Cable’s Shift to IPTV and New IoT Opportunities

For cable system operators seeking to take on OTT video competitors head-to-head, a shift to IPTV requires a balancing act between meeting existing consumer expectations and delivering new service enhancements.  In this video, our director of product management, Susan Crouse, envisions an IPTV future in which viewers can experience seamless, continuous viewing from one IP device to another as well as true “TV Everywhere” experiences in which authenticated content can be viewed without geographic market restrictions. Crouse outlines how the need to maintain service quality could spawn new IoT service opportunities that operators could offer to consumers, including “household firewalls” that could protect services and data and monitoring applications that would help consumers manage broadband usage within the home. 

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.

Meet with Alticast at INTX

"Alticast Drives Case for Cloud As Pace of Rollouts Intensifies" (ScreenPlays Magazine)

John Carlucci, President and CTO of Alticast's U.S. office, took time at the INTX 2015 show in Chicago last month to talk with ScreenPlay's Fred Dawson about the emerging acceptance of the Cloud in the industry and Alticast's role in helping their customers roll out this technology for an integrated user experience across multiple devices.

To watch John's interview, please click here.

Internet of Things: A New Business Model

Alticast's President and CTO of the US office, John Carlucci, was invited to speak at last week's INTX 2015 Imagine Park Innovation Showcase. John's topic,"IoT: A New Business Model," was especially relevant as he spoke about bringing software to different set top boxes to subsequently turn them into IoT gateways. Click on the link below to watch his presentation and find out how he thinks this vision benefits both the operator and the customer.

https://intx15.ncta.com/videos/the-internet-of-things-alticast/

Visit Alticast at INTX

Alticast Highlights Cloud Services and Ultra HD Deployed Solutions at INTX 2015

Alticast, a global partner for the delivery of media entertainment, will demonstrate to attendees of INTX 2015 its newly deployed Ultra HD (UHD) security solution alongside its Cloud Services and other innovations. The demonstrations will take place in Alticast’s booth (1319), May 5-7, at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago.

Alticast will showcase its entire line of solutions at the show, with particular emphasis on its AltiPlex™ Client-Server Cloud solutions, TV Ready User Agent App Framework and AltiProtect™ technology solution.

Key demonstrations at INTX 2015 will include:

          Alticast’s AltiPlex Cloud Services Platform (CSP) provides essential core cloud solutions for handling users, devices, metadata, advertising, big-data support and billing system integration, with a complete web-based management console. Additional options include the dynamic Cloud UI solution allowing operators to deliver a sophisticated user experience (UX) to both their legacy and new set-top boxes (STBs).  The Cloud user interface (UI) can also provide multiple UIs to different devices in a household, for example a UI tailored for kids and one for adults. In addition, Cloud DVR is available for cloud-based recording, storage and delivery of content providing a TV Everywhere experience. AltiPlex CSP is component based, allowing operators to integrate existing portions into their service or to use the complete platform. 

      Alticast will show AltiProtect UHD, the newest addition to its AltiProtect family, that is optimized for UHD security protection and which is paramount for the success of UHD providing more robust security for premium content. Already successfully deployed by CJ Hellovision in Korea, AltiProtect UHD can be remotely installed onto STBs and other devices with the AltiProtect Download Framework, a mechanism to remotely install any AltiProtect CAS/DRM/DTCP-IP or the new UHD solution into STBs and other devices. 

 The company is expanding its HDMI Media Express offering beyond the original thumb drive sized ‘set-top box on a stick’ by adding small tabletop options for IP video delivery with live and on-demand programming being delivered directly from the Cloud or in concert with a home gateway. In the stick form-factor, the product provides a TV Everywhere experience with its download-and-go and plug-and-play capability.  Additionally, HDMI Media Express supports HTML5 and Android application delivery with the flexible Alticast’s TV Ready User Agent application framework that allows multiple user agents to work together on one device. This allows operators to combine HTML5 RDK solutions with Android or Java based solutions all on one device.  

          The new multi-catalog search capability of Alticast’s AltiView 1™ UX, powered by Rovi, allows subscribers to simultaneously search multiple content catalogs from over-the-top (OTT) providers like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, and select the delivery source.  This gives operators many options for providing OTT services.

In addition to booth demonstrations, President and CTO of Alticast North America, John Carlucci, will present "IoT:  A New Business Model" at INTX’s Imagine Park Innovation Showcase on Tuesday, May 5^th as part of the 4 – 5 p.m. content segment.

Media and other parties interested in meeting with Alticast executives at INTX 2015 should contact alticast@mobilitypr.com to schedule a time.