Canal Digital Kabel-tv has just launched its new in-home multiscreen TV service called T-We See. The Norwegian cable operator has also introduced multi-room TV/DVR. This is all part of a next-generation platform called T-We that also includes access to catch-up TV and a YouTube app integrated into the Pay TV UI, search and recommendations (using Rovi) and a portal where subscribers can manage their service (like adding new channels to the basic packages) through the set-top box.
T-We See has been launched initially for the Apple iPad and will be available on Android tablets early next year, based on current expectations. Catharina Kokkim, Communications Manager at Canal Digital Kabel-tv, says multi-screen will be a market differentiator. “It allows us to give the customer a more or less complete offer,†she says. “We can offer the customers a wider selection of TV channels, and their recordings, at the tablet – something we believe to be a strength compared to other offerings in the market.â€
Multiscreen viewing is only available in the home to start with, but the ambition is to extend the service out-of-home once the content rights make this possible. “This is of course our goal, that our customer should have the same offer wherever they want to consume their content,†Kokkim confirms.
The platform operator is making the multiscreen service available to customers with a T-We gateway, which converts broadcast signals to IP for streaming around the home (in the classic ‘home cloud’ model). Customers with the T-We Box gateway and the new T-We Box Mini can also enjoy multi-room TV and multi-room DVR. The T-We Box Mini is an HD set-top box that acts as the client for whole-home services, attached to secondary televisions. The boxes can be connected using either Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
The T-We multi-room and multiscreen service has been made possible using DVRs and multiscreen/whole-home software from ADB. Initially the service was made available on ADB 5720 HD DVRs that were already in customer homes, using a software upgrade. This device has now been superseded by a new DVR/multiscreen gateway, what the operator calls the T-We Box. This features eight tuners, the ability to record three channels while watching another and, like its predecessor, fast channel change.
Canal Digital Kabel-tv reports that around 100,000 customers have the T-We service on the ADB 5720 and around 110,000 now have the new eight tuner DVR gateway. There are approximately 50,000 T-We Box Mini clients in customer homes now.
With the gateway converting broadcast signals to IP, customers get most of their channels and their DVR recordings on the tablets (starting with iPads). The broadcast signals are transcoded and three bit rate options are made available to the tablet so customers can choose the best possible stream depending on their in-home bandwidth. Although bit rates have to be chosen manually, the TV Everywhere app detects if the stream is ‘bad’ and advises the user to change to a lower bit rate. The Conax conditional access is also translated into Microsoft PlayReady DRM for in-home streaming.
More reading
Canal Digital Kabel-tv provides a good example of how Pay TV operators are determined to remain the pre-eminent provider of premium entertainment in their homes. You can read more about Pay TV multiscreen, including how it has become a competitive dynamic and how operators are working to deliver broadcast-grade experiences, in the new Videonet report: ‘Taking the Pay TV multiscreen UEX to the next level’. You can download the report (free) here.
