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In-Stat: Web-to-TV Video Streaming Services to Drive Nearly 3 BUSD in Revenue by 2013

The under-35 adult population in the United States has already adopted Web-to-TV video capability, reports In-Stat (www.in-stat.com). The company predicts that revenue from Web-to-TV streaming services will grow to 2.9 BUSD in 2013.
“Once Web-to-TV video become simples and convenient, mass consumer adoption will follow quite rapidly,” says Keith Nissen, In-State analyst. “Our primary research shows that users want a variety of their consumer devices to enable a web-to-TV video experience.” Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Over 40 percent of young adult US households view internet video on the TV at least once per month.
• Within five years, the number of US broadband households viewing Web-to-TV content will grow to 24 million.
• Already, 29 percent of 25-34 year olds with game consoles in the US use the devices to watch streaming video off the internet.
• In five years, there will be 7.4 million US broadband households that use media center PCs for streaming Web-to-TV content.
• TV networks and pay TV operators currently view online TV as additive to pay TV services, but Web-to-TV will ultimately force a complete restructuring of today’s video.

Net Neutrality Not so Neutral

Net neutrality, as it turns out, is not so neutral after all. In Ericsson’s view, the central consideration should be how to balance the needs of the internet with the needs of the participating networks so that both can adapt and grow to meet the increasing demands of consumers.

Converged Regulation

As the nature of television changes, how will regulation change? Rene Summer, director of government and industry relations at Ericsson, explains the importance of a converged perspective.

Enabling VOD on TV

Award-winning WatchPoint CMS and OpenStream VOD back-office will enable New Zealand and Australian customers to enjoy VOD on the TV.
TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, announced Hybrid Television Services Pty Limited, the exclusive licensee of TiVo® products in Australia and New Zealand, is deploying a complete suite of TANDBERG Television software solutions to enable carrier class Video On-Demand to the television via broadband Internet. Hybrid TV will give New Zealand customers access to a wide range of On-Demand movies and TV programming via their TiVo media device from November. CASPA On-Demand is the brand name for this world of broadband entertainment including new release movies, hit TV shows for the whole family as well as free music videos, artist interviews and music concerts. CASPA represents one of the first and largest implementations of true On-Demand to the television in Australasia. “People want to watch television on the television. This is not only broadcast TV – but also includes TV content delivered over broadband. By enabling VOD movies and television content within the TiVo service we are giving our customers more than free-to-air television…we are providing it all without any late fees or trips to the video store,” comments Robbee Minicola, CEO at Hybrid TV. “We needed a strategic partner that shared our vision for a personalized, multi-screen TV future. What we did not expect, but experienced first hand, was their professional approach and their willingness to stand, side-by-side with us through the entire process…which often resulted in us all working until the wee hours of the morning,” she added. As part of a centralized, multi-territory VOD service, Hybrid TV is using TANDBERG Television’s new, award-winning WatchPoint® Content Management System (CMS), OpenStream® Digital Services Platform on-demand back-office solution, AdPoint® Advanced Advertising Platform and Xport® Producer storage encoding solution. The CASPA On-Demand service will be delivered using progressive download over a subscriber’s existing broadband connection and complements the free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) services available via TiVo receivers in New Zealand and Australia. TANDBERG Television and Ericsson played a critical role in helping Hybrid TV meet its ambitious New Zealand launch deadline, creating a working beta solution within two months and enabling commercial roll-out a month later. Dario Choi, Executive VP & General Manager, Asia Pacific, TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson group, comments: “Hybrid TV is an innovative service provider that is changing the way people watch television. We are proud to be involved in this landmark project and to provide Hybrid TV with our complete suite of software products, which enable efficient VOD management and are designed to deliver the highest quality experience to every device, across every platform. We are really pleased with how fast and painless our integration with TiVo applications and content discovery processes has been. That is a tribute to our open architecture solutions and our professional services."

The ABC’s of VOD

Consumers want to watch their content when they want and where they want. Edward Allfrey, Business Development Director at TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, talks about this desire is driving on-demand content.

Time-Shifted TV Solution Scores High in Diamond Reviews

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, announced that its Xport Time-Shifted TV (TSTV) solution received a 4-Diamond rating in the Broadband Gear Report's (BGR) prestigious 2009 Diamond Technology Reviews.
BGR's Diamond Technology Reviews program provides an objective annual technology and product review for the broadband community and recognizes achievements in product innovation. Top MSO engineering executives with a variety of industry experience serve as third-party judges for the Diamonds. Scores of 4 or above (the highest possible score is a 5) are considered outstanding and reflect a very positive opinion from the judges. The TSTV solution was deemed to be an excellent product with technical features and performance that provide clear and substantial benefits. "The Diamond Technology Reviews judges were impressed by TANDBERG Television’s Xport Time-Shifted Television Solution’s innovative features that empower cable subscribers to personalize their TV experience. In particular, the panelists were excited by the restart functionality as well as the solution’s ability to perform dynamic ad swapping into a time-shifted stream," Laura Hamilton, editor-in-chief at BGR, says. TANDBERG Television’s Xport Time-Shifted TV works with the company’s OpenStream® Digital Services Platform, an open platform that supports VOD and time-shift television in all its forms. Additionally, the solution offers the ability to integrate with any back office environment to produce DelayTV functionality through the use of industry standard interfaces. The product provides three important functions: rights management, recording management and viewing management. "TANDBERG Television has considerable experience in delivering time-shift TV products to market, with Restart and DelayTV deployments worldwide. The Xport Time-Shifted TV solution enable operators to capture and maintain new viewers without the requirement of expensive replication of hardware or expansive use of operational resources," says Andrew Rowe, Vice President of Software Product Management at TANDBERG Television. "It's an honor to have the solution highly rated by the esteemed Diamond Technology Reviews judges." TANDBERG Television’s Xport® Time-Shifted TV solution enables service providers to dramatically expand the number of broadcast channels they can offer as part of a delayed viewing experience (including Restart functionality where consumers can watch the recorded program while the linear version is still on-air). TSTV was designed to manage multiple content receive/record sites simultaneously with a single interface. The solution combines high levels of scalability, centralized management of recording rights, broadcast capture with ‘live TV’ redundancy, and an open architecture that leaves operators free to choose their video server vendors. TANDBERG Television's TSTV solution will be on display at SCTE Cable-Tec Expo from October 28-30, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Read the press release here

What’s hot in compression

At this year’s recent IBC event, Carl Furgusson, head of product management for TV at Ericsson, talks about the hot new compression solutions that were launched.

Open IPTV Forum at IBC

At the recent IBC event in Amsterdam, we talked with members of the Open IPTV Forum about the importance of open standards in the IPTV market, and it benefit it can bring both businesses and consumers.

TV Innovation Award Win for Content Management System

WatchPoint Content Management System (CMS) from TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group has won a TV Innovation Award in the category of Content Storage.
The awards, organized by IMS Research and presented at the Television 3.0 Conference & Expo, recognize the most forward thinking companies who are creating products and services that are driving this new TV paradigm, which is often referred to as TV 3.0. This is the second award for WatchPoint CMS; it was previously honored at the IBC in September 2009 with a CSI Product of the Year Award. The new centralized multiplatform CMS takes the management of VOD services to new levels, enabling operators to expand current on-demand services, introduce them on new platforms and accelerate VOD revenues. “WatchPoint CMS leverages TANDBERG Television’s expertise in each of the areas that comprise the core functionality of an end-to-end, multiplatform content management solution to help our customers deliver more personalized entertainment options, increase content choices and innovative service offerings across multiple platforms,” said Joe Franzetta, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Solutions Business Group, TANDBERG Television. “It's an honor for WatchPoint CMS to be recognized by the judges of the TV Innovation Awards.”

Ericsson and Converged TV Services

In this Televisionary video, we explore what TV convergences means, and where Internet TV and IPTV fits in.

The Individual TV Experience

In this creative school assignment, the complete Ericsson solution is visualized.

Digital broadcast Mobile TV - cellular Mobile TV

Technologies for mobile TV technology are separated in two main categories: digital broadcast technologies and cellular mobile technologies.
Digital broadcast refers to technologies (such as DVB-H) that are not using the cellular networks and require separate frequencies, while cellular Mobile TV refers to technologies only using the cellular network for carrying the service. Digital broadcast There are a number of different technologies for delivering digital broadcast services. Perhaps the most well-known is DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld), which is an ETSI standard largely based on a specification for digital terrestrial television (DVB-T), adding to it a number of features designed to take account of the limited battery life of small handheld devices. Other well-known technologies for digital broadcast are DMB, ISDB-T and MediaFLO. The rest of this text focuses on cellular Mobile TV. Cellular Mobile TV In contrast to digital broadcast Mobile TV, cellular mobile technologies support three different transmission modes: unicast, multicast, and broadcast. Unicast refers to point-to-point connections, where data is transmitted from a single source to a single destination, such as from a content server to a mobile terminal. Broadcast and multicast are both point-to-multipoint transmission modes. Broadcast means that the same content is sent to all users, while multicast means that the content is sent to a set of users who subscribe to the data. GSM and 3G were not originally designed for broadcast/multicast, but through the 3GPP standard MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service) broadcast/multicast services for GSM and WCDMA are possible. Mobile TV versus traditional TV Mobile TV involves so much more than bringing the traditional TV to the mobile screen. It marries the services and behaviors associated with mobile phones with television content. Mobile TV via cellular networks allows viewers to enjoy personalized, interactive TV with content specifically adapted to the mobile medium. Beside the freedom of watching traditional (linear) TV wherever you are, Mobile TV also enables on-demand TV and podcast TV (also referred to as push TV) along with services such as voting and chatting. Cellular Mobile TV offers both down and up link communication capabilities, and as a consequence, supports interactive and personalized TV services. The personalization features inherent to a cellular network enhance the consumer experience as well as offer operators new revenue streams. One is advertising, which is likely to play an even more important role in Mobile TV than in traditional TV, because of the possibilities to tailor ads to individual consumers. Cellular networks is a fast track to Mobile TV Since the network is in place and the spectrum is already allotted, the capex investments in cellular Mobile TV technology are limited compared to building a new digital broadcast network. Additionally, as no dedicated terminal is required, the user’s ordinary phone – EDGE, 3G or LTE - works from day one. For cellular Mobile TV, indoor coverage is not an issue. It is already taken care of in the network build-up for voice services. The wide deployment of EDGE in GSM networks, enabling unicast transmission, makes this an attractive platform for Mobile TV services. EDGE Evolution improves the conditions for cellular Mobile TV even further. With existing 3G networks, operators can smoothly migrate to MBMS when suitable, with no additional systems and spectrum requirements. WCDMA/HSPA/LTE – meeting mass market capacity requirements Many WCDMA cellular operators run Mobile TV services today. With the introduction of HSPA capabilities, the packet data performance in WCDMA networks increases significantly both regarding peak rates and capacity, which means that more Mobile TV users can be served simultaneously and/or enjoy higher resolution services. With LTE, the bit rate and cell capacity will be much higher than for HSPA. We can hence foresee a continuously increasing capacity for providing Mobile TV services on the cellular networks. MBMS It is expected that, in the short term, the majority of the use cases of Mobile TV will be supported by unicast and on-demand services. However, as the adoption of Mobile TV grows to mass market volumes, broadcasting capabilities will become increasingly important. Through MBMS the same radio network channel can be shared by all users watching the same TV show in the same area at the same time, which enables efficient network capacity usage. However, a broadcast bearer requires more radio resources than an average unicast bearer, because it always has to be configured for the “worst case.” Therefore, broadcast bearers are best suited for the most popular shows, while unicast can be used for additional programs and on-demand content. Mobile TV is happening worldwide More than 200 operators worldwide have launched Mobile TV services. Of these the vast majority are unicast cellular Mobile TV deployments.

Quest for Growth in Turbulent Times

Capgemini Consulting, the strategy and transformation consulting brand of Capgemini Group, analyses revenue stimulation strategies for Telecom and Media players.

