Telecoms need Hybrid Solutions to win Market Share

August 26, 2016

Telecoms operators across Europe are being urged to jump into the television content business as quickly as possible.

This is the opinion of Arthur D. Little (Company) in a report just published entitled “Taking Advantage of the Best of IPTV and SatTV”.

If operators “miss the bus” over the next two years they may have missed forever the opportunity to seal a significant market share.

The report contends that the days of linear TV are coming to an end and that On Demand (TVoD or VoD) services will soon dominate.

Little (company) says that On Demand TV that gives viewers an endless variety, as well as increasing coverage with hybrid Direct-to-Home (DTH) solutions, is the only way that operators will gain a big market share of this potentially lucrative field.

He also says that many telecoms operators already utilizing IPTV already offer DTH TV services as a supplement service, but they now need to consider moving forward towards IPTV/DTH hybrid as the most cost-effective and market-ready option.

This “Hybrid TV” gives the flexibility needed and is also financially viable when considered on a cost per subscriber basis and is the best way to increase take up of pure IPTV services

Pure DTH solutions lack back channel for interactive services, but if companies were to combine the advantages of providing a low Capex broadcast solution through DTH and at the same time providing an IP back channel for interactive services with low bandwidth requirements, interactive services could be offered with close to 100% coverage.

A Hybrid TV solution will need the implementation of a “hybrid set-top box,” to decode the incoming TV signals as well as provide an IP interface for connecting to the internet.

Little believes that these units will cost around €80 – €200 each and in addition €1 million per year for development of additional infrastructure.

He holds up YouTube as a prime example of how well people can react to these types of services and if telecoms operators can offer value-added services, the growth of Paid TV revenues will be very quick and rewarding

Little’s report says, “We believe telecoms providers have the technical capability and available routes to market to take advantage of opportunities to develop this service over the next two years, and even earlier in certain markets. At the moment, the opportunity still exists for telecoms providers to get a foothold in the content market, but the case will not remain this way indefinitely.”