Did Adaptive Rate Streaming Get Enough Attention during the OTT Spotlight in 2010?

As the end of 2010 draws closer, we’d like to take a few minutes to examine some of the technologies and trends that have significantly impacted the market in 2010.

You’ll notice that OTT has been a common theme throughout our blog posts this year – we have tackled issues ranging from the likelihood of traditional TV operators embracing OTT video as a service to how service providers can capitalize on advanced OTT technologies to enable new streams of business to the growing support for HTTP Live Streaming.

In addition to helping operators maximize the effectiveness of their existing bandwidth, ARS also offers many advantages over previous video delivery techniques over the Internet. For instance, it naturally supports home firewall transparency, and a wide variety of use cases — it can deliver video across a combination of wired and wireless networks, through any combination of home broadband devices and firewall devices.

In our opinion, this is extremely important because the protocols that we’ve been using for IPTV, in particular, don’t have those properties, and as a result they don’t work very well around the home. In comparison with previous video techniques used on the Internet, such as progressive download, we see both improvements in operational cost savings for the service provider and in the quality of consumer experience.

And the improvements to the quality of the consumer experience are tremendous. This is so important because user experience is perhaps the most important determinant of success for businesses that rely on video delivery. People don’t expect their video material to stop and start and for the audio to drop; they expect a very seamless, continuous experience, and they are not very forgiving of delivery issues. ARS provides that seamless experience even when conditions deteriorate sharply or if sharing of bandwidth occurs.

In partnership with Harmonic, we worked with Ben Schwarz to author a primer talking about the impact of ARS. You will find a high-level technical description that leads to the technology trade-offs of the different flavors of ARS (from Apple, Microsoft and Adobe). It is written as a guide to help operators make sound selection parameters and consider business implications based on those decisions. You can download the primer at www.verimatrix.com/HLS

We think ARS is one of the year’s most significant enabling technologies, and we’re excited to see what’s in store for 2011. What ARS advancements do you think we will see in 2011?

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-- Content submitted by Vermatrix

CONNECTIONS at CES addresses Operator Strategies, Connected CE, Smart Grid, Video Everywhere

Parks Associates announced the Call For Papers for the upcoming CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, taking place January 6 at 2011 International CES in Las Vegas. This event provides consumer data and analysis of business and marketing strategies for operators, CE manufacturers, utilities, and communications companies delivering connected devices and advanced services and applications to consumers.

During the first day of CES, Parks Associates analysts will moderate interactive panel sessions featuring leading industry executives on the following topics:

-- Operator Strategies: Video, Services, and Support
-- Monetizing Connected Consumer Electronics
-- Energy Utility Executive Roundtable: The Smart Grid & Home Area Network
-- Anytime Anywhere Entertainment & Communication
--Video Everywhere: Key Strategies

CONNECTIONS™ Summit begins with a roundtable discussion featuring Parks Associates analysts. This session will highlight key consumer and technology trends on core areas of research:

-- CE buying patterns in the recession
-- Broadband value-added services
-- Key trends in video services
-- Maturation of home networking technologies and applications
-- Consumer demand and the business case for connected CE
-- Mobile communications, broadband, and device trends
-- The new era of 3DTV
-- Trends in advertising
-- Consumer support services
-- Home systems
-- Health, energy, and home monitoring

Rovi + Unitymedia Sign Interactive Program Guide Patent License Agreement

Rovi Corporation and Unitymedia announced recently that they have entered into a multi-year license agreement for interactive program guide (IPG) patents owned by Rovi.

The agreement provides Unitymedia with a license to Rovi’s IPG patents for Unitymedia’s pay television services in Germany. Unitymedia, a subsidiary of Liberty Global, Inc., is the second largest cable television provider in Germany and one of the largest pay television providers throughout Europe. The agreement with Unitymedia builds on the existing relationship between Rovi and other Liberty Global subsidiaries such as UPC Broadband.

Advertising Capabilities to Monetize iVOD

ActiveVideo Networks, the global leader in cloud-based interactive television and This Technology, LLC, announced a joint initiative to enable cable system operators and programmers to improve monetization of and control over advanced VOD advertising to help grow the iVOD category.

The two companies are leveraging the capabilities of the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform and This Technology’s Metamore and Spotbuilder software to create an SCTE 130-compliant ad serving and delivery solution that enables operators and programmers to dynamically target traditional, Web-based and interactive advertising in conjunction with viewers’ on-demand activity.

The joint solution is intended to use This Technology’s dynamic metadata and advertising supply management software to enable operators and programmers to replace pre-encoded ads, including mid-rolls, with new or different ads. The solution maximizes opportunities in an iVOD environment that encompasses web-like functionality including seamless, personalized navigation, search and discovery, recommendations, social television and interactive television.

Cablevision Systems & ActiveVideo Networks Announce Significant Rollout of CloudTV Interactive Channels

Cablevision Systems and ActiveVideo Networks, the global leader in cloud-based interactive solutions, announced that Cablevision has deployed and delivered more than two dozen new interactive channel experiences to its entire digital video customer base using the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform.

Cablevision, the nation’s fifth-largest cable system operator, is utilizing CloudTV to offer an expansive menu of personalized television content -- including hyper-local sports and news, advertising showcases, and mosaic programming -- to approximately 3 million subscribers in the New York tri-state area. The lineup includes MSG Varsity Interactive, News12 Interactive and a variety of other channels and advertising showcases that are designed to serve specific interests of Cablevision subscribers. In addition, the ActiveVideo platform is powering Quick View kids, sports and news navigational mosaic channels.

Using the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform and content developer’s kit (CDK), Cablevision is able to write Web-based content once for delivery as a single MPEG stream to any digital set-top box. Because CloudTV development is based on standard Web tools and talents, applications that previously took years to create can now be built, tested and deployed in just a few months. Subscribers use standard remote controls to search for, select and engage with video and information just as they can on the Web, but within the “lean-back” environment of television.

Synacor Working with 14 CABLE operators to enable participationin Olympic Online Connect

Synacor’s entitlement platform will enable over 9 million subscribers of select multi-channel video programming distributor’s (MVPD’s) to view a wealth of Internet video content at NBCOlympics.com during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, which commence on February 12 and run through February 28. “Olympics Online Connect” on NBCOlympics.com is one part of a larger Enhanced Olympics Package of programming made available to consumers through NBC Universal and its distribution partners.

Fourteen cable system operators, all of which are participating NBC Olympics affiliates, will use Synacor solutions to provide their customers access to “Olympics Online Connect,” where their video subscribers can watch exclusive Olympic Winter Games coverage on NBCOlympics.com. The Synacor solution will serve as a single integration point between NBC Universal and service providers, providing video subscribers with simplified and secure access to more than 1,000 hours of NBC’s coverage of event competition on NBCOlympics.com, including more than 300 hours of live events and more than 400 hours of on-demand-encore replays.

Operators working with Synacor include Charter, WOW!, Armstrong, Blue Ridge Communications, HickoryTech Corporation, Bend Broadband, Midcontinent Communications, Suddenlink Communications, Atlantic Broadband, Mediacom, GVTC Communications, Knology, Grande Communications and NewWave Communications.