3D comes into focus

The hottest topic at this year’s IBC was 3D. How are Ericsson and TANDBERG Television already delivering this future TV viewing experience?

IPTV in the Middle East

Mario Pino from Etisalat talks about the important role Ericsson’s award-winning IPTV solution plays in his Middle-Eastern market. Watch the video

Ericsson goes for mass-market penetration with Mobile TV

Ericsson is reshaping its Mobile TV offering, going for mass-market penetration in growth markets by providing an excellent cross-platform end-user experience that is also available for low-end terminals.
Rickard Damm, Head of Digital Media at Ericsson’s Multimedia Division, says that the company is now focusing on unicast transmission over cellular networks, supporting linear TV and Video-on-Demand (VoD). “We will continue to support the 3G-standard Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS). What we see now, however, is an evolution towards dedicated streams (unicast) with higher bit rates to support bigger screens.” Damm says the key selling points of Ericsson’s Mobile TV & Video (MTV&V) offering are: excellent end-user experience, a best-in-class streaming server and simplicity of operation. A key component of the Ericsson MTV&V solution, especially for targeting users in growing markets, is the Browser Based Implementation of Clients (BRIC), which gives end-users a good experience even on low-end terminals, supporting features such as Electronic Programming Guide (EPG), fast channel switching, fast forward, and rewind, Damm says. The first release of BRIC was available in Q2 this year, and an improved version will be installed with key customers later this year. Ericsson’s MTV&V offering works on GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA infrastructure, LTE will also be supported, Damm says. Alongside BRIC, going for mass-market reach, Ericsson’s MTV&V offering also supports high-end terminals, requiring a more advanced GUI. Damm says that mobile TV uptake among consumers has not always gone as anticipated, with many deployments still not showing the uptake that was initially expected. There are several reasons for this, such as the operators charging for data traffic or the content not being attractive. Today, most operators launching Mobile TV services can learn from others’ mistakes and create immediate success. “Currently we see the biggest momentum in certain markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries) where large-scale 3G rollouts are happening. I believe an attractive mobile TV offering will be an important part of the 3G mix consumers are prepared to pay premium fees for.” The proliferation of netbooks will impact the mobile TV consumption, Damm says, especially in mature markets. “People will consume a lot of audiovisual content on these devices. Adding mobile TV will be a natural step.” “I see huge possibilities for the developer community to tap into the mobile TV business, especially on the client side, developing niche applications,” Damm says.

Network neutrality: a principle regulators should embrace or avoid?

Ovum analyst Matthew Howett explores the topic of network neutrality, the principle that network operators should give equal treatment to all the traffic on their networks, and how it applies to telecom operators around the world.
By Matthew Howett Network neutrality is the principle that network operators should give equal treatment to all the traffic on their networks. This can be further broken down to mean (a) access to the last mile and/or (b) intelligent network design. Unfortunately the debate so far has been mostly ideological and political rather than grounded in science and network design, as such keeping to a single definition (Ofcom has proposed as many as eight) is notoriously difficult and therefore in many respects the topic remains ill defined. On one side are those who support the principle of neutrality who argue that without legislation there will be less choice of content and that the innovative environment in which the Internet was created will no longer exist. On the other side, we have those who believe that the Internet needs to evolve and that prioritisation of traffic could benefit both providers and consumers. Made in America The debate started when the US decided to reform their outdated telecom laws in 2003. Since then it has simmered away, largely confined to activist’s Internet blogs. However, recent interest has been reignited following the merger of America’s largest telecom firms. AT&T made a commitment to embrace the principle of network neutrality for a period of two years, or until the FCC legislates – whichever is sooner – in order to win FCC approval of the merger with AT&T and BellSouth Corp. As part of the commitment IPTV and VPNs were to be excluded. Prior to this, in 2004, the FCC unanimously adopted four principles of network neutrality. To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the Internet consumers are entitled to: · access the lawful content of their choice, · run applications and use services of their choice, subject to law enforcement, · connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network, · competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers. Adhering to a basic set of principles may be a good way forward. By doing this the regulator has avoided intervening in the policy debate and as such has provided sufficient flexibility for all stake holders to innovate and find an acceptable solution. Nevertheless the FCC has reserved the right to impose access requirements should circumstances warrant doing so. What is the principle? Having divided the issue into either one of access and/or one of network design it becomes clearer what the specifics of the debate are. Concerns over blocking content are largely unfounded. If traffic prioritisation did exist it would run in parallel to existing arrangements and consumers would continue to have access to all content as arrangements stand today. In countries, such as the US, where there is less competition amongst ISPs at a retail level, this part of the debate might me more relevant. The situation in the UK is quite different because there is a greater level of competition at the access level brought on by the requirement of BT to un-bundle the local loop. Even so, competition problems relating to access restrictions at the last mile are relatively easy to fix with traditional regulatory action. For instance, if there is a concentration of market power at this level then the EU may be able to designate providers with SMP (significant market power) and impose obligations to correct this. Unfortunately network neutrality advocates have made this issue the focus of the debate and have largely ignored the more important one of network design. The network design element is concerned with implementing quality of service (QoS). Opponents see a two-tier Internet developing making the Internet as we know it more like a VPN. To a large extent the Internet already operates on a two-tier level - consider the road analogy. Consumers have the choice of the vehicle they buy that gives them access to the roads (you can currently choose the speed of your Internet connection and are charged accordingly – much the same as with cars). However not all roads are B roads, there are A roads, dual-carriage ways and most importantly motorways. People make the choice to use these roads based on the needs of their journey. They can, if they choose, even opt to pay more and take a toll road. It is important to provide consumers with such choices when accessing the Internet. However on both the roads and on the Internet there is often a problem of congestion. This is because when using local roads (or the last mile) there are often too many users with little possibility to accommodate more traffic – at least up to a point. Therefore with roads, innovative schemes such as congestion charging have been introduced. It is also often ignored that traffic conditioning is already relatively widespread in the Internet we know it today and so far this has not hurt consumers and has in fact almost certainly enriched their experience. The Internet we use today has evolved from many different approaches which don’t necessarily work well together. Consumers could potentially benefit from prioritised traffic which needn’t result in exclusions - prioritisation can happen in a transparent way; for instance, by choosing to prioritise by category rather than by provider. New business models As telecoms operators around the world move to upgrade their networks new business models will be required. In making these upgrades there are only two ways to recoup the money – either through charging consumers more or pursuing new business models where Internet firms and content providers also pick up some of the bill. Network neutrality would seriously hamper the development of such models. The very future of the Internet depends on there being some level of discrimination. For instance if IPTV is to be successful it requires a minimum QoS guarantee. What should regulators do? The way the Internet is used and what is sent over it has changed dramatically since its creation. It is now much more about media content than simply peer-to-peer communication. At the same time the rules governing the Internet have not kept pace. In the UK, Ofcom have kept relatively quiet about the issue but have made it clear that it’s not their intention to introduce lots of ill thought-out ex-ante regulation simply as a knee-jerk reaction. In doing this they are following a strict principle of not intervening in making policy decisions. However, as a regulator, they have a duty relating to competition, to investment, and to innovation. If action is needed it can be done under the current European Framework of defining markets and establishing whether any providers have SMP and then puts in place remedies such as requiring dominant operators to not discriminate. However, the presence of competition significantly reduces the ability of network owners to use exclusivity arrangements since disgruntled customers can simply transfer their subscriptions to another network – the much touted ‘public backlash’. Market forces should determine regulation In the UK, the debate over access to the last mile and therefore blocking of content is largely irrelevant. Whilst this might be more of a concern in the US, competition law and the perceived public backlash may be enough to prevent regulation. Instead, opponents of net neutrality believe, and rightly so, that if consumers are willing and able to pay for a higher class of service they should be given this choice. We agree that safeguards need to be put in place but these can be best provided by competition policy. Regulation is particularly problematic especially when designed to prevent something that hasn’t yet happened. It should be market forces not regulators that determine what innovation there should be in the industry. If pro-network neutrality legislation were introduced it would be nothing more than a solution in search of a problem. Ovum does not endorse companies or their products. Ovum operates under an Independence Charter. For full details please read more here For full details of Ovum's citation policy, read it here Whilst every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this material, the facts, estimates and opinions stated are based on information and sources which, while we believe them to be reliable, are not guaranteed. In particular, it should not be relied upon as the sole source of reference in relation to the subject matter. No liability can be accepted by Ovum Europe Limited, its directors or employees for any loss occasioned to any person or entity acting or failing to act as a result of anything contained in or omitted from the content of this material, or our conclusions as stated. The findings are Ovum's current opinions; they are subject to change without notice. Ovum has no obligation to update or amend the research or to let anyone know if our opinions change materially.

Shaping the future of content, one small step at a time

A battle between content owners and online services continues to wage within our legal framework. Despite this uncertainty, the legal system has worked to establish a baseline; namely if a company’s business model centers on infringing on copyrighted content, then by most accounts it should be deemed in violation of the law. So what about the online video services?
Read the White Paper

Converged TV

Ericsson has developed a prototype that showcases TV services delivered over fixed and mobile access.
The company has also demonstrated advanced use-cases, such as transferring video sessions and blending TV with communication services. Converged TV

Showcasing solutions at IBC

At the recently concluded International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Ericsson and TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, showcased several solutions to bring audiences into a digital future.

Triple CSI Awards for Televisionaries

At the International Broadcasting Convention, Ericsson and TANDBERG Television were recognized for market leading compression, software and IPTV solutions.
On September 15, Ericsson and TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, won three CSI Product of the Year Awards for its IPTV middleware, Contribution & Distribution (C&D) and content management solutions. The prestigious annual awards, organized by CSI magazine and held at IBC, recognize solutions that demonstrate technology innovation, market leadership and which meet a clear need in the industry. Ericsson and TANDBERG Television won:

• 'Best IPTV technology or service' with Ericsson IPTV Middleware, part of the Ericsson IPTV Solution. This next-generation IPTV service delivery platform delivers advanced time-shift, multi-room and content sharing features and is the world's first commercially available IPTV middleware that is integrated with IMS.
• 'Best workflow/asset management/automation solution' with WatchPoint Content Management System (CMS). This new centralized multiplatform CMS takes the management of VOD services to new levels, enabling operators to expand current on-demand services, introduce them on new platforms and accelerate VOD revenues.
• 'Best Satellite Contribution/Distribution/Transmission Solution' with the TANDBERG RX8200 Advanced Modular Receiver. This is the world's first integrated receiver decoder (IRD) supporting multi-format MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC 4:2:2 decode capability, 10-bit support and SD, HD, and 1080p50/60 decode capability.

"We are very proud that the awards judges have recognized the unique technology capabilities of these products and the contribution they can make to the business of television," comments Staffan Pehrson, Vice President Solution Area TV at Ericsson & President of TANDBERG Television. "These wins highlight the breadth of the Ericsson and TANDBERG Television solutions portfolio and our leadership from compression to software."

The Case for High-Density IPTV by In-Stat

In this white paper, market research company In-Stat explores the case for high-density IPTV in the multi-dwelling unit (MDU). Not only will IPTV offer new revenue opportunities to providers serving these high density environments, but will serve as a differentiator to the properties, helping to attract residents and guests.

Ericsson delivers interactive TV services to cable television operator

Ericsson is enabling Sweden's largest cable television operator, Com Hem, to deliver new advanced entertainment services to its consumers via an interactive TV platform. The new on-demand services will mean viewers can catch up on their favorite TV programs anytime.
The on-demand TV platform supports a wide range of advanced services, such as video-on-demand, catch-up and start-over TV programs and music on-demand, and also includes a flexible interactive portal for Com Hem's new Landlord-Tenant service. The rollout of the new services has started, with around 500,000 subscribers reached by December 2009. Martin Kull, Chief Technology Officer, Com Hem, says: "With the solution from Ericsson, we can provide comprehensive on-demand digital services to our customers and offer viewers a wealth of interactive and personalized TV. Ericsson has brought together and integrated multiple vendors' solutions, from content ingest to set-top box,and created an end-to-end system based on a hybrid digital video broadcasting and IP approach." Jan Wäreby, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Multimedia, Ericsson, says: "This project demonstrates our ability to partner with operators and deliver valuable TV solutions. We have the best-in-class technologies, integration expertise and resources to help operators deploy complex systems that enable new services and increased revenues." As prime integrator, Ericsson is designing, integrating and delivering the TV platform, which includes hardware and software solutions from Tandberg Television, part of the Ericsson group. The platform includes the OpenStream Digital Services Platform, Xport Producer and EQ8096, as well as products from a number of third-party vendors.

