TV Everywhere 1 | Page 19

ott story_ott cover story 21/04/2015 20:35 Page 5 The Nordic nextgeneration online TV services will launch later in 2015 and the multi-year deal will see content management and preparation, DRM, subscriber management and billing and advertising insertion services for multiple devices and platforms handled by Bonnier Broadcasting and Ericsson. C More will also be supported across multiple platforms, including the web, iOS and Android devices. According to Ericsson, the platform takes away the complexities and challenges for broadcasters of deploying Internet-delivered catch-up and online TV services to a myriad of connected devices. “In the massive digital transformation we are currently undergoing, we have to become even more user-friendly in everything we do by putting technology in the front seat together with prime local content. We have been working closely with Ericsson for many years and they were the natural choice of partner for the launch of Nordic SVOD service C More,” said Almqvist. According to Thorsten Sauer, head of broadcast and media services at Ericsson, consumers want access to content anytime, anywhere and on any “We had to kick in the door.” Mattias Hjelmstedt, CEO, MagineTV device, which is something TV4 is providing through its platform-agnostic strategy with the Ericsson Managed Player being designed to help its clients meet the needs of their audiences in an everchanging landscape. SHARE. Mattias Hjelmstedt, CEO and founder of MagineTV, noted that its predecessor companies had been involved in TV streaming going back to the 1990s, but that the live TV concept was not ready until 2010. “With VoD, you’re trying to take share off television,” he said, warning that you just can’t launch a service without the quality of [linear broadcast] TV. According to Hjelmsted, there’s often a lack of a regulatory framework. “We had to kick in the door,” he admitted, suggesting that the fact that “big players” are heading in was a validation of the market. “There’s still a lot of learning to be had, such as with contract rights, looking at all platforms, not just one.” Alluding to the ultimate demise of OTT entertainment streaming service Aereo, and recent court rulings regarding TV Catchup, he concluded that ‘hijacking’ of rights was not to be viewed favourably and warned that if some OTT players business models were successful, they risked killing off those that were feeding them. Offering advice for potential market entrants, he suggested that consumers don’t shift behaviour easily. “Build on existing services and then disrupt.” He felt that the User Interfaces needed to ev