set top. As such they are like RDK, except outside of the cable arena and reach right down into the OS.
The set top itself comes with a 32Gb USB stick, which can be replaced and upgraded to accommodate more recorded content if the user wishes. The TVplus set top is connected to the M-net router via cable or WiFi and connected manually to the TV.
M-net TVplus comes as part of a fiber optic internet package with a minimum bandwidth of 50Mbps – costing €9.90 ($11) per month on top. The app is also available on iOS and Android devices and is accessible via web browsers, as well as the main TV set.
This is the operator’s first move into the internet TV space, having previously just offered cable TV – and the new service boasts 100 live channels compared to Deutsche Telekom’s Entertain2Go with just 40, but where M-net TVplus is let down is that it doesn’t have its own VoD catalog or catch up service. Entertain2Go is also cheaper at a monthly fee of €6.95 ($8.70). However, M-net says its set top allows direct access to the online video stores Maxdome and View Art, the media libraries of ARD or ZDF and other applications such as sports app Kicker.
Back in April 2015, Zattoo and ABox42 were also selected by another German operator, Breitbandversorgung Deutschland (BBV), in which the German cable operators’ association Deutsche Netzmarketing cut a deal with Zattoo allowing for its members to offer IP-based TV products targeting TV sets, smartphones and tablets, under their own brand using an ABox42 M20 set top. The association has 185 members covering 5.5 million households.
“With attractive product packages based on fast internet access, telephony and TV, we are opening up new revenue potential,” said Jens Prautzsch, chairman of the M-net executive board.
“M-net is an ideal example of a modern operator managing the transformation to full IP services,” Matthias Greve, CEO of ABox42, said in Karlsruhe. “To be able to roll out such demanding operator projects within a few months requires very experienced partners and a solid, scalable and customizable solution – and this is exactly what we provide.”
M-net CEO Jens Prautzsch said, “unlike other offerings, we enable our customers not only a device to watch TV, but via app or web browser on all mobile devices in the home wireless network.” Multiscreen TV is rather common so we’re struggling to see how this is unique.
M-net was founded in 1996, and went on to merge with local residential telcos NefKom in 2004, and AugustaKom in 2006. It has 850 employees, and a total of 340,000 customers – subscriber figures for TVplus are not available. The operator had 2014 sales of €205 million ($230 million).