Driving Migration to All-HD with World First Launches

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, will launch a number of world first products that will enable more and better HDTV throughout the content to consumer delivery chain at IBC 2009.
TANDBERG These launches will help the broadcast industry make ‘HD the new SD’ without compromising the ‘wow’ factor picture quality that is making high definition such a success. “Our aim is to help broadcasters and platform operators to meet consumer expectations for more HDTV channels and better quality HDTV,” comments Roger Bolton, EVP of compression at TANDBERG Television. “Having provided a quantum leap in MPEG-2 compression performance earlier this year, we are now raising the bar for MPEG-4 AVC HD compression in both the DTH and C&D markets. At IBC we are demonstrating how the combination of better picture quality, higher bandwidth efficiency and lower total cost of ownership will enable the expansion of HD services – and how it sets the scene for all popular content becoming available in HD.” Visitors to the joint Ericsson and TANDBERG Television booth (1:D61) will be able to see the world’s first MPEG-4 AVC HD 4:2:2 system solution for the C&D (Contribution and Distribution) market. The new system includes the world’s first MPEG-4 AVC HD 4:2:2 encoder and professional receiver that support up to 1080p50/60 HD encoding and which offers 10-bit precision. This opens the way to the large-scale migration from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC for the high quality 4:2:2 HD video used in the professional market, where one of the main requirements is moving content from its point of origin to where it will be transmitted. As a result, content owners and broadcasters will be able to deliver higher quality video for the same cost or meet current service requirements with less bandwidth. IBC also witnesses the global launch of the next-generation TANDBERG Television MPEG-4 AVC HD encoder for 4:2:0 video. This provides a 20-30 per cent improvement in compression efficiency compared to today’s best MPEG-4 AVC HD encoding and will enable direct to home providers to carry more HDTV channels without increasing bandwidth costs. This product will help satellite, cable, IPTV and digital terrestrial television operators attract high value viewers with a greater choice of HD content. As part of a TANDBERG Television HD solution, the EN8190 encoder enables an additional HD channel per transponder for satellite operators when compared to alternative compression solutions. For more information, read the press release

The time is now to release the potential of next generation IPTV

The individualized media experience is about enabling a paradigm shift for the way people consume and interact with media and TV content – with any service, using any device, anytime, and anywhere. It won’t immediately change the way you watch TV today, but it will be a catalyst for how you watch it tomorrow.

The debut of device-aware back-office for multiplatform TV

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group will debut the cable industry's first device-aware back-office for multiplatform TV at the CableLabs Summer Conference, August 9-12, 2009 and at IBC, September 11-15, 2009.
Supporting content delivery across "any platform to any device" benefits cable operators seeking to expand on-demand services revenue and enhance their subscriber relationships while minimizing deployment costs. New consumer behaviors, combined with broadband everywhere on multiple devices and an explosion in video content, pose significant opportunities for cable operators looking to deliver a more personalized television experience integrated across the three screens of TV, PC, and mobile. Key challenges within the existing cable infrastructure include the difficulty to re-use subscriber management and billing systems, to re-use content distribution and asset management systems, and to enable new services to subscribers. "TV as we know it is changing and service providers need to offer everything on-demand, because their customers expect it," said Andrew Rowe, Vice President of Software Product Management at TANDBERG Television. "Using the newly enhanced OpenStream system for multiscreen services, cable operators can now take the next step from content aggregator to valued partner by providing their subscribers with a seamless viewing experience across multiple platforms.”

Customer Success Story: OTE Greece

OTE raises the bar for IPTV services in Greece. As Prime Integrator, Ericsson partners with OTE, Greece to successfully roll out an innovative IPTV package which places it ahead of the competition.

Customer Success Story: Volvo Ocean Race

Partnering with Ericsson, Volvo Ocean Race brought an around-the-clock experience to its fans. The Volvo Ocean Race is the longest race in the world, covering 37 000 nautical miles and taking over nine months to complete. Onboard communication have become more and more advanced and this is reflected in the sophistication of the reporting tools being used to relay information back to fans all over the world.

GlobeCast taps Ericsson to bring the Ashes Cricket Series Back to Australia

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, announced today that GlobeCast Australia has selected the company’s encoders and decoders for all its high definition Contribution & Distribution requirements, which includes the distribution of premium sports like the 2009 Ashes Series Test Cricket to the Southern Hemisphere.
GlobeCast Australia, the leading provider of services for International Broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, is also expanding its TANDBERG Television DSNG (Digital Satellite News Gathering) encoding capabilities. In addition, the company is deploying TANDBERG professional receivers for its new GlobeCam miniature camera broadcast initiative, which provides birds-eye-view live video footage from sports events. “Our continued growth across all business areas means we are doubling the size of the Master Control area at our Sydney international teleport during 2009,” comments Andrew Nealon, Commercial Director at GlobeCast Australia. “The new TANDBERG Television equipment in Sydney will help us deliver the best quality high definition video for customers while maximising bandwidth efficiency, considerations that were also important for our DSNG expansion. Reliability, ease of use and local support all figured in this purchase decision.” Dario Choi, Executive VP & General Manager, Asia Pacific, TANDBERG Television, adds: “GlobeCast Australia has a well-earned reputation for high quality and innovative broadcast services in the Southern Hemisphere. We are proud that they have recognized the value of our C&D solutions across three different areas of their business, namely DSNG (mobile digital satellite), Teleport (fixed satellite) and Global Fiber (Fixed Telco). The common thread is GlobeCast Australia’s determination to go the extra mile for their customers and the need for reliable, high quality, bandwidth-efficient video links.”

Ericsson offers an open, flexible IPTV solution with an ecosystem

An important feature of Ericsson’s IPTV solution is a software development kit (SDK) which allows TV portal customization and the smooth integration of TV applications and back-office systems. The offering is enhanced by a growing ecosystem of trusted partners providing consumer applications.
The Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution is a next-generation solution that offers all the necessary components for a successful IPTV service deployment on top of an IPTV-enabled infrastructure. Henrik Ericsson, Strategic Product Manager for IPTV Services and Applications at Ericsson’s Multimedia division, says: “Ericsson’s IPTV Multimedia Solution is open and flexible, and built on proven standards and technologies. It enables customers to tailor the solution to their needs, helping them differentiate themselves from the competition and make additional revenues in a simple and cost-effective way.” The Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution offers much more than traditional TV; it gives the end user an individual TV experience, making it possible to personalize the viewing experience and be more interactive. In addition to broadcast TV, the solution’s offering includes personal video recordings, video-on-demand, time-shift, gaming, parental control, and the remote control of recordings from a mobile phone. The Ericsson IPTV Solution is designed for IMS infrastructure, but also works well without it. Henrik Ericsson stresses that open application programming interfaces (APIs), with an associated SDK, constitute an integral part of the solution. “Through the use of these APIs, the customer can give the IPTV portal their desired look and feel, and smoothly integrate revenue-generating applications and back-office systems,” he says. Ericsson has also started to establish an IPTV applications ecosystem, which, so far, involves a selected set of experienced partners, such as the Swedish company Accedo Broadband. “We have started on a small scale making sure that IPTV applications – which will in part run on set-top boxes with limited capacity – can be developed and executed live efficiently, and that there is a market demand,” Ericsson says. “The long-term goal is establishing a rich ecosystem that includes a large portfolio of consumer applications, some developed by ourselves but the majority by third-party companies using our SDK. This will strengthen our own IPTV offering as well as our customers that have chosen Ericsson’s IPTV Multimedia solution.” And, Ericsson of course, offers the services of developing IPTV applications by its own Global Services IPTV consultants. Henrik Ericsson says Ericsson has a unique position in the IPTV market due to the company’s broad expertise and portfolio in the IPTV area – partly achieved through its acquisition of TANDBERG two years ago – and ability to deliver a full and flexible solution. The next release of Ericsson IPTV Multimedia Solution, 2.2, is scheduled for Q3 2009. A notable feature of this release is a new portal technology using scalable vector graphics (SVGs) which will further improve the graphical user interface and make the IPTV experience unique. Ericsson has won a number of awards for its IPTV solution, such as a Telco TV Vision Award in November 2008 and an IPTV World Series Award in March 2009. Ericsson is very active in the Open IPTV Forum, as one of its founders, and its IPTV solution is aligned with the forum’s architectural releases. “Our strong efforts in the IPTV space is now starting to pay off and many major IPTV operators have shown interest in Ericsson’s IPTV multimedia solution,” Ericsson says.

Consumer Video Vendor of the Year for Asia Pacific

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group, has announced that it has been awarded with the 2009 Asia Pacific Frost & Sullivan Award for Consumer Video Vendor of the Year, thanks to its comprehensive product portfolio and its established market lead with sustained revenue growth and product innovation
Judged by an independent panel of industry experts, TANDBERG Television was given the award due to several factors, including its comprehensive product portfolio which caters to different consumer video application needs and its established market lead with sustained revenue growth and product innovation. Moreover, the awards panel found that TANDBERG Television is acknowledged by service providers and broadcasters across the region as being ahead of the competitive curve for the high quality and customer value enhancement of its products. Commenting on the award to TANDBERG Television, Vidya S. Nath, Senior Industry Analyst, Asia Pacific Information and Communication Technology Practice, Frost & Sullivan said: “With penetration of digital television and video-on-demand services for cable, satellite and telco consistently growing in the Asia Pacific region, global broadcasters and service providers require a competitive blend of acquisition, management and distribution products and technologies that can enable high bit savings and yet deliver superior quality to the consumer. “TANDBERG Television, an Ericsson company, is the only vendor with a comprehensive suite of solutions spanning quality and cost-competitiveness, thus reinforcing its status as a market leader in this space.” The 2009 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Award for Consumer Video Vendor of the Year recognizes the infrastructure vendor that has shown exemplary growth and performance in 2008 in the Asia Pacific video and broadcasting infrastructure market. The scope of consumer video includes software and hardware solutions for video head ends, cable TV and IPTV STBs, IPTV/cable TV middleware, and content delivery systems. “We are proud that Frost & Sullivan has honored us with its 2009 Consumer Video Vendor of the Year award. The award is recognition of the hard work and dedication of our local and international team and of our consistently strong year-on-year performance,” says Dario Choi, EVP and General Manager of TANDBERG Television Asia Pacific.

What consumers want from TV/Video solutions

Based on Ericsson Consumer Lab research, this white paper explores how consumer behavior, trends, drivers and barriers – as well as industry regulations –impact the consumption of TV/video. content.
Traditional TV distributors, as well as telecom service and content providers, are failing to satisfy consumer demand for TV/video services. If they do not respond and adapt to what consumers want, they will become simple niche providers of passive TV/video content. The two primary reasons behind the failure to satisfy consumer demand are unattractive services and lagging regulations. To successfully provide appealing TV/video solutions, the telecommunications industry, as well as providers and distributors of TV/video content, needs to base services and offerings on consumer wants, needs and behavior. This white paper examines the topic of TV/video services, as seen from a consumer perspective. Based on Ericsson Consumer lab research it backs up the problem statement about consumer behavior and trends. It then proposes how regulators and players in the industry can address this behavior and satisfy consumer demand.

