Ohio-based operator Cincinnati Bell has upgraded its video technology stack with the addition of the MediaScaleX platform from cable technology vendor Vecima Networks – inherited from the acquisition of Concurrent’s video delivery and storage business back in 2018.
While Cincinnati Bell is not what we would call a perfect example of how a telco should go about offering TV, it has arguably built a stronger double and triple play platform than many rival US operators. Similarly, Vecima was not a vendor we ever associated with IP video prior to the Concurrent deal, which is precisely why sliding into Cincinnati Bell made the cut in this week’s issue of Faultline.
Vecima’s MediaScaleX comes in four flavors – cache, origin, storage and transcode. Cincinnati Bell appears to have deployed the first three technologies but not the transcoding element. This is interesting considering Vecima told Faultline during a conversation last year that it was exploring partnerships with third-party transcoding vendors for the Concurrent MediaScaleX portfolio, but would not disclose any names at the time. We requested some additional information from Vecima, but the vendor would not comment at this time.
So, Cincinnati is feeding MediaScaleX origin and storage capabilities into cache, enabling Cincinnati Bell’s 135,100 Fioptics TV subscribers to access both local and national video feeds anywhere within its footprint through a single integrated UI.
MediaScaleX enables integrated OTT content, cloud DVR, start over TV, catch-up TV and unified search, and is being deployed across all Cincinnati Bell’s markets in Greater Cincinnati and Hawaii. MediaScaleX is built on what Vecima calls a hyperconverged platform. Our understanding of so-called hyperconvergence is optimizing all elements of storage and compute components to work together on a single commodity appliance from a single vendor.
Canada’s Vecima – a veteran of the cable industry – is currently in the throngs of getting out of hardware, while the Concurrent side – which earned its stripes in scalable storage and CDN caching – is homing in on software-only transcoding. For this, Concurrent is emphasizing cloud computing, whether it be AWS, Azure or private cloud.
Vecima’s arrival at Cincinnati Bell is also intriguing on another level. We know Cincinnati Bell has deployed G.fast equipment in its broadband network, technology which rivals Vecima’s own DOCSIS 3.1 product line. A foot in the door via MediaScaleX could therefore lead to additional business for Vecima in its more familiar territory of cable equipment.
That said, there is something of a closing window of opportunity for G.fast and even MoCA Access in the US, with DOCSIS 3.1 (and onto DOCSIS 4.0) taking top spot for fiber-free broadband upgrade technology.
DOCSIS 3.1 is enabling 1 Gbps broadband deployments across North America, targeting coax MDUs in particular with the next generation of HFC nodes to enable high speed internet, deep ethernet switching, services aggregation, as well as IPTV and support for legacy digital video. Vecima’s Entra DOCSIS 3.1 Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) platform combines the newest technology with operational improvements, while interoperability with CCAP and CMTS cores from Cisco, Arris, Casa Systems, Harmonic and more is a key functionality.
Cincinnati Bell has become best known in the Faultline ecosystem as probably the largest customer of UK-based software supplier Amino, which recently merged with 24i Media. Amino upgraded 150,000 ZTE set tops in the field with its Enable software – saving Cincinnati Bell $20 million. It has achieved similar feats for operators with large footprints of legacy Samsung and Huawei set tops, we are told. The Enable software allows legacy IPTV set tops to be upgraded to support OTT content in a hybrid mode.
For security, Cincinnati Bell has deployed Verimatrix VCAS technology to support OTT delivery to its TV everywhere app, Watch Fioptics. Verimatrix enables secure premium services to Roku streaming players and TVs, along with set-tops, iOS and Android devices, and future devices using its ViewRight Web client security package.
Cincinnati Bell ended 2019 with 135,100 Fioptics video subscribers but – like most pay TV providers in North America – is suffering from a reversal. The Fioptics subs base, which is delivered via FTTP and FTTN, shrunk by 4,800 during 2019, losing 1,4000 in the fourth quarter.
Video revenues for 2019 still increased by almost $20 million to $203 million despite the bout of cord cutting.
A quarter of a million households take Cincinnati Bell’s internet services, of which 219,200 are on FTTP and 31,400 on FTTN.
“Globally, both the consumption and delivery of video is rapidly changing. To take advantage of new opportunities, service providers need to adapt to the evolving demands of IP video and OTT platforms,” highlighted Clay McCreery, Chief Revenue Officer at Vecima.