consulting
consulting

Tag Archive for 'Broadband'

Microsoft and Tesco partner for UK launch of downloadable ‘virtual DVDs’

September 9, 2009 by Barry Flynn

We kick off our IBC blogging today with a story about a tie-up between UK supermarket giant Tesco and Microsoft in the UK, who announced this morning that they jointly plan to offer a service this autumn which would allow DVD and Blu-ray quality ‘virtual DVD’ copies of movies to be downloaded for replay on PCs and Macs.The new service, built on Microsoft Silverlight technology, will include interactive features and other add-ons which the partners claim will offer a viewing experience that “goes beyond other digital playback products in the marketplace.”

The basic idea itself is not entirely new, in that it only applies to Tesco customers purchasing certain home video titles from their stores. So in addition to watching them through their DVD players on the TV screen, they will also be able to download a digital copy to a PC elsewhere in the home.

What is new, arguably, is making the DVD ‘bonus’ features available in this way on downloadable content, closing the gap between what is available on a physical disk and a virtual copy. The other significant aspect of the deal is simply that it involves Tesco - one of the UK’s home video sell-through giants. They have enough market power to firmly embed such a service in the UK market, providing it appeals to their customers.

One might also suggest that - if what is being offered is really ‘Blu-ray’ quality in some cases (which will involve quite a lengthy download!) - the (unidentified) Hollywood majors backing the venture appear pretty confident about using a software-based DRM system such as Microsoft’s to protect digital versions of HD premium movie content.

Microsoft hopes to extend this Silverlight-based concept to other markets in due course.

At IBC, Connected TV will be meeting Gabriele Di Piazza, senior director for the Media & Entertainment business in the Communications Sector at Microsoft, to quiz him about the new service and other recent developments.

We plan to post live from the show.

Posted in Broadband and TV-over-Internet. 0 Comments

Farncombe: Pay-TV shift to two-way networks will mean move away from smartcard-based conditional access systems

May 21, 2009 by Barry Flynn

Farncombe Consulting Group, which hosts this blog, has just published a new White Paper on how the Digital TV Conditional Access sector will be affected by the shift towards broadband-enabled pay-TV networks.

Written by Farncombe’s own highly-experienced group of in-house video security experts, the White Paper assesses the pros and cons of using smartcard-based and cardless systems in different types of pay-TV set-up, ranging from traditional one-way broadcast TV operations to broadband-enabled two-way IP and connected home networks.

The paper concludes that while smartcards continue to remain the solution of choice for protecting one-way systems, cardless-based solutions are preferable for protecting video content in IPTV, ‘over-the-top’ and home networking contexts.

For one-way networks migrating to broadband connectivity, meanwhile, both types of system have their advantages, depending largely on the availability, reliability and quality of the broadband network.

The White Paper’s authors go on to suggest that since the traditional one-way pay-TV world is slowly but surely changing into a two-way one, it is likely that there will be a gradual shift away from smartcard-based systems in favour of cardless ones - led by the digital cable sector.

A PDF of the new White Paper can be obtained from Farncombe by clicking here and filling in a simple registration form.

Posted in Broadband, Digital Cable, Digital Satellite, Digital Terrestrial, IPTV and TV-over-Internet. 0 Comments

Eutelsat’s TooWay satellite broadband service launches in the UK at £29.99/m for 2Megs

May 1, 2009 by Barry Flynn

As a quick update to our previous post on Eutelsat’s launch of its broadband-by-satellite service, Tooway, to France, the service has now been launched in the UK, where it will compete head-to-head against the rival SES Astra service, Astra2Connect.

Cost for the service will begin at £29.99 a month, offering 2MBit/s downstream. Although the Astra service delivers a lower tier at a lower price (256KBit/s at £19.99/m), its 2MBit/s service would cost £74.99/m, over twice as much as the Eutelsat one.