Ericsson powers interactive TV for Ucom in Armenia

Ericsson is bringing high-quality, interactive TV to viewers in Armenia through a deal with operator Ucom. Ericsson will deliver its IPTV solution including GPON technology in the first contract of its kind.
IPTV allows viewers to experience the same type of interactivity on their televisions as they are used to on their PCs, with personalized features such as chat, e-voting, web TV and access to social media networks. The IPTV solution for Ucom will also give viewers access to a flexible, customized portal that offers a wide range of broadcast channels, video on demand, an electronic program guide and personal video-recording capabilities. The IPTV services will be delivered via the latest fiber-access technology, known as Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON), supplied by Ericsson. GPON allows the consumer to watch several HDTV channels, download large files from the internet and place voice calls simultaneously without service disruptions. Rollout will start in July 2009. Hayk Yesayan, President of Ucom, says: "We are proud to be the first operator in Armenia to offer IPTV, and are convinced it will be popular with our customers. We chose Ericsson's market-leading technology and services, and capability to help us bring this new offering to market quickly and efficiently." Jan Campbell, Head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, at Ericsson, says: "This deal reflects Ericsson's ability to deliver innovative multimedia solutions. We are delighted to partner with Ucom and help them provide customers with a truly personalized, interactive and high-quality TV experience." Ericsson's IPTV solution for Ucom includes IPTV middleware; a content-distribution platform; the customized consumer portal and GPON technology. The agreement also includes systems integration of operational management tools and consultancy services. Ericsson's GPON fiber-access solution, EDA 1500, provides the highest bandwidth capacity on the market and supports a wide range of applications and services, in particular bandwidth-demanding services such as unicast and broadcast video and TV.

Ericsson 4 wins the Volvo Ocean Race!

Ericsson Racing Team yacht Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael of Brazil, has captured overall honors in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 on the penultimate leg. Fans could watch Ericsson 4 clinch the victory on Ericsson’s Volvo Ocean Race multimedia channel no matter where they were.
For more information, read the article

The world in 2020

How will the world look in 2020? How will we live our lives, what kind of services that we only dream of today will be commonplace? Erik Kruse, senior expert for consumer behavior at Ericsson, talks about the growth areas of the future.

Leading the future of TV

Luminaries in the world of new media and television broadcasting weigh in on Ericsson's position in the market.

Converged TV and IMS

Miguel Blockstrand, Senior Product Manager at Ericsson, discusses how operators can differentiate their TV services to enable success.

The TV World

Explore the new world of TV, as enabled by Ericsson’s Individual TV Experience.
Visit the site

What is the Connected Home?

Eugene Sarmiento, head of Sales Development IPTV at Ericsson, defines what Ericsson means with the term ‘connected home.’

Ericsson in agreement with TeliaSonera for personalized ad solution in Sweden

Ericsson and operator TeliaSonera have signed an agreement introducing a new mobile advertising solution in Sweden which allows companies to offer ads tailored to fit consumers' personal needs and interests.
The two companies have signed a contract for personal mobile advertising the first on the market for this type of commercial system. Personal Pod Advertising is currently being implemented and will be launched commercially during 2009. Mobile advertising is becoming increasingly popular among companies wanting to reach out to specific target groups. With Ericsson's Personal Pod Advertising service, companies with loyalty programs can offer consumers a new way of receiving ads tailored to their specific tastes. The Personal Pod Advertising service, part of Ericsson's Mobile TV solution, allow advertisements to be sent out as podcasts overnight when traffic is low. The solution offers significant benefits for both operators, who earn revenue on ads sent out, and for retail companies, which can track consumer behavior and interact with specific target groups. By making active choices on advertising companies' websites, consumers can create a personal user profile that mirrors their areas of interest. Consumers receive updates on their favorite brands via text, video or radio advertisements sent to their mobile phones. They can also share the information with friends and family, paid for by the advertiser. Mikael Bäckström, President Ericsson Nordic and Baltics, says: "Personal Pod Advertising is a perfect example of Ericsson's expertise in developing innovative multimedia solutions to create new business models and help operators increase revenue streams." Erik Hallberg, Senior Vice President and Head of at TeliaSonera Mobility Services in Sweden, says: "Partnering with Ericsson lets us enter a new market segment offering retail companies a new tool for reaching consumers with specific information and advertising which the consumers themselves have signed on for. This service has also been successfully developed and tested with a media company in Sweden.

TV Everywhere

What is the reality of 'TV everywhere?' Kurt Sillen, vice president of Ericsson's Mobility World, explains the Ericsson vision.

Leading the switch to convergent TV

More than a year after the Televisionary campaign was launched, Ericsson’s TV offering – backed by Full Service Broadband – is leading the way towards convergent TV.

Behind the Scenes of Personal TV

The trend towards personal TV creates significant challenges for network operators. In order to exploit the new business opportunities that are emerging, service providers need content management systems that scale cost-effectively and provide much more flexibility in how content and metadata is managed.

TV in a Time of Turmoil

At the IPTV World Forum in London, Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst for Heavy Reading, talks about how the current financial crisis will affect the TV market – if it will at all.

First IPTV/GPON solution goes live

Ericsson showcased its first commercial end-to-end IPTV solution over a GPON Fiber-to-the-Home network in Saudi Arabia on May 11.
Ericsson’s IPTV solution went live over a GPON network in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) – the world’s first ‘smart city,’ where residents and businesses use the latest technology available. Since receiving the order from Emaar Economic City – the developer of KAEC – on March 8, Ericsson has been installing the IPTV/GPON solution in four residential buildings. The initiative is part of a bigger project awarded to Ericsson last year to provide a multiplay communications infrastructure for the city’s residents. Siva Ratnesan, account manager, New Accounts at Market Unit Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (MUKSA), says: “We have installed GPON OLT, Tandberg IPTV headend and IAP middleware equipment in the basement of the building and each floor has been wired up with fiber optics. GPON ONT has been installed on each apartment floor, and this connects to IPTV set-up boxes in each apartment that are linked to the TV sets." Ratnesan says that the initial IPTV offering is basic but that the plan is to expand the solution from IPTV to triple-play or quadruple-play services in the near future. “Emaar KAEC will be building the solution as the city grows and people move in,” he says. The installation of the IPTV solution in the first building was carried out in record time, taking less than six weeks to complete. Fredrik Landberg, vice president and head of New Accounts, MUKSA says: “It was a great team effort to secure the rapid and successful deployment. We had excellent support from networks, multimedia, services, supply and logistics, both locally and globally. “Delivering leading technology in such a short time shows confidence to operators and other customers. It becomes a showcase for Ericsson not only in Saudi Arabia but also for the rest of the world.” Landberg says it was important for developers to have the system in place for the conference to be able to show that the city and Saudi Arabia are at the leading edge of technology. “This will, of course, also be an attraction for residents who are looking to move in,” he says. “IPTV on Fiber-to-the-Home is not available anywhere else in Saudi Arabia today.”

Making the connected home a reality

Eugene Sarmiento, head of Sales Development IPTV at Ericsson, talks at the IPTV World Forum in London about how Ericsson is answering the demand from consumers for home networking.

The Future is Now

Oran Cassem, VP of TV Solutions at Ericsson, talks at the IPTV World Forum in London about the nearness of converged TV, as well as the technologies that will enable it.

IPTV: the journey to personalized TV

Over the last decade, Pay-TV platform operators have adapted their technologies and business models to incorporate digital TV, interactivity, video-on-demand (VOD), personal video recorders (PVR), and more recently, HDTV. Not surprisingly, most of these innovations have been focused on the home television set – which is where the TV industry has traditionally made its living.

What does TV mean anymore, anyway?

Jeff Cole, director of the USC Center for the Digital Future, talks about the changing definition of television, how the consumer experience has shifted dramatically and what this means for the content providers.

Creating the Individual Cable TV Experience

The expertise of TANDBERG Television and Ericsson stretches beyond cable to IPTV, broadband and mobile networks, making them uniquely well placed to help the cable industry finish what it started with VOD… by making TV more personal.

The Reality of Converged TV

At the IPTV World Forum in London, Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst for Heavy Reading, talks about the necessity of realizing the full vision of converged TV, and the challenges that stand in the way.

Ericsson’s vision of the future of TV to be shown in Boston

As the Ericsson boats approach the Boston stop-over of the Volvo Ocean Race, all eyes are on TV at the May 6th Ericsson and TANDBERG Television custom event.
The event, called ‘the Future of TV in an IP World,’ has been designed expressly for Ericsson’s TV-related customers. It will bring together players across the television value chain to explore a vision for the future of TV, including new business models, consumer demands, and opportunities and challenges enabled through the migration to IP. The event will feature:

• Keynote address by Jeff Cole, Director, Center for the Digital Future, USC Annenberg School. A leading thinker and speaker on the future of TV and the Internet, Jeff was a member of the Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) from 1997 to 2001 and was the founding governor of the ATAS Interactive Media Peer Group.
• Presentation by Alan Breznick, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading.
• Cocktails and networking with live technology demonstrations.
• And, for sport enthusiasts, some hard-to-find optional add-on sailing activities!

There will also be panel discussions with key players in the TV ecosystem covering the following topics:

• Business models in the new TV world (e.g., advertising, interactive TV)
• De-mystifying IP: how can TV stakeholders capitalize on the disruption to our business created by the Internet and IP?
• Ericsson and TANDBERG Television's vision of the "Individual TV Experience," the new consumer paradigm that is driving our industry

More information on the Future of TV in an IP World, including a link to register for the event is available here. Learn more about Volvo Ocean Race.

All eyes on HD

Alan Delaney, Business Development Director at Ericsson, talks to Light Reading at the IPTV World Forum in London about the reality of HD.

Triumph of OTT

Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst at Heavy Reading, talks about how ‘over the top TV’ fits into the future of television at IPTV World Forum in London.

IPTV Rights

Content rights issues are still seen as big stumbling blocks...

TANDBERG Television Introduces Centralized Multiplatform CMS for Service Providers

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson group announced on March 30 the WatchPoint® Content Management System, which enables operators to expand on-demand services to new platforms, achieve accelerated VOD revenue and reduce costs.
The system gives service providers unprecedented visibility of the content that enters their library and throughout the content lifecycle. This system is designed for the centralized management of any metadata format, content type, and workflow process. The file-based content ingested into and stored in the CMS may include VOD programs, advertising, music, and games. WatchPoint CMS increases overall operational efficiency through the automation of customized content processing via a rules management interface and extensible workflow. The system also provides a scalable technology infrastructure for efficient single or multi-screen strategies while enabling increased revenue opportunities by accelerating VOD business on any platform. “This next-generation content management system takes the management of VOD services to new levels of efficiency. It allows operators to deliver more personalized entertainment options, increase content choices and innovative service offerings across multiple platforms," said Andrew Rowe, Vice President of Software Product Management at TANDBERG Television. “With WatchPoint CMS, we make it possible for operators to achieve efficiencies that will help build their brand, profits and market value." WatchPoint CMS leverages TANDBERG Television’s expertise in each of the areas that comprise the core functionality of an end-to-end, multiplatform content management solution. With the new system, operators gain a broad range of business benefits and will be able to:

• Minimize deployment, support, and training costs of content management via a single, scalable content management system;
• Reduce errors and operational costs through the automation and centralized control and monitoring of assets within a unified multi-platform video infrastructure;
• Decrease per-title content processing costs, enabling more efficient management of large content libraries;
• Improve content management and accelerate VOD business opportunities over any distribution platform with advanced operator control;
• Increase overall operational efficiency by performing customized processing of content via enterprise class workflow management; and
• Easily expand VOD services to new platforms including broadband and mobile.

From a central location, service providers using WatchPoint CMS may easily manage assets coming from different content providers, via multiple ingest methods, and with different metadata. Content in the WatchPoint CMS can be controlled and categorized by a variety of methods on any metadata including fields such as actor, genre, studio, descriptive tags, etc. For example, an operator would be able to create a set of promotional rules spanning multiple offerings over different viewing platforms, as desired. The CMS would then interact with other back office software as needed to satisfy the operator's promotional offering campaigns. Using WatchPoint CMS, the options for managing the daily activities of an on-demand business are limited only by the imagination of the operator. TANDBERG Television will host the first public demonstrations of WatchPoint CMS at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 20-23, at its booth SU5108.

