The app would also provide the means to subscribe and unsubscribe to the third-party hosted streaming services, with the Pay TV provider being the universal subscriptions manager – a core future Pay TV operator function that Bandeira believes should also appear in all Deutsche Telekom’s consumer touchpoints.

“This is a clear part of our vision,” he revealed at Connected TV World Summit this spring. You can read where this multiscreen super-aggregator app fits into the wider Deutsche Telekom Pay TV and CPE roadmap in our separate report, here.

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There is no long-term future for the standard Pay TV operator ‘app among apps’ model as seen on Smart TVs today, however, as this cannot support Deutsche Telekom’s big vision for what an aggregator should look like in future. Bandeira made it clear that the role of super-aggregator, multi-app subscriptions manager and holistic content discovery agent requires an elevated status for the Pay TV television screen presence. DT needs to be the primary app, not just another app, on any television, he believes.

Bandeira was speaking at Connected TV World Summit in London, and you can read about his ‘future aggregator’ and ‘future of operator CPE’ vision in a separate story, here.

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He then made it clear that while the set-top box is the essential device for supporting these aims today, Deutsche Telekom will have to take a position directly on the glass [television set] itself, eventually, with less reliance on HDMI inputs. The company will have to enable a virtual STB scenario in collaboration with Smart TV makers – meaning an operator app replaces the STB, and this app is the default content and UI experience that someone sees when turning on their Smart TV (if that home is a customer of the Pay TV provider). If this cannot be achieved, DT will need to follow Sky’s example and launch their own Smart TVs.

Throughout his presentation, Bandeira spoke on behalf of Deutsche Telekom, outlining its plan and thinking. But this felt like his vision for an industry, too. His belief that a Pay TV provider must be present directly on the television glass chimes with the philosophy at Sky, which has already taken matters into its own hands with the revolutionary Sky Glass (a Sky OS/UX embedded into a private-labelled Smart TV designed and retailed by Sky). But where Sky moved directly to ‘building’ its own televisions, Bandeira made it clear that DT wanted to avoid this if, possible, and would first seek the Smart TV partnerships that would support the virtual STB model.

Bandeira began by outlining the challenges a Pay TV provider like Deutsche Telekom faces. “We are still in the middle of a transformation cycle that involves a shift from linear to non-linear consumption and also a very important change from service provider centric to content centric. Content brands that used to have us in the middle, as a broker, try to go direct-to-consumer to deliver their services.

“This is a fundamental change and something operators must be aware of as we prepare our TV services for the future.”

He outlined one all-embracing principle and three pillars that will underpin the future of Pay TV. First, the principle: “We must deliver an unbreakable service with the best video and audio quality. We must do a lot of background work to support this.” Then he moved onto the pillars.

“First and foremost, aggregate, aggregate, aggregate – and when you are tired of aggregation, aggregate some more! We must have the content [that consumers want] available. This is fundamental – it is what differentiates us from the other guys who do not have that content.” He added that content is king, and today some popular content may be hosted by one streaming service, and tomorrow it could move to another. It is the Pay TV provider’s responsibility to keep track and provide the access.

“Then you need to aggregate the subscriptions, enabling ‘subscribe’ and ‘unsubscribe’ [for the multiple subscription streaming apps that are onboarded as part of the super-aggregator role]. It is one thing to have the apps [the streaming content services, within your UX] but lots of people have them, so what is your real value, because over time that [having the apps] will not be enough. You need to put smartness into your aggregation.

“In the same way that someone can subscribe [to an app] in one click, they should be able to unsubscribe in one click directly on your TV service. It is very important that we give simplicity to consumers with one single billing relationship. We should be the main touchpoint with consumers who want to take those services. We are the middleman, so we must take ownership of this position.”

Bandeira’s third pillar is content-centric discovery. “This is where we can make a huge difference. Discovery should be independent of who is delivering the content. The consumer should not have to think about where the shows are that they want to consume, whether they are in Netflix, Disney or Amazon, and they might not know, anyway, but we have the answer for that.”

He pointed out that Deutsche Telekom’s focus on content aggregation, discovery and personalisation in the UI is not unique, and acknowledged that the quality of execution is key. “We do the fine-tuning based on the data, what is working and what is not working, and that is very important,” he pointed out.

Bandeira highlighted how Deutsche Telekom’s customer premise equipment strategy must align with these requirements, which led to the conclusion that the set-top box is still essential, for now. “The STB is the only place today where we can fully deliver on our vision for super-aggregation and a seamless subscribe/unsubscribe experience. I can’t do this on a third-party device. So, the STB is still central to our strategy today, but it can become less fundamental.”

