Lars Janson, strategic product manager for Ericsson’s Managed Services for Media Broadcast, explains: “The broadcasting managed services offering, officially launched on April 15, lets Ericsson supervise the technology platforms behind the TV channels, called playout.

“This allows TV broadcasters to concentrate on their core business of creating the best possible programming for their customers, while Ericsson handles the technical aspects of the business.

“We are using the knowledge we have attained from previous managed services deals. We can connect these processes, methods and tools to a new industry.”  

This offering, teamed with Ericsson’s entire television product suite, and the proven experience providing managed services for complex, technical systems, puts Ericsson in a unique position in the market. Janson says that Ericsson has a strong view of the end-to-end story in the TV market.

There is an abundance of offerings in television across the company, in some cases Ericsson is involved all the way through, handling content from a Hollywood studio, all the way out to the end user’s TV screen.

For Janson, this gives Ericsson a tremendous advantage. “We know the broadcasters and the technical challenges they face, as well as the challenges the IPTV, cable-TV and mobile-TV providers face,” he says.

“In the first four months since the official launch, we have been very successful. We have increased the quality of our customers’ playout, reduced their costs, and provided them with greater flexibility, allowing them to increase the number of channels at short notice.”

Janson continues to look to the future. “Now is the time to increase awareness of our TV offering across the market,” he says. “Television is an industry that is going to be transformed in the coming years, and it’s exciting to be part of this market opportunity.”