Study of CNN's online audience reveals surprises for video on the move

A recent joint research study by CNN International and Ericsson reveal key insights into how global citizens use video on the move. CNN Research Director Ioanna Stagia explains more.

Ericsson to show the individual TV experience in Cannes

Ericsson is set to take their individual TV experience to MIPTV 2009, held in Cannes, France from March 30 to April 2
Ericsson will be highlighting the changing television experience at this year’s MIPTV with panels, demonstrations, and customer meetings. The two panels to be presented are titled ‘Television Everywhere!’ and ‘Mobilizing Social Media: The Power of Communities’ and will be given by two different key speakers within Ericsson. Ericsson’s competence in broadband technology, along with the company’s extensive multimedia portfolio and integration skills mean that it is uniquely suited to make the new, individualized user experience a reality. This will be shown through customer demonstrations given on board the yacht Bulldog. The demos will be of Ericsson’s latest solutions within the following areas: IPTV, Me–On-TV, Mobile Media management including the FIFA and VOR portals, Ad Orchestrator, and Converged Multimedia Services over IMS. For more information, check out MIPTV here.

Ericsson IPTV Middleware wins IPTV World Series Award

Ericsson has announced that the Ericsson IPTV Middleware, part of the Ericsson IPTV Solution, has won the ‘Best IPTV Service Delivery Platform or Client Software’ category at the IPTV World Series Awards 2009.
The Ericsson IPTV solution is the world's first commercially available IPTV ecosystem that is integrated with IMS, and can operate in non-IMS environments or in mixed deployments where services are delivered to both IMS-enabled and non-IMS devices. The latest release of the Ericsson IPTV Middleware was launched at the IPTV World Forum in London this week and is designed to drive the future of converged and blended communications and entertainment services. It is compliant with the Open IPTV Forum Release 1.0 specification and new features include the integration of Internet TV with IPTV, which enables consumers to enjoy web video on the television screen as well as on the PC, in better quality than they are used to on the PC. “We are delighted that the Ericsson IPTV Solution is being recognized for its ground-breaking technical achievements and its ability to dramatically change the television marketplace,” comments Jan Wäreby, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Unit Multimedia, Ericsson. ”IPTV providers using this solution can meet the growing demands for an Individual TV Experience by giving consumers greater control over their content wherever they are. As part of our IPTV solution, the Ericsson IPTV Middleware supports fixed-mobile and TV/communications convergence and enables telecom operators to truly differentiate their services.” Read the blog from Dwight Witherspoon, Director Tactical Marketing at Ericsson

The Asian digital native

Noel Matthews, vice president of business development at TANDBERG (part of the Ericsson group) talks about IPTV in Asia, including the Asian digital native.

The next step in IPTV

With an open IPTV standard now in place, the TV industry is set for far-reaching changes. New products and solutions will soon enter the market, enabling users to select where and when to watch TV and have greater interaction with other viewers. Listen to what Ericsson's Vice President for Technology and Industry, Erik Ekudden, has to say about the evolution of IPTV.
Watch the video

Ericsson at the IPTV World Forum

This year at the IPTV World Forum, held in London from March 25-27, Ericsson will show their strength more than ever as a prime driver of The Individual TV Experience.
IPTV World Forum is the world’s leading IPTV event with more than 200 speakers and 5,500 attendees from all over the world. Stop by the Ericsson area, stand 170, to learn more about Ericsson as the multimedia and infrastructure partner of choice for an IPTV future. For more information about the IPTV World Forum, visit their website

Winning in the Home

There’s a whole world of exciting digital possibilities, challenged by fast changing consumer trends and technological developments. In this forever changing climate you need a partner who has the market knowledge, technology and global experience to evolve with you.

Business leaders demand video on the move

CNN International and Ericsson undertook joint research using CNN’s online audience to assess the effects of emerging technologies on the use of TV over digital platforms, and sharing content across devices.

Understanding digital video compression

The managed delivery of video-based services is not without challenges: the requisite bit rates are high and the quality of service is critical. All the same, it is these requirements that play to network operators’ favor, allowing them to drive the advantages of a managed network. Read the article

Are you an academic visionary?

Ericsson is looking to reward two prizes of 30,000 SEK each to students who submit English-language research papers on one of three Ericsson proposed topic areas around television and media. Entrees can be either a BA/MA/MSc thesis or a PhD/MBA topic paper. Entrees can be submitted between 1 July, 2009 and 1 February, 2010 and the winners will be announced before the end of March, 2010.
Entrees can be on one of the following areas: 1. Competitive impact of networked TV & media distribution by sector specific regulation. 2. The TV media service dividend 3. Networked distribution beyond entertainment The contest consists of two different “race tracks”: 1. BA/MA/MSc thesis, done over one semester or term 2. PhD/MBA topic paper of 12,000-16,000 words Institutions at eligible colleges and universities are able to nominate two contributions per race track. The BA/MA/MSc thesis could be: o An academic analysis, starting with a review of dominating theories, market mechanisms, and empirical evidence of efficiencies, inefficiencies and anomalies within the subject area. o An empirical study with comparative focus between countries or in-depth studies within a country or region. o A cost and benefit analysis applied on identified anomalies, inefficiencies and/or suggested improvements. The PhD/MBA topic paper should be similar in structure to the thesis described above, but with advanced insights and recommendations for market, legislative, or regulatory changes addressing challenges indentified in the topic paper. An ideal entry would have: o A combination of innovative research findings from different fields such as economics, commercial law, media studies, and social studies. o Concise recommendations for further academic research, or suggestions of improvements for industry value chain participants and further action brought to attention to regulatory, competitive and/or legislative authorities. Submissions must be made available to Ericsson in one soft copy via e-mail and one hard copy between 1 July, 2009 and 1 February, 2010. Some questions to get you thinking about the topics… The competitive impact of networked TV & media distribution by sector specific regulation topic has several questions to explore, such as: o How is existing regulation and legislation affecting the possibility of distributors and end-users to personalize their media consumption in terms of having a wide range of content and devices available? o How is the existing value chain able to customize TV and media offering to individuals in terms of what, when, where and which device to consume media? o What, if any, is the impact of regulation and incumbent business on competition, price levels, transaction costs, etc. in delivering a personalized TV and media offering? o What, if any differences exist between managed TV offerings (such as terrestrial TV, satellite, cable and telecom) and unmanaged TV offerings (such as Internet TV, in terms of streaming and download)? o If there is a difference between managed and unmanaged TV offerings, is the source of difference due to regulation, legislation (or lack thereof), business conduct or other? The TV media service dividend: o How are existing regulation and legislation impacting market participants’ ability to realize new media services and applications based on new technologies and/or business models? o For a given media service or business model—what are the typical sector-specific and legislative domains that limit or increase the risk to commercialize the service? Describe the scope of limitations that a given TV and media service provider and distributer have to face. What impact do these limitations and risks have on the media offering and the associated business case? o What are the implications of findings described above for innovation in new services and technologies, social benefits and costs, and end-user choice, cost and price? o Suggest ways to improve benefits based on theory and/or market practice, policy, or market behaviour changes that can improve identified issues. Networked distribution beyond entertainment: o Discuss how using managed and best effort interactive networks to deliver other services besides media is expected to offer a wide range of benefits to society, business and the individual. o Identify the type of services that, according to your analysis, are expected to have the most significant impact (whether in terms of environment, cost, convenience, etc.) on society, business and the individual. Specify these benefits and costs in a structured manner. o Identify the hurdles, if any, in the regulatory and/or legislative domain that can limit or significantly delay the realization of services, such as distance education, commuting, and government information. o Suggest actions that improve the regulatory and legalization conditions to allow realization of the previously mentioned services. Before you choose a topic… These links touch upon some of the key concepts mentioned in topic descriptions. Please familiarize your self with this material before you make your choice. Customization of TV/Media Need for Converged Regulation Three screens on Regulation? Reshaping the TV Business Wikipedia On IPTV OECD work on Digital Content EC: Audiovisual and Media Services, Creative Content Online EC DG Competition, Media Interactive Content and Convergence EC Internal Market Copyright Study European cinema online WIK : Impact of broadband on Growth and productivity Official Rules: ELIGIBILITY: This contest e.g. Race 1 and Race 2 which are separately treated, are open only to individuals admitted from year 2006 to MSc, BA, MA,, MBA or PhD programmers at University of Stockholm, Södertörns Högskola, University of Uppsala and Handelshögskolan i Stockholm. The submission shall correspond to a MSc, MA or BA Thesis or a Topic paper (consisting of 12 000 to 16 000 words) within PhD or MBA candidate program. Thesis and topic papers need be approved by submitters' hosting institution/tutor prior announcement of Ericsson’s winning decisions. If the submission to Ericsson is altered vs. the submission to University/Högskola, any difference needs to be explicitly communicated to Ericsson at the point of submission of the thesis/paper. Differences are only acceptable if they occur due to specific academic conditions set by the submitter's Institution. Companies are not eligible to enter. Employees of Ericsson AB, their parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries, participating advertising and promotion agencies (and members of their immediate family, defined as parents, children, siblings and spouse, regardless of where they reside, and/or those living in the same household) are not eligible. In the event that an Entry is submitted by a team, all individual members of the team must meet the eligibility requirements set forth herein. Submissions should be made available in English language to Ericsson in one soft copy via e-mail and one hard copy between 1:st of July 2009 and 1:st of February 2010. To: Ericsson, at. Rene Summer Torshamnsgatan 23, SE 164 83 Stockholm, Sweden and rene.summer@ericsson.com IPR: All submitted academic results will be retained by Ericsson. The intellectual and industrial property rights to the contest submission, if any, will remain with the participants, except that these terms do not supersede any other assignment or grant of rights according to any other separate agreements between participants, Ericsson and other parties. As a condition of entry, participants agree that Ericsson shall have the right to use, copy and make available the contest submission in connection with Ericsson’s operations, sales, administration, advertising and promotion to the public, including, but not limited to the right to make presentations, screenshots, animations and video clips available to the public for promotional and publicity purposes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ownership of and all intellectual and industrial property rights in and to submission shall remain with the participant. As a condition of entry or acceptance of the prize constitutes permission for, submitters and winners consent to, Ericsson and its agencies to use a submitters and winner's name and/or likeness and entry for advertising and promotional purposes without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law. Participants shall certify that their submission is original and that they are the sole and exclusive owner and right holder of the submitted entry and that they have the right to submit the Entry in the Contest. Each participant agrees not to submit any Entry that (1) infringes any 3rd party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; or (2) otherwise violates law. DATA PRIVACY: Participants agree that personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, stored and otherwise used for the purposes and within the context of the contest and any other purposes outlined in these Official Rules. The data may also be used by Ericsson in order to check participants' identity, their postal address and telephone number, or to otherwise verify their eligibility to participate in the Contest and to receive any prize. Participants have a right to access, review, rectify or cancel any personal data held by Ericsson by writing to Ericsson at the address listed in previous slide. If participant's data is not provided or is canceled participants' Entries will be ineligible. EXPENSES & TAXES: All other expenses not specified herein are the responsibility of the submitting party including winners. THE AWARD MAY BE SUBJECT TO TAXES AT VARYING LEVELS DEPENDING ON THE WINNER´S COUNTRY. IT IS THE WINNERS RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH ALL TAX REQUIREMENTS. Cash prizes will be awarded in SEK. All costs associated with currency exchange are the sole responsibility of the winner. DECISION: Institutions belonging to eligible University/Högskola are welcomed to nominate 2 candidates per race track for Ericsson. However Ericsson will also consider non-nominated submission, hence Ericsson reserves its rights to select winners unconditionally from nominations. Ericsson’s decision to select winners will be made anonymously. Decision criteria's are based on compliance with topic focus and scope as well as the degree of the submitter to combine multiple research field findings. In addition Ericsson’s decision will be significantly driven by the level of insight, quality of proof points and clarity/practicality of recommendations reached in the submission. Decision of Ericsson is final and binding. Ericsson reserves the right not to award any Prizes, if in its sole and absolute discretion, it does not receive a sufficient number of eligible or qualified entries for the Contest. In the event that more than one entry is received with the same or nearly identical submission, only the first such entry received will be eligible. Winner (s) will be notified by email, phone or postal mail, at Ericsson’s discretion. If an academic thesis or topic paper is submitted by a team, the price applies to the submitting team and will have to be shared among team members. All taxes are the sole responsibility of each team member of the winning team. ELIMINATION: Ericsson further reserves the right to disqualify any submission that it believes in its sole and unfettered discretion infringes upon or violates the rights of any third party or otherwise does not comply with these official rules. All Entries must be in English and approved by submitters’ institution. Registration or Entries that are in any other language will not be considered. Entries that are lewd, obscene, pornographic, disparaging of Ericsson or otherwise contain objectionable material may be disqualified in the Ericsson’s sole and unfettered discretion. Participants agree that these Official Rules are governed by the laws of Kingdom of Sweden.

