Searching Weekly Analysis
Searching Weekly Analysis
Usually we would wince at the act of kicking a company while it is down, but when that company is AT&T and the allegations are as serious as falsifying accounts, we need to ask ourselves not how AT&T got away with it but why a behemoth operator in the world’s wealthiest market was driven to such extreme lengths? AT&T was slapped with a lawsuit this week alleging that fake DirecTV Now accounts were created and factored into the company’s quarterly and annual filings – creating an entirely manufactured and fraudulent illusion of the streaming skinny bundle’s performance to please investors. Of course, these remain nothing more than allegations for now but given last week’s events which saw activist investor Elliott…
The headlines for Android TV look great but there are still lingering doubts among many operators over Google’s strategy, causing them to seek alternative options for going forward into the future of IP distribution, while there are also questions over the number of serious commercial subscribers, as well as over launch costs. These may come to be seen just as bumps on Android’s road to supremacy but still deserve scrutiny rather than just lapping up all the marketing rhetoric not just from Google itself but also providers of Android integration services and even some operators themselves. To clarify, there are effectively three versions of Android from the video perspective. Firstly, there are those Android TV boxes available in retail, such…
How apt that as Comcast commences its European beachhead through Sky, that the US giant should steal the headlines at Europe’s largest TV trade show IBC by snapping up local Dutch app developer Metrological Media. While the move is indicative of increasing US media dominance, Comcast has acquired a gem of a vendor with a revered team capable of boosting RDK recognition in Europe while also defending the ranks against Android TV’s belated invasion into the US. Presumably the acquisition signals the end of Metrological’s exploration into the Android TV operator tier arena, as the company told Faultline Online Reporter at last year’s Amsterdam event that it would be “stupid not to be looking at building an Android TV operator…
Making its traditional pre-IBC splash, SES sent out a series of press releases this week with a distinct cloud technology flavor, increasing its reliance on Microsoft Azure infrastructure a week after the satellite giant launched an uncharacteristic OTT video synchronization product which incited much arm-pinching. SES unveiled plans to deliver media services based on Azure to rural and underserved regions, equipping broadcasters and other enterprises with features including intelligent network automation through direct cloud connectivity – achieved through the two products Azure ExpressRoute Satellite Connectivity and Azure Broadcast-Grade Managed Video Services. The move is a win-win, benefiting both SES and Azure customers, causing us to ponder whether Microsoft could or should acquire SES. The fleet operator has a market cap…
A recent spate of deployments and trials coupled with coming of age for hybrid TV platforms has pushed addressable advertising to front stage in time for this year’s IBC in Amsterdam, both in conference and on the floor. Last week we covered the formal entry by ThinkAnalytics, of content recommendation fame, into the fray and in a separate story this week we discuss the role of HbbTV and ATSC 3.0 on the hybrid front by facilitating greater data aggregation and ability to insert ads from the broadband side. While a few pioneering broadcasters and operators, such as Comcast’s Sky with Adsmart, are already expert in the field, many others will find IBC a good forum for expelling false myths and…
AVoD has been the biggest driver of OTT growth in the two countries India and China accumulating subscribers at the greatest rate by far. This has gone hand in hand with a marked reluctance to fork out for subs, with ARPUs remaining stubbornly far below the global average. Even rising affluence with an expanding middle class seems to have done little to raise ARPUs yet, which is why we are skeptical of arguments put forward by the likes of India’s movie production company Eros International that SVoD is going to sweep forward and overtake AVoD in those countries. We agree that trend is happening globally to the extent that our research arm Rethink TV has forecast that SVoD will catch…
Although formal confirmation has yet to come, all the signs are there that Comcast’s European operation Sky will invest in a wholesale fiber network being planned for the UK by a new company set up by previously-archrival Liberty Global, as revealed last week. We revisit this nascent story now as it has several subplots revolving around the fact that the UK (plus Ireland) is the one region where Comcast and Liberty Global are head to head as the two dominant pay TV operators, having acquired respectively Sky and Virgin Media at different times for large sums. Comcast’s $39 billion acquisition of Sky was one of the mega media deals of 2018, while Liberty Global raised eyebrows in 2013 when it…
