Amazon Introduced an Online Video Store
July 2008
Amazon introduced an online video store called Amazon Video on Demand which features downloadable TV shows and movies. Customers will be able to stream about 40,000 movies and television programs and view them immediately rather than downloading files first. Amazon also had a deal with Sony to put its video store on Sony’s Bravia line of HDTVs. Amazon’s customers will have access to their purchased programming on their online library so that they can access it from different computers or devices.
Source: MRG, Inc., July 2008 IPTV Bulletin
NEC Corp. Acquired OSS Vendor NetCracker
July 2008
NEC Corp acquired OSS vendor NetCracker Technology for US$300 million. NetCracker also recently announced its enhanced IPTV service delivery solution to manage fulfillment, assurance and content/partner management. NEC said that NetCracker will operate as an independent business unit and “become the centerpiece of NEC's communications service provider software business.” According to media reports, NEC may still be looking for acquisition targets to grow its business.
Source: MRG, Inc., July 2008 IPTV Bulletin
Cisco is Acquiring Pure Networks
July 2008
Cisco is acquiring Pure Networks, a home network software company for about US$120 million.
Source: MRG, Inc., July 2008 IPTV Bulletin
What Network TV Would Like From IPTV
July 2008
In a recent presentation in Chicago at the IPTV Forum Conference, Dom Stasi, CTO and Chairman of TVN Entertainment, talked about the content owner’s perspective. He started out by saying that with the digital transition next February, many Cable companies will drop analog tiers which will give them almost infinite bandwidth. Content owners are aware of this and are putting out more content, especially for VOD.
Stasi showed how content owners use distribution windows to sell to airlines, hotels, VOD and IPTV/Cable Providers. As distribution windows get shorter (many movies have gone from theatrical release to DVD in just weeks, rather than months), IPTV companies should be getting movies earlier, which will help them with extracting revenue from VOD.
He pointed out a study completed by the University of Pennsylvania, which tracked when movies were pirated along the distribution window timeline. The results showed that very few are pirated in postproduction, but that the big piracy hit was the day and date of theatrical release. The next big hits were after each release window: hotel and airline release, and DVD release. Piracy during the PPV and VOD window was very low, just 5%. Essentially, as time goes on, there is less value in pirating a movie since everyone has seen it already, but it’s also less revenue worth to IPTV Operators as well.
Stasi said that IPTV Operators need to get content “right in the killzone”: 12 weeks from theatrical release where 90% of the value is derived.
Source: MRG, Inc., July 2008 IPTV Bulletin
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