Interview with Matthew Goldman

TANDBERG Television's (part of the Ericsson group) VP of Technology Matthew Goldman explains how HD is a different proposition for telcos and how they want to include converged services as part of their consumer experience.

Vasaloppet excels in speed

The world famous Swedish Vasaloppet, the oldest – and one of the longest and biggest – cross-country ski races in the world continues to use multimedia applications to make it more accessible to its audience.
This year, an upgraded 3G network will make it possible to share live clips from the Vasaloppet race, held on March 1, with friends and family via mobile phones. With 3G HSPA base stations in place along the 90-kilometer racetrack between the villages of Sälen and Mora, it will be easy to capture all the action on every curve and hill throughout the race. Ericsson’s Me-On-TV application will make it possible to send live video streams from technically complicated terrain to Swedish state television company SVT, which will transfer the stream directly to the live broadcasting session. Ericsson’s Me-On-TV application will make it possible to capture skiers in action at spots normally off limits to TV reporters. “Thanks to turbo 3G and mobile broadband, we can provide the latest version of the Me-On-TV application, which delivers top-quality pictures to television viewers,” Charlotta Sund, head of Multimedia and Systems Integration at Market Unit Nordic and Baltics, says. This multimedia initiative has evolved from last year’s cooperation between Vasaloppet, Ericsson, Swedish operator TeliaSonera and SVT. This year, the Ericsson Me-On-TV version 2 application uses packet switching over an HSPA/3G network, allowing high-quality resolution images. The Vasaloppet is inspired by the escape of future Swedish king Gustav Vasa from the troops of Christian II in 1520.

IPTV Regulation in Asia

How do the very many different regulatory bodies of Asia affect the IPTV market?

Delivering Broadband's Full Potential

Broadband has true mass-market appeal and is becoming a basic necessity in today's information society. Growth is inevitable - once people use broadband, there is no going back. It is up to operators and their partners to enable this growth and ensure there are no barriers to further broadband penetration and usage.
Read the White paper

Ericsson launches Connected Home Gateway software enabling multimedia services

Ericsson will launch its Connected Home Gateway software at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, giving consumers the freedom to access and interact with their home multimedia devices, services and media, wherever they are. The gateway also enables one single entry point for IPTV and multimedia telephony services into the home.
Installed in the home, Ericsson Connected Home Gateway achieves all of this by providing a secure connection between consumers' digital home networks and the telecommunications network, and a single point of entry for IPTV and communication services, such as multimedia telephony. Consumers can then use their mobile devices, such as mobile phone and laptops to communicate directly with their computer, TV or media player. This allows them to access their media libraries while on the move, for example sharing photos and videos with their family and friends. Jan Wäreby, Senior Vice President and Head of Ericsson's Multimedia Business, says: "The Connected Home Gateway brings simplicity and gives users true control of their everyday communication and media services. It meets a market need, allowing operators to expand their customer base and generate revenue." The Connected Home Gateway is compliant with telecom and consumer electronic standards, such as IMS, Open IPTV Forum and the Digital Living Network Alliance, ensuring interoperability and ease-of-use between a wide range of commercially available devices. The new range of enriched services can therefore be launched quickly, without the expense and inconvenience of developing specialized devices. By acting as a central multimedia outlet in the home, the Connected Home Gateway serves as a single service-delivery platform and allows remote management for service provisioning and maintenance, helping to minimize operational costs. Ericsson will demonstrate the Connected Home Gateway, together with commercially available consumer electronic devices, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, between February 16 and 19. About Ericsson's IMS solution Ericsson IMS is an end-to-end solution that gives operators immediate revenue opportunities when evolving to all-IP operations. It enables seamless access to a wide range of new multimedia services across both fixed and mobile networks. Ericsson IMS Solution includes a converged IMS core infrastructure, as well as application servers and service enablers for common functions that can be reused by multiple fixed and mobile applications. The IMS solution is a part of Ericsson's Full Service Broadband offering. About the Digital Living Network Alliance DLNA is the prevailing standard for home networking. DLNA was founded by worldwide industry leaders in consumer electronics, mobile and PC industries in 2003. In 2006, more than 250 member companies, including manufacturers, software and application developers, hardware vendors, retailers and content providers, support DLNA with the vision of a interoperable network of CE, mobile and PC products in the home. DLNA has published industrial design guidelines that enable home and mobile networked devices to share various digital media seamlessly, including personal content, broadcast content, packaged media and broadband content including IPTV. DLNA provides an ideal solution, allowing consumers to enjoy digital media, video, audio and images, regardless of the source, using any device in the home. DLNA guidelines refer to established, open, industry standards and specifications, and provide vendors with information to develop interoperable manner. DLNA is a technology framework comprising the technical components needed to distribute and share digital media over IP networks. Read more at: http://www.dlna.org About Open IPTV Forum Read more at: http://www.openiptvforum.org

US Pay TV Trends: Less is More

Heavy Reading’s Aditiya Kishore talks about the recent report on consumer trends within the American Pay TV market. His data suggests that in the present economic climate, competitive pricing is seen as being more important than advanced applications.

Keep it Simple

Yes, consumers want expanded TV – if you keep it simple.

Read the article

Mobile World Congress 2009

It’s that time of year again: time for the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona. Last year saw the birth of the Televisionary campaign. To see all of Ericsson’s activities this year, be sure to visit us at Hall 8 of La Fira convention center. This year, we will focus even more on your needs and priorities, without forgetting the core framework for our business, our understanding of end-user behavior.

The Mobile World Congress runs from Monday, February 16 to Thursday, February 19.
For more information about Ericsson at the Mobile World Congress, read here
The Mobile World Congress homepage

Strategies for IPTV success

Operators can find success in IPTV as a complement to mobile TV services. Ovum Senior Analyst Charlie Davies talks about this and other effective strategies for IPTV, such as layering on value-added services like voice-over-IP (VoIP) and User-Generated Content (UGC), and positioning the operator as a “gatekeeper” for content providers.

Strategies for IPTV success (Audio 03:06 min)

IPTV Innovation

Eugene Sarmiento from Ericsson talks about some of the most innovative operators in the market today.

Is there a need for converged TV regulation?

This report by Ernst & Young looks at how the TV distribution market is changing rapidly. This change is largely driven by consumers who, by using the internet, are finding new ways of accessing and viewing TV. Television is moving from traditional, linear broadcasting aimed at the passive viewer toward nonlinear, on-demand entertainment for the interactive viewer.

Ericsson first to implement mobile broadband into cable-TV network

Maltese company Melita, provider of home entertainment and telecommunications, has become the first in the world to integrate HSPA mobile broadband into its existing cable-TV network, adding mobile broadband to its TV, internet and fixed telephony offerings. Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) was selected as the end-to-end integrator, using its expertise and technology to make this achievement possible.
The Ericsson solution will allow Melita to deploy new services rapidly and cost-effectively, while optimizing its existing infrastructure. The new network will assist Melita to offer its consumers an enhanced end-user experience based on TV, internet, fixed telephony and mobile broadband services. Under the turnkey agreement, Ericsson has supplied, integrated and deployed an IP-based HSPA radio access, circuit and packet core network, plus a revenue management solution. To ensure cost-effective operations for the new network, the skills of Melita's professionals have been enhanced using Ericsson's Learning Services. Stephen Wright, Melita's COO, says: "Ericsson's proven technology and service expertise will provide us with a high-performance, quality solution to control operating costs and enable us to bring compelling services to our customers in the Maltese market." Cesare Avenia, Head of Market Unit South East Europe, says: "Ericsson, with its proven broadband solutions and know-how in next-generation telecommunications networks, is providing Melita with the opportunity to generate greater revenue and expand its offerings with the latest mobile broadband services."

TANDBERG Television named IPTV Vender of 2008

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), was named IPTV Vendor of the Year at the Telecom Asia Readers’ Choice Awards. The award was presented in the beginning of December at a ceremony at the Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong.
"This is a magnificent endorsement of the work TANDBERG Television has been doing across Asia-Pacific during 2008 to help IPTV providers introduce and expand world class digital TV services," said Dario Choi, VP and general manager of TANDBERG Television Asia Pacific. "We are proud and honored to be named IPTV Vendor of the Year by the readers of Telecom Asia. Our continuing market lead in HD and SD video encoding and transcoding have been key building blocks for our success in the region this year. What’s more, our combined IPTV offering with Ericsson puts us in pole position to enable Asian operators to expand their TV offering by delivering the Individual TV experience to their customers." The Readers’ Choice Awards recognize the technology innovations and contributions to the industry of leading telecom vendors operating in Asia-Pacific and are judged by the magazine’s online subscriber base of Asian service providers. Winners are selected on the basis of overall quality of innovation and contribution to technology advancement, market acceptance (including market share, growth in market share and new customer acquisition), revenue growth, contribution to overall industry growth, and vision. About Telecom Asia Telecom Asia and Telecomasia.net online are one of the industry’s most respected sources of news and analysis about Asian telecommunications. Nominations for the 15 categories of the Readers’ Choice Awards were open to analysts, consultants and high-level telco executives. A total of 78 telecom insiders submitted almost 1,000 nominations and, after consulting with a team of analysts, Telecom Asia’s editorial team shortlisted three to four finalists in each category. The magazine allowed online voting from mid-October and the winners were announced in Hong Kong on December 8. About TANDBERG Television TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), delivers the multimedia technology and expertise that is moving digital video forward. Whether it's advanced compression systems, on-demand or content distribution, the company's award-winning solutions are used by the world's leading broadcasters, operators and programmers to deliver new viewer experiences and advertising opportunities. With a broad suite of open, standards-based products, TANDBERG Television offers the highest quality solutions for Digital TV, HDTV, VOD, and IPTV. For more information, please visit www.tandbergtv.com

The IPTV Year

A look back on the IPTV year––what has happened for IPTV in 2008?

The IPTV Report Card

It's time for an end of term report card. Eugene Sarmiento, head of Sales Development IPTV at Ericsson, hands out the grades for IPTV in 2008.

TANDBERG wins an Emmy

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), was presented with a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on January 7 at the 60th annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The award was in recognition of TANDBERG Television’s pioneering development and deployment of MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) systems for high definition television (HDTV). “We are immensely proud that the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized the central role TANDBERG Television has played in the growing success of HDTV. Being awarded an Emmy for our pioneering development of MPEG-4 AVC HD is a tribute to our vision and to the talent and dedication of our engineering team,” says Eric Cooney, President of TANDBERG Television. “We made a bold, early investment in HD MPEG-4 AVC, giving us a significant market lead, and we have built on that early momentum. Today, the high quality compression performance of our MPEG-4 AVC HD solution continues to lead the market and is enabling a number of operators to introduce and expand outstanding HD viewing experiences.” The Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards honor achievements in two areas: Science Engineering & Technology for Broadcast Television, which includes broadcast, cable and satellite distribution; and Broadband and Personal Television encompassing interactive television, gaming technology, the Internet, cell phone, private networks, and personal media players. A blue ribbon panel of industry professionals reviews and recommends technologies and potential awardees.

