The Great Land Grab: A Look Back at the Last Year in Media & Entertainment
TV Everywhere (Cable)
In the cable industry, the whole idea of place shifting centers on the "TV Everywhere" concept. For cable providers, which have long-term content licenses in place, the idea is that these licenses can be extended beyond the cable television signal to allow subscribers to access content, via a multimedia cable gateway, on PCs, smartphones, and other IP video displays via broadband connections.
EchoStar’s take is that Sling’s integration into a traditional satellite box gives consumers the ability to enjoy traditional and new media within an integrated package. Instead of spending dollars and time creating a cable-exclusive, place-shifting technology, EchoStar’s reasoning was to use a technology that’s already proven: SlingLoaded set-top boxes.
EPIX HD "We want to win the lean-back online," said EPIX HD’s Emil Rensing, "and we believe that pervasiveconsumption means that we don’t limit choice. Online has different rules than television.""Rebroadcasting content from Hulu is not a complete solution for a consumer," said Mike Hawkey, vice president of sales and marketing at EchoStar, at a recent cable industry event. "Give [the consumer] the whole experience. TV Everywhere is not about getting some of my TV channels or some content on some of my devices some of the time. Will your customer be satisfied with half the content?"
The cable industry’s response to EchoStar’s "answer for TV Everywhere" in the form of a cable-ready set-top box has been less than positive.
The muted response has less to do with the technologies in question and more to do with a competitive history that dates back at least 13 years, during which time EchoStar’s DISH Network took the nonbroadcast television subscriber fight to the consumer. EchoStar was successful in enticing subscribers, both pulling them away from some cable providers and netting new subscribers who fell outside of cable providers’ physical plant boundaries. Old rivalries die hard, though, so the move to offer EchoStar-based technologies in the cable world opens up opportunities for other place-shifting technologies.
Cable Television Laboratories, Inc., better known as CableLabs, is the industry’s interoperability lab, certifying devices from set-top boxes to actual media gateways (DOCSIS 3.0 is the latest cable standard for these integrated modem, router, voice-over-IP, and video gateways over coaxial) to guarantee interoperability.
At the same cable show at which EchoStar’s Hawkey touted SlingLoaded set-top boxes, Arris Group demonstrated its Moxi MG5000 Series DOCSIS 3.0 Multimedia Gateway. This place-shifting device "[accounts] for any out-of-home distribution restraints specified by MSOs and programmers" and is one of several "video sling" applications to receive CableLabs certification.
Simply put, the Arris box competes directly with EchoStar’s SlingLoaded devices, but it doesn’t have the stigma of being attached to a once-fierce cable competitor that has now shifted from making satellite-only receivers to cable set-top boxes.
CableLabs has since issued a request for information (RFI) regarding the concept of TV Everywhere, with a deadline set several weeks after this article went to press. In this case, the intent is to guarantee a common technical approach for consumers to offer secure online subscription video services to cable subscribers.
In other words, in yet another example of carving up the online video world, any U.S.-based over-the-top or catch-up service offered by the existing cable companies will likely need to meet a CableLabs-certified specification, which will in turn govern the back-end functionality for all cable providers or MSOs.
The Middle Mile and DSL
Even now, as the battle for online middle- and last-mile supremacy wages in a three-way battle between the telecoms and cable providers, a CableLabs certification is often critical for a product to be included in a widespread cable or MSO rollout.
But what about on the other side of the equation? Cable modems and media gateways were designed to compete with DSL services from the telecoms. The telecom army is upping the ante with fiber-to-the-home, such as AT&T’s U-verse and Verizon’s FiOS, which offer cable television, home phone service, and very-high-speed internet via a fiber interface.
AT&T U-verseOfferings such as AT&T U-verse are upping the ante by bundling internet, phone,and TV services, including multiple TVs connected to a single DVR.Verizon’s FiOS has formed an on-demand movie playback partnership with EPIX, which is owned by Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. Yet, even EPIX has its eye on expanding to the larger cable industry.
"We’re a subscription service that may just be the way to keep cable TV competitive," Emil Rensing, chief digital officer of EPIX, said during a Streaming Media West 2009 keynote. "We have three platforms for one price (on-air, on-demand, online), so we’re a new product that expands existing businesses." EPIX is providing access to first-run blockbusters and has rights to distribute on any platform in the U.S. and the Caribbean, which means it provides a TV Everywhere solution, of sorts, with online content that matches the on-demand content available on most cable providers."We want to win the lean-back online," said Rensing, "and we believe that pervasive consumption means that we don’t limit choice. Online has different rules than television."
That sentiment is one that almost everyone agrees on.Does everywhere really mean everywhere? The interesting thing about EPIX’s stance is that it goes hand in hand with two international on-demand expansions: Rogers’ on-demand service rolled out in Canada in early December 2009, and Sky’s live and on-demand service rolled out on Microsoft’s Xbox in Europe in early November 2009.
Rogers, the Canadian communications giant, also has its Rogers On Demand catch-up service, which goes beyond its cable footprint in the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Rogers On Demand encompasses anyone in Canada that has a Rogers account, be it wireless, internet, or cable.
"Any customer with a Rogers account can visit rogersondemand.com and register to experience Rogers On Demand Online content free from any streaming Internet connection within Canada," a press release says. "Offered to all Rogers Cable, Rogers Home Phone, Rogers Hi-Speed Internet, and Rogers Wireless customers, the initial BETA roll out will feature more than 1000 hours of aggregated content from 17 broadcast and production partners and 30 channels."
This expansion of content is somewhat limited, though, because Rogers’ cable subscribers in the three provinces will be able to watch premium cable channel content online, but only if they have subscribed to that particular premium channel as part of their regular cable service.
By contrast, Sky on the Xbox 360 in Europe is all about expansion beyond the satellite box.
"This is the first time a customer can get the same Sky content without needing to subscribe to the satellite service," says Fearghal Kelly, VP of media solutions for ioko, the company that rolled out the live and on-demand Xbox player for Sky. "The fact that [Sky] has [a] footprint in both the U.K. and on the Continent means that they may be able to significantly expand their customer base for premium content."
The BBC’s most recent numbers for its iPlayer show that 85% of all requests for catch-up services still come from the laptop or desktop user, with an additional 13% of all views coming from the Apple iPhone, the iPod touch, and Sony’s PSP device. With Sky’s move toward several other devices—based on signals that ioko appears to have settled on H.264 as a codec that will allow it to port to the Wii and possibly to the PlayStation 3 (both of which can already support H.264)—the move of on-demand content to the gaming console seems to be a foregone conclusion.
Mark Whitten, general manager of Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE, showed off the ioko player for Sky at the Streaming Media West 2009 event, noting that there’s more than just the lean-back market to address.
"I think our consumers have a three-position couch," says Whitten, morphing the three-screen model to fit the Xbox’s game console dominance. "The first position is sitting back to be entertained, the second is [siting] up to deal with computer aspects on the screen (sharing Facebook images, for instance), and the third position is [sitting] forward for the game or gaming."
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