INTX in Review

While some of the most visible themes at INTX 2016 last week involved the shifting dynamics of regulation and consolidation, technology was never far from the spotlight.  The need to meet the demands of new generations of television viewers drove traffic to vendors that are creating the products and services that can deliver better and more engaging user experiences.

At the Alticast booth, strategically positioned near the entrance to one of the key traffic aisles, we saw strong interest in multiple innovations: our middleware/UI support that is underpinning Videotron’s first-in-Canada rollout of 4K ultra high definition services; our cloud DVR platform that is powering deployments in the Asia-Pacific market; and our next-generation AltiView 3 UI.

We had plenty of company when it came to looking at the future of the pay-TV industry.  The show included ample demonstrations and discussions of other technologies that are on operators’ to-do and wish lists, including Comcast’s plans for the 2016 Olympics, virtual reality and the mind-stretching presentations at Imagine Park.  

The new regulations and ownership structures that are so much a part of the pay-TV conversation these days, can’t obscure the need to attract and retain subscribers.  Interest in the technologies on display at INTX 2016 last week – from Alticast and other vendors – showed that the industry remains committed to the innovation required to maintain its competitive edge.

Visit Alticast at INTX

VIDEOTRON 4K, ALTIVIEW 3 AMONG ALTICAST HIGHLIGHTS AT INTX

Videotron’s innovative delivery of 4K ultra high-definition television and a demonstration of transformative user experiences that are designed to drive millennial engagement will be among the highlights when Alticast exhibits at INTX – the Internet & Telecommunications Expo – May 16-18 in Boston.

In Booth 611 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Alticast will show how its expertise in middleware and UI enablement has helped Videotron become the first pay-TV operator in Canada to deploy a 4K ultra high definition set-top box on a commercial basis across an entire market area.

In addition, Alticast will show how its AltiView 3 user interface and other solutions can provide operators with search, discovery and navigation across linear, on-demand, online and the subscriber’s personal content, providing operators with the competitive advantage of user experiences that equal or exceed those that are available on the Web.

At INTX, Alticast also will demonstrate how its products and services have enabled:

·      An APAC operator to deploy a full-integrated platform that includes network DVR, IP-to-tablet delivery and other services;

·      Korea’s KT Skylife to deploy the Alticast AltiView 2 solution allowing a broad extension of services including multi-Picture-in-Picture mosaic, a seamlessly integrated YouTube Leanback application, and a diverse set of DVR functionality.

·      Operators to deploy a diverse set of Android-based set-top box solutions that support migrations to IPTV platforms.

Media and industry analysts interested in meeting with Alticast executives at INTX 2016 should contact pspr@att.net to schedule a date and time.

Helping to Drive New Thinking at NAB

Written by Susan Crouse, Director of Product Management for Alticast US

When change comes to the television industry, one of the best places to spot it is at the annual NAB Show.  Driven in part by the growth of High Dynamic Range for 4K and 8K, this year’s event in Las Vegas was long on attendees (more than 103,000) and new products – including devices and software that enable content creation, editing and distribution for the higher-resolution video that is fast becoming the de facto standard. The most buzzed about demos were VR and drone displays that continue to take more floor space and draw the crowds with their great demos, and while drones are having commercial success, VR still has a long indefinite road ahead for broad commercial adoption.

In the Connected Media area, Alticast was among the innovative companies spotlighting innovative software solutions for addressing the burgeoning market for IPTV content delivery. There was no shortage of companies, new and old, providing OTT workflow services for the growing market of small and large content creators delivering video. In addition to workflow tools, there was a plethora of cloud-based streaming technology (often with encoding), CDNs specialized for media delivery, and search, discovery and recommendation solutions starting to leverage social media behaviors to develop more personalized results.

Interestingly, entrenched software products that provide services for cable are finding competition from start-ups providing similar functionality for IPTV/OTT operators. Their different video delivery perspective has led to a variety of fresh ideas: Business software is taking advantage of simpler models that integrate common Internet transaction companies like PayPal, and a number of companies are using Internet-based advertising models to hone targeted ad delivery.

The varying sources of new high-quality content are transforming the roadmap for content delivery and NAB is the place to see how tools are converging for both traditional pay-TV with OTT providers. Alticast’s proven ability to meet the needs of all constituencies opens the door to innovation and implementation around new technologies that are driving the industry forward.

Meet with Alticast at INTX