Starz Selects TANDBERG Television's Next Generation MediaPath® System

TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), announced on 7 January 2009 that Starz Entertainment, LLC, Starz) selected the next generation MediaPath® Secure Content Delivery System to deliver the content for its on demand services. The upgrade provides Starz with DVB-S2 satellite delivery and other enhanced features, enabling Starz to deliver more content to its affiliates at faster rates.
Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, and MoviePlex On Demand provide hundreds of movies each month to subscribers viewing on cable, satellite, and broadband platforms. This on demand content is currently delivered from Starz to its affiliates using the TANDBERG Classic MediaPath system. A seamless migration path is provided by the new MediaPath system ensuring no service interruption for Starz and its affiliates. Since MediaPath now supports MPEG-4 AVC as well as virtually any content file and metadata format, Starz may support more delivery methods to its affiliates and offer a wider selection of content to its subscribers. "Staying competitive in the entertainment business means offering what viewers want, often before they know they want it. For Starz, that means we are constantly seeking ways to expand our programming options and searching for new technology to increase our competitive edge," said Ray Milius, Senior Vice President of Programming and IT Operations at Starz Entertainment. "We chose TANDBERG Television's next generation MediaPath system, because it supports the bandwidth needed to handle the amount of titles and formats that Starz delivers. The user interface has the flexibility to scale from our current needs to accommodate our future requirements.” The new MediaPath system radically changes the economics of content distribution and in some networks enables capacity and throughput to be doubled or tripled. Proactive monitoring ensures content is flowing throughout the delivery system. An enhanced user-interface provides easy access to the added functions and increased options available with the new MediaPath system. “The programming community has placed its trust in MediaPath as the secure and efficient solution for managing their VOD content distribution since 2001. To achieve our goals for this new version of MediaPath, creating a more efficient delivery method for content distributed to both traditional and new TV platforms wasn't enough. It also had to support the existing key features and new delivery methods simultaneously, allowing customers like Starz and their affiliates to migrate to the new system on their schedule, not ours," said Al Nuñez, President of the Americas, TANDBERG Television. “It is an honor to have Starz select this new MediaPath solution and to place their trust in us, again." About Next Generation MediaPath System With the next generation MediaPath system, media assets can be delivered to receiver locations serving set-top boxes, PCs, and mobile media players. The system offers content providers, network operators, and their affiliates, a scalable, end-to-end solution for the secure point to multi-point delivery of non-linear digital HD and SD TV programs as well as any other file-based content including VOD programs, advertising, music, and games. The most widely used on-demand content distribution solution on the market today, the MediaPath system currently delivers media assets to more than 900 commercial deployments in the U.S. reaching millions of VOD-enabled subscribers. About Starz Entertainment Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 17.4 million and 31.6 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (http://www.starz.com/) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Entertainment Group, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation. About TANDBERG Television TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group (NASDAQ:ERIC), delivers the multimedia technology and expertise that is moving digital video forward. Whether it's advanced compression systems, on-demand or content distribution, the company's award-winning solutions are used by the world's leading broadcasters, operators and programmers to deliver new viewer experiences and advertising opportunities. With a broad suite of open, standards-based products, TANDBERG Television offers the highest quality solutions for Digital TV, HDTV, VOD, and IPTV. For more information, please visit www.tandbergtv.com.

A true end-to-end solution

Ian Tapp, from TANDBERG Television (part of the Ericsson group), talks about his company’s new middleware offering, how it is the first to be pre-integrated with IMS and why it’s giving service providers a true end-to-end solution.

IPTV: so far so good

Is IPTV living up to its promises? We take a look an in-depth look at the current state of affairs

Hi-Def-Initely a challenge

Execs from TANDBERG Television, Entone and Vudu, plus Heavy Reading’s Adi Kishore, talk about how the new challenges of HD lay not in the technology, but in content rights and bandwidth use.

Users flock to mobile race portal

The Volvo Ocean Race mobile portal recorded over 1.5 million hits in October, the first month of racing in the 2008-2009 event.
This is an impressive increase when compared to previous years: for example, traffic levels in month 1 equalled traffic levels in month 5 of the previous race held in 2005-2006. Users in Sweden and the Netherlands represented about 16 percent each of viewers, with most of the rest of the audience coming from countries with participating teams or team members. The Volvo Ocean Race mobile portal enables fans to get the latest race information from a host of multimedia content – including TV, chats and community – throughout the eight month race around the world. Access to the mobile site is free (normal operator charges apply). To get the service, users can sign up via the web at http://www.volvooceanrace.org/multimedia/mobile/ and or enter the portal’s address http://m.volvooceanrace.org into their phone browser or have the WAP address pushed to them by SMS after sending the short code, RACE, to +46 737 494949. Andrew Ferguson, head of Technology and New Media for the Volvo Ocean Race, says: “The new mobile channel augments our integrated multimedia strategy for the 2008-2009 race by enabling fans to keep in touch whenever and wherever they want. "The impressive figures we have recorded in just one month of the portal’s launch demonstrate that with Ericsson’s technology we are reaching a much wider audience than before. And, with high-quality, personalized, rich content, viewers are not only clicking but coming back to the site." The solution that Ericsson is providing to the Volvo Ocean Race uses the Mobile Service Delivery Platform (MSDP). The solution also includes mobile-TV technology as well as the Community Toolkit (CTK), a platform used to build mobile websites quickly and cheaply. Ferguson says the race organizer’s main objective with new media is to make sure that race fans both old and new get to watch and participate in the event easily and often. "The mobile portal plays a key role in making that happen while helping us stake a claim to be a leader amongst sporting events by offering fans a way to always be ‘on board’." In addition, over 6000 downloads of the mobile client have been made which provide viewers with an enhanced user experience. Data traffic on the WAP portal amounted to 40GB during October, excluding live streaming. Early information indicates that videos and live streaming are making up a much larger part of what visitors are watching this year as compared to two years ago, reflecting the availability of a higher number of multimedia phones on the market. The most visited areas during the month were the information-rich, official start page, which accounted for 59 percent; news, 24 percent; and the standings page, 8 percent. Over 3000 visitors have also registered to have a nick name visible in chats amongst which iPhone users dominate. The above mobile figures have materialized without any promotion. There is now a link available on the official VOR web page but in most part, the figures are the result of viral spread. According to Juniper Research, the global market for mobile sports content and services will grow from just over USD 1 billion in 2006 to USD 3.8 billion in 2011 at an average annual growth rate of 27 percent. In the period between 2006 to 2011 mobile sport, leisure and information content and services are expected to generate a cumulative revenue stream of over USD 42 billion. Around 40 percent of this is expected to come from the European market, 33 percent from Asia Pacific and 18 percent from a rapidly-growing North American market.

Complex market, huge opportunities

China’s TV market is huge and diverse, requiring a broad range of business models and approaches, says Television analyst Lingjie Wang, PhD. of Screen Digest Ltd. Dr. Wang outlines China’s plans for the TV mass market and how services like IPTV, video on demand and mobile TV fit into this complex picture.
Listen to the audio here

New optical product enables transformation of broadband networks

Ericsson is launching SPT 2700, an energy lean, cost efficient new optical packet transport product that will support operators as they transform their transport networks for new bandwidth-hungry services like high-definition IPTV.
To be able to meet new broadband market demands, operators must be able to smoothly migrate their networks from the current voice-centric multiplexing to efficient packet transport. Because of this, there is a need for a new product platform that handles traditional services while also being optimized for future services. Ericsson's highly flexible, carrier-class product, SPT 2700 provides the foundation for ultra-high capacity and maximizes the return of investment in current networks. SPT 2700 extends network scalability and, in a single unit, handles several technologies, including WDM, TDM and packet switching including the new MPLS-TP standard. Andrea Spaccapietra, Head of Broadband Networks at Ericsson, says: "SPT 2700 is a perfect complement to our existing optical transport and Redback portfolio. This launch, following our demonstration of 100GbE transport technology in October, also highlights Ericsson's technology leadership in the new optical arena." The product will be commercially available from Q1 2009. About Optical Packet Transport and the SPT 2700 The primary role of the optical transport network is to support the myriad of new high-bandwidth applications in as seamless a way as possible. However, its greatest value is in doing so at the lowest cost per transported bit, and lowest total cost of ownership. Maintaining quality of experience for end users during the network transformation is a natural advantage, whilst maximizing the return on existing investments for the operator. Optical packet transport devices need to be highly scalable, supporting operators in addressing future transport needs, and integrated WDM technology provides that in the most effective way. In the SPT 2700, all this comes with extremely low power consumption, enabling more sustainable networking. SPT 2700 offers high-speed, high-capacity packet transport via a 320G packet switch (scalable to 800G), transport of legacy TDM traffic via a 120G SDH switch and optical scalability via integrated OTN switch and DWDM ROADM/WSS (Wavelength Selective Switch). SPT 2700 will be commercially available from Q1 2009, with further feature upgrades scheduled for the second half of 2009. SPT 2700 is complemented by Ericsson's ServiceOn Optical OSS platform.

Ericsson receives TelcoTV Vision Award for middleware

Ericsson's IMS integrated IPTV middleware received the TelcoTV Vision Award at the TelcoTV 2008 annual conference and expo.
The TelcoTV Vision Awards recognize the most innovative and “visionary” new products, services, or applications announced in the communications industry in the past year. Joe Braue, Senior Vice President and Group Director of the Light Reading Communications Network, who presented the awards, said, "From the smallest set-top box to the biggest carrier, the Vision Awards winners demonstrate that innovation and creativity are thriving in the telecommunications video marketplace. We congratulate Ericsson, and all of our winners for their continued leadership in the IPTV industry." Eric Cooney, Head of TV Solutions, Ericsson said, "It's an honor to receive the TelcoTV Vision Award. IPTV solutions featuring our IMS integrated middleware can extend the Individual TV Experience with enhanced services such as presence, messaging/chat, extended parental control and a number of other innovative features." Ericsson’s IPTV middleware is the first solution in the world to be pre-integrated with IMS, and it also operates across traditional networks. Ericsson’s IMS platform is based on open standards and enables true convergence of networks and services through a common platform for controlling IP-based TV and multimedia services. The open standard will make it possible to consume services on any screen, across any network and supports full interoperability. Ericsson's IPTV middleware solution gives operators the flexibility and scalability they need to create, trial and deploy a personalized and interactive TV experience to their subscribers, as well as provide a complete TV package that includes interactive, mobile and on-demand functionality. Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology and services to telecom operators. The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 195 million subscribers. The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices. Ericsson is advancing its vision of ‘communication for all’ through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 70,000 employees generated revenue of USD 27.9 billion (SEK 188 billion) in 2007. Founded in 1876 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm and NASDAQ. For more information, visit www.ericsson.com or www.ericsson.mobi. About TelcoTV Vision Awards The 2008 TelcoTV Vision Awards winners were announced before an audience of eco-system partners, service providers, analysts, and technology and business press at TelcoTV on Wednesday, November 12, at 1:30 at the Anaheim Convention Center, immediately following the Heavy Reading consumer research presentation "Is IPTV Ready for the Prime Time Consumer?" The finalists were determined by a distinguished panel of industry executives, analysts and service providers: Bernardin Arnason, Chairman, TelcoTV; Joseph Braue, SVP and Group Director, Light Reading; Steve Fravel, Video Services Manager, NTCA; Keith Galitz, President, Canby Telcom; Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading; Kevin McGuire, VP Business & Technology, NTCA; and David Osborn, General Manager, Valley Telephone Cooperative.

