Connected TV

The Vewd app store contains 1,000 content providers and has a huge footprint across retail devices, helped by a presence on Smart TVs manufactured by Vestel, among others. Vewd OS delivers a video-centric UI that makes it easy to traverse broadcast and online. At IBC in September, this ecosystem will be presented as a solution for operator set-top boxes including gateway clients and pure-play streaming devices.

Verimatrix won the ‘International Grand Prix’ and ‘Video Technology Hero’ category at The Connies yesterday with Federated Rights Management. Freeview Australia, Media Distillery, ITV and Channel 4 were also category winners as innovators from every sector of the media industry gathered in London for the annual awards lunch.

Why were products and services shortlisted for the Connies 2018 and what did the judges like about the Bronze, Silver and Gold awards winners? We profile the submissions from the international categories so you can decide if you agree with the judges.

Two years on from the launch of its Neohome IoT ecosystem for the smart home, Néotion demo'd a range of new IoT devices and features at IBC, saying the technology was already being piloted by several operators, with an unidentified Tier One operator due to go live with Neohome by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the company's new CEO, Lionel Boissier, promises a renewed focus on innovation at the company, but signals that its security business and role within the common interface standard, remains firmly embedded in its DNA.

Churn for OTT video providers is much higher than for traditional Pay TV operators - but that’s balanced by the fact that subscriber acquisition costs are much lower. However, consultancy Cartesian warns that equilibrium won’t hold for very much longer.

Global professional services firm Accenture has been reflecting on the changes wrought in the digital video delivery sector by the advent of OTT players like Netflix, and suggests that there are two new primary digital business models aggregators and content providers should consider in order to flourish in this new environment.

Microsoft and Apple are leading the standardization of the Common Media Application Format within MPEG. This media streaming format could make it cheaper and easier to deliver OTT video streams to multiple devices using a standardized container or encapsulation format. There will still be different presentation layers and encryption, although CMAF will interoperate with those.

Is the idea that the BBC might launch an SVOD service with ITV – the so-called ‘Britflix’ initiative - a plausible one? Barry Flynn tracks the story back to its source and takes soundings from two leading industry commentators, William Cooper and Steve Hewlett.

“Every year at this conference someone says that the cable industry is done, and we are not forward-looking enough, yet we not only survive...

The recent launch of Amazon’s new Amazon Video Direct (AVD) distribution platform – which allows video content owners of all sizes the opportunity to...