“Four years ago, someone arrived at our tiny IBC stand and asked what we did. After listening for about 3 minutes, they declared, “You do realize this is a broadcast show?” – which set the scene for our first industry trade show,” recounted Richard Collins, CEO of live video production and editing specialist Tellyo, in a pre-IBC chat with Faultline Online Reporter. The irony is that the now 52-year old IBC is trying desperately to diversify to anything other than a broadcast show. Long gone is any use of the full IBC acronym, but this has opened the floor – so to speak – for start-ups like Tellyo which have a heavy focus on IP production within broader broadcast and…
Observing the video ecosystem from the video developer perspective is often overlooked, overshadowed somewhat by those higher up, so it was refreshing to read a report from encoding expert Bitmovin – giving the devs a well-deserved voice. Results from Bitmovin’s third annual developer survey showed an expectantly overwhelming reliance on H.264, although interestingly one-in-five developers plan to implement AV1 in 2020 – with big ramifications for the wider video industry. Device manufacturers, browser vendors, and content distributers like Cisco, Mozilla, and YouTube have already started implementing AV1 on larger scales, leading Bitmovin to conclude that AV1 is well positioned to compete with H.265/HEVC and to succeed VP9 for open-source use cases in 2020. This goes against the majority of conversations…
The letter C in C-Band could stand for any one of Chaos, Calamity or Confusion, with many companies battling for the best ideas of how to reallocate the lucrative slice of US wireless midband spectrum. Eventually, it has all proved too much for satellite fleet operator Eutelsat, which this week threw in its C-Band Alliance membership towel. The issue is crucial to the future of US 5G services as the country, unlike most of the world, has limited availability of the midband spectrum which is ideal for capacity-oriented 5G and less difficult than millimeter wave. Sprint owns most of the 2.5 GHz airwaves, while most of the 3.5 GHz bands are in federal or satellite hands. The CBRS scheme will…
Android TV is now approaching full throttle after five years of negligible impact following the 2010 launch of its ancestor, Google TV. It could be a case study of how powerful companies can resuscitate a failing project or strategy by listening to their potential customers and it was the Operator Tier version that finally started lifting Android TV’s fortunes from 2016, with initially a few poster child deployments in Europe and Asia-Pacific. These included Swedish cable company Com Hem and Vodafone Australia, but this still left Android TV shut out of Tier 1 accounts and also the USA, where the alternative RDK platform radiating initially out of Comcast had gained traction among the leading MSOs. At one stroke, Android TV…
Pod Group’s offering of custom IoT connectivity, PodM2M, provided by divisions that are focused on specific pieces of that puzzle, has taken good shape over the past few years. And for now, CEO Sam Colley is backing one of the two LTE-based machine-to-machine standards, LTE-M, over its low power WAN stablemate, NB-IoT. Colley told Wireless Watch’s sister service, Rethink IoT, that there are still no eUICC (eSIM) options for NB-IoT, and the lack of SMS capabilities means that in order to perform device profile swaps, providers need to send multiple messages. This necessitates having dual-mode devices, and Colley says that mass deployment of ‘simple NB-IoT’ is still not really an option. He added that the market is realizing that the…
Yet another flip-flop from the US president with regards to Huawei, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the future status of the Chinese giant and whether US companies will be able to supply it with components. And so the technology stand-off continues, thrown into sharp relief by a recent string of announcements of advanced chips in two of the key areas at issue in the battle for hi-tech leadership between the USA and China – 5G and artificial intelligence (AI). Chips in general, and these two areas of technology in particular, affect every aspect of the issue. The moves to restrict Huawei’s ability to buy US products has redoubled its determination to be technologically self-sufficient, and by extension, intensified semiconductor independence…
