The latest OTT video news, deals, launches and products from the team at Faultline.
What appears to be a temporary website has launched this week, running behind the slogan “end the cable Boxology” – which seeks to support the FCCs attempt to open up the cable TV set top box in the US. The site walks visitors through the process of how to make a comment to the FCC about backing the DSTAC security recommendations for an open set top. It is backed by consumer advocate groups such as Common Cause, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, Incompass, Open Technology Institute, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Consumer Action, Consumer Video Choice and Public Knowledge.
TiVo subsidiary and recommendation software provider DigitalSmiths has published its Q4 2015 Video Trends report, finding that 1 in 20 people in the US are planning to cut their pay TV service within the next six months, from results of 3,000 survey respondents. A further 6.6% plan to change their cable or satellite provider, and 2.4% said they plan to switch to an online video service, while 30.1% are undecided. However, 75% of respondents answered that they are happy with their current pay TV package.
A report from UK regulator Ofcom found that in November 2015, 42% of residential fixed broadband lines were superfast – which is defined as 30 Mbps or more. This is up 9% from the previous year, and the number of lines with a speed of up to 10 Mbps or more has increased to 93% over one year. Ofcom says the average UK residential fixed broadband speed increased from 22.8 Mbps in 2014, to 28.9 Mbps in 2015 – whereas a report from Akamai (see separate story) says average speed in the UK was just 13.9 Mbps. Virgin Media‘s 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps services provided the fastest average actual download speeds of all the ISP packages included in the report.
Chinese cable operator Chongqing Cable has deployed the ServAssure Network Managing System from Arris. The platform aims to upgrade Chongqing’s service delivery to offer network management and optimization capabilities across China. This will enable the operator to identify potential network problems before they become disruptive for the end user. It has over 6 million digital subscribers.
Verizon has announced this week that it is cutting its FiOS TV Everywhere apps from Xbox gaming consoles, Samsung smart TVs and Blu-ray players by the end of this month – apparently due to lack of usage. AT&T and Comcast also recently scrapped their TVE apps from the outdated Xbox 360 platform.
President Obama announced this week that Google has a deal to provide more WiFi and broadband access to the residents of Cuba. There are currently no further details about the plans to rollout these services, but it follows a promising trend of a growing relationship between the US and Cuba, as well as the Cuban government relaxing its stranglehold. Last year, the government gave permission for the first time to deploy 35 WiFi hotspots – which resulted in overwhelming turn outs.
ThinkAnalytics says it signed up 12 new customers for its recommendation engine in 2015, and is now used by more than 70 video service providers in over 40 countries. Among these contracts are the likes of Astro Malaysia, US provider CenturyLink, and PCCW in Hong Kong, as well as expanding its existing contract with Liberty Global across Europe. ThinkAnalytics also says it won deals with unnamed high profile operators in North America, Europe, Asia and LATAM, and claims it reaches over 170 million subscribers.
Google’s Chromecast has become Google Cast, in a rebranding move that the company says is supposed to reflect its ability to work across multiple devices, in addition to the HDMI dongle. The updated Google Cast app for Android and iOS allows users to cast content from mobile devices onto TV screens, wireless speakers, and other displays. Google says that there are now over 1,000 cast-enabled apps, able to cast over 200,000 TV shows and movies and over 30 million songs.
Belgian service provider Mobistar, soon to be rebranded as Orange Belgium, has selected Interactive TV tech provider Zappware to power its recently launched cable TV service. The service will be delivered over the networks of Telenet and Voo. Zappware also won a recent contract with IPTV operator Massy Networks in Trinidad and Tobago to provide an IPTV service including network DVR, VoD and multiscreen TV.
Italian media company Vivendi is reportedly no longer interested in acquiring the TV operations of Mediaset, but are in talks over a content sharing deal, according to controversial former PM Silvio Berlusconi, whose family owns and runs Mediaset.
Following Booxmedia’s acquisition of Amino Technologies announced in May 2015, Amino has this week allotted 284,481 new 1 penny shares to the Booxmedia management at part of its earn out. Application has been made for the new ordinary shares to be admitted to trading on AIM (Admission) and dealings are expected to commence on 31 March 2016.
South Korean operator LG U+ has rolled out the Arris E6000 Converged Edge Router to provide its customers with gigabit speed broadband and video services. South Korea has consistently held the record for the fastest average global internet connection speeds. The E6000 allows LG U+ to build upon its existing cable infrastructure using HFC technology.
Italian utility company Enel says it will invest €2.5 billion to bring ultrafast broadband to 7.5 million homes in 224 Italian cities, to be implemented over the next four years. It will take advantage of the installation of around 30 million smart electric meters to run fiber cables into premises.
Spanish language programmer Univision has signed a deal with US cable operator Mediacom this week, to provide its TV channels as well as carriage for cable networks UniMás, Galavision, and El Rey. Univision’s stations will be broadcast to Mediacom’s 885,000 video customers. Univision is also in ongoing talks with AT&T over retransmission and carriage on its U-verse platform.
Sky and former Discovery Networks CEO Mark Hollinger have acquired stakes in independent production company Sugar Films. The new investors will support the company in producing and delivering both scripted and non-scripted ventures. Sugar Films says it aims to produce bold, provocative, and popular content for the masses.
Singapore based telco StarHub has acquired a 9.05% stake in Asian content provider mm2 Asia for a sum of $18 million. Founded in 2008, mm2 Asia provides content for TV and online platforms across China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Taiwan through several partnership deals. StarHub has also signed a MoU this week with China Mobile, along with Thai operator True, to strengthen research into mobile networks.
Security specialist Verimatrix has announced that its Verimatrix Content Authority System (VCAS) has been selected by Digi Jadoo Broadband, a pay TV distributor in Bangladesh. VCAS has been implemented to secure content for the Jadoo Digital service – which it claims is the first platform in Bangladesh to launch HD channels via a hybrid DVB-C and OTT network.
African content distributor AfricaXP has chosen a platform from Babeleye to manage EPG metadata of linear channels for two of its pay TV clients, Zuku and WatchAfrica. The platform will handle management and distribution of program information to Zuku’s pan-African pay TV service, and WatchAfrica’s SVoD platform. AfricaXP delivers these channels via a cloud-based content delivery platform to broadcasters across Sub-Saharan Africa.
RTL Deutschland’s media arm, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, has agreed to acquire 93.75% of online video advertising firm Smartclip, for an undisclosed fee. Smartclip aggregates ad inventories of 700 publishers, and integrates these ads into content for delivery to internet-connected devices. Smartclip, founded in 2008, also has ad deals on Smart TVs with Philips, LG, and Samsung.
Ericsson’s BSS has been selected by Bhutan Telecom (Bhutan is a kingdom near Nepal and India) to support its mobile, fixed line, and broadband subscribers. Ericsson says Bhutan Telecom will be able to launch promotions and notifications, product and service cross-bundling, cost-control for postpaid subscriptions and service personalization.