CJ HELLOVISION COMPLETES LARGEST REMOTE DEPLOYMENT OF ALTIPROTECT CAS

Alticast today announced that CJ Hellovision, the largest cable operator in the Korean market, has completed the largest seamless overhaul of a content security system using Alticast’s AltiProtect download and replace conditional access solution.

CJ Hellovision installed the cardless, software-only AltiProtect system remotely and transparently to more than 4 million subscribers, using Alticast’s patented remote switching technology.  The deployment has enabled migration to AltiProtect CAS on all of CJ Hellovision’s legacy set-top-boxes, allowed unification of CJ Hellovision security across legacy and new devices and provided a long-term solution for UHD content protection – all while reducing system maintenance costs.

"We selected Alticast because their solution was backed by a patent for remote switching technology, and the service was completely transparent to subscribers during the conversion process," said Dr. Hong-Ik Kim, Head of Engineering for CJ Hellovision.  "Thanks to Alticast’s security team, we were able to successfully commercialize the software platform without any customer calls. The superiority of Alticast's patented technology gave us confidence for success, which was solidly proven during the implementation. Also, the service quality has been much improved with AltiProtect.”

Working together with Alticast, CJ Hellovision created an action plan for migrating CAS security over 22 individual business areas and 13 different set-top box types, including bi-directional and uni-directional models. During a 28-month period, the system was remotely installed and provisioned specifically for each customer without costly truck rolls or the interruption of subscriber services. 

As the provider of the core STB software for CJ Hellovision, Alticast was uniquely positioned to facilitate any necessary integrations between AltiProtect CAS and the CJ Hellovision deployed devices. In addition, Alticast leveraged its expertise in content security to manage the project closely, allowing flexibility as needed for meeting CJ Hellovision’s infrastructure and service delivery needs. 

Studio-approved and highly rated by Telcordia, AltiProtect uses well-defined industry standards to ensure reliable content protection for broadcast and VOD, and can easily adapt to unique network infrastructures. Alticast now has converted more than 90 percent of Korean domestic cable operators’ legacy conditional access systems to AltiProtect CAS.

“Our industry-leading know-how in content security and our prioritization of client needs were key to the successful and seamless completion of this project,” said Dr. Mi-Sung Cho, Executive Director of Security Division.  “We look forward to helping other pay-TV operators replicate CJ Hellovision’s success of migrating efficiently and without schedule delays to stable, highly-secure content protection systems.”

App Fatigue Revisited: Growing Problem, Pay-TV Opportunity?

Since we first raised the concept of “App Fatigue” during the summer, additional data has surfaced indicating that more is not better when it comes to application availability.  Most recently, Adobe’s 2016 Mobile Benchmark Data showed the limited utility of most media and entertainment applications, with fewer than half being used 10 times or more.  Equally concerning is the finding that 24% of media and entertainment apps were used only once.

The Adobe report suggests a variety of reasons why certain apps are unable to compete, even in the short term, including poor app performance, availability of superior applications or even the inferiority of a given app when compared to a browser experience.  Colin Dixon points out that the months spent on app development -- Nine Hertz, an app development company, has pegged time-to-market for a standard native mobile app at 18 weeks – are only the first step to success; the bigger challenge is getting people to download and use it.

Although Adobe’s research shows that media and entertainment apps have had the highest app install rate (14%) of any industry over the past year, Dixon points out that user tendencies toward the Web and social media on mobile devices presents media and entertainment companies with a significant challenge: ensuring that their apps are relevant enough to attract and retain users amidst the competition for user engagement.

The pay-TV industry itself proposed an app solution as a counter to the FCC’s “Unlock the Box” concepts over the summer.  While action on the FCC proposal has been postponed since the November election, we continue to believe that pay-TV is uniquely positioned to thrive in an “App Fatigue” environment.

We believe operators are well positioned to deliver services – either securely to set-top boxes or as an app to third-party devices – that leverage troves of subscriber data and analytics.  Using that information, they can fine tune strategies and applications for mobile or other consumer devices, enabling them to understand the reasons behind abandoned apps and develop successful mobile media delivery solutions that best meet consumers’ needs.