The great debate surrounding the viability of premium Video on Demand (VoD) content continues. At this point, it seems we should move beyond the enabling regulations and technical obstacles surrounding premium VoD and instead concern ourselves with market dynamics – who might be the big winners and losers. Despite some changing dynamics in content licensing and security, technology is not the long pole in the tent any more, but rather licensing terms and subscriber adoption – at least for early adopters. And we are clearly still in the experimental phase of verifying if a home theater movie experience in a similar release window as theatrical release provides a viable business upside.

An increased number of portable and mobile devices are driving consumer interest in video on the go. Consumers are demanding access to preferred content across devices, anywhere and anytime. However, for service providers and content owners to be able to provide these services in a profitable manner, the content must first be secure. In addition, as new revenue models develop, the content protection must offer increased flexibility and the ability to follow complex rules. This webinar explores the new requirements for effective rights management and content protection in a multiplatform world.

Progressive digital TV operators may have to embrace novel technologies that have been designed to effectively scale and solve IP video issues and apply them over their delivery networks. By integrating OTT and adaptive rate streaming technology with pay-TV services, operators can enhance ARPU, subscriber loyalty and lure incremental advertising dollars.

Comcast Media Center has just announced its new fiber-based solution to more efficiently deliver a complete wholesale programming lineup to cable MSOs and its HITS affiliates. Why is this such a big deal? Our assessment is that the new platform is one facet of a seismic shift in the cable industry that has been long [...]

Some operators have created the consumer expectation of free content and now they are having a hard time putting the “genie back in the bottle” when it comes to charging a fee for that content. It really puts into question the first mover advantage efforts by OTT providers to offer free content, as it appears they have potentially cannibalized their own long-term revenue streams. The question is if they can successfully extract money from existing and/or new viewers.

Mark Holmes of ViaSatellite recently tackled the latest issues around content piracy and theft of service in Asia. While analog cable systems are the biggest target for piracy, satellite pay-TV operators are certainly feeling the impact of service theft. Quoting the deputy CEO of CASBAA, “The nature of the satellite business is that it doesn’t [...]

Traditional pay-TV operators have always been highly focused on revenue security by way of theft of service prevention – for two main reasons. Subscriber fees are obviously a significant revenue source and piracy through theft of service is very prevalent, particularly in certain markets (See CASBAA for country-specific piracy rates). Smart cards were really the [...]