The typical Pay TV operator app on a Smart TV, as seen today, is not part of the long-term CPE strategy, Bandeira revealed. “We are not happy to be just an app on an interface; I don’t want to be just an app.” He acknowledged that Deutsche Telekom’s Pay TV service (MagentaTV) is available on Smart TVs as an app, of course. [It is available on all Tizen OS Samsung Smart TVs since 2017, Sony Smart TVs running Android TV since 2015 and on all Android TV Smart TVs running Android 7, 8 and 9.] “But I am not happy to continue in this way in the future, as just an app on a Smart TV.

“If I am just an app on a Smart TV, then over time I will lose engagement with consumers because they will spend less time with me on my experience and more time with all the other apps that are available in the same UI. I can only replace the STB if I can replicate the STB experience without one, and that means I have to be the main app on the [Smart TV] ecosystem, where I contain the other apps [e.g. Netflix, Discovery, local broadcasters] in my app, as seen in my STB.”

Bandeira continued: “Being the aggregator that manages the subscribe and unsubscribe [across multiple third-party apps] is also fundamental, but this is very difficult if you are just one of the apps in the ecosystem. You have to control the experience, like you do today on the STB.”

This brought the Deutsche Telekom executive to his future CPE roadmap, because he made it clear that despite these reservations, his company does want to look beyond STBs. “Aggregating directly on the TV panel, without an STB, is the Holy Grail, and we need to do this. UIs in Smart TVs are becoming better and better. As an industry, we had a head-start on Smart TV makers, but they are catching up, and some UIs are becoming really good.

“These [Smart TV] guys are becoming our competitors with regards to aggregation, and they are well placed for this role because they have the [television] display in the customer home.”

So, how do you work around this, Bandeira asked the audience before answering for them. “We are working on two possible paths simultaneously, A and B. Either we will be successful with A, or we move to B,” he told the Connected TV World Summit audience.

“Path A is where you can broker a deal with TV providers in which you become the [primary] app. When someone buys the television, it asks if they are a Deutsche Telekom customer or if they take their Pay TV service from named competitors. If you are a Deutsche Telekom customer, you then get the Deutsche Telekom experience. We become the [primary TV] app. This is the path we would like to follow because doing [making, private-labelling, retailing] TVs is not our core business.

“But, if we are not successful on this path, we might need to go the other route, and ‘do’ televisions, in a similar way to Sky [with Sky Glass]. That is the only way you can continue to be relevant [as a Pay TV operator] in that case [where virtual STB on third-party branded Smart TVs is ruled out].”

Finally, Bandeira declared that Deutsche Telekom’s vision to be the super-aggregator and the subscriptions manager, as well as the primary content discovery agent, should not be limited to the STB today and the Smart TV (virtual STB or ‘DT Glass’) in the future. He is interested in mirroring this Pay TV role across multi-screen devices too, which requires a promotion for the classic operator TV Everywhere mobile/laptop app.

Noting that multiscreen devices are especially important to younger generations, he asked: “Why not apply the same vision to the smartphone or tablet, with an app that aggregates other apps? Of course, you can’t be the super-app on ecosystems that Google and Apple control, but you can still recreate the concept of an app that can aggregate other content apps and provide [unified] discovery and subscriptions [management]. That will give you service continuity between the experience you offer on a TV set and the experience you offer on these other touchpoints. This is a clear part of our vision.”

The DT executive concluded: “Our vision [for the role of Pay TV operators in future and the CPE that underpins it] puts us on a long path, and one we started a long time ago, but it is fundamental to the sustainability [economic] of the TV business, because we feel the TV ecosystem is going to become more and more challenged unless we do this. There is risk, but there is opportunity to capitalise by doing things that others cannot.”

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The solution is being utilised by Deutsche Telekom’s TV and OTT services – MagentaTV and MagentaSport – and has created 5,500 highlights for the operator from competitions like the FIFA World Cup, women’s Bundesliga, and basketball Euroleague. According to WSC Sports, Deutsche Telekom was the fastest operator to produce and publish highlights in the German market during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with match highlights being published just minutes after the end of the match.

The companies say the move will help Deutsche Telekom broaden the reach and engagement of its sports content. According to Deutsche Telekom, the solution has helped the operator to generate more than 400 million video views across all platforms and social media channels since the middle of last year.