One of the open source platforms which was initiated by AT&T, and has gained significant support with other operators, is Open Network Automation Protocol (ONAP). Hosted by the Linux Foundation and based heavily on AT&T’s internal project, ECOMP, plus code from China Mobile, ONAP provides a management and orchestration (MANO) layer for a virtualized, automated network. Critics argue that ONAP is already anachronistic and clumsy to deploy, and that when true cloud-native networks are implemented – essential to the full vision of 5G economics – most of these MANO functions will be driven down into the Kubernetes containers which will provide the foundational elements. Vendors and operators argue about how many functions will still require their own MANO layer, but…
The past few years, AT&T has spearheaded many open source initiatives related to key enablers of next generation networks and services. These include Open Network Automation Protocol (ONAP – see below), Acumos for AI, Akraino for edge computing and others. One that looks set to be very influential in the emerging, and challenging, area of disaggregated virtualized RANs is Open RAN (ORAN), which has attracted support from a wide range of operators, including AT&T’s arch-rival Verizon. The ORAN Alliance is looking to specify open interfaces between the elements of a disaggregated RAN – the central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU) and remote radio unit (RRU). These are designed to avoid these key interfaces being defined by individual vendors in proprietary…
AT&T has added integrator Tech Mahindra to its growing roster of cloud partners, with a multiyear deal worth a reported $1bn. This will see TechM taking over management of many of the telco’s back office systems as part of a move to modernize its 5G operations and transition to an entirely cloud-based IT and network environment. It will be responsible for moving the bulk of AT&T’s BSS/OSS systems to the Microsoft Azure cloud, following a deal, announced in July. AT&T has been evaluating its timescales and partners to migrate different elements of its network to the cloud, and at the same time, it has been assessing its external role in the cloud world, and the allies it requires to offer…
Over the past few years, AT&T has undertaken one of the most ambitious attempts at transformation seen at any major operator. It is, in parallel, seeking to up-end its cost assumptions and supply chains in order to phase in an entirely new structure, in its network and its organization. It has also been leveraging its inhouse developments to drive open platforms, in a bid to get wide operator support behind a multivendor, cloud-based network that could support new cost models and service agility. And it has not just focused on its fiber and 5G evolutions, but acquired companies to extend its business laterally, notably DirecTV and Time Warner; and formed strategic partnerships to support its cloud strategies. Now it is…
A number of prominent US Democrat presidential candidates have all updated their position on climate change. We hope these plans are well thought out. For any democrat candidate to beat President Trump, they will need a full package – they cannot be just a climate change one trick pony. Most polls say that the US public are all concerned about climate change, but that they are more concerned about health insurance, and many of them now have a position on gun control. It is very easy for a candidate who opens up every one of these fronts to get himself or herself kicked out of the running, by voters who sit on the fence, and worry more about whether or…
Verisk the owner of Wood Mackenzie, said it will acquire Genscape, a provider of real-time data for energy markets, from the Daily Mail and General Trust, for $364 million in cash. Genscape will become part of Wood Mackenzie and operates a network of in-field monitors and distributes alternative energy data on commodities and energy. IHS Markit says that a third of solar installations use trackers now. Its latest forecast predicts 150 GW of tracker capacity to be installed in the next five years, which makes up around a third of all ground mount projects, up to 2024. The recently approved 600 MW Travers plant in Alberta, Canada developed by Greengate Power will be the largest solar installation there. It rivals…
A number of US Democrat presidential candidates have all updated their position on climate change. We hope these plans are well thought out. For any democrat candidate to beat President Trump, they will need a full package – they cannot be just a climate change one trick pony. Most polls say that the US public are all concerned about climate change, but that they are more concerned about health insurance, and many of them now have a position on gun control. It is very easy for a candidate who opens up every one of these fronts to get himself or herself kicked out of the running, by voters who sit on the fence, and worry more about whether or not…