NTT's Hikari TV in Japan
December 2009
Masaaki Takenaka, VP of Research and Development at NTT, spoke about the digital content and IPTV market in Japan. For many years, Japan has been a heavy user of digital content. In 2008, 30 billion yen (US$328 million) was spent by consumers for digital content in Japan, including books, TV movies and music.
Masaaki Takenaka from NTT
iPhone Photo Source: Jose Alvear/MRG, Inc.
Fiber connections to the home account for 73% of NTT households, with 37% choosing Cable. Overall, NTT has 14 million Broadband households. However, Takenaka said the pay TV market in Japan is relatively low with only 21% of Japanese consumers paying for TV. As a result, there’s lots of room to expand the pay TV market.
Looking at the IPTV market, he said that the industry needs open standards. NTT’s IPTV service, called “Hikari TV,” uses NGN infrastructure. Takenaka said that this allows viewers to have interactive features like watching clips of past home runs during a baseball game, for example, or receiving recommendations on programs to watch. Another innovative service was being able to swipe your mobile phone over a billboard, then receive information, such as a commercial when you get home.
Takenaka said “HikariTV” currently has 760,000 subscribers after launching in March 2008. They project to have 1 million subscribers by March 2010. “HikariTV” includes 79 channels (32 in HD) and a popular Karaoke feature. In the next few years, NTT wants to expand its HD channel offerings, grow its DTT services, expand its mobile business and also add business-to-business solutions like corporate or educational services.
Source: MRG, Inc., December 2009 IPTV Bulletin
Comcast Unveils TV Everywhere Service
December 2009
Comcast unveiled its new service called “Fancast XFINITY TV,” which was code-named “TV Everywhere,” in December 2009.
The service allows customers who subscribe to Comcast’s Cable and Broadband services access to shows via the Web on their PCs. Users need to log on to confirm their Comcast subscriptions and download a small piece of software that serves as an authentication token. “XFINITY” is available via Comcast’s Fancast Website, and is restricted to Comcast Broadband subscribers.
Other Cable companies have announced TV Everywhere initiatives, but have not launched their services yet. The initial rollout has 2,000 hours of programming from 27 TV networks.
Source: MRG, Inc., December 2009 IPTV Bulletin
Calix Filed an IPO
December 2009
In November 2009, Calix filed for an IPO with the SEC worth US$100 million. In the first nine months of 2009, Calix reported revenues of US$144.6 million and net losses of US$28.3 million. This year’s financial outlook for the company is much bleaker than last year. In 2008, Calix reported US$250.4 in revenues, and a loss of US$12.9 million.
Source: MRG, Inc., December 2009 IPTV Bulletin
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