Korean Broadcasters Still Have No Content Deal with IPTV Companies
June 2009
In Korea, IPTV Service Providers have been struggling with acquiring content and licensing content with television networks.
Korea’s terrestrial broadcasting stations — KBS, MBC and SBS — have not agreed over the price for licensing content for their programs by the three IPTV Operators — KT, SK Broadband and LG Dacom.
However, the broadcasters have decided to offer their programming now and negotiate prices at a later date. According to sources, broadcasters and IPTV Service Providers have spent months negotiating and still remain far apart over prices.
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2009 IPTV Bulletin
Microsoft's Virtualization—Will It Make Mediaroom More Efficient?
June 2009
Microsoft announced an upgrade to its Mediaroom IPTV platform, offering “virtualization support” which “can deliver up to a sixfold reduction in the number of physical servers required to support a full-featured IPTV service.”
Microsoft said that with virtualization support, Service Providers can significantly reduce hardware and management costs and decrease time-to-market for Mediaroom customers by up to three weeks.
Mediaroom with virtualization is targeting the smaller IPTV Operators, or those looking to extend into new markets in low-density communities. Although virtualization allows for a reduction in servers, Microsoft said it is still the full-powered Mediaroom IPTV solution with all the features intact.
Microsoft has long been criticized for requiring more servers than competitive IPTV solutions, which can cost Service Providers significantly more in CapEx costs plus added complexity. With virtualization Service Providers can operate a Mediaroom-powered TV service for up to 30,000 subscriber homes per market using fewer than 10 physical servers. Without virtualization, the same deployment required nearly 60 servers.
Service Providers can mix both virtualized and dedicated servers, with deployments over 30,000 and still get efficiency benefits. One customer testing virtualization in the U.S. is Telco Reservation Telephone Cooperative in North Dakota. It added virtualization support and was able to take advantage of Microsoft’s Mediaroom, making it one of the first small Telcos to use Mediaroom.
To power virtualization in Mediaroom, Microsoft is using its Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V server virtualization technology. It enables multiple virtual servers to be hosted on the same physical server. In order to achieve efficiency, virtual servers share the physical server’s resources, such as memory, disk access and CPU cycles.
Microsoft said that there would be no changes to its software licensing model for virtualization support.
With a new efficient Mediaroom platform, Microsoft is clearly targeting smaller Operators and those
looking to expand into smaller geographic regions. For Service Providers, being able to afford to use Microsoft’s Mediaroom in their smaller Operations may be an attractive option. Once again, Microsoft is using its marketing muscle to go after new market opportunities. With virtualization support, Mediaroom managers hope to attract Tier-2 and Tier-3 Operators in the U.S., as well as growing regions like those in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Since Microsoft already has a significant group of large Tier-1 Telcos around the world using Mediaroom; adding smaller Telcos can greatly enhance Microsoft’s middleware footprint. Competitive middleware companies will now be forced to reply to this new challenge.
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2009 IPTV Bulletin
U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Arguments in the Case of Whether Cablevision's Network PVR Violates Copyright Laws
June 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear arguments in the case of whether Cablevision’s network PVR violates copyright laws. That means that the lower court ruling stands, and Cablevision won its battle against Hollywood studios and television networks, and it can begin offering its remote storage DVR system legally. According to Cablevision, it is proceeding with plans to offer the network PVR service starting this summer. “This is a tremendous victory,” said Tom Rutledge, Cablevision’s Chief Operating Officer, in a statement. “At the same time, we are mindful of the potential implications for ad skipping and the concerns this has raised in the programming community.”
Although nPVRs are now legal, it may take months before the Cable or IPTV Operators actually get past the trial stage and customers finally start using them and seeing the advantages. Other Operators will undoubtedly unveil their own network PVR service so the real winners will be TV viewers. However, Satellite TV Operators will not benefit from the decision since they don’t have an adequate backchannel to support network PVR services. As Cable and IPTV Operators begin offering nPVR services, they must start to look at how to increase revenues while creating a satisfying experience for subscribers. In addition, they must keep costs down, since more servers and network management will be needed to make up for the lack of hard drives in set-tops.
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2009 IPTV Bulletin
{Note: analyst comments are italicized}
BSNL To Invest In Wireless Broadband, 3G, IPTV, WiMax and Mobile Services
June 2009
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said it is planning to invest a sum of US$300 million in 2009
to 2010 in order to expand wireless Broadband, 3G, IPTV, WiMAX and mobile services. In addition, BSNL launched IPTV to customers in Puducherry, India under the brand name “MyWay.” As part of a promotional push, MyWay is being offered free to BSNL Broadband customers for three months.
Source: MRG, Inc., June 2009 IPTV Bulletin
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