 Arnim Butzen, Head of TV, Deustsche Telekom, says: “Our Magenta sports offering stands for top-class entertainment and content diversity. Technological innovations such as the platform from our partner WSC Sports enable us to play out our exclusive content faster and more efficiently, thus significantly increasing interest in the various sports.“

Aviv Arnon, Chief Business Development Officer, WSC Sports, comments: “We’re very excited with the initial results of our collaboration with Telekom through 2022 and together we are exceeding the expectations of the modern sports fan across Europe. Integrating our leading AI Powered highlights solution into one of the largest telecommunications networks in Europe is a natural fit, and we are looking forward to further unlocking the full potential of Deutsche Telekom’s impressive portfolio of sports media rights.”

The companies say the move will enhance the user experience for more than one million Magyar Telekom subscribers and improve the telco’s ability to monetise its content.

Magyar Telekom joins other Deutsche Telekom MagentaTV subsidiaries in deploying Think360. The platform was originally deployed by Deutsche Telekom in 2019, and is used by the telco in Germany, as well as by Hrvatski Telekom in Croatia, OTE Group in Greece, and Magenta Telekom in Austria.

Samuel Sweet, EMEA & APAC CEO at ThinkAnalytics, says: “It is a testament to ThinkAnalytics’ reputation and Think360’s proven results that that Magyar Telekom has selected ThinkAnalytics to power richer content discovery and personalisation across all its Telekom TV devices including its latest Android TV platform.

“This extension of our partnership with Deutsche Telekom demonstrates the importance of our tools to monitor, manage and deliver measurable personalised content and promotions.”

Video Solutions recently brought its free ad-supported streaming services in the UK (W4Free) and in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (Watch4) under a single brand: wedotv. The unified streaming service offers feature films and series (including lifestyle, comedy, and automotive programmes), as well as documentaries and live sports.

Philipp Rotermund, Founder and CEO of Video Solutions AG, said: “We are pleased about the long-term cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, through which we can significantly expand the reach of wedotv.

“With our strategic decision to distribute the FAST channel wedo movies on MagentaTV in the TV channel offering, we guarantee our attractive feature film channel and its advertising partners high findability and visibility – and are thus breaking a new path in the streaming industry. Partnerships with other TV platforms and network operators are in preparation.”

wedotv is available as an app on most Smart TVs, streaming devices and platforms, including: Android, iOS, Samsung, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku, as well as directly on the web at www.wedotv.com. In addition to MagentaTV, wedo movies is offered on Samsung TV Plus, waipu.tv, rlaxx TV, LG Channels, Philips, Rakuten TV, Xiaomi, Netgem and TCL.

The German telco will leverage the Cloud TV Suite as a video management platform for the centralised ingest of video assets, workflow management, multi-language metadata management, video processing, content protection and rights enforcement, as well as data analytics and insights. Comcast Technology Solutions will be providing a 24×7 service level agreement as well as a dedicated support team as part of the agreement.

Pedro Bandeira, Vice President of Product and New Business at Deutsche Telekom, said:  “At Deutsche Telekom, we are committed to delivering the ultimate, world-class TV entertainment experience, which centers around the customer, through Magenta TV. This means deploying the most modern, flexible, and scalable back-end management system. We selected Comcast Technology Solutions’ Cloud TV Suite because of its ability to address our needs with market-proven reliability and efficiency. Moving to this advanced new platform will enable us to further harmonize our product roadmaps, accelerate new service delivery, and enable consistent and seamless experiences across devices and our markets.”

Ken Klaer, President of Comcast Technology Solutions and Executive Vice President of Comcast Cable, commented: “Deutsche Telekom is a global leader in product innovation and customer experience across Europe and around the world. We are extremely honored that they selected our team to help support the next-generation of Magenta TV by adopting our versatile Cloud TV Suite. We have an incredibly strong and collaborative relationship with Deutsche Telekom, and we look forward to helping them execute on their vision for the future.”

Deployments have already began in Austria and will be phased across Deutsche Telekom market over the course of this year.

Bravo noted: “OTT technology simplifies all the technology standards we have to use in our devices, which has time-to-market benefits. And you can see the amount of investment in set-top boxes by big streaming companies. Until now we had lots of legacy in the broadcast and multicast space. We have created a new television ecosystem – a single product for all our NatCos. Now we must improve OTT capacity and move customers to the new ecosystem.”

Interviewed by Andy Waltenspiel, Managing Director at Waltenspiel Management Consulting, Bravo confirmed that Deutsche Telekom views the set-top box as a key control point and a device it is committed to, even though it is seeking ways to implement its full Pay TV operator experience on other devices. He agreed with comments his boss, Pedro Bandeira (VP Product and New Business, Europe at Deutsche Telekom) made previously (elsewhere) that the TV industry had possibly under-invested in CPE in recent years.

