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modularity, enabling shorter time to market for
new technology breakthroughs. In order to
benefit from these advantages, the operator
must be able to work directly with each of their
SoC suppliers and OEMs to implement the
operator controlled root-of-trust.
NAGRA: NAGRA is securing RDK
deployments and PoCs in Europe.
Red Bee Media: All initiatives to increase
interoperability and deliver some level of
standardisation are to be welcomed. We
endeavour to support a wide range of
operating environments with our services.
S3: We are passionate supporters of RDK. We
believe that the shared source collaborative
approach that it is based on represents a great
opportunity to accelerate our rate of
innovation as an industry. We are providing
system integration services to device
manufacturers and technology vendors to
assist them in bringing RDK-based solutions
to the market. This is in addition to our
responsibility for operating the RDK code
management facility through which licensees
access and contribute to the ongoing evolution
of the official RDK code base.
SoftAtHome: SoftAtHome is part of the
RDK community. We are in discussions with
some of the major RDK contributors to
develop the relevant technologies. The goal of
SoftAtHome is not to develop specific
technologies, but as far as possible make use
of existing standardised components.
Technicolor: We were one of the first
companies to sign the RDK agreement several
years ago, and we have been working with
RDK since that time for our network service
provider customers who require or are best
served by RDK technology.
Euromedia: Any other general
observations/predictions for the sector?
ABOX42: The biggest challenge we are going
to solve is the trend for operators to combine
their services with fast moving retail offerings
like VoD and SVoD services. The challenge lies
in giving 3rd party services the same security,
manageability and upgradeability as the
traditional TV services.
AirTies: The trend toward content massively
streamed in every corner of the house is clear.
Albis: For operators building a new economy
of scale, we see hosted cloud solutions based
on cloud and web technologies, and offering
white label services, becoming more and more
important in reducing OPEX and CAPEX.
Alcatel-Lucent: Before they can deliver what
viewers want, MSO networks must be
effectively scaled for any screen. Innovations
in IP video architecture, paired with high
capacity PON/fixed access solutions, will allow
MSOs to respond to the challenges listed
above and embrace the opportunities. By
24 EUROMEDIA
ultimately migrating to IP video, MSOs can
realise the full potential of cloud TV where
advanced video services are hosted in the
cloud and streamed to consumer-owned
devices over a unified IP video/CDN
infrastructure.
EKT: The STB market consolidation has
made the biggest players even bigger. This is
good news for the biggest operators who are
also consolidating. But worldwide there are
many quality operators that will now loose the
focus of the top STB vendors. We see that this
market segment needs a new generation of
partners that are flexible enough to handle the
diverse requirements yet large enough to
deliver high volume STB units are an
attractive price point.
Entone: Smart devices and home
connectivity are changing the way consumers
discover, watch and share the television
experience. More than half of TV viewers use a
laptop or smart device while watching TV, and
2/3 of TV viewers use some OTT video
application at least monthly. As these trends
continue and new trends emerge, it’s clear the
STB has to evolve to remain relevant. At the
same time, until all video is delivered from the
cloud directly over IP networks, there will
remain the need for devices that adapt legacy
video, encryption and storage to work with
smart devices.
Freesat: To meet the demands of consumers
and the economic realities of content
providers, television services are going to be
provided into the home in a variety of ways for
the foreseeable future. However this needs to
be presented to consumers in a consistent way
on any device they choose to view the content
on. The challenge for the industry is to merge
these content sources together. This requires
common rights for consumption in the home
and a common measurement approach so
every view can be appropriately monetised.
NAGRA: Speed of Change - This is becoming
another problem for CTO and consumer alike.
While the coming together of the Internet and
Broadcast worlds seems logical, there is a
fundamental difference in the two
technologies. The broadcast world has a
certain constant and we can still receive TV
signals on very, very old television and
STB/CPEs, however, the Internet multi-media
domain has seen devices (computers and
companion screens) develop rapidly and then
just as quickly fail to do the job they were first
intended for.
Netgem: We do not have a strong presence in
the USA, and RDK seems mostly centred on
the USA at the moment but we are watching
and will be ready to adapt, in a similar way to
what we have done for HbbTV in Europe –
that has allowed rapid deployments of the best
On-Demand applications such as BBC iPlayer
or YouTube.
Red Bee Media: The way that we experience
television is still evolving and the distinctions
between linear and OTT are blurring as we
time, place and device shift. The flexibility and
data insights that IP delivery provides are not
yet fully realised so it is important that we
continue to experiment and innovate.
Rovi: It’s a great time to be in the pay-TV
sector. While the industry continues to
consolidate, the end consumer continues to
look to consume the best quality content in a
place and time that suits them, no longer
bound by a traditional schedule. This presents
a great opportunity across the value chain as
the industry evolves to meet these needs.
S3: We expect to see continuing growth in the
use of software and software development
methodologies across the sector. An increasing
number of features traditionally [\[Y[