Upcoming event--IPTV World Forum Asia

This year’s IPTV World Forum Asia will be held 4-5 December at Suntec, Singapore.
IPTV World Forum Asia is the continent’s leading IPTV event, with over 2000 visitors and 80 exhibitors anticipated to attend. Come visit the Ericsson and TANDBERG television booths, here we will be highlighting the route of the evolution of the Individual TV Experience. For more information, visit IPTV World Forum Asia

Televisionary in Cape Town

Televisionary rings true in Cape Town pavilion. The campaign is striking a chord with new groups of visitors to the Ericsson Racing Team pavilion.
Guests range from media professionals to telecoms executives from the Middle East to local visitors. The televisionary campaign kicked off the customer activities in South Africa on Monday November 3. After noting that Ericsson 4 came in first and Ericsson 3 was third across the finish line in Cape Town, the sports topic switched to football. Special speaker Niclas Ericson, Director of Television for FIFA, explained the importance of reaching an audience wherever they were. FIFA and Ericsson are working on a mobile portal solution for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Visitors were then taken through a day with Ana and Andrew, characters who live a multimedia-rich lifestyle, while demonstrators explained the technology and solutions that make such a lifestyle possible. Harold Lyimo, General Manager of Technical Services for Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, says: “Right now there are quite a few companies fighting for the multimedia business, but Ericsson products have impressed me quite a lot, and I think if they come up with products that are reasonably priced, they can always win my heart.” Sanjay Kaul, VP Multimedia and Systems Integration, Market Unit Sub-Saharan Africa, says: “This is a phenomenal opportunity to expose top-level customers to our technology and our road maps. This is a relaxed environment and the customers focus in a different way. Here we show them our solutions live and it’s been great so far.” The following day, Tuesday, was filled with visitors from MTN Afghanistan, MTN Iran, and Syriatel. They heard the Ana and Andrew story as well as the Chhun story, which touches on sustainable solutions in high-growth markets from Ericsson. It’s a long way to travel, but the customers all thought it was worth it. Magda Sakr, CEO of Syriatel, says: “We have an excellent partnership with Ericsson already, and we’re here to explore the future and to see what Ericsson is bringing to the industry.” Sakr was particularly impressed with the Ana and Andrew films that showed mobile TV and IPTV, and wanted to learn more about the ABIS solution to save transmission costs. “What I’ve seen here today confirms that Ericsson is also looking toward a bright future,” she says, adding that the backdrop of the Cape Town stopover is spectacular. “Seeing the sailing team work together to move forward and win the race is a good example of how I see the role of any team within a company like Ericsson.”

Reshaping the business of television

The television and media industry collectively must become the change it wants to see - otherwise, it will face a future with falling volumes, investments and profitability. New regulation is urgently needed to provide a level playing field and remove current obstacles.
1. From the value chain perspective, a number of key business issues have emerged, some of which need regulatory attention. 2. Regulators should think convergence. 3. In order to adapt to new consumption patterns, regulators should remove hurdles that prevent personalization.

5 Questions for Mobile TV Whiz

Make it unique and they will pay. Make it convenient and they will watch. Jeff Heynen, a telecom analyst at Infonetics Research, believes that sales of mobile video phones will reach USD 58 billion already by 2010 – and soar from there.
1. Once mobile phones have better resolution and a longer battery life, the convenience factor will mean that more people will look to the phone as an entertainment device. 2. Service providers will be successful by offering exclusive content. Q: What’s driving mobile TV today? I think there are two services in the world that are very personal: television viewing and using one’s mobile phone. You take your mobile phone just about everywhere you go, never leaving the house without it. So when you’re in a place where you need to just pass some time, there will be no better device than the phone to catch some television. I think the convenience factor with the mobile phone – coupled with better screen resolution and battery life – will make people look increasingly to the phone as an entertainment device. We’re talking about supplementary viewing, and about viewing in a different way. Q: In what way should mobile TV content be different? Service providers will be successful by offering exclusive content – be it sports or some type of short form entertainment – that makes the TV-viewing experience unique. The question is, what type of content and interactivity with content do you offer that will make a user want to pay a monthly fee [allowing you] to actually generate revenue? Being able to do interactive voting, like people do here in the United States with “American Idol,” can be very beneficial. Or if an ad is available during the broadcast, being able to click and pull up a web site to place an order for that product – those are the things that we see coming. Q: So when will mobile TV be in every user’s hand? We’re still in the very, very early stages of mobile TV network rollouts, as well as adoption. I think we’ll go through a cycle where early providers of the service give up on the business because it’s not generating enough revenue, only to revisit it once technologies make it cheaper to deploy. It will be interesting over the course of the next three to five years to see which service providers are innovative and making money from this service, right out of the gate. Q: New video phones for DVB-H and MBMS networks are coming out this year. Will that speed up adoption? Yes, revenue growth is driven primarily by new phones hitting the market. Right now, the handsets themselves are still fairly expensive, costing on average USD 250. We think the average price has to get down to USD 170 for mass adoption to happen. That will occur in late 2008. Q: Ericsson, among other vendors, believes that operators with existing 3G networks are better off investing in Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) than in building new, dedicated networks for DVB-H. Do you agree? I think the overlay, linear dedicated broadcast networks will serve their purpose and get people familiar with mobile TV. But when it comes to being more efficient with the spectrum when delivering TV services to large audiences, MBMS makes more sense. The success of mobile TV, again, will ultimately depend on it being a unique service. When you can tell your customer, “I’ve got 150-200 – maybe even 500 channels – you can build your own sports package with” – and you do so without overtaxing your data network, you will ultimately go with MBMS.

Multimedia services overview

The multimedia services area is a fast-moving business and technology environment that builds on many different architectures. In order to provide some guidance when navigating this territory, a reference map of concepts and products is useful.
1. A single view of multimedia services simply cannot tell the full story. 2. Different aspects, like drivers, end-user experience, technology, tools and integration need their own representations. 3. Find out how these many elements work together: from integration-ready components though efficient system integration to successfully deployed services. Read Multimedia services overview (pdf)

Fast forward to video on demand in China

Rising incomes in the world’s most populous nation has made China a hotbed for video-on-demand (VOD). Tianjin TEDA Cable Network company turned to TANDBERG Television to secure a piece of this lucrative pie – one of two significant TV contracts that Ericsson has landed in China of late.
1. Facing stiff competition from other fixed telecom services providers, the cable operator decided to invest in VOD and network personal video recording services. 2. TANDBERG’s platform is scalable, allowing Tianjin TEDA Cable to expand the system as demand grows. 3. TANDBERG Television also secured a deal this year with China’s Star Communication Network Technology Co. to provide on-demand TV services for customers of three cable companies in Shandong Province. Video on demand in China: Fast Forward

5 Questions for a senior consumer media analyst

Major sporting events have historically been key drivers for TV development. Will events such as the Olympic Games drive mobile TV too? Aditya Kishore, senior analyst at Heavy Reading, looks at the major factors affecting mobile TV uptake, and gives operators food for thought.
Q: Looking back on the recent Olympic Games, what impact did they have on mobile TV? And looking ahead to 2012, any predictions? In the UK, the Games drew substantial audiences to the BBC iPlayer. BBC also linked news and highlights to mobile phones. Similarly, NBC in the US had record TV-viewing figures during the Games. They offered mobile TV and video options as well. However, it seems that mobile video still has some way to go before it is widely adopted. Perhaps the 2012 Games will be a driver for mobile TV. There’s an increasing awareness among video content owners of the fact that multi-platform video distribution is important, but mobile is definitely the youngest and least developed of those platforms and will be the last to be adopted by the mass market. Q: What will affect the uptake of mobile TV? For one, it’s likely we’ll see more movement in the area of mobile TV as a result of “all-you-can-eat” data plans with fixed, monthly fees. This kind of shift will affect development in that there will be no surprises about what subscribers are paying. Another important factor affecting uptake is that people need time to get used to the technology and learn about using it. Then there’s the limited audio and video quality, compared with watching TV on a full screen or even online. Identifying the right content is also important. Remember that the mobile device is a last-resort video platform. It’s used for transitional viewing and snacking. What exactly will work is still being determined. Heavy Reading earlier this year asked service providers what they thought were the most significant challenges to deploying mobile video services. Handset limitations were ranked first, limited bandwidth ranked second, and underdeveloped revenue models ranked third. This is the service providers’ perspective, not the consumers’, but it tells you what they are most concerned about. Q: Why should operators start investing in mobile TV now? Mobile data services are the next growth opportunity for mobile carriers as the voice market matures. Mobile TV might not be for everybody right now. But it adds experiential richness to an operator’s offering. Video content can be used to differentiate a carrier’s offering, and the Olympics are a great example of truly valuable content. It is expensive, though, and without a clear revenue stream at the other end, operators will have to tread carefully. Those who get in early will have a chance to shape the mobile-TV industry, and that can be an incentive for a larger provider. Experimentation also helps in understanding the market. TV is a more complex ecosystem than traditional carrier-owned services, and can be a little harder to navigate with rights issues, royalties and exclusivity clauses. So for a carrier, one argument could be that the sooner they get in on it, the smarter they’ll be when the industry really takes off. Q: If an investment in mobile TV by operators is to be seen as long-term (five years to break even, according to one report), what can operators do to secure their bottom line while waiting for their investments to pay off? I’d say this would be a time to exercise caution. It is not entirely clear how people will make money. I’m not sure a whole lot can actually be done to break even faster. Those who invest in the technology are best advised to do so cautiously because there is not a lot of money likely to come in as a result in the immediate future. Q: What do you watch on your mobile phone? What would make you watch more? I watch short clips, but only rarely. An integrated data plan that doesn’t cost me more to watch mobile TV would be attractive. The advantage of mobile TV is the convenience of it; a news highlights video could be appealing while I commute to and from work. I’d also be interested in accessing video highlights of various events. I didn’t watch a lot of the Olympic Games, but I did want to see the races Michael Phelps was in and the 100m with Usain Bolt. These could be just 10 seconds of video. I would be interested in something along those lines sent directly to my phone.

Routing for IPTV

As the ramp up to mainstream IPTV accelerates, mission critical for operators will be to satisfy user expectations in terms of picture quality that rivals what users get on their standard TV set. Redback’s SmartEdge solution, as a fully integrated part of Ericsson’s total IPTV solution, can help.
The number of global IPTV subscribers in 2007 (about 14 million) highlights IPTV’s rapid advance from trial to mainstream. And the market shows no signs of slowing down. Growth predictions anticipate about 140 million subscribers by 2013. Glen Hunt, Principal Analyst for Carrier Infrastructure at Current Analysis, says operators must be prepared for mainstream IPTV and the demands it makes on IP infrastructures. Delivering significant increases in bandwidth per subscriber, providing end to end management and controlling ongoing opex are critical to providing quality video-based services. “Adding bandwidth on the fly is too difficult, so a healthy dose of preplanning and capacity planning would be high on my list before turning on a full IPTV service,” Hunt says. Simon Williams, Senior Vice President of Products, Marketing and Strategy at Ericsson’s Redback Networks, says that SmartEdge is a fully integrated part of the Ericsson IPTV solution including the latest IMS-capable version. So when operators select it, they are securing their investments with a future-proof solution capable of supporting advanced IPTV services. “Operators are effectively getting an insurance policy,” Williams says. “They get the connectivity, features and capacity they need today, as well as the future ability to turn on more advanced services using the infrastructure they’ve already installed.” “Redback’s recent deal with Hong Kong’s PCCW, one of the world’s largest IPTV service providers, is a good example of this kind of preparedness. “By selecting Redback to upgrade its network for video-on-demand and other broadband services, PCCW is choosing a next-generation broadband infrastructure that will make it much easier to combine data, voice, video and mobility services over time,” says Herve Brunet, Vice President, Asia-Pacific Sales and Operations at Redback Networks. Redback is also part of Ericsson’s recent end-to-end IPTV contract with Emaar, developer of Saudi Arabia's high-tech flagship, King Abdullah Economic City, a deal which brings together products from Ericsson's major fixed-line acquisitions – Redback (for Core and Edge IP routers), Entrisphere (for GPON), Marconi (for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing optical transmission), and TANDBERG Television (for IPTV) – as well as Ericsson’s complete Managed Services operations. Redback at a glance Headquarters: San Jose, USA Business: networking solutions for IP-based services and communications Market: Global Customers: 500+ Since the Ericsson acquisition, Redback has been involved in 68 Ericsson deals in 45 countries globally as of the end of 2007, and as of Q2 2008, approximately 125 deals globally. Founded: 1996 Owner: Ericsson

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