“It is clear the customer experience is connected to what happens in their homes and that applies to all CPE, not only set-top boxes,” Bravo noted. “People thought for many years that telcos were selling X Mb of fibre or xDSL but, to be honest, we were selling Wi-Fi, and for that you need the best devices. I think we need more powerful devices, and you need to control the number of providers that you use – if you have a zoo [of devices] you have lifecycle management issues.”

In January this year Deutsche Telekom launched its MagentaTV One STB, powered by Android TV OS, in Germany to deliver its premium TV experience. This follows the introduction of the Android TV OS powered MagentaTV Stick in 2020. On the partnership with Android, Bravo pointed to the importance of apps aggregation and the ability to scale apps availability. Asked about the decision to choose Android TV over a home-grown OS, he said: “You have to think about the trade-off between control of the user experience and scalability.”

Asked how Deutsche Telekom can differentiate in the super-aggregation function, he pointed to the need for “an excellent user experience for content discovery and the way you implement that with different [consumer/content] touch points.”

Touching upon non-STB device strategy, Bravo acknowledged that Deutsche Telekom was watching Sky Glass with interest. He did not rule out the possibility of DT making its Pay TV experience available through its own television sets, too. “We are tracking this proposition to see if it makes sense,” he told the London audience.

The agreement will see DT providing home performance management and optimisation through Airties Cloud. The cloud-based solution optimises operator gateways and extenders in real-time while providing insights on connected devices. The company says Airties Cloud manages more than 33 million homes and supports more than 646 million actively connected devices across the globe.

The telco will also leverage Airties Edge – a smart Wi-Fi software that directs consumers’ devices to the best available channel and band (2.4GHz and 5GHz), based on real-time network conditions. The company says the software “enables an existing home gateway/modem to double as an intelligent Wi-Fi access point, improving the quality and stability of connectivity within the home.”

Philippe Alcaras, CEO of Airties said, “Deutsche Telekom is a clear global leader when it comes to embracing technological innovations that improve the lives of their customer. Having consistent, quality home Wi-Fi is more essential than ever before, and Deutsche Telekom fully recognizes this across its various markets. We are honored that Deutsche Telekom selected Airties to help them provide a managed Smart Wi-Fi experience to their customers throughout Europe.”

Pedro Bandeira, VP of Product and New Business at Deutsche Telekom. “Providing exceptional home broadband is of paramount importance to Deutsche Telekom, and that includes delivering the best possible Wi-Fi to our customers. After examining the market, we selected Airties because of the proven quality, scalability, and versatility of their Smart Wi-Fi portfolio. We look forward to bringing these advanced Wi-Fi capabilities to our customers in the months ahead.”

MediaKind managed, coordinated and processed what it claims was the world’s first multi-channel 6K tiled 360-degree live stream during the Telekom Baskets Bonn and EWE Baskets Oldenburg match at the Telekom Dome in Bonn in December.

The media technology and services company delivered two live 6K 360-degree video streams, demonstrating its new commercially-launched 360-degree video processing as a Service (360aaS) solution for live events.

The streams were delivered to customers of Deutsche Telekom’s commercial Magenta VR service via a consumer app and MediaKind’s 360-degree live encoding workflow incorporating Tiledmedia’s ClearVR viewport-adaptive streaming technology.

Deutsche Telekom commissioned the project, Magnum Film did the production, INVR.SPACE delivered the 360-degree cameras and stitching infrastructure and Tiledmedia provided the tiled streaming tech, while Google’s Cloud Platform was also used.

“Winning the 2019 NAB Technology Innovation Award is an enormous honour and a wonderful way to mark our inaugural NAB Show as MediaKind,” said MediaKind CEO, Angel Ruiz.

“As consumers – especially sports fans – push for more ways to not only watch but experience their favourite live events, being ready to deliver the next generation of immersive experiences to multiple devices and in multiple formats is key.”

Tiledmedia founder and CBO, Rob Koenen, said: “ClearVR tiled streaming, integrated in MediaKind’s 360aaS platform, lets content owners distribute very high-quality VR360 content over existing networks – today.”

Separately, MediaKind and its partners won the IABM BaM Award at NAB Show 2019 for the same project. MediaKind, Deutsche Telekom, Tiledmedia, INVR.SPACE and Magnum Film received the 2019 IABM BaM Award for best ‘Project, collaboration or event’.

Ruiz said: “This second award win for our 6K tiled 360° live sports streaming with our partners is a stunning achievement and further reinforces the potential of the technology that this project demonstrated.”