TV to be the next-gen Internet Carrier

Cisco empowers global service providers to offer next-generation internet (NGI). It defines NGI as networks and services interconnecting to create profitable experiences that are more visual, more mobile, more virtual and intuitive to use

Cisco’s Videoscape solution unleashes new video-driven experiences that make TV the medium of choice, carried forward across devices.  It unifies the power of Cisco Videoscape cloud, network and client hardware and software assets in order to connect media companies, service providers and consumers to new experiences – with the flexibility to customize.

These new connected home experiences include three types of devices. First, multi-room DVR, personal media playback on TV and smart devices like smartphones and tablets as remote control and TV guide browsing devices. Secondly, fully-fledged media gateways that can serve as one-stop-shops for all home media combinations of these experiences and more and thirdly, connected multi-screen experiences like watching TV on your handheld devices away from home, offline viewing during flights and even overseas viewing of favorite programs when travelling.isco’s Videoscape solution unleashes new video-driven experiences that make TV the medium of choice, carried forward across devices.  It unifies the power of Cisco Videoscape cloud, network and client hardware and software assets in order to connect media companies, service providers and consumers to new experiences – with the flexibility to customize.

On top of all this, recording TV programs on cloud and watching them from anywhere using Cisco’s cloud technologies means that consumers will have the power to engage with premium pay-TV content in a synchronized and personalized way, wherever and whenever they want to.

Monetizing television experience

Pay-TV technology, from content preparation to consumption, is a very broad area and Cisco provides solutions for the complete end-to-end system through the entire pay-TV technology spectrum. Cisco uses a combination of content protection technologies including smart cards and DRM, cloud technologies for service velocity, back-end hardware and datacenter powered by its Unified Computing System (UCS), newer compression and encoding technologies like HEVC and 4K, and core client-side technologies like HTML5.

“Overall, I would say that cloud technologies, newer compression standards and HTML5 are paving the way for new pay-TV experiences. Monetization will happen through the innovative new services brought in by the above technologies, like video-on-demand, interactive applications, time-shifted viewing and targeted advertisements, to name but a few,” said Aunindo Ghosh, Senior Product Manager, Cisco Videoscape Solutions, India & SAARC.

Tapping Into Cloud Technology To Enhance Business

Today, an increased number of businesses are moving towards cloud-based deployments. Cloud offers quick and flexible services, with resource optimization at the back-end, allowing pay-TV service providers to launch their services faster and then scale them as per market and subscriber demand. This is particularly relevant for Cisco video technologies, as we are helping video service providers, broadcasters and media companies transform their businesses and deliver new consumer experiences through innovations in cloud and virtualization. “We have undertaken several cloud transformation programs and have developed multiple products and solutions that are device agnostic. Classic examples of Cisco’s innovations in cloud technology include Multiscreen Cloud DVR, Video Everywhere and Connected Video Gateway within the Videoscape portfolio,” adds Ghosh.

Cisco’s Videoscape platform is utilized by over 150 leading providers in more than 90 countries.  Over 300 million(30 crore) homes around the world – over a quarter of all global TV homes – are enjoying improved viewing experiences powered by Cisco.

In India, Ciscocurrently enables over 50 per cent of the pay-TV technology industry and provides digital pay-TV experience to more than 40 million homes. That meansnearly 200 million Indianswatch TV with us on our leading customers’ platforms – Tata Sky, Hathway, Airtel, DEN and others.

The biggest differentiator that we offer pay-TV service providers is the end-to-end integrated nature of our video solutions. Key offerings range from infrastructure elements such as conditional access (CAS), middleware, encoders, multiplexers, backend hardware and software, including CMTS, to our vast portfolio of cable broadband and network access equipment. We pride ourselves in being the end-to-end technology partner in our customers’ pay-TV journeys. That is what sets us apart. We are working with several leading players in the service provider segment, including Tata Sky, Hathway, Airtel, DEN and Videocon.

The Early Adopters

In India, the Cisco Videoscape solutions portfolio has been adopted by Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky. Recently, Videocon d2h has also partnered with us to deliver an innovative, high quality television viewing experience to its customers. Cisco has collaborated with Videocon d2h to create an infrastructure that supports advanced services like 4K, OTT (Over the Top), VoD (Video on Demand), multi-screen video and multi-room DVR (Digital Video Recorder), on a high definition platform(HD) including  an advanced HD program guide with built-in capabilities for multi-source content search, on-demand catalog and EPG advertisements.

Similarly, leading service providers around the world like DirecTV and Cablevision (USA), BSkyB, Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland, Viasat (Europe), Foxtel (Australia), Yes and Hot (Israel), Astro (Malaysia), KT SkyLife (Korea) and Indovision (Indonesia) are currently using Cisco Videoscape solutions to deliver anext-generation TV viewing experience.Cisco is also enabling service providers such as Kabel Deutschland (Germany) to transition to cloud-based video solutions, virtualized managed services solutions and much more.

Individualized TV Experience Is Essential For Next Gen TV Experience

In today’s world, video and the individual are becoming inseparable. Consumer behavior is following a trajectory towards consumption of video, whenever, wherever, on an ever-expanding universe of gadgets. TV and PC are no longer the only means of watching video. Video providers are now moving to extend video services to all screens, from smartphones and tablets to gaming consoles, connected TVs, and more.

To differentiate the pay-TV offering, video service providers have to take multi-screen experiences to the next level –and that level is personalization. Smartphones, tablets, laptops are mainly personal devices, so it’s imperative that the overall TV content consumption experience is personalized. Hence, from personalized recommendation and recording programs in cloud as per individual choice, targeted, relevant advertisements are becoming popular.

Even on TV, which is mostly a family-oriented device, we are seeing the advent of personal profiles and personalized guides which show only a viewer’s favorite channels etc. While the adaptation of these technologies varies from market to market, overall, I would say that TV today is more personal than ever.