Research: STBs can adapt to have a role in OTT
market
The Set-top Box Innovations and Trends report from research firm Parks Associates
notes that traditional pay-TV has declined from an adoption rate of 75% to 62% in
US broadband households between Q1 2017 and Q1 2020, as a result of increased
OTT consumption, which has led a subsequent decline in set-top box adoption.
OTT services allow households to access premium video content without a set-top
box, forcing a change in
the relationship between
set-top box makers and
cable/satellite operators.
Content developers
and networks are now
streaming content
directly to consumers
or distributing through
OTT service providers.
In some cases, multiplesystem
operators (MSOs)
are launching their own
streaming devices or
creating offerings similar to vMVPDs (virtual multichannel video programming distributors)
with the goal of recapturing pay-TV cord-cutters or cord-nevers.
“The set-top box does have a role in this market, but it will have to adapt,” advised Dr
Kenneth Wacks, contributing analyst, Parks Associates. “For one, it can serve as the device
to aggregate the variety of different services coming into the households and present
them in a personalised and attractive UI for an improved consumer experience. They can
also integrate other use cases and innovations, such as voice control and smart home
controls, to expand the set-top’s role in the home.”
more focused on bringing personalisation
and simpler, more useful content discovery.
Providing targeted advertising services is one
way to do so.
Targeted connected TV advertising has
emerged as a significant revenue generating
opportunity for NSPs. Analysts at Juniper
Research have projected that AI-based
targeted advertising will grow from $294
billion in 2019 to reach $520 billion by 2023.
There is a growth opportunity for pay-TV
providers to seamlessly integrate and display
targeted advertising, converting idle TV screen
space in the navigation environment into
valuable advertising inventory
and granting them flexibility in
delivering the right offering to
existing and new subscribers,
including options for reduced
price subscription packages and
additional content in a time
where discretionary spending is
under pressure.
Is there still a need for a
service provider to have
a physical presence in the
home? If so, what is this
device likely to be?
AirTies: It remains essential
for service providers to
maintain a physical presence
in the home, and the most critical device is
the home gateway. The gateway serves as
the central hub to enable broadband access
(PCs, phones, tablets), video, IP-calling, home
office, smart home and IoT services, online
gaming, telemedicine, and more. Central to
this experience is ensuring that gateways
include next-gen Smart WiFi software that
can intelligently direct consumers’ devices
to the best available channel and band
(2.4GHz and 5GHz), according to the realtime
network conditions in the home. In
addition, the gateways will support cloudbased
optimisation tools that give service
providers visibility into their
subscribers’ WiFi performance
and allow remote diagnostics
and troubleshooting capabilities
for all connected devices.
Broadband Forum: There
is a growing opportunity for
traditional CPE functionality to
be virtualised within the network
and not in the CPE such as with
the Broadband Forum Cloud
C.O. work and such standards
as TR-317. This gives the
opportunity to move away from
more expensive physical CPE or
at least as an evolution to reduce
truck rolls and CPE upgrades.
Furthermore, there is less
need for a service provider to have a presence
in the home if the consumer device is TR-069
and now TR-369 USP standards-driven and
enables the USP open source agent to sit on
any third party consumer device. This could
be seen as a CPE connectivity device as long
as the certification assurances have been
achieved through the Broadband Forum.
In the case of PON Fiber networks, then
interoperability remains key between the
service provider network equipment (OLTs)
and the CPE device (ONT), which is why all the
major equipment vendors need to go through
BBF.247 testing. This will be valid for today’s
GPON networks and the emergence of live
XGS-PON networks.
CommScope: Fundamentally a service
provider owns the home through the access
network connection. This connection can
extend the service provider’s role to the home
and cover entertainment, digital life, working
from home and new services like telemedicine.
Additionally, many service providers are
also adding mobile bundles to converge the
wireless digital life in the home. We see the
continued evolution of various technologies
like DOCSIS 3.1 to 4.0, PON to XGS-PON,
WiFi 6 to 6E and 7, and set-top boxes to smart
media devices and new audio and visual smart
assistants. These technologies allow service
providers to add new services beyond the triple
or quad play today.
Netgem: Service providers absolutely need
to have a presence in the home, in order to
reinforce engagement with their customers,
through a layer of services. Netgem offers TV
and now WiFi Mesh management, which are
two core services used every day.
SAH: Of course, there is a need for a service
provider to have a physical presence in the
home! In order to deliver a good WiFi and
good Internet access through fibre or 5G,
there is no other choice than having a Home
Gateway at home. Furthermore, operators can
use the gateway as a platform hosting many
digital services, such as new innovative ones
like motion detection, enabling security or
identifying falls for elderly assistance. There
is no doubt, the home gateway is there to stay.
Furthermore, TV, media or voice assistant
services need a media device in the home. The
STB by playing the role of super aggregator
aggregating linear and non-linear services
(such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime,
etc.) will play a key role for media distribution
by operators.
Technicolor: There will always be a need
for a device, physical interface to interconnect
with the networks.
ZTE: Yes. OTT boxes, smart home devices,
and the interaction of home-personal health
devices, including trackers, watches, bracelets,
etc will see more devices. All of these devices
will form an ecosystem with CPE at the core.
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