The new cardless solution will supplement existing NAGRA smartcard solutions deployed at tivùsat. DAZN subscribers can activate the satellite channel on a Tivù set-top box or conditional access module (CAM) (plugged into television sets), with satellite distribution expected to boost QoS and service reach for DAZN Zona. DAZN Zona is only available as a satellite feed on tivùsat; it is not streamed to these devices.

Alberto Sigismondi, President of Tivù Srl, says: “We’re excited to bring our end-users all the action on the Zona DAZN channel from the start of the new football season. Our long-term relationship with NAGRA means we’re able to bring this content to our customers safe in the knowledge that it is secured by best-of-breed NAGRA cardless technology.”

Nancy Goldberg, EVP and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at NAGRA, comments: “Helping our customers to provide the widest possible content choice to their viewers is core to our ambition. We are proud to extend our security solution across the tivùsat platform to additionally protect DAZN premium sports content. The adoption of this distribution approach by an OTT operator, whose content will be distributed via satellite, further demonstrates the flexibility of NAGRA solutions.”

NAGRA cardless technology is used by media and entertainment operators worldwide to secure premium content delivered to proprietary and Android set-top boxes. It adheres to strict MovieLabs requirements for enhanced content protection of 4K/HDR content.

Shakunt Malhotra, Managing Director of Globecast in Asia, said, “We are a global company with the technical resources and operations to provide a seamless end-to-end service, not least across the highly valuable and competitive sports market. We are highly connected internally and externally, allowing easy content contribution, fully managed media processing, playout and distribution.”

Sabil Salim, Vice President of Media Technology and Operations, beIN ASIA PACIFIC, said: “As a major sports broadcaster with a wide array of live events, we had to ensure that we partner with a media services company that can meet our requirements and align with our goals. This isn’t only about the very impressive technical capabilities Globecast has demonstrated, it’s also about the fact the company has a significant background in sports. This is very much about the quality of the content – vital to sports fans – and the fast, flexible way this can be gathered, processed and played out across multiple languages and cultures. They genuinely understand the demands of sports fanatics, which is at the heart of what we do.”

Malhotra said, “Our cutting-edge facilities and technology setup is designed to fully support the needs of valuable, fast-moving sports content. We are very pleased that a company of beIN SPORTS reach and scale recognises the value we bring to the market across multiple services all managed by a single, integrated global supplier. We will ensure each and every fan gets the most immersive experience possible.”

Head quartered in Singapore, beIN ASIA PACIFIC currently operates in 11 countries in the region, including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The company offers 15 unique channel feeds to sports fans, with live coverage in Thai, Bahasa, Cantonese and English. Globecast will also supply satellite and IP distribution for the sports broadcaster.

The new report predicts that if this is the case, telecoms companies will have 18.61 million non-IPTV subscribers plus 38.72 million IPTV subscribers by 2024, giving them more than half of the market.

“This marks a sea change for Western Europe’s pay TV sector,” said Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research. “Pay TV is not the priority for telcos – broadband and mobile provision are at the forefront.”

Overall, Western Europe is expected to have 101.59 million Pay TV subscribers by 2024, marking a 1.2% decline between 2018 and 2024. Pay TV revenues are expected to fall by 13.1% over the same period to US$25.44 billion.

Digital TV Research predicts that cable TV will have 40.28 million subscribers by 2024; IPTV 38.72 million; and pay satellite TV 20.33 million subs. IPTV is the only one of these expected to make gains over the forecast period.

Half of the 18 countries covered by the report are tipped to lose pay TV subscribers between 2018 and 2024 with Italy and the UK to see the biggest declines, losing 728,000 and 621,000 subscribers respectively.

By 2024, Germany is expected to account for 25% of Western Europe’s pay TV subscribers, the UK for 15% and France for 14%.

The satellite operator broadcast the 8K content feed – 7680×4320 pixels at 50 frames per second – via its Astra 28.2 degrees East orbital slot with the help of partners Spin Digital and Samsung.

SES provided the bandwidth, Spin Digital encoded the 8K signal, while a Samsung 8K flat screen TV directly received and decoded the broadcast signal.

SES carried out the transmission on a single 33 MHz transponder using DTH broadcast parameters; Spin Digital used its HEVC encoder at a bit rate of 70 Mbps; and an 82-inch Samsung 8K Q950RB QLED TV received the signal directly using DVB-S2 transmission parameters.

“Audiences today want richer video experiences that can be best fulfilled by immersive Ultra HD content, hence a lot of our broadcast and video customers are migrating their channels to High Definition (HD) and Ultra HD,” said Thomas Wrede, Vice-President of New Technology and Standards at SES Video.

“It will be years before large 8K flat screens or video walls become a common sight in our living rooms. Nonetheless, we are anticipating the future by working with our industry partners to further improve the consumer’s video quality experience and to define an 8K satellite broadcasting standard.”

Spin Digital’s CEO, Mauricio Alvarez-Mesa, said: “The collaboration with SES is helping to define the compression and quality settings for the new 8K format exploiting all the potential of the HEVC coding technology. Our next step is to enable similar quality and compression for live 8K HEVC.”

Samsung Research UK’s Head of Business Development and Industrial Affairs, John Adam, added: “Samsung is delighted to partner once again with SES with another leading-edge technology demonstration at the SES Industry Days. Samsung is fully committed to the development of a future 8K TV market and this demonstration of the viability of the SES satellite platform is an important step towards that goal.”

SES’s annual Satellite Monitor survey revealed that at the end of last year the company served 167 million TV homes across Europe, where direct-to-home (DTH) remains the leading distribution technology.

SES said it is also delivered video content to 72 million households across North America, mainly via the US cable neighbourhoods, and continues to expand its technical reach across other markets.

In Asia Pacific it served 37 million TV homes, in Latin America it served 33 million, in Africa it served 33 million and in the Middle East 13 million TV homes at year-end 2018.

Overall, SES said it delivered 2,777 HD TV channels, 5,324 SD channels and some 50 UHD TV channels – 30 of which were commercial channels.

“Regardless of the shift in consumption habits, it is clear that our business remains an essential tool in delivering a high-quality viewing experience to the world’s leading broadcasters and content owners,” said Ferdinand Kayser, CEO of SES Video.

The latest research marks the 25th year that SES has conducted its Satellite Monitor survey.