anga_anga 10/05/2014 13:02 Page 9
Global pay-TV
market tops
900m subs
T
he global pay-TV subscriber
base increased over five per
cent in 2013, raising the total
to 901.1 million, according to ABI
Research. However, the average
revenue per user (ARPU) dropped
slightly to $23.80 in 2013 from
$24.10 in 2012.
“In general, the pay-TV market grew
both in terms of subscribers and
service revenue across all pay-TV
platforms. Overall pay-TV service revenue reached almost $250 billion in
2013,” said Jake Saunders, VP and
practice director of core forecasting,
ABI Research.
Pay-TV ARPU in North America
increased around 4% to $76 in 2013.
According to major pay-TV operators in
North America, the growth in ARPU is
as a result of a growth in the proportion of customers with advanced payTV set-top boxes and upgraded High
Definition programming packages.
Unfavourable currency exchange rates
in Latin American countries have contributed to a US Dollar equivalent
decline in the pay-TV ARPU for the
region at the end of 2013 to $34.6 (5%
reduction from 2012).
Subscription of HD-TV services continued to grow in 2013 accounting for
41% of total pay-TV subscriber base in
2013. ABI Research forecasts that the
subscriber base of HD-TV services will
continue to increase to 57% of total
pay-TV subscribers in 2019. As competition in the pay-TV market has
increased, operators continue to offer
more HD programming services,
advanced set-top boxes and innovative
services to boost pay-TV ARPU.
ABI Research anticipates that the
worldwide pay-TV subscriber base will
reach 1.1 billion subscribers in 2019.
Increasing broadband connectivity will
help IPTV market growth. “The IPTV
market is likely to grow at a faster pace
than other platforms, with a CAGR of
nine per cent over the next five years
to reach 160 million subscribers in
2019. The global pay-TV market is
expected to generate $317.5 billion in
2019,” added Khin Sandi Lynn, industry
analyst, ABI Research.
16 ADVANCED-TELEVISION.COM
Graphyne TV
from ADB
DB has enhanced the functionality in its user experience framework, Graphyne
UX, and launched Graphyne TV, a
bundled offering featuring the
Graphyne UX and ADB’s UnifyTV,
the recently-launched application
environment that provides a ‘write
once, run anywhere’ set of application programming interfaces (APIs)
for the development of multi-screen
services.
A
delivery of linear, ondemand, OTT and other
services to multiple
devices. Graphyne TV
enables operators to easily
provide exactly the same
set of services to all subscribers’ screens, reducing
service development costs.
The Graphyne UX is claimed to be the
first user experience to manage and present all media identically - from a user’s
photos and music all the way to OTT and
DVR content - on any device. It delivers
the same fluid, elegant user experience on
all devices: set-top boxes, Android HDMI
sticks, STBs, Android/iOS tablets/phones
and PCs.
By combining the Graphyne UX with
UnifyTV, operators have access to
Graphyne TV supports linear TV, DVR,
on-demand, multi-room/multi-screen and
OTT. The latest version of Graphyne UX
features a new global search function and
personalisation at the subscriber level with
the integration of user lists, micro banners, and parental locking synchronised
across all the screens in the home. Service
providers can now customise the Graphyne
user experience to match their branding
and tailor their deployment to closely
match their available network services.
Enhancing flexibility and performance,
the new version features profiles that are
carefully designed to support different user
devices and applications, from HDMI
sticks to multi-room servers. Furthermore,
a new light version of Graphyne TV supports ADB’s entry-level and legacy set-top
boxes. Also new is support for standalone
devices for those operators who are not yet
ready for multi-screen.
ADB says the launch of Graphyne TV
gives service providers a complete multiscreen client software solution for the
UnifyTV’s multi-tier Software
Development Kit (SDK) to easily build
additional multi-screen ap X