Posted in Asides, Broadband and Digital Satellite. 0 Comments

Informa: IPTV nudges 20m global homes as fibre approaches 50m

March 19, 2009 by Barry Flynn

Ahead of next week’s IPTV World Forum in London, organizer Informa Telecoms & Media has announced the results of its latest research into broadband and multi-channel TV subscription numbers, headlining the fact that FTTx (fibre) subscriptions are approaching 50m, with IPTV nudging 20m.

According to research Informa will conclude this month, global fixed broadband subscriptions stood at 422 million at the end of 2008, adding nearly 68 million subscriptions in the year and 16 million in the final quarter.

The biggest access technology remains DSL (65% of the total), but FTTx (11%) registered its biggest in year gain to date, adding over 11 million subscriptions - almost exactly the same number as cable broadband (21%).

The growth of FTTx is in part explained by robust growth in Asia-Pacific, says Informa: the region added 20% more subscriptions in 2008 than in 2007. In addition, nine of the world’s 10 largest FTTx operators are in the region.

Western Europe, meanwhile, has seen broadband growth stagnate, as all but five of its 30 countries now exceed a household penetration level of 50% and 20 countries enjoy penetration of over 60%.China, where broadband subscriptions grew by 21% over 2008 to reach 82 million subscriptions, passed the USA mid-year to become the world’s largest fixed broadband market, though it still has a household penetration level of below 20%.

Significantly, of the four main multichannel TV platforms, IPTV and digital terrestrial (DTT) are increasing their share of the market and now hold 10% and 3 30% of the global market, respectively.

The research, based on a continuous programme of research covering 730 fixed broadband (xDSL, cable broadband, FTTx, LAN, satellite and fixed wireless) operators in 160 countries and nearly 100 IPTV operators in 50 countries, will be presented in an opening address at the IPTV World Forum at Olympia, London, next week.

Farncombe Technology, which hosts this blog, will be conducting an IPTV Masterclass on IPTV Deployment in association with the Forum.

Posted in Broadband, IPTV and Research. 0 Comments

Eutelsat announces French rival to Astra’s broadband-by-satellite service

February 4, 2009 by Barry Flynn

Having recently given over some editorial space to a consideration of Astra’s broadband-via-satellite solution, Astra2Connect, it seems only fair to mention Eutelsat’s rival version, Tooway, whose launch I attended at IBC in 2007.

This week Eutelsat announced that it had launched the service in France through partners Numeo and Sat2Way at ‘no more than €35/month, equipment included.’

The price-point is significant, since it meets the government’s expectation in its updated France Numérique 2012 plan (NB, PDF) that any household in the country, wherever it is located, should be able to access broadband at speeds above 512KBit/s for €35/m or less.

The Tooway service claims to deliver downstream speeds to users’ PCs of 2MBit/s coupled with an upstream rate of 384KBit/s.

To access the service, consumers will require a dish and modem, which are included in the monthly subscription fee proposed by Numéo and Sat2Way.

Repeating a suggestion noted in the Astra2Connect post, Eutelsat is claiming that service-providers could use Tooway “to build triple-play offers combining Internet access, Voice over IP and IPTV channels” - the IPTV claim in particular being one that Connected TV is sceptical about.

Nevertheless, the price of the Eutelsat service compares advantageously to Astra2Connect’s - if that is, it really does offer 2MBit/s. To get that service-level, UK users of the Astra service would have to fork out £74.99 a month, the kit would cost £299, and installation a further £100. Moreover, the Astra service only supports an upstream rate of £128KBit/s.

Eutelsat’s announcement says that in Europe, Swisscom, Switzerland’s national telecommunications operator, the ISP Fastweb in Italy and Telecable and Distecable in Spain have already selected Tooway to extent broadband access.

Tooway currently uses Ka-band capacity on Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD 6 satellite, but in 2010 the operator will deploy a new satellite infrastructure to support the service’s widescale deployment throughout Europe.

Eutelsat says this will offer performance levels comparable to ADSL-2, with speeds to the user of 10 MBit/s downstream.

Posted in Broadband. 1 Comment