ibc_ibc 28/11/2013 16:51 Page 1
or anyone wishing to
see the future of
television, they only
had to travel a few yards in
Hall One at the RAI
Exhibition and Convention
Centre in Amsterdam. One
senior executive at a major
vendor noted that each day
in walking down the aisles to
grab a coffee, he saw no
fewer than half a dozen show
booths offering visitors the
chance to ‘See the Future of
TV’. “They can’t all be right,”
he quipped. So what were
some of the emerging trends
and expectations for the
future?
According to Sam Blackman,
CEO and co-founder of Elemental
Technologies, the trends are
aligning for the company’s
solutions, with software, the cloud
and IP delivery taking over from
dedicated hardware chips, onpremise storage and processing,
and legacy distribution. “Only
Elemental takes advantage of
these three trends, with the most
powerful, off-the-shelf platforms
in the industry,” he told
advanced-television.com.
Keith Wymbs, VP of
marketing, revealed three major
customer wins. OTT movie
retailer Access Digital
Entertainment is using Elemental
Cloud to power two new video
streaming services. Earlier this
summer, the Sydney-based
operator used Elemental Cloud to
launch ezyflix.tv, Australia’s first
UltraViolet-enabled video-ondemand and electronic sellthrough service for connected
devices. Access Digital
Entertainment plans to use
Elemental Cloud to expand its
streaming services across Europe
with the launch of WowHD.tv
later in 2013.
Elemental Live systems are
streaming 82 linear television
channels 24×7 including eight
HD channels to viewers online
across multiple devices for
Wilmaa GmbH, a Swiss OTT web
F
28 EUROMEDIA
without the bandwidth
requirements. Although
unclear as to a specific
launch date, NPTV will
offer TV-as-a-service
on a platform that
renders multi-sourced
video in real-time, with
the ability to deliver
interactive video to a
range of devices,
including set-top boxes,
smart TVs,
smartphones, tablets
and PCs.
The technology behind NPTV
will put the viewer in the
producer’s seat, giving them the
capability to view multiple video
feeds, live previews, multi-camera
viewing, graphic effects and
custom overlays on the viewer’s
stream – all with zero latency.
NPTV CEO Harri Koponen
said that cloud technology had
changed the music and film
industry with services such as
Spotify and Netflix, and that the
aim was for NPTV to be the same
game-changer for the broadcast
industry. “NPTV will dissolve the
walls between broadcasters,
viewers, content developers and
advertisers, offering rich
interactive capabilities within TV
shows that not only improve the
viewer’s experience, but offer
businesses and developers a new
route to market.”
NPTV will let viewers choose
IBC 2013
4K and Ultra-High
Definition were
dominant themes at
Europe’s leading
broadcast technology
show, reports Colin
Mann.
television provider. Wilmaa plans
to scale its Elemental Live
deployment to support several
hundred channels in the future
for its TV service.
Elemental Server and
Elemental Conductor are
providing file transcoding and
system management for the
Telefónica Global Video Platform
(GVP) video-on-demand network.
Elemental systems accelerate file
conversion for Telefónica video
entertainment services, including
authenticated OTT content to
Android, Apple or Windows
mobile devices and connected
TVs from Samsung and LG, and
simultaneously to Microsoft
Media Room set-top boxes.
INTERACTIVE. Cloud
computing platform NPTV was
demonstrating its interactive
video technology which offers
Red Button-style interactivity
how they experience live
television events, with the option
to view real time statistics, the
action from preferred camera
angles, revisit any angle and
point of action they want and
post views on social media
streams.
According to Koponen,
formerly the COO at Rovio
Entertainment – famous for
creating mobile app Angry Birds
– viewers crave choice and
control today and suggested that
this is exactly what NPTV will
provide. “Television is evolving,
in the future, instant purchases
straight from TV commercials
will become the norm. The basis
for this evolution will be the
interactive, cloud-based, TV-as-aservice that allows broadcasters
to deliver video content with little
to no investment in
infrastructure.”
CARDLESS. Conax has revealed
details of its new Cardless CA
solution.“We said that cardless
content security couldn’t safely
be done; it can be done now,”
stated Conax CEO Morten
Solbakken.
Fully integrated in Conax
Contego, the new Cardless CA
solution is expanding the Conax
Contego client portfolio, meaning
that Conax Smart Cards and
Conax Cardless can seamlessly
co-exist in an operator’s
ecosystem. Now operators can