cablemedia_1 27/02/2015 15:48 Page 3
MONITOR
European cable operators
to accelerate growth
ccording to consultancy
firm Solon Management,
executives from leading
European cable operators expect
an accelerated growth rate,
forecasting a revenue increase of
6% per year until 2016. The 6th
Solon Survey of European Cable
Communication, underlines the
ongoing success of the cable
industry. The survey also reveals
that they foresee a further
increase in profitability: EBITDA
margin is expected to reach 51%
on average in 2016.
A
own video-streaming products or to
integrate them into their offerings.
“The assessment of both strategic
alternatives is largely driven by a
company’s competitive position.
However, recent trends see a
development towards the latter
strategy, i.e., the integration of these
video-streaming platforms,” he
advised.
The survey notes that broadband is
by far the largest revenue and EBITDA
growth driver for the industry. The
marketed bandwidth of European
cable operators was on average
The Solon Survey is based on the
feedback of executives at 14 leading
European cable operators from 12
countries. Solon conducts this survey
in cooperation with CTAM Europe
every two years. It is one of the most
comprehensive strategy and
benchmarking studies for the
European cable industry.
Survey results show that the
industry´s top management attention
is focused on next generation TV,
which is a defensive move due to
increasing competition from DSL /
Fibre-Players and – in Pay-TV – from
companies such as Netflix and
Amazon.
According to Matthias Hamel,
managing director, cable operators
have the choice to compete with
companies such as Amazon Instant
Video or Netflix by developing their
48Mbit/s in H1 2013. By 2016, cable
players expect this to increase to over
150Mbit/s.
“Cable players will continue to
utilise their network advantages.
Standard products with over
150Mbit/s download speed and top
products with much higher throughput
represent a challenge to all competing
infrastructures,” Hamel noted.
In terms of new customer
segments, the cable industry focuses
especially on business clients. B2B is
forecast to be the second largest
growth driver (after broadband) to
2016
Hamel sees great potential but also
corresponding challenges: “There is no
reason to assume that cable operators
should not be able to replicate their
B2C success with SME customers.”
4 Cable Media
RDK expands global
DVB support
R
DK Management – the joint venture
between Comcast, Time Warner Cable,
and Liberty Global created to administer
the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a standardised
software bundle for powering customerpremises equipment (CPE) - is now providing
additional support for the Digital Video
Broadcasting (DVB) standard that is widely
used throughout Europe and other parts of the
world. Specifically, in-band DVB Service
Information
(DVB-SI) elements are now available to the RDK
community.
The RDK is a pre-integrated software bundle
that provides a common framework for powering
customer-premises equipment (CPE) from TV
service providers, including set-top boxes (STBs),
gateways, and converged devices. DVB-SI
provides RDK-based devices with critical, in-band
table of contents and data required for Electronic
Program Guides (EPGs) and other key services.
Notably, in-band DVB-SI provides a high
degree of data reliability for TV service providers
that operate one way networks, or that are in the
process of transitioning to two way networks, a
common situation across Europe and other global
regions. This new RDK capability adds to
previously supported DVB components such as
teletext and subtitles released in 2015.
“Given the RDK’s global reach and appeal, it
was imperative to deliver DVB-SI functionality to
support legacy networks,” said Steve Heeb,
President and General Manager of RDK
Management, LLC. “Thanks to a dedicated
working group led by ARRIS and Liberty Global,
operators in Europe and other parts of the world
can more easily adopt the RDK across their
markets.”
“ARRIS is fully committed to the success and
adoption of the RDK in Europe, and around the
world,” said Larry Robinson, president, customer
premises equipment at ARRIS. “We’re very proud
to have helped drive the process and
development of a DVB-SI solution that will have
widespread applicability to our customers,
prospects, and the broader RDK community.”
The RDK was created to accelerate the
deployment of next-gen video products and
services. The RDK provides a common interface
to SoCs, acting like a ‘universal SoC adapter’,
which enables the operator to focus and innovate
at the revenue-generating services layer. To date,
the RDK has been licensed by more than 20
operators globally, but its reach is far broader.
ADVANCED TELEVISION